19 The Island Of Patmos VI : Upgrade

Well sponsorship aside, it was time for me to see what I could get with my now 275 battle points. I moved the holographic screen, and saw the option for the purchase. At first I was given a standard list without any navigation, just shown what they wanted me to see. But now that I blew the champion's head off, they were willing to compromise. The battle points trading station had quite a few different categories. They were.

• SKILLS-

• ARMOR-

• WEAPONS-

• CONSUMABLES

• ACCESSORIES

• ENTERTAINMENT

Well that's nice but it was really hard to choose. Each of the options had hundreds of items to choose from. Though I don't see how Fuc**ng An orcish maiden from the entertainment option was appealing to anyone. I mean she did look beautiful...….for an orc, but those muscles were the size of my head. She needed a more manly man, so I could only helplessly pass such an opportunity.

In the consumables directory, I spent a whooping 50 battle points for two potions. One was higher healing potion and it cost thirty points, the last was called a bone hardening potion. And from it's name it was obvious it hardened bones. If anyone was to pay attention, they would know that my wings were the weakest part of my body, and even if I healed them, the idea of them being broken again, due to how frail they were did not sit well with me. The hardening potion was actually five points a bottle, but it did not seem like something people would spend their battle point upon,not during a competition like this. That's why it was so cheap, that and because it tasted terrible.

Next was for skills, preferably some magically oriented. I narrowed them down to five choices.

• Mana Arrow (active)– 40 points

• Nature Heal- (Passive/Active)25 points

• Wind School: Lightening Coat- (Active)80 points

• Wind Stride: Wings- (Active)25 points

• Mana Slash- (Active) 15 points.

Many of the skills were really good. But this were chosen not because of how cheap they were, but because of the potential they had in helping my situation. The most expensive was a defensive skill, and it surprised me a bit, that lightening was not an element of it's own, but rather a sub element of wind. Finding that out, sort of made me happy. Lightening was a lot more destructive than wind, and also gave a ridiculous boost to speed, of course it was not as versatile or adaptive as wind. Wind was free and unfettered, without focus or direction. When wind is given direction, then lightening is born. I bought the skill, and it brought my points down to 145.

A defensive skill looked like a really amazing thing to have, who knows how helpful it would be in the future and when. I'm not aiming to have many skills, but I needed just enough to cover all my basis, as I seem to be an all rounder, even though I was using a bow. There would be time when certain situations would require a different sort of approach.

Wind Stride: Wings and Nature heal were skills I didn't need at the moment, so I placed them in a virtual shopping list. So that after my next fight, if I win, they would be the first things shown to me to purchase. Mana slash needed a bladed weapon to be performed, which covered armed melee combat since I already had unarmed combat skills. I didn't hesitate to buy it, and the Mana arrow skill too.

The mana arrow skill was a magic skill or in this case spell. Compared to normal skills, the damage magic does it a little bit different than normal.Buying them both left me with 90 battle points. I spent fifteen to get a steel longsword of the mortal grade, and 30 to get new gloves.

The gloves seemed to be something new and different as they were actually tailored as weapons for spell casters. It reduced casting speed for all magic spells by 10 seconds, cool down time by another 10 seconds,and increased focus and damage output by 5%. And for the mana arrow skill that only had a 5 second cast time, and a twenty second cool down, it meant I could use it almost as much as I like and only have to worry about running out of mana. And finally I spent 10 points to buy an enchanted quiver that held a thousand steel tipped arrows.

It was like an inventory, but only arrows could be placed in it. It was used by archers during huge battles, this way they wouldn't immediately run out.

With all of this out of the way, I think I can finally relax and pay a little attention to the fights that were now being held. Since I had won my first fight, it meant my next fights have to all be either me challenging others, or others challenging me. So it was time to scope out the competition.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Within a span of two hours, there were hundreds of fights. And there were quite a few talents and notable fighters to pay attention to. In a nutshell, the talents were divided between NPCS and players. For the players, there were eleven of them, with the most noteworthy three, being a part of both the top and second best guild in the whole of lost Descendants.

