Chapter 8

"Me? Lose?" August asked. He was talking about the third trial. What did he know about it?

Nilvar put a finger on his lips. "It'll cost you. We all heard it. You have 60,000 credits you got from the rich kid, didn't you? I can tell you what the next trial will be and how to win it. You'll be able to strategize before anyone else here."

August frowned. "You're selling information?"

He shrugged. "I'm what they call an Information Broker. Ask the right questions, you'll get the right answers. Well? Interested?"

"How do I know you'll honor the agreement? That you're not lying? How can I trust you?"

"You don't," he said. "You'll just have to risk it."

{ Nilvar requests a trade, offering: 10,000 Credits for "Information about Lord Mesheen's 3rd Trial. }

"I'll think about it."

He waved a hand and left.

August pulled himself up and scooched closer to Seven. "Can we trust him?"

"I lack sufficient data on Rank 4 Nilvar to form an accurate assessment. However, if he truly is an Information Broker and provides an precise data regarding the next trial, it will benefit you to use his services for the future."

The future, he thought. "Is 10,000 Credits a lot?"

"I don't know. My data doesn't include any information about currency."

August felt uncomfortable asking people, but he needed to. But when he approached them, they pushed him away or ignored him. He asked about three people before giving up.

If the Information Broker was telling the truth, he would be invaluable. Neither he nor Seven knew anything about this world. His services would be worth gold, but if he knew about the two of them and knew they were ignorant, then wouldn't he charge a higher price?

August decided to take another approach. He returned back to the dining hall and asked the staff. They told him 10,000 credits was nothing. It didn't even amount to some of the foods they could serve. He also asked them about the third trial but they were tight-lipped about it.

Then, he asked the medical staff. "That's a lot!" one of them said. Apparently, 10,000 credits would be able to buy her a decent, low-grade Info Bracelet. It was a staple in the medical field.

One side said it was nothing, while the other said it was a lot. August returned back to Seven. Below, another of these martial artists fought. Einrich was the only mage he met so far.

"Did you find anything?" she asked.

"Some," he said. He told her about the conflicting viewpoints. He guessed he would have to gamble on this one.

"How'd you know what's going to be in the next trial?" he asked.

Nilvar put a finger on his lips. "Trade secret."

August scoffed. "I want another condition added," he said. "You'll not only tell us info about the 3rd Trial, but what strategy we need to take to complete the test."

"Deal," he said quickly. August started to worry if he should have bargained some more. But the offer had been made, and when the translucent window appeared, he accepted it.

"The next trial will be a Standard Match."

A Standard Match, he explained, was a 3-versus-3 match where the goal was to eliminate 2 Towers of the other team. At the same time, they also had to protect their own towers from being attacked. Lord Meneesh would have them form a team of 3 and have them fight each other in a 2nd arena that was yet to be revealed.

The problem was--there was only two of them. They needed one more to complete the team, and no one wanted to be with a broken automaton who cheated her way into winning and a boy who didn't know how to attack. They were referred to as the "cheaters" who tricked their way to the top spots.

"A lot of people bet against you two," he added. "And a lot of people lost."

"Is there anyone out there who's willing to team up with us?"

Nilvar cracked his knuckles. "That's where I come in. And no, it's not me." He pointed at the ring. "Since you have the info of the next trial now, we can scout a potential teammate who's willing to tolerate your notoriety. But right now, there's only one climber I can think of. Hope you don't end up with him."

"Judah?"

He scratched his chin. "The boy might be better. But this will be a team match. It won't be something as simple as taking down the opponent before you, and I'm afraid the boy might not even be qualified, no matter how strong he is. What you need right now, what you two lack, is a weapon capable of striking through your opponents. Someone who can be the center of your team. A Core."

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"What's a core?"

"They'll be your center. Usually, they have some sort of offensive abilities, but they control the battlefield by taking out other climbers and carrying the team to victory. They lead the crucial fights."

It shouldn't be difficult finding one person for the team. There were 25 of them, and if they form teams of three, that will be a total of 8 teams. But what would happen to the last one?

"They'll be eliminated," Nilvar said.

Damn it. Since August and Seven were so unpopular now, the other players would have to choose from the two of them. Seven was most likely weaker than him, but he didn't want her to be eliminated now. He didn't want to lose here either.

He watched the matches with a different goal. He wasn't here to be entertained anymore. He needed to evaluate the personalities and skills of other people in fighting in the arena and see if they could be offered to join him. Right now, he had 50,000 Credits. Perhaps he might even be able to buy them.

The announcer declared: { Sixth match--Rank 10 Quann Alhamir Gladis vs. Rank 6 Selerius. Please step into the combat dome. }

"It's him," Nilvar said. "Quann. If you don't want an insane climber that you can't properly communicate with, avoid him at all cost."

August observed him. He's all white, he thought. His hair, his eyes, even his uniform was different from all the other climbers. Just a pure, unstained white. And the more August stared at him, the more womanly his face looked.

