Chapter 375 - Want to spar for a moment? (Patreon)

Appearing back on the roof I keep replaying what just happened. I knew that too much mana could make people with better sensitivity faint, and much more can overwhelm even stronger ones.

It's something I'm sure that at much higher levels turns into what I until now heard being called Mana Radiation. It can be created with less mana through some skills like Savant’s [Dawn] and probably my [Mana Domain] if I try to learn it. I saw Savant using it plenty so it shouldn't be that difficult to replicate it.

So at high mana levels, the mana radiation can be created even without a skill. As for how much it is, it's difficult to guess. I'm sure Champions and Absolutes are capable of it, seeing some zones like the Valley on the 5th Floor.

As of now, I have yet to fully understand the effects of it. Does it only overwhelm people and can kill them as their bodies are unable to endure such mana density? Does it attack differently like some sort of poison? Does it affect animals or monsters?

More fun stuff to experiment with.

“Congratulations on making it to the finals of your group,” Maya says to me.

“I’m not selling you the axe.”

“Douchebag.”

On the screen, another fight starts. Adam against Miwa, who got surprisingly far.

Both of them face each other. Adam in his clean suit without any visible weapon and Miwa with her silver arm with a pink hue holding a katana. She bows and Adam does so somewhat awkwardly.

“Adam constantly keeps trying to hire Miwa and keeps looking for the real identity of Tent Creep. Miwa has to constantly refuse him, calling him a fake who just cares about money and not about the art of crafting,” Tess says while tying Maya's hair into a braid.

“Hehe, Tent Creep,” Maya giggles.

“For some unknown reason, the price for the axe just went up by 20 percent,” I throw in and turn my attention to the screen.

As during the second event, there is purple mana around Adam. It moves and looks like waves, surrounding him and crashing against him.

Opposite him, Miwa squeezes the katana and takes a stance that seems well-practiced. That katana, held in her prosthetic arm, gains a similar pinkish hue to the arms and she charges, swinging her weapon.

The purple wave of mana gets cut apart by the weapon and a metal cube she throws on the ground absorbs another attack shot at her by Adam.

Even so, it's not enough and the man just releases more. The wave-like mana crushes and grinds down anything it touches.

“I thought she would do better, having that arm from the Champion and all.”

“She is from Hard difficulty. The Champions there most likely weren’t as powerful as on our floors,” Tess finishes Maya's hair while answering her. “She is also a crafter and most of her time she spends on that so it makes sense.”

“The arm is upper epic at most,” I join the conversation.

“Huh, you have plenty of items like that so why did you go after her arm so much?” Maya asks me.

“I believe it can be upgraded to arcane. The base of the arm is amazing, the material, and from what I saw the inscriptions too. Some work on it would push it over the line.”

I would need to examine it a bit more but I'm quite sure I'm right. The arm is similar to the unfinished upper rare items I found in the Veil Ignition Station and turned epic to sell.

Even so, Miwa doesn’t seem to be that disappointed when she loses. Her movements are smooth and elegant and the weapon strengthened by her arm is doing surprisingly well against someone from Hell difficulty.

Still, the fight ends with her loss and a few fights later Lily faces Alaine, the woman archer we saw not that long ago.

After exchanging a few words with her opponent, the length of Lily’s hair shortens and she dashes. Three arrows shoot at her, each hit by Lily’s hand and eaten away by [Disintegration]. Lily boosts her movement further, even bulldozing through the stone instead of moving around it. The huge chunk of stone just disappears, eaten away by her skill.

Alaine tries to keep her distance and slow Lily down, but it is to no avail. Lily reaches her and dodges under the last two projectiles. She tanks the last one that pierces through her neck, the wound immediately closing.

The arrow Alaine holds extends into a palm-long blade and she stabs it against Lily, who just touches her arm gently, making it disappear as if it never existed. Then Lily hits again and a huge circular hole appears in Alaine’s chest and she turns into particles. Both of the women appear outside.

Now both of them in the finals of their group, Tess and Lily exchange competitive looks. That duel will be fun.

Sophie also gets inside, facing a woman from Hard difficulty and the fight barely takes a few seconds. The woman’s mental barrier breaks nearly immediately and she moves the ice dagger in her hand, stabbing her own neck which causes her to forfeit nearly immediately.

That gets Sophie into the finals against Tacita and when she gets out she has the same expression she did when Tacita defeated Izzy. 

In the remaining fights before the group finals, Gareth defeats his opponents, Biscuit, and Dennis also defeat theirs.

And Min-Jae gets in. The duel decides who will go into his group finals. His opponent, the scrawny man from Hell difficulty and unfortunately for Min-Jae, he seems to counter him and even has more experience in combat.

The assassin-build man disappears, turns transparent, invisible, or blends with the environment.

Min-Jae tries to counter it with a gravity field around him and the metal orbs spinning wildly around. Each of these orbs is quick enough to tear the man apart the moment he moves closer. That’s how quickly they move, anchored to him.

To this point, it’s easily winnable. He just needs to reduce his output. Just half would be enough to deal with the guy and allow him to save his reserves. But unfortunately, Min-Jae doesn’t do that.

Tense because of how his last fight went, Min-Jae is more worried than he should be, focused on useless stuff, his mana draining quicker than it should. He seems to realize it after some time as well and finally lowers his output and starts randomly moving a few orbs further in the distance, trying to blindly hit the man he can't locate even by looking through gravitational waves with his eye.

