“Come on,” she nodded at a nearby heaped pile of wood and then went over to it. She wrinkled her nose at the messy-looking seat. No matter how they sat, it was not going to be very comfortable, and he suspected their bottoms were going to get wet. “This is not what I was hoping for when I selected ruins. I was hoping for some nice steps, or at the very least some comfortable sitting stones rather than this.”
She sat down anyway, then waved at him to sit beside her.
When he sat, he discovered the logs were far more comfortable than he had expected, with the lichen taking the hard edge off them.
Corrine didn’t immediately turn the screen on, but rather faced him with a serious look. “I know you probably have dreams of winning thousands of matches and getting some life-changing, incredible natural treasure, an item that I’m sure that your curated list has dangled in front of you. Mine’s a tier-nine inferno storm domain. Everyone’s got something.”
“Yes, I saw the list. I have a stretch goal as well, but right now I’m ready to wave the white flag. I’m never getting it.”
She exhaled sharply in relief. “Thank the goddess. Some people get irrational about it. While the discounts are good, I think they’ve probably been inserted by the other GODs as a trap. I’ve also abandoned mine. All the old hands tell pretty much the same story. You try to get whatever your item is - you end up dead. I’m glad you’ve seen the truth without needing an intervention.”
“And you’ve really given up on yours? Looking at your coins earned, I thought you would be almost there.”
Her face darkened. “That’s right. I saw that fucking meddling cunt Amkhael parading that list in front of you. He shouldn’t have done it. And, let me guess, you saw the number of coins earned and did the maths about how often they had to be winning without a GOD’s shield to reach that number. And now you probably fucking think you can do it. That meddling arsehole.”
“I calculated the percentage.” Tom admitted.
“Bloody cunts. They knew it was old data, so they shouldn’t have shown it. Tan Ru passed on a warning from the person before him and it’s also in the human-only notes in the archive. Long story cut short, the historical success rates of the past no longer apply. They did something to alter the brackets to counter humans.”
“And Tan Ru knew that exactly how?”
“A priest warned him. You shouldn’t try to duplicate what they did. It’s too dangerous.”
“But you are.” He accused her.
“I’m not. But I’ll give you full disclosure of what I’m doing later. For now, let’s look at this.” The screen in her hands was turned on. It was filled with a familiar list, with him right at the bottom. “I downloaded all the information on your bucket prior to starting this session. These are all DEUSs representatives, and, before we get into the detail, you need to realise that, on average, due to how we select the participants, our win ratio is only forty-five percent.”
Tom frowned at that. That didn’t seem like a huge discrepancy, but it was a noticeable one when theoretically it should have been a fifty-fifty.
“But it gets worse. If the SANATORES and INNECTIS didn’t send competitors, then the percentage would have dropped to thirty-nine percent. We’re fucking weak,” she waved the screen to illustrate her point. “And that’s what I’m comparing you against. So, even if you could beat fifty percent of your cohort, when you’ll be challenged against the other competitors, it will be lower.”
Tom nodded. “I get that. This is all pretty basic stuff.”
“Am I right when I say you’re close range lightning and spear? I’m not sure your healing matters that much.”
“Yes, and I’ve also got something to speed up my perception, illusion piercing, protection against mind attacks, and a weak instant finishing move.”
She nodded. “So does that mean I’m safe to say you’ve got no offensive abilities beyond five metres?”
“More like three.”
“So, before going through individual records, am I safe in assuming that you agree that anyone good at range will beat you?”
“Unless they’re overconfident and get too close.” To illustrate his point, he carefully zapped her shoulder.
She squealed and rubbed the spot hard, but didn’t retaliate. “What was that for?”
“Just to show I can be dangerous if you get too close.”
“Bullshit. You just wanted to zap me.”
Tom didn’t deny it.
“I guess I deserved that, but your premise is wrong. People here don’t taunt. All of our system fights are self-recorded afterwards, so I can get hard facts on that assumption later. But, for now, just know that you’re wrong. There’s only ever one or two active ones who play with their food like that.”
Tom wrinkled his nose. “No way. They can’t be that disciplined.”
She nodded seriously. “As a rule, I’m afraid that’s the case. You have to remember that everyone here’s exceptional.” She paused and poked her tongue out. “Exceptional excluding you, that is. People aren’t dumb enough to take chances. So, back to my original question. Can we just assume any ranged attackers will kill you?”
Tom wanted to argue, but the simple fact was that unless he could land Spark against his opponent, they would beat him. Reluctantly, he nodded in agreement, and precise instructions rolled over the interface.
Mark individuals who predominantly kill at a range of greater than four metres.
The list updated, and over half the people had a tick against them.
Corrine nudged him. “How does that make you feel? All of those fuckers are killing you instantly.”
It was an extensive list, but not one he could dispute.
