'I'm getting tired...' Swind thought as he dodged an Ice Bullet aimed for his head. 'These people are seriously trying to kill me...'
He took a deep breath as he let his Lemurian's Sixth Sense prevent him from taking yet another potentially critical blow. 'I haven't used it since the world tree incident, but I think if I can keep my emotions in check then I should be able to use Energy Absorption to power that other new skill I've yet to use... It's worth a try. I can't continue to be a burden on Mr Immortus after all that he's done for me...'
He successfully blocked a Boulder that was hurtling towards him with Redemption but the resulting force of the magic spell sent him skidding back along the ground.
A sort of lull crossed the battlefield as he fiercely looked at the 70 or so remaining challengers. They waited anxiously for him to make a move.
Swind hadn't killed anyone due to the rules, but he had blinded more than one person with the steam attack of his arm. On top of that, he'd even stabbed several people with either his mechanical tail or with his sword, causing serious injury.
Of course, many people had also noticed that Swind's powerful-looking sword was somehow capable of absorbing magic, which was a very rare trait for an item to possess.
Only a handful of such items existed on all of Altros, so that alone was enough to increase everyone's wariness of him.
If that wasn't enough, every now and then, hard but flexible strings would shoot out of Swind's mechanical arm and cut up challengers while immobilising them.
Swind took the brief moment of peace to invoke two skills. "Energy Absorption. Ultimate Scale Skin."
His back arched forwards and his legs bent outwards as glimmering green scales grew all over his body. Even his mechanical limbs and his sword experienced this change.
"Wow," Lone remarked. "He looks a lot like how he did when he was a normal Lemurian... I never thought that skill would change his body shape as well."
Swind's powerful yellow eyes glanced between the gathered challengers like a predator looking for prey.
A white aura surrounded him as he stood there in place. 'It's hard to control my hunger... There must be at least 10-times as much lingering energy here than there was at the Eastern World Tree...'
Swind was right. The Divine power that was emanating off of the gathered 8 Divines as well as the 3 pseudo-Divines was seeping into his body and was actually threatening to burst from within him.
Needless to say, there was already an ocean of energy from the hundreds of thousands of spectators as well, all of whom had varying strengths. 'Control yourself, Swind. Take in only that which isn't connected to the living. There is more than enough power here to sustain my scales without needing to harm the innocent...'
Swind tried his utmost to not lose himself to the urge to consume everything like he had done during his feeble attempt to save Rachel. He took several deep breaths and slowly processed the extra energy that was flooding his body into levels.
He held Redemption lightly in his fleshy hand as his mechanical one gestured for his and Rachel's challengers to make a move. "Come."
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"Hoh?" the Fire Dragon lounging in his Divine suite exclaimed upon seeing the change in Swind. "Finally, things hath becometh interesting."
His duo of daughters nodded their scaly heads - one excitedly, the other lazily. "He's cool! I wonder if he's a descendant of the dragonkin? Do you think he'd survive dragonification? I want to marry him!"
"Mine daughter, please, do not spout such nonsense. No one is worthy of you," the Divine dragon protested as he kept his eyes on Swind who was now handily defeating challengers left and right.
His other daughter rolled her eyes as she lay on the floor on her stomach. "He isn't a dragonkin. That's obvious. I have no idea what he is."
"Geruphanda, havest I not taught you of his race a'fore? The Lemurians. Or in common tongue, The Lost Ones," the Divine said chidingly.
"Ahhh... Didn't they, like, disappear, what, half-a-million-years-ago or something?" Geruphanda asked.
The Divine Fire Dragon sighed and shook his head. "They did not disappear. They were lost. There is a distinction betweeneth the two, mine daughter."
"Who cares? His scales are so pretty even if they're green!" his other daughter commented as she glued her massive head to the glass screen that separated her from the sky overlooking the arena.
"Do you knowest what is most intriguing about him, oh daughters of mine?" the Divine asked expectantly.
"That's he's in love with a foxkin?" the one on the floor asked uncaringly.
"That's he's a mega-hunk?!" the one attached to the viewing window suggested confidently.
"Ha-ah, this is why you shall nevereth enter upon your own Divinities, oh daughters of mine..." the Divine sulked. "He is actively consuming the energy that naturally seeps out of our bodies and even from the spacial formations that holdeth this place together. He is using said power to level-up. As we have spokeneth he hath already gained over 100 levels."
"Wow!" the more excitable of his two daughters stared at Swind with a certain look in her eyes. "I'm gonna propose to him!"
It would seem that Swind was in for some trouble in the near future.
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Swind took another deep breath as he cancelled his Energy Absorption first and his Ultimate Scale Skin second.
His skeletal structure returned to normal and he felt... full. 'I didn't kill anyone, did I? I can't sense souls yet so it is hard to tell... I hope I didn't. Bigotry and ignorance do not merit a death sentence.'
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Swind turned to the crowd and bowed deeply as he sheathed Redemption on his back. Muradon immediately began praising him, Rachel and the challengers.
A few seconds later several staff members and recovery-focused professors rushed onto the arena to help the defeated challengers move to the infirmary.
As he walked back to The Wanderers, Swind felt that it would be wise to check his status. 'I almost feel like I'm going to explode but I purposely stopped before reaching that point so as to avoid inconveniencing Mr Immortus again... How much did I grow, exactly?'
