Chapter 529: Back to tournament
Chapter 529: Back to tournament
Moon and Selene dropped Yara off at the nearest portal facility. The early morning streets were already growing busy, the city slowly waking up to the second day of the tournament.
At the entrance, Yara turned and hugged them both tightly.
"Good hunting." Moon said quietly, returning the hug.
"You too." Yara stepped back and gave them a sharp look. "I mean it...Be safe."
Yara paid the entry fee at the front and walked toward the portal. Some weeks back, Selene had gotten her promoted to a premium contract status, which had upgraded Yara autonomy greatly.
Yara no longer needed her owner physically present to access the portals. She could enter and exit the Sanctuaries on her own, conduct her own transactions, and operate independently across both worlds.
Unfortunately, Yara still didn’t have full human-rights privileges. The system was strict about that, and full equivalence required years of formal applications and consistent behaviour reviews. But what she had now was a vast improvement over what most humanoids were allowed.
Yara gave them one last wave before stepping through the portal. The portal swallowed her, and then she was gone.
Moon and Selene watched the portal for a moment longer, then turned and headed toward the nearest orbital station.
When they arrived, the area was already crowded. Thousands of spectators were lining up to enter the spectator sections.
On the surface, the security looked identical to yesterday. The same standard checkpoints and scans, with a similar number of evolvers patrolling the perimeter.
But Moon knew better.
The Association had likely deployed significant hidden security across the entire venue. Surpassers and a few Ascenders in concealment.
Every protective measure was probably in place, the association just didn’t want any of it visible to the attackers.
The point was to keep the venue looking normal. To keep the dark organization confident that today would be just another tournament day.
Moon and Selene walked through the fighter entrance. A quick identity verification, a brief scan, and they were inside.
There were still about two hours left before the second stage officially began.
Moon’s Class Slot skill cooldown had yet to refresh. The system would unlock his copy ability again soon, which meant he had a window of opportunity to plan exactly who to target.
Selene was no longer an option.
Her Dragon’s Breath skill was likely powerful, especially with her powerful class and evolutions, but Moon already had Ignite as his primary fire-element skill.
Copying Dragon’s Breath would give him a redundant capability with minimal practical gain. The marginal improvement to his combat strength wouldn’t justify burning his single daily copy on a skill that overlapped with what he already had, especially at such an important period of his life, where death was next door.
Kael came to mind next.
The Pyromancer’s Heat Sense skill was useful. It detected body heat through walls and at longer ranges, which made it valuable for tracking targets and avoiding ambushes. But at Moon’s current level, his five senses were already exceptional.
Battle Instinct, and his perception, combined to give him space awareness that surpassed Heat Sense in some aspects. The skill would help a little, but not enough to be worth the copy.
That left the other competitors.
Moon wanted to use the next two hours to scout. Find the strongest, most unique skill sets in the bracket. Identify which classes carried real value. Position himself near the right targets when his cooldown refreshed.
Unfortunately, the candidates weren’t being cooperative to his goal.
Most of them were either still en route, deliberately arriving late to avoid scrutiny, or staying out of sight inside the holding area. Only a handful had shown up early, and most of those were minor names. Moon scanned a few as they passed within Eye of Truth’s range.
[Class: Magic Swordsman]
[Order: Second]
[Skills: Mana Sword II, Swordsmanship II, Arc Slash II]
Moon kept walking past the young man with the curved blade. The skill set wasn’t bad. Three Rare-rank skills working together, decent foundation for a fighter. But Rare-rank skills weren’t what Moon was hunting for.
The man was the untalented version of Alaric. Classes like Magic Swordsman were the worst, because they didn’t provide you with an element affinity but simply better mana usage, and provided you with weak swordsmanship. It was the jack of all trades, master of none.
He had enough of those. What he needed was Epic-rank skills. Classes that gave him new elements, new effects, new combinations he didn’t already possess.
The Magic Swordsman wouldn’t push his power forward in any meaningful way.
♢♢♢♢
"It’s ready."
Ian’s voice was quiet. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his eyes fixed on something only he and Baaron could see.
The runes pulsed once in response to their mana, the third order array was fully stable.
"The teleportation will deliver us directly inside the venue. Past every layer of their security. They won’t be able to stop it once it activates. By the time their detection arrays register the breach, we’ll already be inside."
Baaron grunted in approval, his arms folded across his massive chest.
"Let’s hope they don’t catch the array before we trigger it."
Ian shook his head slowly.
"They won’t. The activation signal will come from the inside when they least expect it."
A grin spread across Baaron’s face.
"Then today is the day."
Ian’s own smile started to break out.
"Today is the day."
They both fell silent for a moment.
"Master is coming too, finally heard news about him." Ian said quietly.
Baaron’s head snapped toward him.
Ian’s grin widened. "I can’t wait to see their faces."
Baaron stared at the array for a long moment.
Then he started laughing.
His laughter filled the area around them, bouncing off whatever walls contained them.
"Today is going to be glorious!"
The two Ascenders then waited in silence for the moment of truth. Each having his own plans and ambitions, all of which had one common factor...Moon Outlaw.