Deception and More Trials

Magnus did not know what Hei-ran was thinking.

All he knew was that his performance was nearing its end. And he was going to have the final say.

Thus, he grabbed out with his hand after one more dodge. The gravity points he had left in the air all hummed with Spirit Energy as a grand influx of power supplemented their pulling strength.

He then made a vague gesture.

The orbs began rotating at a rapid pace, pulling in dust particles and creating a spiralling ball of dust, mimicking his signature Event Horizon.

Then, Magnus made another gesture. The spheres all began to revolve around the central sphere. The scene on the stage was now that of miniature black holes all orbiting around the main one.

It was a frightening yet mesmerizing sight. The spiral motions and the rhythmic pulses of energy were enough to lull a baby to sleep.

On top of that, all was silent save for the soft sound of,

Whoom whoom whoom whoom whoom!

The air hummed with faint traces of power, as Magnus poured his Spirit Energy into the display. Three Curses and a Spirit Beast allowed him to tap into so much more energy than normal people could. Although regeneration was dependent on which member of the Hivemind was active, just having the reserves freely accessible was a huge boon.

"Come!" Magnus grabbed at the stunned Hei-ran and dragged her towards the ground.

Losing her ability of flight, Hei-ran was helpless against the forces of natural gravity. She crashed onto the ground, just barely being able to spread the impact over a roll.

Magnus then breathed.

The entire array began moving, descending like a galaxy moving through space.

Magnus watched as Hei-ran wielded her sword, pouring Spirit Energy into her blade and slashing as if desiring to cut apart mountains.

Crack!

The audience witnessed as a fine line of Spirit Energy appeared where Hei-ran slashed, tearing apart the gravitational points that Magnus had created as they crashed downwards.

Hei-ran braced herself as she awaited an explosion. Her slash was meant to deal with any explosive forces born by uncontrolled Spirit Energy.

But none came.

"What...?" She did not know what was wrong.

Her eyes shrank, as she kept at her defensive form, stupefied.

"Gravity Reversal!" Magnus named this event, allowing the shout caster to have knowledge of it in the future.

Thud!

A massive force moving opposite of what Hei-ran was used to suddenly exploded forth.

Instead of being pulled, she was suddenly being pushed.

Thankfully, she had braced herself beforehand. Her feet stayed planted on the ground as her blade sliced against the forces that went against her like raging rhinos.

She parted the torrent of Spirit Energy that emulated gravity.

That was until she felt something lift her off her feet.

'No!' She inwardly cried out as she was flung outwards, towards the edge of the stage.

She looked behind her and discovered a stray gravity point, sitting at the edge of the stage. It pulled at her body and sent her out of bounds.

Her defeat was set in stone.

"OHHHHHH!!!!" The shout caster was screaming into the mic, "The series of deceptive techniques used by Fighter 262 was astounding! He had foreseen the possibility of Hei-ran having the ability to cut against his gravity so he used her own confidence, her own ideas, against her just like he used the flames of Valentine in his displays! Magnificently done!"

Magnus smiled. He bowed to the audience as they applauded his performance and boarded the platform to descend the stage.

That was his second fight and probably his second victory.

.

.

.

"Mr Avary!" A familiar voice called out to him just as he returned to the waiting room. "Congratulations on your win! How do you think of those techniques in the middle of a battle? It's amazing!"

Amber was jumping around in excitement. She was in awe of the way Magnus fought.

"Thanks," Magnus replied with a smile as he spoke, "It's just guesswork. I just use my brain to you know... think about ways I can lose."

"Thinking about ways you can lose?" Amber seemed to have an epiphany, "I-I see, that makes sense. Thank you, Mr Avary!"

Magnus waved her off as he walked out of the venue once more. He felt twice as many eyes on him again. He lowered his head, dove into the crowd, and began his invocation.

"I am the master and maker of the Hivemind,

The mind behind minds,

The one who stands above humanity,

And the one civilizations despise."

Switching with Javelin, Magnus disappeared in a flash of light and hid within an alleyway as a cat. All those eyes that were trained on him vanished.

"He's gone again!"

"Did anyone see that light?"

"Was he summoned?"

"He definitely was! That was a summoning!"

Voices rang in Magnus' ear as he inwardly chuckled. He was having fun messing with his pursuers like this.

Even when tracking Blessings were used, they would never be able to spot Magnus himself since he was sneaking around as a cat.

