章 40: Tournament of skill (Part 1)
Three hours later…
Jericho and Jay were on the ship guarding it from any trespassers. To pass the time they were playing some games that involved either dice or cards.
"Hey, Jay." Jericho walked.
"Yeah?"
"You think Sky is alright?"
"Why don't you just call him?"
"I did but he said not to call him unless it's an emergency."
"Well, it sounds like he's doing good. Your turn." Jay placed a card face down and ended his turn.
"Wonder what he needed to do that was so urgent he had to sail when it's almost night?"
Meanwhile…
Sky saw he was getting close to his destination but it was almost night. It was common sense to never sail at night unless one wanted to face the dangers that lurk in the waters at night.
'I can see it. I really hope it's not a trap.' Sky thought. Many times he thought about turning back.
Sky arrived at the island. It was a small island in the shape of a 'U' . It was an ordinary small island with nothing on it but sand and a single palm tree.
'Wait… Ice trident.'
Sky conjured an ice trident as well as equipped his shield.
{Shield of vigorous talent}
{10,000+ HP when held}
{HP: 21,630}
Sky got off his boat. It was tiny in comparison to his other ship but the reason he bought it was for speed.
The reason Sky took out his weapons is because he saw an old man sitting down with his back
leaning on the palm tree.
'Identify.'
{Wilk Walken}
{HP: 68,500/68,500}
{Mana: 21,720/21,720}
{Str: 6,700 Spd: 8,000 Dex: 2,210 Int: 4,344 Mind: 3,001 Vig: 6,840}
{Wilk Walken is currently possessed by a powerful being}
Sky was sweating bullets. The man in front of him was the strongest he had seen up to date and yet he is possessed.
Someone of his strength should have some abilities but Sky could not see it, most likely because his abilities were somehow nullified or canceled by the possession.
Sky stayed close to his boat in case he needed to teleport away.
"Relax, Sky, I am not going to kill you. You are too valuable to kill." The old man stood up. His face and arms were covered in scars. He was so dirty that Sky could smell him from a distance.
"..." Sky did not say anything but kept his guard up.
"I know you can teleport to other ships but I understand why you're on guard: a strange person possesses these people and tells you to meet them at an uncharted island with the promise of helping you become stronger."
The old man dug the sand from beside the palm tree and out of the ground he dug up a treasure chest.
Placing the treasure chest down he opened the chest to reveal the inside. Looking at it, Sky was beyond shocked.
"How about it?"
The inside of the chest had many red and purple scrolls and nothing else.
"You're just giving it to me?" Sky asked, still on guard. How can this not be a trap?
What perplexed him more is how did this being manage to snag so many purple scrolls out of nowhere? Purple scrolls sometimes appear in purple portals once every 1-2 months, if it does indeed drop. Not every portal is guaranteed to drop a scroll upon clearing it.
"Yes, but not for free. And these purple scrolls are not that valuable, they're all scrolls that give you curse abilities."
"Wait, what?"
"You heard me. All of these scrolls are cursed abilities. Here you have a curse of blindness, weakness, strength, speaking, death, healing, touch, hearing. These are all the curses you can find in red and purple scrolls. I guess you can sell the curse of strength since you already got it."
"But why are you giving it to me?" Sky asked.
"I want to see you evolve all these skills within a year's time. That's the reason. If you promise me that I'll give them to you." He smiled creepily revealing his missing teeth and his damaged gums.
{Quest created}
{The powerful being wants you to evolve all the curses from purple and red scrolls}
{Quest progress: 1/9}
{Quest reward: 100,000,000 exp, new skill{Hex}}
{Quest time limit: 1 year}
{Quest punishment: None}
Sky read the quest and thought there was no reason to decline.
Sky understood why the being chose him, he could evolve and learn any skill quicker than anyone. But the reason he wants to see the skills evolve is still a complete mystery.
"I accept." Sky said.
{Quest accepted}
"Greeaaaaaaat... Now kill me." The old man spread out both his arms.
"What?"
"I know you grow stronger when you kill others, that's why I chose to possess this person. If you don't kill me in time before this person takes back control of his body he'll steal all these scrolls, and kill you. That's why you should kill me quickly."
"Wait, how did you get these purple scrolls in the first place?"
"Hmhmhmhmhm." The old man chuckled. "Complete the 'quest' first and I will tell you. And are you sure you want to waste your time asking me questions?" He spread his arms wider waiting to accept the attack.
