"For the last time, Spiros, it's not like that," Luke said, eyes focused on Arya as she ever so slowly moved through the motions. He ignored Spiros looking at him out of the corner of his eyes with an expression that could best be described as belonging to someone who thought they were being lied to.
"How do you think she's doing it?" Spiros asked, a teasing grin on his face spreading from ear to ear.
"No clue. You think she figured out the technique's core, like you were saying?"
"It's the only thing that makes sense. Do you think her having access to mana helped her?"
"Possibly." Luke shrugged. Something like this does seem like it would fit. "Arcane" seems like an apt description of these skills. "You probably know more about mana than I do, though."
"Not enough. None of the other Inner Disciples have figured it out. So I guess we'll just have to wait and see."
"Yeah," Luke replied. "Did you see what she was doing before she started?"
"I'm pretty sure she was just sitting there."
"Hmm. All right. Let's try and ask her about it later." Luke frowned at the slowly increasing crowd around her. "I don't think we'll get a chance anytime soon. Not with that many people crowding around her."
"Yeah, you're right."
"Do you know how to work the arenas? I'm pretty sure I saw someone fighting a monster earlier," Luke suddenly asked him.
"Are you sure you want to fight one? None of them look weak." Spiros turned to the assorted cages arrayed against the wall, eyeing vicious monsters with apprehension.
"Yeah. The hero probably had some reason to put them in here. Who knows—constantly fighting something might help."
"You think so?"
"I'm willing to try. I'd appreciate it if you spotted me, though?" Luke glanced at him.
"Huh?"
Oh, right. There isn't actually a gym culture here. Keep forgetting I have to be careful with how I talk.
"I mean, stand outside the ring with a bow, and let an arrow fly into it if it looks like I'm in trouble. I saw someone else doing it that way and figured it was a good idea—having someone watching in case things do go wrong."
"Oh. Yeah, I'm okay with that. It is a good idea." Spiros nodded.
"Thanks." Luke nodded gratefully, glancing between the cages stocked full of animals and the arenas, wondering how to get a monster from a cage into a ring.
Not seeing any method or mechanism to help him get one of them out of their cages, he made his way to an empty arena. He climbed over the short stone barrier and into the sand-filled pit inside. Sword and shield ready, he spotted a small post sticking out of the ground along the edge of the ring.
Walking toward it, he was surprised to see an image of a large, mean-looking bear, along with a short description underneath it that read "low Mortal tier." A large red button with the word call was printed in large white letters beside it.
Could it be?
He slid his finger over the image of the bear and grinned when it changed, becoming a thin, bright-pink snake instead. Its descriptor read "Peak Mortal tier, very fast, extremely venomous."
So it's basically Tinder, but for monsters. Nice. Definitely not swiping right on the snake, though.
Navigating to the next beast, a cute rabbit, he thought it looked rather weak. To his surprise, though, the description identified it as a mid-Warrior-tier monster. Being extra cautious not to accidentally hit the call button, he scrolled through the list of monsters, frowning as he realized a fairly large chunk of them were in the Warrior tier.
I can't believe there are actually Warrior-tier monsters in here, let alone this many. Does she really expect us to be here for that long? Or did she just plan for people at the very peak of the Mortal tier to participate and break through during the trial? There are a lot of late-Mortal-tier people here. In fact that's most of the people here. It wouldn't be the craziest thing if a few of them became warriors, I guess.
Whatever—it isn't something I have to worry about at the moment.
Unless some idiot lets one of the monsters loose … I'm sure it'll be fine. Hopefully. Worst case, I run to my room, never come out, and pray that whatever barrier stops me from going into other people's rooms works on monsters, too.
After a few more minutes of scrolling, he eventually settled on a large, ugly, ratlike creature that was labeled as being in the early Mortal tier. It was approximately the size of a small dog, but with none of a dog's inherit cuteness.
"You ready?" Luke shouted out to Spiros, seeing him standing there with an arrow already nocked.
"Whenever you are."
"How's your aim with that thing, by the way?" Luke asked, suddenly remembering a very important detail.
I should have asked him that before I asked him to spot me. I just assumed he'd be good with a bow, but there really isn't any guarantee that he is, and I've never seen him use one, either.
"Um. I'm decent with it." Spiros shrugged. "Not the best in the world, but I won't hit you, if that's what you're worried about. Just don't pick something too small or too fast."
"Right." Luke hesitated for a moment and then, with finality, pressed the button.
The monster didn't appear right away. Instead, a warning popped up in place of the monster's picture. It read:
Confirm: Low Mortal tier?
Cost: 1 credit
Available Balance: 1 credit(s)
Hmm. Looks like I don't get to fight infinite monsters. He pressed the button again anyway. And what are these credits about? Can I get more of them?
A sudden noise snapped him out of his thoughts and drew his attention to the center of the arena.
He lifted his shield as a familiar mechanized whir emanated from underneath the sand-covered ring. The ground split, and out of it emerged a large bronze cage containing his would-be foe.
Luke's heart beat in anticipation as the front of the cage slid back into the ground. A savage grin appeared on his face before he realized that he was, in fact, looking forward to fighting the creature. A lot.