He was hidden from the view of normal people despite being trackable through Blessings.

Today, Magnus' battle happened quite late. There wasn't much daylight time left, leaving Magnus wondering where to go.

"Should I try looking for Hal and Bonny?" Magnus had a fleeting thought but decided on something else.

He wasn't sure where those two were, and the likelihood of another coincidence occurring was low. Meeting them by accident was thus off the list.

'I'll linger around the arena then,' Magnus decided. 'I'll see what kind of factions are keeping an eye on this place.'

.

.

.

There was a lot of talks on which talents would work well in any said faction. Normal citizens, as well as those affiliated with a faction, were all talking about which talents might be scouted by whom.

The main candidates of the talk were the students of Havenboiled, as well as the darkhorse, Magnus Avary.

Hearing a few recruiters dissect his battle style, Magnus felt weird. He learned about his weaknesses and one of those weaknesses are speedy ranged attacks.

If any contestant had carried a gun, he would've had a hard time.

Too bad for them, guns weren't the most nice-to-look-at weapon as their shots were basically invisible to the naked eye. Nobody wielded them in the tournament. At least, so far.

"Someone might just randomly bring a gun and shoot me," Magnus meowed to himself and he laughed at such a possibility.

Unfortunately, it was a real possibility.

After a performance in battle, they suddenly bring out a gun and shoot him—such an event could very well happen.

Magnus now had to worry about such a problem.

'Now that I think about it, at my level of being a 1-star threat, guns are still lethal. Is this why Klaris wanted that rifle so bad? But all adults naturally achieve 1-star. Achieving the level of 2-stars and 3-stars is possible with enough training.'

How did the others nullify the threat of guns?

Magnus had yet to figure out how.

It was then, a Scroll appeared before his face.

'Oh shit!' Magnus thought, realising that it would be weird for a cat to receive a scroll.

Thus, after pouncing and hugging the Scroll, Magnus hurriedly hid within a small space. Sensing that it was safe, Magnus unfurled the Scroll with his paws and read the familiar handwriting.

[[ Heyo~ It's me again! How are you guys? It has been several days since the last Scroll I sent. More than half a month, right? I'm still hoping for a way for you guys to communicate with me. ]]

[[ As for these new, extra Trials—yes there's an "s" there—they are centred around information gathering. The deadline for completion is the same day that the previous Trial would end. In short, as you infiltrate society, you need to learn about these things. If not, you die. As usual. Rewards come as you complete them. Some may even receive them instantly after this. ]]

[[ Learn the customs, learn of the world, and finally, learn a Spirit Technique. They sound simple, right? I assure you they are not. Customs likely mean the traditions and the mannerisms of the people. The world likely means basic geographical stuff, the governing bodies, and the way day and night works here. As for Spirit Techniques... those are what makes everything hard. Your best bet is to learn them through a faction. That's all I can guess. ]]

[[ Do your best to survive, all. Be careful of who you befriend. For Earth! ]]

[[ -The Jester ]]

Poof! Poof!

Two Scrolls instantly appeared before Magnus just as he finished reading the Scroll that The Jester sent him.

Magnus unfurled both of them at the same time.

[[ One-Time Transport Scroll ]]

[[ Choose a city in your area to instantly move to. Write its name down on the Scroll. Tear to be transported. ]]

[[ Monster Continent Visitation Scroll ]]

[[ Tear to visit the Monster Continent. Time limit: One month. Can be cancelled anytime using the Scroll that will be sent to you when you arrive. ]]

"Oh my," Magnus was definitely surprised by the contents of these two Scrolls.

The One-Time Transport Scroll was pretty useful in his future plans, but at the same time, it would be suspicious if he suddenly appeared in the middle of a city. People would instantly know that he was an Earthling if he was seen.

'I would have to use Klaris when I tear open that scroll.'

As for the Monster Continent, Magnus only heard a few stories about it. It was a self-explanatory place. Monsters roamed about the entire continent, dining on anything and everything possible.

The monsters of Thare did not follow a food chain and were not bound to attributes like those on Tyrm. They just ate and ate. Herbivores, carnivores, and scavengers, did not exist.

As long as it was edible, these monsters would eat. Similar to Spirit Beasts, it was for the purpose of growth. The more they ate, the stronger they got.

"I can definitely make use of this in the future..."

Magnus still had a lot to do before he could go to the Monster Continent, after all.