Successful Landing! observed Connor. At last some good news.

His thoughts were quickly interrupted by a loud thud as a greenish monster landed at his feet, followed by two quick metal-on-metal clashes. Uh, I am late? he wondered. Quickly, he drew his bow and shot an arrow at the prone goblin, piercing the monster's skull. "Xander, are you alright?" he asked aloud while retrieving his arrow, one foot on the poor beast's body.

The young swordsman was grinning like a madman, a flaming sword in his hand. "I am fine, Connor. Please join the fun, there are plenty enough for both of us!"

Connor looked around and saw that Xander was indeed being pursued by a dozen of goblins. He quickly nocked another arrow and shot it at the nearest goblin, piercing its eye. "Sure, thank you for leaving some for me!" he replied.

He got a quick look around. They were in some sort of arena. The room was almost circular, with a diameter of about fifty meters. The walls were made of stone, so white it was almost blinding. It contrasted heavily with the part of the arena that was in a shadow so dark it didn't allow him to see what could hide within. The floor was made of some grayish sand, dotted with ten five-meter-high pillars. There wasn't any ceiling he could make out, but things were so white above he couldn't decide if it was a ceiling or just a very bright, and strange, sky.

Sniping another goblin, he wondered if he should try to climb a pillar to get a smarter position. "How long have you been there?" he asked Xander.

His friend was having some fun with his new Ability. He was dancing around the goblins, his long sword swirling around like some fiery tornado. "I don't know, maybe two minutes?" he replied between two swings. "Keep an eye on the shadows, that's where they came from."

Goblins weren't much of a threat to either of them, individually. The major risk was goblin hordes, and they were still far from that. The green bastards were a heinous crossing between a mean dog and a small monkey. They were about one meter tall and wore some trapping that looked like a mix between a loincloth and a kilt. Some were armed with a small dagger or a cudgel. They usually were fast, agile, and cunning, but not very strong. They were also very cowardly and would flee at the first sign of trouble. Except when they were in a group, they would attack in a frenzy, trying to overwhelm their opponents with sheer numbers.

And right now, with his arrival, some were already backpedaling toward the shadowed part of the arena. They are trying to regroup, he thought. We should stop them before they can do that.

He cursed his luck about his Seal, as it didn't grant him ANY Offensive abilities. Or at least none that I can use right now, he lamented. He'd need some time in calm to tinker with something. I should have thought about that before leaving, he reproached himself, but time had been scarce. Moreover, he only had a dozen arrows ready, he couldn't waste time assembling them. I could probably go in the melee... he thought but quickly dismissed the idea. He was a decent fighter, but it would only work so long they kept their focus on his friend. I should try to get a better position, he thought.

"Think you can handle those alone?" he asked Xander. A "Sure!" emerged from the melee in reply. Connor stashed his bow and ran toward the nearest pillar. Its head would be at least a meter larger. Not enough to hide behind, but enough to get a better view of the arena, and thankfully far enough away from trouble to allow him to build something to help with this situation.

Climbing wasn't his favorite hobby, but he had a decent grasp of it. The stone was rough enough to allow him to get a good grip, and the occasional cracks were enough to help him up in a few seconds. Once sitting at the top, he took a quick look around. The arena was empty, except for the goblins and Xander. There were enough sitting places above for multiple thousand people, which awed the young man a bit. This place is huge, he thought.

His thought didn't linger there too long and redirected his attention below. The shadowed part of the arena remained a mystery and he didn't like that at all. I might have something to help with that, he thought. He secured his backpack to the pillar and rummaged through it. He found the small tinder box and took out a lighter. Then retrieved some scraps of cloth and a bit of oil that was normally reserved for his weapon's maintenance. He deftly wrapped the cloth on an arrow and soaked it with oil. Then he lit it up and shot it toward the shadowed part of the arena.

