Chapter 85 – Evolving Lists

Corrine smirked at his claim about the GOD’s shields. “No, you really don’t understand the concept. This is a contested competition. There are subtleties you aren’t aware of. For example, the full GOD shields used here are top of the line. They’re better than average. You remember during our duel how you were removed from the battlefield a second before you died. That’s an example of how they protect you from psychological harm. Most of the standard ones force you to experience the death even if they restore you to full health afterwards.”

“Is psychological harm really that much of a concern?” he scoffed.

“A concern? Absolutely fucking, yes. Fuck yes, it is.” Corrine almost yelled at him before she visibly forced herself to calm down. “I’m sorry, that was out of line. It’s just that yes the extra protection of the full shield is important. Once I’ve explained everything, you’ll understand. Now, as I was saying the full GOD shield is really good. It protects against physical, psychological and soul injuries.”

“And Skill exhaustion?” Tom asked, remembering the trial where that was one thing that April could not fix.

She looked at him strangely. “Yes, that’s also covered.”

“Does it replenish fate?”

She glared at him. “Stop interrupting. No, neither fate nor mana are restored afterward. Not that you should worry about fate. You should go into each fight empty.” Her eyes were challenging his.

“Easy Corrine. I’m not going to be reckless.”

“You better not. You use both your disk and fate before every battle! Understand!”

“Why do you care?”

“Because she died.” Corrine cut herself off before she said anything further. “Just use both. Please. We shouldn’t have to talk about this.”

“I said I will and I don’t break my word.”

“Good. The full shield is powerful. I’ve come out of a battle and been unable to remember what had happened. It was hazy. Sometimes I can recall the start of the arena and even the appearance of my opponent, but one time I didn’t even remember that. I couldn’t recall anything and then I checked the official results and saw who I’d been fighting.” She shuddered. “That’s when it made sense. I was so thankful I had a full GOD’s shield. I couldn’t remember anything which saved my sanity. It was one of…”

She stopped talking and looked like she wanted to run from the room and hide under a bed. For a moment, she was a terrified twelve-year-old. The confidence that she normally held herself with was gone. “Trust me Tom, it gets bad. Real bad. The partial GOD shield protects against death. It’ll fix you enough to guarantee you won’t die from your injuries, but that’s all it does. And don’t for an instant think that if you survive, you can heal yourself fully because it isn’t true. This competition includes terror races. There are worse things than death and the champions of the terror races know how to bring it. I’ve seen the aftermath of someone who thought they were sufficiently resilient to go without a full shield. They weren’t. They were left with curses that couldn’t be purged. Ones to stop them healing along with crippling damage to their soul. Every decade there is even a case of a proper regeneration ability being broken. Something like phoenix full restore ending up permanently damaged. It’s scary.”

She stopped for a moment and glanced around. There were people in clear sight, but none of them were reacting to what was being said. It was clear that they had a privacy ward of some kind but just muting sound and turning off the automatic translation of body language would probably have been enough to give them full confidentiality.

“Terror races don’t think like us. There was no parallel on earth to what they are not even a mass murdering psychopath can compare. You have to witness the aftermaths to truly understand. Everything is fucking perfectly clinical and precisely done. They break all of you, not just your flesh and mind, they also crack your fucking abilities and scar your fucking soul. I’ve seen people survive and then waste away afterwards and die a few fucking weeks later.”

“That sounds.” Tom imagined horror movies from earth and he wasn’t sure they could capture the feel of what Corrine was talking about. “Why are partial shields even a thing, then?”

“Oh, because only a few individuals in each bucket have the skills to do that level of maiming. For every broken person that comes out from a partial shield, there are dozens or more who survive with injuries that they can fully heal. The lure of riches, the extra coins you can get is too much of an incentive for some people and despite the extremes a partial shield is statistically five times safer than none.” She licked her lips. “The rule is don’t use a partial shield unless you have multiple redundancies in place to let you kill yourself if you run up against the wrong opponent. Those broken people thought they had safeguards, but they obviously weren’t effective.”

