Chapter 333 - Events for the 1st tournament (Patreon)

Author's note: I'm sharing the chapter a bit earlier because I will be busy at the usual time. I hope you don't mind and enjoy the chapter!

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"So, as I said, I recommend buying a Detachment token and using it to remove your skill's upgrade. At least for your main skill." I say.

"That shit costs one thousand shards. I won't be paying that to weaken my skill," Maya looks up from the smartphone I bought only to complain.

Then, having said what she wanted to say, she switches the song to the next one, and from the speaker of the phone, a cheery Japanese pop song starts playing, "Damn, I wish so much I could download something else."

Tess takes the phone from Maya's hand and increases the volume with a lively expression on her face, "I love it!"

When Maya tries to take the phone back, a red and white lightning spark hits Maya's hand.

That gives me an idea, "Do you think you could charge electronics with your lightning?" I ask Tess.

"Nat… it's Primordial lightning, and I don't think that's how electronics work."

"Not with such attitude."

Aaron jumps into our conversation, "How much did it all cost you?"

"Twenty rare items, I think? Give or take," I answer.

"Damn, how many shards do you have?"

"A bit over 60 thousand."

"Oh, 6 thousand, not bad at all…"

"60 thousand."

"6 thousand?"

"Sixty."

"Sixty?"

"Sixty."

(Food!)

"Sixty fucking thousand shards?"

"Sixty-four fucking thousand shards," I say.

The expressions of everyone around are extremely amusing to watch, and I feel my energy refilling. Vega would call me an asshole, but I'm sure she would be proud of her rich master.

"Won't you be able to buy an arcane item soon?" Min-Jae moves closer, looking at me while, as always, a dozen balls float around him as he practices.

"Nope, I'm saving for a passive."

"You have so many, just give me that damaged axe…" Maya tries.

"No."

"Fuck," she deflates.

I still have to study it. Later, I might even try to fix it. I'm curious what a low arcane item is capable of at its full power.

(Food?)

"If you really want it, I can give it to you, Biscuit," I answer honestly.

To that, he burrows his head into my chest, and I continue to pet him. Such a good snuggly boy. The best doggo of the sixth… no, the best doggo of the tournament floor!

(Food.)

"Thank you, I will keep it. If you will want it, just ask."

Others ignore the conversations the two of us have, seemingly used to it already.

"So, how was Tacita?" Tess asks.

"Very quick, high dexterity. She also doesn't hesitate to attack and snaps back easily. I think she has some skills or traits that allow her to hide her signature, and she is hard to detect. Assassin type, for sure over level 200."

"Sounds fun. She, Gareth, and Savant are probably the only ones to cause us trouble if they really want." Tess muses, "Other people from Hell difficulty shouldn't be difficult to deal with, even though I'm surprised the First Beyonder isn't here."

She already knows about most of the things I have learned on the 5th floor. She and everyone else.

My sharing it seemed to surprise them a bit, but since then, they did open up as well, sharing as much as they could as we try to put together all the information we have. On Pairing, on the Floors, and what happened to them.

"You met Gareth, Tess, how is he?" Lily asks this time.

"The same as in the Community. He is friendly and non-threatening, but I think he is a healer. As for if he is more self-healing or healing others–oriented I couldn't tell. His Constitution is also probably high. He didn't move quickly, nor did I feel that much strength from him. His mana was also normal."

“So, a paladin build, paladin of justice,” Aaron jokes.

“Or templar! Maybe with some disruptive attacks in addition,” Dennis adds smartly.

Tess just gives them a short look and a small smile, “I also met a few people from Hard difficulty. Samuel and some others from a group called Legion. They are soldiers or people who follow them. You talked to them too, Nat.”

“I remember the guy. He wanted to talk with most of Hell difficulty people. Something about responsibility after getting back to Earth.”

Tess nods, “Yes, that one. It looks like he took it seriously. He and his group move all over the place, stopping fights and trying to get more people to join them, but I don’t know how successful he will be.”

“And how many nationalities have you noticed? I don’t think Tacita is from America, and Channeler is from Canada. A few more people from Normal or Easy difficulty were even from Europe or Asia.”

“Gareth is from Germany, even though his family is from Britain, and moved there when he was little.” Seeing my expression, she just shrugs. “He was really talkative. I also met a few smaller groups from South Korea and a bigger one from India.”

“We met a few guys from Japan and Poland, but most of the people seem to be from North America,” Aaron says.

Maya throws a piece of chocolate into her mouth and says, “I met a few guys from Texas.” She smirks, “They did have a lot of guns. Apparently, they got summoned while at a shooting range.”

“I don’t think guns would cause us much trouble,” Min-Jae seems to be excited by the thought.

Even then, I agree with him. At this point, I don’t even think jets, tanks, or missiles could cause much trouble to people from Hell difficulty. It's a fun thought.

“I saw a few women with a few months old babies,” Sophie says.

“That’s so damn dumb,” Maya shakes her head, “but I guess people from Easy difficulty would be like that. From what I saw, it's a game for most of them, and they are rarely over level 40.”

“I did talk with a few from Normal difficulty.” Sophie carefully moves Noodle so sleeping Isabella doesn’t push on him. To that, a white snake thankfully flickers his tongue. “People from Normal seem to be close to level 80, and apparently, people from Hard are a bit higher than that. But everyone seems to be slowing down their leveling.”

