Two days had passed since he had the dual successes of Instant Strike and Touch Heal. Their addition had been sufficient for him to be offered a chance to compete for the Divine’s Champions Trial. Since then, he had spent a significant amount of time in what he was calling his contender room. It was superior to the pseudo-system room alternative, but only in the sense that the limitation of the time dilation did not apply. All the other features of the pseudo-system were available, including the monitors, but there were no extras.
He had hoped that it would give him access to browsing the experience shop and auction house. Basically, he wanted what he was due to receive at age ten; but, unfortunately, that was not to be. He was still locked out from his status; however, having the time dilation penalty removed was significant. With audio and screens moving in real time, he could do his thinking in here without penalty, while his body did the mundane boring things like walking from spot to spot or sitting at the reading lessons.
Not for the first time, he glanced over at the new message that came with the room.
Contender Challenge Starts in:
21 days, 12 hours, 16 minutes and 51 seconds.
Despite him having searched for it, he found no other data about what the contender challenge actually was, either here or in the isolation rooms. He hadn’t had an opportunity to interact with Corrine, who was the one person he knew had the answers to his questions. While roping in Dimitri to get the answers for him was an option, he had abandoned the idea as stupid. Tom was sure that the caretaker could track down the truth, but getting him to do so would be problematic. One, because abusing the fame he had from his past life felt wrong; two, because he didn’t want to misuse the emergency signal protocol that they had set up. All Dimitri would be doing would be satisfying his curiosity, and it was unlikely he’d be able to divulge anything helpful. After all, not only was it possible - it was also likely that the GODs didn’t want him to know any more than what was displayed. If that was the case, he might end up sitting in front of Dimitri, unable to speak. He has had a first-hand experience with how powerful Geas could be. That risk of his reaching out failing utterly meant that trying to use an emergency session was not sensible.
All contact with adults beyond the normal potentially marked him as reincarnator and was worth avoiding, unless it was absolutely necessary.
That meant all he knew about the coming challenge was that it was going to start at around five a.m. in the morning. At that point, something, he didn’t know what, would occur. He could be dragged into a trial physically, or it might be a virtual outcome. Tom was uncertain about how it would go, which, in turn, meant he would need to be in an isolation room when the time came around.
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So that’s what he would do.
Luckily, unlike with the others, the illusion magic that impacted everyone else using the corridors at night didn’t affect him.
He left the contender room and continued almost jogging toward the dining room where he was going to meet the others.
“Well, if that isn’t my little troublemaker.” A very familiar voice yelled from behind and made him almost jump in surprise.
“What? What’s happening?” Tom spun around, and saw Maurice striding toward him.
She had a smile on her face. “I have a bone to pick with you.” She said happily, her tone not matching the more sobering contents of the sentence. Unable to prevent it his mind flashed to the history between them - the trait stone that she had inexplicably gifted him.
It was the only reason he had got this invitation to try out for the Divine Champion’s trial, but it had been at the expense of Boreas, her son. He hoped the adventurer was not regretting that decision.
She smirked, and he could see the crow lines on her eyes. She was someone who smiled and laughed a lot. “You’re so adorable. You look like you’re about to burst into tears.”
“What did I do?” he asked and, while he couldn’t bring himself to regret using the trait stone, he prayed he hadn’t created an enemy by accepting it. Having an adventurer as powerful as Maurice having a grudge against him would be problematic. Even having allies such as Dimitri and Everlyn on his side wouldn’t negate the problems someone like that could create for him.
“It’s okay, dearie. No need to panic,” she said hurriedly. “You’re my little troublemaker because Eden of the Green got word of the stone. She was extremely irate when I told her that not only did I no longer have it, but witnessed it being absorbed. For an instant, I thought that crazy bitch was going to kill me.”
“Eden?” Tom asked dumbly, knowing full well why Eden had been looking for such a trait stone. “Eden… as in the…”
“Yes, yes. That Eden. Don’t look so wide eyed and amazed. She’s not actually that impressive. Take away the heroes of humanity bit and that spat she had with the wador, and she hasn’t done much more than me or any of the other top elites.”
Tom clutched onto the unspoken context eager to change the subject. “You’re very powerful, aren’t you?”
She scowled slightly. “Very? I’ll have you know I’m much more than just very - I’m extremely powerful, incredibly so. Officially, I’m only a twenty-third on the ladder, but I haven’t had anywhere near the number of lucky encounters as the rest of them. Combat-wise, I’m top ten for sure.”
“That’s...”
“She still told me off. Can you believe it? The nerve of it. I’m my own woman, I can do what I want.”
Despite what she was saying, she sounded very defensive.
“You’re not in trouble, are you?”
“No, dearie, I’ll be fine. Eden’s more bark than bite. Anyway, I have a wayward son to do some training with.” With a wave of her hand, she quickly marched away while Tom stood there, watching.
Part of him wondered if he should tell Dimitri to pull off the search, but then again, given his aims, he would have been silly to pass on the opportunity to gain another trait. No, he would let it continue because who knew what Everlyn might find for him with her riches and connections? Her giving some of that to him now when he could leverage it into something even more substantial was probably going to be the best use of her funds.