[Resistance: Blunt 196 > 201]

What's the point in dodging when I can tank any blow and heal from any wound. I get stronger the more my body adapts to damage. I don't need to dance. I need to fight.

I turn off [Scientific Insight+]. The damage popups are helpful for me to calculate health, but right now, they are distracting. I feel like I am so close to finding my true fighting style.

Fist, sword, or stone are excellent weapons to choose from. But no matter what, I always fought with my life.

[Path of the Broken Body C lv2 > lv3]

Unarmed Damage: +30% ↑

Maximum Health: +30% ↑

I don't dodge his attacks, and my opponent doesn't dodge mine. We take a blow for a blow, waiting for the first person to drop. I was contemplating healing him during the fight just to make it last longer, but It seems he has his own healing skills.

Most of the damage I just afflicted on him heals back within seconds. I don't recall the exact name of the skill, but some barbarian classes get a skill that allows them to regenerate a percentage of the damage they recently took.

It's less bullshit than my healing skill, so I am in no condition to complain. Ripped flesh and cracked bones are a testament to this fight. The crowd absolutely loves the brutality of it all.

One of Ximon's palms hits my chest, almost stopping one of my hearts. His blows are dealing more damage as my blows are dealing less and less. This became the most straightforward fight that I ever had. I'm not sure if it's his unique heritage or class, but this guy is almost as sturdy as me.

I check my health and mana.

[Health: 685/1323

[Mana: 89/500]

I already abused my [Broken Blood] mana conversion to heal myself, but I should stop playing around.

I [Bolster Resistance] and then summon my "tanto."

-69 (10%)

My greatsword is held above my head by my living arm. The spray of blood that turned into this barbed metal mess stuns the crowd and forces Ximon to reconsider charging in blindly.

But I don't swing my sword. Instead, I activate its ability, rapidly draining my health to convert it to power. Thorns from the handle pierce my flesh regardless of my resistance.

-300

I rush in one more time and use feint an attack. The sword swing doesn't connect because I threw the blade up as a distraction and uppercut this goliath's stomach with a gruesome [Donkey Punch]

[Donkey Punch B lv2 > lv3

Also known as a sucker punch, this abrupt attack can cause immense damage to those not prepared for it. Critical Hits Ignore Armor

DMG = Might + Agility

Cool Down: 30 minutes]

His feet left the ground as my fist ruptured his internal organs. Blood sprays out from his teeth as he collapses to the ground. The crowd erupts.

Oh shit. Did I just kill this guy? I nudge him with my foot and spend one point of mana to heal him.

"Ughhh."

Eh, he'll be fine. I'm too injured to wait for the announcer to come up and tend to the audience. I just leave and rest with my tamed beasts. Jake is also there.

"Nice going, man. That fight was brutal. I counted at least a hundred fist-to-flesh connects. Do you want to fight another fight? Cage matches will go until all the rookies fight, then any member could challenge anyone else."

"Do you have to accept the challenge?"

"Nah, but you can't deny three challenges in a row. Excluding refusals with a good reason like level discrepancy or you just got out of a fight."

"I probably won't fight another round solo. As a tamer, I should be fighting alongside one of my tamed beasts."

"Are you really a tamer? I thought what that announcer said about your class was hullabaloo."

"Weren't you waiting with my beasts just now?"

"Honestly, I thought a mogul brought his collection to flex."

I wrap up my conversation with Jake as he promises to find a rookie match that could facilitate a 2v2 or more. After this next fight, I think I will need to head back home and think about what to do next. Instead of sitting at home and training, I need to raid a new fracture and get levels for my beasts and me. The team members I selected are going through training for a month, but that doesn't mean I have to.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

A life of nothing but training is so boring.

~

I regenerate about four health per second (+.3%) with the new upgrade to [Second Heart]. I'm glad martial skills get mightier once my base skill [Path of the Broken Body] levels. If my hearts are functioning and I am not siphoning health to something else, I should be completely healed within six minutes of rest.

I spend half an hour watching the fights and regenerating a little bit of my mana.

I wanted to have Flash Gordon debut here and show him off, but after some consideration, that is really stupid. Avarice is poison, and if Flash Gordon's true might is revealed, there is no guarantee that the hundreds of rankers here would not try and take him from me.

It'll be bothersome to fight that many people, and if someone higher level than me appeared, I would die for being stupid. I'll just leave before someone can stop me.

