Chapter 106 – Preparations

“What do you mean?” Eloise demanded immediately. “To use fate like a sledgehammer. That makes no sense.”

“He means,” Kang told her, “That we’re going to use our racial ability to help prepare us.”

Suddenly, a feeling of dread shot through Tom as he considered the nature of the trial. It was designed to be a death trap. “Kang, shut up.” he snapped.

“Why!”

Tom helplessly pointed up at the ceiling. There were many ways through which what he had accidentally revealed could end badly for them. The stress and the presence of others had made him say things before finding out the ground rules. “Adam, do you have rules compelling you to kill as many people as possible?”

It was beyond silly, but he crossed his fingers as he waited for the answer. Words formed immediately and relief washed through him as his fears were found to be fictitious.

No. My nature stacks the deck against those who challenge me, but there’s no requirement to oppose people actively. I have free will in my interactions.

“Does that mean you can help us?” he asked hopefully.

I wish. What I can do is limited in both directions. My influence only extends to this space.

“That’s expected,” he scratched his head. “I was never going to ask you to cheat in the trial. But what does limited mean?”

Adam didn’t volunteer anything.

“I mean can we get practice weapons? How about combat automations? Or dedicated training rooms?” He was thinking of what April had done to get him his skills, but he wasn’t about to admit to that level of help out loud, even if the privacy was supposed to be guaranteed.

I have the flexibility to adjust the contents of rooms. I can do a lot within that mandate, but nothing as elaborate as what you’re used to.

Tom did a double take at those words. Was it mind reading? Then he calmed himself down.  Adam was clearly referencing April’s more advanced skill training. He knew that at a minimum that his skills and titles would be visible, and it didn’t take a genius, let alone an administrator with the experience that Adam had to have to realise that some of those abilities couldn’t be gained without a lot of specialised help. There was no evidence of snooping on his mind and even if there was, that wasn’t that much of a concern. Other administrators had mind reading skills and DEUS would intervene if anyone went too far. “Thank you,” he said formally and then turned to the others.

“From now on, unless you’re actively pursuing a breakthrough,” he stopped talking because he could feel some tightness in his throat, presumably from a constricting geas. It was only a warning, a subtle touch to remind him not to say too much and that his words had pushed that limit even if they hadn’t gone over it. Despite that, he hesitated. Nothing he said would be news to Briana or Kang, so Eloise had to be the issue. He thought about what he could say. The prayer concept was definitely not restricted, so he continued. “Unless you’re doing that all of your fate needs to be dedicated into a specific prayer.”

“What does that mean?” Eloise interrupted. “How do you direct fate?”

Tom licked his lips and looked at the two girls. Eloise’s fate pool was full and while he had seen it vary in the past, it sounded like it had been a subconscious use rather than specifically directed. He could work with that. Briana’s pool, on the other hand was half empty, which was not at all surprising. However, he studied her more closely than usual. She was slouched over and was studying the ground.

That might be an issue, he thought. He recognised those signs. At least they had three months to get her used to them again and return her behaviour to usual.

“Do you know how to spend fate?” he asked Eloise already knowing the answer.

She shook her head.

“Well, it’s easier than you think. Let me show you. Repeat after me. The three floors will contain monsters that are vulnerable to our abilities, and we will all survive. Say it.”

She repeated him word for word barely stumbling over the bigger ones.

“Now, while saying it I want you to wish it to be true with all your heart.”

He watched as she said the words, and this time her face screwed up in concentration.

It was cute, but her fate pool didn’t change.

“That’s good. Releasing fate is like learning to ride a…” he stopped himself before he said bicycle because she wouldn’t understand that concept. “It’s like turning a tap.” he attempted to improvise. “Once you realise how to do it, then it becomes easy.” It was a terrible attempt, and he was sure Kang was struggling not to laugh at him. “If you keep striving and practicing hard, you’ll get it.” His face was very red.”

She kept going for over ten minutes, getting more and more flustered at her failures.

“That’s a good first try. Let’s give it a break for now.”

The two girls went off into a side room and Kang who had been practicing with the axe stopped swinging it around.

The boy was breathing heavily and deliberately waited until the bedroom door clicked shut. “Well, Mr Hero, be straight with me. How screwed are we?”

Tom double checked the door. It was shut, but he lowered his voice, anyway. “I’m guessing we have around a low twenties’ percent chance of all of us surviving. For Bri and me, it’s above twenty-five percent, but I can’t predict any further.”

“Do you think those estimates are before or after fate? Now that we’re using fate are we guaranteed victory?”

