Floor 5 of Valhalla's Colosseum: hand to hand combat with ninjas. North, south, east, and west fleets of stairs, that was the arrangement of the floors, sectioned off so the multitude of players wouldn't intermingle. Portals that were given a wide platform, twenty feet across, then a single step to reach the next floor. The first ten floors were in the south.
Regardless, Dasha was confident he could defeat any enemy.
Paul was not.
He cowered behind him, panicking and wanting to leave. But he couldn't. A mere glance put him in place. Behind them, players and former players headed to the higher floors, taking that small step with ease. They were heading to the Floor 10. Everyone was, it seemed, though it came as no surprise given the nature of Floor 10.
The angel guarding the portal glanced between Dasha and Paul. Tall and bald, she was a woman that would have received strange looks regardless of her otherworldly wings. "A party member?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Remember," the angel began, "you cannot equip physical weapons. No knives, no swords, no gauntlets. Otherwise, the portal will reject you."
A specific condition of the floor. Dasha nodded. "Understood."
Behind him, Paul hurriedly did as such, shoving his knives into his inventory. Once he was done, the angel nodded and unhooked the tape that had been guarding the portal. For a moment, there was a flicker, the magical barrier turning off and allowing true entry.
Whoosh!
The world changed to white.
His eyes didn't close for a second. Instantly, he was in a world that could only be described as white. Outlined by red against white, the chevron patterned floor gave a sense of distance.
"Where are we?" Paul asked, puzzled.
"Get ready."
That was Dasha's only warning and Paul heeded it. Ahead, five ninjas labelled as level 10 appeared. Head to toe, they were dressed in black, interrupted by sandals and their eyes. Three wielded katanas. The remaining two ninjas were readying shuriken.
Dasha clenched his fist. On command, the Qi inside him shifted and whirred like a machine.
'Three thirty six…'
The ninjas seemed to sense something was wrong and took a step back. Wrong move. In two seconds, running past the thrown shuriken, he slammed a fist into the closest ninja.
He kept an eye at his mana bar. 'Three thirty five…'
Two ninjas came swinging at him. He dropped his back down, whipped back up, and slammed them with a Fire Fist.
[ New skill created : Double Fire Fist ]
'Three twenty five…'
The two shuriken ninjas had backed away in opposite directions but it didn't matter. His eyes could see. His agility and deftness were at ludicrous numbers and he could feel it. His reaction speed let him casually side-step each of their trained throws and defeat them with a well-placed punch.
Speed, power, dexterity, Dasha had no weaknesses.
The last ninja disappeared before his body dropped.
[ Receive:
1,500 XP ]
Dasha just stood there for a second, taking it all in. He stared at the palm of his hands, feeling the fire waiting to be unleashed. He wanted to smile. He wanted to laugh. But such expressions of joy wouldn't have been genuine.
'This is it! This is what I've been missing all my life! Power! Power like nothing else!'
In thirty seconds, he managed to defeat five level 10 ninjas. In thirty seconds, he had transcended the border of humanity. It felt good. Thrilling. He felt unkillable.
'No wonder men get drunk on power. It's so easy.' If only he was ordinary, he would have been satisfied. He wasn't. He had a job to do. 'Open profile.'
[ Profile
Name: Dasha Pang
HP: 220/220
MP: 312/336
Distributive Points: 21
Prize Points: 1,660,000
Age: 28
Class: Amateur Martial Artist
Level: 24
XP to Next Level: 70,727 ]
Dasha had been monitoring his mana bar because he wanted to know just how much Qi he burned every second. The Game System didn't tell him, therefore, he had to figure it out on his own.
He quickly checked Double Fire Fist's cost and, to his surprise, it was actually 12 MP, not 10, which is what he assumed.
He did the calculations. 'So about 0.4111 MP per second or 25 MP per minute. Since it's a variable cost, the Game System doesn't bother with giving a baseline. On top of that, my MP regen per minute is 42.5. Ah, wait, my vitality also increases, so it's even higher.'
Dasha's body literally regathered mana faster than he could use it, assuming there were no excess skills like Fire Fist. Even then, he could afford to send off a couple of those.
"G-good work." Paul appeared somewhat hesitant to talk to him. "Should we leave already or…?"
A golden box had been demanding his attention, which he was ignoring.
[ Congratulations! You finished the Floor 5 challenge! ]
[ Do you wish to return to the White Abyss? Yes or no? ]
"No," Dasha said, "because I'm not done just yet. Tell me, Paul, how much HP do you have?"
"Er, about one hundred ninety five." His voice cracked. "Why—?"
Before he could so much as close his mouth, Dasha punched him square in the cheek with the full force of a Fire Fist. The force of his attack left a burn mark and sent him rolling. Even when he stopped, Paul screamed in agony and held his cheek pathetically, shifting and jerking.
"Now how much HP do you have?"
"G-god! God! I—o-one eleven! One eleven!" His eyes looked up at him, terrified. He couldn't resist. He couldn't deny his commands. "P-please! Please don't hurt me! Not again! Not again!"
"Paul, what did you think was going to happen? That I was going to spare you of consequences just because I made you sign a servant contract? That I'd make you brew my tea and massage my feet? No. I have a much…better use for you."
Numbers were power. Numbers gave answers.
Dasha was going to calculate every single skill he had. As for Paul?
Well…if he survived, then he survived.
***
Magical might was key. No, it might be accurate to say it was everything.
For Fire Fist, it would take the base attack stat and add 10% of magical might to it. Inferno Palm added 20% to attack stat. Ember Uppercut? 35% of magical might to attack, and so on and so forth. His ultimate attack, Blazing Fury Combo, added 90% of magical might to his attack.
How did Paul manage to live through such an onslaught? Simple. He poured all the distributive stats he gained from levelling up into resilience. His HP stood at an astounding two hundred ninety five. On top of that, his indigo mage-like garbs blessed him with an additional twelve points of defence.
Dasha managed to calculate the formulas of stats too. Resilience: each point increased HP by five and defence by one. Vitality: increases HP regen by 0.5 and MP regen by 0.25.
[ Attention players! Gate 4 will open in 25:00 minutes! Please head over to the Heavenly Tower if you wish to participate as soon as possible! ]
"I'm leaving."
Paul remained on the floor, rendered helpless from the pain, shock, and exhaustion.
It was time for the next gate and his agreement with Samantha.