"That's a Lord's blood in his veins. Quann Alhamir Gladis from the House Gladis," Nilvar said. "Looks like a woman, isn't he? That's a Gladis for you. All white and all beautiful. He's a double-edged sword, you'll see."

Quann was going to fight against a mage. Selerius had a shield and a staff too, but something seemed different about them. The staff looked like a spear. It had long blades at both ends. Then both the shield and the blades spun erratically.

The bell rang.

Selerius didn't talk like the other competitors. He attacked. Quann didn't have a weapon so he looked defenseless, but he exuded confidence enough to give a hint of a smile. "Let's play a little game," he said. His voice sounded like a woman too.

Quann bent and jumped. High in the air, he twisted his body that, mid-air, he stared back at Selerius. He stretched his handsAugust heard a loud echoing crack sharp bones sprouted from his palm and struck the man through his shoulders. The man didn't have the time to react. He screamed and fell on the ground.

"I will give you thirty seconds," Quann said. "If you can undo the clasp on your helmet, you'll live. But if you go past thirty seconds, I'll break one bone in your body starting from your toes every ten seconds. One..."

The mage tried to undo the clasp, but the damage on his shoulders slowed him down. August waited with bated breath, but as the seconds ticked up, he began to lose hope for the Rank 6. Then, at the 29th second, he heard a click.

"I did it!" Selerius said. He tried to remove the helmet but it didn't work. It wouldn't work to begin with. The helmet had several locks but he only managed to solve one. Each piece was a puzzle in itself. Thankfully, when August touched the helmet, he reconstructed a diagram in the Info Bracelet. Since he'd been creating reconstructing 3-Dimensional Shapes to begin with, it wasn't difficult to solve. The Notes he'd been using felt petrifyingly useful.

"Thirty-one," Quann said. His smile was vicious.

The mage tried to attack with a spear but pieces of Quann's rib sprouted from his body and used it to create a barrier around himself, weaving and flexible. The attacks sliced through bone and managed to slipped past his defenses, but he didn't seem to mind the wounds he'd been taking.

"They specialize in body modifications," Nilvar said. "Blood, muscles, skin, and bone among other parts of the body. He's only fifteen, but that boy already has a terrifying control over his own power. Among you new climbers, he's the one you have to watch out for."

The match ended much later, when Selerius couldn't walk anymore and every part of his leg were bent the wrong way after Quann decided to fracture his joints with his bone needle. Then, after what felt like an eternity, the removed his helmet.

"Wonderful!" Quann clapped. "As a reward..."

August heard several snaps as the Rank 6's legs re-attached and seemed to fix by itself. He screamed and then he passed out. When they were told to leave the combat dome, Quann was still performing the operation as he stepped out and the man was dragged by a stretcher.

"I think I just lost my appetite," August said.

August learned a lot from Nilvar for the next several matches. At the end of last match, he got a good grasp of how he placed among the other mages and found out more about himself. Since he'd never been able to control living beings, his master Visentii taught him only the fundamentals.

These fundamentals didn't require interaction outside. Nilvar informed him that mages normally found these boring, tedious, and unproductive since it didn't produce visible results. But August had been honing his fundamentals since he was a child. It felt like a muscle. It rises, then falls, and then the baseline of what he was capable of increases.

He was better than them at the fundamentals, but when it comes to function and practicality in combat, he lacked the offense to fully utilize everything he'd learned. If this was a true deathmatch where only one person leaves alive at the end of a match, he would have to strangle Einrich or beat him to death.

He could have tried to imprison Einrich inside an arcane box too. But those living weapons could break it and he would have to recreate it every time which was expensive.

He might have survived now, but his strength produced a weakness that would be extremely difficult to accomplish alone. And, upon watching every match after him, he realized Quann's offensive capabilities more than makes up for his and Seven's weakness.

After the match, August returned to his room. Another timer appeared. Twenty-four hours from now, the 3rd Trial would begin. He spent half of that time with Seven studying the notes he'd taken from Nilvar.

The information ended up being very useful too. Nilvar taught him how to use the Info Bracelet's capabilities for free and they were able to take each other's contact information.

{ Time before the 3rd Trial: 11hrs, 59min }

The announcer had them gather in the dining hall. August quickly got up and met up with Seven. They were expecting this. Now they get to see if the Information Broker was accurate.

They found a seat at the back corner. All the seats near the serving station were already taken. They were a full 50 participants before, but now there were only 25 of them left. It had been so crowded and noisy then, but the silence and feeling of dread that had been gathering now felt more oppressing.

"Congratulations!" The voice of Lord Meneesh announced. "Are you all well-rested? Because it's time for the 3rd Trial Team Selection! Before I announce what the trial will be, you must be in a team of 3. But there's 25 of you, so 1 climber will be left out. You have exactly 15 minutes, so if you're the unlucky one who couldn't get a team, well... you'll be eliminated."

August stood up. He had a couple of people he wanted to talk to first. And as much as possible, he'd like to avoid the sadistic climber Quann.