“Got it.” Tom said finally. “But why the speech. I’m never going to use a partial shield, as it seems like a waste. If I’m going to win, I want no shield and if I’m losing, I’d be an idiot to not have a full version. Caring about partial shields doesn’t work for humans.”

“No, it doesn’t,” she agreed. “But I still think you needed to know. Which brings me to the next point. The reward you get depends on the shield you enter with, but the penalty you suffer is that of the lowest shield in play. That means you can only permanently kill someone if both contestants forgo a shield. We have data that the creatures that torture only go in with a partial shield. That protects them because they can destroy the midrange fighters using a partial shield and our better fighters can’t kill them because their shields save them.”

“That’s unfair.”

“It’s them exploiting the rules just like DEUS does with giving a hand to failing species. But we try to counter strike. The top ten in each bucket has a job, in addition to getting coins, and that is take the torturers out of play.”

“How?” Tom started to ask and then stopped himself. His question was going to be. ‘How do they do that if they can’t kill them.’ But the answer was obvious. “Does DEUS really force all the strongest learn how to torture?” 

She nodded. “Technically, they all volunteer. Unofficially, they’re expected to make it count if they are lucky enough to get the opportunity. That’s the rules for the elite. But we’re all in the same spot. Everyone not using a full God shield has the same standing instructions. ”

“And they are?”

“If you go in without a GOD shield, you are to kill representatives of MAKROS and FAMES and offer the chance of surrender to everyone else unless they are recorded as having killed or maimed a DEUS representative.”

“Does the system tell you the faction you’re fighting?”

She nodded. “That and how many kills and incapacitations they have achieved. An incapacitation to the system occurs when someone is effectively knocked out of fighting for a month or more, following your bout. It doesn’t care whether it is due to permanent harm or purely psychological damage or if you were actually killed in real life. So they can be misleading”

“So, I’ll know if I’m against a terror race. I’ll also be able to see how many people my opponent has killed. But that doesn’t mean anything because they might have just been killing terror races. What did you mean by that second bit? That order to kill others who had done the same to one of ours? Is there a flag to identify them?”

“No flag, but there’s a list we maintain for everyone to memorise.”

She waved her hand, and it was printed on the table in front of them. There were only six entries. He studied the pictures, names, and factions.

“Really? You have to be joking. You’ve got a representative of SANATORES on the to be killed list? How can that be right?” he asked, arching his eyebrows to indicate his disbelief. 

“It’s above board. We think it was probably a misunderstanding. It’s also been two months since the incident and that person hasn’t turned up again. It’s possible they realised they stuffed up and withdrew in shame.”

Tom closed his eyes and considered the scenario. He had met the Chosen who were SANATORES representation in the current competition. It was easy to imagine how one of them would have reacted if they had accidentally killed a sapient. They most likely would have self-sacrificed in response. They had not been a species that knew how to cope with feelings like guilt. This other person withdrawing or doing something more extreme in the background made a lot of sense in that context.

Corrine blatantly switched topics to her future growth. She had clearly recognised the darkening mood and had acted to see it off.  She spoke animatedly about what she planned to do once she got access to earn experience at fifteen. For her, it was still almost three years away, but it was clear she had already decided on what path she wanted to take.

Too soon, his alarm went off and with reluctant steps, he left to practice his war hammer skills.

An hour later, with nothing significant having occurred, his practise was over. Immediately, he took a sideways step into what he considered to be his new system room. On the nearest monitor, he could see his body trudging tiredly to the cleaning loop and walking through it.

Tom grinned.

All the boring routine was being removed because he could come here. Instead of the drudgery of being six he could escape to do more fun things.

He smiled like he had been doing all day. It was bubbling up constantly from within him and surprising him and random times.

And Corrine he was sure would be waiting impatiently for him.

He strode toward the door that led to the shared biomes and then stopped just before he stepped through.

It was subtle, but the Curated List had a small asterisk next to it.

At a thought, it opened up, and he stared in surprise at the two new entries.

