A new screen appeared in front of Seth’s eyes.
-Matches are now open. Sign up at the nearest terminal to choose your parameters.
He calmly read the newest announcement, passively noticing a large number of participants move to the rows of consoles sitting nearby. Their action truly showed just how elite the members of The Incubator were. After less than a minute of reading through the rules, most had already assessed the situation and realized that the best course of action was to rack up points as quickly as possible. Within moments, the large room had become almost empty. Only a handful of participants had stayed behind, including Seth. Even Drake’s trio had dived headfirst into a challenge, although, they had been nice enough to ask him if he wanted to join up before they left. He had politely declined, saying that he had something he wanted to check out first, which was true.
Without sparing a glance at the others that stayed back, Seth moved over to a console in the corner of the room. He sat down and cracked his knuckles in preparation. Before even thinking about rushing into a match, Seth decided to first check out the consoles themselves.
Booting up the terminal, Seth found a few different options to choose from. His mouth subconsciously turned up as he found a particularly interesting tab labeled: Surveillance. Investigating further, Seth found that the tab allowed him to view any and all current matches, as well as any matches that already happened, although that part was empty as no one had completed any yet.
I can seriously watch anyone’s match?! This might actually be the best part of the whole challenge!
It might not seem like that big a deal, but being able to watch matches of other participants was an invaluable boon to Seth. As someone who has no distinct fighting style, almost no experience fighting people, and an overall lacking accumulation of knowledge about shaping, the opportunity to learn is what he needed most. With this new resource, Seth could finally shore up his biggest weakness. Watching matches and continuing to research his index would allow him to rapidly catch up and gain strength. Power isn’t only up to physical capabilities after all.
Seth put the match feeds off to the side for now, as he still needed to look at the rest of the information the console held. He quickly flew through the rest of the programs, finding a few more points of interest. The match signup program was pretty straightforward, just choose how many people would participate, then hit enter. There was one last resource on the console that had caught his eye as well.
It was a map file that showed a whole network of places that were apparently inside the sealed space of the challenge. There were rooms for participants, places to eat, training facilities, and other places too. Seth honestly became a bit sad, knowing that it would only last a month until he was back in the wild.
Even though only a few minutes had passed during his exploration of the terminal, a low buzz swept through the room as one of the main screens on the ceiling changed. It was the ladder he had seen a little while ago. Despite only having started the match five minutes ago, it seemed like the first person had finished. The number one spot glowed red as a new name finally settled into the vacant ladder. Seth’s brow furrowed as he read the first finisher’s name: Ruler of the Inferno, Remus.
Christ man, I don’t think I have ever cringed so hard in my life.
Seth’s discomfort was apparently not the appropriate reaction, as he looked across the room to find a few of the participants that stayed behind marveling at the ladder. Is it really that cool? He thought, totally lost. Even when he played video games back on Earth, Seth had never used such a pretentious handle. Usually it was a single word that he thought up on the spot, never a name and title like this guy.
Wondering who exactly the number one seat was, Seth pulled up the most recently completed match. A quiet gasp was released as the film revealed a large lion man covered in embers standing across from what looked like a large obsidian golem.
“That guy?! Are you kidding me right now?!” he yelped aloud.
It seemed like Remus was even stronger than Seth had originally thought, as finishing first was no joke. Although, a slight weight was taken off Seth’s shoulders as he watched Remus quickly take apart the monster. He was definitely strong, but this also meant that he was more than likely the limit of strength Seth had to overcome. After seeing Remus in action the first time, a part of him had been worried that people even stronger than him might be walking around in this event as well.
Even though the people in this challenge were only a sample of the entirety of the participants, it boded well that there was still a limit to their power. Though, Seth was not stupid enough to think Remus was the strongest out there. There could very easily be other outliers that could eclipse him.
Not anyone I want to meet. He confessed subconsciously.