When did I start looking forward to this? Whatever. He shook his head. I can figure out all the terrible ways Theos has changed me later. Right now, I have a rat to kill. A battle to the death isn't a good place or time for a crisis of identity.
No, I should save that for when I'm lying awake in the middle of the night, wondering what I did to deserve this. Or if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Not now, though. He squinted at the rat sitting still in its cage, inspecting it for weaknesses.
It looked even uglier in real life compared to its pictures. Luke grinned. More and more like Tinder.
Its fur was dirty gray and coarse, stretched tight over its muscle-bound frame. It stepped out of the cage cautiously, sniffing the ground as it took one slow step after another. Its wormlike tail swayed gently behind it.
Luke widened his stance in anticipation, waiting for the moment when the monster's beady eyes would meet his own.
All right. This is the real deal. Just me and my sword against that. No talismans, no tricks.
His motion must have triggered it, because suddenly the creature perked up and then came bounding toward him. Its lips pulled back in a rabid snarl, showing each and every one of its sharklike yellow teeth. It closed the distance between itself and Luke astonishingly fast.
Luke shifted his weight from one foot to the other in anticipation.
What's it going to do? Go for my legs? Jump on my face? Try and get behind me?
It leaped into the air.
Luke stepped forward and swung his sword.
It latched onto the blade.
Snarling in disgust as the creature's putrid smell invaded his nose, Luke whacked his sword with his shield, just barely managing to clip its tail and shake it off him, instants before it climbed up his arm. With all his might, he resisted the urge to drop the blade and throw up in disgust.
Maybe I should have picked something less gross. Like a cat … No, it's too cute then. Ugh. Why'd it have to smell like shitty vomit? Yuck.
The rat landed on its feet and immediately attempted to crawl onto Luke's leg. For his part, Luke managed to keep his cool long enough to swing his sword. This time he managed to cut the creature's head clean off with a single swing, slicing through its fur, skin, flesh, and bone with startling ease.
+2 Stat Points
So it's roughly as strong as the harpies, huh? Not as many as I would have wanted, but points are points. Luke dismissed the message as soon as it came. His attention instead focused on the creature's corpse as fresh sand bubbled around it and swallowed it whole, leaving no signs of its death save for a few splatters of blood on Luke's robes.
The hero really pulled out all the stops. I didn't even think about what I was supposed to do with the bodies.
"Whoooo!" Spiros clapped and cheered outside the arena.
Playing along, Luke raised his sword and shield in victory. "You want to go next?"
Spiros visibly perked up and, without wasting a moment, hopped into the ring.
"Yeah, of course." He shrugged off his quiver and handed Luke his bow. "Spot me, will you?" He grinned.
"Wait." Luke pulled back the string, smiling in satisfaction when he was able to do so without too much strain. "All right, it's good. I wasn't sure I'd be able to draw it. Make sure you pick something that you have some confidence in fighting, all right? I'm okay with a bow"—Luke lifted it—"and I'm pretty sure I won't hit you, but treat me like an unreliable last resort."
"Will do. Thanks, Luke." The boy slapped him on the shoulder.
Watching him run to the control console near the end, Luke climbed out of the ring and nocked an arrow in anticipation. He drew it a quarter of the way back and aimed at where the cage had emerged from underneath the sand.
A moment later, it finally did. A glimmer of recognition flashed through Luke's eyes.
Wow. He doesn't take it easy, does he?
Spiros had chosen the low-Mortal-tier bear.
It's a good choice, considering his weapon. I have to use a sword, and a bear seemed like a poor matchup. Low Mortal tier or not, a bear is a bear. One juiced up with mana is bound to be even scarier.
His eyes traced the gleaming tip of Spiros's spear, glinting wickedly in the light of the artificial sky.
I should get a cool spear, too. I doubt I can find anything comparable to my sword, but there's definitely bound to be times where the extra reach would be useful.
He watched the bear leisurely climb out of its cage. Its entire attitude changed, though, the second it laid eyes on Spiros.
The bear barreled toward Spiros with unnatural speed. It was going faster than Luke thought a creature of its size was capable and had all the grace of a ballerina.
This and the rat are in completely different leagues. Even with them both being low Mortal tiers. I guess even with mana, a bear is a bear and a rat is a rat.
Tracking the bear's every move with the tip of his arrow, Luke almost missed it when Spiros moved into action.
Jumping to the side, Spiros held his spear out horizontally, parallel to the ground. Taking five quick but steady steps, he met the bear's charge.
The bear ran shoulder first into the spear and stopped dead in its tracks. Spiros, for his part, casually lunged toward the bear and pushed. Not missing a beat, he drove the spear's tip a foot into the creature's body.
Spiros desperately held on to his weapon as the monster began to thrash, only to suddenly pull it back and, before the creature could even realize that the spear was gone, stab it right in the eye.
Pressing forward until the bear stopped moving, he pulled his spear free. The sand bubbled near its form a second later and swallowed it whole.
Damn, that was quick. Luke looked at Spiros in shock, surprised by how cleanly he had dealt with the monster. Then, a moment later, he lifted his bow in the air and shouted, "Whoooooo!" His face turned red in embarrassment as a few dozen people shot him angry stares.
Wow. I know we're all being quiet, but this isn't a library.