172 Leaving an Impression (1/2)

Torix nodded his head, ”He is quite resilient.”

Tohtella sighed, ”Then if you all agree with his plan, I will trust in your competence as a whole.”

Torix turned to me, ”I will blanket the landing position with darkness. This will prevent us from luring in a horde of angry silvers.”

A message popped up in front of me,

Torix Worm, of Darkhill(Giess: 3/04/26) - It will hide your identity. I will give another spare suit of armor. Put it on before you leave the magic field.

I grinned, holding down a laugh, ”Alright, sounds like a good idea to me.”

Tohtella gave us a curt nod, ”I'll organize the necessary medical supplies for treating the yana infestations. The slaves will need immediate detox and surgical treatments.”

I frowned, ”That was something I've meant to ask. How are the slaves able to live there? I saw them eating that sludge. There's no way they should be alive.”

Tohtella bit her lip. She adjusted her glasses, ”Part of my work involves researching the silvers. One of the most reliable sources of information involves old legends from gialgathens.”

She waved a hand, ”Particularly in regards to the yana worms. Gialgathens view yana as mythical, terrifying creatures. They are one of the only silvers that can threaten gialgathens. Though it isn't widely known, the highest punishment in gialgathen culture involves the yana.”

Tohtella jotted something on her notes, ”They would infest a traitor with the worms and throw them deep into silver territory with clipped wings. This is a slow death sentence, one where the beast loses its mind as the yana take over.”

I grimaced. The first zombie gialgathen I fought on Giess was a result of that punishment. Well, probably.

Tohtella continued, ”They learned several characteristics about the yana during those punishments. The host feeds the yana sludge. The yana then excretes nutrients in turn. My own findings verified this.”

Althea shook her head, ”That's disgusting.”

Torix nodded, ”Indeed it is, but it's useful information. Are the gialgathens doing this as well?”

Tohtella shook her head, ”There metabolisms can tolerate silver flesh despite it being loaded with toxins.”

I raised my eyebrows, ”Wow. Alright then, well that's even more reason to kill the Skyburners then.”

One of the bottom floor doors opened. Kessiah walked out, her veil covering her. Tohtella turned to her. After a few seconds, her gaze turned sharp,

”You didn't tell me that you had another revenant with you?”

Kessiah raised a hand, ”Yo, who are you?”

Tohtella crossed her arms, ”I'm Tohtella Adair. You may call me Miss Adair.”

Kessiah rolled her eyes, ”Ok Miss Adair. I'm Kessiah Crow. Looks like you saw through my disguise right away. Sucks I had to put it on.”

Tohtella adjusted her glasses, ”It's due to your low level.”

Kessiah tilted her head, ”Low is a little harsh, don't you think?”

Tohtella raised a hand to her, ”No. It's not. The Crow clan is famous for their physical augmentations and Blood Arts. Not even level 3,000 is a travesty considering your birth.”

Kessiah crossed her arms, walking in front of Tohtella, ”Oh, so you know a thing or two?”

Tohtella raised her head, her chin high, ”Yes. I do know quite a bit, like how you're a rather bitter disappointment.”

I turned to Tohtella and snapped,

”Kessiah's a friend. You shit on her, then you're shitting on me. Understand?”

Tohtella glared up at me. She sighed, composing herself, ”It's...I'm sorry. Please excuse me.”

Tohtella waved her hands, ”This discussion is over either way. We've formulated a plan. I will go about handling the details. Will tonight work for you all?”

We nodded. I kept my gaze on Tohtella as she walked out. As the door closed, I turned to Kessiah, ”Any idea where that came from?”

Kessiah shrugged, ”I don't know. She's got problems though, that's for sure.”

Torix sighed, ”It's best we do not assume much. Now, I'll go prepare the necessary scrolls, gems, and supplies. You all do as you will.”

Althea stood up, weaving between furniture to me. She wrapped her hands around me, ”Hey big guy. That was sexy standing up to her like that.”