“And I also assume you’ll die against anything immune to your lightning.”
“Not necessarily. My lightning has a sideways evolution that allows it to stun everything.”
“Even a stone elemental?” she asked in confusion.
“No, not that,” he admitted. “They have to be physically able to be stunned.”
“So, only people with flesh and blood?”
Once more, he found himself being forced to agree when he didn’t want to.
“So, if they’re biologically immune, I can mark them as your loss as well?”
Tom remembered the multi-coloured ball creature he had fought. Technically, it had been immune to lightning, but he had killed it. “I fought a four point five in the contenders’ challenge that was immune, but I still kill it. It’s not a guaranteed loss just because they’re immune.”
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She looked at him like he was an idiot. “Come on, Tom, that’s delusional. You’re not fighting some defective person in a random colosseum event; we’re talking about fucking elites here. If your only offensive spell doesn’t work, you’re toast. Unless there’s something special about your spear work you’ve forgotten to mention, that is. Maybe an ability that can let you beat a fighter twice your rank? Do you have anything like that? Tom?”
She watched him like a hawk as he processed her words and couldn’t find a way to dispute them. She nodded, satisfied; then commands went across the screen once more.
Mark all individuals who are biologically immune to stun.
Another ten percent were ticked off.
Corrine nodded at the numbers. “This is not great news for you, Tom. Sixty percent of DEUS champions in your bucket hard counter you. They’ll get an automatic kill against you.”
“Which means there is forty percent I can beat.” He joked.
She burst into laughter. “Not so fast, terminator. It only means that a fight against forty percent of them doesn’t mean instant death. We need to work through specifics to actually estimate your chances against the others.”
She pressed the first unmarked name on the list, and detailed information on their build was displayed.
Tom whistled. “If this got out...”
She waved her hand dismissively. “It can’t. There are trial level geas, and additional ones for DEUS-mandated private information. We can’t spread this accidentally or deliberately, so you don’t have to worry about any of your secrets being exposed. Such as them discovering you’re the Tom.” She smiled as she made inverted commas for his name.
Tom focused in on the teasing, and he felt like cradling his head in his hands. “You didn’t... You didn’t research me, did you?”
She shrugged, neither confirming it nor denying. “Don’t look so worried. I’m not going to betray you. They won’t find out that Tom is back from me.”
“Tom is back? Protect me? That’s funny, but your efforts are futile. My enemies already know who I am.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” She was instantly focused on him. “What did you just say?”
“They know that the Tom, as you described him, has been reincarnated, and that I’m in this orphanage.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” She said quietly, with an edge of threat.
Tom hesitated and then realised he had divulged too much. “Oh… forget what I said. It wasn’t important.”
“No, Tom, what the fuck do you mean the enemies know about you? I can tell you weren’t joking, and you’re alive, so them knowing is an impossibility. Spill it.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“No, Tom. We’re on the same team. We’re the future; I have to know.”
“The enemy GODs may have been running a fate-based ritual to try to kill me.” He admitted, realising that trying to keep everything secret now would be counterproductive.
Her eyes narrowed. “They were?”
He nodded.
“I’m not calling you a liar, but how the hell would you notice something like that?”
“There was a powerful boss in the bat lair. It was too strong to have been summoned randomly. It didn’t have fate abilities, but there was some hostile fate countering my own. And…” He stopped abruptly. Mentioning that he was responsible for the attack on the orphanage might not be sensible, and hopefully the boss’ information would be sufficient.
“And…” she said dangerously.
“That’s it,” he lied poorly, and internally cursed his social skills. “It was obvious from the bat being there when it shouldn’t have.”
“Spill it, Tom.”
Stubbornly, he said nothing and looked away. To his surprise, she didn’t push. Instead, she got up and started pacing up and down. Then suddenly she pointed at him. “The new assassin types. The ones that tricked Dimitri; you think they were after you, don’t you?”
He froze.
“For you to believe that, Dimitri must too. If that’s the case,” she mused. “It would explain why they only attacked our town. The proper strategy would have been to hit all three orphanages simultaneously, as they had the numbers. Instead, they focused on us because…” she met his eyes suspiciously. “Exactly how was that attack related to the bat?”
“It happened four days after.”
She bit her lip thoughtfully, absorbing that fact. “Fuck me. The resources, the coordination… Fuck. That could only have happened under a GOD’s orders. MAKROS must hate you.”
“Dimitri consulted with Eden. He didn’t tell me the details, but yes, he concluded that I might be hated that much.” It made little to no sense, but the older man had been convinced by whatever Everlyn had said about him.
“And now you’re in the champions’ trial. Fuck me. He’s going to be gunning for you even harder. That’s funny, and also even more reason to be careful.”
Tom had not expected her to react like this. “Wait, don’t you care about those who have died?”
