– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 217, Season of the Setting Sun, Day 7 –
Terry stepped into the arena. He was getting used to the cheering in the background whenever he entered. Terry told himself that he should tune the audience out, but he could not hide the smile on his face. It felt good to have people shouting their support for you.
Still, Terry did not forget his arena routine. He emitted a thin trail of mana and sent it towards the entrances for contestants. The total amount of mana was so tiny that no one in the audience or among the overseer positions detected it. The fact that Terry’s mana appeared unaspected made it even easier to go unnoticed.
Before the other contestants entered the arena, Terry could already feel them even though the tunnels blocked his mana sense. Terry had picked up the habit of testing his mana touch on contestants whenever he was first in the arena. Not only did it give Terry an early idea of what he was going to face, but it also allowed Terry to learn the way different mana aspects and signatures felt to his mana touch.
While scouting with his mana touch, Terry additionally collected pebbles from the arena ground.
Less than a minute later, two elven contestants arrived. A woman and a man. They were both carrying swords and wearing similar martialist robes, only the woman’s robe was white while the man’s robe was black.
Terry was not surprised by their appearance. With the help of his mana touch, Terry had correctly predicted that there would be two mana martialists and that they each carried two magic items.
As soon as the two had entered, they immediately split up and circled Terry. The woman performed a movement technique and began dancing up into the air on droplets of water. The man charged forward with his own movement technique that caused a mana resonance to show the image of a jumping giant hare with black eyes and dark blue fur.
The way they act, the white-robed martialist probably has a ranged technique.
Annoying.
“““Field!””” “““Field!””” “““Field!”””
Shut up. Terry had already guessed that the coliseum audience was picking his opponents to see his disruption field in action. However, them wanting to see the disruption field did not mean that it was a good move.
Should I? Terry still felt his thoughts influenced by the audience. He might have been tempted to give the audience what it wants, but he could practically feel the rebuking gazes of Isille, Bjorln, and Sigille. Terry knew what they would have to say about probing the limits of a recently acquired technique in an uncontrolled situation where death was a possibility. No, I shouldn’t.
Even though it was barely a breath, Terry’s indecisiveness had allowed the male opponent to get half-way to Terry.
Terry instinctively chose to not meet the opponent’s charge.
The black-robed cultivator swung his sword at Terry and infused the sword with mana. Before the sharp mana blade could reach Terry, however, the physical blade had been transfixed in the air.
“Hurgh!” The black-robed elf experienced the recoil from his own momentum – both from his charge and the slash with his sword. In this excruciating moment, both of his practiced techniques had turned against him.
Terry followed up with a burst and a rapid stomp into the opponent’s chest. The black-robed elf flew away while magic activated in his robe.
Terry glanced at the transfixed sword. Doesn’t look like the sword’s magic is based on regular runes. No idea how that works, but the effect looks similar to the keen inscription. That could have gone sideways…
Terry had judged that his own mana compression would be sufficient to overpower the mana inside the magic item, but he had not accounted for the possibility of the martialist infusing his own mana on top. Luckily, his spell structure had been intense enough.
Terry casually dodged a blade of water that flew at him from the white-robed woman’s sword technique. Terry smiled mirthlessly when he saw the current location of the woman. He placed his foot against the side of the transfixed sword. Next, Terry channeled a torrent of mana into his own inscribed glove and pulled hard while hurling a pebble charged with oscillating mana.
The white-robed elf discovered that her movement technique was not prepared to carry the additional force of Terry’s bidirectional attraction inscription. Her droplets were not as strong as the immovable sword that Terry used as an anchor. She was hurled through the air and collided painfully with the immovable pebble. She was forced to the ground rapidly, but she managed to catch herself with an elegant roll. Her formerly white robe had now turned grey.
Terry grabbed the sword and stopped his spell that transfixed it in the air. He involuntarily paused when he realized that it had never occurred to him before to wield his opponent’s item.
Focus.
Terry dashed towards the white-robed woman, who appeared to be the bigger threat at the moment.
“We yield!” shouted the black-robed man. His alliance partner lowered her sword and looked at him without a comment.
“We yield,” repeated the man with a pleading look towards Terry. He was holding his sword arm that looked to be in really bad shape. “Just give me back my sword and we will go.”
The man’s statement caused Terry to tilt his head.
