Supreme Swordfiend

It was a slow walk back, the journey devoid of any major events. A few stray carnotaurus and a raptor pack here and there, nothing that qualified as a challenge. Leon barely registered the dinos that attacked him as threats, dispatching them with one of the two Tidal techniques as the situation demanded. His journey back was far longer than the one that had taken him to the valley, the loss of his boosted Speed bringing his movement down to a more human level.

It begged the question- how strong was he when compared to the version of himself that had entered the Proving Grounds? His current Speed and Power were nearly four times greater than they had been at his base state. He didn't feel four times stronger, leading Leon to believe that stats operated on a near exponential scale of diminishing returns. If they scaled linearly, then at 14 Power he should have been twice as strong- this hadn't been the case.

With each point worth less than the one before it, he would eventually need to gain hundreds of points to experience any meaningful growth. Still, other factors had to be considered. A higher rarity class likely rewarded more stats per level and the multiplicative power of insights and circuits could give Leon the boost he needed to fight at a higher level than his actual Level displayed, so the issue wasn't as bad as it seemed.

He could ask Zerasos about the stat conundrum- but where was the fun in that? Against problems beyond his means like his bloodline he felt no shame in seeking help, but for the more mundane stuff that he could puzzle out on his own? No, a small issue like his stats could be his own little riddle to solve.

The winding river led him home, Leon glaring at the scattered campfire ashes before opening the door to his cottage. No gecko this time, perhaps it had been a coincidence that the dinosaurs were always nosing through that spot when he exited the house?

Zerasos, was as usual, passed out on a beanbag. Leon had only seen the devil really move to get more food or offer Leon tips come evening time. There was a slight discrepancy. A crystal, clasped in one of the devil's hands, still projecting an image. It displayed two creatures, one a pale skinned humanoid with bright green hair, the other a green skinned humanoid with white hair.

One short, one tall, one thin, one muscular. The two had clearly been chosen to contrast against each other. Leon heard the pale one speak, commenting on a familiar scene of a swordsman splitting a spinosaurus in two.

"For those of you tuning in just now, that was yet another replay of what we believe to be the fastest spinosaurus kill recorded for the Proving Grounds- Grag, thoughts?"

The green skinned humanoid spoke up, providing the colour commentary for the announcer.

"Not many new thoughts to share about this kid Griswold, so I'll re-iterate. He's undeniably one of the frontrunners for this Tutorial, hell, he's probably top seed for the whole integration. Tough little bastard made me eat my own words live on air ysterday! Had me checking every run of the Proving Grounds last night- they never go Blight Marsh on Day 1, the ones foolish or unlucky enough to try, well they all go in groups and they always get wiped out by the difficulty spike. President Zerasos of Hellstone Inc used up a lifetime's worth of luck stumbling onto him on Day 1. Anyone at [F] Grade can see it, the kid's being groomed into a Worldbreaker and we're all privileged to see it happen in real time- mark my words people, this kid survives, keeps up that ridiculous pace of his? He's gonna be a terror."

A chuckle came from the announcer as he pivoted the conversation, the screens behind the two humanoids shifting to display a man clad in full plate armour, surrounded by a team taking down the same spinosaurus. The armour clad leader claimed the final blow, blazing spear piercing the creature's eye after his team had ground it down with sword and spell.

"Yes, Grag we all know how much you love watching that Swordsman, but take at look at these upstarts. They've skirted under the radar until now, their instance frontrunner has managed to keep them all alive, has them all classed up and pushing for their tenth levels. They're loyal, they're adapting fast and they're hot on the heels of the top spots. You have to admit, a Day 2 Blight Marsh is impressive."

Grag cut across his partner, the green skinned humanoid placing his elbows on the table displaying a bevy of scars and tribal tattoos.

"It is- but it won't last Griswold, the enemy density problem kills this group in the late game. Early days, everyone gets enough to hunt, plenty of experience to go around. Soon, the quantity of spawns dips and the quality goes up. Their leader has a chance if he goes solo, the rest of them? They're too weak, it would take perfect management of each kill just for them to say competitive. It's not just who kills what, but how much help each party member can supply before they're leeching too much experience- it all has to be managed meticulously. Check the footage, you see how sloppy that kill was? They're not managing their experience distribution properly and it's gonna bite them in the ass."

Zerasos jerked in his slumber, the movement causing Leon to tense up. Luckily, the devil remained asleep, crystal still on. The hosts had moved on to discussing another rising star.

"Now, while I've been focused on the warriors, Grag has had his eyes locked on the mage talents- we all know mages have trouble in this Tutorial, so those that excel must be crushing it. Tell me about the ones who are winning right now buddy."

A compilation, a woman covered in burn scars hurling fire at a velociraptor. A man controlling the dirt beneath his feet, morphing dry ground into a sticky quagmire, trapping a velociraptor pack that were then picked off by the man's archer companion. A teenage girl, wielding a sword condensed from pure water. She used it to behead a carnotaurus, the liquid blade acting like a pressurised jet of water as it made contact with the creature's neck, slicing through bone like a hot knife through butter.

