Chapter 74: Teaching Caution

It’s said that Lumesh finally found William Oh one of those nights of searching for his missing jaw. He possessed one of William’s servants, a black dragon, prince among his kind, aiming for revenge against William Oh.

The god of Death leveraged his power to dominate the will of the dragon, which resisted with its ancient raw will. Through the conflict, the lines began to blur, the two fused to become something…more.

That’s why Loth the Luminary is often associated with the God of the Underworld.

Because going up against William Oh’s second in command is the second quickest way to find yourself meeting Lumesh.

• Jason Salazar

“That, my friends…is Lord material right there.” Baron Akul said to his guests as the youngling walked off the stage. It was a difference of night and day. Lord don’t have dramatic, entertaining matches where either side might lose. They crush their enemies, and oftentimes do so in a way that the enemy never even saw it coming.

“You sure I can’t have him as a Vassal?” Rotwitch asked. “I need servants with high Resistance.”

“You don’t get any new Vassals until you learn to keep your hands off of them.” Bakton said, his scarred arms crossed and scowling.

The other Lords nodded in agreement.

“You guys suck.” Rotwitch pouted, her metal chair rapidly tarnishing beneath her.

“Remember, gentlemen…lady,” Akul said, glancing at Rotwitch. “We’ve all agreed that he is not to be made a Vassal if he wins the tournament. If he does lose the tournament, you have all agreed to abide by the rules of the auction. If you wish to operate in my city, you must keep your word.”

“From what I’ve seen, I am already eager to bid on him, but I was told the boy could steal Relics. So far, I’ve seen none of that.” Ghoul said, frowning.

“Hasn’t had to use it yet.” Marksman said with a shrug, his eyes glowing as he studied the young man. Akul was sure he had some means to peek into another person’s Status.

“Next up is my grandson,” Akul said, leaning back in his chair. “I’m hoping he can make Wiliam Oh demonstrate more of his Abilities and create a better showcase for bidding…if William loses, of course. I asked the boy to make a show of it.”

“Which one?” Bakton asked.

“Both of them,” Akul said with a shrug.

***William Oh***

“Damn, dude, what was that?” June asked, her jaw hanging slack as she peered behind him at the arena, which was crawling with priests of Holdna.

Will removed the cannonball from his Dimensional storage and tossed it to her. It was a solid iron sphere about the size of two fists clenched together.

It weighed around twenty pounds, and it had been moving at about…five hundred miles per hour. Give or take. Will was surprised it was that fast, but it was just his superhuman Acuity and Kinesthetics playing tricks on him, making him think it was closer to one hundred and still within the realm of something that could be seen.

The speed had been steadily going up along with his ability to perceive its speed, so that was understandable.

That wasn’t even the fastest it could go. I slowed it down just a bit so I could catch it again.

Will had honestly been expecting his opponent to have enough Resistance that their skull resisted the strike enough that the force carried through the rest of their body, sending them tumbling and brain-damaged, but alive.

Apparently not.

Will sat a moment and simply took in the difference between himself at level four, when he desperately fought the Kaith to survive, and his current level of ability.

Even though he wasn’t a traditional Warrior archetype, Will had realized that he could probably tear through the monsters of the first three floors like tissue paper. That was how far he’d come.

It was just hard to see your progress when everything else around you got stronger too.

Will took the cannonball back from June and stared at it, turning the sphere in his hand.

Could I take out a kaiju with one of these?

Of course, if he lost his Rogue Ability boosting equipment, he would lose about 40% of the Phantom Hand’s current speed and storage capacity. Nearly half. But still…

20lb cannonball at 300 miles an hour ain’t that bad either, but Karryn might’ve survived if I didn’t have the Rogue–boosting gear.

There was a rather large dent in the solid iron sphere that hadn’t been there before, so she might’ve resisted a slower speed.

The sheer force shattering her Resistance was the result of focusing his Build on exploiting the Phantom Hand.

Will still couldn’t spread death and destruction en masse quite like a Nuker, but one-on-one? Will’s enemy was doomed.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Eventually my opponents will treat solid steel like soap bubbles, and I will be limited not by the force I can deliver, but the availability of materials that can pierce their Resistance. We’ll see what happens when we get there.

Will put the cannonball back in his Dimensional Storage and walked through the waiting area, looking for Loth.

The other competitors parted around him, maintaining their distance and staring at him.

Is there something on my face? Will wondered, wiping off his mask and coming away with a bit of Javelineer.

Ah.

Will ignored the hushed whispered and the distancing until he arrived at Loth.

“Thank you for doing this,” Will said.

“Happy to help,” Loth said. “As long as I get that Auction ticket from you. I’ve been studying the Itinerary and there are some fantastic Sacrifices and Relics there that our Party would benefit from.”

“Deal.”

“In our next match, we have the grandson of Baron Akul, Nephir Akul, level 25 Potent Detonator, darling of our city and the favorite to win. He has dominated every match thus far with the overwhelming firepower that we have come to associate with the name ‘Akul’!

The crowd cheered while Nephir waved. Lots of high pitches squeals filled the air as he sent a white-toothed grin towards the stands.

And his opponent, The level 23 Hive-wielding Saboteur, Loth the Luminary, a member of, and second-in-command in the Party of William Oh. So far she has won all of her matches with hardly any visible effort as her opponents invariably stumble into her devious traps!”

Never said I’d traumatize the guy personally…or all at once.