'EEEEEEK! I WISH I KNEW HOW TO CRAFT VIDEO CAMERAS!' Will was squealing from delight, like a happy little girl. When he saw how Victoria got pummeled by Bruce, he felt eternal happiness.

Will always hated it when he failed to record a clutch moment when he played video games. And this was one of those times he'd wish he could record!

Bruce was by no means a terrible person who enjoys bullying others. If anything Bruce is the nicest guy out of the group of heroes. He doesn't even like to curse.

Bruce is the type of character one would meet in a Final Fantasy XIV server, since the vast majority of the community is always nice and helpful.

But he just likes fighting.

"Bruce, back the fuck off." A random hero said. He was nervous.

"Sorry." Bruce apologized to them in advance. When it comes to fighting in tournaments, he didn't like to hold back, especially when he could get a prize if he wins.

Bruce did his best to not injure the heroes. Those who didn't fight back he'd push or throw them off the stage.

But those who defended themselves, Bruce would use a little bit of force to knock them out. He would never use as much force as he did with Victoria.

Seeing the heroes being flung off the stage like it was nothing was actually… funny and underwhelming.

People expected some epic clash of heroes, with awesome duels, betrayal, blood, or something.

The majority of the heroes were mostly in it to win the magical item. But since they lacked practice and experience, they could not properly fight.

They might have power that goes beyond what a normal person is able to achieve, but without properly knowing how to utilize their abilities, it'll become useless.

Shaun was disappointed and proud at the same time. Disappointed because the majority of the heroes were 'duds' as he likes to call them. Only one turned out to be decent, that one being Bruce.

'I am so glad I wasn't born in this generation.' Shaun thought.

"Sandra, why doesn't anyone use their abilities?" Will asked.

"I… think, it's because they forgot? I actually have no idea." Sandra said, confused.

All of them would only have simple powers, like super jump, a little bit more speed, a little bit more strength, healing powers, x-ray vision, more stamina, flexibility, and flying, plus more. Many of these abilities were simple but useful, and many heroes would have these abilities that were very common.

No hero has ever come close to having had an amazing power to the Great Sage's, or the Witch.

Every time that heroes are summoned, only 1 or two heroes would have abilities that would stand out from their peers.

The hero who stood out the most 100 years ago is Shaun Quincy, who has the ability of aging slower, which is the only time a hero has been given this ability.

But this time, 4 heroes, Josh, Britney, Pete, and Henry, would turn out to have never before seen abilities, and those abilities were indeed great, especially Josh's destructive fire power and huge stamina.

"Oh, look, someone remembered to use his ability!" Sandra pointed.

Bruce was slowly towards a short person while keeping his guard up. The short man is named Ali. He stretched his palms to Bruce.

"Sun flare!" Ali was using a ripped off version of Solar flare/beam. Once again, there is no need to name and call out their abilities.

A bright but small orb of light appeared out of his hands and fell on the ground. It stood there, lighting up that spot. One could hear a faint 'fart' noise when the spark of light fell on the ground.

"Oh… I thought that would work." Ali said. He didn't know exactly what would happen, but he hoped that something would happen.

His ability is called 'light orb' he can only produce light orbs, making him the perfect human light bulb, an uncommon ability but not useful for combat.

Ali's plan was to place all his energy into this attack, and produce a very powerful light ray or something, like fictional characters use the 'stronger' version of their signature move.

"Sorry about this." Bruce picked up Ali by the back of his shirt, and threw him out of the stage.

"Look! Is it a bird!" Someone yelled.

Unexpectedly, a person flew and caught Ali before he could hit the ground.

"That's a person, you blind idiot!"

Ali saw that it was his friend, Colby, who caught him.

"Ali, as long as one of us makes it through the end, we'll get that magical item." Colby said.

The pair of heroes made a plan beforehand. As long as Colby flies and avoids contact with the other heroes, they would win the tournament. It's a cheap way to win but they didn't care.

Bruce wondered how he should deal with him. Seeing the bright orb that Ali left on the ground, he got an idea.

He picked up the orb, and noticed that it didn't weigh anything. If anything it was like holding a marshmallow, it was very soft and squishy. It didn't even lose its round shape after fondling it.

"Heads up!" Bruce yelled as he threw the light orb at Colby with perfect aim.

"The fuck!" Colby didn't expect Bruce to do that. With Ali in his hands he couldn't move as agile as he wanted to.

He closed his eyes, bracing himself. But, what he felt was like a marshmallow hitting his ribs.

"Hehehe, I had nothing to worry about!" Colby chuckled.

"Hiyaah!"

But then he noticed a bare, dirty, foot close to his face. The foot kicked him right in the center of his face, sending Colby and Ali all the way back to the spectators.

