Chapter 25: The Player's Arena

Chapter 25: The Player's Arena

Chapter 25 The Player's Arena

The broad-shouldered youth and his compadres took Rayleigh to a restaurant only fighters from the 200th Floor could access and told him to order whatever he wanted.

The menu looked good, and the scent of spices in the air gave away the high-rated chefs performing their art in the kitchen.

After getting their orders, the one who called himself Springheeled Jack asked, "Are you a Pirate or a Jedi?"

He was obviously referring to his first class. Since they were paying the bill for this nice meal, Rayleigh politely answered, "Jedi."

The white-haired Player dubbed White Knight asked, "Didn't you take the Hunter Exam? Did you actually pass it?"

Rayleigh nodded and said, "Yeah. It was pretty easy."

Knight asked, "How did you find it?"

Before Rayleigh could speak up, Jack stated, "Hey, does it matter? Do you still need a license?"

Knight considered it for a moment before shaking his head.

Jack added, "White Knight was the only Pirate who didn't return to the Pirate World after the end of the Hunter Exam. We found him and made a deal."

Rayleigh guessed aloud, "You teach him Nen, and he teaches you the Pirate system when he learns it?"

Jack looked surprised at the accurate guess, but only for a moment. It wasn't that hard to piece together.

The tall, gray-haired one called Armory asked, "So you already learned Nen?"

Rayleigh answered honestly, "Only Ten at the moment. My friends and I are learning it together, but our teacher said he would not teach us anything else for two months and said to spend that time doing mental exercises."

Jack frowned directly at that. He asked aloud, mostly to himself, "Two months to learn the basics? That's 1 in 100,000 Talent. They can't be the main characters, can they?"

Seeing that there was some misunderstanding, Rayleigh added fuel to the fire by stating, "One of them failed the exam and the other only won because two of the three strongest guys in the exam were merciful. Apparently, there are people to take the Exam as young as 10 years old, much less 11."

In a number of aspects, Rayleigh was very much like Wing. He didn't directly lie, but he was willing to give truthful information to misdirect others.

Armory asked, "Do you plan to teach Nen to any other Players?"

Rayleigh shrugged. "No one has asked me, but I haven't exactly advertised that I know it."

White Knight rolled his eyes and said, "You didn't tell anyone you arrived at and passed the Hunter Exam either."

The food was delivered, and the group devoured it like hungry beasts. Then they ordered another helping.

Rayleigh asked, "Why do you care if I teach anyone Nen?"

Jack answered, quite honestly, "We want to keep our advantage for as long as possible. It won't remain a secret forever, but we want at least one more year. So what will it take for you to keep quiet about Nen for a year?"

Rayleigh answered, "What can you give me?"

Armory answered, "Do you know what privileges a Floor Master gets?"

The receptionist had told him when he signed up, "A chance to participate in an event of some kind?"

Jack nodded, "It happens every two years, and it's going to happen next year. The event itself is highly valued, as participation will make us much stronger."

Armory added, "We'll help you become a Floor Master. There are twenty-one Floor Masters and we know the strengths and weaknesses of most of them. Agree to our proposal, and you can join us, become a Floor Master, and take part in the event with us."

White Knight chipped in, "Their parents know a lot about Nen and are better teachers than whoever you probably have."

Jack gave a side glare that told Knight to remain silent.

Now Rayleigh understood. These guys learned Nen from their parents, and like Killua's parents told him to beat the 190th floor and return, these guys have parents who probably gave insider info on the benefits of the events on the tower.

Rayleigh shook his head. "I'm not interested." If the Main Characters didn't even take part, how good could the event be?

Rayleigh then said, "But I'm not unreasonable. How about this? If any of you three beat me, I'll promise not to teach anyone Nen for a year."

Jack asked, "Here?"

Rayleigh shook his head, "No, the Tavern. I already used my time up today, so how about we all go there tomorrow, 8 PM?"

Jack smiled and said, "Deal."

Rayleigh left the table while Jack took care of the bill.

The Tavern had an Arena function where Players could basically fight to the death without consequences. It cost some Mission Points to use, but not many. Since Rayleigh brought up the idea, he'd pay the Mission Points himself.

He had not even thought about teaching Nen to others. He told others in the Tavern that he would if he could, but he couldn't remember everything he said outside the Tavern because the conversation heavily involved Metaknowledge. Now that someone else had brought it up, he could take a moment to actually consider it. It didn't matter if he won or lost, he wouldn't be able to teach anything useful for a year anyways, but he wanted an all-out fight against someone who already knew how to use Nen.

After finishing up his meal, Rayleigh went down a few floors to a Gym built into the tower and put on a few hundred kilograms of weights before using his Second Level Zetsu to cut his body completely off from the Force and Aura. He then proceeded to run as fast as he could for as long as he could before collapsing.

One advantage of Zetsu was that remaining in Zetsu accelerated the healing process, so he could do this kind of physical exercise more and more often.