Tom chuckled bitterly at that question. “Not the second. We’re not that lucky. The chance given will be based on us using fate and the full amount of training time available. I don’t think we’re so unique that a trial administrator that has probably had billions of people going through it would be unable to estimate our success chances.”

“You guessing, or do you know?”

“Adam?”

Tom is correct.

“I was guessing, but apparently I was right.”

Kang sighed heavily. “So, one of us is probably going to die? And that’s most likely me or Eloise.”

“Or more.” They stood in awkward silence, contemplating what they faced. They were both hardened fighters. Neither was going to flinch, but it still hurt to think about it. Especially when the chances of all of them surviving were below significant. Even though it was already built in, his mind searched for tricks they could use to improve their chances. “Hey Adam, is my speedster title factored into this setup.?”

I’ve already incorporated it as best I could. It took you from sixty-four days to finish to ninety-five. Extending its effects over a group is problematic, so I couldn’t extract its face value.

Kang was looking at him strangely.

“It’s one of my titles. Gives me over a day each time I go into the weekly trial.”

The other boy whistled. “No wonder you’ve had time to get multiple training skills. You’re getting an extra day’s training every week.”

“Yes, it adds up, but it’s not important. While the girls are busy, let’s plan out how to survive this place.”

Tom listed them and after some back and forth they came out with a list of activities to pursue.

Crafting

·        Create multiple danger sense bracelets for everyone – Tom.

·        Enhance wood items to be stronger – Tom.

·        Strengthen metal items – Kang.

Training

·        Girls. Evasive abilities, battle positioning and get them to listen immediately to orders.

·        Tom. Lightning based long range shield breaking.

·        Kang. Shadow attack spells both the range missiles and to infuse his weapons with it.

They looked at the list.

It didn’t seem like much, but if they assumed enemies would be vulnerable to their strengths, the additions were important. Kang’s developments would basically allow enemies to spawn with an additional vulnerability. The magic shield breaking gave a similar benefit. Statistically, It was extraordinarily unlikely that their enemies would all spawn with lightning vulnerability. An outcome where some relied on magic shields and others were vulnerable to shadow magic in addition to lightning was far more likely to occur, because three floors of a deathtrap trial was supposed to show diversity in the type of opponents you would be facing.

“And when we fight, I’m purely support,” Kang clarified.

“Pretty much unless they’re susceptible to shadow magic or to be defeated they need to be chopped apart.”

“Are your advantages really that much?”

“Yes,” Tom told him simply. “We can spar later and I’ll show you but against stronger enemies the difference will be even more stark. My trait speeds up my perception when fighting something stronger than me, and that is going to be critical for crossing the rank gap.”

Kang didn’t argue they’d already debated this in more detail. “I’m wondering if we should make our personal prayers more specific? Because rank seven is ridiculous and we want them to have strong mind attacks, magic shields and be susceptible to lightning to play into your strengths. Should we be actively forcing the second two floors to precise stereotypes.”

Tom considered the proposal seriously. “Yeah, that sounds right. I should shape the third floor and you the second. What the girls are praying will compliment what ever we specifically do.”

“And floor one.”

“I think we just slog our way through that and rely on overwhelming power.”

“They’re still rank three. What overwhelming power do we have? Our Weapon skills, that’s nowhere near enough to bridge the gap.”

“They’re monsters and at that rank they have no skills and are weak. Potentially, even the girls will be able to help a bit. Give them a taste of what real combat feels like.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Kang said. “I think it might scar them. They’re just babies.”

“Yeah, we’ll not plan on needing them, but if something goes wrong, they’ll be there and rank three are weak enough that both girls will be able to contribute. Anyway, that’s not important. We’ve got a lot of detail to cover.”

He knocked on the door and let himself into what was obviously the dedicated bedroom. There were four beds and the two furthest from the entrance had been claimed by the girls.

Tom stopped in the doorway, and he narrowed his eyes.

Eloise’s fate pool was empty.

“Did you work out how to use fate?” he asked.

“Briana helped. It was easy. She explains things better than you.”

This was when he would have expected the girl he thought of as his little sister to chime in with some boasting about her superiority but Bri was completely silent. She had even shifted beds, so Eloise was in front of her.

Tom tried not to let the annoyance show on his face because if he did so, he was sure it would just make it worse. Briana should have known better, but the reincarnator revelation had obviously shaken her up more than a little.

“That’s great. Can we talk about our battle plan?” He entered the room and sat down on what he guessed was now his bed. If Kang wanted it, then he would let him have it, but something told him Kang wouldn’t care.

“I’m going to do most of the fighting with Kang supporting me.”

“You! Not that’s a joke.” Briana exclaimed and then went red and shut up.

Tom sighed. “Yes, me, I’m the best fighter.”

