Chapter 336 - Start of the 1st event (Patreon)

Flashback Savant - 1st Floor

“We will throw that cripple to the goblins!”

“You can't do that! Are you even human!?”

“Shut up if you don’t want to end up being thrown to them instead. There is no way he will survive the remaining duration of the Floor quest, so he can at least help us this way.”

“We shouldn’t…”

“Just close your goddamn eyes if you don’t want to see it! And you remaining dickheads better keep shut or I will fuck you up!”

I watch as the rest of our group does just that and no one else tries to voice a different opinion. When he turns to me, he isn’t even smiling. He is scared. No, he is terrified, even more so than he lets show.

“Heard it, cripple? In the next attack, you will hold the monsters back so we can run.” He looks briefly at the stick I use to lean against because of the prosthetic leg I lost during one of the attacks.

My classmates, my professors, everyone avoids my gaze when I look at them.

“Sure. I will do it.”

 ***

I feel [Restriction] envelop me and it's a disgusting feeling. My stats are lowered and my skills are as well. There is that feeling of resistance when I try to access skills I didn’t have on the 4th Floor. The resistance feels like it would be easy enough to push through, but that would mean breaking [Restriction] and I don’t want that.

My level is reduced by only around 20, but plenty of skill levels are much lower and my base mana is at 782 instead of over 1000. It's still good enough to deal with anyone attacking.

Most importantly, Thermokinetic Mana Heart is downgraded. Vortex Core is also gone and with it, improvements to Mantle. The Cognitive Fortress, Mana Overload Absorption are gone too, and my healing passive is at its rare version.

Annoying, but very doable.

But one thing amuses me. It looks like this event is better for people who went for Amplification instead of Regeneration. Regenerating mana or stamina seems to be impossible here so the builds that rely on a small mana pool with quick regeneration are at a disadvantage.

Amplification is indeed superior as I knew so long ago. Small pewpew builds can only shake in fear.

I look around and find myself standing in the middle of a big plain. Mountains are in one direction, in another is a black wall of clouds with lightning flashing inside that moves fairly quickly, passing by areas and devouring anything inside. In another direction, white towers of the smaller city dominate the sky, and in the last direction is a forest with trees seemingly touching the clouds.

A warning from [Perception], a flash of lightning, and I push my body away with kinetic energy to dodge the attacks. Then again, and continue running, strengthening my body as efficiently as possible.

Watching in the direction where the attacks come from, I predict their trajectory that doesn’t change once they are shot and avoid them without wasting mana.

Of course, I can’t see the attacker, but white and red lightning is unmistakable.

Tess's barrage of attacks is aggressive, with her primordial lightning infused into the rocks she shoots at me, damaging the area around me. However, they are intended to confuse me and make me let my guard down. A real attack will follow the moment I do so.

I expand my domain and focus on using [Perception] while I jump behind the huge rock nearby.

More than sure that Tess is capable of piercing it, I keep my attention up as well as the possibility of her repositioning. Long-range, Tess had an advantage over me, especially now when I do not want to waste my mana just to try to catch her. I’m also not sure what [Restriction] she put on herself, if any.

My senses sharpen, looking for any sense of danger, and I feel my heartbeat quicken even when I’m not using it to generate any energy.

It’s exciting. It’s thrilling.

Looking to the side, I watch the black wall of lightning move closer and closer to where I am, the thunder roaring and the lightning tearing anything it reaches. There is also a new notification window, and I check it for a moment.

FoodFood (Hell, 4th) ⟶ LightAbove (Normal, 6th)

Is this the kill feed? And damn, Biscuit, did that guy maybe try to kidnap you because you are so cute, and you killed him mercilessly?

Good boy!

I watch as more notifications appear and the number of people inside seems to decrease quickly, barely a few minutes in.

2210 / 2357

Finally, the storm reaches the place somewhere between me and Tess, and I move from the rock and run towards the city I see in the distance.

A terrifying piercing noise reaches me and I rush mana through my body, creating a barrier around my forearm while launching myself away.

Yet still, the thrown shield boosted by [Psychokinesis] and covered in Primordial lightning hits against the barrier, sending me spinning, and following it a stone crashes against my chest, the sheer force throwing me rolling on the ground.

Damn it, Tess! That’s not how you use a shield! How the hell did you find an item so quickly?

The attack stops, and a small explosion sounds from where Tess is, either someone attacking her or the storm forcing her to move.

I use more kinetic energy, moving towards the city. On my chest, a bruise is already forming and I’m sure at least one rib is cracked. Trying to save mana and surprised by restriction, I wasn’t able to strengthen my body quickly enough.

While on my way, I grab the shield she used to attack. It's already crumpled, useless, just a common grade item, so I throw it away.

Reaching the gate, a pathetic excuse for a fireball shoots at me, and I don’t even bother absorbing its heat and just disrupt it with a little bit of mana.

Quickly detecting where it came from, I shoot an orb toward the attacker.

Noname (Hell, 4th) ⟶ Potato (Easy, 5th)

The name sounds familiar, but I don’t know where from. But 5th in the name most likely means what level of the [Restriction] is.

Pushing myself up, I check the body that is already turning into particles, but I don’t find any item and head deeper inside the city.

Down on the street, three men are fighting each other, ice-based attacks crashing against quickly created barriers, and projectiles made out of stone shooting like from a shotgun.

I create three small mana orbs and spin them around my body. To save mana, I make them move faster before slinging them.

