Chapter 347: Still considered human? |
Unlike the 1st event, we haven’t been stripped of our items. In my case, I brought a voidsteel blade, the damaged arcane ax, and a few smaller things. The axe's performance can't compare to the glove Savant used, and I'm jealous.
Savant was restricted and, in my opinion, had pathetic mana reserves. Yet the glove still did such impressive damage. That's why I rushed to put it on. If I had gotten the glove instead of him, I'm sure I would’ve torn the others apart in that event.
Damn, and that glove was only low arcane. So what does that make my ax? Low, mid, or upper? Nevan was really skilled and he collaborated with Champion Niall to make it, so maybe mid? And how high is the difference between the mid and the other tier? Surely it’s a wider gap than one would see when comparing rare or epic items.
I heft the ax in my hand. It feels heavy but not overly so, and it's warm even though I haven’t fed it any mana. Its inner flame pulsates slowly like a beating heart.
During this event, I’ve decided to channel most of the thermal energy stored in my Vortex Core through the ax to put it through its paces.
The inscriptions on my skin are also going well, and the crown over my head holds quite a nice amount of mana at the moment. It also seems that I’ll have no trouble keeping the crown active indefinitely. It does require a bit of mana for upkeep, but it's barely noticeable and my regeneration easily covers the cost.
Of course, the crown will require a bit more mana if I use it more heavily, but it'll be well worth it.
I’ve also been trying to infuse it with my other energies, but it doesn’t seem to work. It only accepts mana, thermal, and kinetic energy refuses to enter at all. It is in the name though, so I can't be too mad.
During this event, I could send black mana to it, the way I did when I first got the skill, but even back then it felt like the explosion wasn't as strong as it could be. It was just the after-effects of two things clashing, and the resulting explosion was highly wasteful.
As I pass a group of the other participants one of the guys from Easy difficulty quickly jumps out of my way, apologizing as he rushes to avoid me.
There are whispers and people are glancing at me. It’s something we’ve all had to deal with to some extent. The people from Easy difficulty are slowly beginning to realize the true difference between them and the higher difficulties. I’ve already overheard some of them questioning whether or not we can still be called humans. It's an interesting thought.
Am I still considered human? Do I care?
Some people seem to enjoy the rise in status while others seem to be worried by the prospect. Both positions are understandable. And it will be even worse when the tutorial ends and we encounter normal humans once more. Even now, there have been accidents caused by people from higher difficulties interacting with low level individuals.
A single hug can crush someone with a weaker body. Accidentally releasing a bit too much mana. The heat from a skill can burn people. These things happen.
People from Hell difficulty seem to do a better job controlling their powers, while it seems that those from Hard difficulty have a harder time. And people seem to realize it, every single one of the 31 people from Hell is being tiptoed around.
There are men offering their services as assistants. People trying to make connections. Groups asking us to intervene because of the power we hold.
Lily, who’s clearly the strongest healer in Hell difficulty, has it the worst, a constant stream of people have been coming to her with old wounds, asking, begging, and offering to pay for her services. They want their limbs restored, or their hair regrown, or their scars healed and pain relieved.
They keep asking and asking. Even if there are over two thousand people and most of them are reasonable, there’s also a group of people that are shameless. Even brave enough to ignore the difference in strength, wanting to take advantage of our kind hearted Lily.
It annoys me, they’re doing it right now; when they should be focusing on the event with mere minutes remaining ‘till the start. But healers are sought after and this is just the start.
Some people want their youth back, it's mostly meant as a joke, or at least I hope it is, but I don’t think it’s going to stay that way. We’ve seen it and looking at Lily’s talent I actually think it will be possible for her, later. Just a few hundred more levels and making some normal human feel and look decades younger should be easy. Hell, there were people who lived thousands of years kept alive by the dead Saint’s aura.
At her full power, the Saint Absolute was probably capable of holding that aura over entire cities, making its citizens almost immortal beings. Something like that is hard to fully grasp.
What would a power like that cause on Earth? Even if it was much weaker? Lily would become nobility instantly. One of the most powerful and important people on the planet.
I saw other healers too, mainly Gareth who can heal with his aura-like silver light. Even he is not at her level, not even close. His healing is much slower and more gradual.
Reaching the top of the wide stairway, most of the “leaders” are already present, and Gareth is arguing with Savant.
I observe for a while and, even now Savant seems to be a loner. Untrusting of others, only here to hear their plan to inform his own. But I notice an interesting item on him. A beautiful sword with half a blade. It's broken cleanly and yet even so, he wears it at his waist.
What is it?
When I try to extremely carefully send my mana there, a field around it detects it and pushes my senses away. A weaker version of [Dawn], meaning that Savant had learned the skill even before the third floor or at least sometime during it.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
He stops talking to Gareth and without a speck of doubt turns his eyes to me. Did he trace it back to me or was it a guess?
Calling Gareth and his way of dealing with things disgusting, he turns around and leaves with a clinical look on his face. It's like he is dissecting everyone he looks at.
I could go bully him, learn more about this sword he values so much, or perhaps as revenge for the 1st event. But that just feels cheap. Plus, I'm sure he would just leave the event rather than sit there and let me.