Wait, can I steal and keep my opponent’s items?
Huh… Terry glanced at the sword. Nevermind that now. I wouldn’t choose that sword over my glove anyway. Or over my other items. Even if I can keep it, I wouldn’t have the required item privileges to wield it in battle.
More importantly…
“I have developed a few trust issues here,” said Terry. “If you want the sword back, then she…” He pointed at the white-robed elf. “...will leave first. Then I’ll hand you back your sword. If you leave too, then you can continue in an alliance. If you get any bad ideas, then I’ll make you pay for them and you won’t be able to continue in your alliance.”
The black-robed man glanced at his partner, who looked unhappy. He turned back to Terry. “That sword is important to me. How do I know that you will keep your promise?”
Terry involuntarily snorted. “If you figure that one out, please tell me. I would love to know that trick too.” He scrunched up his face.
Terry’s reaction caused both the mana martialists to giggle despite the tension. To them, Terry sounded like a grumpy grandpa who was fed up with people. They subconsciously stood more relaxed.
“I don’t know.” Terry shrugged. “I don’t like lying. I don’t like these games either.” Terry flung the sword up in the air. At the edge of Terry’s casting range, the sword transfixed. Terry moved away. “I’ll step back further for every step she goes. When she has left, you will be closer to the sword than I.”
The black-robed man considered the offer. He knew that Terry had access to the bidirectional attraction glove, but he decided to take his chance. “Okay…”
None of the three went against their agreement. The two mana martialists left with their items and with their alliance intact. Terry, for his part, had another win to count for himself.
Terry was surprised that the audience still cheered for his win, albeit more reserved than when they had shouted for the disruption field. He walked towards his own exit while pondering over the match.
***
Terry sat in his transparent prison. At first glance, he was practicing his spellwork. There were transfixed balls and pebbles all around him.
“Field, field, field…” Subconsciously, Terry chanted quietly for himself like the audience had done in his last few matches. He was smiling from ear to ear.
A part of it was the simple joy of being cheered for. Another part was the fact that his recent battle days had been going exceedingly well ever since he had reached the threshold for his first item privilege.
Terry was not sure which one of the two he was more elated by.
Or perhaps he didn’t want to admit it to himself.
There was another reason for Terry to be elated. Beyond the surface level, Terry was using his mana touch to watch the vicinity. After making sure that there was no one in the outer cell and that there was no one except the usual guards in the entrance tunnel outside, Terry went to work again.
Terry moved his thin naturalized mana to the table and with a rapid rush, he pressed his mana into the dimensional bag.
Thank mana, it is still set to open mode.
Terry cherished the dimensional bag that his aunt Brynn had given him as a gift for his first learned spell. He often used it for his most precious items, because the dimensional bag could be set to a closed mode, where you had to put your hand into it in order to retrieve items.
This feature that was useful to Terry in most cases, would have been disastrous for his current plans.
Sensing mana and magic with his mana touch still felt weird to Terry, but he had finally been able to activate his magic storage devices that were placed outside the transparent inner cage on a table out of Terry’s sight.
Ranged activation is a pain to begin with… Terry grimaced from the headache of sinking his consciousness into his dimensional bag from a distance.
Finally! Terry’s wide grin reappeared on his face when he could feel the item he had been trying to retrieve from the dimensional bag: A dual-imprinted wand.
Terry took a deep breath and first verified that he could also return the wand to the dimensional bag – and how long it would take. Terry had no desire to find out what would happen if the Thanatos watchdogs discovered what he was doing.
After making sure that he was able to hide his tracks, Terry continued with his real plan.
If this works out, I’ll invite Lori to her favorite tea house every day of the year…
Terry’s brow showed deep wrinkles from concentration. He felt gingerly with his mana touch, not daring to be reckless. If the main imprint collapsed, then Terry would have to think of a new fallback plan.
Even though Terry increasingly enjoyed his recent appearances in the Proving Grounds, he was not under the delusion that his path would continue that smoothly. After all his recent experiences in Tiv, in Arcana, and now in Thanatos, Terry did not feel like leaving his fate entirely up to an arena whose setup was out of his own control. Terry wanted to wrestle at least some control back for himself.