Before they could crash on top of the spectators, an invisible force stopped them midflight. Many obviously knew it was the Great Sage who stopped them.

Bruce's plan was to use the orb as a distraction. His real aim was to kick them out of bounds.

Bruce hates it when people try to win using cheap tricks.

However Bruce was making a risky move on his part. By jumping to kick Colby off stage, he also jumped away from the fighting stage, leaving himself to fall off the stage.

But Bruce exerted a little more strength when he kicked Colby in the face. By using Colby's face to jump from it, Bruce calculated how much force he should apply in order to make it to the stage.

"Woah! Woah! Woah!" Bruce said, flailing his arms like a maniac, barely keeping his balance after barely making it by the size of his toes to the edge of the stage.

"Quick! Go, Peter!" Henry said. Bruce was a threat to them. If they can take him out they will have a higher chance of winning.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Me? Why don't you go?" Complained Peter.

"Hurry up, man!"

"No, you go!"

"You're closer!"

"You're faster!"

"Guys!" Britney interrupted them as he pointed at Bruce.

Bruce successfully regained his footing in a matter of seconds. He sighed in relief as it was the riskiest thing he's ever done.

"Dammit, Peter!"

"Why are you blaming me?"

In truth, there were other heroes who were closer to Bruce. But they all had the same thought: 'Someone else hurry up and do it!'

"Uggggghhhh!" Shaun groaned out of the sheer stupidity of these heroes. They literally had the chance to take down the greatest threat to them, and no one took action!

Bruce took 3 seconds to regain his footing. Had one of them run towards him and lightly shoved him, there's a high chance that Bruce would fall off the stage.

3 seconds is a very, very long time when it comes to fighting. And yet not one took action during those precious 3 seconds.

In a real fight, a second is more than enough time to change the outcome of the battle. Which is a phrase that is overused by this point.

After that, Bruce continued to take down the heroes one by one. It seemed like it was too easy.

"I'm not gonna lie, Sandra. This is kinda boring." Will said. After a while, everything started to become predictable and plain. Only one person was dominating the entire tournament. Nobody else put up a fight.

There were only 2 fighters left, Bruce and some other guy.

The heroes who were injured or knocked out either sat on the side and watched the tournament, or went crying to their rooms like little kids who rage quit in a Call of Duty game.

Some even yelled in anger as they have a hard time controlling their emotions, even in public, much like a certain famous streamer who lost a game of chess in 6 moves.

"Agreed. But it's almost over."

"Hiyaah!" Bruce kicked the last hero off the stage. He took a deep breath, and exhaled in a dramatic manner. Whenever a fight ends, Bruce always does this. This is the result of watching too many action movies.

"YAAAAY!" The crowd cheered even louder than ever for Bruce. The cheering died down after a while, but when the fight ended, they began cheering.

'They are cheering because it's finally over. Heheheh.' Will thought.

The Great Sage was also glad it was over. Frankly all he wanted to do right now was sleep.

"Ahem!" The king raised his hand, then the crowd went silent.

"Hero Bruce Man. I congratulate you for winning this year's tournament of heroes. Here's your prize. *Snap*" The king snapped his fingers.

A young, good looking sorceress, wearing a skimpy outfit flew down from the sky because why not? She had a sword in her hands that she held with a cloth.

The skimpy outfits were a new thing. A hero gave the idea to the king a few days ago, and he loved the idea.

The idea came from the hero who liked watching boxing matches, when the good looking women were wearing barely anything to cover themselves up, as they showed a huge sign with a number written on it.

The weapon had a golden handle, with some very fancy carvings in it to make it stand out more. Other than that it looked like a completely ordinary sword.

"Cool. What does it do?" Bruce said. It's his first magical weapon.

"If you coat it in blood, it'll repair itself. Neat, huh?"

"I guess that's neat." Bruce did not like the idea of using weapons. But, one of his greatest role models, Bruce Lee, said something that he'll never forget:

'Be formless, shapeless, like water. Be water, my friend.'

Of course he knew the meaning behind those words, it means to adapt, change, grow. By learning to use a sword he'll be following his role model's advice. It's why Bruce didn't just learn BJJ, but other types of fighting styles as well.

Currently he is learning from Shaun, who has military training, and over 100 years of experience.

"And with that, the tournament has concluded. Good night, everybody!" The king left in a hurry. Even though it is the middle of the day, he said 'goodnight' like he was going to sleep.

"Wait, I thought that the second and third place would also get a prize?" Will asked.

"Same here. Guess he forgot. Then again I noticed he was falling asleep during the tournament."

"What kind of important person, like the king, would fall asleep just like that? In front of thousands of people?"

