Chapter 351 - Hey babe, are you a nuke? (Patreon)

Holy hell, that felt satisfying and surprisingly easy. Sure, I would probably die if I did that out of the tournament, but it's totally fine. Sooner or later, I will get to the point where I will be able to do this kind of stuff freely.

The amount of black mana I used to keep my body from breaking apart as I channeled all that mana was enough to kill me. However I was able to hold on until the end, and the system ended the event before I crumbled. I think I didn't even let others see that.

I will have to think over what I just did a bit more. The inscriptions and black mana strengthening my body helped me channel all my mana. Surprisingly, I think I need just a bit more, and I will be able to channel all of it even without black mana strengthening my body.

The Mana Circuit is working really nicely. Eyes are helping and the passives too. So maybe strengthening my Mana Circuit again? A few more rounds of active tempering when I get out of the tournament? A few more levels in my skills?

But damn, the [Mana Crown] is really good. Love that thing. Keep doing a good job. I also love the axe, good stuff. It handles all of that mana like a champ, with no scratch on it at all.

Anyway, it's time for rewards.

Before opening the notification, I make sure to act strong and slowly walk through the crowd.

At some point, a group of people from lower difficulties starts shouting, “Noname! Noname! Noname!” All over and over a dozen voices.

It's surprisingly disturbing, especially seeing the expressions they are making.

Well, it's better than them shouting Tent Creep, so I place an anchor far away and teleport a few times, reaching our house where I take my favorite spot in the armchair near the window.

Congratulations, you have ended 1st spot in the 2nd event - The Siege of Aether Keep and you have also reached 1st place in points collected - 1298 pts.

No bonus has been added as you haven't placed any [Restriction]

You can exchange your points for shards. 1 point = 5 shards.

Rewards for the 1st overall spot are 5 thousand shards.

You can decide to receive all the shards (11,490) and pick one of three rewards or not receive the shards and that increases the quality of the three rewards you can pick from.

There I hesitate. Eleven thousand shards is a lot and would nicely increase the amount I already have. I don't think I will get an arcane passive anytime soon, but that amount could help a lot.

Yet there is a question of how much these shards could improve my rewards. Maybe it would be upper epic passive? Upper epic item again, just a bit better? I already have good passives that fit me, so it would be hard to change them.

Well, let's take out the shards this time.

“I want to receive shards,” I call, and the amount of shards I hold increases.

Shards: 77,644

Still a lot missing but I will get there, and when I do, it will be glorious.

Now then, let's check the rewards.

Please pick one of the three following rewards!

10 levels, skill upgrade token

Epic grade passive skill

Epic grade item

Well, nothing for my minion, but okay.

First complaint. I should get these 10 levels automatically; I killed a shitload of enemies and even two stronger ones, so the system being cheap about it is... the fuck am I even trying, it's the system we're talking about here.

I show the middle finger towards the window and check the rewards again. For a second time, I got offered an item and a passive. Maybe they are really good? Upper epic grade?

Whatever, I will check them later if I get them offered after another event, but there is one thing I want to try.

“Can I not pick any reward and use them to strengthen the final rewards for either the tournament or the last event?”

It is possible to not receive any rewards and use them to make the final rewards for the tournament better.

And you didn't tell me that?! This asshole of a system needs a manual. If I knew that before, I wouldn’t... never mind, I would still pick the summon the minion token even if I knew that.

Haaaa... I'm too old for this crap.

“I want to save rewards and use them to strengthen the final rewards.”

There is no other notification, and the window disappears. Then I check other notifications that I got when I exited the event.

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 38 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 39]

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 39 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 40]

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 40 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 41]

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 41 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 42]

[Redistribution - lvl 45 > Redistribution - lvl 46]

[Redistribution - lvl 46 > Redistribution - lvl 47]

[Mana Domain - lvl 36 > Mana Domain - lvl 37]

[Mana Crown - lvl 17 > Mana Crown - lvl 18]

[Mana Crown - lvl 18 > Mana Crown - lvl 19]

[Mana Crown - lvl 19 > Mana Crown - lvl 20]

Good stuff, I should do things like this more often. But damn, won't [Mana Manipulation] soon get to its original level from before I used it for skill combination? The next time I get a skill combination token, I will have to seriously consider using [Mana Manipulation] in the mix. I might be really able to get it back again.

Screw you, system.

Done with the rewards, I stretch and start replaying the fight in my mind when group 4 rushes into the house.

“Holy fuck, what are you, a nuke?” Maya calls from the door.

“That's a weird pickup line,” I reply.

“Hey babe, are you a nuke? Because you've blown me away,” Dennis says in reaction to that, and the three boys laugh together.

"Are you a volcano? Because you just melted through my heart." Aaron adds to another wave of laughter.

"Is your name Atomic? Because you just split my heart in two." This time it's Tess who says that with a cheeky expression.

That makes the boys laugh even more.

"Do you work at a nuclear facility? Because you’ve just caused a meltdown in my heart." Min-Jae also joins.

Do they wanna get beaten?

"Is it hot in here, or is that just the nuclear fusion between us? It’s fusion, right?" a quiet voice joins in.

