One Day Remaining Before the Battle with Edbert.
Late Evening.
The following days passed by quickly for me. I trained in martial arts and sold some of the captured monsters I had gathered in the forest, including ones I don’t remember capturing. I trained my monsters in martial arts, command following, and teamwork. I did it and now stood on the day of the eve of the battle.
Moriah and her family helped me strengthen Bagheera and I’s use of the Vulcan’s Crescent technique.
Kenneth, Kieran, and the Tipsy Tauracean Tavern kept me fed and with a roof over my head during preparations.
Calvin and Alek ran me and my monsters through agility drills, launching volleys of attacks at us for hours on end.
Even the goofy Pelikvern, Gerald, helped me out. Having a flying buddy who can deliver mail is a lot more useful than I first expected when I was in a world without email or text messages. Heck, part of me was surprised that the system didn’t have some sort of messaging set up as well.
Maybe it did. It was not as if any of the other things I had been told first about the system came out to be one hundred percent true.
Even Marlie the Arch-Priestess, in as unofficial a way as she could, gave me help during my training. She provided me with new clothes and what few answers she could provide as to the nature of the Saints and the Beast Kings, and what it meant.
It had been all I could do, and now with Baloo, Bagheera, Bedevere, Fragarach, Softtail, and my newest partner, the Liefviathan I had named Hierophant, I stood as ready as I was going to get.
Six partners for the battle, with one monster at level five, one at level fifteen for a vanguard, and four over level six. Or at least, they would be when noon tomorrow came around. It was time to use experience points to get myself and the two of my monsters, which were about to be leveled up, both ready.
When I was done, I looked over the prompts in front of me.
[[You have brought your Beelebian to level six and gained a bond with it by being able to connect with it truly. It will now appear within your character sheet and may not be stolen from you without it attempting to return. You will now qualify to purchase or unlock the trait ‘Hive of the Round Table’.
You have brought your Totlelong to level six and gained a bond with it by being able to connect with it truly. It will now appear within your character sheet and may not be stolen from you without it attempting to return. You will now qualify to purchase or unlock the trait ‘If it bleeds, you can kill it’. ]]
With that done, I soon had another set of pop-ups, telling me about my available connection traits which could be purchased and urging me to purchase them. Today I intended to, and spent some of the experience points I had banked for that purpose to immediately do so.
Soon, the trait Hunter’s Instinct as provided by Baloo the Cerbearus joined Bagheera the Ossicarn’s The Riddle of Steel, Bedevere the Beelebian’s Hive of the Round Table, and Fragarach the Totlelong’s ‘If it Bleeds, You can Kill it’ among my traits.
The system seemed to like 80s action flicks or it was reading my mind and changing the names of traits to suit that. As it stood, I was probably ridiculously close to getting a skill that was called ‘Aaaaaaaaauuuuuuuggggghhhhhhh’. Either way, I looked over my new traits.
[[Hunter’s Instinct - You have begun to learn the secrets of the forest and cave through the whispers of your partner’s insights. It increases your sight, smell, and hearing at times. One-twentieth of your body and knack stats are added to your mind stat when it comes to tracking, investigations, or trap construction. This trait may be upgraded. Initial Cost: Twenty experience.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Hive of the Round Table- You have been accepted as a member of the hive. As such, you may summon monster bee constructs to serve as scouts and drones. These provide a bonus to your mind and knack stats equal to one fourth of your charisma stat. Additionally, bees - mundane or otherwise - will not attack you when not provoked or otherwise ordered to by another person with Hive of the Round Table at a higher rank. Initial Cost: Twenty experience.
If it Bleeds, You can Kill it- You have begun to bring out the beast within yourself. When you successfully deal the bleeding status effect to an opponent, your body, knack, and charisma stats are raised by your maximum class level for the duration of the bleed effect. When the battle is over, you lose an equal amount of stat points for minutes equal to the difference between your highest class level and lowest class level. This trait may be upgraded. Initial Cost: Twenty experience.]]
Then it was time to use the technique scroll I had bought from Marlie. Baloo was about to gain a new technique, and so was I.
***
In the morning, I almost knelt in prayer, but resisted the idea. I didn’t believe in the eight saints, or anything else - so instead, as I got dressed and focused. Success came to those who worked for it. I had to believe it, or none of my goals would come true.
After returning my monsters to their reliquaries, I ate and made preparations. Soon, the battle would be joined. I had to be ready.
***
The Day of the Battle with Edbert
Noon.
It was show time and I would be lying if I didn’t feel some sort of worry and anxiety at the sight of the crowds which stood in purpose-built stone bleachers around an octagonal ring, which would be our battlefield. Every member of the Darville family, as well as Edbert’s mother and Melody, all were in a set of box seats complete with plush couches somehow brought twenty feet plus in the air up steep stairs.
The rest of the bleachers were made of steep stone, and there was a circle of runes around the octagon itself. They did not have any energy present, but I had learned enough about enchanting things from watching Moriah and Calvin that it would activate when I and Edbert had both entered, then would provide an absorbent force shield to prevent collateral damage.
In the cheap (or probably actually free) seats, I saw my friends. Alek, Calvin, Eris, and Moriah all sat clustered with one another. Moriah’s grandmother sat near them with Alek’s grandfather, and both gave me a nod. The Filigree clan matriarch even gave me a flex of her well muscled forearm and gave me a smile.
I was pretty sure she was wishing me strength. As Edbert entered the ring, shouts and hoots from the Darville family and the guards which worked for them came to encourage him, and the cocky older young man strode with his expensive clothes and a grin on his lips. He didn’t bother to wear armor, or carry any weapons beyond the rapier which he carried at his left hip. A collection of six reliquaries hung on his right, alongside a dagger.
In the deep forest green and gold of his uncle’s house, he looked like a true champion as he bowed to those admirers and the neutral parties who were present and cheered him.
I was meanwhile dressed in the black pants that Marlie had given me, deep brown leather cowboy boots that Alek and his grandfather had gifted me, and a bright orange sleeveless shirt that I had bought from the same merchant that I had bought my latest technique scroll from.
At my right hip stood the saber carved from smilodon fang that I had gotten at what had started our current squabble, and on my left stood six d8 reliquaries of my own. The metal and wood carved ones which held Hierophant and Softail, the carved and polished wood ones that held Baloo, Bagheera, and the Scrimshaw ones which held Bedevere and Fragarach. In my left hand I carried the well carved wooden staff that I had been gifted by the Shepherds during my training.
I waited until Marlie strode outside of the Ring for her job as adjudicator, and I then stepped in. Instantly, the runes lit up the region that we were in and a sound like a vacuum’s ‘thunk’ at sucking something up could be heard. With it, I knew the portal was in place.
Surprisingly, Marlie’s voice boomed over everyone, even into the bubble.
“Today, good people of Strongbridge and the Tidewarren! We have a duel between Edbert Alfonse Reyes and Wade Duncan Calhoun! It is a duel to six knock outs of monsters, or the surrender of one participant. Beyond that, standard tournament rules apply - meaning full contact, no holds barred. This is not a fight to the death, as a reminder to both participants.”
As she said it, Edbert flashed me a menacing grin and raised his eyebrows. He was trying to threaten me.
I just rolled my shoulders. I gave him a gentle smile.