Day 36.3

When I walked out of my room, I only found a rather deserted common room. I meandered into the back, devouring a few scraps of food that I found, and then proceeded outside. Strangely, the sky was filled with weird balls of lights and bolts of lightning, dancing and intertwining peacefully amongst each other.

-Leave for a minute and everything becomes crazy.

Ignoring the strange lights in the sky, I enjoyed the feeling of sun after that strange white room with the three sisters and began stretching. After thinking about it for a small amount of time, I decided that trying to figure out who they were was pointless, and I began to focus more heavily on preparing to train.

Instead of my usual start, I began today by hopping awkwardly to the side and landing on one leg.

My landing was perfect; my leg didn't tremble at all. I stayed there for a short while, remaining perfectly still.

-I understand that you want to see what balance does, but don't you think we could have done this before you leveled up...?

Sighing, I settled back on my feet. No more messing around, I suppose. I would figure it out when I needed to. Besides, the burning energy inside me was driving me to do SOMETHING. I couldn't stay still for much longer.

Although it wasn't ideal for both of my trainers to have wandered off, I didn't really need them for certain things. Almost unconsciously, I settled into one of the training kata for Thunder Stance. The first time through it was extremely slowly, more of a continued stretching exercise than anything else. The movements also had the added benefit of determining if there were any torn or injured muscles or ligaments. The strain was enough to bring any weaknesses to the surface.

Although the pain of the discovery would be quite intense.

-Likely not so intense that it would really phase us, but still, it's the thought that counts.

-Honestly, with how slowly we are going, our regeneration would probably heal the wound by the time we could discover it...

-But practice makes perfect.

The second round was faster, around half speed, and in Ashni's words, was supposed to determine "how much of an idiot" I was today. My attention turned inward, carefully monitoring the way force transferred through my muscles and joints. With my feet calmly planted, my half speed strikes flicked outward, injuring naught but air.

But the slower speed here gave me a chance to think about Ashni's form, when she should me her Thunder Stance. Much as I was confident that I could take her in a direct confrontation, her technique was leagues above mine. Specifically, I focused on her ankles, hips, and shoulders, the way they rolled in such a mundane manner, yet still seemed to amplify the force of her attacks.

Visualizing the ideal movements as best I could, I proceeded to the 3rd time through the training kata, which was about 80% speed. My blows flashed outward. My body shifted as I twisted, converting all of the momentum of my body into a forward thrust.

There was a slight resistance, and I knew that the technique was close to creating a sonic boom, but I wasn't able to cause it at this speed. Gritting my teeth, I wished that every action of mine wasn't followed by Ashni telling me how insufficient I was.

-Well the point is to accomplish the sonic boom through technique, not through a powerful body.

-But still-

Fury +1

I blinked at the notification. So even those sorts of things will cause my fury to increase...?

Eventually deciding to ignore it, I prepared for my 4th time through, which would be full speed. But a red faced Whipman's arrival cut me short.

"Oh, good, I was just looking for you," I said, grinning. "I really want to put some extra effort into training today-"

"Training?!? Today?" Whipman's eyes were wide and extremely round, making his face look even more scrunched than usual. "We have to defend the path tonight! No reason to tire yourself out needlessly and give the challengers an easy job."

I scratched the back of my neck. "Yea, well, there just isn't anyone here that has seemed interesting to fight. I haven't seen Jester, or even Jinka, since getting to this floor. And everyone else just seems... bumbling. My tension isn't here at all. So I'm expending my energy by training. I've been picturing Ashni's form for Thunder Stance-"

"Picturing.... Ashni's form....?" Whipman's eyes narrowed to slits. For a few seconds I was worried that he was experiencing a heart attack, but then I realized that he was attempting to glare at me.

-His face is so pruny...

I gave him a flat look. Why was he...?

Ashni strolled up towards us, causing Whipman's eyes to flash back open and bulge out even further. I looked from one to the other. Ashni simply kept her gaze on the horizon, while Whipman continued to redirect blood flow from his brain to his face, so he appeared more and more like an extremely old strawberry.

Not that I really was that interested, but Jen arrived just as I opened my mouth to ask what was going on. She climbed over a nearby wall and then oozed down towards us, a tentacle holding onto her hat.

"Oh! Good, you are all here. Ready to visit Predator's path?" 

Whipman nodded frantically, but I frowned. "What about Jana?"

"Ah..." Jen looked at me, then wiggled strangely, making a ambiguous gesture with her tentacle. "She... quit. So."

Looking over at the other two, I noticed how Whipman wouldn't look at me, and for the first time ever, I believed I could see a glimmer of fear in Ashni's eyes.

