When it came to choosing his reward, the choice had been easier than he had expected. He was only able to get two of the natural treasure and he chose the Life Sapling and the Death Sphere, both of which emitted power that drew him in more than expected, when he held them close to each other they both repelled and drew in the opposing energies in a way that touched on some memory in his mind that he couldn’t quite grasp. He also got 1 platinum coin and 10 million TE as the remainder of the reward.

His time in the tutorial was coming to an end, he only had 4 fights left, and if he won each one of them he would win the tutorial. He did very little before the next fight, recovering his mana was important and he also created a list of things that he needed from the tutorial that he may not be able to find back on Earth easily, predominantly he wanted to stock up on food, metal, gems and books by the time he left, as well as any other materials that might be of some use.

His walk through to the arena the next day was odd, previously people were looking at him like they were his ticket to getting in with the major factions, now they were terrified after his display of power. He had killed 6 people, but that wasn’t what they were scared of, it was the sheer power, the wind, fire and lightning that he had used to completely terrify nearly 100 people into running from him.

When he was at the arena he was forced to wait in the waiting room for a while before they would each be called in to fight. One of them would get to proceed through to the next round unimpeded and he doubted it would be him. He just hoped he could avoid fighting any of his friends for as long as he could. Viv was the first one called along with some guy that had gotten lucky the day before and beat one of the previous top 15. It was only 5 minutes later when they both walked back into the room, the guy looking like he could barely walk an arrow still sticking out of his shoulder and leg, while Viv looked almost untouched.

Two people that he didn’t know were called next, and after that Li was called in with Gabe. He didn’t know who would win between those two, both had very different fighting styles, so it was hard to guess. The fight went on for a while though, it was nearly 20 minutes before they both came back looking exhausted and hurt. Eric thankfully asked who won and Gabe informed him Li did while getting a potion out and downing it.

Rodger was called next along with a woman, both looking less than pleased with the match up. They both came back and were told the woman, Claire, winning. And then what he had been dreading happened, he was called up to fight Eric. This scenario was less than ideal, they were supposed to be hating each other, anything less than an aggressive fight would ruin everything they worked towards. They didn’t speak as they walked into the arena, not even acknowledging each other’s presence. They didn’t have to speak to know that they wouldn’t fight to the death, the fight would suck for both of them, but even with the armour that he had made Eric he wouldn’t be able to win, he would try to though.

“The fight between Eric Chapman and Shaun Clermont will now commence!” There was no huge lead up to the fight, as soon as they were both in the arena the fight had been called to start.

Eric came at him straight away, using the spells Shaun himself had crafted into his weapon on him. Shaun deflected it, teleporting directly behind Eric and kicking him in the back with all of his strength. Eric’s armour took the brunt of hit but Shaun didn’t give up his advantage, he teleported over and over, sending out attack after attack, slowly beating him down. Eric tried to get in a hit with his sword and at the last second Shaun shifted to his lightning form, letting the blade slice through his now non corporeal form, ending in Eric getting electrocuted by the failed attack.

Eric used every one of the spells in his items, he attempted to blast him back with the shield and Shaun simply shifted into air and moved back in and launched another attack. To everyone watching it would have looked like Shaun was enjoying extending the fight and beating on Eric, but what he was really doing was trying to figure out a way to end the fight without doing too much damage to either Eric or his gear.

“You can’t win this, you know it. Would you like to know what it feels like to get struck by lightning?” As Shaun spoke he channelled his lightning through his sword and pointed it at Eric. “I will enjoy this.”

Before Eric could move out of the way he sent a stream of lightning at him, giving him just enough time to move his shield in the way. It wasn’t a strong bolt, even though it looked like it was. The shield took the brunt of the damage and rather than boost the power in the attack Shaun sent out several other bolts to land around where Eric stood, making it look like Eric had been struck multiple times when in reality he would only have been affected by the proximity of the strikes. While Eric was busy defending against the lightning, Shaun powered up an air strike in his gauntlet, one strong enough that it would send him flying and released the attack on Eric.

The moment Eric hit the ground he teleported to stand above him, he kicked Eric’s sword out of his hand and trapped his shield arm under his foot. Erics armour had next to no weak spots, but there was a few, and Shaun knew all of them. Without hesitating he lifted his sword and drove it through one of the gaps in the armour, puncturing through the shielding and into his shoulder, the only reason he could manage this was due to the angle Eric was laying and Shaun knowing where the gap underneath the plating was.

The moment Eric let out a yell Shaun felt his heart tighten, he had made sure that it was a non-lethal attack but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t hurt. “I concede!”

*Round 7 Winner declared as Shaun Clermont*

2,102,856 TE awarded to winner for beating opponent in two on one battle. You may now leave the arena.

The moment Shaun got the message he withdrew his sword from Eric’s shoulder and left the arena. He did not enjoy that fight, especially taking the TE that Eric had worked hard for. The wound would heal easily enough with no lasting consequences, but hurting someone he called a friend made him feel like shit. It had to be done though, they both knew that.

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He spent a majority of the afternoon spending more coin than should have been possible, buying things he didn’t need but bought just in case he found a use for it later. He was tempted to go back into the dungeon, but the idea of fighting again that day held no appeal, so instead he went back into his mediation work, this time with both of his natural treasures out in front of him, to see if he could pull any memories out of his mind from the Nephilim regarding why he found the connection between Life and Death so important. He didn’t succeed, but he felt closer than he had before.

The next day he thankfully didn’t need to fight either Li or Viv, instead he was paired with Claire, the woman who had beat Rodger the previous day. Fighting her, her could see how she won. She was quick and strong, more so than Shaun expected, but in the end, after blasting her around the arena a few times, she was rendered unconscious and unable to continue, making Shaun the winner. He had asked her to concede twice through the fight but she refused both times, short of killing her, knocking her out was the best he could do.

