LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 36 – The Kingdom of Solara Tournament
After a short while jogging to the capital, Inari and I finally made it to the city gates for Solara. As we approached, I could see the expansion was coming along nicely, with the new exterior wall section appearing to be over halfway done. Taskmasters could be seen instructing the various forced labor to transport the heavy marble slabs as usual. Fortunately, the queue to enter the city wasn’t as bad as we had feared, with the largest inconvenience being the judgmental glares from the other humans while waiting in line. Thankfully, Inari seemed rather oblivious to the condescending attitudes directed towards her. After roughly half an hour of chatting and deciding on our upcoming tournament debut strategy, it was finally Inari and I’s turn to show our identification plates to enter the city. Standing at the gate, ready to receive us with judgmental eyes, was what looked like a typical knight in metallic, steel armor. Beside them was several more guards, each equipped with a long pikes or spears. Conscious of the little time remaining to register for the tournament, I quickly handed over my identification plate to him. Aggressively, he took the plate from my hands and spent far too long in my opinion scrutinizing it’s simple details. Then, he voiced his only question towards me, which I promptly answered as precisely as possible.
“Name, rank, and reason for entry?”
“Kotato Yamata, F(+) ranked adventurer, looking to compete in the tournament today.”
After a few more flips and rotations of my bronze plate in his gauntlets, he finally handed it back. Then, he started eyeing Inari up before speaking to me again in a rough voice.
“This beast with you?”
“She has a name, and yes, Inari is with me.”
While I probably shouldn’t have been rude, due to potentially forfeiting our entry into the city, the guard fortunately only gave me an obvious eyeroll at my comment, then motioned for Inari to hand him her plate as well. Before he could even ask the standard questions, she quickly chimed in with her response.
“Inari Kitsune, F(+) ranked adventurer, I am also looking to compete in the tournament today!”
“Did I ask you anything yet?”
“Ummm, no, you didn’t, but you were asking everyone else the same questions, so I figured—“
“Then be quite unless spoken to.”
Geez, that was rather rude. Inari was also quite disheartened at his attitude towards her as well. She was now fidgeting with her paws while awaiting the guard’s response. Eventually, after flipping the plate around some more, he flicked it towards her instead of handing it back.
“You’re clear to enter, but you better not cause any problems while in Solara.”
“Thank you, sir! I don’t intend to cause any problems while I’m here.”
Inari had at least managed to catch her identification badge when it was unprofessionally given back to her. Some of the guards standing nearby still snickered when she frantically reached to grab it though. Once inside, I mentioned that this behaviour was really deterring to me when I was in the city last. It was clearly a form of targeted discrimination, with beastkin being the primary ire of the human’s hate. Demi-humans had it slightly better, but it was still pretty bad. Then, remembering how little time we had left to register; I quickly racked my brain to recall the direction of the adventurer’s guild branch.
Fortunately, with the help of a large crowd of people who looked like adventurers heading west from a giant fountain, Inari and I were able to orient ourselves and reach the guild branch. There was another small line outside the entranceway, so we once again, stood in queue. All around us, were various adventurer parties, probably looking to register at the last minute as well. Most of the groups were comprised of all humans, with a mixture of magic users and melee fighters. A few of the parties appeared to have some demi-humans amongst them as well. Even a beastkin or two were present in some groups, but not many. While we were still waiting, an older looking man with white hair and various scars over his well-honed body, exited the building, chucking a large, wooden disk into the air above us. Then, in an elegant motion, leapt from the staircase onto the platform, which was now floating above us. Finally, he cleared his throat to speak towards the group of adventurers still waiting.
“Ah hem. Presumed champions and adventurers of the great Kingdom of Solara, for those of you unaware, I am this branches headmaster, Griffon, and will be overseeing the upcoming tournament today, issued by his majesty, King Solar, to determine the strongest party amongst you. The winners, will be granted the right to join the heroes on their journey into the labyrinth where you will be expected to assist them as they conquer each subsequent floor. Untold fame and fortune awaits you in this endeavour.