The others don’t antagonize him either. Even if he has the strongest restriction right now, he was also in Beyond before any of us. He also climbs the Floors alone. No one underestimates him. And neither do I.
From the end of the first event, it felt like I should be able to fuck him up fairly easily. My domain is equal to or just slightly weaker than his, but with my reserves, I could just wait and brutally overpower him.
But I saw his expression during our last clash. He knows it and the same as me, he’s planning countermeasures. He now sees my crown and more of my abilities.
But who cares? Prideful and cocky, Nathaniel is back. That guy is going down no matter what. Well, at least as long as I don't get matched with Tacita—that could be a bit problematic, to be honest.
“How much time do we have left?” I ask when I rejoin the group, slightly to the side.
“Five minutes,” Tess answers simply.
Curious, I check her crown and she lets me do it. She has a fairly decent amount of Primordial lightning squared away. And a few javelins hanging in the air behind her, two of them epic. At this point, she has no problem making items like that float without a noticeable drain to her mana reserves.
Maybe I should do something like that, it looks cool.
Biscuit wobbles in at that point and for a moment I imagine him with some sort of crown of his own. I really like that idea. The corgi would look great. But knowing him, he’s going to copy me without my interference.
We decide to make some last-minute changes. The groups that intend to cooperate with our little alliance will man the first wall and the field between it and the second. The plan is based around the theory that the difficulty being easiest at the start will provide an opportunity for those from the lower difficulties to score some points.
Currently, they are in place, their mana painfully slow to activate, and their skills at the ready. A lot of them seem to be taking this as a fun and friendly competition while they do their best to ignore the other difficulties. Some uncooperative groups are also on the walls, with their goal to gain as many points as possible.
The natives move about, following the orders of their leaders. Men and women in armor. Their levels rarely exceed a hundred, only a few manage to break two hundred, and only a single individual has a level approaching three hundred.
There is no notification as the five hours of preparation give way to defense. Just the earth shaking and far down the mountain, the ground begins to bulge out, and pieces of stone and dirt explode into the air. Revealing a deep dark hole and a head poking out.
An ant.
This one is smaller than the bus-sized monstrosities I remember. It's probably only as big as Biscuit. Almost a cute little thing. Almost. But the reaction is unsurprising.
In group 4 alone, most of us are wearing murderous expressions, and they are not the only ones. Some of the other participants from Hell difficulty are the same. Our hatred for the species seems to be unanimous.
So as the ant rushes out and behind him hundreds more ants start climbing out, they are close to abandoning our plans and attacking right away. Not caring that the monsters are only level thirty at most.
There is no invisible connection connecting them all, no hive mind. These ones seem much more normal, communicating only with pheromones.
“We are sticking to the plan,” Tess says simply and I can sense one of the twins connecting to the web and sending communications to the leaders of each group.
Tess has a cold expression on her face as she says this, unlike many others. But just that seems to be enough and most of the people seem to calm down.
Sometimes I will have to learn how she communicates with them. I know Tess is scary at times, but she’s wound the others around her finger too quickly. Is she using Lily, Sophie, and I as threats?
Well, let's check something first.
I use one of the anchors I’ve maintained with the help of a mana stone and appear on the spot closest to the hole in the ground which continues to spew forth ants.
The monsters notice me right away, dozens of them crawling my way while shooting acid at me. I just form a suit of armor around my body and ignore them while burning the ones that make contact.
I pass through them to reach the hole, before squatting and looking down the bore as the monsters surround me.
As the attacks crash all around me, I send my senses into the hole, seeking its origin. I would go down myself, but it's not very wide, and I refuse to crawl through there.
My senses detect thousands more monsters, most of them around level thirty or a bit higher. I do not detect anyone controlling them, not even another kind of monster.
For a moment, I think of creating an atomic bomb and throwing it in but decide against it. It would make Tess look silly, having others not attack while I do this as her group member.
Sure, it would be funny and satisfying, but... actually, just a tiny bomb wouldn't hurt anyone, right?
(Nat, if you do what I think you want to, I will stop keeping these people from bothering you,) I hear through the connection Sophie and the twins set up.
(All the people?) I ask.
(Do you think you’re being left alone just because you went a bit wild during the first event? Tons of people wanted to talk to you. People rich outside of the tutorial, asslickers, people who wanted to become your disciple, or the ones that wanted to befriend you. There were also plenty of pretty young women and even a few men. I kept them all back.)
Well, I was a bit surprised that I wasn’t being bothered more.
Disappointed, I use my anchor and reappear next to her. She just nods and smiles imperceptibly. Standing there tall and proud in her armor, her golden hair fluttering and crown floating over her head, Tess really looks regal and reliable as always.
“I will rely on you to run interference from here on.”
She nods, “It's my pleasure. Let's just watch the kids play, and when the stronger ones pop out, you can do your thing. And Nat, be flashy when you do so.”
That much was obvious, wasn’t it?
“I have a good idea, you’re going to like it.” As I say so I get rid of all the traps I placed. All the anchors, all the threads, everything.
The others can have some fun comparing themselves to each other. Then after they’re done I will show them something really nice.
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