She stared at him, trying to process what he was saying, and then her mouth made a little ‘O’ of surprise. Before he could do anything, she was sitting down and engulfing him with both of her arms. She was too strong for him to do anything to physically stop it, but he didn’t wriggle and try to escape. The hug was kind of nice.
After a too short minute, she released him. “Care? Of course I care. Arnali, despite the way he chose to get more powerful, was a friend. But do I blame you? Fuck no. Your spooking them into targeting us saved lives.” When he didn’t respond, she gently nudged him. “Hey. Did you really think I’d blame you?”
“Maybe.”
She smiled sadly. “Blame the situation, yes. Blame you? Not one little bit. Fuck, until we’re twenty-five, we’re like gnats in the greater scheme of things. Nothing we can do can make a difference.”
“True.”
“Now, let’s do this.” She pointed down at the detailed information laid out in front of them. It had all of the native’s abilities listed. She was a kind of multiple weapon berserker. “Rank six, and she opens with a blade storm charge. Super fast, re-targetable mid fight. I don’t think you’ve got anything that can counter.”
“Yep. Guaranteed death.” Tom agreed.
She clicked a button, and the next profile came up.
“My lightning will work against him.”
“But can you hurt him fast enough?”
Tom read the armour ratings and base healing rates along with the native’s size. “Hurt him fast enough? Nope. I’m not even convinced I can hurt him.”
“So, dead?” she asked.
“Very much so.”
It wasn’t until the eighth person they checked that there was someone Tom might be able to beat.
“Fragile, susceptible to lightning, uses illusions to get close to destroy the opponent.”
“Yes, I hard-counter it.” It had a general combat rating of eight point seven, and, even with his ability stopping its illusions, Tom’s victory was not guaranteed, as physically it was still a rank four and knew how to use its body.
She laughed. “You don’t look very confident.”
“Well, with it having that many raw attributes, nothing is guaranteed.”
“I’ll give it to you anyway.”
They went to the next one and then worked down the list, getting through a full hundred. Most of the times, the outcome was obvious, but there were a few they needed to debate in detail.
As they ticked off the last one, Corrine turned to look at him seriously. “Do we need to go through more, or do you get my point?”
There had been six that he would have been able to kill. All but one had been susceptible only because of his resistance to mind attacks and illusions. In total, it was well less than ten percent that he had a chance against.
“I understand.”
“And remember, these are from DEUS, and we’re the weakest.”
“Fate should be able to direct it so that I only fight against those I have an advantage against...”
“NO!” she shouted. “No. Fuck no. That’s why both Tan Ru and Sonamoni fucking died. You can’t influence the assigned fights.”
Tom studied her puzzled. “Then how are you doing it?”
“I only use fate to influence whether I should use a GODs shield or not. I bought a random chance generator that creates ones or zeros. When I’m choosing my GOD shield depending on my gut feeling, I trigger it three to six times, but usually more like five. If I see a single zero, I enter with a full shield.”
He really didn’t feel like doing the mathematics, but the percentages of that method seemed too low for how many coins she had earned. “What are those percentages?”
Corrine smiled. “Are you admitting you’re not a genius? Is a little math too hard for you?”
“It’s been a while since I’ve done advanced mathematics at school.” He answered dryly.
“You mean they’re not teaching you stuff like this in your number classes?”
Tom burst out laughing. “We are currently learning to do addition using beans and then counting them.”
She chuckled in reaction to his expression of disgust. “Three rolls are twelve and a half percent, and five rolls reduces that to three percent.”
“But that’s not consistent with your coin total.” He pointed out.
“Yes, that’s the advantage of fate. I get straight ones a quarter of the time I do the test instead of the eight percent it should be showing.”
Tom whistled, impressed with how she was getting around the buckets being pre-set by the GODs and therefore beyond the ability of fate to influence them by altering probabilities.
“And before I got started, I did the same analysis that you did. Your possible kill rate is five percent. Mine was about twenty.”
Tom shook his head. “No, we both know that is not true. My kill rate is less than five percent. In a real duel to the death, I’m probably losing against half of the people tagged as a win.”
“I ran the same exercise as you.” Corrine reminded him. “But you got worse results, so if you borrow my technique, something which I strongly recommend, you should change it up. Instead of three to five in a row, you should be doing six to nine to reflect your lower chances.”
“I get it.” He stretched out and realised that he had enjoyed the experience much more than he would have if Amkhael had been presenting, even if the start had been less than ideal. “This has been fun, but killing me so many times at the start was a little unhinged, don’t you think?”
“I knew it wouldn’t actually hurt you.” She muttered defensively.
“It was unhinged,” he repeated. “But thank you for taking the time to help me. Being able to be myself and talk to someone frankly is such a relief.”
“Yeah, I fucking loved it too.”