Spiteful Healer

Two weeks went by quickly. There was little to no small talk between Aegis and his companions as they trained rigorously in the Rene training grounds. Scarcely could they be found taking breaks, each eager to test out their new abilities and master them.

Rather than be physically exhausting, though, the training was mentally straining. The virtual world relied solely on the players thoughts to execute actions, and the actions and focus required to execute their intense training gameplay was enormous. Aegis found himself desiring sleep much more often than usual, alternating from sleeping in-game and out of game as did the others.

Lina showed enthusiasm to train with Aegis, but held back any reservations about hurting him in favor of improving herself and guaranteeing their victory in the upcoming tournament. Darkshot, who initially found himself lacking and completely unable to land a single arrow on Aegis, stopped with any jokes and sarcastic remarks and instead focused on improving himself and his aim. After a great amount of effort, and altering his shooting style several times, he managed to find a strategy that allowed arrows to hit Aegis without him properly anticipating them, forcing Aegis to alter his own defensive strategy.

Herilon’s relentless attacks seemed mindless, but the power behind them helped Aegis learn how to brace heavy attacks and minimize the impact they had on his stance. The greatsword wielder didn’t lean too heavily into finesse and relied solely on brute force, which eventually made Aegis capable of reading the attacks and dealing with them. After that, Herilon seemed to just enjoy wailing on Aegis like he was a new toy punching bag he had to play with, much to Sapphire’s dismay as she was forced to heal through his damage.

Rakkan, on the other hand, was proving to be Aegis’ biggest issue. While others took breaks more often, Rakkan was determined to go beyond the hours the others were willing to put in, forcing Aegis to entertain him long past exhaustion. Rakkan’s echo control started off somewhat predictable for Aegis, due to him having seen him fight with the echos so many times before. But very quickly, Rakkan adapted to Aegis’ style and started taking Pyri’s words to heart, mentally batching certain attack patterns together with each of his echoes, then mix and matching the combinations in various ways to throw Aegis off.

After the first week, it became somewhat impossible for Aegis to predict what Rakkan would do to break through his defenses and he was forced to instead play much more reactively to contend with the relentless assault of his echoes and his main body. Due to this, though, in the second week the players stopped all coming at Aegis at once, and lowered it down to one or two at a time, sparring with each other instead.

As for Lina, catching her no longer seemed possible given her new skills. Aegis couldn’t rely on shadow positions to foresee where Lina might shadowstep to, as Lina’s new advanced class was allowing her to throw shadows around and hide within them. The only true countermeasure he had was activating aura of light, but even then she found ways to get close to him, often using the shadows of other attacking players as they charged at Aegis. Her favorite move quickly became shadow stepping out from under Herilon’s cloak as he charged Aegis, then dashing around to get at Aegis from behind.

In the breaks between their training, Amlie often came with fresh produce picked from her farm fields. Aegis took the time to cook them utilizing his best known recipes, and the group then sat around the training grounds eating, mostly in silence. Their eyes said everything for them, though, as they spent most of the time staring at their weapons and pondering new methods of attacks they could get out of their classes skills.

Aegis, above all others, had adjusted his style of combat the most, however. Initially, his reliance on the shield on his left arm to block attacks was a staple of his fighting style, but slowly, he stopped trying to use it in favor of making use of his shield projections. Once he was able to continuously dodge and block attacks without the use of his actual shield, he adapted his style to place his shield on his back and free up both of his clawed hands, using them to parry or become offensive while simultaneously blocking strikes with shield projections.

Still, he found his offensive style lacking due to the nature of how the claws were used. He repeatedly felt the urge to swing his fists around as if he was punching, but that didn’t work with the sharp claws extending out of the tips of his fingers. This brought him along the idea of modifying the gloves using his crafting skills, so that the claws didn’t protrude out of the ends of his fingers, but rather his knuckles.

In a long downtime session between the first and second weeks, he did exactly that, making careful use of his artistry skill along with his other crafting skills to modify the weapon without damaging their usefulness.

After he’d made the change he felt a lot more comfortable utilizing the claws and swinging his fists around. He was able to parry attacks by waving his empty hands out at them, though tried to avoid doing so as parrying didn’t negate damage nearly as well as his shield projections did.

The wings are what caused him the most difficulty, though. He had very limited time to practice with them, given the nature of the cooldown and the short duration that they could be active each day. It took him the entire first week to figure out how to just use them to fly around, and even then he wasn’t really good at it. Twice he flew up far too high and then lost control, nearly plummeting to his death if not for the intervention of Rakkan, Darkshot and Lina.