I smiled at her, ”Eh, I try.”

Althea raised her eyebrows, ”Oh, wait a minute. Did you forget what today is?”

I creased my brows, ”Er, maybe.”

Althea smirked, ”I'll give you a hint...tournament.”

I smacked my facemask, ”Oh fuck. I completely forgot.”

I hugged Althea, ”Sorry, got to go.”

She giggled, ”Try not to crash through a wall getting there.”

I opened my dimensional storage. I tore open three packs of rations, pouring them down my throat. I tossed the bags into the garbage, running outside. I dashed into the elevator, tapping my foot with impatience. After reaching the bottom, I leaped over a crowd of people in the lobby.

After swishing through the doors, I pulled myself up over the crowds with magic. I floated over the hordes of espens and aliens, reaching the stadium in seconds. I ran inside, running out the bleachers. I looked around, finding the seating for combatants.

I jumped over the crowd, keeping myself light with a touch of gravity magic. I landed in my previous chair. I leaned back into my seat, opening my status. I checked the tournament rankings online with my obelisk. I tilted my head back, sinking into my chair with relief. There was still a fight left before I was up.

As I relaxed, Eradin shouted at me from afar, ”Here I believed you might miss our fated duel?”

I shook my head, ”Almost. I had some business to take care of earlier today.”

Eradin chuckled, ”Good. I hope you're ready for a friendly thrashing.”

I laughed back, ”Only if you are too.”

I watched the next fight while keeping my eyes closed. This trained Hunter of Many. At the same time, I heated and cooled my favorite chunk of orichalcum. Putting myself under some stress, I trained my mental skills at the same time as well.

With all that going on, the fight in front of me dragged on forever. Two fighters like Jilian fought one another. They both unloaded hundreds of shells at each other. I tuned it out after half an hour, focusing on my own skills.

My mind wandered as I adapted to the mental stress. The entire tournament progressed oddly. It wasn't straightforward with one person versus another. It involved an intricate set of branches, each designed for an outcome.

For example, every gialgathen began the tournament by fighting another gialgathen. This halved the pool of gialgathens that other combatants had to face. Whoever organized the competition did everything they could to make the gialgathens lose.

I stopped my exercises, ready for my next fight. I scrolled through the previous tournament's rosters. For the last decade, every one of them involved gialgathens facing each other exclusively. This meant only one gialgathen fought on into the upper ranks of the tourney.

I frowned at it. It was a biased schedule that tried eliminating the gialgathens. The gialgathens were so strong, however, that it didn't work. A Breaker would need to join the tournament to win. I doubted many of them found the time between completing bounties.

I closed my status, irritated at whoever ran this thing. I sighed, calming myself and readying myself for the next fight. Mental Preparation leveled up as one of the gunmen collapsed from exhaustion. Kiki Mosk raised a hand,

”And that is Kelevar's defeat. Give a hand to Moisc!”

Next to no one cheered. For once, I sympathized with the crowd's reaction. Neither fighter stood a chance against a gialgathen. They wasted the crowd's time with an hour-long bout of boredom. It let me level a few skills at least.

With the snooze fest over, Kiki Mosk raised a hand, ”And now for the final four fights for the Yildraza sector. After this, the winner will go on to compete against the best of the best in Giess's oldest city, Choria! There, the tournament's victor will be decided.”

He gestured towards me, ”We have an exhibition of talent on display today. We have the unstoppable Daniel Hillside, a newcomer with a brutal reputation of dominance.”

A light flashed over me. I sighed, going through the motions of raising my hand and riling up everybody. Kiki continued,

”He'll be fighting four combatants in a row today to test if he's as invincible as they say! After all, the true test of a fighter is overcoming adversity.”

I rolled my shoulders. If I were struggling, I'd call bullshit on this kind of thing. As if though, I counted my blessings. This meant I didn't need to spend forever waiting for my fights anymore. I could finish this in one hour if I hurried.