"Beats me."

"Anyways… You go ahead. I need to check something out." Will said.

"Okay. Here." Sandra took off her helmet and gave it to Will. It belonged to Will, but Will gave it to her to wear so she wouldn't attract attention with her red hair.

They split up without saying anything else. They both have communications stones so they can both message each other should anything happen.

The first place Will went to visit was surprisingly the summoning circle, the one that summons heroes every 100 years.

During these past few weeks he has been doing some thinking.

Moments before he died before arriving in this world, he vaguely remembers seeing a message on his VR headset. He didn't think of it much because he died.

But now that he knows that the man who appeared in his dream wasn't actually a dream, but real, did that mean that he was the one who sent him that message moments before he died?

"No matter how much I try, I cannot contact that guy. I need answers!"

Will remembers his dream. How he called him a 'lab rat' or something like that. And how there were others before him. It didn't make him mad, but he needs more detailed answers than what he was given! He needs to know! It's the reason why he's here.

Of course the only clue he has that can possibly answer a question of his, is the summoning circle.

One of Will's system abilities let's him see detailed descriptions of items he touches with the tip of his finger. It's how he knows the backstory of the magical device he owns.

Something tells him that once he reads the description of the summoning circle, he'll learn something from it.

Perhaps… there's a small chance he can craft another one, and find a way back home?

"Problem is, it's heavily protected. Well… ish." Will took a look at the iron fences that surrounded the summoning circle.

The truth is the summoning circle was terribly guarded. There were only a few normal soldiers there, not even sorcerers, and also a tall iron fence gate surrounding the summoning circle.

Will could easily break in there. But the problem was the Great Sage. It's why the kingdom is so lax about the summoning circle being exposed in the middle of the kingdom.

As long as he was around no one could touch the circle.

"I don't think I can convince the Sage to let me near the summoning circle. Or if I ask him he'll grow suspicious of me or something. Problem is in order to get him to trust me, I need to remove the item that blocks his telepathy. But once I do I'll automatically think of the exotic flower, and seed, the device that can change the weather, and even my system! He'll read my mind and therefore I'll be exposing my greatest secrets!"

Will has thought about it. Was it worth it? What if the summoning circle didn't give him the answers he's looking for? What if exposing his secrets might bring him heaps of trouble?

The Great Sage may not care as much as he used to. But Will really doesn't want to take a chance keeping that in mind. There is truly no telling what might happen.

"Hero Will?"

Will heard someone call to him. They were guards of the kingdom. Or more specifically nobles.

'They know me?' Will thought.

"The Princess has summoned you. She told us to tell you that if you don't listen to her, she'll expose you to the world."

Hearing them say that made Will a little pissed?

The two nobles actually found out about Will through the Princess during the tournament.

Meeting the 100th hero, someone who everyone thought was either dead, or never existed, shocked them beyond belief.

The Princess had the best seat in the Pit. She could clearly see the stage, as well as all the people seated on the sides.

While Bruce was easily winning the tournament, her mind drifted from boredom. She noticed someone standing out from the stage, Will.

The armor he wore stood out from the rest. It was a different armor set he wore when she first saw him, but without a doubt she knew it was him, who else would wear such armor?

People do wear dragon scaled armor, but no one is crazy enough to wear it like Will does, because it would be too heavy to move. And also dragon scale armor is useless, because it's heavy, it couldn't really protect them from anything aside from attack from other humans, meaning that it's useless against monsters

Dragon scaled armor would be deemed as the 'strongest' or 'greatest' armor in fiction, but this is reality.

Will also knew that his armor stood out. But knowing that the Princess and the Great Sage already knows about him, it'll only be a matter of time before he's exposed. To him it was better to wear the armor and protect himself and Sandra, than to go in secret. Besides, he is getting a little tired of hiding, just a little bit.

And he was right. The Princess was planning on getting back on Will someday, she just didn't have the time.

Because Will is the reason why Clement got caught, she plans to get back to him. If Clement hadn't escaped from being executed by her father, she'd have had Will's head on a silver platter.

"Tell her to expose me. I don't care honestly." Will thought about it, and there was really no point in hiding anymore. But as long as he doesn't reveal his greatest secrets, he thinks he'll be alright.

"She also said that she'll offer sweets, like cake and such."

Princess Harmony knows that the majority of the heroes love to laze around and eat nothing but sweets. If her threat doesn't work, she can lure him with sweets. She didn't have a better plan to talk to him other than those two ideas.

"Wow? Really? Okay then. Can you also lead me to the bathroom first? I've been holding in a REALLY huge fart for the longest time now. It would be a shame if I released it when I am with the Princess."

"Um… sure."

