Chapter 368: Looking for a fight

Chapter 368: Looking for a fight

To break the silence, I ask, “Have you been leveling your [Concentration], what about your [Mana Manipulation], and [Kinetic Barrier]?”

“ Yes! All of them! [Mana Manipulation] the most. I practice every day with the mana stones you gave me.”

“Hardworking as always, minion.”

“I need to get stronger.” Vega nods seriously.

As we approach the forest, I notice a bunch of kids nearby, standing behind a fence and staring at the giant black wolf. They do seem to be scared though their curiosity has clearly won out. Most of them hail from Easy difficulty. They appear to have been accompanied by a few adults, who honestly don't seem much better.

Even from this distance, I hear one of the kids shout towards the wolf, “Nya nya nya!”

“Oliver, I told you to stop saying that!” The man, probably the boy's father, shouts before slapping the back of his head.

“You got it wrong, Oliver! You should only be adding it to the end of the sentence because...” the second boy doesn't finish because the man slaps the back of his head as well.

We don’t hear much more as their conversation fades from the range of our hearing. I turn to Vega, “Minion, have you given any consideration to saying nya at the end of your sentences? Long ago, it was some...”

“I won’t do it!”

I see. Humanity is doomed.

Lynthari and human 0, half demons 1.

“So how are things going?” I ask as we approach Tess and Gareth, who are still conversing with the black wolf, patiently sitting nearby with Biscuit on his head.

“He’s been surprisingly nice,” Gareth says.

“We’ve gotten a few “tiny” bits of information,” Tess adds.

“Anything fun?” I ask.

“We were right, there are 14 Rulers. One for each Radiance and Blight. Each one is usually much more powerful than a given Absolute, and most of them used to be Absolutes. The number seems to have been limited by the system itself, and there can’t be more than one for each Radiance or Blight.”

“We expected that much, didn’t we?”

“Yes, but it’s nice to have it confirmed. What is fun is that in some very rare cases, a powerful Absolute can potentially defeat and even kill a Ruler and take his place. Sometimes the title of a Ruler is hereditary, an Absolute can receive the ruler’s powers via a ceremony. In some cases you need to kill them or have a better handle on your Radiance or Blight, it differs from Ruler to Ruler.”

“That’s kind of unexpected but not that surprising if you think about it,” I say.

“Yes, it also seems like being called Absolute isn’t just for the sake of it, and some Absolutes are much more powerful than others. We tried to get more, but the system censored a lot. Floors, Rulers, Absolutes, information on future tournaments, the System, Pairing, factors outside the scope of the tutorial.”

(It’s still too early for you, human. Just trust in the system, and gradually everything will be revealed.) The black wolf snorts, his breath bending the grass in its path like a strong wind.

“I don’t want to,” I tell him.

(It matters not what you want or do not want, human.)

Well, if this young wolf isn’t just as cheeky as his master. Still, I have to wonder why someone as high-leveled as the wolf needed a master. Him becoming a disciple can mean only one thing: he was about to die. Like every other disciple, he was saved from death by being sent to the tutorial, at which point he became a disciple, after being picked by the system due to their similarity to a participant.

“So how did you become Biscuit’s disciple?” It's simpler to just ask than stress over it.

(Master possesses the same primordial energy I do, and even though master isn’t as high-leveled yet, his mastery over it is much greater than mine.)

Biscuit, you cool little thing.

Sensing my pride, he lets out a gentle woof from atop his disciple’s head.

“What kind of energy is it?”

“What do you think?” I ask, leaning back to watch as she pets him.

“It’s weird, master. I know he is smarter and stronger than me, but I don’t feel like I need to worry about him hurting me. And it’s not just because I have you here with me.” As she speaks, she stops petting Biscuit, until he chuffs at her, leading her to quickly continue.

In response I ask, the black wolf, “ Did you Hear that? Why can’t you be more like your master?”

The black wolf decides to keep his dignity and stays quiet.

