Chapter 363 - Kaboom! (Patreon)

I reach Min-Jae just as he catches up to a smaller group of people. This time, I also hide my mana and watch from a distance.

Not hearing what they say, I can only guess, but it's not that difficult. The people he confronts seem to be from Hard difficulty and some of the ones who challenged his Avatar just a few moments ago.

At first, Min-Jae acts non-aggressively even though I can sense his mana wildly swirling and see his clenched fists.

The situation escalates after a short exchange, and the group ends up easily pushed to the ground by a gravity field. Yet even then, the boy seems confused. There is no satisfaction he would expect, just a dirty feeling, I would think.

It's hard for me to guess because I'm an asshole who doesn't care about people other than his family or friends. If someone asked me a trolley kind of question, "Do you want 1 friend to die or a million people you don't know?" I would let those people die. All without hesitation.

Of course, the situation would be shitty and I would probably feel something, but I have my priorities straight. That's also one of the reasons why I want to become really strong. So things like that will never happen to me, and I will be able to do whatever I want.

Min-Jae, on the other side, is young, troubled, and with a difficult upbringing, always in the shadow of his siblings. Even his subclass, Envy, and the way he tries to mimic me show it.

I don’t think it's too big of a problem. Min-Jae will grow and change, and even these experiences will be a part of him in the future. He is still young, looking for his place in this world.

So for now, I do not intercept even as he waves his hand, a few trees crashing down, squeezed, and uprooted. He stomps angrily, more trees falling and a gravitational wave sent from him.

Then he almost runs away from the group of people at his feet, a hard-to-describe expression on his face.

***

(They are about to challenge Savant,) Sophie sends to me.

(I see. I won't be watching this time,) I answer and then disconnect from the web. Keeping an eye on the man in front of me, I create a chair from mana and take a sit opposite him.

“You didn’t watch my Avatar fight. Why?” I ask Savant.

Sitting in a cheap camping chair, he returns my gaze.

“It cost me a few uncommon items,” he says instead of answering as he touches it carefully. “It’s only been a year, but I have this weird feeling of nostalgia seeing these items from Earth.”

“It’s just a chair.”

“Yes, it’s just a chair.”

He stands up and throws a few logs into the fire he keeps nearby, over which an iron kettle with water close to boiling inside. Nearby, he has a glass with a tea bag prepared.

“I wanted to observe everyone. To collect some information I could use during the Duels,” he says.

“But?”

“I changed my mind. It was mostly thanks to you. I still think my way is better, but watching you during the 2nd event, I came to the question - why am I that careful and worried?”

When the water starts boiling, he pours it into the glass and then sits back into his cheap camping chair, his eyes turned back to me.

“I’m stronger than any of you.” He declares it as absolute truth. “The moment I entered the 2nd Floor, Champion Tristan took an interest in me. Through my talent, I became his disciple and grew a lot. Before he died, he declared me a Champion candidate. I am strong,” he repeats.

Silence fills the small camp Savant has set up in the forest. A spoon clinks as he starts mixing the water in his glass.

In a quieter voice, he continues, “I don’t need to see more, learn more, prepare more. I will win even without that. I want to confirm that.”

“So you're second guessing and want to prove to yourself that you are the strongest? How human,” I note.

“It’s highly possible. I'm also just a human in the end. So what is your reason why you are not watching my Avatar fight?”

“The same. I mean, if I thought you would lose your additional rewards, I would probably watch, just to laugh, but I don’t think that will happen. Plus it wouldn’t be as satisfying to beat you.”

“Pride?”

I nod, “Patience, Diligence or Pride?”

“Patience.”

“I see.”

“Yes.” Taking a sip, he looks at me, “You haven’t been declared Champion candidate yet, right?”

“Nope, but I might try to have someone declare me an Absolute candidate.”

He swirls the tea inside of his glass and nods, “I see.”

“So, is that the damaged Sword of Aeons?” I gesture at the sword with the broken blade on his waist.

“Yes.”

“The best mana battery of Eladore?”

“Yes, but I think it’s weaker than it should be. The system is most likely limiting the items or other things to arcane maximum within the tutorial.”

