(Author note: if anyone has a better name for the fiction then feel free to say it. I have a horrible naming sense.)

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As the month went by Damai had trained both his body and his Mana control, thanks to his experience with KI, he was able to sense Mana particularly easily he just had to look elsewhere to find it, this allowed him to be more aware of Magic and gave him more time to dodge since he could now sense Mana gathering in the opponents hands.

Damai also used his rings and became able to act normally under 550% normal gravity. There was only one thing that troubled Damai and that was the fact that he could not use Mana that well, the reason being his KI since the two energies clashed and cancelled each other and this predicament continued no matter what he tried, the only thing that gave him and hope of using Mana properly was the fact that when the two energies clashed inside of him, he could feel a small amount of each energy fusing together, although it never lasted any length of time, he could feel those moments when it happened and instinctively knew it was possible to meld the energies together, he just had to find out how.

Damai was not the only one participating in the tournament, both Kaya and Ben where as well, since Freya was the group healer and was a very weak fighter so she opted out, Ben went to the Mages guild and worked his mind as much as he could to improve his Magical capabilities and Kaya did the same but with the warriors guild.

The three of them continued to  train and get ready for the tournament, however Damai was severely disappointed by his progress, by the end of the month the only thing he could do with his Mana was wrap it around his body like armour, while he had KI coursing through the inside of his body, This by all means gave him the best defence a monk can ever achieve but he could not use any more advanced techniques, not even ones newbie monks could use, so for the last week he dedicated himself to meditation and tried to figure out the relationship between Mana and KI.

After the Month was over the group met up and signed up for the tournament the day before it started, tomorrow they would have to battle through the preliminaries and everybody thought it would be best to get a good night’s sleep. Damai, Ben and Kaya all spoke about how much they managed to improve over the last month and hoped that they would not meet each other in the prelims. Damai spent the last of his time before he slept moving the two energies around his body as smoothly as possible, he sent them in different directions so as to push himself.

In the morning the three of them nervously walked to the prelim arena, these matches were held privately and had a time limit so that they would be finished quickly. This was the first time any of the group had ever participated in a tournament so they were understandably nervous, Freya did her best to cheer them up as they walked but to no avail.

When the three finally got to the arena they had to draw lots to see which of the four quarters they would be put into, they were both happy and sad with the result.

They were happy that they would not have to fight each other, but they were also going to separate into different groups, they would not know who had won until all of the prelims were over. They wished each other luck and then proceeded to their areas.

In order to make the competitors more enthusiastic, the tournament organisers mentioned a special guest who would be watching the main fights after the prelims, they told all the competitors that the high priestess of Estrawr was coming and immediately cheers could be heard from nearly everyone, the reason for this was the fact that, not only was the priestess said to be extremely beautiful but she was also very high up in a very powerful church, they all thought that should they impress her, they could get a chance to earn some good rewards.

Damai was one of the few who didn’t react to this bit of information and was confused as to why everyone was now excited even more than before, while questioning their actions he looked around the room and saw something in the far corner, it was a large box like object that was covered by a cloth. He was intrigued by this and wandered over to it, he peaked under the cloth covering the object and was shocked as to what he found.

Monsters were ranked into groups depending on strength, difficulty to defeat and intelligence, this gave adventurers the ability to see what they could take on in combat. Among the monsters there were a few that were considered milestones, and by defeating them solo you could prove your abilities. Damai was looking at one such monster, defeating this monster showed you were one of the stronger C ranks and that you had the potential to become a B Rank adventurer. Damai was staring into the sad eyes of a Magma Monkey.

The Magma Monkey looked at Damai with eye’s that seethed hatred and anger, until she noticed the tail that was wrapped around his waist. Damai was then shocked greatly with what he heard next “that tail…… impossible, the Ape man tribe” Damai heard coming from the Magma Monkey in a feminine voice, it took him a while to get over his shock “y-yes I am, I did not know others could speak our language” the hatred in her eye’s had gone but the sadness and anger were still there although none of it was focused at Damai.