“Maybe you would master your primordial energy as well as Biscuit if you behaved like him.” I tease.

Silence.

“I bet that ancient predecessor of yours wasn’t so uptight like you. He probably...”

(Human.) He interrupts me finally, (If you are looking for a fight, let’s fight.) As he growls, I feel its deep rumble in my bones and the ground beneath me. It reverberates in my chest as we square off.

“Let’s do it.”

We face off against each other, having moved to the edge of the common area, relocating to a big clearing surrounded by trees on three sides. Far enough away to avoid causing any damage to the common area at large, not to mention the houses, and camps there. I think. Details... who needs to care about such little things. I just know I’m excited.

This tournament is fun and all, but at the same time, it feels fake, no real danger has been presented to me. It’s almost to the point that I can’t wait to return to the floors to experience some real danger, and yet even though this is just as fake, it feels more real. It feels strange to say, but that’s the only way I can describe the sensation.

Nearby, I see Tess with the rest of group 4 and Vega in between them. They’ve learned from our previous experience and so they’ve taken greater precautions, going so far as to set a barrier in advance. It’s not like they are close; actually, they are pretty far, but better safe than sorry.

The wolf in front of me stretches and shakes, his teeth bared in imitation of a smile. He doesn’t say anything, the kind and boyish atmosphere around him is gone. Instead, every one of his movements feels dangerous, like that of a predator, and his golden eyes take on a vicious glow.

I can already feel my heart pumping madly, so I better calm down so that I don’t hurt him too much. We still don’t know if our disciples can die here, and I promised not to hurt him. I know there are even more people than Group 4 watching. Some of them are curious, and others are bored and hoping for an exciting fight.

At this point, there is no sense in hiding anything. Of course, I fully intend to hold back, I don’t want to hurt him after all, but I don’t exactly need to hide my abilities either.

The first to attack is the black wolf. One moment he stands there, a towering giant. In the next, his body shrinks to half of his original size. Though it’s still massive.

His maw snaps shut around the space I formerly occupiedwhere I stood and he charges me again, moving so quickly just with the sheer power of his stats.

I dodge again, black mana seeping into my body from the orb I created inside, and I match his speed, dodging at first. Both of us poking at each other.

He slashes with his paw, a trail of mana left behind. He snaps his maw shut, sending a small shockwave through the air. I shoot a mana projectile at him, and he dodges. He senses a concentrated blast of kinetic energy, dodging it as well. Nimbly moving on his legs, he keeps his golden eyes on me, his speed increasing while his body continues to shrink, and I barely avoid him. Both of us waiting for the other one to use any other skill so the fight starts properly.

I see amusement in his eyes as I let [Mana Crown] form over my head so I can flood my body with more black mana from inside.

His amusement quickly disappears when armor surrounds my body and becomes denser and bigger, creating a mana mech-like creation.

[Redistribution] holds him down for a moment, and the massive arm of my mana mech grabs his now smaller body.

There is no childish scream or complaint anymore; instead, he shows me all of his teeth, terrifying fangs showing in their full beauty.

Through my Mana Wavelength Iris, I see his mana swirl, and his body starts returning to its original size.

But with it, my mana mech grows as well. My crown keeps all the mana I’m releasing under my control, as well as thanks to my [Mana Domain] and [Mana Manipulation] helping me control it. The armor surrounding me grows at the same speed the wolf grows, gradually turning into a lighter shade of blue until I use [Redistribution] and [Infusion] to transfer a huge amount of mana to it.

The wolf is now the same size he was before and a bit more, and my armor equals his size, dark blue mana surrounding me.

Finally, he gets away from my hand and jumps back, the ground exploding under his feet as he lowers his body and then charges at me.

From Vortex Core, I take the kinetic energy I was compressing there and use it to help me move the mana armor surrounding me, and we clash against each other.

Instead of a clash of wit and attempts to take each other down smartly, it turns into a brawl of two stubborn individuals.