The living room was too small, so we decided to meet in the garden. It's a nice change of pace, seated at a group of tables loaded with snacks, surrounded by a variety of lovely shade trees, and vibrant green grass, with a nice breeze to bring it all together.
Even Biscuit’s in attendance, floating around and sniffing at the gathered people. Some of them almost seem to be terrified; I guess they saw his performance in the prior events. Now that I think about it, didn't Biscuit kill a bunch of people from Easy and Normal difficulty during the 1st event?
As for the people milling about, we’ve managed to gather about twenty men and women from Easy and Normal difficulty. Channeler, Dennis, Aaron, Sophie, and Izzy are also here. Off to the side, there’s Tacita, sitting on a branch high up in a tree, nomming on some kind of snack she’s stolen and observing us down here. I don't think she’s been noticed by anyone other than Sophie and I.
I’ve already brought Channeler up to speed on the situation, so he starts, “So, the goal is simple. We need to make Noname look as weak as possible.”
Someone giggles before being silenced by two of her friends
“Good fucking luck with that,” I hear before they cover her mouth.
Channeler, unbothered, smiles at the gathered people, his handsome face projecting a calming aura.
As he continues, even I find myself starting to believe his words, “You guys have got it all wrong. During the second event, Noname waited for the others from Hell to weaken the monster so he could steal the rewards.”
“No one’s going to believe that!” someone shouts.
“Why not, Eve? We all saw it. Noname used an item, that’s the only reason he was even capable of defeating the monsters. It is a powerful item he stole like a coward on one of the floors, that’s the only reason he’s gotten so far.” He looks at Sophie, Izzy, then the twins. “Even his own group has been complaining about how much they’ve had to carry him.”
That… that sounds reasonable, doesn't it?
“Plus, Noname’s Avatar won’t have the ax,” Channeler adds.
Someone else asks, “What about the first event? He didn’t have that ax then and he almost won!”
The handsome man shakes his head, “Once again, Noname was lucky, he even got his hands on an arcane item that’s why he got so far. It's insane how lucky this guy is. Even then, he lost against Savant.”
“Didn't Savant have the arcane glove?”
Channeler looks confused, “Has anyone confirmed that? Savant won’t deny it, he’ll pretend he did because he’s trying to hide his true power until the duels, right? In truth, Savant fought with skills alone.”
This time a small group of people starts mumbling among themselves.
(That guy is good,) Sophie sends.
(He’s mine,) I return.
After waiting for everyone to quiet down, Channeler continues, “Obviously, we’re going to lead by example and challenge Noname. Don’t worry about the shards. Noname promised to reward us accordingly. Each of us will get an uncommon item and we get five rare items. But,” Channeler lifts his finger, “The items are from Tent Cre... from Fuckyouintentbitch, and Noname was able to buy them. He might throw in some extra if we do well.”
A few people giggle and Tent Creep gets called out a few times.
Maybe I should beat them up.
They do seem more enthusiastic after hearing that though. It looks like the performance of my items has spread.
Continuing, Channeler explains, “Noname will place a high [Restriction] on his Avatar and place a few decent rewards. Of course, the first few groups of challengers will probably lose. We need to be in those groups to downplay it as much as possible. Then for the third challenge, we’re going to get as many people as possible. I will take time with each of you to go over the things we expect people to say and our excuses.”
Watching everything go down, I almost feel like a villain and I love it, it’s like having my own minion to enact my evil plans. The group asks a number of questions and Channeler answers each with patience and a smile. He even knows all their names and after watching them I'm sure half of the people here are only helping because they’re into him, men and women.
(Handsome people sure have it easy,) I send through the twins' link.
(I wish women would look at me the way they look at him,) Dennis sighs.
(Maybe we can have Lily use [Plastic Surgery] on our faces to make us look better,) Aaron tries.
(You guys are all dumb, none of you are that bad looking.) Sophie replies as she observes the crowd while testing a few adjustments.
She seems to make a bit of progress, so I ask, (Well?)
(I could probably influence people from Easy, without being noticed, normal too if I push it. But it wouldn't be all that strong, just the tiniest poke towards them deciding to challenge you, nothing more. It would be like a friend giving you advice. People from Hard difficulty would notice that and it wouldn't affect them. It would cause more trouble than it’s worth.)
(Fair enough. Let's not do that then. How about you?) I turn to the twins.
(No problem, boss!) Aaron sends with a smile. (We’re happy to trash you a lot. We’ll even see if we can get Brainiac to help. It's good you didn't call Kim, he is terrible at lying as is Lootenant.)
(It will be easy, but you have to teach us coordinates on the 6th floor in exchange, without taking too big a cut!) Dennis reminds me.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
(As promised,) I agree.
For a while, I watch Channeler and while some of the things he’s saying kind of annoy me on an irrational level, I appreciate the effort. Not only that, but he’s making Savant look that much stronger, maybe that will keep people from challenging the guy and stop him from earning any rewards, that would be a nice bonus.
I don't really think it will help very much. People aren't that dumb, but it is fun to watch.
----------------------------------------
I spend one hour crafting the items to serve as rewards for the people Channeler managed to rope into helping. Yet I still think it will be worth it.
To avoid connecting my name with Fuckyouintentbitch, I've already hinted at buying some. For the rest, I'll drop a few clues and leave it to their imagination, I’m hoping they'll think I know the guy.
After finishing my crafting, I walk through the common area, heading towards WhiteWing.