Terry mustered his resolve and then finally ignited the imprint accompanied by the pulse generator. The spell structure of Liquify Earth rushed along the carved directional lines and Terry had to try and catch up with the moving spell structure to take control of it and adjust the targeting. The spell was of no use to Terry on its current track. Terry needed to guide it around the walls of the room and then towards the stone that held the transparent cell in place.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Damn…” Terry had failed to capture the moving spell structure in time. Adjusting the spell targeting by only relying on the sensations from mana touch was simply too unfamiliar. Terry felt as if he was forced to sprint while walking on crutches.
Terry exhaled sharply and then inhaled deeply. “No one said this was going to be easy.” He decided to pause his targeting practice for another precaution: Terry wanted to feel the difference in charged primers. He needed to be able to tell how many charges were left.
Ideally, Terry never wanted to return the wand back to the dimensional bag unless it was fully charged. Otherwise, people would be able to detect that something was off if they were familiar with the wand. After all, the primers did not recharge inside the dimensional storage.
One step at a time… Terry mumbled to himself and continued with his plans.
***
Terry entered the arena.
“““Field!””” “““Field!””” “““Field!”””
A slight smirk played on Terry’s lips but his eyes remained focused on the other arena entrance.
Something about the sensation from his mana touch was irking Terry, but he could not put his finger on it.
A tall elven woman entered with her mana completely cloaked. As soon as she laid her eyes on Terry, they filled with hatred and her face contorted into a snarl.
“““Field!””” “““Field!””” “““Field!”””
Why not?
Terry unleashed his disruption field in the arena. The fact that he could not sense the woman’s mana meant either a magic item or a mana user with enough mana control for proper spellwork.
If she is a mage, then I would have to disrupt her anyway, right? Terry tried to ignore the part of his mind that wanted to ask if the audience had perhaps influenced his decision making.
I knew it! Terry felt vindicated when he sensed spell structures appear and evaporate.
What was that? Terry narrowed his eyes while slowly circling around to the woman. Blood-aspected? Frenzy perhaps?
Terry subconsciously began bursting his mana. He had learned to be wary of mind-affecting spellwork and magic abilities. He dashed forward with an accelerating burst technique.
When Terry was close, the elven woman pulled a small push dagger and struck at Terry.
If this had been a spar, then Terry would have grabbed the dagger-arm and tried to disarm the woman immediately. At worst, he would get a small scratch, but he would be able to finish the match quickly. However, something caused Terry’s instincts to ring the alarm bells. He jumped back and distanced himself from his opponent again.
Something… Terry’s eyes fell on the oddly glossy blade of the push dagger. When he saw the dagger’s shine, he remembered the smell from up close.
Three different memories sprang up in Terry’s mind.
Terry’s group had failed the bounty hunt examination. Isille was reprimanding them with a glare…
Lizzy collapsed on top of the Bulwark and contorted in pain. Purple lines appeared on her face…
They were walking through Tiv to gather the ingredients for the potion to save Isille from the reaper’s touch. To pass the time, Miguel explained how to distinguish different poisons by smell…
Terry glowered at his opponent. He wondered if poison on a dagger still counted as a single item, but in the end, it did not matter at this time.
What mattered was that Terry changed his approach.
Instead of putting the emphasis on speed, Terry now circulated a burst technique that made it difficult to predict his movements. Instead of charging straight at the elven woman, Terry circled her and slowly moved closer.
Terry waited for the best possible moment to step close. When the moment for the confrontation had finally arrived, Terry followed through rapidly and resolutely. He attacked from the perfect angle. He changed his burst technique for the final step. He combined his physical attack with the Immovable Object spell targeting the push dagger.
Terry’s eyebrow twitched when he sensed a flicker of light-aspected mana disturbing the activation of his spell.
For an instant, Terry was wondering how this mana had managed to obstruct his spell so effectively, but it didn’t matter anymore. Even though Terry’s spell had not activated, whatever the elf had done, had broken her concentration.
Terry successfully disarmed the elven woman. The hatred in the woman’s eyes was not diminished by her worsened position in this fight. In the following exchange, Terry could have sworn that the woman had even tried to bite him.
Terry repeatedly had to beat his opponent down, but she refused to surrender.
“Mana damn it, just surrender!” exclaimed Terry with frustration.
“...” All the response he got was a glare filled with pure hatred.