·        Trait: Spatial Storage – Cost 17 – Discount 96%

·        Trait: Dimensional Body – Cost 95 – Discount 90%

·        Divine Affinity Fruit – Cost 7000 – Discount 95%

·        Skills Pack: Lightning Starter – Cost 9

·        Skills Pack: Earth Starter – Cost 9

·        Skill: Shadow Spear – Cost 12 – Discount – 30%

·        Skill: Living Wood Enhancement – Cost 14 – Discount 20%

·        Precognition Ritual Knowledge – Cost 28 – Discount 95%

The reason for the two unexpected new lines was clear. He had openly considered selling his services and DEUS had reacted to his plans and taken steps to help him. He suspected he knew what both entries represented, but he decided to check them, anyway.

Skill: Living Wood Enhancement – Tier 3

Allows the user to improve the tier of a piece of wood. Level of tiering up is only limited by skill level.

Note: This can be delivered in three ways.

1.      Immediately granted.

2.      If spatial storage is available as a skill stone.

3.      If spatial storage is available and a relevant training trial is accessible, then it can be taken as a skill plan to be used within the trial.

Personalised Advice: If the skill is invested into the training trial you will have 65% chance of acquiring after 40 hours of training and 99.7% after 65 hours.

Overall, it was a pedestrian run-of-the-mill skill, and it was not one that he would have thought about searching for let alone buying. The discount also didn’t draw him in. Twenty percent felt like a joke. Out of all the discounted items, this was already the least appealing. If he was getting a seventy percent reduction, then his viewpoint might have been different, but twenty? It felt almost insulting.

However, that thread of thought was a moot point, and one he had to suppress. DEUS had highlighted this skill to him for a reason. With it displayed in front of him, and if he cleared his mind, he could acknowledge the value of acquiring it. With all of his various disadvantages, using his ability to tier up both his weapon and armour to a higher level would even the battlefield slightly.

“Still not buying it.” He muttered to himself. That, by itself, wasn’t sufficient. It wasn’t terrible as such, but with a crappy discount and probably little true combat utility he was hesitant. The only thing that swayed him away from rejecting it permanently was the personalised advice. It was a tier three skill that he was effectively guaranteed to get with April’s help within a month and a half and possibly even shorter than that if he invested more than ten hours a session on it. As much as he might like to pretend otherwise that was huge.

Yes, it was a crafting skill, but just the benefit it would give to his title was potentially worth those fourteen coins. 

“A maybe. I’ll leave it as a maybe,” he said finally.

The moment he made the decision the text on display changed to the next item on his agenda. The responsiveness was a form of low-level mind reading, but that was something that he was well and truly used to.

Consumable: Precognition Ritual Knowledge.

Consuming this item will give you memories of three days of intensive tutoring by an expert on Precognition Rituals. It will build upon and consolidate existing knowledge and has no limitations on the knowledge of the person using it.

The reason for the massive discount was because this was not a reward that had been intended for someone who could be best described as an apprentice crafter. The consumable was there to be used by a master craftsman or possibly a grandmaster one to push them to the next level.

The thought of someone like Tom using something like this in the outside world would be anathema to anyone who knew how valuable the knowledge crystal truly was.

Tom agreed with them, but he was also very conscious of the massive discount attached to it. That told him that using the crystal was going to be required. Hopefully, it would only be necessary to use this to get his ritual design upgraded to the tier three level to help those in the open section and not to create the first sellable items which could be immediately useful to people in his bucket. No matter how it played out it was clear that DEUS wanted him to purchase and use it to better arm her champions with the knowledge to keep them alive.

Without that pressure to immediately consume it, the correct way to maximise the value of the treasure would have been to buy it and then spend a decade improving his level and understanding of the specific ritual to an unbelievable level. Become so knowledgeable in the single niche spell that he could not only carve it in his sleep but also redesign it on the fly. Only then after he had promoted his abilities to the absolute pinnacle would the treasure be used and Tom was sure in those circumstances, it would create epiphanies that would push the crafters abilities beyond what hard work, luck and persistence would ever be able to unlock.