-So whoever had our body did something to Jana...?

Shrugging, I put it out of my mind. In the grand scheme of things, losing Jana wasn't that important of an issue anyway.

*****

It turned out getting to my path was surprisingly simple. Go to the building next to the arena, proceed to the teleporter area, show my token proving I was a path boss, and then we stepped on a platform that would send us there.

As the energy gathered to teleport us away, I considered my path. The marshes, the mouth of the large river that spread throughout the entire area, the straight road that wound its way towards the centre, the light forest that covered most of the eastern portion. My castle-

-Which was significantly damaged when repelling the burning kid....

The moat....

Then, I shivered, remembering that reptilian woman.

-Yes, and the Heart Murmer Shrooms, and whatever those vine things are. Our path is practically a vacation destination.

A bright light signaled the teleport, and the group of us abruptly appeared in the center of a muddy road. It all seemed pretty much the same, if a bit more wetlands-y. Small pools of fetid water sat along the edges of the road.

Jen was already moving forward, heading towards the castle. Ashni looked around, frowning slightly. Honestly, I didn't blame her. My path wasn't exactly too impressive...

-But wait until she sees all the undead. Perhaps that will change her mind?

-Kukuku, I didn't rise to be the top of the pyramid on the first floor for nothing.

As we approached, the mud got increasingly bad, and also a faint clanging was could be heard from the castle. Grunting at the extra effort, my legs surged forward as I used an Air Stance step to sprint across the muddy road that was swiftly becoming an extended, meandering bog.

The landscape blurred as I shot forward, my brief moments of touching the ground splashing muck everywhere. The clanging continued to grow louder, and I could now make out a strange warbling. I increased my pace. A huge leap carried me across the moat, and onto the outer wall, which wasn't even guarded.

-Still, has the moat always been this wide...?

I looked down at the source of the clanging.

The first thing I noticed was that a huge chunk of the western wall was missing. In that spot, the hulking, 25 m tall form of Yellow Bones was sitting, his feet kicking idly in the water. He held a huge board of wood and metal that I believed had once been the drawbridge, and was... slamming the body of an metal creature against it. Judging by the lack of screaming or resistance, whatever it was had died.

The center of the courtyard was taken up by a long table covered in food. My mouth began to water, but as I watched, strange vines that seemed to originate from beneath the table flickered upward, serving food onto the waiting plates of... a strange, squat fish creature with arms and legs. There were a couple dozen of these red, orange, and yellow, fish things, and they seemed to be the guests of honor.

An extremely fat fish creature sat in MY chair, his fat rolls jiggling as he laughed.

The entertainment was about a hundred skeletons forming a giant pyramid. Off to the side, I saw one of the most fearsome creatures I could imagine, the vineling combined with the bear skeleton to form a strange spider approximation, juggling 24 balls with its 8 arms.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Fury +1

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Fury +1

Fury +1

I furrowed my brows. Although it was a poor use...

Expending 3 Essence, I used Lesser Ice Affinity. The wall beneath me was instantly encased in several inches of ice. The chill spread even farther, the skeletons somehow sensing the cold. Most amusingly, the frost spread out to underneath the skeleton pyramid. They trembled for a moment, then  tumbled down. I spared a glance for the notification that popped up.

Congratulations! Due to your actions, your skill has changed to “Lesser Ice Affinity Lvl 5”. Mana costs greatly decreased. Created ice is more resistent to melting. Control over ice touching the user's body greatly increased.

The I spoke. 

"What," My voice echoed out as the strange fish things stopped warbling, and Yellow Bones stopped banging. "Is going on here?"

*****

I rubbed my forehead, trying my best not to kill Jerry, who stood at attention in front of me.

"So you are telling me," I said, wishing that this was all a great joke. "You basically dominated the path, until about 6 days ago, when you realized there were 100s of Murlocs living in the moat."

Jerry nodded.

"Then, deciding they were vermin, you initiated...."

"A crusade, A holy war. To protect your honor." Jerry supplied, looking pleased with himself.

Nodding slowly, I did my best to remain calm.

Fury +1

"In the name of your crusade, you lead most of the forces into the waters below, to fight against the Murlocs."

Again, he nodded. "Yes. I was right that the fact that skeletons didn't have to breath would prove useful, and not one of them could match Yellow Bones in single combat. But dirty tactics and tricks-"

"Most of the forces were decimated, and you were forced into a full retreat." My face was grim.