Rayleigh spent the next day chatting with Gon and Killua while exercising and practicing Contrary Belief. He would imagine at the same time that a rock on the ground was getting light enough to float while also imagining that it was getting heavier and heavier. It was awkward and felt like he was splitting his vision, seeing things with one eye independently of seeing things with the other. Continuing this exercise for a while would naturally lead to enabling one to split their own mind and be capable of thinking different things at the same time.

Once every step of Alar training was complete, he could return to this step with both his minds and use Contrary Belief with both, leading to his two split minds splitting again into four different minds, each capable of independent thought. Perhaps he could even go further.

At 8 PM precisely, Rayleigh mentally entered the Tavern and soon spotted the adult versions of Springheeled Jack, Armory, and White Knight.

As an adult, Jack looked even bulkier, like he could wrap his arms around a tree and squeeze it to splinters. Armory appeared refined, whereas Knight appeared heroic.

While he was sizing them up, he was being sized up in turn. Though Rayleigh considered his brown hair and brown eyes plain, his sharp features stood out like a drawn blade, regal and imposing.

Jack directly stated, "You'll fight White Knight first. He's been learning Nen for a month already, and since he has 1 in 10,000,000 Talent, he already has the basics down."

The group headed to a hall beneath the stairs to the second floor. At the end was a door with a plaque. [Arena. Challenge Players or Figures from various worlds.]

Challenging a Player was cheap but only worked if they agreed. If you had enough points, you could also challenge figures you knew about from various worlds. A Player could pay to fight Captain Ginyu or Sage Mode Madara Uchiha if they had enough points. No one was strong enough to fight anyone interesting, so this feature had not been used much by the Players yet.

Rayleigh opened the door and entered, followed by the others. If he closed the door, the space would separate, and they would enter a different version of that room if they opened it after he entered and closed it.

Armory answered amicably, "You can take the Trial for a Devil Fruit even if you have not unlocked the Pirate Class as long as you paid for the Trial Pass. Pirate is both of our Secondary Class. After getting a Devil Fruit's power from clearing a Trial, we simply went to the Pirate World to unlock the Class which also granted the Devil Fruit's abilities. Then we came back."

Rayleigh asked, "So you have one too?"

Armory replied back, "You don't? Devil Fruits are very powerful."

Rayleigh smiled and challenged back, "Show me."

Rayleigh paid for a third match, depleting the remainder of his Mission Points. He'd have to do a bunch of 45~49 Point Missions or hopefully figure out Nen and get strong enough to do the 50 Point and above Missions.

The countdown started once more. Jack eventually came out of his internal thought processes and stood with Knight at the side to watch. Although they each had lost, both had confident smiles on their faces as to the outcome of the current match.

Rayleigh took out his lightsaber once more and Armory's aura flared from his body. Then it did something weird. His aura solidified into what looked like iron sand. The sand didn't float around like particulate matter either, it globed together strongly and floated in the air while shaping itself. The various floating lumps took the shape of various weapons, and before the countdown reached zero, Armory was surrounded by floating shields, knives, and spears.

Once the countdown hit zero, the hardened weapons launched themselves at Rayleigh's position. Rayleigh used his own Telekinesis to block it, but the blocked weapons shifted back into sand and seemed to slip through his conscious grasp of them. That was a problem.

Telekinesis was not an invisible hand that stretched out. It was taking a concept and altering it with your mind. The concept, 'the flying knife' could be identified and targeted, allowing him to will the target identified as 'the flying knife' to move or stop. But what if the concept became immaterial? How could he stop a flying knife if there was no knife?

Rayleigh gave up on Telekinesis and ran. He swerved to avoid the flying weapons and charged toward Armory, intent on slicing through that metal shield.

The moment he approached, he felt an intense sense of danger and stopped before backing up. The problem was that he didn't see or sense where the danger originated from.

He did see the weapons coming from behind and returning towards him though.

When Rayleigh felt a pull on his Lightsaber, he understood that Armory seemed to be acting like a magnet. He had no way to pull the Lightsaber from his hand, but he could pull, push, and shape the magnetic sand around him.

Rayleigh dodged several more times, but he had no way to attack Armory. Every time he got close, he sensed that impending danger but was unable to identify what it was.

A hilarious thought occurred to Ray and almost made him break his concentration. Wasn't this almost exactly what happened to Gon with Guido?

At least Rayleigh had a better-quality of opponent.

Rayleigh asked aloud, "How long can you keep this up?"

Armory politely answered, "For as long as I want. Maintaining the Magnetic Sand doesn't cost much Aura after it's made, and the Magnetism is powered by the Magnet Fruit, not Nen."

Well, that meant he couldn't wait him out. One downside of the Arena was that it still held to the rule that you could only spend two hours a day in the Tavern. Knight's and Jack's matches hadn't taken very long, but they still only had a little over an hour. Besides, ending the match like that would leave a sour taste in Rayleigh's mouth.

He didn't know what the danger was, but he had confidence in his own abilities. If he charged forward for an exchange of blows, he could end Armory before dying himself.

With this in mind, Rayleigh waited for an opening. He stayed a few meters away from Armory, and eventually Armory succumbed to the temptation to attack Rayleigh with the metal shield he kept in front of him, doubling the amount of sand used to fight and doubling the number of weapons.

