B’esloor and Kauran wanted more time to talk to me about the Trial, but I wanted another Level, so I left them and spent almost a day fighting Monsters more deadly than the one I had to face in the Trial. Imagine if we just held the whole competition on Earth… there are more than enough opportunities to fight high Level Monsters. Everyone would win, except I guess the other worlds that are benefiting from being part of the KCT.
Mana levels on Earth are still absurdly high after the last Influx and at the top end there are a lot of threats to humanity. Enough that I managed to get what I was looking for.
Level Up!
You have reached Level 29 as a Human Sentinel
+4 Aura, +4 Mana
+65 free Attribute points to assign
You have 65 free Attribute points to assign
Would you like to allocate them now?
(Y/N)
You have 2 unallocated Class Skill points
Would you like to allocate them now?
(Y/N)
I drop all the Attributes in Constitution and consider for a while between putting the Class Skill points in Sentinel’s Fury or Echoes of Einherjar. I have these two points and two more when I reach Level 30. So, split them to end up with six and three points? Put all of them in Echoes to bring it up to five points? Put all of them in Fury to bring it up to eight points?
Only a few days ago I would have gone all in on Echoes of Einherjar to advance it far enough that I could pump out an army of spectral warriors when I’m fighting large groups of enemies. Now though, after what I did with the Qillathe Syndicate, I’m rethinking. If I can perfect the technique of using Omnipresent to open up hundreds or thousands of Edges, then trigger Sentinel’s Fury through them, a more powerful Sentinel’s Fury is the better choice. Maybe this new kind of Evolution I’ve gone through has opened up unusual pathways for me to follow.
In the end the key factor that makes my mind up is the role I’ve taken on for Earth. There are other Adventurers and groups like Strike Forces or even platoons that can take on big swarms on Earth. It’s possible, but rare that a swarm gives a population of humans a massive issue. Where I’m really needed is for stopping power. Eight points in Sentinel’s Fury gives me the best chance of taking out the really big threats irrespective of my ability to blend it with my Affinity, so I drop my two free Class Skill points into it. Anything else is just a bonus. I can feel the potency of Sentinels Fury has risen substantially even from increasing it from four to six points.
There’s no real chance I’ll have enough time to get my last Level before the third Trial, so instead I grab what rest I can back in Queenstown, in my out of the way favorite place up on the hill. The scenery still fills up my soul and even though technically I might be trespassing since Tenebris owns all of this now, I don’t think anyone will mind. It ends up being a couple hours before I’m teleported back to B’esloor and Kauran with a notification.
Welcome to the Koldaavi Combat Trials - Round 3!
Competitor baselining complete.
Trial baselining complete.
A total of 18 competitors across the Universe are engaged in this Trial.
You are about to be transported to your Trial briefing location.
Your Trial liaison has been notified.
All competitors now have 10000 Universal Time Units (UTUs) to prepare.
Best of luck, High Enforcer Cadimus.
Another four competitors knocked out. It occurs to me that I probably could have checked on the other contestants in between the Trials, but what would be the point?
B’esloor is very keen to get my attention as soon as I appear and the words start spilling out of his mouth.
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“Bronwic, there are technically no limits on difficulty for the third Trial. Your individual combat Trial is meant to be a challenge, and four of the Trialists didn’t complete it on time. However, compared to your upcoming Trial that one was more of an appetizer. In the upcoming Trial, you may be battling for days or even weeks before you complete it. Betting and viewership tends to ramp up over the first few days as it becomes clear what situation each of the Trialists is in, and it’s not unheard of for the Trialists to be thrown additional challenges. Sometimes these are legitimately unknown things that emerge, but mostly they are carried forward from the first Trial you participated in, when you removed the Qillathe Syndicate from Orvorax.”
“What does that mean for me?”
“In theory, you won’t have to overcome any additional challenges because of your performance in the Trial. But we can’t guarantee it,” answers Kauran.
A notification appears in the corner of my vision and I open it out of curiosity because I’m not doing anything right now that’s notifications worthy.
Best of luck in your upcoming KCT round!
The Igenis Royal Family wishes you great success in this next round of the KCT.
