Chapter 64 - … And Awards!

<p>The next day, I slip back into my older clothes, which I had grown quite used to and was comfortable in, and once I was ready I leave to head over to the Main Arena.<br/><br/> Once I was there, I find Eniyala, as well as the Berserker and Tilpott.<br/><br/> "Hey, finally defrosted, did we?" I say jokingly, causing the large man to tilt his head. "Ra?"<br/><br/> "He says it was paralysis, not being frozen in ice," Tilpott explains.<br/><br/> "Ra," I say in my best surfer voice, and Thequinies gasps offendedly, turning away with a loud huff. "What did I say?" I ask Tilpott, and he shakes his head in disappointment. "I shan't repeat it for fear of being smitten by Luzieni."<br/><br/> 'It was that bad?!?'<br/><br/> Any more conversation is cut off by Zwelli's overly chipper voice announcing our names. The four of us walk out as the large dead end hallway we stand in opens one wall through the middle, and thousands of people cheer as we appear.<br/><br/> "That's right, folks! Give it up for this year's Level 25 and under Top 4!"<br/><br/> Zwelli allows another minute of cheers and screams to shower us before coughing loudly to shut everyone up.<br/><br/> "Now, as many of you know, this is the first of three tournaments we hold, so we do not hold runner-up matches! The placements for third and fourth come purely from the first and second place. Thus, this year's fourth place, and winner of 200 Gold, is Liwuukay!"<br/><br/> Several people begin booing, and I don't realize it's not for me until people by the announcer's box begin throwing trash into it.<br/><br/> "Ah! Ei! Hey, stop that! Eep!"<br/><br/> A smirk grows on my face, and I wave my hand up and about. "Don't worry, you guys! I appreciate the support, but my place doesn't matter! I'm just happy to have been here with all of you!"<br/><br/> The crowd is silent for a moment before they burst into cheers again. I wave and smile, and in the corner of my eye I see Tilpott and Thequinies looking at me in disbelief, while Eniyala slaps her palm into her face in embarrassment.<br/><br/> "Is he always like this?" Tilpott whispers, and Eniyala nods. "I guess."<br/><br/> I, of course, am too enveloped in the cheers of my loyal fans to pay them any attention, though.<br/><br/> After letting the audience settle down, Zwelli finally speaks up. "How… nice. Anyways, in third place, and winner of 1,300 Gold and an Uncommon Skillchip of his choice, Tilpott Bezier!"<br/><br/> The cheers from the crowd come politely, but it is much shorter-lived this time, allowing Zwelli to continue quickly.<br/><br/> "In second, a fan-favorite, and certainly one of mine, Eniyala Ignios! She's receiving 2,000 Gold and a Rare Skillchip of her choice!"<br/><br/> Several boyish screeches and men yelling permeate the stadium, and Eniyala pays them no mind, instead opting to pull out her phone and text someone. The boys only cheer harder, before finally enough are smacked by their wives or girlfriends that the rest die off.<br/><br/> "Yeeeah! Oh, ahem, anyways, our champion, who won it all, plus 7,000 Gold and a Super Rare Skillchip that he can choose… Theq… Theniqua… Theqenny… Rarara!!"<br/><br/> Thequin— no, Rarara throws his hands up in a 'what the fuck?' gesture as the stands erupt into cheers, and I lean past Tilpott and Eniyala next to me and pat his shoulder. "I know the feeling," I whisper, and he gives me a 'still salty' look before turning his head away.<br/><br/> The cheers last a while, mostly held on by members of the spectators that were dressed similarly to the Berserker. While they held it out, four people in suits emerged from the wall, placing a medal around each of our necks. Mine is bronze, Tilpott's is silver, Eniyala's is gold, and dear Rarara's was platinum. As we leave the arena, the people who watched our fight to the top gave us one last cheer, and it was truly over. <br/><br/> Once we were underneath the stadium again, more suits, as I found myself calling them, gave us each our own cube. Eniyala and I instantly store ours in our Inventories, which I had recently taught her how to do as well. Well, I told her the premise of it and the feeling of doing so, the rest of which she figured out herself. <br/><br/> The interesting thing was, she only had ten slots, not fifteen.<br/><br/> Shaking my head clear, I walk with her after saying our goodbyes to the other two and exchanging contacts, and we walk towards the exit in silence.<br/><br/> "Are you mad you didn't win?" I ask after the long silence drew on for too long.<br/><br/> She shakes her head gently. "Are you?"<br/><br/> "No. It feels weird. It's like…"<br/><br/> She bumps into my shoulder with her own, having to jump a bit to do so. "That's what the excitement of growing stronger really feels like, doofus."<br/><br/> I look down at my hands. Before, they had been soft and gentle, and aside from being constantly scraped up, Luke's hands had been the same. Now they were beginning to get rough from my constant use of a sword, and my body was springy and tough, but also flexible. I could feel all these things.<br/><br/>[DEX: 17]<br/><br/> It may not seem like much, but it was 17 times more than what I originally had. <br/><br/> "What a positive way of thinking about it," I murmur to myself with a smile. Eniyala jabs her finger into my cheek. "Share with the party, weirdo."<br/><br/> I roll my eyes. "Yeah, yeah, Miss Know-It-All. Just… I've come really far in a month. That's all. Oh, and, thanks for helping me out so much, I guess."<br/><br/> Her eyes soften. "Sometimes I forget you have so little knowledge of Puria."