"First up- the Pyromancer. Her natural aptitude for fire is high enough to let her work off her instincts and do well. Needs to double down, hit the books and learn the Systemic ways of wielding flame. A solid contender. Second- Mud Novice. Guy got offered a Common as his first class, he's a natural at Core Comprehension. Once he gets some killing moves under his belt he'll be a nightmare to deal with. Lastly- a regular 'ol Novice. No idea what she gleaned from a regular Blue Slime core that let her develop a spell blade like that. Her group got wiped aside from her and she's tearing the woods apart even while we speak. The most naturally gifted in my opinion, it isn't every day we see-"

Zerasos' grip loosened at that moment, the crystal falling to the floor and shutting off. It had been enjoyable while it lasted, getting a glimpse at how the wider multiverse was reacting to the Tutorial. The strange sports commentary-esque presentation was unexpected, but then Zerasos had been betting on Leon which fit in with the whole professional sports style.

For the denizens of the multiverse, the life and death of a planet's population was no more than entertainment. A blood sport unlike any other.

It perturbed Leon far less than it might another earthling. Whether they loved him or hated him, whether he had an audience of adoring fans or not. These factors were irrelevant to his goals.

The other humans who were excelling were of minor interest as potential friends to win over or enemies to defeat once he'd cleared the Tutorial. It was too early to say, who knew what changes Earth was undergoing. For now they were a distant concern, equally irrelevant to his goals.

The idea that other humans could even compete with him would normally have set his bloodline off, leading to an emotional outburst of superiority and hubris, as it asserted that Leon was the pinnacle of human prowess, the strongest warrior of Earth. Since it had been humbled earlier today by his own hand, the disastrous recoil of Tsunami still fresh in Leon's mind, he was able to keep the careful balance between his ego and his rationality. An imperfect solution, but the only one at hand.

Leaving Zerasos to his nap, Leon plundered from the fridge god. His noble patron recognised the great and burning need Leon had for foodstuff, supplying entire cooked chickens alongside platefuls of steak, burgers and pizza. Junk food and meat, but it was high calorie junk food and meat.

Having sufficiently stocked his storage ring, Leon set out, tensing as he eyed the ashen spot. Still no dinos.

Back to the tried and true method- gecko trains.

A quick sprint through the forest alongside a repeated call for more geckos was successful, a small group of ten carnotaurus answering his calls. Leon executed the creatures one by one while keeping up his momentum, trying to work on his Giant Slayer Style techniques while pumping his levels up. Working his way through train after train, he could feel the growth in his skill.

While Earth Skewer had no chance to shine amidst the high pace combat, the rest of his techniques advanced by leaps and bounds. Their execution felt more natural to Leon, his muscles engraving the moves into memory. Hours passed as he immersed himself in the grind, stopping only to eat and restore his reserves after he'd been forced to spend more energy than usual to heal a torn muscle. Comboing a Circle Swing into a Double Fang Leon dispatched the final carnotaurus, gaining the third level of the day just as the sun began to dip below the horizon.

"Level up! You are now a Level 18 Swordsman! +2 Power, +2 Speed, +2 Constitution."

He'd hit Level 17 a hour or so prior, each level was becoming harder and harder to attain now that he was a higher level than his foes, the experience they provided no longer enough to spur meaningful progress.

His [Swordsman's Eye] had levelled as well, he'd been checking on the carnotaurus before he'd killed them, hoping to find one that had reached level 16. No such luck, they all seemed hard stuck at 15.

He began making his way back to the house- the few carnotaurus left nearby wouldn't be worth the effort to round up. He would be better served with mana practice. As soon as he could utilise his mana regeneration breathing in conjunction with his circuit in active combat his combat capability would take another step forward, one more towards the peak.

It would extend the run time of Ebb and Flow tremendously, allowing him to pump more mana in to extend his boost's duration or he could utilise the extra mana to power another circuit that would boost his Constitution, offsetting a disadvantage of Ebb and Flow.

He was slightly surprised he hadn't run into the other survivors yet. Normally they would have turned up by now, to annoy him or offer him some entertainment as they bumbled around.

Last time he'd seen them he'd been riding the high of Ebb and Flow, barely having spared them a glance while stealing their kill and running off. He didn't feel particularly bad about his actions. If they'd stolen one of his kills he would have hunted them down, wounded them at the very least for daring to encroach on his fight, though Mike would probably have opened his big mouth and challenged Leon's authority. So he'd then be forced to make good on his threats- he would be forced to kill them, to make an example of them. No one would take Leon seriously if they thought they could get away with crossing him.

He didn't care for these rules, this mindset he was being forced to adopt, but today had reinforced that the System was a zero-sum game. Crush or be crushed. Kill or be killed. In this world his reputation was just as valuable as his power. If there came a day when his name alone could repel an enemy then every minor transgression against him that had been punished with excessive brutality became worth the cost. The survivors were already at the limits of his mercy.

As he reminisced, he remembered the weapon that had been in Mike's hands as his rag-tag group had fought the carnotaurus. A sword. A lengthy sword. A greatsword. A greatsword that a certain swordsman required for his Class Quest.

Looks like he'd need to track down Mike- he had a weapon to 'borrow'.