THEOS

Frowning in irritation at the falsely bored expression on her face as they sparred, Luke ducked underneath Nel’s lazy swipe. Correctly recognizing her attack and the mischievous glint in her eye for what it was– a trap. Not one he was keen on falling into, he wanted to cut loose, not get a beat down from someone a tier higher than him. Unfortunately for him, Nel liked to keep Luke on his toes, and he had been caught unprepared more than once in the past.

By now though, he knew better than to try and meet her blow for blow when she made her intentions that obvious. The last time he had made that mistake, she had sent him hurtling through the sky, the Warrior’s monstrous strength letting her toss him around with contemptuous ease. Her grin as she batted him around like a ping pong ball still gave him the chills.

He had his boots which gave him some options when that happened, but another lesson he had learned was that fighting her in the air was a terrible idea. Not only was she infinitely more mobile, flitting around both faster and with more grace than he could even dream of in more directions and with a lot more leverage than him to boot, but that whatever method the shoes used to keep him anchored in the sky wasn’t infallible. Every time she maneuvered them up there, she would trade a few blows as a courtesy until she decided that she had humored him enough.

When that happened, his blade would meet the shaft of her spear and the next thing he knew, he would be pushed back towards the ground. No amount of mana pumped into his boots would let him stop her from driving him into the earth.

Not wanting to pick worms out of his teeth, he stepped back, narrowly avoiding another swipe of her speer.

She grinned. “Will you not attack?” She asked, amused that he had seen through her game twice in a row.

“It wouldn’t be fun if I didn’t.”

Luke’s frown vanished, instantly replaced by a challenging grin, as he stepped forward. Slamming his golden blade into the shaft of her spear with every ounce of strength he could muster. He did his best to ignore the ringing in his arms, as he pitted himself against what was for all intents and purposes, an immovable object.

She flicked her wrist, and blasted him back. His feet dug trenches in the grass as he pumped mana in his boots to slow himself down. Only to charge her again a moment later.

“Why do you even fight her?” Rex said, resting with his back against the griffin side, idly biting into the core of an apple as he watched them. “You know you can’t beat her, so what’s the point?”

I mean, he’s not wrong, not really. She’s so far above my level, that I might as well be trying to draw blood from a rock. Even with all the improvements I’ve made. And it’s not like she’s skillfully picking apart my movements and showing me weaknesses in my form. Honestly, she’s just beating me by virtue of being both stronger and faster. But–

“Don’t worry about it.” Luke yelled as he charged her again, only to once again, be sent hurtling back.

There’s something liberating about being able to go at it with one hundred percent of my power and not having to worry about hurting anyone.

Luke had never really had the chance to just go all out, and test the limits of his physical abilities. In the Tomb, it was either life or death, or no death. In moments where his life was on the line, the correct response was to fight smarter, not harder, because nearly everyone in there hit harder than he did.

Fighting a monster comes close, but it isn't the same. A monster would kill me if I made a dumb mistake. Whenever I’ve fought one, I wasn’t holding back, but I wasn't exactly letting loose either. It was strategic, and every move calculated to bring death as efficiently as possible.

And sparring against someone at the same level is the worst. You always need to be careful not to push too hard, so you don’t actually kill or injure the person, and you have to be even more careful so you don’t get injured, in case the person sparring with you slips up.

This though. He grinned as he charged her one more time, leveraging every drop of his hard earned strength to strike her. Is what it's all about. Pedal to the metal, full throttle, maximum power. Zero restraint, because I don’t need to. There is no real chance of me hitting her, and if I did, she’d probably be fine anyway.

Nel shifted her posture slightly as Luke closed in on her.

Fuck.

“Wai–” He yelled as she lunged forward. His eyes widened in shock.

The next second, he was laying flat on his back, with the tip of her spear pointing at his neck. Arcs of electricity, traveling up and down its shaft, and buzzing annoyingly in his ear.

“You win.” He relaxed onto the ground. Sighing softly when she removed the deadly weapon from his throat.

“I did not win. That implies we were competing in the first place, and I assure you, any competition between us will have to wait until you become a warrior yourself. Your progress however, has been nothing shy of amazing. I can see why grandfather went to such great lengths to recruit you.” She said, extending her hand.

Fuck yeah it is. This place is practically heaven for someone with my advantages. As for Cyzicus recognizing that, I don’t think so. Probably just recruited me because he saw that I knew a Technique.

Luke opened his Status as he climbed to his feet. Strictly speaking, he didn’t need to even look at it anymore. At least not for the time being. He just liked seeing it.

Status | Skills | Quests | Inventory

Name: Lukas King

Tier: Mortal

Mana: 351 102 / 499 000.5

Rate: 15% per hour

Strength: 999

Agility: 999

Constitution: 999

Arcana: 999

Stat Points: 4

Bloodline: Locked. Conditions not met. (123/10 000)

Charges: 7/10

The mana-milk, combined with frequent baths in boiling and freezing water, head splitting usage of the manasink, and regular sparring and exercise had made for a very effective method to cultivate. So much so, that just over four weeks had been enough to take all his attributes up to the peak of the Mortal-tier.