He now only had 2 fights left, both Li and Viv had made it into the top 4 with him, and the odds were that he would be fighting one of them in the next round. Before that though he had decided that he would go back into the dungeons and not leave until he got the three levels he needed in his class to get a new skill.

It took him nearly 20 waves before he managed to get the levels he needed, fighting up till the monsters had reached level 80 before he got the last level he wanted. His focus was not just on levels though, he worked each of his skills until he saw growth across each of them, he had been lacking in this field, so although it took much longer to clear the dungeon than normal, it felt good to see the levels rise.

*Class: Elemental Blade Slinger has levelled up by +3 levels. [Advanced] Elemental Blade Slinger has reached Level 75. +9 Str, +6 Dex, +9 End, +9 Vit, +12 Soul gained*

*Race: Human has levelled up by +1 levels. Human (E) has reached Level 63. +16 Ap gained*

*New Class Skill Available: Please choose from one of the following options:*

Just like he had been hoping for the number 25 was the important one in the E grade, and although he had just gotten the chance to pick up a skill in his class, choosing the Elemental Shift ability, having another on now would not harm him, if anything, it would help him to build up his ability.

*[Advanced] Mirrored Elemental Blade – Using one of the elements to create a mirror image of a blade you hold, forming a copy of it made completely from one of your bonded elements. The blade will be independent from its physical copy, capable to attacking and defending using your mind as the controlling factor. The number of blades able to be formed is dependent on skill level, for each 10 levels one extra blade can be created.*

He had been given the choice to pick this one last time, and although he had been tempted he had wanted other skills more, even now he hoped he would get another chance to pick up a different skill that he missed out on last time, just not this one.

*[Advanced] Elemental Field – The skill allows you to fully transform the area around you to temporarily terraform the surrounding area to an element of your choosing. Using the element in this field will exponentially increase the power of that element when used.*

This was a new choice, one that he could see the benefit of, but right now wouldn’t really do much. If he got to a point where he needed the boost in his elemental power he would take it, but right now it would be all but pointless.

*[Advanced] Elemental Summons – Through locking off a portion of your mana you can summon a creature to fight by your side, formed completely of one of your bonded elements. The overall strength of the summon creature is dependent on the amount of mana locked down on the initial summons. The amount of creatures able to be summoned is dependent on skill level, for each 10 levels 1 extra creature can be summoned.*

This was the one he had been hoping for. He had been very tempted last time, but the ability to shift one’s body into an element couldn’t be turned down, and he didn’t regret his decision. But now he made no hesitation in picking it.

*Skill Gained*: [Advanced] Elemental Summons (Level 1)

The moment he got the skill he could feel the knowledge of how to use it appear in his mind. The moment it did he locked down 1000 mana and summoned his first creature. What appeared was even better than what he had been expecting, standing at his hip was a hound bathed in flames, if he had to fight this creature even he would be hesitant.

What came as a shock was that he felt a connection to it, like there was a link in his mind to its. He knew that all he had to do was ask it to do something and it would. Similarly, he felt that the creature, which he somehow knew to be called a Flame Hound, would do anything to protect him. Before he tested out its strength he gave it a pat on the head, stroking down its neck. The hound pushed its head into him like the attention and affection that Shaun gave was not only appreciated but that it enjoyed it. Let’s go fight some monsters, together!

Shaun let the hound fight, only really interfering when it was getting overwhelmed. It was a strong creature, more so than he would have assumed for only a 1000 mana put into it, but it was fast and could tear through the monsters one on one with enough time. When it got hurt Shaun felt the mana drain away from it. The more damage it sustained the more the mana was reduced. Before there was a chance for it to die Shaun decided to finish the fight. He didn’t want to see it get be killed by a monster, even though it was more than happy to fight till the end, but instead he gave it another pat and with a smile dissipated the skill, the hound disappearing with a howl.

He had gained a number of levels in the skill just from the one fight, he applied his AP and looked over his status sheet before leaving the dungeon, he was getting stronger, his skills starting to really balance out.

Status:

Name: Shaun Clermont

Race Human (E)

Level: 63

Class: [Advanced] Elemental Blade Slinger - Level 75

Profession: [Advanced] Elemental Creator - Level 52

Health Points: 8156/9250

Stamina:3985/6450

Mana:19265/25560

Stats: (Available Points: 0)

Strength: 700

Dexterity: 843

Endurance: 645

Vitality: 925

Intelligence: 622

Perception: 554

Willpower: 477

Soul: 2556

Affinity:

Basic: Earth, Fire, Nature, Air, Water

Advanced: Lightning, Ice, Magma

Titles: New Initiate, Apex Predator, Planetary Forerunner, Elementalist, Expert Solo Dungeoneer

Heritage: Azreal's Legacy (Hidden)

Skills: Class:

[Advanced] Blade Mastery (Level 46), [Advanced] Earthen Echo (Level 48), [Advanced] Enhanced Mind (Level 53), [Advanced] Elemental Strike (Level 39), [Advanced] Stone Skin (Level 27), [Advanced] Elemental Shift (Level 11), [Advanced] Elemental Summons (Level 4)

Profession: [Advanced] Elemental Fusion (Level 51), [Advanced] Creators Control (Level 43), [Advanced] Element Coercion (Level 39), [Advanced] Meditation (Level 50), [Advanced] Mana Sight (Level 49), [Advanced] Runic Scribe (Level 41), [Advanced] Elemental Storage (Level 6)