Sky took out his naginata and stored his shield away.
{HP: 11,630/11,630}
As of now he had nothing that could one shot somebody with over 60,000 health. But that didn't matter if Sky was able to pierce their heart or head because that meant instant death.
Sky jumped up about to cleave the man in half. Before his naginata reached the old man's head millimeters he moved out of the way. Sky's naginata sliced the sand instead.
"What?" Sky looked back confused.
"Hmmm, you know what? That's too easy and too boring for my taste. You should find a way to kill me. And don't worry I won't attack, unless I want to." The old man quickly stashed the scrolls back into the chest and carried it with one hand with him.
Sky clenched tightly onto his naginata and chased after the old man. But instead of moving the old man flicked his finger and parried the naginata without any effort.
"I knew it. Your skills with the naginata are better than expected. It must be because you are highly skilled with it, right?"
'Is he testing me or just playing with me?' Sky thought, but looking at how the old man behaved the answer was quite clear, both.
Sky ignored the old man and yelled out "Super strength! Super dash! Mana grace! Lighting birds!"
{Super strength: Strength is increased by 50% for 10 minutes}
{Super dash: lvl 3: Speed is increased by 65% for 10 minutes}
{Mana grace: lvl 6: Increase and recover max mana by 60% for 10 minutes}
"Flamethro-" Sky stopped his attack halfway. Even if he does incinerate the old man he would also incinerate the scrolls.
"Sloth!"
{Target has been slowed down}
{Sloth: lvl 5: Slows target by 70%. 5% chance for target to sleep}
The old man could feel something incredibly heavy weighing him down. To feel it made him smile.
"Hahaha! Yes! Seeing it and experiencing it for myself is something different! Even if I already evolved the slowness curse two hundred years ago it pales in comparison to yours!"
"Illusion clone!"
{Illusion clone: lvl 1: Create a single illusion of yourself}
Another Sky appeared before the original that was perfect in almost every way. And both ran towards the old man with naginata in hand.
The old man instead of running, he threw the chest at Sky's face.
"OOF!"
Sky fell down with a bloody nose.
{Received 20 damage → 30% negated: 14 damage received}
{You are confused for 1 second}
{You are no longer confused}
{All lightning birds have been destroyed}
"It's pretty obvious to tell the illusion from the real one, Sky, you're not fooling anyone. First off: illusions don't have shadows." The old man pointed to the clone with no shadow.
"Next, illusions don't leave a trace on the sand." He pointed to the ground where the clone had no footprints on the sand.
"And lastly: you didn't change places with your clone so you were standing at the exact same place."
Sky dispelled his clone upon realizing how stupid it was to rely on an illusion. He stood up while wiping the blood from his nose.
"Sloth."
{Target is already slowed down}
"Sloth."
{Target is already slowed down}
"Um… you do know the same curses don't stack on the same target, right? Different curses do but you're using the same curse."
"Oh, I know that. Sloth."
{Target is already slowed down}
"You're just wasting time and mana… wait."
"Sloth."
{Target is already slowed down. Target has fallen asleep for one minute}
The old man closed his eyes before realizing what Sky was trying to accomplish.
"Well played…"
The same curse does not stack even if different people use it. A stronger curse can replace a weaker curse even if the target is inflicted with the same curse. But if a curse has a secondary effect, like sleep, Sky can apply the same curse on the same target until the secondary effect activates without the need to dispel it first.
Sky was glad the old man did not have any curse dispelling items.
Before the old man could wake up Sky sliced the old man's neck severing his head from his body.
To his surprise Sky ended up slicing the old man's neck multiple times like a butcher would butcher an animal. The old man's neck was extremely durable that not even at full strength could Sky slice it in one swing.
{Killed Wilk Walken}
{Received: 31,000,300 exp, 59,590,000 shells}
{Level up}
{Level up}
{Level…}
{Sky Rouge}
{Level 163}
{Stat points: 67}
{Shells: 128.5m}
The old man's death managed to level him up thirteen times in a row.
The reason the old man's neck was so difficult to cut was because of the difference between Sky's strength and the old man's vigor stat.
Sky laughed a bit. He grabbed the chest and started analyzing every scroll in the treasure chest. There are three red scrolls, and five purple scrolls. Seeing so many purple scrolls was so surreal.
