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The wake up is really strange. First I notice that there isn't pillow or anything to put my head on. Then I notice that I was in some liquid. As soon as that happens I try breathing in, only to realize that I am fully submerged.
I try going up, but collide with something metallic. Opening the eyes doesn't produce any results: I see only darkness. Hitting all the walls around me doesn't produce any effect either. The air in my lungs ends and I try taking a breath. What is strange is that I feek no sensation of liquid pouring through my throat. In a moment, I realize that it was because my throat and lungs are already filled with this same liquid. It is unusual, but I am actually able to breathe somehow.
A few minutes later soft light starts coming from the walls and liquid drains away. The feeling of liquid coming out from my lungs was pretty disgusting, as if I am vomiting. Why are these high-technologies so unpleasant? When liquid drains away completely, I am left with a gross feeling of some gel on my skin. As if my complaints are heard, cold water washes over me. Okay, traditional methods aren't something I am particularly fond of either.
The lid opens and, shivering, I exit the pod. First thing I see is Rue hovering next to the pod with my clothes and a towel below her.
— Morning has come, Master.
— Yeah, morning... Approximately what time is it?
Half expecting to be told time down to nanoseconds, I was pleasantly surprised with the answer:
— A few minutes over ten AM, Master.
The doctor-spirit entered the room.
— How are you feeling?
— All things considered, pretty fine. Am I free to go?
— Yeah, I patched you up pretty well, so there won't be any major aftereffects. Though, I would recommend you abstain from eating anything for next four hours or so.
— Why is that? I would assume that after intense medical care body is weak and replenishing energy would be needed.
— That is so, but during your stay in med-capsule all necessary nutrients were already injected, so eating more wouldn't be healthy.
An all-purpose med-capsule. Interesting, do they use similar capsules for pilots in their combat vehicles?
No point in staying here any longer I think.
— Well, bye then.
— See you.
I hope that for at least two more days we don't.
As I emerge in the main hall of training complex I am pondering on what to do next. I need more time for training. Any way you look at it, three days is certainly not enough. I need to either speed up my training or slow down the time.
— Rue, is there something like time-compression chamber to use for training?
— If Master is referring to space where time goes faster than in the outside world, then yes there places like that here. But access to those is heavily restricted.
Cheaty shortcuts — denied.
— Then the next thing. Yesterday you that I could make Chlymea into any weapon I wanted as long as I knew how it was made or had a blueprint. How do I get those blueprints?
— You just go to the library and upload desired blueprints to the memory crystal. It is advised to use only one memory crystal for each weapon you want, since having multiple blueprints in one crystal will confuse you and might get in the way when accessing them.
— Can you access the library to get the of the blueprints I have access to? Or do I have to walk there?
— I can access them from here.
— Then please transport me to some suitable training area before we continue.
The area I appear in is the same one I used in yesterday. There is one thing that bothers me about those memory crystals:
— Do I need to have this memory crystal all the time? It's slightly inconvenient to have one hand occupied by Chlymea and another by memory crystal during combat.
— It is advised to carry blueprints for the weapons you might need, but not necessary. Chlymea remembers last weapon it transformed into and you don't need high amounts of Ether or a blueprint for subsequent transformations.
Basically what this means is that during first activation I build a weapon I need and in subsequent activations I just resummon it somehow. To test this I took Chlymea from my pocket and concentrated on it. When I started infusing it with Ether, the shape of yesterday's short sword appeared in my mind's eye. I infused a bit more and this sword emerged into my hand. Definitely easier than yesterday.
— Did this turn out so small because I don't have enough Ether?
— That is slightly incorrect. Master has access to unlimited supply of Ether, but due to physical and psychological constraints only a limited amount can be drawn. What probably happened was that Master was mentally too exhausted to draw more and Chlymea used all the Ether it got to morph into a shape closest to what was pictured.
What I understood from her explanation is that the blue bar in my mind's eye is not the amount of Ether I have at my disposal but more like my mental endurance. It shows for how long I can concentrate on drawing out Ether.