“““Kill!””” “““Kill!””” “““Kill!””” The audience had made up their minds about what they wanted to see.
“Yeah no,” grumbled Terry. He had discovered that he did not feel like acquiescing to the audience’s wishes in all aspects. He looked around the arena and his eyes landed on the unsheathed push dagger.
Terry wrestled the push dagger’s sheath from the badly injured opponent, who was still refusing to yield the match. Afterwards, Terry walked to the push dagger and picked it up carefully. His nostrils reacted to the scent of what Terry assumed to be poison.
Terry tentatively cast his Immovable Object spell on the dagger. The dagger transfixed without a problem.
Okay then the obstruction was something she did before.
It wasn’t a spell.
I think. Terry furrowed his brow.
For a moment, Terry indulged in the sight of his disruption field and the countless spell slicers slithering around the arena. He had to remind himself that this advantage was limited to places like the coliseum – places with a limited area where the opponent can’t leave certain bounds.
With a deep breath, Terry took the dagger and walked slowly towards his opponent. He pointed the dagger. “If you don’t surrender, I will test whatever you have here on you.”
When Terry was only a few steps away, the elven woman suddenly flared up with mana and all her wounds were healing with incredible speed. During the healing process, the deeper wounds were covered by a golden liquid.
“REALM TRAITOR!” Angry shouts washed over the arena.
Terry, too, had realized the nature of the person standing in front him: The elven woman was a channeler of the Bright Lady.
“That explains why my spell did not activate.” Terry muttered to himself. “Not just light but holy. Mana disturbing.” Might also explain why she looks at me as if— What’s going on now?
Terry was surprised to see more than a dozen soldiers in crimson armor step into the arena.
“Stop your disruption field,” ordered the overseer, who had stepped close to Terry. It was the same woman that had introduced herself as Yesenia to Terry before. “The match is over. You have won.”
“Okay?” Terry reabsorbed his mana and while doing so, he held the sheathed push dagger up. “Can I keep this?”
“Everything you take in the Proving Grounds is yours,” said Yesenia. “Excuse me, but I have something to do.” She walked towards the elven woman.
“I’LL KILL YOU!” screeched the elven woman with overflowing hatred. She wanted to rush at Terry, but the soldiers obstructed her.
“You should worry about yourself, cultist,” spat Yesenia. “You have hidden well until now, but this time, you have lost it. You should know that you are not welcome in our empire. We do not tolerate realm traitors.”
“Faithless scum!” screeched the channeler of the Bright Lady. “Murderers!”
Yesenia scoffed. She turned to the audience. “Is there anyone here that would stand up for the realm traitor?” She pointed with a hand at the channeler. “Otherwise, I will enact the judgement immediately.”
Terry, who was standing next to one of the overseer’s assistants near his exit, was raising an eyebrow.
“I take that as a no,” said Yesenia approvingly. “As it should be. Realm traitors stand alone.” She flicked her hand and in less than a breath’s time, the elven woman had imploded into a bloody pulp.
Terry gulped. The spellwork had been very quick, but he had been able to sense it. Terry did not recognize the spell structure, but he was certain that it was at least a master-level spell. The fact that Yesenia had cast such a spell with such familiarity told Terry something about the overseers at the Proving Grounds.
Above all that I should not snap at them ever again. Terry cringed when he remembered how he had talked to some of the overseers in his first battles in the coliseum.
***
Terry entered his cell and was surprised to meet Damian waiting for him.
“Well fought today,” praised Damian.
Terry smiled and then wondered why he felt happy at being praised. He recalled what his pa Bjorln used to say about the opinions of others.
Why do I care about his opinions? Am I starting to respect him? Terry was looking dubiously at Damian.
“What’s with that— nevermind.” Damian refrained from commenting on Terry’s facial expression and instead held out one of Terry’s inscribed daggers – sheath included. “Here, you have earned the privilege to use it in battle from now on, which also means that you are back to square one with your winning streak.”
“I know,” muttered Terry and he happily received the dagger.
He had wondered which item he should pick next. He felt like he was lacking too many.
He would have loved to take the healing wand with him, but the risk of breaking or losing it was too high.
He wanted a protective item – not only for himself but also for his inscribed glove – but he could not justify using up a spot for a non-magic shield. His barrier spear would have been great but without a storage item to place it in, the spear also represented an encumbrance and losing access to one hand.