The reason seems simple enough to me and I stare into the air high over Min-Jae. Either finding a perfect opportunity or not having much more mana remaining, the scrawny man appears in the air, the weird platform made out of mana under him.

That platform disappears and pulled by increased gravity, he falls down at high speed, crashing against Min-Jae and most likely breaking a few bones in the process. But even so, he stabs a dozen times, turning a surprised Min-Jae into shiny particles.

When Min-Jae appears on the roof and then leaves without saying anything, I place an anchor on him and turn back to the screen. But there are a few more fights I don't care that much about before the finals of the groups, so I guess I have some free time now.

“I will check on him,” I tell Tess, who seems like she is about to follow Min-Jae. To be honest, it’s getting on my nerves seeing him act like this. I know I said he is still young and dumb, but this?

“Don’t be too harsh,” Tess says.

“Sure.”

I then use the anchor I left on the now 16-year-old boy and teleport to where he is. His reaction time is decent and he senses me even before I appear and his skills crash against me before he realizes who it is.

I deflect the attacks and face him. “That was kind of disgraceful.”

He blinks a few times and I can see anger behind his eyes, but he holds it back. “Yes. I fucked up.”

“Quite a bit. Want to spar for a moment?”

The silence stretches on for a bit longer.

“Nat, I don’t know what you are trying, but please, I’m really not in the mood.”

“Just for a bit.”

“I’m sorry but no.”

“A short spar, come on.”

“I said no!” he screams. “Do you not have enough?! Did you not enjoy seeing me fuck up everything I could since the tournament started? You always keep watching, looking, and not saying anything and now you want to spar?! No fucking thanks! I’m not in the mood to get beat again.”

“If you don’t, I will just attack you.”

“Fucking do it then! Beat me up! I hope you will have fun doing so like everyone else. Maybe even mention how easy it would be.”

“I mean, after seeing today’s matches I could use 1st Floor [Restriction] and win. It would be easy, even back then my mana orbs were decent and I could sling them quickly. You tend to get impatient and careless against weaker opponents so I would keep teasing you and then shoot an orb through your legs. Your defenses are a bit weaker around your feet.”

I take a step closer and look down at him, “My body strengthening was good too so I could use you underestimating me and get close to you. Then I would let you hurt me, maybe tear off my arm or leg or blind my eye. After that, I would push through and stab your neck.”

What I'm saying I mean. Even though it might have cost me my life, I can't imagine failing to kill Min-Jae before dying. Of course, I would probably run away and try to fight in a way that would allow me to survive, but in a fight to the death, Min-Jae would lose to 1st Floor me.

“Nat, I don’t know why you are…”

I don’t let him finish and send a burst of kinetic energy at him, sending him staggering backwards and almost falling on his ass.

Even though he does that, he uses gravity, and two orbs I shoot at him crash to the ground at the places he marked.

“Fuck, what…”

More of the mana orbs fling from me and he redirects them all and when I jump back he increases gravity under me. From the ground, stones shoot at my face. I just coat my palm in mana and let these stones crash.

Min-Jae this time senses me creating an anchor behind him and another one above him. His body becomes lighter and he pulls himself with [Telekinesis] just in time to escape a burst of flames and kinetic energy. From his pockets, a dozen orbs float, spinning around him letting out a whistling noise.

The yellow flames I shoot towards him he splits apart with [Telekinesis] making them pass by his sides.

Every time he tries to say anything or stop the fight, I push more.

Another orb, a javelin filled with thermal energy, an anchor nearby. My attacks do not give him time to think and I push him deeper and deeper into the forest where he starts throwing trees at me and changing the gravity that affects them so they are pulled towards me.

He levitates up but my bombardment with yellow glowing orbs and flames exploding around him forces him to land on the ground, increasing gravity as I step closer.

Using [Telekinesis] to move his body he barely dodges my attacks. He knows I’m far from going all out. But he has no time to do anything about it.

I know his skills well. I have seen him fight many times, and I know the areas where he is lacking, which I would target in an attack. So as we clash I fight in a way that allows him to utilize his strengths. I let him use the environment against me, I use skills I’m sure he can counter and I poke at his weaknesses, making him react to it.

Like that, the fight becomes faster and faster. Min-Jae knows the attacks I’m using and I can read the movement of his mana with my eyes so I allow him to use everything he can.

My orb nearly kills him but he redirects it at the last moment, a look of sheer surprise on his face by his own reaction.

My flames surround him and I see him wanting to run away, but I don’t let him and he uses his skills to redirect them around himself and push them away. A smile climbs on his face as he succeeds in it.

At close range, he keeps escaping my anchors and the explosions in their wake, getting better at sensing them as his mind relaxes. He allows his instincts to overtake and react quicker than if he stood there nervously.

And as the fight goes on and his reserves become smaller he smiles more and more. There is no other thought in his mind other than this fight. I don't allow it. He doesn’t think of useless stuff like worrying about losing, people looking, or what others might think.

We just fight for the sake of it.

He finally stumbles and falls to his knees and even then it’s not over. He pushes himself back on his feet, gathering the last bits of his mana he bombards me with the deadly orbs he bonded to himself.

After I block even that attack, he tries again, but there is nothing left. Min-Jae stands there, breathing heavily, sweat wetting his hair and making it stick to his face. He is looking at me, wanting me to say something.

I send a soft burst of kinetic energy at him, just enough to make him fall on his ass. Then, while he is looking up at me, I just teleport away, letting him reflect on his own.

***

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