{Skill level up}
{Dead language: lvl 4 -> lvl 5: Can somewhat read purple scrolls}
Just like the old man said, every scroll was a cursed ability as far as he can read. Sky learned them all on the spot.
Honestly, part of him wished he could just sell one of the purple scrolls to pay off Jericho's debt on the spot. But what's to stop the being from possessing him, or anybody else?
Most likely the being knows where his family lives and knows how to hurt him. Making enemies of someone like that was not worth it.
{Learned: Curse of blindness: Blocks target's vision by 5%}
{Learned: Curse of weakness: Target receives 5% more damage}
{Red scroll: Curse of strength}
Just like that Sky learned all the red grade curses. He had already learned curse of strength which meant he could sell it or give it to his crew members.
{Learned: Curse of hearing: lvl 1: Nullify target's hearing by 5%}
{Learned: Curse of touch: lvl 1: Nullify target's ability to handle objects by 5%}
{Learned: Curse of healing: lvl 1: Target gets 5% less healing}
{Learned: Curse of speaking: lvl 1: Nullify target's ability to speak by 5%}
{Learned: Curse of death: lvl 1: 5% chance to cause instant death upon target when their HP reaches 1% or less}
Sky could not believe he just learned five purple grade skills. Although they were all curses, almost no one could get them even if they had the money.
'Time to head back.'
Sky got on his ship and commanded it to go back to the island. But Sky simply teleported back to his other ship where Jay and Jericho were both still playing cards.
"You activated my trap card." Jay laughed maniacally as he placed down a card.
"SKY!" Jericho stood up happy to see Sky alive and well. "You're bleeding." Jericho pointed to Sky's face.
Sky forgot to clean up the dried blood from his nose.
She was keeping an eye on him using the map function and could not believe he had sailed so far.
"Captain, what happened?"
"I just fought someone stronger than me." Sky took out a water bottle and rinsed the blood away.
Jericho quickly ran to bring him a towel.
"Thanks."
"But everything is okay, right? You're good?" Jay asked, worriedly.
"I'm fine. Everything is good for now. I got a lot of money from him, actually?"
"Really, how much?"
"A little over 50 million shells. We already have 128.5 million shells."
Hearing the number Jericho was beyond ecstatic. They were closer to clearing her family's debt.
"Jay, do you want this? It's a curse of strength scroll."
"Thanks, Captain, but I don't want it. I don't want too many skills or else I won't get stronger." Jay smiled.
It was common sense to never have too many skills. Why? Because people would rather focus on a few skills, train with them, get used to it, than have too many skills. Such reason never made sense to Sky even if he didn't have the system.
Of course his real reason is for Jericho to sell the red scroll. The faster they pay back their debt the sooner he could see Katelyn.
"Just take it, man. If you don't grow stronger how are you going to protect Katelyn?" Sky urged him.
"Well when you put it like that."
Jay ripped the scroll and got its skill. The scrolls he received before increased his stats.
"Good. Now I'm going to sleep. Night."
"Goodnight, Captain."
"Sky, don't you want to sleep in an inn or something?" Jericho asked. It was better to sleep in a hotel room than on the ship.
"You guys can go and rent out a room or something. I'm gonna be practicing for a bit and don't want to bother anyone."
"Remember to sleep early for the tournament!"
Sky waved his hand and closed the door and continued to improve his abilities as fast as he could.
Sometime at night he left the room to go to the bathroom and he noticed both Jericho and Jay were sleeping in the crew's quarters instead in an inn. They thought it wouldn't feel right to sleep somewhere better whereas their captain was sleeping in the ship.
'Those fools.' Sky smiled.
After that he went to sleep only to be woken up by Jericho.W
"Sky." Jericho nudged his arm.
"What?" Sky asked, still half asleep.
"It's almost time for the tournament. You should sign up before it's too late. Jay already prepared food."
"Yeah, right… the tournament." Sky stood up and stretched his limbs.
After a while Sky, Jericho, and Jay ran to the colosseum where the tournament was taking place. To their surprise they saw a huge lineup of willing participants.
The entire area was crowded with people who wanted to see others fight.
"I'll go sit and watch from the side. Good luck to you two." Jericho waved and ran to another side of the building.
"Captain, do you know anything else about the tournament?"
"No, not really."