Once fired he wondered if that had had been his brightest idea. The arrow soared through the air and landed deep in the dark area. It was as if the arrow had disappeared into a bubble of pure darkness and nothing shone through. Something roared mightily from within. Well, that's not good, he thought, as he heard goblins screeching and a few more throaty roars joining. I think I just made things worse. Chains rattled, the ground shook and another chorus of roars echoed through the arena. I definitely made things worse, he thought.

"Shit's coming!" he shouted at his friend. Quickly he turned toward his backpack again. The thing was now heavily laden with a heap of junk he had gathered from his Seal Room Challenge. I'm pretty sure that will be useful, I just need to get it to work just like I want... They had prepared for a dozen scenarios, from day-long hikes, and puzzle games to this kind of arena fights. But they couldn't pack everything. They weren't rich enough to afford these magical bags with special features. Their Master had told them about some magical fortification that could be deployed almost anywhere, portable kitchen or even heavy artillery cannons, all of them enchanted so that they could fit in a hand. Wouldn't that have been nice to have?

He sighed and found the Igniter he had scrapped from the dump his previous Challenge had been. His Seal was called Scrap Artist. And it had all the most useful, valuable, and sought-after of Abilities. Like a Looting and an Analysis Ability. He was even an Ascender, now. Except... All these abilities were dedicated to scraps and scraps only. And these scraps, if he could interpret his Challenge correctly, were supposed to be used to build Artistry. He couldn't get over the creation he had had to pull up to validate his Challenge. He sighed, something that he had done a lot lately. Got to make do with what I have, he thought, a recent mantra.

Stolen story; please report.

He looked at the small piece of hardened clay he had in his hand. It was broken and didn't look like much. He could tell it was still potent enough through his Scrap Analysis. While this was fake-instinctual knowledge and would require him loads of time to get used to enough to extract the most important pieces of information, he could still get a few things out of it. Like the fact that this piece of clay had the requisite runes to ignite itself if correctly used. It also stored some mana. Not much, though, but it should be enough for what he had in mind.

While their Master hadn't been a proper Sapper, he had had to deal with various explosives during his life as a Pather, and to Connor's greatest thrill, had shared a few of his experiences. What he wanted to build was a shrapnel bomb. He had never seen one in action, of course, but he remembered the Master's description of the thing or at least its effect. It would shred anything that didn't have much armor and as such would be a good deterrent against a horde of nude goblins. What he needed though was a container he could throw far enough away, and loads of smaller pieces of metal.

Getting the Igniter to explode shouldn't be too much of a hassle, the timing though... he hoped he would get it right, all that thanks to his Purple Jade Scrap Animation. It still took him about a minute to get the thing done. With Scrap Composition, he fused several straps of leather into a pouch, inserted in the Igniter and poured bits of metal and nails in. Then he sealed the pouch and observed the situation.

Xander was still running around, sometimes disappearing from one place to appear ten meters away. His sword had been doused, though. There was something like thirty goblins pursuing his friend, screeching and shouting for his head, and probably half as many dead or dying on the ground. In the mass, he also saw three of their larger brethren, Hobgoblins. They were about two meters tall and were armed with a large club. They were also both armored and a lot more resilient than their smaller cousins and could take a few hits before going down. I hope this will be enough, he thought.

As he was about to throw, a white flash illuminated the arena, adding to the already bright walls it was almost blinding. The cracking sound of the space tearing resounded over the battle. Wow, another fellow Pather joined the fun? Connor was excited at the prospect, but he also reminded himself that he was still in a running Challenge and that not all Pather was... benevolent. I should be careful, he thought.

A young man stepped out of the tear and landed like a potato sack. Connor sneakered, At least he isn't that experienced. Still, his eyes were quickly drawn to their new "friend's" attire. A simple, dirty robe, a very unusual bag at his shoulder, and something that couldn't pass as a proper quarterstaff. "Where the hell does this guy come from?" he wondered aloud.

"Ayah," muttered the newcomer, massaging his head. "That was a rough landing." He seemed surprised to hear the clamor of Xander's battle nearby and quickly stood up. "What's going on here?" he asked, looking around, fear written on his face.