The dagger and sheath, on the other hand, took only a single spot together – Terry had confirmed that multiple times with the rulebook and Damian. The keen inscription also offered a way to attack with mana, which the barrier spear, for all the blade’s quality, did not offer.
Terry felt a lump in his throat when he realized that this inscribed dagger was not the one he had taken initially from Alrik’s secret dungeon and then carried all the way to Tiv. No, the handle showed less signs of use. This was the dagger that Lori and Jorg had gifted him after his return to Arcana.
Terry grabbed the dagger’s handle tightly and swore to himself: I will return to them.
“Here, you can have this too.” Damian spoke up again and held out another item.
For a moment, Terry panicked at seeing the storage bracelet.
Is this a trap? Did they notice what I was doing with the storage bracelets? Some kind of bait to see my reaction? What if—
“I don’t have all day.” Damian slapped the storage bracelet into Terry’s free hand. “I can understand the suspicion. It’s a healthy habit to remain skeptical of people bearing gifts, but this isn’t exactly free. I believe you are succeeding at your task and I would like you to up the ante.”
Terry realized that Damian mistook his reaction for general suspicion and wariness. Terry hoped that his current feeling of relief was taken in a similar vein.
“I told you that we needed to check your items before I can return them,” continued Damian. “These are the ones we consider harmless for you to have.”
Another moment of panic welled up in Terry. Please don’t be inside.
Please don’t be inside.
Terry hurriedly checked the storage bracelet. Oh, thank mana!
Terry was relieved to find that the earth manipulation wand that Lori had crafted for him was not inside. His fallback plan for escaping the Proving Grounds would have fallen apart otherwise.
Terry had already confirmed that there was a mana-obstructing layer in the floor of his transparent cage as well, which meant that the wand’s Liquify Earth imprint would be useless to Terry from the inside.
“We’ll hold onto that mana sublimator for now,” continued Damian. “Some of our crafters have shown an interest in studying the inscription.” He caught Terry’s gaze. “If you get recognized, I’ll try to get it back to you. In the arena, it would be useless anyway. Ammunition requires separate item spots.”
It dawned on Terry that this was probably the reason why he had not encountered ranged weapons like bows or crossbows in the arena before.
“I have to do a trip for my own work, which means I won’t be able to play item nanny for you during that time,” said Damian sternly. “Don’t try to sneak in more than you are allowed to. Don’t get distracted. It’s possible that you earn your next item privilege before I return. Pick an item from the bracelet.”
Oh that’s why he’s doing this!
Terry hurriedly checked the storage bracelet again and frowned. “Any reason why the divine hammer inscription is not inside?”
“Because that qualifies as a distraction,” replied Damian calmly.
“I told you I can use it for mobility,” stressed Terry.
“Which would require two inscribed items unless you want to start hopping around on a single leg.” Damian pointed out. “Besides, from what I have seen, you can get around fine. If it comes down to it, you also have your glove. You should have already noticed that airborne mobility is limited in the arena. You should worry about other things first.”
Terry entered the inner cell and was back in his transparent walls. He absentmindedly sunk his consciousness into the storage bracelet and checked his items.
Maybe if I earn the privilege for more items I could take the storage bracelet and then the barrier spear becomes more workable?
Involuntarily, Terry thought of a previous conversation with Damian.
A conversation about crime avoidance. A conversation in which Damian had mentioned, among other things, tracking spells and surveillance constructs. Terry paused and looked at his storage bracelet with increased suspicion.
Great. Another thing to worry about…
Terry sighed and then began retrieving his items from the storage bracelet one by one. He carefully examined the items with his fingers, eyes, mana sight, and even with his mana touch.
He did so for even the most innocuous tertium pieces.
After a while, Terry retrieved a foldable tertium cube.
Huh?
Terry tilted his head and stared at the tertium cube. “What are these?” Terry’s fingers traced tiny indentations in the tertium surface while his eyes followed. There were many of them located in small clusters all around. Terry could not recall anything that would have left marks like these.
To Terry’s bewilderment, it also looked as if these were placed on the inside of the folding marks, meaning that whatever had caused them had been inside the tertium cube.
“Eww.” Terry blurted out when his fingers had touched something sticky. “Is this… chocolate?”
***