“That’s unfortunate. Still, I will buy it from you. 100 thousand shards.”

“No.”

“You could bet it. I add my axe and shards and you bet your broken, useless-to-you sword and the winner of the duel will get it.”

“No.”

“Are you worried?”

“No.”

He seems to be getting a tiny bit annoyed. It's quite fun. Is that how people feel when bullying me when I want to be left alone? I can understand it a little now.

Out of nowhere, I feel a ping at the edge of my detection as Tacita enters the area. She is still hiding, but after our standoff, it doesn’t feel as annoying as before. The girl is surprisingly understanding. The same as I try not to trigger her, she tries not to trigger me.

I mean, she will still try to stab me in the neck if I pass through that invisible line, but as weird as it sounds, I think that's fine.

A bit later, Savant notices her as well as she passes through his domain he keeps activated the entire time. Of course, it's not at its full power, but it seems to be enough to detect Tacita, who is not hiding at her highest effort. Still, [Dawn] seems like a really good skill.

“You are not going to watch how they challenge you?” I ask Tacita.

She shakes her head and sits on the ground to my left side and Savant’s right.

The fire crackles and the man sitting in the camping chair sighs.

Tacita’s hand moves and with a stick she brought here, she draws on the ground.

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

“I mean, yeah, they will probably lose, but wouldn’t it be fun to see it? You could also watch them challenge this guy here and use the information to beat him later.”

( •̀ - •́)ᕤ

“She says she can take you on easily,” I translate to Savant.

“I think at this point it's obvious that the winner of the 4th event will be one of us.” He pours more boiling water and then adds another tea bag. Then he opens five packages with sugar and pours them all in.

My teeth hurt watching that.

“There is Gareth, Sset, and Grumpy, but neither of them is likely to win,” he thinks aloud while swirling the tea with the spoon.

His green eyes seem to shine in the light of the campfire, “Sset is strong at the range, but other than a few surprises, she can't defeat any of us close range. Not without preparation she won’t have. Gareth lacks powerful enough damage. He is also slow, unable to catch up to either of us.”

Savant takes a sip and then adds two more packages of sugar, “Grumpy will most likely win the duels during the second tournament if she grows properly. But right now she is lacking.”

(•̀ - •́ )

“Tacita disagrees.”

“She can do that, of course. But Grumpy will be very dangerous in a few years.”

As if I didn’t know that.

“What do you think?” I ask Tacita.

乁(ツ゚)ㄏ

“Yea, the same.”

“So what are you doing here?” Savant asks me.

“I was curious,” I answer honestly. There is nothing more behind it. I just wanted to talk with this man who got the earliest into Beyond trials. Well, other than the one who started there.

Even now, he doesn’t feel that strong, to be honest. I know most of his most used skills and I nearly beat him once. Yet there is that unnerving feeling I have every time I go through a fight and imagine it continuing with new information I have.

It's exciting, and out of everyone here, he is the one I want to fight the most. Even more than Tacita, more than Tess and Lily.

“And you?” Savant asks Tacita.

ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ

“I see.” He nods.

Unlike other people, he doesn’t do sudden movements while Tacita is nearby. Even his voice is calmer and softer. He also doesn’t get closer to her when he throws a piece of wood into the fire.

The same is his behavior towards me. He acts in a way that I somehow can't find too annoying, and I'm sure it's on purpose. He is clearly reading and examining me in the same way I’m examining him.

Having seen enough, I stand up and turn to him, “You really need to calm down with all that sugar,” and with that last sentence, I use [Tether] to telepo…

Huh.

I use [Tether] to teleport away.

…

I use [Tether].

…

(≧▽≦)

I find myself unable to teleport because of Savant’s domain. Somehow, sneakily, he cut off my connection to my anchor right when I was about to disappear.

( ´ ▽ ` )

Well, there goes my cool exit.

Savant, to make it worse, doesn’t even say anything, just sips on his glass of sugar while watching me.

I sit back down. ”Do it again,” I say as I examine his domain and the way it sneakily blocked my skill. Right away, I activate my Mana Wavelength Iris and try to examine it deeper.

