The hooligans, freerunners, and Luke were all gathered at Jake's old hideaway. The frerunners were adding on to the course while the hooligans acted as safety nets and Luke went over the contents of the backpack he would be taking into the arena. For the last 24 hours, he hadn't cast any spells in preparation for his time in the arena, so he had to physically check the bag instead of simply make it invisible to check the contents.
From the bag, he pulled out four rest potions; a rest potion cauldron; a magic capacity cauldron; a folded up tarp that would barely, but fully, cover him that he could string up like a really bad tent; two metal water bottles; three different books on edible and poisonous plants, in case any of them were out in the woods of the arena; as many extra sets of clothes as he could fit in the backpack; and Laura's book on magic.
Looking at the latter for a few seconds, he decided to let the future generations have such a valuable store of knowledge, even if he hadn't fully learned everything within himself. So, he called over, "Any hooligans free?"
|-|a`/w1r3: brb, luke's calling
Brandon put his phone down, having not really been paying attention to the freerunners up above, and said, "What's up?"
"Take this," he said, holding the book out to Brandon. "It's a book from my magic teacher, made just for me. I haven't learned everything inside, but the raw amount of spells inside and knowledge she put in these pages should help propel humanity's magical knowledge forward. Ultimately, it's yours, now, to do with as you wish; but, I'd like it to be put online somewhere, freely accessible."
"What's all in here?" Brandon asked, looking the book over after taking it.
"Feels like every spell known to man," Luke said, "but, listing them all out would take too long." He began putting his stuff back in his backpack. "All the healing spells, tons of offensive stuff, how to enchant stuff, her theories on how magic works, just a ton of stuff. Stuff we couldn't get to before she was put into the arena alongside refreshers of the important stuff. A little bit of an autobiography at the end, but not a comprehensive one.
"She was great at magic, best I know of or have seen in my very limited browsing of the internet since. I might even try to replicate the minefield she made, though to a smaller degree and non-lethal. The more fraxions I kill, the more I'll be put into direct danger. If I felt like wasting the majority of my magic capacity, I might even enchant myself to explode on my death as she did. If I think I'm going out, I'm definitely spending everything to make as big of a blast as I can, though. Those extra few minutes she bought like that were valuable," Luke rambled.
His impending death was getting to him, even if he tried to make it seem like it wasn't. Even if his plan was to survive as long as humanly possible.
"Wait, you knew Bombshell!?" Brandon asked excitedly, to which Luke nodded. "Wait, I have a book by Bombshell in my hands? This is so cool!" He took out his phone and started typing.
"Bombshell?" Luke asked.
|-|a`/w1r3: GUYS! apparently luke's teacher was bombshell
"Yeah. There's a wiki I help with that catalogues all the interesting fights in the arena. Her final explosion was what cemented her nickname, which most interesting fighters get," Brandon said, watching the replies come in.
6215729883: what?
6215729883: no way you were that close to Bombshell
d3adweight: he have any interesting stuff to put on the page?
Convector: Nice. Try to get her name so we can have a real lead. Crazy that someone can have zero images of them for reverse image search to find.
6215729883: @bragdon
6215729883: @bragdon
6215729883: @bragdon
bragdon: what
6215729883: ^^^
bragdon: OH NICE
bragdon: he's going in a few minutes right?
bragdon: get what you can out of him
"We usually refer to them by their nicknames, even after we can find who they were. We have a biography section alongside videos, breakdowns, and analysis of their fight. The biography section usually goes blank, but searching their face usually gets us some lead, even if it's just a better guess as to the region they came from. Having an autobiography for Bombshell will be a nice addition to the wiki," Brandon continued before going to respond.
"Not sure how I feel about that, but I guess it could be a good resource to learn about fighting fraxions," Luke said, finishing up packing his backpack. "Treat the book well while I'm gone."
"Or what, you'll come back and haunt me?" Brandon asked. "Pretty sure ghosts don't exist."
"They theoretically could," Luke said. "According to Laura's thoughts on magic, a soul exists. Who says we can't use that to come back and haunt you?"
|-|a`/w1r3: got a book written by her, tons of spells and a small autobiography
"If it were possible, pretty sure it would have happened by now. No increase in ghost sightings since the arrival," Brandon responded.
"What are you doing on your phone?" Luke asked.
"Talking to the other wiki curators," Brandon responded. "Having something like this is big."
"You get to that, then," Luke said, putting his backpack on. "I'll be gone here in a bit, so make sure to get good use out of the book while I'm gone. Don't slack in your magic practice just because I'm extending the time you have to get better at it."
"Yeah, yeah," Brandon said.
d3adweight: nice
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
bragdon: sweet
6215729883: anyone have a scanner to get the book in digital?
d3adweight: pretty sure cloud does
bragdon: we'll have to ask cloud for his
Convector: Great. When Cloudissius gets on, we'll have to remember to ask for a meet up between you two to get that on the page. What's all in it? d3adweight: can't wait
|-|a`/w1r3: luke said theres tons of spells and theory and even an autobiography
d3adweight: nice |-|a`/w1r3: great general resource and jumping off point for her info
bragdon: awesome
bragdon: it'll be great to actually have stuff to fill out her page with
Convector: Didn't he also know Vending Machine?
|-|a`/w1r3: he stopped us from trashing her place, yeah
6215729883: does he have anything unique to add to her page?
d3adweight: didn't you say they were dating?
|-|a`/w1r3: he swears they werent, but they did live together for over a year
|-|a`/w1r3: wouldnt have enough time to get anything new out of him
|-|a`/w1r3: hes disappearing in around a minute
6215729883: think he'll be added to the wiki?