That said, in an effort to save on time and promptly get started, due in part from the large turnout of champions interested in showcasing their might, all of those who are still unregistered, will be allowed to follow me to the back of the guild hall where the tournament is being held. For those of you waiting for other guild related matters, please remain in line to see one of the numerous attendants inside regarding your request.”
Once the man finished his speech, the floating wooden platform slowly started gliding towards the back of the building, with the headmaster calmly maintaining his balance, “surfing” so to speak. Almost all of the crowd began following the man, along with Inari and myself. A few parties stayed behind, presumably because they were here for different matters besides the tournament. While we were following the crowd, I took the time to ask Inari if she knew how the wooden platform was functioning, since I’ve never seen any “flight” magic thus far. According to her, it wasn’t magic making the platform levitate above the ground, but an ancient artifact. Artifacts were a unique set of relics that could only accomplish very specific tasks, and seemed to operate without relying on mana particles. In this case, the wooden platform was an artifact that could only suspend itself in the air, with no other capabilities. Eventually, we got to the backside of the building, which opened up to a massive training field covered in grass and dirt. Standing in the middle, was another crowd of adventurers, roughly numbering 100 people.
As we got closer, the headmaster informed all of us to gather in the middle with the others. Once we were all situated, he jumped off his “surf board” and started weaving mana to cast a massive earth-based spell. Based on the rate mana particles were gathering, Inari and I were bound to be impressed at the spell’s outcome! Finally, he spoke the incantation to activate the primed spell.
“Terra, heed my command and block my foes. Turn land below to mountains up high, Earthen Prison!”
I felt a massive surge of energy flow all throughout the ground beneath us. Then, massive, earthen walls began to rise all around us, easily surpassing 40ft in height as they encased us in a sturdy, earthen colosseum! Griffon, confidently ascended with the walls as they continued to erupt towards the blinding sunlight in the sky. Once the spell had finished, he spoke with command to all of the contestants present.
“Champions, we will begin the tournament shortly. The victor, will be the last party standing. No lethal attacks of any kind will be tolerated, and you may only fight within the confines of this arena. You all have 10 minutes to disburse amongst yourselves and prepare.”
Then, crossing his right arm over his chest, the headmaster shouted one last phrase to the gathered adventurers.
“Lux tua luceat superbia!!!!!”
Seemingly as if knowing how to respond, many members of the crowd, equally shouted back with enthusiasm the same phrase.
“LUX TUA LUCEAT SUPERBIA!!!!!!”
Then, everyone started to disburse towards the edges of the arena to claim an initial “starting zone” for their party. Quickly, Inari and I ran towards the southern boundary of the temporary arena while assessing our competition. Once we arrived, both of us held the same disappointed facial expressions.
“Ko... Is this really the best the kingdom has to offer?”
“I... I guess so? Honestly, I’m just as disappointed as you Inari. None of the adventurers here seem to have any qualities that seem fitting for strongest in the kingdom. That’s even considering the few B(-) ranks and C ranks present!”
“I know right? Their skills and status values are really... Low? I don’t want to be judgemental or anything... But...”
Ya, our disappointment in the potential competition was well justified. During our training. Inari and I had recently learned how to apply a new and improved version of appraisal. Traditionally, the spell would resonate with the mana signature present within the individual and return the status information back to the caster in the form of a grey, holographic floating status screen. Due to this resonating effect, living beings would realize they had been appraised due to the tingling or vibrating feel they would experience from the spell’s activation. So, how did our improved version of appraisal work? Well, after careful practice, Inari and I were able to create a method which perfectly counteracted this tingling effect.
Since the tingling sensation from appraisal was caused by the mana particles vibrating within, we simply added an accompanying “counter vibration”, which was another appraisal shifted slightly to perfectly match the peaks and troughs of the first appraisal cast. When reality processed this combination spell, the vibrations were added together to create a net 0 effect, masking the sensation. Then, once the appraisal window was supposed to appear, we masked its visibility with an illusion spell. Essentially, we had created what we called “Budget Absolute Appraisal” since it still didn’t reveal the absolute truth about the target, but had the handy feature of masking the scanning effect, just like the true spell!