A single point in any of those Stats would let him ascend to the Warrior-tier, were it not for the Path of the Paragon.

As it was, despite all his progress, he was less than a third of the way through to advancing to the next level of cultivation.

And depending on how long it’s going to take me to master the Stances, I could be bottlenecked for a while. At least I’ll have a solid shot at the Olympics now. I don’t know exactly what to expect, but I doubt my competition will expect someone teetering at the edge of the Mortal-Warrior threshold, in all major attributes. With the obscene amount of mana I have, I can even use the shoes, the Stances, and the sword Cyzicus gave me more than once or twice a day.

If Rex can be taken as an average participant, then most of them shouldn’t be a problem. That is, of course, assuming that he isn’t hiding anything. He looked over at his fellow mortal, from the corner of his eye. He’s definitely hiding something, but that only matters if we can even get out of here.

“Sophia said that she’d be back in a week or two, right?” He asked Nel.

She nodded.

“We’re two weeks over then. Let’s say she doesn’t come back, how long would it take you to break into the Hero-tier?”

She frowned, opening and closing her mouth as mulled over her answer. “Ten years at the current pace”

“Is that a number you're confident in?”

“It could be sooner.”

That’s not too bad. Ten years in here with these two, I probably won’t go all the way insane. I’ll definitely unlock my bloodline, assuming the sheep live that long.

Progressing with the Stances would be a little harder. Something tells me that if I want to improve them, I’ll actually need to use them to kill at some point. Not just use the information they give me to make my opponent surrender.

“What are you thinking?” Nel asked.

“That it wouldn’t be that bad being stuck here for a bit longer. If someone hasn’t come and got us yet, then that probably means that things aren't going too well outside. It might be better to get used to the idea now.”

“Perhaps.” She said, her tone suddenly clipped. Her eyes for the briefest second darting over Luke's shoulder and then back.

What’s she loo–

“LUKE, LUKE, LUKE. How could you have such little faith in me?” A voice echoed around them.

Is that?

Cyzicus tapped Luke on the shoulder, making him jump into the air in fright. “Ahh! Why can’t you come from the front?” Luke said, clutching his chest with his hand.

“GRAMPS!” Rex came sprinting forward. “How long have you been here?”

“A couple hours, give or take.”

This guy… Luke resisted the urge to facepalm at his antics, as he turned to face him. Wow… He looks terrible.

Cyzicus’s long hair was in a mess. He had deep bags underneath his eyes, while his gold robes were pristine, his posture screamed exhaustion, and even his smile felt hollow.

“Have you defeated the Rebel?” Nel asked.

He lifted the crown from his head, and scratched his hair. “Not yet.” He frowned. “It took a while to find her, and once we did…” he slipped his crown back on his head. “Once we found her, the coward that she is, she didn’t even attempt to fight.” He shook his head in disbelief. “She activated a talisman, and disappeared. Once we caught up with her again, it was the same thing. Again and again and again we find her, and she runs.”

“I see.”

“Did you come here to get us out of here? Your… friend.” Rex stared intently at his grandfather. “Has kept us locked up for over a month.”

“I hadn’t noticed.” He smiled, looking at their faces with a grin on his face. Before walking up to Rex and rubbing his hair affectionately. “I do apologize for that however. Sophia is rather wilful, and she doesn’t have too many friends. Sometimes her judgment is a little suspect. In this case however, I do believe she made the right call. At the least, you two have benefited greatly.”

“Where is she now?” Luke asked.

“Hunting after Tyrisa as we speak. I’m afraid, circumstances have changed, and I can no longer be an active participant in her demise. Sophia will keep her occupied until such a time that I am able to rejoin the battle. If it comes to that. She has been remarkably… brutal, shall we say in her pursuit. To be frank, I’m not even sure Tyrisa will live long enough for me to rejoin the battle.”

“What changed?” Nel asked.

“The Tide. I’ve been told that it will begin three days from now, and as such, I am required at the Capital. It was my hope to have Sophia take my place there if matters dragged on for long enough, but she refuses to be among any company greater in number than five.” He shrugged.

“What?” Nel’s jaw dropped open.“Why would the Tide come earlier? That’s not supposed to happen! The cur-” Cyzicus cut her off with a glare. A pulse of pressure radiated out from his body, before subsiding. Nel turned pale before glancing awkwardly between Luke and Rex. “I uh. That.. I”

The curse? Is that what she was going to say? Luke looked between Cyzicus and Nel, before his eyes met Rex’s. He looked just as confused as Luke felt.

“Luke. Rex. I’m afraid both of you have become privy to something that you need not be concerned about. As you have no doubt deduced, there is more to the Gegenees invading Sylcra than meets the eye, but I will caution you to look no further into the issue.”

“I couldn’t care less.” Luke responded right away. Meaning it too.

Cyzicus beamed. “Good. Rex?”

His eyes darted between Nel and his Grandfather, before reluctantly nodding. “Fine.”

“Very well.” Cyzicus clapped his hands. “Let’s steal some sheep, and get out of here.”

“What?” Nel, Luke, and Rex said simultaneously.