Noname (Hell, 4th) ⟶ George (Easy, 7th)

Noname (Hell, 4th) ⟶ IsThisHell (Normal, 5th)

Noname (Hell, 4th) ⟶ Cheesus (Normal, 6th)

This is getting fun!

Testingly, I say, “Leaderboard.”

A new window pops out.

1st (40 pts) - Grumpy

2nd (26 pts) - Savant

3rd (22 pts) - Sset

4th (18 pts) - FoodFood

5th (15 pts) - Brainiac

6th (12 pts) - BenDover

7th (11 pts) - GoodBoy

8th (9 pts) - Tacita

9th (6 pts) - Noname

Okay, first, what the fuck, Lily. Second, I really like it; it's almost like a game.

So, I "killed" 4 people, 2 from Easy and 2 from Normal. The points are probably different for each difficulty, so does it mean Easy is 1 point, Normal is 2 points? That would fit.

But the requirement for winning this event is to stay undefeated for 5 hours and be as close to the center of the Survival Domain, and I know where that center is. It's marked by a tall pillar of bright white light that reaches and even passes through the sky. I can also see the barrier far, far in the distance. It's hard to say if it's shrinking, but it either does or will start at a certain time.

Detecting another presence, I move, and I see another man sneaking into the city. He is sending detection waves into the surroundings, and I look at the text over his head.

ManaShallPrevail (Normal, 6th)

Damn, I like the name, but I'm sorry, buddy.

Once again, I shoot a dense mana projectile, and it reaches his head, about to pierce it.

I curiously watch as the orb disappears just a millimeter before killing the man, and his body immediately turns into particles, teleporting him outside.

So that's how the system deals with this kind of wound. The attacks that hurt will most likely pass and cause damage that won't be healed by the system during events, and the stronger attacks that would kill are negated, and the target is considered defeated.

A few more presences appear on the edge of my detection, and I start hiding my mana, using Mana Cycling as I move on the roofs.

With just a few more jumps and careful boosts, I move behind one of the chimneys of a medieval-like city. A few roofs further, a group of 5 men stands, two of them from Hard difficulty and three from Normal, all in a group and discussing something energetically.

The leader is holding a bow that seems to be around rare grade and keeps watch. From him in the center, waves of detection shoot into the area.

They are a bit secretive, but to me, they feel like he is shouting next to my ear.

How the heck is he even from Hard difficulty with such detection? 

I get ready for combat and reach past them, placing [Tether] in their middle, expecting them to react before I send an attack through.

They do not try to disrupt it. Even when the man's detection washes over the anchor, but he doesn't notice it.

They don't sense anything even as I send a strong pulse of thermal energy through, and it explodes in the middle of their group, killing them all and destroying a chunk of the building.

Noname (Hell, 4th) ⟶ GigaChad (Hard, 6th)

Noname (Hell, 4th) ⟶ Toastmaster (Hard, 5th)

Noname (Hell, 4th) ⟶ MidnightM (Normal, 6th)

Noname (Hell, 4th) ⟶ Bobby (Normal, 5th)

Noname (Hell, 4th) ⟶ Ellie (Normal, 6th)

My points increase to 22.

So, Easy for 1, Normal for 2, and Hard for 5. And I still can't see rewards for positions, so maybe they are personalized according to performance? It could be.

From under the debris, I take the damaged bow, and it's of rare rarity. Useless to me, so I just place it in the middle of the clearing to hopefully make it seem like a drop, and then I place an anchor near it, all while making it as covert as possible.

For the following thirty minutes, I watch a constant stream of people moving into and through the city. A big part of them detects the bow and heads to pick it up after scanning the area. And I'm almost disappointed by how terrible that detection is.

After killing the 3rd group trying to take the bow and hunting two more groups passing through the city, I decide to change location.

People here seem to be from Easy and Normal mostly, with rarely anyone higher, and I do not like that.

With a pulse, I destroy the bow and head out of the city, entering the grassy land where I limit my output even more while sending my detection even further.

1st (84 pts) - Sset

2nd (68 pts) - Savant

3rd (61 pts) - Grumpy

The top three is led by Tess; it's obvious that she would have a nice advantage here because of her skills. I, meanwhile, am 5th with 49 points.

Checking the total number, it reduced as well.

1819 / 2357

And heading there for the first time, I detect a presence that feels different from any I felt until now.

Hiding my mana and carefully placing anchors, I move closer and on the edge of the forest, I watch two women passing by, both of them holding items and both from Hard difficulty. But there is someone else who interests me more.

A man crouching at the top of the smaller tree the women are passing under. He has a shortsword barely as long as his forearm but he holds it more like a dagger.

One of the women seems to notice something and quickly looks up but before her eyes meet the man, the air around him flickers, and, like a chameleon, he camouflages with the area. Even his presence disappears, in a manner resembling Tacita’s, but significantly inferior.

The woman, confused, squints her eyes, but then pokes her friend, and both of them rush away.

Most likely saving mana, the man, who seems around 30 years old, cancels his skill and appears again, this time with a cruel smile on his face.

BenDover (Hell, 5th) is the text over his head.

My very good friend from the Community. One of the people I really wanted to meet. I still remember the numerous insults he directed at my family and then at me. I also recall how he mocked Eris and even Myrra later, boasting gleefully about helping to kill them both.

The blade of the shortsword he holds coats in a sickly yellow coating, something akin to poison and disruption, and he becomes invisible again. At this point, I'm willing to bet his class has Phantom in the name.

It's like the asshole is actively trying to make me dislike him even more.

***

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