Wanting to confirm I hadn’t missed anyone, I double checked some of the adventurers near us again just to make sure. I also did this to help take my mind off of the equally annoying sensation from being repeatedly scanned by the competition as well. Both of us could hear appraisal being cast by all the other adventurers around us, also assessing their potential adversaries. Unbeknownst to them though, Inari and I were already actively maintaining an illusion spell on our true status, so we were not worried in the slightest. To my left, was a party of 3 with... Unremarkable values.
---
Name: Oliver Smith Level: 7 Rank: C
Race: Human HP: 50/50 MP: 25/25
Age: 30
Profession: Swordsman
Status: Strength: 20 Defence: 25
Magic: 8 Dexterity: 8
Skill Proficiencies: [Swords – Good] [Shields - Good]
Titles: None
---
---
Name: Emily Brown Level: 7 Rank: C
Race: Human HP: 22/22 MP: 55/55
Age: 27
Profession: Mage
Status: Strength: 7 Defence: 6
Magic: 33 Dexterity: 8
Skill Proficiencies: [Magic – Good] [Fire Affinity] [Wind Affinity] [Earth Affinity]
Titles: None
---
---
Name: William Taylor Level: 10 Rank: B(-)
Race: Human HP: 50/50 MP: 50/50
Age: 32
Profession: Assassin
Status: Strength: 22 Defence: 12
Magic: 10 Dexterity: 29
Skill Proficiencies: [Daggers – Good+] [Silent Steps] [Poisons – Good+] [Enhanced Hearing]
Titles: None
---
The group was comprised of two C ranks and one B rank, evaluating them from a status sum perspective, they fell within the normal distribution curve of adventurers, perfectly along the mean. While, I didn’t want to discredit their combat experience due to their high rank, in a fair matchup, they couldn’t compete. After all, they had to contend with Inari and I’s combat experience, along with our overpowered status values.
---
Name: Inari Kitsune Level: 5 Rank: F(+)
Race: Beastkin HP: 50/50 MP: 150/150
Age: 22
Profession: Priestess [Hidden - The Speaker For Vixen]
Status: Strength: 19 Defense: 26
Magic: 58 (+2) Dexterity: 40
Skill Proficiencies: [Magic Affinity – Excellent+] [Reflexes] [Concentration] [Fire Affinity – Excellent+] [Curses – Excellent+] [Charms – Excellent+] [Illusion] [Magic Detection – Excellent+] [Growth] [Earth Affinity – Great+] [Typeless Affinity – Excellent+]
Titles: None [Hidden – The Speaker For Vixen – Chosen by the goddess Vixen to pursue the innerworkings of the world at large. Individual is blessed with growth and manipulation of magic, along with a passion for discovery. All types of magic may be learned by the individual who possesses this title.]
---
---
Name: Kotato Yamata Level: 5 Rank: F(+)
Race: Human HP: 120/120 MP: 150/150
Age: 25
Profession: Spell Blade
Status: Strength: 60 Defense: 60
Magic: 60 Dexterity: 60
Skill Proficiencies: [Growth] [Summoned Hero] [] [] [] [] [] []
Titles: None
---
Looking at Inari, she was slightly disappointed. They were probably expecting at least “some” hint of a challenge, but based on our current assessment, this would be a clean sweep without issue. So, I proposed an idea to her before we started.
“Inari, what if we handicap ourselves for this tournament to make things more interesting? Let’s make it a competition between us. I have to travel along the western wall, while you take the east. First to the northern wall wins, taking out all the competition along the way. Additionally, verbal incantations are a must!”
She turned to face me after finishing assessing her side and hearing my comment. Then, with a laugh and accompanying smirk across her face, she happily responded to my request to “spice up” the challenge.
“Hehe! Challenge accepted Ko! Just don’t get mad at me when I beat you though! This will be a piece of cake.”
“Piece of cake? Aren’t you being a little too confident? After all, you have to speak for each of your spells with this handicap, while I still have my physical combat capabilities.”
“Hmmm, well, I don’t disagree with your logic, but, it’s not like you’re the only one who’s gotten stronger during our training Ko. I’ll show you just what a true master of magic looks like!”
With her tail bouncing back and forth, while calmly readjusting the grip on her staff, Inari was radiating confidence for our upcoming challenge. Knowing her, she probably already had at least a few “new” battle plans already prepared. But, even so, it was clear I would have an advantage given the recent rule additions...
