CANYON RUSH

The rest of the day, Hamon kept watching Theo experiment with rituals and his artificer blessing. He tried as much as he could to act interested and understand but soon slacked off. Theo took a keen interest in those ‘friends’ he commented about that weren’t on the alley that afternoon, especially one who had a unique explosive power.

The following day, some people noticed sudden disappearances. The missing people’s friends began searching for them and announcing there was a killer in the village, that their friends wouldn’t go out strolling and die in such an important moment. Since most of those in that circle of friends had disappeared, not many people cared about their plea. The others had much more pressing matters to care about. People died in the abyss for the flimsiest of reasons, so no batted an eye about that.

The next day, another ‘friend’, had a random scuffle that led into a fight with a random passerby. The houses and streets nearby were partially destroyed, and only black marks on the streets and rubble were left to tell the story. The attacker left before the Lion Clan’s envoys in charge of the village could arrive. In the end, all the blame fell onto the ‘bomber’ as most witnesses had seen.

A week passed as Theo tested his rituals, the sensing earring, and the baton of autonomy. His artificer blessing was a bit below his expectations when working with artifacts, its intended purpose.

The sensing earring worked by giving information about consciousness in a sphere around him. Theo could sense anything that came inside it. In his past life, he knew how to replicate a similar effect to the earring using pure mana techniques. Here, however, the further he stretched his mana, the duller and weaker it became. He had plans of using the earring to work in a net or string. Expecting to lower the resolution of the target, or the working area but increase the range a lot. That, however, proved impossible as no amount of tweaking enabled him to do more than delaying when the artifact activated. He had no ideas for now on how to make that useful aside from when lending it to a manaless person. The restriction on the artificer blessing of it being an ‘activation phase’ only modification was a really well imposed one.

Theo only found one use for the baton of autonomy with the time he had, and even that discovery was only possible because it is the artifact’s original use after all. It was a particularly mysterious piece to be integrated. Theo used it as some sort of brain or controller for his original body when using a clone. It made the clone defend itself and move in a specified direction. The artificer blessing once again didn’t prove itself of much use.

Aside from magical training, Theo also started making some calculations. His pyromaniac side had some careful planning involved behind the scenes. If you know the enemy and know your explosions, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. Theo had been seeking and collecting crystals during all of his trips until now. There was currently a supply of around a hundred and fifty crystals he could use. An estimation of the mana inside each of them returned an average of twenty mana points if he thought of it in terms of attributes. Erudim assured me once that if I reached an explosion of five thousand, it would trigger chain explosions from the critters. I’m two thousand short.

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Theo pondered how to use the flammable properties of the monsters to increase the explosion power and later tested the explosions from crystals in closed and open environments. From reports on his previous life, the earth calamity on the canyon had a danger level on the hundred, and he bet it was a pure physique based monster; that meant it would probably take around twenty level five people to take it on. It was part of those ‘unkillable’ monsters that often appeared only to inspire fear. It was strong enough to contain the heat from the mana crystals explosion and trigger the chain reaction inside of it; weak enough to die if he blew off one of its sections, Theo nodded. The problem will be the initial ritual. If it’s strong enough to set everything on course... Meh, I will just overcompensate on the ritual explosion like always, and it will be fine. Two hundred mana should be enough.

With the time he had left. Theo got used to his newfound body balance. There were similar situations in the past where he fought without arms, so he didn’t sweat that much before regaining proper battle posture. It wasn’t necessary, but he just wanted to make sure nothing would foil his plans.

There were rumors as the days passed about elemental fire beings roaming the village. Most could swear they had seen the figures during the night. In the morning, the evidence was plain and clear for all to see. Carbonized tree trunks appeared in the village surroundings. The rock wall also had many evident holes where pieces of it were torn apart. In some areas, the terrain was unrecognizable, as depressions and hills were born.

Aside from some light training, Hamon had been mostly goofing around in the past week. It was his nicely deserved vacation. However, everything must have an end. As more and more people arrived at the village, rumors started brewing about the event.

The imp didn’t disappoint. “Welcome to the canyon rush, my friends!” It arrived by the rock wall. “I declare this grand event officially open!” The whole wall trembled as a big hole opened into it. “The big hurdle between you and the strong. Free yourself from the tiny pond you are in. Go beyond this island!” The imp disappeared in lighting shocks.

CANYON RUSH

* Leave the canyon before you die;

* Every kill will reward you with points, aim for the highest score to receive rewards!

* Choose your boost:

* Strength

* Speed

* Stamina

* Regeneration

* Detection

As people started choosing, wristbands materialized on their wrists. There were lots of groups being formed and discussion going on before anyone entered the canyon.

“As some of you know, we were enlisted by the Lion Clan to oversee the event and help everyone as much as we can.” An imposing woman stood on a wooden platform with a few others surrounding her.

“It wasn’t said, but there will be monsters chasing you when you enter the canyon. Their numbers and strength will only rise with time.” Her team began sharing a few pamphlets with hand-drawn info they had on the monsters. “Don’t form too large groups, or you will attract the attention of unwanted top-tier predators. Even we didn’t come prepared to deal with this type of enemy.”

“The bands are team-wide buffs, so plan wisely your team composition.” She pointed to her wristband. “There are scattered artifacts through the canyon as some of you with the detection wristbands will discover. Take care when trying to get them. They are usually far and will waste valuable time.”

“Even though there is a reward for killing monsters, don’t delay.” She paused and stared at the mass of people, almost burning them with her eyes. “Don’t. Delay.” She calmed down. “ And good luck.” Her companions started walking to their predetermined groups as she got down. During the waiting time, most people had formed teams and connections in the village.