Status Name: Swind Immortus Sex: Male Age: 15 Level: 832 [+332] Species: Lemurian Rank: S [Up From A] Race: Ascending Lemurian HP: 17,500/17,500 [+7,500] SP: 18,000/18,000 [+8,000] MP: 7,000/7,000 [+500] WF: 290,000/10,000 [Warning! Excess World Force may lead to adverse side-effects!] Basic Stats Strength: 2,340 [+1,340] Vigour: 1,750 [+750] Dexterity: 2,000 [+600] Agility: 2,200 [+800] Vitality: 1,800 [+800] Luck: 500 [+100] Secret Stats Magic Power: 700 [+500] Charm: 55 [+5]
While Swind had clearly gained a huge amount of stat points, his growth was actually quite weak when compared to other people at his level.
While he was also an Ascending like Lone, he did not share the foxkin's ludicrous Growth Accelerator unique skill. So while he could ignore enlightenment barriers, he could not escape his own potential.
He certainly gained far more stats now than he would have were he still a normal Lemurian, but he hadn't been doing any special training whatsoever since Rachel fell into her condition. This would have to change in the future.
Of course, his skills had all levelled up as well which was a welcome boon.
Energy Absorption had gone from Expert-Level-1 to Expert-Level-4 while Ultimate Scale Skin had increased by 8 levels, leaving it at Beginner-Level-9.
As for his more mundane skills, his String Mastery has finally been used in actual combat so he had gained the skill as his own, free from the boost given to him by his mechanical arm. It was at a respectable Beginner-Level-4.
As for Sword Mastery and Bastard Sword Mastery, respectively, they had reached Intermediate-Level-2 and Intermediate-Level-7.
Swind clenched his fist as he held Rachel's hand in his. She slowly turned to look at him and looked confused. "Sad?"
Swind smiled softly. "No. I'm not sad, Rachel. I'm happy that I'm getting strong. Maybe one day I'll be strong enough to properly protect you..."
"Hmm..." Rachel's mind had apparently wandered off mid-conversation. "Screens... Sad..."
Apparently the girl had become upset after she stopped seeing messages from the system about obtaining new fire magic skills, or at least that's what Swind took from those two muttered words of hers.
Lone walked forwards and patted the young man on his mechanical arm. "There, all fixed. No point in giving you a replacement one until it actually breaks. It's cheaper on my MP to just fix them if they still mostly work."
He then gave Swind a hug and grabbed his tail all at once. "And that's that one fixed too. You did great out there, Swind. I was worried for a hot minute that I've have to knock you out again, but you used the skill pretty well. I'm saying this a lot today, but I'm proud of you."
Swind smiled charmingly. "Thank you, Mr Immortus. I have something I wish to ask you about."
"Hmm? Go ahead. We've got a short break before the next match starts, so fire away," Lone said casually as he reached down and ruffled Rachel's hair gently, resulting in the girl beaming a perfectly innocent smile.
"I currently have 29-times my actual World Force cap. I'm worried that I absorbed too much lingering energy. My status says that having so much more than I should may lead to side-effects," Swind explained as clearly as he possibly could.
Lone stroked his chin. "Huh. I've not got much experience with world skills, to be honest. I only have one and it isn't very powerful... Master Milos, do you have any ideas?"
"Master... I like that title, Young Mageling. It's very fitting for an archon of my calibre," the old man said as he played with his beard arrogantly. "As for having excess World Force... Young man, you have a skill that lets you convert energy into levels, do you not? I could feel it during your fight."
"Right, congrats on becoming an S-ranker, Swind," Lone happily said with a smile. The other wanderers offered similar congratulatory words.
"Thank you, everyone, and yes, Sir. I do possess such a skill," Swind answered.
Archon Milos shrugged. "Then just focus your efforts into converting that excess power into more levels, or, if you'd prefer, just drain it all. I also felt you converting the lingering energy into Stamina Points during your fight, so I see no reason why you can't do the same only without collecting even more excess energy."
"Wise," Lipsilk noted. The fairy wasn't well-versed on world skills, so he was taking the archon's words to heart and he was treating it like a learning experience.
Swind nodded. "I shall try to convert the power into levels then. Should I fail, Mr Immortus, I will be relying on you to help me once again."
Lone grinned. "Sure thing, buddy."
Swind nodded then sat down cross-legged. Rachel slowly ambled over to him and rested herself on his lap before she fell asleep.
"How carefree," Eolande noted with a kind smile on her face.
The next moment, Muradon announced that it was her and Lipsilk's fight. The two of them had been paired up due to them both being the highest-ranked members of The Wanderers as well as due to the fact that Lipsilk was a race of fairy while Eolande resembled one with her small stature and butterfly-like wings.
"Good luck, you two. There are a lot of seniors among your challengers," Lone warned. "I'm sure you can feel it, but a handful of them are even X, double-X, or even triple-X-ranked geniuses."
"Worrying about little old me? Please, Lone, you'll make my heart burst from joy," Eolande teased with a coy grin though she avoided going any further than that without Soph's approval.
Lipsilk cracked his neck as he hovered neck to Eolande. "This should be fun. I haven't personally participated in such a large-scale fight in, oh, at least 300,000-years. Well, excluding wars, that is."