Right?
---
No, clearly this was just her trying to rattle my confidence! — But... I was starting to think I would need some plans as well. So, I quickly started mulling over how I would tackle the western half of the arena.
Roughly 20ft away from me, was that group of 3 adventurers I had just scanned from earlier. In total, there were about 140 “opponents” gathered in the vicinity according to a quick calculation of my mana detection radar. Additionally, while the headmaster had told us to spread out, people will naturally evenly disburse themselves within a room, which leads to there being nice “pockets” for each party with similar distances between one another. In terms of an adventurer party count, it looked like I had about 22 groups to contend with, while Inari would handle around 20. Most of the groups were melee oriented with the occasional healer or magic user. Satisfied I had enough information, I came up with a general assault strategy to lead me to victory.
Once the free-for-all battle begun, I would immediately activate a custom version of the spell “Magic Nullification Zone”. Typically, this spell would prevent spellcasting within a small, local, spherical area. However, my modification added mobility properties to the nullification zone, such that it would be relative to my actual position, basically encasing me in a small sphere that would interrupt the casting of any mages if I got within a 10ft radius of them. The downside, was it resulted in a smaller area compared to the base spell, which could span upwards of a 40ft radius! My plan was to quickly take out any casters first by rapidly closing the distance, then disable them with a quick slash from my sword. I would also need to be aware of any spells cast from a distance, but if worse came to worse, I could simply maneuver out of the way to dodge them.
For all of the melee users, I would simply adapt as needed. If I had the opportunity, I would cast the earth spell “Unstable Ground”. Another potential option was to utilize “Earthen Bind” to restrict their movement. All of them would be taken care of using some of the sword techniques I’d been practicing with Lupine. Once I finished finalizing my battle plan, headmaster Griffon spoke to begin the competition.
“Champions — Begin!”
On his signal, a brilliant white light flashed across the field. Then, without ado, all of the nearby adventurers started brawling with one another, including the group next to me who immediately began charging my direction!
“Seriously? An F rank decided to compete? Consider yourself a warmup pal for the rest of the groups here!”
With a snarky attitude, the swordsman started charging towards my direction, while the mage began casting the spell for a basic “Fire Bolt!”. However, I wasn’t going to let that happen! Swiftly, I rushed towards the cocky fighter to deliver a powerful punch to his face, rendering him unconscious from the impact! Then, I grabbed his body to use as a shield for the incoming fire bolt spell.
“Shit!”
The caster squeaked at suddenly seeing her party member quickly rendered useless and now within the trajectory of the incoming fire bolt spell they had just cast. Seconds later, the spell erupted into pitiful flames, well pitiful flames in my opinion, setting my improvised “shield” on fire. Since the heat from the fire was starting to get slightly uncomfortable, I chucked the man straight towards the now panicking sorcerer, who was unfortunately, unable to catch him from the impact. The end result? Two birds with one stone...
Now that I had some extra space around myself, I quickly spoke the incantation for Magic Nullification Zone.
“World restrict the pleas from those around me. Obstruct their thoughts and silence their calls, Magic Nullification!”
*Schroon**Vroom*
A translucent bubble quickly surrounded my figure as I now had my mobile magic canceling zone activated. Next, I started looking around to find that assassin character from earlier, but I couldn’t visibly see him. Based on their class, they were probably an upgraded version of the thief profession, meaning they probably activated invisibility? Ahh, right! That means I just need to focus on their mana signature! Shifting my thoughts to become cognisant of the various mana signatures around me, I noticed a presence sneaking up from behind which wasn’t visible to my eyes. While I couldn’t see my perpetrator, the mana residue from their signature was engulfing them in a bluish haze, clearly revealing their position to me. So, just before they closed the distance to attack, I turned around to quickly slash them with my sword across the chest.
“Gah!!! Bu... How...—d”
He collapsed onto the ground. I mean, I would be surprised too, getting beaten by an F ranked adventurer in a 3 against 1 matchup. But anyways...
