Ashley

I feel the corner of my lips turning downwards ever so slightly as I read the message playing across my interface.

User ‘Balrach D’T’chlo’ has refused your challenge request.

You may no longer challenge him until you have won two more challenges.

And I don’t seem to be getting any other challenges right now as another pair appears on the platform instead.

That’s annoying.

Overall, this event seems to be based around a few things.

How fast you are at challenging someone or accepting a challenge, since only a single pair can be on the battlefield at a time.

How good you are at picking apart which competitor would make for a good enemy for you, assuming you aren’t just strong enough to steamroll them all.

And how much stamina you have. Since there aren’t any ways to recover outside of your own abilities between each match.

Although some people may have potions. Like me.

Most people won’t waste them on an event that doesn’t have the threat of permanent death though.

I put my hands in my jacket pockets as I watch the two people begin their fight, with one of them clearly being a mage and the other a warrior. Meanwhile I open up my Skill Trees to look at the Skill Tree I took from the guy I killed in the council meeting.

Which, if I’m being honest, was a major boon for me.

It may just be one of the strongest Skill Trees I’ve gotten so far.

The Skill Tree has about the same number of skills in it as the goliath’s Skill Tree, which is a good number in and of itself, but more importantly, it has the first area of effect finisher skill I’ve gotten.

I focus on the new root skill I got.

{Frigid Tempest Call – Allows the user to summon forth a tempest of ice and wind using twenty-five percent of their mana. The more mana is used in the attack, the stronger the attack.}

It’s a very powerful skill.

But from what I researched on the man himself through the internet, and his previous uses of the skill in public, it takes a while to charge up. Upwards of ten seconds. And there’s no way to change how much it drains from you.

Although, I can’t help but notice something about the skill that has the corner of my lips quirking upwards.

The skill is level 14.

So I really did just plain steal all of the work he put in to level it up.

“I told you ya would,” Chaos says, returning from wherever he had been. “Sorry, sweetheart. I was at a meeting of the Primordials.”

Hmm.

I continue watching the two on the battlefield finish up their duel. Then I immediately challenge another competitor who is a lower level than me.

User ‘Rachel del Ral’ has refused your challenge request.

You may no longer challenge her until you have won two more challenges.

Seriously?

The one time I want people to target me, they avoid the hell out of me.

“Ashley, there’s something I need to tell you,” Chaos says, briefly taking my attention away from the event as another pair of people appear on the battlefield.

Something wrong?

“Yes,” he answers without hesitation, surprising me a bit. “Please be careful if you see a large Gate with strange colors mixed into it that shouldn’t be there and has a unique sounding name.”

I furrow my brows a little at that.

What?

“That’s all I can tell you without calling an even worse disaster,” Chaos states, confusing me even more.

Uh… okay.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Not too hard.

I continue watching the two challengers on the battlefield fighting it out before one of them wins. And right when I’m about to make another challenge, someone else challenges me first.

You have been challenged by the competitor known as ‘Verdent’, will you accept?

Without hesitation, I accept the challenge and appear on the battlefield amidst everyone’s gazes. Finding what looks like a dryad or something appearing in front of me.

They have green skin with glowing green eyes and vivid green hair that looks almost plantlike. And in seconds of us appearing, she spreads her hands out, summoning forth a bunch of wild animals made of roots and greenery from the platform beneath us.

“It is an honor, esteemed Successor of Chaos,” Verdent states, her voice echoing across the event chamber. “Let us have a battle to be remembered.”

I tilt my head a little, my hands still in my pockets before I kick off the ground while flapping my wings to fly into the air. At which point I take my hands out of my pockets and summon forth multiple runes of different types.

Fire runes and decay runes to be specific. Along with some gravity runes.

Gravity to decrease my weight, and decay and fire runes to summon forth bolts of mana that I send flying at the platform in order to attack the girl who I actually do find to be a dryad after identifying her, along with her summons. Because decay and fire are great against nature.

Probably.

And while they’re dealing with those, I begin to flap my wings once in order to send my feather blades her way. Only to let out a light grunt when I feel something grabbing at my ankle, making me look down to find a vine wrapped around it.

I look up again at the dryad before a large, green barrier appears to block all of my attacks. Showing that her skills are both higher level and she is more skilled at using them than me.

Not that it matters.

Because when I try to fly away from and tear apart the vine, I tear it without much trouble. The vine not being able to do much damage to me with my physical skills proving their worth.

Then I just send my feathers at her again while activating Assimilate again along with Chaotic Surge.

And this time around my feathers pierce straight through her barrier with ease, the barrier seemingly not set up to protect against physical attacks. They then continue flying straight at the dryad, only for her summons to jump in the way and defend for her.

She looks past the dying summons at me, seemingly feeling safe now that they’re dead.

But when she sees me already halfway to her with both of my weapons raised, that calm on her expression turns to panic.

The dryad rushes to summon forth more of her little pets, but by the time they get near me, I slash straight through her stomach and throat with my blades before swooping past her and going back up into the air. Turning around to check on her.

Just to find her collapsing to her knees while trying to heal her throat.

So I send more feathers her way, using up another unit of mana to do so.

Making them pierce straight into her back and begin mutating her.

Until she falls to the ground, dead.

Giving me the messages I’m looking for and making me teleport back to my platform.

{You have been granted 10 Skill Points for killing a user within the System Event.}

{You have slain a being while Assimilate is active. You have now unlocked the Skill Tree: Third Nature’s Calling}

{You have unlocked a new Skill Tree, therefore the root skill of the Skill Tree, Nature’s Wrath, is now unlocked for your usage.}

{Congratulations, you have now reached level 24. Your PHY and MEN have increased by 1 point, and your MAG by 2 points. Please choose where you wish your 1 Free Point to be allocated.}

I go ahead and allocate my points before finding an interesting message appearing in my vision.

{Congratulations! You have reached over 50 points in the MAG stat! From now on, you will have 5 more units of mana!}

So I go ahead and open my status.

Ashley Sinclair *

25/34 #

27/27 #

Level 24

46

PHY

45

MEN

51

MAG

Chaos Energy

24/29 #

Successor of Chaos

Nice.

Very nice, in fact.

I quickly try to challenge someone else, but I don’t do it quickly enough as someone else ends up on the battlefield.

It’s fine though. I’m currently winning.

No one else has won more than one battle already after all, and I’ve won three.

So I’m safe for now at least.

I still want more Skill Trees though, so I hope they hurry up this battle.