Rayleigh moved at his fastest speed to strike. The ever-present alarm of danger ringing in his senses was ignored as he aimed for the head.

Armory then did something Rayleigh certainly did not expect. He held up his hands and blocked the Lightsaber. The laser sword stopped a centimeter from Armory's hands, both together, pressing with an invisible force against the incoming Lightsaber. Rayleigh's strength should have overpowered him, but Rayleigh noticed too late that Armory had metal beneath his sleeves. He likely encased his body in metal and hardened it into a statue, granting him the strength not to bend under Rayleigh's attack.

Armory smiled, "So it really is a Plasma sword."

The danger screamed at Rayleigh, he tried to jump back, but felt numerous stabs of pain throughout his body before he could get any distance.

Rayleigh looked carefully at the wounds. He didn't see or sense what was piercing him. Blood dripped down from invisible weapons that had embedded themselves into Rayleigh's body.

The weapons locked his movements, preventing him from dodging the blades that finished him off a moment later.

The Arena flashed twice, and Rayleigh and Armory returned to their starting positions.

Rayleigh smiled and sat down. "I lost." He turned to Armory and asked, "How did you do that?"

Armory answered, "Aura can be used to enhance things like the strength of Jack's springs or the hardness of Knight's wax. It can transmute itself into other substances, other forms of energy, or matter itself. I'm something of a Transmuter, and something of a Conjurer, so I can easily create Magnetic Sand with my aura that can be perfectly controlled by my Magnet Fruit's abilities. As for how I made my sand invisible? You'll find out later as you learn more about Nen."

Rayleigh frowned. He wanted to know now, but he wouldn't give Armory the pleasure of one-upping him again by being asked.

The group left the Arena and spent the last hour chatting while drinking their free beers.

Rayleigh asked Jack, "You looked like you knew he was gonna beat me before the match started."

Jack nodded with a smile, "Armory is a genius. And I don't mean talent. He's a fucking mastermind playing chess. Every move you made since you got up there was made for you." He then turned to Armory and added, "But I didn't think the bastard would block your Lightsaber with his hands."

They were out of the Arena, so Metaknowledge had returned, but inside the Arena, the idea of blocking a Laser sword with an electromagnetic field was a ballsy one.

"I didn't know if it would work, to be honest," Armory admitted.

Rayleigh sighed, "That's probably why it worked. Battle Precognition works somewhat off the intent of the opponent."

Rayleigh asked, "Why are you called Armory and not Magneto?"

Armory shrugged. "I couldn't think of Magneto. Even though the MCU doesn't have mutants, all Marvel knowledge is sealed, so I didn't even think of him. Instead, I just thought I could have every weapon and armor that existed, so I'm a human armory. It doesn't matter since I'll be walking down the same path regardless."

Rayleigh nodded and said, "Still better than Springheeled Jack."

Jack shouted back, "What did you say?!"

Ray answered, "I mean, you don't have springs on your heels. They're on your ankles."

Jack countered, "Springheeled Jack isn't a name I made up, it's an old urban legend from England about a man capable of jumping over walls. Besides, once I master the use of my Devil Fruit, I won't just be able to turn my arms and legs into springs. I bet if I awaken it, I can turn every body part and cell into a spring. You think I'm fast now? Just wait. And if I can learn that Air-Walk trick from the Pirate World, I'll be able to do even more! I won't need walls and will be able to fight in the sky!"

White Knight added, "My dad in the Pirate World is a retired Cipher Pol officer who knows the Six Techniques. I have those as an Easy Mastery, so once I'm strong enough, he'll teach me, and then I can teach you."

Jack smiled brightly, shouting, "Alright!" Outside of the Tavern, they would not recall the knowledge of the Six Techniques, Rokushiki, but since they already arranged that they'd teach Nen to White Knight in exchange for him teaching them, they should be able to learn it without needing to ask.

They chatted until their two hours were up and returned to the Tower. Rayleigh's Character spent the time meditating, and now he'd get back to Alar training. He hoped to complete Contrary Belief and Mental Division within a month, then Mental Separation and Mental Isolation in two months.

It was true that Rayleigh lost to Armory because he couldn't sense the invisible weapons, but it was also because he was outplayed. Jedi had difficulties multitasking. If Rayleigh could properly split his mind, he'd be able to perform twice as many tasks with the Force. He could even do the same thing he read about in a Light Novel and have one mind dedicated to using the Force to enhance his body while using the other to sense the surroundings and use the Force to alter the environment.

In any case, it would make him stronger than he is now. In a sense, he was thankful for his loss. It accurately pointed out his weaknesses and how he could improve. He'd have to think about visiting the Arena more often in the future.

*Author's Note*

Every Player is having his or her own adventure, and most have their own teacher or guide instructing them on how to get stronger, so it's not an easy thing to simply encounter them wandering around. That being said, there will be a group of them in Greed Island and they will become mini-rivals for Ray's group during the GI Arc since they will all be stronger and more experienced. Biscuit may torture them lightly.

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