Looking around, it seemed a couple other groups were eliminated as well from their own fighting. Over towards Inari’s direction, it looked like she had already taken care of 2 groups by herself. Looks like I would have to hurry if I wanted to beat her. That’s when I locked eyes with my next targets, a group of 4 adventurers who had just finished their battle as well. From my observation, it looks like they are 3 casters with 1 tank-like class. As I was trying to discern the types of casters ahead, I started feeling mana gather around for a powerful explosion type spell.
“Heh, you wish... Dash!”
Confidently, I said the words for my ability to quickly travel forward, near instantly covering a distance of 30ft!
“What?!?! How did he– My spell! The mana—”
*Shroon*
A quick slash into each of the mages, promptly knocking them out. Then, I turned my attention towards the imposing tower of steel standing beside me. In reaction to me taking out his comrades, the knight tried to bash me with his shield. Repositioning myself, I slipped closer into his armored frame, narrowly avoiding the aggressive metal aimed towards my skull, while planting my footing behind the man. Then, in a seamless motion, sliced the back of his exposed leg joint, causing him to fall to his knees. Finally, I delivered a powerful knee-kick from myself, to his now aptly located head.
*Smash*
“Gah!”
Alright, onto the next group.
Up ahead, I could see approximately 20 people fighting in a close brawl, perfect for the next spell I wanted to try!
"Terra, heed my words and change thy form, turn earth below to tricky terrain, Unstable Ground!"
Confidently, I shouted the incantation to turn the earth below them into a shaky, wobbly mess! As a result, a handful of the combatants immediately lost their footing and fell prone onto the dirty soil below. Then, I jumped high into the air to unleash my next attack.
“Terra, bring forth flames to ravage my foes, tear asunder their frail form, Fire Bolt!”
Powerful, vibrant energy began to course throughout my right arm, coalescing into a magnificent, beautiful sphere of oppressive, reddish flames at my fingertips. Fully formed, and roughly the size of a small carriage, the ball of swirling fire happily cackled as it eagerly waited for me to release its destructive power on the helpless adventurers below. Several of them looked up towards the intimidating sphere of destruction and tried to flee, while others simply resolved themselves to their pending obliteration. Not wanting to keep them waiting too long, I released the spell, sending it hurling towards them at paramount speeds!
*Swoon**Whashnnt*
*BOOM!*
Impact.
While it wasn’t my largest fire bolt, I made sure to limit the destructive power just enough as to not kill any of the parties below at the impact zone. Lethal attacks were banned from the tournament, and I felt the chilling glair from the headmaster once he felt the mana particles start to gather for this particular spell, almost like he was ready to intervene and apprehend me for breaking the rules. The spell I used was in fact, the standard “Fire Bolt!” spell humans commonly used in the kingdom. However, my version was the historically accurate incantation which was seemingly forgotten by modern adventurers. The commonly spoken version was: “World, bring forth fire to my palms, form it's shape and send it far, Fire Bolt!", which only produced a pitiful flame. Furthermore, the ratio of fire to air particles was too similar, resulting in much less destructive power. The proper version, “Terra, bring forth flames to ravage my foes, tear asunder their frail form, Fire Bolt!” was something only really known by well-versed magic scholars. I learned it from Felice after they demonstrated the vast differences between the 2 spells. However, a downside to casting fire bolt this way, was it required a large amount of MP... That was of course, if you were inefficient in your mana weaving!
Satisfied with the destructive power I displayed, I elegantly landed back on my feet and rapidly began running towards the northern section of the arena. It looked like there were only 2 more parties left on my side, about 7 people in total. Glancing towards Inari’s section, I finally overtook her in progress with my destructive attack! Looks like I was going to have a complaining fox to deal with afterwards! Seeking to secure my victory, I dashed forward to eliminate the remaining adventurers.
As I approached them, several of the combatants turned to try and defend themselves, but I wouldn’t let them. Slash after stab after slash, each of the remaining adventurers fell to the ground after having a brief encounter with my blade. Clear, and with no more opposition, I then proceeded to run towards the northern wall and confidently rest my hand against the rocky surface. Inari, was still finishing up the last group of adventurers on her side, but I had already won.