We follow our progress and humanity’s progress with interest and friendship.
Bend your knee to no one, Sentinel.
L’oolxiva Mag-jiit Novabrood
“Is it usual to get notifications wishing me well before this KCT round?” I ask them.
“Highly unusual now that the round has started,” says Kauran. “Someone has spent a lot of Credits to get that message to you. Perhaps they wish to ally with you or win your favor. If you do well in this Trial you can expect a lot more offers to come your way for alliances with you and humanity. If you win it, you can expect an avalanche of them.”
“Not something I need to worry about right now. Anything else I need to know?” I ask, looking back and forth between them.
“Pay particular attention to the conditions of your Trial. History has shown us some of them are unusual and some of them are ambiguous, but they always contain all the information you need to complete the Trial,” says Kauran.
I nod and wait for him to go on. Instead the large eye in the middle of his floating grey body stares at me unblinking along with all the other, smaller eyes at the end of flexible stalks. I glance at B’esloor and he’s similarly waiting for something. But what?
“Why are the two of you staring at me? It’s uncomfortable.”
“Aren’t you going to say anything about the last Trial?” asks B’esloor. He’s practically bursting with energy or expectation.
I look at them, unsure of what to say. Perhaps from their perspective smashing a Level 300 Monster in a few seconds is noteworthy. For me, it’s just a question of survival every day or every week. If I can’t put down something that strong then Settlements are destroyed and tens of thousands of people are killed.
I’m saved from having to respond by a notification.
Welcome to the Koldaavi Combat Trials - Round 3!
Prepare for transport to your Trial location.
Your task is to defeat Sath’Threkrra, the Mindshredder Hive Queen
Success criteria:
* Sath’Threkrra must be slain
* The Hive must be exterminated
* Future Hive regeneration potential must be below 1%
There is no specified time limit on the third Trial.
Based on current standings, from the time the first competitor completes their Trial, all remaining competitors will have a maximum of 2 million UTUs to complete their Trial.
Best of luck, High Enforcer Cadimus.
My Affinity feels the teleportation form the instant it starts and I let it happen without interference other than to send a tendril of my Perception through to make sure I’m not going to be ambushed, Foresight is silent and so is my Danger Sense. I emerge at the top of a cliff surrounded by a purple sky and three looming moons. The gravity is at least twice as strong as Earth and the air is mildly toxic, but nothing compared to other areas I’ve spent time in.
In the distance a towering city of ruddy brown and red spires and high walls is already surrounded by a seething mass of creatures that carpet the ground and swarm up, finding purchase wherever they can. Two almost identical, massive cities are positioned close by and are in the same situation. On the top of the walls of each city, laser turrets and weapons clear swathes of attackers, but there are always more. I zoom in further and see that the defenders are four-armed humanoids with plated obsidian skin and glowing veins of bioluminescent liquid. I seem to be on some kind of a streak encountering this particular attribute in alien species. I can only assume these creatures, who my SMI identifies as Klyvarr, are the ones who have paid for their planet to be part of the KCT.
As I look around, my target for this Trial is clear. Down in the distance at a Dungeon set within a deep chasm that has serious trouble written all over it. The Dungeon is clearly overflowing, with drone insects the size of a pony pouring out of the opening at a rate of several per second. I zoom in with my Perception to inspect them and see they’re mostly a cookie cutter of each other.
Ten legs, hard black and dark grey patterned carapace, vicious looking mouths with the teeth of a shark and the eyes of a fly. The front two legs have blades that extend out like swords and they skitter around with extraordinarily high Agility and Strength. Skills and spell-like effects fire out from the creatures, called Vortheks, in what looks like an overwhelming flood. Each one looks to only be able to fire something out every few seconds, but there are so many of them that it turns into a constant barrage of attacks that’s hard to turn back.
I’ve seen enough.
Determined to end this as quickly as I can for the Klyvarr and humanity, I trigger Omnipresent and watch as hundreds of thousands of dots bloom in my mind’s eye, with one so much brighter than the rest and colored red. I use a Portal to see what I’m about to deal with and it’s clear immediately I’m in deep shit.