As it was, he had too many things to spend his coins on and before he could afford to buy anything he had to actually win a fight. Tom sighed at that thought, based on the scenarios they had run that might take months.

With thoughts of future artefacts and power-ups running through his head, he stepped through the door and onto blue grass.

 Corrine was pacing back and forth, waiting for him. A spell that comprised a mixture of flame and wind swirled above her outstretched hand. There was something fascinating about it. The intensity of its mana lines was incredible, and they were so sharp and refined. Looking at it, he felt he could peer into the depths and see the spell form. It was like he was an instant away from comprehending all of it.

It abruptly winked out of existence and he realised that Corrine was staring at him with a very self-satisfied grin. While it had felt like he had been studying the dancing flames for mere seconds, he realised that wasn’t true. He had been entranced for far longer. Perhaps for over a minute.

The way she was looking at him made a lot more sense.

“I thought you’d be immune to something like this.”

“What are you talking about?” he blustered hopefully.

She laughed loudly in response to his attempt at stone walling. Then winked. “It’s an attack spell which also has a subtle hypnotise effect. Makes you see it as fascinating.”

On one hand, he knew he had fallen for it. On the other, it felt like he shouldn’t have. “Um… can you create it again?”

A smaller version of the previous spell appeared, hovering above her outstretched hand. This time Tom was on alert and he felt no desire to stare at it. There was still a slight psychic pressure, but it was easy to resist and the only reason it had worked the first time was because he had known he was in a place where he was a hundred percent safe.

She nodded appreciatively when he met her eyes clearly not enthralled by her spell.

“If I’m on the alert, it won’t get me.”

“I can’t do it now due to a lack of mana, but if I were to make it four times stronger?”

Tom shook his head. “Not even close. Unless the psychic strength increases by orders of magnitude, it doesn’t stand a chance of affecting me if we’re in hostile territory let alone during a life or death duel.”

“Which means you definitely have stronger mental resistance than most,” she said carefully. “I’ve been testing this, and it’s strong enough to impact most people in the lower child bucket.” Then she frowned. “Unfortunately, not anyone in my cohort. By the time they reach my age, they’ve rounded out their skills, which includes getting mental resistance abilities.” The ball of flames had been steadily growing until it had nearly reached its initial intensity. She pouted when it was clear it wasn’t going to enthrall him and then it vanished. “Come on. I’ve got people you want to talk to.”

He followed her as she led him through another one of the portals. It took them to a room filled with even more gateways. There must have been over forty of them, and it was clearly communal space because the temperature remained perfect for him.

“These lead to all the other community spaces,” she explained. “It’ll take a while to learn them, but you can guess at where they go based on carvings.”

She did not break her stride, but despite the pace Tom had time to examine some of the frames they were passing. The first appeared to show people exclusively flying, which probably signified an aerial environment.

“Would I die if I went through?” he inclined his head at the portal.

She glanced at him and laughed. “A full GOD shields death, yeah. There’s always a rumour of a rookie going into that or a magnum pool one by accident and dying, but no ones ever fessed up to it when I’ve asked.”

They were almost at their destination and the next frame he examined had symbology that had to be a blacksmith, and then time was up. Corrine, without pausing led him through one of four identical doors that showed seats and books.

Once he had stepped through, he appeared in an occupied conference room. Vturalta from earlier along with Amkhael was present. In addition to them was a four legged two armed feathered person and a massive double layered centipede the size of three linked train carriages. It filled the room and must have been sixty meters long and had over a hundred legs and then directly above each of them was an arm. Just like the legs, there were too many arms to count, and this wasn’t a dumb beast. Most of the hands held a weapon. Usually ranged but there were shields mixed in there along with long spears.

He was thankful he was in a neutral territory with a full GOD’s shield because even knowing they were friendly that centipede was intimidating. It could kill him a hundred times over before he could react and while it was the most physically imposing, the others gathered, Tom was sure were just as deadly. Amkhael after all had crushed the construct like it was inconsequential something Tom was sure it could do just as easily to him.

All four of what he hoped were only open competitors stared at the two of them.

Corrine smiled confidently. “This guys, is Tom.”