They were both reading the flyers but it did not have many details on it. It didn't specify if it was going to be a battle royale, or if weapons and items were prohibited and such.
'Identify. Identify.'
Sky will not stop looking for more talented crew members. And perhaps this tournament was a good way of finding talented people.
What wasn't surprising is that the majority of the fighters participating had stat points between 500-700 a few of them had their stats over 1,000. It did worry Sky but it was a tournament, worse case scenario he'll miss out on some money, 2 red scrolls, and failing a quest.
{Skill level up}
{Identify: lvl 6 → lvl 7: Now able to see the drop rates}
'Yes!' Sky clenched his fist to see this skill level up.
He continued identifying everyone.
The drops rates include the exact experience and money he would get from killing them. Obviously the stronger the person is the more loot they give. But none of the people he identified dropped an item from killing them. That is until he saw her.
It was the woman standing in line for the tournament but she was much further than him. She was tall, wore a tight, long, red skirt with a slit cut around her right leg, that skirt not meant for fighting.
She had long red hair and was tall and slender.
Sky could not see her face but judging from her figure one could tell she was hot.
{Rosa Glam}
{HP: 8,150/8,150}
{Mana: 6,055/6,055}
{Str: 700 Dex: 1,400 Spd: 530 Int: 1,211 Mind: 401 Vig: 805}
{Card technique: lvl 8}
{Dispel curse: lvl 7}
{Lightning bolt: lvl 8}
{Voice mimicry: lvl 8}
{Mana pilfer: lvl 9}
{Personality: Mischievous, evil, greedy, vile}
{Loot drop: 1,900,000 exp, 3,200,000 shells, trident of missile seeker}
{Trident of missile seeker: Red+}
{1,000 damage}
{Scales with Str C-grade, Dex B-grade}
{Missile seeker: lvl 9: 1,000 damage: Shoots out mana that seeks the target}
{Mana cost: 100}
{Requirements: Dex: 200 Str: 160}
"..."
Sky felt that the system was messing with him on purpose. Why, out of all the stat requirements, did it have to include Dex which is the only stat that hasn't reached 200 yet.
"System, why out of everyone is that person the only one who will drop an item?"
{Mobs, dungeon bosses, and even mini-bosses are guaranteed to have some drops upon death because that is what the system is designed for. However humans are special: Not all humans drop items, some do much like the False Warlord you killed and his right hand man}
Sky remembered getting the viking helmet from Victor and the False Warlord's shirt that Sky still wears.
{Much like talents are rarely found in others, humans have a 1/10,000 chance to drop some type of item upon their deaths. Usually the item in question has to do with the human's actions, stats, reputation, backstory, or future, usually one of those. It is no coincidence the False Warlord dropped an item as his reputation was well known}
"So what is it with her dropping a magical trident?"
{I am only going to say this once for you to understand but she has a chance of becoming a skilled but evil fighter who specializes in intelligence and dexterity}
"That explains her stats."
"Did you say something, Captain?"
"Hm? No."
After half an hour of waiting in line Sky and Jay made it to the building. Inside they saw many people guarding the area to prevent any fights.
"Name?" Asked the fat man.
"Sky Rouge."
"How do you spell your last name?"
"R-O-U-G-E."
"Got it. Please place your hand on top of the pedestal." The man pointed to a brown pedestal with a black screen on top.
Weirded out, Sky did as he requested. To his surprise Sky saw various numbers pop out of the black screen.
The numbers showed his base stats.
"What is this?" Sky asked, he had never seen something like it.
"It's something people use for measuring the person's stats. It was recently created around the same time as the phone." The fat man took a good look at Sky's stats.
Sky thought he was the only one who could see his and others stats.
After the fat man finished examining Sky's stats he looked at him and said,
"I'll be honest you're quite weak. We expect the fighters to have an average of 400 per stat points, but none of your stats have reached the number yet. It'll be tough for you to match the other fighters. Are you sure you want to continue?"
"I'm sure."
"Very well, it's your funeral. Sign here, Sky Rouge." The man handed him a piece of paper and a pen.
"It's a waiver so that if you die your friends/family cannot sue us in the event of you dying or getting injured. I must also tell you that in this tournament killing others is allowed. If you feel like you're about to die, give up or jump off the arena. If you don't sign it you cannot enter the tournament."
Sky, with a bit of hesitation, signed the waiver.
