Pettiness

Looking at the skill again, Kai couldn't help but frown slightly. He had felt something happen within his soul, and even though the skill was a Unique rarity, the name didn't exactly scream 'skill to do with souls'.

Plus, there was the whole fact that the skill had a Unique rarity and Kai had no idea where to place that on the tierlist of rarities.

There was also the problem that skill upgrades followed a common path. Common went to Uncommon, Uncommon went to Rare and so on and so forth.

But a Unique skill? That was something that Kai would have to figure out layer, he still had no idea what the skill did after all.

This skill relies on the users original concept of Stat Sparks. The user is able to ignite the potential of any of their stat sparks, fuelling its potential and amplifying the effected stat massively. However, after the user decides to let the ignited spark run out, the ignited stat will suffer a penalty depending on how long the stat was ignited.

Well, now Kai knew how any potential of a Unique skill would go.

It just didn't need an upgrade.

The skill would just continue to grow alongside Kai, the more stats he gained, the more stats he would gain when he ignited his Stat Sparks.

But the idea of a penalty afterwards definitely threw Kai off. And since it was depending on how long he ignited the stat, what would happen if he got into a prolonged fight?

Kai sighed, not really disappointed, but mainly curious. It wasn't like he was going to test the skill right now, considering that he had no idea how bad the backlash would be and he was about to be sold to some random being or kingdom.

And with that brand new skill, that concluded Kai's time in the tutorial shop.

There was still a couple of minutes left, but Kai had spent all his points and gone through all his purchases, making sure they worked like he had expected them to.

Still, there was a couple of questions he wanted to ask, and there was a perfectly suitable godly candidate to answer them.

Plus, Kai had to get closer to the wooden stand for his plan to work. Innocently, Kai slipped on his brand new storage ring as he approached the cat and its stand.

"So what's your name anyway, just so I know who to hit up if I ever want to buy something in the outside world."

It was an obvious attempt to butter it up so it would be more likely to answer his questions, but the cat simply smiled and played along.

"Names are a fickle thing, your name can be one thing but someone can call you something else. In my opinion, it would be better if people were called what they achieved, it adds a sort of charm to their title."

Kai simply sighed at the overcomplicated response. That was just a whole bunch of nothing. It seemed that the cat was set on not sharing its name, for whatever reason. They probably just wanted to have some sort of mysterious aura to them, considering that Kai had technically turned them into a cat in order to... convince himself to spend more points that he obviously would have spent anyway?

"Is there anything you can tell me about the five main Dimensions? I have a couple of points left over that I can give your for that information, think of it as you being an information broker."

The cat chuckled in approval. If it was anyone else it definitely would have just told them to go sit in the corner in silence for the last few minutes, but Kai had shown it some interesting things.

Plus, Kai had also made it more money than the majority of the participants combined, so they were willing to give him some info for cheap.

"Well, as you said, there's five main dimensions. However, while they're called the five main Dimensions, each of them is formed by multiple Subdimensions that have teamed up in order to have a better chance of winning the Tournament of Time."

Kai listened patiently as the cat talked, taking in all the information with the help of his tunic.

So the five Main Dimensions are just just different Subdimensions that combined into five different teams?

Kai frowned slightly.

"Then why doesn't every Subdimension join one of the five Main Dimensions?"

The cat quickly responded, a wise aura emanating from its body.

Not really, Kai was just trying to imagine a talking cat looking smart.

"The five Main Dimensions... have a type, of sorts. The Multiverse is vast, countless races, cosmic beings, gods, nearly anything that can be imagined exists in some shape or form.

Each respective Main Dimension only allow certain races or beings to join them, it could be considered a little racist, but that's the way it is."

Kai sighed again before asking another question.

"Can you tell me anything about any of the main Dimensions? What to expect or something like that?"

The cat chuckled once more.

"No, that information is worth a bit more than your few spare points. However, I'll let you know that, and this is to my surpise as well, you actually haven't been bought by anyone to do with a main Dimension."

Kai's eyes widened slightly.

"Really? How do you even know that?"

The cat smirked slightly, a gloating look on its cute feline face.

"I have my connections, a good shopkeeper always does, its good for business to have multiple sources. Then again, I only found out a couple of seconds ago."

Kai nodded, understanding what the cat meant, but then another question popped into his head.

"Wait, I got first, didn't I? You're telling me that they didn't want the participant who literally got first place?"

The cat shrugged in response.

"Oh no, they did bid on you, it's just that someone else managed to outbid them."

Kai's eyes widened slightly again.