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“I am Monya, and child all Ape type ‘monsters’ as the humans call, can speak the language of the Ape tribe, we are born with the knowledge” she said in reply “umm, do all monsters have your level of intelligence and consciousness?” to which Monya chuckled slightly, a tiny light almost non-existent appearing in her eye’s “no child not all of them, usually only Ape types and those of A rank and above on the humans System, but don’t worry most non-Apes have rotten and evil personalities anyway” Damai just listened and was relieved with the information, he enjoyed battle but had no desire to take an innocent life.

“Why are you here, in a cage Monya, surely with your intelligence you should be able to communicate with others” Monya showed a face filled with sadness and anger once again “trust me child, I have attempted that many times, but humans tend to let fear overcome them and treat even the ones who stay out of their way as dangerous beasts……. They are just as rotten as the monsters they hunt” Damai could tell she had been wronged badly but he was still irritated by what she said since it insulted his friends “Not all humans are rotten, some are good people” he almost shouted “of course child, my apologies I know that but a human took away all the joy in my life, he put me in this cage” Damai quickly replied “no my apologies I did not mean to snap, also my name is Damai, may I ask what happened to you” Monya thought for a bit and nodded, Damai knew that his fight was last due to his late signup.

“Child I met humans before when I was young so I knew to stay away and if I met them I knew to just try to run away, I lived a peaceful life and had 5 children, they were the joy in my life, they were my everything, one day my children were out playing, I had told them not to run too far but they were young and foolish.” Monya choked a bit and had tears on her face, which quickly disappeared thanks to the fire on her head “I heard them cry for me, so I rushed over and a human was holding all of my children in bag, he used them as hostages and forced me into a cage and then ………” she was now sobbing but managed to continue “and then he killed them, all of them, all of my babies were killed and I could do nothing but watch as the human laughed while doing it…….i did my best to get out of the cage but……. It was too strong, my hatred of humans started then, and then I was brought into town where stones were thrown, I was cut through the bars with daggers and I was humiliated, my hatred only grew stronger” Damai was shaking by the end of it.

“who?” Damai said in a barely audible voice, which confused Monya “Who was it that did this to you?” he said louder and seething with his own rage and a look of pure anger showing on his face, Monya felt grateful for Damai’s sympathy “I do not know a name, all I know is that he uses a sword, he has a blessing of the chaos god, and he is taking part in this tournament, it is the reason I still live, to get revenge on him in the tournament, I am to fight the victor for the entertainment of the humans” hearing this only fuelled Damai’s rage “sorry Monya, you might not be able to get your revenge, but I will make up for it by requesting your freedom when I win the tournament” Damai said and he walked off to the arena where his turn was soon approaching. Monya could only smile as she felt the kindness of another for the first time in a while, and decided that she would do her best to help this child.

Damai’s name was called and he stepped up onto the stage still smouldering in rage and he needed to let it out, unfortunately for his opponent his senses and strength were in top form, he strengthened his staff with KI and Mana and focused completely on his opponent, who was now feeling the ridiculous amount of pressure coming off of Damai towards him. Scared and with no other options, the man who seemed to be a Monk charged at Damai and struck him in the chest with all of his strength, he thought he had one won but after stepping back he saw a cold look in Damai’s eye and realized that his attack with all of his strength had done absolutely nothing. He was then, without realizing what happened, sent flying backwards and hit a wall, losing consciousness. The entire hall was speechless at the spectacle and Damai, now a bit calmer, walked off of the stage and back to Monya, and continued to stay there and got to know her better.

By the end of the prelims, the two had become good friends and Damai was feared by all other participants in the room, thanks to his consecutive 1 hit K.O’s, he knew however that the actual tournament would be much more difficult. All the other people who passed the prelims gathered in the hall Damai was in “IT’S HIM” shouted Monya startling Damai, he knew what she was talking about and followed her gaze, he was shocked to see that it was one of the two that had run away from the rockhide boar. Both of those two were in the hall, but Damai only had business with one, and he decided he would settle it in the tournament, during battle. He looked around and saw that out of the seven other Participants, he only knew three, the two who ran and Kaya, he realized that Ben must have lost, he then noticed the extremely angry look on Kaya’s face when she saw the two who ran and Damai was relieved she didn’t think of them as friends still, since he was itching to beat one of them into the ground. He then called over Kaya, so they could catch up.