Briana poked Eloise and whispered something into her ear.

Eloise nodded and stared defiantly at Tom. “Briana’s got a point. Why would you be doing the combat? You’re bad at fighting. I’ve seen you in the dodge pits and on the obstacle courses. You’re the worse one here. If anything, it should be us protecting you.”

He snapped his fingers. Lightning crackled from them to slam into the ceiling. There was a small explosion and chunks of plastered rained down on them.

The crack the discharge generated caused everyone to flinch, and the look Eloise gave him was no longer quite as dismissive. “I’m a reincarnator.” He reminded them. “There’s a reason we have the reputation that we do.”

After a moment’s hesitation while she pretended to watch the dust settle, Eloise rallied. “It’s a nice spell.” She licked her lips. “But it doesn’t change anything. Bri’s water razors are more deadly. She has better magic and is faster and stronger.”

“She’s none of those things.” Tom told her reasonably and then stopped himself from arguing further. It was clear that nothing he could say was going to convince them otherwise. “Words don’t mean anything. Let me show you instead. Let’s spar.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Kang objected immediately.

“I’m not going to hurt them. Adam?” he asked, taking charge. “Is there some place we can go? Preferably a fully padded open space.”

The best training room for your purposes is the one closest to the trial proper on the other side of the room.

“See.” Tom pointed at the message. “We can spar safely. For today, no weapons.”

“Tom, I don’t think we should do this.”

“It’ll be fine. I can heal anyone who gets injured, and I’ll be careful.”

“They’re six.”

“Exactly. Words aren’t going to cut it. They need to see that we’re better and a demonstration won’t do it.” He nodded at the football sized hole he had blasted into the ceiling. “They need to experience the gap between us directly.”

He led them to the indicated room. It was a good size, about half of a tennis court, but the walls and floor were soft to touch. The type of advanced material that felt firmer under foot than it was when you fell. It was perfect for what he wanted and it gave him hope of the depth of training facilities they might get in the future. “I think it’s fairest if it’s both of you are against me. You can use magic. I won’t.”

The girls stared at him in shock. Briana stepped behind Eloise and peered out around her friend’s shoulder.

Tom kept his expression neutral. “Come on, just hit me. I’m not going to retaliate.”

“We don’t need this. We’ve both watched you fight before.”

“No, you haven’t. It’s easy. Try to hit me and you’ll discover what I’m talking about.”

“Maybe a demonstration between us.” Kang offered after a moment from behind him.

“I think them attacking would be…” Tom cursed and cut off the sentence as Danger Sense went off, warning about a threat coming from the rear. Instantly, he threw himself into a forward roll. When he came out of it, the other boy had followed his motion and was right in his face. A series of quick jabs that gave him no time to think only react.

After a dicy first couple of seconds, they fell into a rhythm.

Tom’s mind raced as he tried to figure out how he could beat the boy who was bigger, stronger and as equally well trained in hand to hand combat. Surviving, he realised after a moment, was not in question especially if he cheated with Touch Heal to stop the bruises caused by partially blocked strikes and general fatigue from building up and slowing him.  Danger Sense was a continual buzz in his ears with regular warnings of incoming threat that helped him stay ahead of the other boy.

Within the battle trance, he listened to his skill. The feints Kang was mixing into his strikes between one moment and another became pointless.

Tom swayed to the music of the combat. Kang was still landing the occasional blow, not even knowing what was coming could fully prevent that. His opponent was just as skilled, with slightly better attributes and extra reach. There was no way to deny him fully.  
Given the discrepancy in size being forced to tank some blows was unavoidable, but he made sure that those that slipped through were those with no true power behind them. Quick Step was a massive advantage that allowed the other boy to shift position and strike from unexpected angles. But like the cheat, it was, his own skill countered the attempts near perfectly. When he knew what was coming a second in advance, he could be shifting his balance proactively to avoid what would otherwise have been a perfect trap for someone relying purely on technical skills.

Then to nerf the surprises caused by Kang’s mobility even further he used Psychic Tracking to make sure he would always know exactly where his opponent’s centre of mass was. Although it was a tiny advantage, he was so desperate that he was willing to accept whatever was available.   

A straight battle between similarly gifted creatures where one had a movement technique and the other didn’t should have been an automatic win. Danger Sense more than evened the playing field, especially when Kang dipped further into his bag of tricks to cover himself in shadows. He became harder to track, but of course his precognition skill didn’t care.

Over two minutes had passed and both their chests were heaving but Tom thanks to Touch Heal was doing noticeably better.

Kang had given up on subtlety and was aiming blows for the centre of his mass and trying to overwhelm him with sheer physical superiority.