"Seriously, someone managed to outbid some of the literal five Main Dimensions? Are they a big Subdimension or something? Like sixth place or something like that?"

The cat shrugged again.

"You'll find out in a few minutes, so there's no rush. Still, I'm a little surprised about who won you, it doesn't really make any sense."

Kai frowned slightly at the fact that the cat wouldn't reveal any more, they were now certain that they were going to go through with their plan at the final second.

"Well, can you at least tell me what they're like?"

The cat shook their head.

"No."

"How strong the Subdimension is?"

The cat shook their head again.

"No."

Kai sighed.

"What the weather is like?"

To Kai's dismay, the cat snickered this time before answering.

"Ah, no, but I'm sure you'll enjoy it, a tropical holiday of sorts."

Kai sighed again, accepting defeat.

"You're evil, you know that? I hope your business suffers for the next... twelve days."

The cat chuckled, glossing over Kai's childish provocation.

"Now now, that's no way to thank someone who just gave you information that's worth more than what you currently posses, thanks for the change by the way."

And with that, Kai watched as the remaining points he had decreased, reaching the depressing number of zero.

"And besides, you'll figure everything out in the next few minutes. Everything will be explained and that's the end of your tutorial."

Kai wasn't going to let it end there, he had to stall for time until the final second to enact his plan. Off the top of his head, Kai asked one final question to stall the final minute of his time in the tutorial shop.

"What's the Tournament of Time?"

The cat sighed wistfully at the question.

"That's the name of the tournament in which nearly every Subdimension in existence participates in in order to win protection from the Corroding. Each tournament is different from the last.

Be it that different levels have to compete, only certain class groups, once, there was even a tournament that only beings under the age of twenty were allowed to participate.

There was... a lot of lives lost in that one."

Kai grimaced slightly. So the Tournament of Time was all about winning time for your homeworld.

"How does it even work?"

The cat was silent in thought for a few moments, deciding the best way to answer.

"The only reason that the five Main Dimensions are called the five Main Dimensions is because they are the ones who have won the protection of the gods.

Long ago, nearly every god in existence, including me, signed a pact. Since it is absolutely impossible to prevent every Subdimension in existence from being Corroded, we all focus our efforts onto five Dimensions, those dimensions being decided by the Tournament of Time.

Of course, gods always want their own Subdimension to win, as such there is always some dodgy moments in the tournament. Be it judges being bribed or one of the rounds being rigged in general, nothing can be ruled out.

Still, the reason there is so many Subdimensions in each of the five Main Dimensions is to make sure that they always have the protection of the gods that signed the pact.

If another Subdimension were to make it into the top five, then one of the Main Dimensions, which would have a much higher population than a Subdimension, would be subjected to the Corroding again.

Still, there is always some beings that ascend and become gods, but they are normally pressured into signing the contract, helping to make sure that the five Main Dimensions stay safe.

That's also why they are called the five Main Dimensions, they have been the once to win the protection of the gods in nearly every Tournament of Time.

That, is how the Tournament of Time works."

Kai remained silent in thought. Nearly every god in existence had to work together to protect a measly five Dimensions?

Did that mean the Corroding was stronger than every god combined?

What sort of fucked up worlds were going to be on the other side of the tutorial?

Sadly, there was less than twenty seconds left for Kai in the tutorial shop, so he took a deep breath and sighed.

He rested a hand on the rickety wooden stand and reached the other one over the top, towards the cat.

"Well, it was nice to meet you, shopkeeper, I hope I get to meet you at some point in the future."

The cat snorted, then extended its tail and wrapped it around Kai's hand, performing a makeshift handshake.

"Sure, and maybe if I'm feeling generous I will give you a small discount."

Kai smiled softly as the timer reached three seconds. He shook his head slightly and said.

"Alright then, and maybe if I'm feeling generous I'll give this back."

At the last second, just as the timer hit zero, Kai grinned and... stored the rickety wooden stand that he had been resting his hand on in his brand new spatial storage.

Then, he was gone.

The cat sat there, shocked and staring blankly at where its wooden stand had just been. It got up off its stool and took a few steps forward.

Did that kid really just steal its stand?

The cat chuckled softly as it shook its head in defeat, making its way back over to the stool as its form started to return back to normal.

"That brat..."

The cat continued to chuckle as its body grew in size, them getting ready to get back to running their multiple normal shops.

The future was definitely going to be entertaining, especially because of some of the participants of this tutorial.

Meanwhile, Kai was happy that his plan had succeded, he had stolen the stand and tested that his storage ring had worked.

But that wasn't the main reason he had done it, the cat had annoyed him, so he got him back.

After all, what was Kai if not petty?