He ran his hand through his blonde-black hair in an attempt to dismiss the thoughts and focus back onto the video. It was honestly getting kind of scary how easily he could disassociate these days. Perhaps it was just an aspect of raising his attributes, or maybe it was due to the sheer amount stressful new information that had been compiling since his introduction into the multiverse. Regardless of the cause, being able to focus without becoming overwhelmed was an invaluable skill for someone in Seth’s situation. He put this talent to full use as he analyzed every second of Remus’s match. Who better to learn the secrets of shaping from if not the best?
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Match after match was completed, and Seth watched them all.
Two whole days passed with Seth only absorbing the footage.
There was no end to the material he gained from the other participants. Most continued to go through match after match with only small breaks, while others created schedules that they adhered to, such as one match every three hours or so. It didn’t matter to Seth though; he was more interested in the range of paths every participant took in the matches.
After only half a day of watching, he had decided on watching twelve participants in particular. The other matches weren’t useless by any means, it’s just that he felt like his basic fighting style and abilities resonated more with some of the offensive type fighters that focused on lethality. There was value in watching other battles as well, but that would only be useful if he had to fight them specifically, which wasn’t the objective of the challenge.
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Hours passed while he mentally deconstructed the way he had been fighting up until this point. These videos showed people with more than technique, it showed people who were finding their path. Some had already seemed to have begun construction, while most looked to be strengthening their Foundation in order to begin building. Seth had put the cart before the horse it seems. Without paying any attention to his Foundation, he had just been throwing anything he could on top of it in order to gain some fraction of strength.
For now, he needed to find out exactly what he was lacking in his base, and from the sound of it, it seemed like Drake had given him a lead: Shaper Transcripts.
By the way he was talking about them, it seemed like they were an integral part of shaping as well as something he should have already gotten from the beginning. An image of the chained bastard flashed through Seth’s mind, laughing at his “little one” whom he never gave any help to. The familiar burn of anger simmered underneath his skin, further crystalizing his resolve.
He closed the match recordings and pulled up the store program that was also on the computer. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was looking for in a shaper transcript, but regardless, it seemed like he needed to get one. After figuring out how to filter the items, Seth began seriously looking through all the transcripts offered.
It seemed there were a total of thirty-seven sitting in the shop. Unfortunately, he didn’t know if this was uncommon, or even which ones of them were any good. Obviously they ranged in price, but there were also differences just based on what kind of transcripts they were. Affinities were labeled next to each, and it seemed like certain affinities pitched a higher price for some reason. For example, space, dimension, time, and divine affinities were significantly more expensive than the rest. This didn’t exactly bother Seth, as just glancing at them, they didn’t seem like a fit for his general ability and race type.
But is that even the right way to think about it?
Seth couldn’t help but second guess himself. Drake had mentioned something about a Foundation Path; that didn’t sit well with Seth. Was a Foundational Path something that fit his race and abilities? Questions such as this ran through his mind. With another sigh, he put the line of thoughts on hold. He could research the matter further at a later time. Right now, he wanted to get into match, as it had been too long since he had last fought. Also, in order to buy a shaper transcript in the first place, he needed contribution points.
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The second he selected a solo match on the terminal, reality glitched and Seth found himself standing in the center of the original coliseum. Dust swirled in the air around his feet as the twin suns in the sky beat down on his figure. Seth’s mind quickly adapted to the change in scenery, and he whirled around in place to find his enemy. Unfortunately, upon a full circle inspection, Seth couldn’t identify any clear danger besides a wet patch of sand halfway across the arena.
He gave the abnormality a large berth as he circled the arena. True Sight revealed a small glow of energy originating from the dark spot. He slowly crept closer to the patch, confused as the light grew smaller the closer he got. Before he even got there, a screen popped into existence right in front of him.