Taking my time, I watched as she skillfully evaded each of the party’s attacks towards her. For as powerful of a magic user she was, her agility was equally as fierce. Quick reflexes and cunning speed, combined with her sleek figure, made it nearly impossible to land a hit on her during combat. I could tell she was annoyed seeing me already at the “finish line”. Finally, finishing up her battle, Inari started running towards my location, when—
“Wahhh, Oph!”
She tripped and fell onto the ground in a spectacular fashion! I... I could hardly believe my eyes! Unable to contain myself, I let out a light chuckle at the visibly disgruntled fox glaring at me from the ground below! She was clearly angry at having lost our bet, giving me such an intense look! But as she started to get up from her fall... I had a sudden, uneasy feeling in my stomach. My laughter stopped, as I gradually lowered my head to stare at the dusty earth, calmly resting below my feet. Then, I let out a disappointed sigh for being too confident at myself, along with admitting my defeat.
*Sigh*
“It’s my loss Inari... You can dispel the illusion now... How... How long have you been standing there?”
As I conceded, I looked up to see the “Inari” on the ground ahead of me, wibble and wobble, until it eventually faded from existence all together, revealing itself to be one of her image illusions she was so proficient at. Then, I heard the familiar, cheeky laughter from the elusive vulpine behind me.
“Hehe! That’s no fun Ko! You weren’t supposed to notice my trick that quickly! I haven’t been standing her too long, maybe 30 seconds at most? If you don’t mind me asking, what tipped you off that it was an image? I thought I did a fantastic job at masking it’s presence this time!”
“Well... Let’s just say... It feels like déjà vu.” I said while resting my hand underneath my chin.
Turns out, I was the one who was being too cocky. While I really believed I could win our little contest, this loss just went to show me I still had lots to learn when it came to magic and combat. Truthfully, I wasn’t able to even tell that was an illusion of Inari, but only realized it was one after it tripped. Inari was incredibly precise in her movements, so her losing her footing like that was something that should never happen. Seeing her fall to the ground, gave me flashbacks to when we first met, and the deadly encounter with the bandits, where she utilized a similar trick against them. That’s the only reason I thought something was up. Turning around, I met the inquisitive gaze from her emerald eyes. Then, I raised my right hand to offer a “fist bump”, something I taught her from my world.
Happily, she raised her paw to meet my hand, as we both said in unison upon impact:
“gg.”
Another phrase from the online games of my world. However, our moment was interrupted by shouting from another group of adventurers that we had somehow, seemingly missed in the middle of the field.
“Hey!!! What the heck are you two doing!?!? We’re still here you know!!! Don’t think we’re gonna let you win just because you took out everyone else! Now, the real battle begins!!!!”
It was a group of 5 adventurers. 1 tank, 1 melee user, 1 ranger, 1 mage, and 1 healer, the ideal party composition to effectively handle any challenge the world of Terra could throw your way. Looking at Inari, I shared my simple thoughts on how we would wrap up the tournament.
“Flaming Spear combination attack, version #127?”
She smiled, then responded in kind, with a nod of her own in agreement.
“Flaming Spear combination attack, version #127!”
Both of us, then turned to stand back-to-back. I raised my right hand, while Inari raised her left. Mana rapidly began to gather around us as we started weaving and combining a multitude of particles in our vicinity. The adventurers before us had a sudden change in attitude once they felt the incredible surge of power coalescing around us. It was very easy to imagine them waving a small white flag in an effort to surrender with how they were now cowering and bracing themselves for whatever was about to head their way. Then, once enough mana had gathered, along with keeping with our handicap, we spoke in unison to complete our combination, flaming spear attack!
“Terra, bring forth holy fire to smite my foes. Oppressive, commanding power to char their frail, defiant minds. Show them the error of their crimes, as we offer their souls to you for redemption. — Heavenly Flaming Spear!!!!”
At the final utterance our incantation, an intense, golden beam of molten plasma, burst forth from our hands, instantly engulfing and obliterating the remaining adventurer party! While we made sure the attack was non-lethal... It kinda looked to an innocent bystander that we may have over done it... Just a little...?
Thus, the tournament to determine the strongest adventurers in the Kingdom of Solara, came to a fitting conclusion, with Inari and I, the undisputed victors.