The number one player in the game, was here, along with the number two and three. Number one was a girl from Mexico with the in game name Uno Acero. Of course that name meant one steel in Spanish, I'm sure there was a hidden meaning to it, but I can't be too sure about it though.

The second was guy from the new York called Zane. It's also his real life name, and he was quite the celebrity. Both of them belong to the most powerful guild in the game, The Jupiter Council, and the final person to watch out for was a Chinese player. Talented and ruthless to the core, the only reason he was not number one was because he had started a little later than the others, but now with the update and everyone having their levels reset down to zero. I'm sure he would take the lead, he was the guild master of the Holy Dragons Of East Heavens, and it was by far the most populated guild in the game.

The NPCs to watch out for was a Selanir from the High elves, Morrison and Vila from two different human kingdoms, Krka from the dark elves, and Onork from the barbarians. But funny thing about this people is that, none of them were full members of the race, all of them were hybrids, or some off shoot of the original race. Making it quite difficult to gauge their skills, and they were powerful, each in their own right.

But either way, the battles were coming to an end, and I was sure that it would now be time for me to return back to my cell. As for the other fighters in my waiting area, they were all gone. I find it hard to believe that I was the only player around, but in lost Descendants, there's no way to differentiate if someone was a player or an NPC. The NPCs only difference was the ability to give quests, and the easier way to recognize them would be from observing them and seeing how at home they are in the game. Either way, I think all of my other fellow captors were NPCs, and they were all unequivocally dead.

It's hard to believe, that not one of them could have survived, but still it was the obvious truth. The people placed in this waiting area were all supposed to be cannon fodder. They just didn't expect me to be so deviant and different. The very thought was somewhat depressing, but there was nothing I could do about it. Any way, I guess you could say I made my peace with that.

[Alert! You have been challenged by Qitar Sun Captain Of The Golden Vines Of Patmos. Accept challenge YES/NO]

There's bound to be vindictive action against me, not after I splattered their national champions head like a melon. But I was happy for the challenge, I really didn't like this guys, and I couldn't waste too much time worrying about who I fought against. As far as the Patmosians go, I was confident, because according to the announcer the person I killed was their number one. But underestimating them would also be stupid, this was a game so real that it was like being in an alternate reality. There's always the unexpected to be expected.

"I accept the challenge."

[confirmed. Battle has been slotted as the final battle for the day. It begins in Fifteen minutes.]

The Patmosians had good marketing strategies, that much I could give them. I was in the first fight with their number one champion, and I ruthlessly decimated him. Now they placed me in the final fight with another of their talents, making it so, that they could regain their lost honor and respect. A battle to redeem themselves, and punish me for my transgressions. Some would say it was petty, but I say it's tactics; because this puts the focus of the entire competition on them.

They were working an angle and creating a story to make the match more riveting and exciting, it was just like professional wrestling. With a story behind this fight, there's going to be more gamblers and watchers, giving them higher ratings, and making them a boat load of money.

So just to be safe I made bets. I had a sort of account opened up for me since I won, and then I opened the gambling panel. There were three gambling tables, one was a general betting pool; where money was used, the other was between the candidates and fighters in the trial where battle points were used.

And the final pool was exclusively limited to the sponsors and higher powers like the guilds and kingdoms etc. What they used in betting was resources, and it was not limited to manpower, weapons, fleets, for both on world battles, and off world battles. Rare magical treasures, lands, vassal kingdoms, and even political and trade alliances. Those were the big dogs.

I placed 15 battle points in the fighter's betting pool, and placed all of my money in the general pool. The Patmosians outnumbered every visitor here a hundred to one, and I was hoping that they were all quite patriotic and believed their new fighter could kick my ass. Which means I win a whole lot of money when I do win. Was I beings arrogant and overconfident...….yes I was.Because I knew, I could not afford to loose.