Weapons of Mass Destruction

Chapter 558: Villain in your path

“What about the 8th round?” I ask them.

“Oh, that!” Dennis perks up. “You hadn’t told us, but apparently that guy Derick is super strong. He barely uses mana for anything other than body strengthening, and has some kind of strange tattoos that disrupt mana, and they work super well. The guy we asked theorized that tattoos are either from a powerful passive or a trait. There are also rumors that Derrick recently acquired a Fragment or Primordial energy of some sort that isn’t one of the common five.”

Aaron waits for his brother to finish. “They also said he’s really good in close combat and very technical about it. He used to be a top-grade martial artist on Earth or something and he only continued to improve in the tutorial. He also seems to cooperate very well with his wife, who does nothing fancy, just primordial lightning projectiles and a bow, but at a high level.”

Dennis nods, and both of them fall silent. The mood sours a bit as if they don’t want to talk about what comes next.

“10th round?” I ask.

Seeing Dennis not answer, Aaron sighs, “We weren’t able to get there; they only let tournament winners in, so Jean and Derick went there. Your sister didn’t go, and clearly, neither did you. We got killed two times when we tried to sneak in.”

“Happens,” I wave it off. “So Jean, along with the majority of the 1st round, are Canadian. 2nd round?”

“No idea, probably Europe or something.”

“3rd round tournament winner is that shadow-skill void energy boy, right?”

“Yup, that round is probably made up of people from Eastern Europe, Russia, and India.”

“The 4th is Victoria, and she said they have people from all over the world. Ours is mostly American. And the 6th seemed like South America.”

“Yes, Tess said she spoke with Leticia, and thought that the 7th round seemed to be from Western Europe, and that she thought Leticia might be from Spain, but she said there were also people from Britain and Africa.”

“Derrick is Irish, so his round could be mostly drawn from the UK?”

“Likely,” Dennis nods as he turns to look at Sophie.

Sophie, joining the conversation, shrugs. “Derrick and Noelle sound like Irish names, but I could be wrong. So it’s safe to expect that the 9th and 10th rounds are mostly centered around Australia, China, Japan, and Korea.”

I nod. “Probably, but you can look at our round. Gareth and Whitewing were flying over Europe, and they mostly came from Germany, Poland, and those areas.”

As we’re wrapping up the conversation with that interesting fact, I notice Channeler waving at me, so I create an opening in the barrier, allowing him to enter before I redeploy it.

He looks around a bit awkwardly, suddenly finding himself surrounded by group 4, but he quickly regains his composure and smiles.

“I found three people from Hard difficulty who have a heart-based trait that are willing to let you examine them later,” he says, looking toward me.

Maya glances at me and then at the handsome man. “Really? You needed to tell it to him now, just 30 minutes before the event?”

Channeler does not seem bothered; he smiles playfully, and I notice Maya’s heartbeat skips a beat as he does.

It sure must be nice to be so handsome.

So good for him.

Maybe I should send him out to fight an enemy King in the 1st wave?

“Nathaniel told me to tell him as soon as possible, so I thought I would do just that,” Channeler explains.

“Did you explain them everything?” I ask.

Not skipping a beat, he confirms, “Yes. The examination might include opening up their chest and reopening the wound repeatedly so the system’s effects don’t out heal it. I also mentioned that we have a healer who can reduce the pain a bit. Of course, most of them refused outright, but when I mentioned you would buy items for them, made by Tent Creep, some of them actually changed their tune and agreed.”

“I see.”

“You know, Tent Creep is getting famous again,” Channeler says with the same playful expression as he watches me. “A lot of people have been saving up their shards in hopes of buying some of their items, but it looks like the other rounds were also quick to notice the items. Unfortunately, and I quote, they’re ugly as fuck, like a kid molded them from clay, but their properties are just too good.”

“You asshole, how long have you known?”

“Ever since the first tournament. I have a good memory, and sorry, it’s not like you did a very good job of hiding it. Plus, you mentioned making an arcane item for me, you know.”

“Oh, that’s true. Well, if this isn’t awkward.”

“Nat likes to play around with secret identities. He thinks it’s cool.” Dennis smirks.

“Secret identity crafter, and he may have mentioned a secret identity as a melee fighter called Noname in Beyond. There might be a pattern,” Aaron snarks, nodding seriously.