While Savant starts saying something, I create an extremely small and sneaky anchor near one of the legs of his chair and start sending vibrating mana through it, sneakily weakening the leg.

***

After some time, I leave, Savant unwilling to show me how he cut off my access to my anchor. It's not surprising, but I still call him an asshole for that.

At least he didn't notice the damage I made to one of the legs of his precious chair. Unfortunately, it didn't break while I watched him, but it will probably happen sometime soon in the future. That's what he gets.

With people from Group 4 nearby, a notification finally pops up.

Congratulations, you have placed 1st in the 3rd event - Avatar Confrontation.

You may choose one of the three rewards if you decide to accept.

“I want to not receive the rewards and use them to strengthen the final tournament reward,” I say right away and the screen disappears.

At the same time, the four giant screens disappear as well.

As expected, Savant, Tacita, and Lily were not defeated. Sophie as well, and from some point of view, I think people are scared of her more than anyone else.

I can see it in the way they look at her and how they are avoiding her. Even some members of Hell difficulty seem to share the feeling. Mind manipulation seems to be just that despised, even among people who have very little experience with it.

Izzy and Maya both lost. Izzy was defeated by a similar strategy they tried to apply to me and Maya because they tired her out. It could be different if they chose no restriction, and the challengers seem to realize that even as they defeated the Avatars.

But overall the mood seems good in lower difficulties, the event was fun for them even though they didn’t get the most juicy additional rewards.

Partially, it's surprising as most of them have died multiple times already. The reason might be the difference between how “death” feels during the event and in the common area. Having some experience with that, I would say that death in the common area feels much worse, much worse, while also feeling more real.

It's possible the system is at work here.

The 4th event, Duels, will start in 24 hours. The 5th day of the tournament affords the opportunity to take a break and get to know your fellow tutorial attendees.

You will receive more information as the duels come closer.

Well, it's time.

“Use minio… disciple summon,” I call.

The invitation was sent to your disciple. If accepted, your disciple will join your side for the following 24 hours!

“Where is she?” Tess asks curiously.

“She needs to accept the invitation.”

“That makes sense.”

I nod and then we wait. We're joined by, Lily, Maya, and actually the rest of group 4. It's weird, to be honest, and I hope they won’t spook my disciple. At least we are to the side of the common area, further from the noise of others.

Your disciple has accepted your invitation. Creating an entrance!

A few seconds later, from the door we can't see, Vega steps out.

Seeing her face carefully looking around and then a big smile blooms when she spots me, it hits me surprisingly hard. The end of the 5th floor was just a short time ago, so how come? I bet it’s because she is a kid. I can't bring myself to treat kids too harshly. Probably a result of my past. Well, I don't consider it a bad thing, so I won't try to change it.

But damn, Nathaniel Gwyn, you are getting soft with some people. I will have to beat up BenDover to feel manly again. That reminds me that I once again forgot about him. I wonder if he is sitting somewhere, scared, expecting me to come for him.

“Master!” Vega shouts and comes running on her short legs. I notice she glances at group 4, but seeing I act normal, she decides to ignore them and stops in front of me. She lifts her arms so I can pick her up. Then she nestles her ear against my chest where my heart is.

“Minion,” I say seriously.

“It’s Vega, master!”

“Why do you feel stronger? You left close to level 40, so why are you 50-60?”

“Kaboom!”

“Don’t ‘kaboom’ me!”

At the same time, I hear shouts and screams nearby and sense a powerful presence appear in my domain.

When I turn around, there is a giant wolf.

The wolf is pitch black and taller than the tips of the trees nearby. The golden eyes shine with surprising intelligence, and he is looking in a single direction.

At Biscuit, who is held in Isabella’s arms.

(Human…no, Asshole! Let go of my master right away!) the powerful, yet young voice sounds in our head and probably in the heads of everyone nearby.

Even though people around are panicking and getting ready to fight, Biscuit doesn’t seem to be bothered at all. Held by Isabella with his hind legs hanging and his pink tongue sticking out, he looks as if he is smiling cheekily.

***

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