Due to the monotonous nature of Aegis’ streams, his viewership had dipped down quite a lot over their training weeks. The excitement around the tournament continued to build up, however, and his viewership would randomly spike anytime his name was mentioned by other combatants. Feng, Makaroth and Seraxus however all made a point of not mentioning anything about Aegis’ participation in the tournament, as if all of them were certain he wasn’t going to be there.

On the evening of the 15th day of training was when Pyri finally returned to Rene, looking just as exhausted as the others due to purple rings having formed under her in-game character's eyes.

“How’s everyone doing?” Pyri called out to them, announcing her presence as the others were in the midst of clashing their mithral. Her voice prompted everyone to give it a rest and look towards her as she walked across the grounds with a smile on her face.

“Good. We’ve…” Aegis looked at Pyri, then paused to look over his tired companions - Darkshot grabbing his knees and breathing heavily due to low stamina. “We’ve all improved a lot, thanks to the tips you’ve given us.”

“I’m glad to hear. I’ve got some very powerful spell combinations, but…” Pyri stretched her arms up. “No time to show them off. We still haven’t qualified for the tournament, and we’ve only got a week left. Think it’s about time we get on that?”

“Uh…” Aegis looked to the others, unsure.

“Probably a good idea…” Herilon sighed and yawned, sheathing his greatsword on his back.

“Do you know how to qualify?” Sapphire raised a curious eyebrow at Aegis, detecting his uncertainty.

“We probably just need to do some preliminary matches, right?” Aegis replied, which caused Sapphire to roll her eyes at him.

“We need to earn gladiator points. Each participating party member needs to have a minimum of 100 points to enter the tournament. The easiest way for us to get those would be to just sign up for one of the open 5v5 tournaments. They’re hosted every 6 in-game hours. First place in one of those tournaments is 50 points.”

“Oh, so, we’d just need to win two within the next 7 days, right?” Aegis shrugged. “That doesn’t sound that bad.”

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“Nope, shouldn’t be.” Pyri smiled.

“Where do we sign up?” Aegis asked.

“Kordas.” Sapphire replied.

“Okay.” Aegis gave a nod, then looked over his tired companions. “You guys wanna head there now and check it out?”

“Sure.” Lina smiled.

“Let's do it.’ Darkshot shrugged.

“Yeah.” Rakkan nodded.

“Okie dokie. One Kordas portal coming right up!” Pyri cheered while waving her hands around. The familiar blue glow erupted from her fingertips, and moments later the floating magical doorway leading to Kordas opened up, allowing them to all step through it and appear on the altar of Kordas.

Despite it being late in the evening, the loud and ever bustling city of Kordas filled their ears with noisy chatter coming from the crowded paved streets laid out before them.

As they appeared, numerous players stopped to point and wave excitedly at Aegis, but he paid them no mind aside from polite smiles and returned waves.

“The Odin arena should have an NPC that allows us to sign up. That’s also where the gateway will appear to enter our matches.” Herilon explained as he took the lead, walking ahead of the others and moving into the busy streets. His large form had the nearby players and NPCs clearing a path for him as he gave no mind to what stood in front of him, walking forward with confidence. The others quickly followed behind him, as if using him as a bulldozer to clear a path through the streets.

“Once we’re qualified, I’ll use the rest of the time to try and raise up my unarmed skill through intermediate.” Aegis thought out loud to himself as they walked.

“Oho, so confident that you’ll qualify?” Sapphire responded.

“I think so… I mean, we’re pretty strong, aren’t we?”

“I guess…” She bit into a carrot loudly as she moved to walk beside Aegis. “You know the rules for the matches, right?”

“Is it the same as duels?”

“Yup. That means after 10 minutes, no more healing. So if you end up relying too much on your healing, you’ll quickly find that your opponents will start intentionally waiting out the clock.” Sapphire replied.

“They can try…” Pyri replied smugly, causing the others to grin at her. It wasn’t long before the group of 7 players arrived at the grand Odin coliseum of Kordas. It's been a long while since Aegis had last laid his eyes upon it, but it was just as he remembered it. Large stone statues of great warriors carved out front, standing tall to flank the entrance to the large building. Many players and NPCs were walking about, chatting excitedly with one another.

Some were arguing about who was stronger, others were looking for companions to enter tournaments together. Their levels varied greatly, but it served to remind Aegis just how many players were participating in the game world - from PvPers to crafters, all enjoying it in their own way.

Once they stepped under the archway leading into the building itself, Aegis could see at the end of the long, wide hallway the large arena sitting out on the other side. That is not where Herilon led them, though. Instead, he turned off to the left down through a set of double doors and into another large chamber, with several booths built into the walls on the far side. Behind each booth was an NPC, and several of the booth NPCs were already in conversation with other players.