The nobles honestly weren't surprised by his rude behavior. The majority of the heroes were worse honestly. At the beginning they were okay, but as they got used to being treated like gods, their behavior started taking a turn for the worse.

Will only accepted Harmony's offer because he really wanted to eat something sweet, since nobody sells any type of sweets, as it's reserved for the heroes and the royal family. So even though Will has the money, nobody is selling any sweets.

'Finally! I can eat some sweets! Hold on… couldn't Sandra just have brought us some sweets? She is a hero after all… well, we're stupid.' Will thought.

The reason he wanted to go to the bathroom is so he can tell Sandra that he was okay. He didn't want to worry her.

Meanwhile…

Sandra was strolling through the kingdom, as always. She bought whatever she liked or what she thought she needed for her and Will. And buying stuff from people in a way helped them, as the economy is doing terribly as of late.

'I don't see the point of all that tax money going to the heroes, honestly. Most of them haven't even stepped foot outside the castle. Honestly it seems like a waste. Hm?'

Sandra noticed a few guards taking out furniture out of a home. There was also a woman crying, pleading at a half-noble who seemed to be in charge. She carried an infant in her arms, as it was soundly asleep.

With her heightened senses, she could make out what they were saying.

"My husband is coming back with the money! Just give us more time!"

"Ma'am, your husband hasn't returned in a month! We originally only promised you 2 weeks to pay off the tax money you owe us, but out of pity for your child, we extended another 2 weeks! I am sorry, but I cannot give you more time! There are a lot of people who would like to live in the kingdom, people who pay on time."

"Please. The kingdom is the safest place for my son! I have no other relatives here for them to take care of him!"

"Sorry. Nothing I can do. Not unless you manage to pay the 33 gold coins, and 25 silver coins you owe to the kingdom."

Living outside of the kingdom would be the same as risking your life. You never know what might pop out and kill you, whether it be monsters, or men.

The villages closest to the kingdom also pay higher taxes, as they are protected by the Great Sage as well. But the further you go from the village, the lower the taxes are, but the less protected they are.

Sandra understood what was happening. As she was about to step in to help the poor woman and her child, a man in rags stepped in first.

"How much do we owe?" Asked the dirty man.

The man was dirty, as if he hadn't showered in a month. His clothes were torn, his hair all messy, his pants and boots all covered in mud from his long travels on foot.

"Hon!" The woman ran to the dirty man, who is indeed her husband. She cried as she hugged him tightly. Part of her really believed that he had abandoned them, so he wouldn't have to pay the taxes they owe.

The dirty man broke when he saw his wife and child in that state.

"Oh, good you're here. You owe us 33 gold, and 25 silver coins." The man said with an expressionless face.

The dirty man took off a large pouch that was dangling from his hips. He took out a bunch of gold and silver coins.

"Here! This is what we owe! Take it and leave!" He said angrily. In truth he understood they were doing their job, but nonetheless he was still angry.

"Do you want us to put your stuff back in your house?" Offered the man.

"No. Just go."

"Fine."

The half-noble, and the rest left. The furniture was left outside the house.

"Hon, what happened to you? Where did you go?" The woman asked, worried for her husband.

"It's nothing. Listen, we cannot continue to live here. The taxes are just too high to afford living here!"

"I know. But if it was just us, I can understand living outside to avoid paying. But Sebastian's health and life comes first! And where did you even get the money?" Until right now she realized that her husband just came and rescued them from a financial crisis.

"I know our son comes first. But if we stay any longer they'll chase us out."

"But… where would we go?"

"I know a place. It's the place where they gave me money to pay back our debt. While I take a shower and change clothes, sell the furniture! Sell everything we don't need. We're traveling light."

"But-"

"Trust me." He cut off his wife. "I am doing this for our son, and you. Just trust me once again."

"O-okay." She nodded.

'Huh. That was unexpected.' Thought Sandra as she left. The family doesn't need her help as it turns out.

She expected she would come in to save a poor family, like a poor cliche that is written in so many mangas. But no.

Then she wondered, who gave the man that much money to pay back their debt? And where would they go?

A few silver coins today is a lot to many families, not to mention over 30 gold coins. It seemed that the family was doing terribly before the new taxes were added.

Her communication stone glowed brightly. She read Will's message and her concern grew. It read: {I'll probably be unavailable for a while. Don't worry I'll be fine. But should something happen DO NOT COME LOOKING FOR ME. Go straight to the base! Trust me! If I don't send a message in an hour, just please go back to base. Please.}

This was obviously Will saying that something happened. But at the same time he was okay?

'What happened?' She couldn't see anything bad happening while in the kingdom, not with the Great Sage around.

***********

MERRY CHRISTMAS!