Even now, he continued to nod, not feeling even slightly self-conscious. "Yes, and we feared that they would follow us out in spite of their own heavy losses, invading the castle, and at that time-"

This was the part I was dreading. My jaw locked for several seconds.

Fury +1

Fury +1

Fury +1

Finally, I was able to pry it open, trying my best to ignore the rising redness to my vision. "Yesterday, Just as the Murloc warparty left the moat, Tim arrived. He then brokered a peace treaty within hours, assassinated the old Murloc chief who was against it, and negotiated with the Murloc for exclusive trading rights to the Murloc's primary export.... seashells. After which, he left, again."

Jerry nodded. I sighed, seemingly all the tension in my body leaving me. I was currently standing with Jerry in the ruins of the old keep, and I could hear merriment had resumed outside. Murlocs and skeletons were ice skating arm-in-arm. I reached out and patted Yellow Bones, who was crouching nearby, doing his best not to break anything.

His glowing red eyes remained locked on me, but I could feel him purring with pleasure.

"Ah, I recently recalculated our numbers, here is our current total forces, including the Murlocs."

I took the paper that Jerry offered me.

Staff Sergeant TimStaff Sergeant DrudgeLvl 24TurnipArcher of the Blood OwlLvl 17Yellow BonesAncient Skeleton DrudgeLvl 17Vineling MonstrosityLvl 15TicklesBlighted GhoulLvl 14Skeleton BearLvl 14Gerard KiefhartReanimated AntphoLvl 14HaeughMurloc ChieftainLvl 13Skeleton Bear(x5)Lvl 12Skeleton Archer(x13)Lvl 12Shroom Bearer (x2)Lvl 11Skeleton Archer(x52)Lvl 11Skeleton Archer (x29)Lvl 10Murloc Hunter (x61)Lvl 6Murloc Slinger(x20)Lvl 4Murloc Villager (x428)Lvl 1Total Combat Minions: 180

My eyelid twitched.

"You'll notice," Jerry said, "That I didn't include the Murloc villagers in the final count for minions. They mostly stay below in the moat anyways. Also, Murlocs themselves are rather weak, but they rely on working as a unit  to..."

Jerry continued to speak, but I tuned him out.

All I could think was that Tim was Lvl 24. 3 levels above me.

*****

The group of us, myself, Jerry, Ashni, Jen, Whipman, and the looming presence of Yellow Bones, sat around, staring at a terminal Jen had produced from somewhere with her gelatinous body. They were announcing that the next round of challenging a path was about to begin, against the path before us. Strangely, they also said that they would be introducing her.

A woman-

-Well, a female,

Stepped forward with her arms folded. Her hair was copper, and her eyes were yellow and possessed slit pupils, like a viper's. Slung across her back was a huge bow, that seemed to be as tall as she was. Her ears were sharp and pointed, and she seemed to be quite unimpressed by the extra screen time.

But it wasn't any of the details of her appearance that stilled me.

Congratulations! You have encountered the fourth step on your path to becoming a dragon. Slay that monster, devour her heart, and know true strength. As this is 4th step, a successful completion will result in you gaining a skill based on your untapped potential.

My mind was working very rapidly, considering my options. Could I switch out and challenge her path? Was there a way to teleport-

"Ahem." Someone announced themselves at the door. We all looked.

Looking strangely thin and tired, Kettle stood, her eyes locking onto mine. She seemed to be searching for something, and I was slightly uncomfortable about what she would find. Not knowing what else to do, I stood.

It abruptly brought to my attention how much the extra height and muscle mass from the Evolutionary Leap had changed me. I towered over Kettle, but she didn't appear to notice, she just scanned my face.

Finally, I spoke. "If you are here... you understand my dilemma."

Kettle chuckled, seemingly in spite of herself. "Well, based on your propensity for throwing yourself in bad situations, I did have a hunch..."

Reaching behind her into her bag, Kettle pulled out an object that slowly unfurled: a flag. 

"It would likely interest you to know that your challenge limit of one per year is on a floor by floor basis." Kettle paused, tilting her head at me, a strange light in her eyes. "Now we just need to talk price. Make me an offer, Predator."

I grinned, my smile widening into the leer of a wolf.

***Author's Note***

I think this chapter is short? But it's so hard to tell sometimes... Either way, I'm busy with a real life, career related thing, and will be for the rest of August. I will try to get a few chapters out, but I don't know how well it will work out. I have no spare time =(.

I remember my call for proofreaders, and unfortunately that has gotten lost in the hustle. I'll revisit it when I am finally free~.

I should be able to finish Day 36 Monday or Tuesday, at least getting that over with before I really go radio silent. 

Thanks for sticking with me guys!