“Sure, sure,” I dismiss, waving them off as I create a manablock chair to sit in.

The conversation continues without me, and Channeler easily keeps it up. It seems so natural. Asshole.

Izzy moves closer and shyly taps on my shoulder. When I look at her, she smiles softly, pulls a dagger out of her clothes, and hands it to me, making sure the others can’t see.

“I made it,” she declares proudly.

The dagger is simple, and I see burn marks from her flames on the blade, which has melted in places. The rarity is mid-rare. I’ve noticed her trying to make stuff for a while now, but this is the first one she’s shown me, despite the many lesser attempts she must have made.

I can tell she’s very proud of it, and I can’t help but find it adorable as I see the shy expression on her face.

Izabella, despite being able to read others well and know their emotions with an eerie degree of accuracy, even without her skill, is terrible at hiding her own emotions.

“It’s amazing,” I say, as I take a moment to look it over. Each second I take makes her happier. When I finally slide it back into its sheath and hand it back to her, she immediately hides it in her clothes.

“I know it’s terrible in comparison to what you’ve been making, but thanks!”

“It is?” I ask curiously. “I don’t think there are many people in Hard difficulty who can make rare items like this, and some of them are super specialized for crafting.”

Her mood improves markedly, to the point that if she were a lynthari, I bet her ears would be twitching.

“Liar,” she snorts.

“Am I? Why don’t you check my emotions to confirm?”

“Phe,” she snorts again and leaves without doing so.

So silly.

After a while, I start feeling a bit awkward. I’m the only one sitting, but it’s too late to dismiss the chair now, at this point it would just look lame, so I continue to sit there until the event starts.

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Then, a few seconds before we get pulled inside, I slide into [Focus].

Appearing inside, I take a deep breath of air, noting the hint of salt on the wind, along with the sound of the sea and waves crashing against the rocks nearby. The throne room is exactly the same as the previous one, aside from a number of large circular holes in the wall.

I lift up, fly, pass through one of them, and rise a bit higher.

Our fort isn’t much different from the previous one; it’s just smaller and has a huge wall around it. Inside that wall stands a single tall tower, with my throne room at its peak.

Flying a bit more, I land on the roof and look around. As far as I can see, there is only the sea, and in the distance, I can see more forts, each seemingly in the middle of the sea on a not-so-tall rock platform.

After a while, I notice that the waves aren’t actually all that tall. Each wave only rising to about half my height, and I can see through the crystal clear water, down to the yellow sand underneath. The sea, if one could truly call it that, probably only rises up to my thighs. Even though this view isn’t quite the unearthly vista I’ve come to expect, it is beautiful, the clear sea stretching on as far as the eye can see, contrasted against the calm sands below, and the clear blue sky above.

As planned, I shoot one of my thermal orbs high into the air and let it explode. In a similar way, a yellow orb explodes over another fort to our right.

So that’s where Vic is.

Just as before, I form an [Empyrean Lance] over my shoulder and start feeding it my mana while reactivating [Mana Crown]. Even though no mana goes into my crown, having it activated helps me control my mana. Meanwhile, even though I want to create another lance, I cannot. Even the one requires the most of my concentration. It also might be a rule that only one can exist, or it might just be a lack of understanding regarding the skill. Another thing long since added to my to-do list.

I sit down on the roof, and most of my effort goes into the lance while I think.

So, Derick, Jean, and that mysterious mystery guy from the 10th round. I wish things were simple, and I could say each of them was stronger than the [King] they faced, but things just aren’t that simple.

You can counter people, you can have your Beyonders help you, so even though they lost and can’t participate, I don’t think I should underestimate them or the 6th round [King] I beat.

Plus, there are also people like Tess, Lily, Savant, and Tacita. Each of them is likely strong enough to become a tournament winner if things went their way. And it’s very possible the other rounds have [King]-level individuals of their own. Hell, there’s always the possibility that the [King] in question hasn’t improved very much in the past year, and there are plenty of people stronger than them.

So far, I haven’t used black mana. I still haven’t removed even one seal on the heart. Even my passive Mana Wavelength Tyrant is still deactivated, and it’s been that way for months. That incredible mid-arcane passive I got with my primary class upgrade just sitting there unused, so it doesnʼt mess with my training and make everything too easy.

Not to forget the all-powerful [Knitting]. Then, I could also use Ley Lines to launch inscriptions in a similar way to how the Eye Champion of the 6th floor did.