— With small details out of the way, could you please search for weapons that would be easy for me to use.
— I would recommend narrowing the search down to the swords or javelins, since they are easier to use and Master's special ability seems to work well with close combat weapons.
Yeah, with my power I can basically get through any defenses and hit my opponent from any angle. Very convenient. As long as it would actually work. I am surprised at how fast I could move the sword in and out of inventory. Hopefully I will be able to replicate that success.
— Let's go with the sword. Also, it would be good if I could use that weapon to deflect as many types of attacks as possible.
— Searching... Suggested model: A-47. Nicknamed "spell-breaker". This versatile and reliable model gained popularity thanks to the ease of use for novices. In addition to that a high number of different customizations to increase its effectiveness can be made, which appeals to veterans.
— Pretty impressive sales pitch. It might have mattered, if I actually had another models to compare with. Please, just give me the crystal with the blueprint of it and explain how to use it.
In her usual manner Rue took out a transparent octahedron shaped like a crystal. She keeps it in her hands a bit and gives it to me.
I will skip the part where I tried to access the crystal, because it mainly consisted of me getting a headache. When I finally succeeded, I used the information from it to shape the Chlymea into the desired form. It took quite a while and I actually had to take a break multiple times to rest a bit. In total it took more than three hours until Chlymea took the shape that I wanted.
The sword is black with the exception of the cutting edge of the blade that is silver. The handle is around fifteen centimetres in length and can be grasped with two hands if the need arises. The guard is shaped as a semi-circle with cutting edge that faced outward. Finally there is the blade itself that is around eighty centimetres long and ten centimetres wide — slightly wider than a human palm. As I take it up, I notice that it is surprisingly heavy. Swinging it around I finally understand what a phrase "well balanced sword" means: even though the sword definitely has weight in it, it is easy to swing around.
First test I did was to move it into inventory. No complications arose. The sword moves in and out of inventory just as easily as it did yesterday. What changed? Yesterday I had to surround objects with that blue fog to move them into inventory, but there was no need to do that with the sword
Doing some tests with the rocks and twigs, I didn't notice any changes compared to yesterday. It actually seems slightly harder to do than yesterday. It's probably just my imagination. But this means that it is only the sword from Chlymea that I can move effortlessly in and out of inventory. Interesting, why is that? Only explanation I can come up with is that it is because I infused it with Ether. This is easy to check.
I concentrate on the rock and tried to infuse it with ether. It was a bit harder than with Chlymea, but succeeds nonetheless. Moving this rock in and out of inventory became as easy as the sword. Bad news is that this rock leaks blue fog in my mind's eye. I assume this means rocks don't hold Ether for that long. Still, it's good to know that I can temporarily make items easy to affect with my power.
Rest of the day is largely a repeat of what I did yesterday. I try to increasing the radius of my ability as well as the speed with which I can affect things. In addition to that I ask Rue to throw rocks at me again. I am still not able to move them into inventory on time, but I don't waste too much time on that. What I am trying to do this time, is to use sword and other rocks that were already in inventory as a shield to block the incoming rocks.
During one of the breaks, and I have to take quite a lot of them, I ask if Rue could conjure up some food. Apparently she can't, but she can fetch some from the synthesizer in my room (which I never used by the way). Considering my earlier encounters with local food and local high technologies I am quite suspicious concerning the results, but still ask Rue to bring something edible. Luckily, this time there aren't any problems. The food tastes like chicken and is actually quite good — my first positive experience with local high-tech. Afterwards I continue on with my training.
By the end of the day I had a small progress. My precision isn't good enough which means I am only able to deflect rocks with objects big enough. Unfortunately it is quite time-consuming to move big objects into inventory, so Chlymea-sword was the only thing that was feasible to use for these purposes.
Compared to the first day, my progress is smaller, but not ending up in infirmary is a good news. In addition to that I got to train with a sword a bit. With no real combat experience or master to learn from, I couldn't learn much, but it wasn't totally pointless. With my ability I can make the sword disappear and reappear anytime I want. Doing that I could easily lose my balance if unaccustomed, so I tried to get a handle of that.