“With people from Hell being close to 150, with rare cases closer to 200, there is quite a difference,” Tess breaks off another piece of chocolate and also offers a piece to Min-Jae who sits nearby, and he takes it thankfully.

“What level do you think we will be when we get out?” the young Korean boy asks.

Sophie answers, “I don’t think anyone will get to Champion rank, most likely still far off it. But I can imagine some people from Hell or Beyond getting to 350-400 or close to it. People from Hard maybe to 250-300. Normal to 100-150 and easy to 100 at most.”

“I wonder how big a difference will be between someone at level 250 from Hell or Hard difficulty,” Lily asks. “I saw one healer from Hard difficulty. She was healing people in exchange for items. She wasn’t even able to regenerate limbs. Even Nathaniel´s pathetic healing passive is better.”

“The difference will be massive. We have better skills, we have better classes, and passives of a higher grade. I wouldn’t be surprised if we get even better traits. Plus, we have skills at a much higher level,” I join in. “I'm willing to bet that me from level 75 would be able to beat level 150 Hard difficulty people easily.”

While we talk, I watch as most of the things I just bought slowly disappear, but today I don’t mind it at all. When they hesitate, I even open them on my own, and the bottles of sweet fizzy soda move around. Everyone is smiling more than usual, even more than when we looted the kitchen in the manor on the 3rd floor.

Isabella waking up on cracking a package of chips also stuffs her cheeks and moves closer to me while Sophie and Tess joke about what country should group 4 take control over when we come back to Earth. Apparently, the weather and the quality of food are the most important factors.

“Can I?” Izzy moves closer and looks at me.

I nod, and then I feel her [Empathy] connect to me.

Curious, I observe her expression, and the 11-year-old girl smiles at me, her green eyes shining brightly.

When she disconnects, she puts her arms around me in a hug and then pats me on my back, “You are much prettier than on the 1st Floor.”

“Really?”

“Yes!” she confirms, acting all smart. “It’s still not perfect, but slowly you feel more and more like a hero.”

That amuses me even more, and she seems to notice that even without her skill.

“It’s not funny! I saw it on the internet. Some old guy said that Heroes are not born; they are made, and to me, you start looking like a hero! You saved Soph and helped us so many times.” she explains.

Such a silly girl. One day I really want to see her interact with Vega.

Instead of answering to something so outrageous, I caress her head, almost trying to pull her non-existing horn, something I got used to doing.

“How was Seneca?” I ask her.

A mistake, as I realize quickly. Izzy spends the next two hours talking to me about her adventures on the 5th floor and her time spent with Seneca, her disciple.

It would be fine if she shared interesting information, but Izzy doesn’t know about Veil, about Ignition Stations, or Champions, natives. She mostly talks about her adventures and fights, about teaching her disciple, and other silly things. But being in a surprisingly good mood, I decide to let her talk for tonight and listen.

At some point, the boys join as well, and Izzy gets Dennis to talk about his disciple who died.

Such cruelty surprises me, yet Izzy keeps asking with her childish honesty and with some hidden plan in mind. Aaron tries to stop it a few times, but with a fast stream of words, she always talks over him, and there slowly Dennis opens up.

He talks about his time on the 5th floor. How he was scared, how he was annoyed with his disciple, and then as he slowly opened up and they slowly started building a relationship.

He talks about their adventures and all the silly things. In detail, he talks about the time they found a hill with a beautiful view. He talks about them getting scared by a tiny animal in the middle of the night.

Then he gets to the point when his disciple dies, and even though it feels cruel, Izzy keeps asking. And Dennis talks. He cries, and the little girl moves closer, taking his hands into her small ones.

Isabella asks again, she makes him talk more and share it all. She doesn’t even use her skill to share his emotions with us, but it’s all clear to see in the open.

No one talks over him, no one minds his tears; instead, people just offer their support and listen to the quiet words he has to say.

That’s how we learn about his disciple, a young human girl called Draya with whom he spent so short yet impactful time.

By the time the night comes, Dennis seems as if some weight has fallen off him, and for a long time, he hugs Isabella and keeps whispering quiet words of thanks.

 ***

During the night, two people keep watch while others sleep. One of those keeping watch is me.

The place we are staying at is a bit higher than the plane with buildings and where the people are, and I watch with fascination the lights down there.

Every single person there is a real person from Earth and not a native of the floor. It’s still a weird feeling.

I listen as some cheer, celebrating up late and making contact with others. Over two thousand people that went through a similar situation. They share information, they trade.

Of course, there are some fights, flames light up the sky, some projectiles fly, and mana blazes up, but never too serious, just a smaller kind of pecking order.

Even then, a small group of stronger mana signatures moves to the conflict, stopping it and building up recognition early. People who plan to have such a role even after coming back to Earth.

I wonder if they are selfish or if it's more a cold calculating move doing this now to have an easier time later.

 ***

When morning comes, half a day still remains until the 1st event, but we finally get a notification from the system with the schedule.

Events for the 1st tournament of the 5th round of the Earth tutorial have been decided. They are as follows:

1st event - The Survival Domain

2nd event - The Siege of Aether Keep

3rd event - Avatar Confrontation

4th event - The Arena

5th event - Chronicle of the Past

The first event will start in 12 hours. More information will be shared soon.

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