It could be said even now, I’m still far from going all out. It’s not even close. But at the same time, things feel like they’re spiraling out of my control. There is nothing I can do about Tess, who’s busy doing who knows what on the 7th floor. I have to rely on Lissandra to keep her word, and there’s still the chance of her interfering with the tournament further.

To send away these useless thoughts, I say, “Status.”

Name: Nathaniel Gwyn

Title: Champion Candidate

Difficulty: Hell

Floor: Tournament Floor

Time left until forced return: 2y 361d 23h 54m 1s

Traits (2/3): Mana Wavelength Iris 2/3, Mana Physique 0/3

Lvl 305

Strength: 240

Dexterity: 231

Constitution: 429

Mana (Stage 1/3 - Vast Mana): 1621 + 1621

Primary Class: Mana Weaver (Unique Arcane)

Sub-class: [Adept of Pride]

Active skills (10/10):

Focus - Lvl 63

Perception - Lvl 59

Redistribution - Lvl 59

Mana Domain (Pride) - Lvl 59

Mana Crown - Lvl 53

Mana Manipulation - Lvl 63

Ley Line - Lvl 49

Eclipse - Lvl 26

Empyrean Lance - Lvl 17

Knitting - Lvl 29

Constructs:

Reinforcement

Mana Regulator

Mana Sovereignty Mantle

Kinetic Mana Heart

Sealed Ignition Heart (Fully Sealed, 3/3)

Passive skills (5/5):

Phoenix Embrace (Mid Epic)

Mana-Kinetic Conversion Reservoir (Unique Epic)

Mana-Fortified Mind (Low Arcane)

Mental Attunement Loop (Mid Arcane)

Mana Wavelength Tyrant (Mid Arcane)

Tokens:

Beyond 3 day stay token

Beyond 3 day stay token

Beyond 1 day stay token

Beyond 1 day stay token

Shards: 384,133

I pull my knees closer to my chest and watch the fortresses over them, as each round starts building up their defenses. Some build things similar to Sophie’s web, salting them with barriers and other structures made with the help of items. They really spend a lot of time pouring a lot of mana into all of it, and with the help of my Mana Wavelength Iris, I can see it all. The structure of the defenses, the movement of mana, the more glowing mana, the denser it becomes. I even start to see tiny particles of ambient mana floating around and reacting to their manipulation.

As always, the world I can see through my traits is so pretty and ever-changing. It is a constant stream of information, enough to fry my brain without a lot of help from my passive.

I look to my right and see Lissandra sitting there as well. Her eyes are on me. She feels like a natural disaster to me and always has. A disaster that can destroy an entire planet. But just like a natural disaster, Lissandra isn’t cruel; she’s just cold, uncaring when it comes to normal human struggles.

“I will kill you one day,” I tell her.

“Have I stepped over the line, little pup?” she asks.

“I wouldn’t say a single word if you were just messing with me, but now you’re putting someone I care about at risk. I’m not angry because you didn’t help, even though you could have. It was our fault and our lack of skill that led to this. What I hate about all of this is that you’re holding it over us with every intent of using her as a tool.”

She sits there and listens as the small waves continue moving outside in the wind.

“I do not care if it ends up well or if you did it all with the intention of helping Tess and me grow stronger. If you slip up even once, I will kill you.”

Lissandra’s smile lingers, calm and composed.

“Good,” she says, standing while the wind stirs her silver hair around her.

Her tone grows softer, but the weight behind her words doesn’t fade. “It’s thanks to you that I am who I am. You pulled me out of that rotting stagnation and brought something back to life in me. And for that, I’m grateful. For that, I’ll stand as the villain in your path. And for that, if you ever become strong enough, I’ll gladly die by your hand.”

As I stare at her, she simply says, ”You are not allowed to use your passives during this event.” Then, she turns and leaves.

Still watching the spot where she sat, I deactivate my passives one by one.

Phoenix Embrace (Mid Epic)

Mana-Kinetic Conversion Reservoir (Unique Epic)

Mana-Fortified Mind (Low Arcane)

Mental Attunement Loop (Mid Arcane)

All get turned off, adding to Mana Wavelength Tyrant, which I had turned off previously.

Then, I sit there, gazing into the distance at the other forts as they build up their defenses.

Ours is the only fortress that doesn’t set up any defenses at all.