<br/><br/> "What was that?"<br/><br/> She hardens her face. "What was what? Are you going crazy again? Unless you mean me saying you should be on your knees praising me. Just a normal thanks isn't enough."<br/><br/> I sigh, a smile creeping on my face. "Sure, dork. Maybe when we get back to Estraia."<br/><br/> She nods, forcing down a smile of her own. "Let's go, loser."<br/><br/> "Right behind you, Number TWO."<br/><br/> "Hey, you can't talk shit about that when you lost to me!"<br/><br/> She giggles a bit, and we continue to banter back and forth until we exit the back doors, coming face-to-face with a large mound of muscle with a curly green tuft on top, and a black blob.<br/><br/> "Hey Lynsel. Yorun."<br/><br/> Eniyala gives them a wave as I fist bump Lynsel. I offer one to the emo, but he looks at it distastefully.<br/><br/> "So, you guys are leaving soon, huh?" Yorun states. "That sucks. Oh well, maybe we'll see each other again or something, I guess. Or not."<br/><br/> He shrugs, giving a small wave and turning to leave.<br/><br/> "Wait!" Eniyala says suddenly. "I get you hate goodbyes, but that's a bit cold, isn't it? Also, I was thinking… maybe you could join us?"<br/><br/> Yorun snorts. "I'm not a fighter, so I won't be much help to you. Thanks but no thanks."<br/><br/> An evil smirk grew on my face, and my arm clamps down around his shoulder before he could leave.<br/><br/> "We already have one non-combatant. What's another? You know, I think you and I got off on the wrong foot. Plus, you'll get to meet Eniyala's father!"<br/><br/> Eniyala coughs. "Uh, actually—"<br/><br/> "So you're coming? Great!"<br/><br/> Yorun looks like he wants to complain, but a covert death stare shuts him up instantly.<br/><br/> I happily pat his shoulder as Eniyala and Lynsel double check with each other to make sure they have everything.<br/><br/> "Oh, by the way," I call out to Lynsel, who tilts his head towards me. "Yes?"<br/><br/> I pull out a shortsword from my Inventory and toss it to him. "I know you don't fight, but if worse comes to worse, use this to protect yourself."<br/><br/> He catches it timidly; the blade seems so small in his hands it almost looks like a butterknife. After a long moment, he nods. "Okay. Thank ya."<br/><br/> I nod once in reply. Yorun raises his hand up next to me. "Uh, what about me?"<br/><br/> I shrug. "Whoops. Guess you shoulda said something yesterday, I didn't know you were coming."<br/><br/> He gives me a dirty look, which I ignore and help Lynsel attach his new sheath to his hip.<br/><br/> "Alright! We're all ready, so let's head out!" I exclaim, and we all head for the west gate of the city.<br/><br/>- - -<br/><br/> "Klum!"<br/><br/> "I got it, Eni! Focus on the last two!"<br/><br/> I dash towards the frenzied pair of Bulls that are charging the two frozen bystanders of our party.<br/><br/>[Skill Fury Slash was activated.]<br/>[Skill Sprint+ was activated.]<br/><br/> I speed up, closing the distance to the two behinds of the angry animals. Once I'm close enough, I slam my foot into the ground and leap up, bouncing off the hoof of an extended leg for one of the Bulls. Its balance is thrown off due to my second jump, and it falls to the ground clumsily.<br/><br/> I land on the back of the second Bull, looking down.<br/><br/>[Skill Critical Sight was activated.]<br/>['Head' was selected.]<br/><br/> Bending my knees, I whirl my blade around, cutting into its skull right behind its left eye.<br/><br/>[Critical Mark was hit. Dmg was adjusted to 500%.]<br/><br/> CRACK!<br/><br/> The Bull's head splits open, and I diagonally cut its face off. "Oops," I note as a wave of blood and brain matter washes over the two's shoes, an unreactive glaze over their eyes. "…My bad."<br/><br/> A snarling moo from behind me alerts me that the other Bull is back on its feet. I turn to see it staring me down. "Guess I managed to pull aggro."<br/><br/>(A/N: In case you didn't know, aggro is a term used by gamers in role-playing games to describe having an enemy focus on you.)<br/><br/> It begins charging towards me, and I dash forward to meet it. I swing my blade in an upside down V shape, cutting through both of its eyes. It screams in pain, shaking its head back and forth furiously. I grab the end of its horn as it swipes past, nearly yanking my shoulder out of its socket, but I use it to swing onto the head of the beast, before plunging my blade down into its brain and killing it instantly.<br/><br/> As it collapses I roll off and land on my back, breathing heavily. Eniyala appears in my vision, the two-color sky behind her half-matching, half-contrasting her cascading hair as she stares at me. "Took you long enough."<br/><br/> "Yeah, yeah," I grumble in reply as I sit up, tossing UnHoly Raze to the side into my Inventory.<br/><br/> "Hey guys?" Lynsel says cautiously, looking at the side of the large hill we're on. By Galeise, there's plenty of small hills surrounding the city, but after we pass this larger one, it turns all into flat plains. We would be able to see Estraia once we reached the top of this hill. Bulls shouldn't have been this far either, but there had been barely any by Galeise, and more of them heading this direction as we got closer. 'Something's wrong.'<br/><br/> As if confirming my thoughts, the large man points his meaty finger over the hill. "That rising smoke wouldn't happen to be where Estraia is located, would it?"<br/><br/> In alarm, Eniyala and I snap our eyes over to where he's pointing. "… Yeah. It is," I say in dumbfounded horror, scrambling to my feet and running towards it.</p>