"Thank you. And the money? Ah, here it is. Here you go." The fat man handed him a wristband with the letter 'A' on it.
"Thanks."
"Also, no outside items allowed." The man gestured to Sky's appearance. "You can either stash them somewhere else or with us. But if you are found wearing any outside items that benefit you in any way you'll be immediately disqualified and barred from entering any tournaments. Understood?"
"I do. Are abilities allowed by any chance?"
"Yes, any and all abilities are allowed. It's called the tournament of skill for a reason."
Sky exited the colosseum and took off all of his clothes and rings and placed them on his inventory.
{Sky Rouge}
{HP: 5,330/5,330}
{Mana: 4,650/4,650}
Sky never realized how much his items were benefiting his mana and HP. What was also benefiting him was his title {Weak-to-strong} that increased all his stats by 50 something that the machine could not see.
"Captain?"
"Oh, hey Jay."
Sky noticed Jay was wearing a wristband with 'C' on it.
"Could you place my items inside your storage thingy?"
"Of course."
Sky took Betty and anything else Jay had and placed it in his inventory. Sky was half expecting Jay to give up from joining the tournament but that wasn't the case.
{Jay Press}
{Level 53}
{HP: 920/920}
{Mana: 525/525}
{Str: 108 Dex: 49 Spd: 59 Int: 105 Mind: 30 Vig: 82}
Jay was strong and talented but not nearly enough.
"Jay, remember, if you feel like you're gonna die, give up or jump off the arena, understood?"
"Yes, Captain. I don't have a death wish."
Both of them entered the arena where they were inspected for hidden items.
"Sign here. It's something we always use in tournaments to make it fair for everyone. Else only the rich families will win." Another man handed them pieces of paper and pens.
{Contract of limiting}
{While in the tournament entering the building your stats will be bound to 400 or less. Effect will be lost upon leaving the area}
Sky was surprised to see such an item exist. Of course what was even more intriguing is that language the piece of paper was written in, the dead language, the same language found in scrolls.
Sky and Jay signed the paper but felt nothing change.
"You're both good to go. The tournament starts in one hour and you cannot leave until after the tournament is finished. The rules will be explained shortly. Oh and be careful once you cross the white line."
"What?" Both Jay and Sky were confused. There was indeed a white line in front of them but it was just a drawn out line.
As they crossed the line Jay didn't feel anything, but Sky saw something.
{You have entered {Tournament zone} all stats above 400 have been set to 400}
{You have not been affected since your stats are below 400}
{Effect will be lost once you leave the zone}
Sky and Jay entered the room full of people. They all wore wristbands each with different letters that ranged from 'A' to 'F'.
Sky identified them all and to his shock all of their stats are exactly at 400.
'That evens things out a bit but my stats are still too low.' Sky thought.
There were all kinds of people there but the majority of them seemed to be strong and experienced in fighting and killing.
"Captain, look."
Jay pointed to the side of the room. It had all swords of weapons for use and even armor.
Each of the weapons were normal with no special abilities. It was a tournament of skill and skill also includes handling of weapons.
"Yes!" Jay took a few guns that were hanging there. To no one's surprise the majority of the people took the guns.
Sky looked for a naginata but there were none as the naginata was a foreign weapon. Instead Sky took a shield, a sword, a dagger, and a trident. There was no limit of weapons someone could take.
Sky had maxed out his trident mastery, his naginata mastery was at level six, while his one-handed sword mastery was at level three, his dagger mastery was at level four, and his shield mastery was at two.
{Spd: 240 → 300}
{Stat points: 67 → 7}
Left with no choice, Sky had to use his stat points.
{Speed has reached 300}
{New skill learned: Lightning aura: Surround yourself with lightning that deals damage to enemies nearby for 10 minutes per second. Increases speed by 100%}
{Scales with Spd: D-grade}
{Cooldown: 1 hour}
"Woah. So I can deal 350 damage per second just by standing near my enemies. Nice."
Scaling with D-grade meant that the damage will increase the higher his speed stat was which also includes his title that gives him 50+ to all his stats.
"Hey, Captain, doesn't this seem a bit weird to you?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean there are so many people here, and to be honest the rewards are simply not worth dying for. Do you think there is another reason the people here are participating?"
Sky did not think of that. Ten million shells and two red scrolls were indeed not worth dying for.
"We'll figure it out later."
On the next chapter…
週次パワーステータス
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