Time to end this, Tom thought. So far, he hadn’t done anything offensive. He waited until a full-bodied strike was launched at his shoulder and then he acted. He twisted and hooked the arm as the fist went past and then, with a flick of his hips he bent and judo threw him.

The other boy was briefly airborne before going over Tom’s hip and was smashed hard on his back. The only thing that stopped him from taking serious injury was the soft cushioned floor.

Tom stood there panting, and he engaged a free cast of Touch Heal to remove the slight bruises that covered him. Ten mana was a massive amount of overkill.

“What the hell type of skill was that?” Kang gasped from the floor. “It’s like you were seeing the future. You’ve got something new since we last talked haven’t you?”

“No, that was still Danger Sense,” Tom told him. “At least for now, though it feels like it’s close to evolving to an upgraded version.”

Kang stood up a broad grin on his face. “That was damn impressive. I knew you were holding back in the pits, but that was… wow. That’s some skill.”

“It’s still the basic Danger Sense, but I suspect I’ve crossed level sixteen to get a good threshold benefit. It definitely felt like it was telling me more stuff.”

Tom turned to look at the two girls. Their eyes were wide, and they had retreated right to the door like they were ready to run out. “Do you want to fight? I’ll just dodge.”

They absolutely did not want to, and Briana even hid fully behind Eloise.

Her reaction tempted him to be childish and roll his eyes, but he resisted. “As I said. I was pretending to be bad, but I’m a reincarnator. I can fight and I’m going to be the primary fighter, and you all need to learn how to listen to orders.”

“Tom’s good.” Kang agreed. “Now we have to start practicing. Let’s have everyone explain and demonstrate what they can do. It’s important we all understand each other’s strengths.” As he was speaking, he grabbed a wooden practice axe. “You’ve already seen me use a lot of my abilities. Like Quick Step.” He blurred to the side. “And Shadow Defence.” The entire space around him was covered with shadows that made him difficult to see. “It muddles the senses and Shadow Attacks, which does the same” As he spoke he swept his axe down from his shoulder and there was a mirror image of it on a slightly different trajectory than the actual axe head. The fake attack caught the eye and made you ignore the real threat of the actual physical axe. “And the final skill I have is Crushing Axe.” His weapon glowed a soft red as he swung it. “It increases the effective weight and strength of the blow, but does nothing to enhance cutting. Where there is thick armour that needs a hammer to get through it, this is my solution.”

“Is that it?” Tom asked.

The boy shrugged. “Two critical skills and two spells. I’m happy with my progress. The new things I’m working on are Cutting Edge, but I doubt I’ll earn it here, but I’ll try. I’m also currently developing both a shadow missile spell and another to enhance my axe illusion to do actual damage. Those two I should get over the next couple of months.”

“Good,” Tom said. “I have spear abilities that will let me go through magic shields and armour, and electricity which you’ve seen.” A thick bolt of lightning shot off to strike the distant training dummy and blew it to bits. They stared at it in surprise as it reformed, and words appeared above it.

I’ve made the new one tougher.

“I also have healing spells,” Tom continued, “that can fix up almost any damage and finally my effective mana is somewhere between five and ten times what you have.”

“How?” Kang asked immediately, but it was for the girls’ benefit, as Tom had already told him.

“I have thirty extra mana from a skill and a trait that means that the first ten mana of any spell is free. One of the heroes of humanity gave me that.”

“The heroes?” Eloise said in amazement.

“Yes, Tom was a member of their team, but died.”

Briana flinched.

“Let’s not talk about that,” Tom interrupted.  

“No, we’ll stick to here and now,” Kang agreed. “That trait is a good one. Not that great when you’re powerful, but impressive for the current time. Whoever got it for you did great in sourcing it. Now Eloise what can you do.”

“Only a little.” She told them. But rather than talking she ran and did her step technique and utilised three in a row to touch the roof and then two more to land safely. The chaining of five consecutively was very impressive. Then she moved until she was four metres away from the combat dummy. “I’m not very good at this.” she warned them.

She focused her face, scrunching up and then thrust her hand out and there was a bang and the dummy rocked backward slightly. She collapsed to her knees and massaged her forehead, which told both of them that it was a spell and presumably a new one because she had given herself mana exhaustion when casting it. With its limited damage and its long cast time, it would be useless in a fight.

“That’s really impressive.” Kang said brightly. “We’ll keep practicing while we’re here. And we all know what Briana has available, so there’s no point to making her demonstrate it.” She visibly sighed in relief as he said that. “We should now strategize how to become stronger. Most of the benefits we can get in a month will come from improving coordination and a focus on basics. Girls, your job is to stay alive while we kill the enemies. Now let’s get going.”