Chương 60: Commensal

200 Decibels 200 Decibels was the threshold where sound became a physical shockwave. It was also well over the point where sound became lethal to a human. The leader was an Aspirant; he would have normally survived due to his superhuman body. But the origination of the shockwave was mere centimeters from their skull. June staggered back after the physical shockwave permeated his body; even as a Dreamer, it was a dangerous move. His ears were bleeding.

'Well, that works.' It was a gamble, but now June knew that he was capable of creating shockwaves at will. The damage done to him was far less than the damage the cohort sustained, even though they were further away. June was a Dreamer, which made him stronger, but even then, what he did could have killed him. The only reason he even attempted it was his regenerative nature and other traits the strings gave him.

'Good thing I didn't infuse will into that.' He rubbed his ears and quickly regained his footing. The cohort was knocked onto its collective back by the shockwave, but it was only a matter of time before they recovered. So to buy some more time, June opened his eyes; his explosive transformation when the voice manifested caused several changes in his reformation.

He didn't have muscles or bones anymore; they were all replaced by a nebulous, void-like string, and his organs were also woven from the same strings, albeit their composition was more flesh-like than the rest.

Another major change took place during his reformation: Aspirants gain an aura when becoming a Dreamer, and that aura is deeply entwined with their power; in turn, it leaks out subconsciously, endlessly fighting against the world to stake the Dreamer's eroding claim to power against it, and unwittingly attracts stares from people. Its constant leakage was an inconsequential loss. Aura was a wispy power that leaked from a Dreamer; it was impossible to see unless your eyes were specifically designed for it.

So when June gave in to the world, he stopped using will to reject it, and when that happened, his body stopped leaking aura. And when that residual will that is constantly rejecting the world loses its purpose and has nowhere to emanate. It started to build up violently in his eyes. When his eyes opened, months of built-up will that mundane and Aspirants usually could not see, flashed out violently in a neon gold beam, blinding the cohort.

'This was the gift of improv.' June closed his eyes and closed the distance to the cohort's shieldsman, who was guarding their eyes with a large tower shield. June landed one punch and caved the shield in, and collectively mangled the hand behind it. He then shaped the two revenant bracelets together into a long-bladed wrist dagger before plunging it into the slit of the man's helmet.

June pulled out the blade and flourished the blood off of it, before shoving his fist into the gut of the shieldsman blocking an incoming arrow with him. The out-of-commission shieldsman started dissipating into a blue mist, so June tossed the large man at the small book wielder. June whipped out the pamphlet and used it to deflect a couple of rapid-fire shots the archer let off with a wrist-mounted rapid crossbow. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

June closed the distance with a quick lunge and landed three punches in succession. The first hit broke the archer's bow. The second concussed them. The third punch imbued with will ended up blowing the woman's head off her shoulders. June pointlessly shook his hands of blood as he reached the book wielder in the next second, lifting the tiny man up by the robes. The fight was over, and the tiny man was wincing while covering his head with his hands.

"D-Don't hurt me…" The tiny man's voice was high-pitched, almost comical-sounding. June manifested a long arm to pick up the book that had been knocked out of its owner's hands. June studied the short man; it wasn't often he met someone shorter than him. The man wore a dirty brown robe that looked a few sizes too big and a large wizard hat that looked old and ragged. The multi-jointed arm that sprouted from his traps gingerly lifted the book up to shake it in front of the man.

"What does this book do?" Even though June had his eyes closed, he studied it with several of his extended senses.

"I-It's a grimoire? d-don't hurt me!" June was tempted to open it, but he wasn't sure if he should.

'Would it kill me if I looked?'

"Would it kill me if I looked inside?" June stupidly realized that he was threatening the man for answers; he shouldn't hold back. The tiny man eyed the dissipating corpses of his cohort.

"No! Give it back! It's mine." June was surprised by the sudden outburst of the tiny man. He decided to ask one more time.

"Will. It. Kill. Me…" The tiny man continued to struggle while answering.

"No! It won't! Give it back!" June considered killing the man.

'No, no, his hat would disappear.'

"How about I make you a deal, give me the wizard hat, I'll give you back your book, and when it's all over, your hat returns anyway… Deal?" The tiny man stopped struggling and let out a defeated nod. June slowly lowered the man from his grip, then gently gave him his book back before gingerly taking the pointy hat off his head and placing it onto his own.

"Well, thanks for the hat…. person…." June walked away from the remaining blue wisps of the man's cohort while adjusting the large wizard hat on his head.

'He's following me, isn't he?'

It has been several hours since the Gladiator Games began. It was nearing night in the colossal virtual realm. June seemed to have gained a commensal or a few in fact. The tiny man at first followed June from a distance, but as more and more people approached June for less than friendly reasons, the tiny man also got closer. June didn't mind keeping him alive, since the longer he lived, the longer he got to wear the cool wizard hat. June let out a yawn.

"Should we find a place to sleep?" June didn't stop to think while considering the tiny man's idea.

"Hmmm…. Sure" His plans had been foiled again and again. A few cohorts challenged June; they, of course, didn't last long, and now he had several dozen secret admirers following him; some of them were survivors that he took tiny trinkets from.

'with their permission, of course.' While most others were people who were looking for a chance to attack him.

'Which they should have done already.' So now, June was simply walking and feigning ignorance of being watched; most of his stalkers kept their distance, some attacked, and some approached him with an uncomfortable emotion gleaming from them. Awe. Which was problematic in June's eyes, to say the least. June was tempting fate to strike him down by walking in the open, especially with his eyes closed.

As much as he was enjoying being able to test several theories and ideas, as well as being exposed to several new styles of fighting and wondrous magics, June wanted to be with Lilia. In fact, in any other scenario, he would have been actively crushing skulls and putting on a show, but for once in his life, he would rather not act like the super-cool main character of a novel surviving all odds.

'Not that I could ever be a main character.' June really just wanted to spend time with the family; he especially wanted to spend time with Lilia. Hell, he even wanted to spend time with Mortimer. He just got his life back, and now he's separated from the people he wanted to spend his time with. And so, this entire time walking, and a surprising amount of time that June ended up giving the tiny man a piggyback because his legs were starting to hurt, was time that was both wasted and enjoyed.

'It's like going to a pool, and being forced to man the grill, both are awesome, but I wanna swim.' So June was now in the awkward middle point of being bait to lose and return to the family; enjoying the fantasy experience; and fighting people, of course. He encountered several Dreamers, but they all stayed out of his way.

'Maybe they think everyone following me is in a big cohort or something.' June, the tiny man, and the rest of his hidden entourage had been travelling non-stop for several hundred kilometers. They needed to rest, but that's when an idea struck him.

'I want to go back, and if someone killed me, I can go back.'

'So if I were to hypothetically die in my sleep, no one could complain… too much.'

"Wizard guy whose name I do not know, we will set our camp here." The tiny man looked like he was going to object, but seemed to toss the thought away.

"My name is Leo." June took his borrowed hat off and put the oversized hat back onto Leo.

"June, that's my name." June then sat against a tree and pretended to sleep. He waited one hour. He waited two hours. He waited three hours. He fell asleep. And when he woke up to dozens of people sprawled sleeping around him, he heard the booming voice of the announcer.

"GOOD MORNING GLADIATORS, GOOD JOB SURVIVING DAY 1 OF THE TOURNEY""ONLY 220, 000 PARTICIPANTS OF 580, 000 REMAIN""MAY THE BEST 300 WIN!!!" June opened his eyes, closed them, then pinched his ears until the lobes bled.

"..."

"Did he just say 220, 000?"

"What the fu-"