“There, that one is open. You guys should be able to register your party for one of the upcoming 5v5 tournaments there.” Herilon pointed towards one booth with an idle NPC, staring blankly forward and waiting patiently for his next customer.

“Right. Let’s do it.” Aegis smiled and rubbed his hands together excitedly, then lead the others forward towards the NPC. The moment Aegis came into his peripheral vision, the young human male NPC locked eyes with Aegis and began speaking in a chipper voice.

“Welcome. How may I help you today? Are you looking to register for a competitive PvP match?” The NPC asked.

“Yes. We’d like to sign up for the next 5v5 tournament, as a team of five.” Aegis motioned to Lina, Rakkan, Darkshot and Pyri who stood eagerly behind him.

“The next tournament will have its first round of matches in 1 hour. Unfortunately, all slots have already been filled.” The NPC replied politely.

“Oh. Okay… how about the one after that, then?” Aegis asked.

“The following tournament will begin its first round of matches in 7 hours. Unfortunately, all available slots have been filled.”

“Hm.” Aegis pursed his lips to the side. “And the next one?”

“The following tournament will begin in 13 hours. Unfortunately, all slots have already been filled.”

“That’s a bit odd, those tournaments usually have a lot of slots. I mean, they’re cross-island, but still…” Herilon looked on suspiciously.

“When are the next available slots open?” Aegis asked the NPC curiously.

“The next tournament with open slots to be filled will occur in approximately 9 days.” The NPC answered nonchalantly.

“What?” Herilon blurted out loudly in disbelief. Aegis let out a long drawn out sigh and rolled his eyes as frustration waved over the others. “That’s impossible. There’s no way every single tournament is slotted full? That’d take thousands of qualified players? Minimum level to join is 31, isn’t it?”

“The minimum level required to register for a tournament is 31. You are correct.” The NPC replied robotically.

“You gotta be kidding me. We did all that training for nothing?” Darkshot groaned.

“I don’t get it. How are they all full? PvP has never been this popular. Even with the hype building up for it by VGN…” Rakkan asked no one in particular. Aegis didn’t answer him, but rather turned his attention back to Sapphire after exchanging a knowing look with Pyri.

“What other ways are there to earn points?” Aegis asked.

“Uh, I guess if you guys split up into the 3v3 and 2v2 brackets, you guys could earn enough points that way, then qualify for the monthly tournament.” Sapphire shrugged. Immediately upon hearing this, Aegis turned back to the NPC.

“Are there any slots available for 2v2 and 3v3 tournament brackets?”

“The next available slots for registration in a 3v3 tournament is in… 9 days. The next available slots available for a 2v2 tournament is in… 9 days.” The NPC replied robotically.

“No fucking way, how is that possible?” Herilon asked in disbelief.

“You really gotta ask?” Sapphire replied.

“If I’m spiteful, he’s petty.” Aegis grumbled to himself.

“Unbelievable.” Pyri shook her head to herself.

“They’re really that scared of us that they are resorting to such tactics?” Lina was also expressing disbelief. “They’d have to hire thousands and thousands of players and pay them to register, to get this sort of outcome…” Her voice trailed off, and following this, the others went silently into thought.

“So that’s it? All the training was for nothing, huh?” Darkshot asked.

“If we can’t get into any of those tournaments, there’s no way for us to earn the points needed to qualify for the monthly tournament.” Rakkan shrugged.

“We waited too long to register?” Darkshot groaned.

“Nah. Even if we came earlier, this likely would’ve been the outcome.” Aegis shook his head.

“What should we do, then?” Lina asked, as all eyes fell on Aegis. Aegis looked towards Sapphire, hoping her knowledge might provide an alternative solution, but as he locked eyes with her, she shrugged back sympathetically. Eventually, after pondering it, Aegis decidedly shut his stream off completely.

“That’s not going to help, the damage is already done.” Herilon commented. “Without any slots available in any structured tournament, you guys can’t qualify.”

“As far as we know…” Aegis said to himself, allowing the others to listen to his thoughts. “But, there might be another way to qualify that we don’t know about.”

“Heh?” Sapphire raised her eyebrows at him.

“If we don’t know about it, it doesn’t really help us, does it?” Pyri shook her head at him.

“Yeah, it does. Because we know someone who knows all about the underworkings of the game, and the shady ways to get things done.” Aegis looked up and began walking forward, leading the others out of the coliseum as they quickly followed closely behind him. “Can you let Quinn know? We’re going to be paying a visit to the Kordas Prison.”

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