6215729883: sounds like a strong dude
d3adweight: surrounded by strong women, too 🤤
bragdon: shut up, dead
|-|a`/w1r3: if his power in our spars is anything to go by, he might
|-|a`/w1r3: but his plan is to be as boring as possible
|-|a`/w1r3: just go camp in the woods or something
d3adweight: sounds boring |-|a`/w1r3: try to get humanity as much time as possible to advance
|-|a`/w1r3: only ever seen him low on magic power once
|-|a`/w1r3: near the beginning of our spars
|-|a`/w1r3: so he can probably do it
Convector: We're not strictly an "interesting fights" wiki. Anything that could be informative, even if it's just a rehash of a previous fight, should be added to the wiki. If he manages to live a long time, that will be valuable information on the arena's layout, resources, and how the fraxions deal with someone who evades them a long time.
d3adweight: how will we host the video of his "fight?
d3adweight: "
d3adweight: we'll probably need to split it up
6215729883: split it- yeah
6215729883: maybe in highlight reels
|-|a`/w1r3: we could have each day be a video and make a highlight reel
|-|a`/w1r3: take out important bits for any relevant part of the wiki page and put it next to the text
bragdon: think he has a real chance at this? I know you say he's strong, but that doesn't really mean anything in the endurance fest he plans on
|-|a`/w1r3: he's been exercising for months
|-|a`/w1r3: only breaks are for sipping rest potions
|-|a`/w1r3: and has the best healing magic ive seen since Saint
|-|a`/w1r3: only real question is if he can make more rest potions
|-|a`/w1r3: and i guess maube if he can survive through his sleep if not
bragdon: he also a potioneer?
bragdon: if he lived with Vending Machine, seems like he'd be able to
|-|a`/w1r3: makes his own potions now that Vending Machine's gone
|-|a`/w1r3: problem will be supplies
While Brandon was talking with his wiki curator group, Luke disappeared.
----------------------------------------
Immediately, metal wires attempted to wrap themselves around Luke's body as the opposing fraxion began its cautious approach. It was injured from its previous fights, missing many armor plates and bleeding from the many places various spells and barely-blocked bullets had managed to make contact. Luke wasn't certain how much blood it had lost, and only cared because it bleeding out would return him to his starting position.
He telekinetically froze the fraxion in place while physically grabbing the wires before the could ensnare him, and prevented them from limiting his movements. He then turned, increasing the pressure of his telekinetic trap to continuously counteract the anti-telekinetic shield the fraxion put up, and began walking out of the clearing and into the woods.
He put up a swarm of mirrors so the only blind spots he had were behind the small mirrors, which caught the fraxion attempting to summon a metal spike out of the ground behind him, aimed directly at his head. A translucent shield, like the fraxions enjoyed using and Laura had included in her book, prevented it from so much as scratching him as he made his casual stroll into the woods.
Multiple other attempts at ranged attacks were thrown his way, all of which he blocked with the one shield. A metal blade attempted to cut off his left leg. A ball of acid splashed harmlessly off the shield and onto the ground. A swarm of metal needles attempted to overwhelm his defenses.
All of it didn't matter. His distance was increasing at a steady pace, reducing the force the fraxion could effectively apply, and his shield prevented any of the attacks from making contact.
Once he was far enough into the woods that he lost sight of the fraxion, he dropped his mirrors and telekinetically created a false trail leading straight into the woods while flying at a 30 degree angle from said trail. Once he was certain he couldn't be tracked, he let up on his telekinetic trap on the fraxion.
It wasn't long before he could hear the fraxion making its way through the woods, its massive size preventing any sort of stealth in the underbrush of these woods, where the slender human form was adept at moving quietly in a wooded area. The distance between the two combatants meant he didn't need to be perfectly silent, so he continued his steady march into the woods, quiet as can realistically be done in a woods whose fallen leaves are usually cleared out every few seconds.
The sounds of the fraxion bounding through the woods down the false path he made and his foot steps were the only things Luke could hear as he got deeper into the woods, the former getting quieter as time went on before it was only his footsteps he could hear. After a few seconds of him being the only source of audible sound in his corner of the arena, a loud shriek came from the direction of the end of Luke's fake trail. He'd successfully evaded his opponent, it seemed, as the fraxion's frustrated wail began to fade, as well.
Luke saw quite a few plants along his multiple minute journey, but nothing that seemed edible. No fruits, no berries, no mushrooms, just him, leafy bushes, and trees. He was certain something in here must be edible, though he was beginning to be concerned it may need to be himself. Healing spells would be able to replace any lost flesh, after all.
Hopefully, he would find something even further in.