“Damn it, Lily.” 

“Yeah! Damn it, Lily!”

“Shut up, Maya! And you too, Dennis! I will beat you up!”

(Food! Food!)

Go and get them, boy! Defend your friend!

“Okay, okay, this is enough. Let's stop before we cause pun-tamination.”

Damn it, Tess.

Damn it.

At least Biscuit rushes into the room and floats onto my legs, looking at me with a curious expression. I return his gaze, and for a moment we look at each other.

In the end, he just woofs once and lies down so I can pet him.

Do I look like a villain, sitting in an armchair with my legs crossed and instead of a white cat on my leg, I'm petting the best doggo of the tournament floor?

“Izzy, take a pic!” Lily calls.

“Yes!” the 11-year-old girl who took the smartphone I bought takes it out of the dresser where she stored it safely.

She then cleans the lenses and after a while takes a pic before I can protest.

Quickly running to me on her short legs she shows me the photo, “Look!”

Indeed a villain. But damn, Biscuit is really photogenic.

Then I look at my face and freeze.

I… what is that expression? Am I smiling? It's a small one, almost imperceptible, but I can see it. A corner of the lips lifted slightly and eyes squinted a little bit. The rest is the same. The black hair, and two differently colored eyes. A weirdo I keep seeing in the mirror. 

“I will take pictures of others!” Izzy shouts happily, quickly moving back to the room where she does just that. Some of the group 4 even posing for group photos.

The atmosphere is nice, people happy for the event, and unlike others not even surprised by what I did. But I guess it’s not the first time they’ve seen me do this kind of stuff.

Tess moves closer to me, “Good job out there. It was the right decision to wait until the end. People could see us struggle against the monster and others from Hell could feel how strong it was. Yet you wiped it out just like that.”

“I will rely on you keeping the people away from me,” I answer her simply.

“No problem. You are mine too, so no poaching.” She smiles, then looks up and calls, “Izzy! Can you take a pic of me and Nat?”

“Coming!” Isabella shouts and quickly takes a few more photos of Noodle she put around Maya’s neck, Maya pretending to be choked and Noodle clearly not impressed.

Tess plops on the armrest of the armchair and smiles while Isabella takes a photo of us. That makes others rush in and a few more photos are taken against my will. The one with Lily, the boys around me. Maya forming a victory sign with her fingers.

Some of them notice my growing annoyance and that seems to make them even happier as they continue to bully me.

Biscuit is woofing, and they start talking about rewards, Isabella finally stops taking photos, and instead, Tess and Maya fight over the phone to play the song they like from its library.

Lily starts telling me about her experiments with remains of the Champion’s heart. She becomes instantly interested when I show her a bone of the Champion’s finger I got from the 5th floor. We make a deal to try something together before the tournament ends. A lot of testing can be done, after all, we can’t die.

The twins also ask about coordinates to Lissandra’s Eladore I still have, telling me Sophie told them they could be capable of learning them. They promise me a nice cut, so we also make a deal to do that sometime after the tournament as our time here can be used better.

At this point, I have a suspicion people here are using my good mood to get things from me and my eyes naturally slide to Tess who suspiciously averts my gaze.

I knew it.

I will let it pass for today, my mood is still very good after the event. Even though I almost obliterated the Aether Keep together with the Rotweaver. A small mistake. A tiny one.

Could happen to the best of us.

Against my will, I also learn rumors about the guy from Easy difficulty who is at the highest floor of anyone here. The rumors also say he killed the other 199 people from his group.

At some point, Izzy proudly presents me a smartphone and from Sophie's ashamed look I understand she somehow has something to do with this. Most likely forced to help by her little sister.

What Isabella shows me is a video of me. It looks like she recorded it from the giant screen during  the event. In the video, I’m floating in the air, the golden circle appearing around my pupil and crown glowing over my head as I lift the axe.

The video has multiple glitch-like effects on it and she even added some filters. Some Phonk-like music plays in the background, trying to make what's happening in the video, and me in extension, look cool.

Please help.

Should I destroy that hellish device? We haven't seen any smartphones on the floors yet. Not even on the super developed 2nd Floor. So maybe they shouldn't exist. It did cost me only a few rare items, so I could do that; it's a cost I'm willing to pay to stop this. Isabella seems to be only starting and who knows what she will get up to.

She even happily chirps that she saw some people with a laptop and sits on my legs, her objective clear. Even Noodle is helping, poor little disgraced guy. Poked by Izzy, he slithers closer, the entire time glancing at Biscuit who watches him.

Noodle acts cute, Isabella acts cute. In an attempt to make me buy the laptop for her. She says she could make even better videos for me as if it's something I would want.

Hell, I am willing to pay if she doesn’t make them anymore.

With a sigh, I agree to buy it and in exchange, she promises me to be nice to Vega when I summon her here.

Vega is still only around level 40 while Isabella is over 150. But their ages are also similar, and I remember the stories Vega told me. It would be nice if she could have fun with Isabella at least for that one day.

When the snacks start appearing on the table and everyone takes a short break before doing their tournament stuff, I decide to do the same.

For a while, I can enjoy this as well.

***

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