Shit, thought Connor, I don't care what his deal is right now, but I can't in good faith throw my bomb over him...

"HEY! YOU!" shouted Connor. The intruder looked up and found Connor sitting on his pillar. "Get away from the fight, behind a pillar, QUICKLY!"

Thankfully, the young bald monk, or whatever he was, obeyed without further questions. Sadly, Connor's contraption wasn't a proper projectile, which explained the difficulty he had at gauging his throw. "Xander!" he shouted again, "Try to hide in... three seconds!" While the pillars weren't numerous, the arena wasn't big enough for him to have trouble reaching one of the stone columns.

Quickly Connor reached for Scrap Animation. As a Purple Jade Ability, it wasn't the most straightforward thing to use. But, as he had learned in his Challenge, some things were quite instinctual. While overloading a rune wasn't its primary purpose, it could do it fairly easily, as he had learned to his detriment. The problem was the timing, and that he could only guess. He created some kind of conduit, that went from him to the Igniter and let his soul's energy flow at a moderate pace. Hopefully, it isn't going to blow right away, he thought.

"NOW!" he shouted, waited a second then threw the pouch as hard as he could. It flew in a straight trajectory above the horde. He could see Xander dashing toward the nearest pillar, and the horde tumbling around after his abrupt change of trajectory. That should be far enough now. He grabbed with his soul the line that connected him to the Igniter and pushed as hard as he could. He felt some instinctual disgust at the idea of overloading the rune, but he willed it aside, Now isn't time for 'Art'.

The blow echoed through the arena, pushing even against the pillars and lifting a huge cloud of sand. He felt some of the metallic shards reaching him, but they had lost most of their momentum by then and were at most a nuisance. Maaaaybe I've overdone it a bit? he wondered as he saw the cloud of sand slowly dissipating, and his hearing slowly coming back. I hope Xander is alright.

The battle cries had been replaced by moaning and yelping. Most goblins had been flattened by the deflagration, and those unfortunate enough to have been near his device were in a gradually worse state of dismemberment. I think I've got the timing right, he thought, satisfied. I should make a few more of these. Yet, the outer ring of goblins were just disoriented, not killed. The Hobgolins bore some injuries but were still alive and kicking. It should be manageable now, he thought. I hope.

He stood up atop his pillar and unfastened his bow. He only had a dozen or so more arrows on hand, the rest weren't yet assembled. "Should be enough," he muttered. He nocked an arrow and shot it at the nearest hobgoblin. He always had been a good shot, and the arrow pierced the monster's eye. One down, two to go.

By the time the third Hobgoblin had reached his pillar, the beast's head had been turned into a pincushion. Thankfully Xander's blade flashed white again, releasing a crescent that felled the damnable beast. Just as he landed next to his friend, a yelp drew both their attention and saw the young fool running away from a half-blinded and limping goblin.

"Who's that guy?" asked Xander. He seemed to be tired from his recent bout. Not that I blame him, thought Connor. He's been running around for a while now.

"How would I know?" replied Connor, grumbling. "He just appeared out of nowhere, and I had to throw my bomb over him." He drew his bow. He thankfully still had an arrow in stock. "You've always wanted to meet other Pather, right? Well, here's your chance." Xander always had been a charmer. Although, not the obnoxious kind. He was just a nice guy, and people tended to like him. Connor had always been a bit jealous of that. I wonder if he'll be able to make friends with that guy, he thought. I hope so, I don't want to babysit him.

On the far side of the arena, well within the lightened area, the first Door lit up. "And that's our first Challenge done!" he cheered. "Let's go get our reward!" He remembered the monk fleeing for his life and grumbled, "Duty first." He nocked and fired his arrow and then, without another glance toward the unfortunate young man, he started running toward the Door where a pedestal had appeared with a small chest on it. He barely heard the newcomer yelp when the goblin somehow fell on him, an arrow stuck to the back of its stinking head.