Chapter 6: Propulsion

I had been in my new body in my new world for a little over an hour at the very most, and I had the distinct feeling that a single misstep over the next half hour could put my reincarnated existence out of commission a little bit earlier than expected. If fighting against the Mannachoid was meant to be a way to earn some early respect from the squadron leaders, then taking out the guy who fought it almost single-handedly would be a pretty good second best. In other words, I was going to be on the radar of every strong fighter who had been dropped down into this battle royale. Things could get dicey if people decided to team up against me.

<You could also use that to your advantage, you know,> BB Chimed in, for the first time in a while. <The only one who will get to advance is the one that actually lands a finishing blow on you, point your enemies at each other and watch the fireworks.>

"Or," I muttered, "I could just take out one of the small fry quickly and secure a place for myself without having to worry about any of that stuff."

<Sure, sure, but then you'd still need to survive the rest of the half-hour without getting knocked out by the hordes of people who will be tracking your manna signature,> BB replied.

"My what now?" I asked.

<You've got a lot of power, which means you're going to be sticking out like a sore thumb to pretty much anyone who can track manna, which at this level is just about everyone who made it to the coliseum,> BB explained, clearly already tired of having to explain everything to me.

So that was that, then. No matter what I decided, I was going to have a serious scrap on my hands the moment the other initiates managed to track me down. If that was the case, then the very least I could do was to have this fight on my terms.

[ACTIVATING SYNCHRO MODE, CONSTRUCT NAME <BB> WILL BE UNABLE TO COMMUNICATE AT THIS TIME]

[CORONA SHIELD AUTOMATICALLY ACTIVATED]

[SPEED, STRENGTH AND DURABILITY BOOSTS AUTOMATICALLY ACTIVATED]

I felt the familiar crackle of energy flicker over my skin as the corona shield sprang itself into being around my body. I'd managed to get a fairly good gauge for how quickly I could move and how far I could jump before I'd obtained my new manna propulsion ability. It was time to do some limit testing.

I leapt as hard as I could at the nearest tree, leaving yet another crater in the ground in my wake. What I hadn't accounted for was the fact that, after levelling up, my existing abilities had gotten a little bit more powerful as a result, so I ended up soaring straight past the tree I had been aiming for and straight into the air.

The battlefield was a blaze of combat. Energy beams lanced through the air, crackling domes of manna blew outwards, obliterating everything in their paths, trees and rocks were launched in whirlwinds of magical energy. Things were already starting to heat up, and from my vantage point high above it all, I could see everything. Including the group of five initiates who were working their way through the forest toward where I had previously standing. Whether they'd heard me launch myself into the air, or they'd simple sensed my manna, I had no way of knowing. The answer didn't matter all that much though, either way, I didn't trust my current skill level to fight against 5 initiates at once.

I let a burst of manna shoot out from my hands and feet simultaneously to give me some thrust. While I tried to keep the power level down, I still shot forward at speeds that felt like they probably would have given me whiplash in my previous life. As it was now, I shot through the air like a bullet out of a gun, careening toward a big open area down by a bend in the lake. It wasn't much, but with a lake to my back and a wide, open area to see where everyone was coming from, I would probably be about as safe as I could be. No one could attack me from behind, and I'd see any enemies coming at me from the clearing.

I tried another jet of Manna propulsion, this time only using the skill with my hands so I could gently redirect myself toward my intended landing spot. That was the plan, anyway. I dove out of the sky like an eagle attacking its prey, only, unlike the majestic eagle I was unable to pull up at the last second and crashed straight into the ground.

I ploughed through the grass and dirt, before finally coming to a rest next to the river. My corona shield and enhanced durability had kept my body safe from any harm, but it probably wasn't such a great look to perform so badly at what wasn't even a simple flight in front of such a wide audience.

I sprung up from the ground and shook the dirt out of my hair. That was when I noticed I wasn't actually alone in this clearing, there was one other lifeform staring straight at me. The alien creature didn't have a body shape that was in any way similar to that of a human's, if anything it was much more like a tree. There was a central trunk, and coming out of that trunk were a series of branch-like appendages covered in long, spindly hairs. At the tip of the trunk I could just about make out what looked like bulbous eyes, though they could have been ears for all I knew. The bottom of the trunk tapered off into a curve, with more of the branches splitting out from it. Though these branches had no hairs, they split off into smaller sticks so that the creature appeared to be running around on hundreds of tiny root legs.

"You are mine, Human," the lifeform said, its voice like wind through leaves.

With that, my first real fight of the tournament was about to begin.