I reached the staircase before getting stopped by a suit. A short man with brown hair blocks my path. He doesn't seem to be a security guard, and all the enchanted-looking jewelry makes him look flashy and insecure.

"Hey there, Ellis. I saw your cage match, and I believe you would be a perfect member of the guild."

He gives a sparkling grin that pisses me off.

His eyes don't match his smile, looking at me like I am a prime cut of meat. Another person who wants me. Great.

I bet my house that this guy isn't the guild leader of Caliphaxe.

"Sorry, do I know you?"

"No, but I know you. I am Estaban, leader of the guild branch in Bluefield. I can tell you about all the benefits you would get for joining us."

[Estaban lv???]

His impure eyes start scanning my body before moving to my beasts.

"I will have to decline completely."

His face sours like he took a swig from a bottle of vinegar.

The first thing I should do is go to another fracture. At least the other people who propositioned me didn't wear their desires on their sleeve. He must not have gotten his position from his charisma. Speaking of people who propositioned me, I should meet up with Nelson.

*Grab*

My prosthetic arm gets griped by the short branch leader. He pulls me down to his level, forcing me to his eye level.

"You will reconsider my offer and agree."

[Trait Insanity has Triggered!]

[Resistance: Mind 90 > 91]

I don't think I have ever been angrier. Even without the system notifications, I could gather that the branch leader tried to cast some spell on me. I could respond and try to trick him, but I headbutt him as hard as possible instead.

Critical Hit!

-620!

CRACK

My [Donkey Punch] bypassed all his magical defenses and broke Estaban's nose. He recoils from the shock but quickly recovers with rage-fueled eyes. Finally, he is looking at me differently.

Immediately I am surrounded by over a dozen Caliphaxe guild members, all pointing weapons at me. More accurately pointing weapons at my beasts and me.

As soon as I retaliated, Duchess and Khan surrounded the branch leader and me while Rob skulked right up to the guy. My twenty-seven-foot snake starts hissing as a localized raincloud starts forming around Khan. Rob's long fingers wiggles in anticipation. Honestly, he is the one that scares me the most.

Of course, Flash Gordon was already with me. In hindsight, I should have broken more than a nose with Flash Gordon instead of my using my skull.

"You are surrounded. You attacked the branch leader. Surrender yourself."

A ginger man with the Caliphaxe emblem glued to his armor spoke up after a second of silence. Now that I look at the logo, it's well made. It's a morning star at first glance, but it's broken into three parts. The main piece is our planet Iona, and the spikes are swords pointing outwards and inwards in an alternating pattern. The handle is a handle. Any other deeper meaning wouldn't change that fact.

I shot him a hurtful glare that conveyed my feeling to him. That he is an idiot.

"He's the one that cast m-"

A hand covered my mouth before I could finish saying, "mind magic on me."

"Now, it was just all a misunderstanding. Let's drop all this before someone gets hurt."

The branch leader tried to sound amicable, but the laced poison in his words was obvious to everyone.

"Fuck, this kid is biting me!"

He shoves me away. Once I am free from his grasp, I flip him off.

"Next time, don't cast magic on someone, and maybe they won't retaliate."

I decide to be the bigger person and leave. It's not like I have proof of him using a spell or anything. Might as well get revenge on him if I remember him in the future. A spear sticks out and blocks my path. Another Caliphaxe member stopped me from climbing the stairs.

"What now?"

"Can you tell me about your beasts? They seem quite interesting."

"Fuck off."

~

I don't go home but instead, head straight to the FIB. I need to go into a fracture as soon as possible. That Estabon took over six hundred damage and barely flinched. I don't feel comfortable in this city anymore. And soon, I will be leaving it.

I have heard either take of what's better, being a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in an ocean and growing to match. I am currently a small fish in a small pond, which is starting to bother me.

I don't expect to reach level one hundred anytime soon since experience is being split among the five of us. I need to gather five million experience points before we can collectively level once. I see now why people stop advancing at this point if they don't need to.

[Master...]

"What, Duchess."

[Thisss one knows that you have been angered, but thisss one recommends that you go home.]

"Why? Should I sleep it off before making any major decisions?"

[No. The FIB isn't open at this hour.]

"..."

[Unless you want to wait outside for over eight hours, we should head home.]

"... Alright."