-Match complete. Result: Success. Jumping back to main hall in (5) seconds
The timer began to count down in front of Seth’s confused face. Despite not understanding how he won the match, Seth wasn’t so stupid as to not take advantage of the situation. Banishing the screen, Seth lunged toward the puddle while centering his energy into a malleable wisp. It only took him a moment to reach the wet sand where he instantly activated Plunder.
Before knowing if it worked, Seth found himself back at the entrance of the main hall. He quickly opened his cache and was pleased to find a few new items waiting for him. Deciding to check them later, Seth waved away his cache screen and made his way back over to the nearest console. He cast a quick glance to the ladder, a habit he had picked up over the last couple days. He didn’t miraculously find himself in the top placements, but he wanted to see if any large changes had been made. He soon turned his attention back to the console, as the big screen hadn’t deviated from the norm. The same six names sat at the top. Sometimes they would change, but no new name ever made its way into the six.
1. Ruler of the Inferno, Remus (15,650)
2. Princess Caladenia, The Radiance Court (15,020)
3. Galdir Ruminold, Believer in Love (14,720)
4. Eminence (12,260)
5. Path of the Endless (11,890)
6. Angus, The Radiance Court (9,970)
Seth had no idea who the rest of them were, but Remus seemed to hold a strong spot at the top. Every now and then, he would swap spots with the woman in second, but other than that, no one touched their ranks. Seth wasn’t very interested in that though. The top prize sounded beyond incredible, a “Supreme Fate Bound Reward” would likely change his entire life. Just like he had read in the index, a change of fate was exactly what he needed in order to get the power he wanted.
The only thing was, Seth was almost certain that it would be impossible to get.
If he calculated correctly, then in order to reach 500,000 challenge points, given that each match gives 500 on average upon completion, you would have to do around thirty-three every day in order to barely make it. Now that isn’t completely impossible, as it usually doesn’t take too long to win a match, but it would still be pretty hard. Not to mention, the matches were not as predictable as they would have liked. The random opponent could be a monster that is untouchable, or impervious to the participant. There was a limit to the difficulty of matches based off the number of participants, but that only applied to the tier of the monsters. On the upside, you could have matches that were stupidly easy too, just like the one Seth had.
After watching the replay, he found that his opponent had actually been some sort of liquid creature that instantly died due to the hot and dry atmosphere of the arena. He would’ve chuckled at the absurdity if he didn’t think about the odds of getting another freebie match.
I might’ve just used up all my luck for a measly 460 points.
This sobering thought was a bit of a buzzkill, but it wasn’t all that bad of news. Instead of focusing on the rewards of getting high points, Seth could use this opportunity solely for growth.
I might not be the strongest here, but I can damn well try to be.
Deciding on the next course of action, he pulled up the signup program and queued himself up for ten matches. Most would think he was an idiot for doing such a thing, as if he was injured in one of the matches, he wouldn’t be able to take a break between them.
Surrendering wasn’t really an option either, as there was an hour time limit to do so. This prevented a participant from being stuck in the case of an opponent being impossible to defeat for that specific person. Though, if you were injured, surviving for an hour whilst being attacked would still be damn near impossible.
Despite these drawbacks, he had a legitimate reason for doing consecutive matches. Constant battle wasn’t something new to Seth. His time in the experiment had taught him how to manage with pacing a drawn-out fight. It also gave him a rather odd quirk that had grown over his months alone. The continuous dance with death seemed to allow Seth to think more clearly. This quirk along with his new ideas gained from watching matches would allow him to hopefully begin building some sort of… something.
For a moment he thought about talking to Drake’s trio before he left, but he dismissed the idea as it arrived. He had originally thought they were weaker than him, but he had taken some time to watch their matches, and it was truly something to behold. They had impeccable teamwork, but their individual power was something even Seth couldn’t match. Their technique alone was a beautiful mix of fighting skills and abilities that flowed like water. Seth wanted to get there, and the only way to do so is to figure it out in battle. At least that’s what he concluded.
He softly bit his lip in determination before confirming his signup.