Before returning to my room I infuse Ether into the box that had Chlymea growing in it. I hope it will grow in time. This time the walk to the room is uneventful, which is much appreciated. As soon as I returned to the room I drop on the bed and immediately fell asleep.
During the last day I try performing some ranged attacks. According to Rue, to produce an energy-based attack, I should concentrate Ether into the sword and then release it as I strike. First try doesn't produce any results, I didn't use enough Ether. My second try is a bit more successful: as I swing the blade, it produces a shock-wave that travelled in the direction of the swing. As this shock-wave hits the tree it leaves a cut-mark. It seems like the amount of Ether required to produce these wind-blades is quite sizable for me.
I spend the rest of the day improving this technique. By the end of the day I am able to make a wind-blade that can cut a tree, but charging it takes too long. On the other hand, I can also produce around fifty normal sized wind-blades that can cut branches three centimeters thick. Not sure if there was any point, but I don't really know what else to do either. Other than trying to get better with my ability, I have no idea what I can do to increase my chances of survival. By the evening I am so exhausted from the exercises and mental pressure that I am a nervous wreck. I decide to return early, so that I could get a proper rest before the fateful day.
On the morning of the fourth day Rue cheerfully tells me that my match was to be held at 10.04 in the morning. This is coincidentally less than an hour away. I quickly put the clothes on and eat some synthesized food.
I am to arrive at the training complex by ten. Not wanting to be late, but at the same time not wanting to be too early, I leave with twenty minutes left on the clock. With less than ten minute walk, I should have plenty of time.
When I exit the room I walk as quickly as I can, so as to not get involved in anything. At one point somebody tries to talk to me, but I don't want to get delayed, so I act as if I don't hear anything. When I arrive at the training complex, my opponents seemed to be already there. In the main hall, there are two humanoids standing opposite of me.
One is silver haired human-looking man, seemingly in his mid-thirties, wearing a black trench coat with silver linings along the sews. Arms crossed and relaxed, he is leaning onto the wall. The second opponent is what you could normally call an angel. A young woman dressed in white tunic, she has white wings and slightly mismatched red hair. While her figure is not something to grab your attention, her face is pretty cute. She is standing with her hands crossed and in those hands she holds an ugly black-red doll. From where I am standing the doll seemed to look like some kind of a demon. It is quite strange.
For the next ten minutes we just stand there, tension rising higher and higher. By the time we are told to enter the teleportation room, I am already exhausted from the pressure. As I enter the teleportation room, I am immediately transported to place. I am the only one in that room.
— Round starts in three minutes. At that time you will be transported to the arena. Please make your preparations.
A big screen appeared before me and it was showing some ruins in the desert. Walls of varying height, broken pillars and some stairs here and there. The closer to the center, the higher the buildings are. On the upper right part of the map there is a small building without a roof that had a green circle on it. I suppose this is the place I am going to be transported into.
All my preparations consisted of activating Chlymea crystal to get myself a sword and moving it into inventory. Unfortunately the crystal I got from the infirmary hasn't grown enough. Though I didn't notice any visible limitations from the bracelet I am using, so maybe it's fine. Rest of the time I try calming myself down.
I know nothing about my opponents, but same can be said about them. Though, I should look up quite often, since those wings probably aren't only for show.
— Three... Two... One...
A heavy weight presses on my shoulders and I feel hot and dry air of the desert in my lungs. I need to keep a low profile. In case the other two fight among themselves, one of them might get injured and I can try finishing him or her off.
As I go out of the building I slowly walk alongside walls, making sure that I won't be an easy target to notice. Since higher buildings give a better view, I start slowly advancing towards the center of the ruins. As I am walking through some back-alleys I hear a sound of an explosion followed by a shacking of earth. And then it is quiet again. Does this mean that one contestant was eliminated?
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