Surprisingly, I can already see some people looking at me. Some try to hide their laughter while whispering some private joke to the person next to them. It's not many, but it’s already spread enough to be noticed, and every once in a while, I see some of Channeler's helpers going around and talking to people. He really picked some good helpers, they don’t hesitate in the least as they strike up conversations.
Is this the true power of people from lower difficulties?
No one from the higher difficulties is quite that friendly, though we did have to get used to floors where people were ready to stab you in the back at any time.
As I approach the big house Gareth's group has been using, I stop to look at it for a while. It has multiple floors, their yard is bigger than ours though they don’t have a workshop.
Our house and the view it provides are definitely better. Group 4 wins once again.
“Noname, you’re slow as hell. But I guess that's why you’re in Hell difficulty,” Brainiac says welcoming me with a lame joke.
I ignore him and proceed to enter the house, and he quickly follows behind, “And what the hell are these rumors I’ve been hearing in the common area? I’ve already had like five people ask if it's true that you got an arcane item during the 1st event and that I beat you in a duel.”
“What did you say?” I ask instead of answering.
“It sounded fun so I said I beat you three times in a duel and the arcane item was found by someone from Easy difficulty and you still almost died while stealing it,” he says with a bright smile.
Nice, free labor.
“Ask the twins if you’re interested; they’re in on it and wanted to speak to you anyway. But if you do anything to ruin my plan, I will find you.”
“Sure, no problem! Gary and Sset are already waiting, so go upstairs; I’m going to find Dennis or Aaron!” Once again, he’s ditched his responsibilities in the pursuit of fun and leaves the house. I can’t hate him for it either; the guy clearly has his priorities straight.
As I’m walking upstairs, I detect three mana signatures in the room and knock before entering. There in the small room, I find a man tied to a metal chair. With a weaker version of the Null Collar around his neck. It’s not epic, it’s probably rare at best. It clearly won’t allow him to use his mana.
Even that is enough, this guy’s clearly from Easy difficulty. Though a short examination tells me that he’s probably the strongest person from Easy difficulty I've met. Hell, he’s probably stronger than most of Normal.
The more I observe him, the more interesting it is. Maybe he’s stronger than some of the weaker people from Hard difficulty?
The man tied to the chair is around thirty years old. He has a short beard and brown hair and a wild expression in his gray eyes. He is of average height and quite muscular. Meanwhile, Tess sits in a chair nearby, and Gareth stands in the corner of the room.
“So that's the guy?” I ask.
“Yes,” Tess nods.
“So what if I am? You can't do anything. Once the tournament’s over, I’ll be freed, and you won’t be able to reach me,” the man's voice is calm, despite his wild expression.
There is something chilling about the way he looks around and speaks.
“That would be quite a wasted tournament for you,” I mention.
“I can live with it,” he responds coldly.
“What’s the name of your skill?” I ask.
“Noname, you can't be serious!” Gareth says, speaking for the first time, and the usually calm and compassionate man sounds like he’s on the edge. “This isn’t the time or place for that.”
“Does it matter?” I step closer and send mana to the man, forcefully overwhelming him and breaking through his natural barrier. Sending my mana through his body, I examine it and his mana.
Other than a token attempt at the start, he doesn't bother trying to defend himself and watches me with eyes that tell me he would stab me if he could. Or something much worse.
Such an amusing guy.
“So how many?” I ask Gareth.
Tess answers instead, “It's hard to say exactly, but we think he killed all 199 members of his group, sometime during the 1st Floor.”
“How did he do that? It couldn’t have been that easy.”
“We don’t know for sure,” Tess says, shaking her head. “Maybe he poisoned them. He seems to have the skills for it. We spoke to a few of the people he defeated in the 1st event, and they seemed to confirm that he had some kind of poison smoke and acid that melts through low density mana. Both of them cause a lot of pain as well.”
“Maybe he just poisoned their water or something and killed them slowly,” I ponder as I examine his body.
Other than being surprisingly high-level, it seems normal. I'm not an expert, but there is nothing remarkable. The guy just seems to be some kind of sociopathic mass murderer. Maybe he wanted to level up or take their equipment. Or maybe he’s just a murderer and a twisted person who found himself in a place without any rules.
I stop using my mana and look at him. The entire time, and now even more so, he watches me with those eyes of his. I've met plenty of psychos but this one seems to be a special case.
“Any idea what floor he’s on?” I ask.
“If he went no [Restriction], then he’s made it to the 11th floor, that's what a few guys saw,” Gareth joins.
“Oh? Isn’t that the highest floor out of anyone here?” I ask.
“Yes, and before you ask, yes, we’ve tried to get info out of him, but he refuses to cooperate and the system censors everything else as always,” Tess leans back on her chair.
Such an interesting situation. So, how do you deal with a murderer like that? Do you even want to? He can't be killed during the tournament. Sure, he can be fake killed, even tortured, but after a few more days, he will be back to doing whatever he wants.
Even if he goes back to the Floors, anything he does will be limited to fakes created by the system not actual people. The question is if Gareth and Tess want to punish the guy for what he has done. More interestingly, do they even have the right to decide that?
Curious about what they’ll do, I turn to them.
Gareth is silent and indecisive, unwilling to show his darker side, which I'm certain he has. There is no way the guy looking like a hero, with shiny armor, healing skills, and speeches about protecting others isn’t evil.
Tess, on the other hand, returns my gaze easily, her eyes unwavering as she declares simply, “I want him dead.”
That's why I like her.