Chương 43: 42. Echoes of Avon

I didn't use Serp in any of my arena fights, yet the sword didn't complain. From his perspective, it had to be like eating reheated food. Despite offering some strength and experience benefits, the monsters here weren't anything like the real deal. There were no drops, no spheres, just a general workout and a prize at the end. During my last run, I hadn't even noticed the difference. Of course, back then monsters didn't drop cards during the trial, either.

Now that I had gotten a taste of frequent rewards, there was no turning back. The cards I had gained in three trials of this run were the equivalent of months in the past. The combination of skills I had was well-rounded, combining protection, short-range, and long-range attacks. Unlike Eleonor, I didn't have to waste energy on combos, slashing most of the monsters from a distance. It was also fortunate that I didn't get to face any of the underwater creatures, either.

After completing the hundred battles in half the time I had before, I immediately started again. Initially, the goth kept carefully observing each of my actions. Likely, she was trying to determine what cards and combinations I used. When she saw that I was winging it and, as it became obvious, that the monsters presented no threat, even she got bored. The only challenge in the entire arena was the Footman, and even then, my current skills strongly tilted the scales in my favor.

Once I boosted my level all the way to fifteen, I stopped. As I made my way off the arena, the goth tossed one of my water bottles at me.

"Thanks," I said and opened it. The liquid vanished after a few large gulps. It wasn't close to enough, so I grabbed a second one. Naturally, I was careful to make sure that Eleonor hadn't meddled with the bottles first. I wasn't going to repeat the mistake of my previous run.

"Show off." She looked me in the eye.

"Beats getting killed. You should do a few more as well."

"Maybe I will." She didn't move from her spot.

"Know anything about the next trial?" I asked.

"You seem rather informed."

"Not sure. It was supposed to be a cave maze, but then this one was supposed to be a desert chase." That was interesting. She also had an idea what the trials would be, though her information differed from what I remembered and had nothing to do with how things turned out. In my run, the cave maze was the fourth to take place. Everyone was placed in the center of a labyrinth and instructed to find the archway that would lead them back.

In some aspects, it was similar to the cruise ship, only simultaneously less and more lethal. The traps and monsters were easier to defeat—goblins again with the occasional troll and golem. Being brought back to life hadn't been a thing; whoever got killed got killed. As for the desert chase, I remembered several of those in the early stages of the trial, though none took place in the first ten.

"No elf jungle?" I tipped my hand.

"Elf jungle?" she asked. Apparently not.

"The trial boss of the second challenge was an elf," I said, making special care to come off as not knowing the difference between elves and aelves.

"I thought it would be a taste of things to come."

"It doesn't always work that way," she said diplomatically. I could see the relief on her face. Her eyes and the corners of her mouth relaxed.

"I think our performance in the second trial changed things. Six people gained way more than they should have." No, I mentally objected. The changes had already taken place by then. The preliminary and first trial were the only that had remained the same, although the outcome had been different. I must have set the ball rolling when I had fed the statues silver.

"It must be based on performance," I thought aloud.

"When a third did better than expected, Harlequin increased the challenge level. Now that we've messed up the cruise, we might get something easier."

"We didn't mess up the cruise." The goth girl stared into my eyes.

"You completed the trial."

"Wasn't I supposed to?"

"I'm not sure anyone was supposed to. The entire point was to break us. We were given only two ways out: surrender or die. You did neither." Although I was far from trusting her, she was rather sharp. I still theorized that the trial might have been changed for purely entertainment purposes. A restart at death meant that the number of participants would remain the same, while also ensuring that we didn't get to play with any of the fancy drops.

The cards, the items, the weapons—we were supposed to get a taste of those to be more driven in the trials to come. At least, that was my reasoning.

"What happens after the fifth trial?" I asked. The girl looked at me with the expression "if you know you know" then smirked. This was her moment of victory—the belief that she knew something I didn't.

"Consider what I said." She walked off. I waited for her to leave before sitting down. After everything I had been through, I needed a rest, and doing that here was a lot safer than in the designated sleeping room. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Be on guard, pup," I said as I closed my eyes.

"No surprises." When it came to the Arcana, it was never easy to distinguish between dreams and reality. The rules didn't allow a participant to be harmed in any way while in the preparation hall. That included poison or dream attacks. Of course, there was no law against a person harming himself. I found myself standing on the edge of a cliff. Waves violently slammed against the sharp black rocks, filling the air with a fine spray. In the distance, lights were flickering.

I couldn't tell where they were coming from, but I knew they were important.

"Beautiful, aren't they?" a man approached. He was the living embodiment of a Viking, minus the attire. Standing at six-foot three, he had long, hazel hair and a frame that would put bodybuilders to shame.

"I had always wanted to reach them," he said.

"I was convinced that you would." I looked at him, then at the lights again.

"Avon," I nodded in greeting.

"I thought you were already there."

"I was." He laughed.

"But that was before you died and came back." He reached into his dirty jeans and took out a bone pipe. Funnily enough, smoking had been the one decadence he had allowed himself in the Grand Arcana. He didn't particularly drink, didn't gamble, didn't even go overboard with sex. And still, every chance he got, he'd take a puff of his pipe. The merchants loved him, for he was always certain to trade something for a bag of tobacco, possibly two.

"Still, they are beautiful," he flicked his fingers, lighting his tobacco through a spell. The Firestarter—I could recognize the effects of the card anywhere.

"Maybe we'll both get to see them this time around." A flock of harpies appeared in the distance, fleeing a black dragon. The large creature showed no mercy, breathing torrents of white fire. Each time several of the smaller creatures would burst like popcorn, their remains falling into the sea below.

"I fought a siren royal," I said for some reason.

"Did you kill her?" Avon asked, taking a puff of his pipe.

"She died," I didn't specify.

"Good. I've been bogged down in a swamp for three trials," he looked at me.

"Bogged down, get it?" I didn't immediately respond. Something about the lights disturbed me. I felt that they were the point of all of this, yet had no idea why.

"You never made jokes before," I said.

"Wasn't that one of the things you wished you could change about me? Well, ta-daa," he moved the fingers of his free hand, "you succeeded."

"You didn't look anything like this, either."

"The hair's still the same." Avon sounded amused. He took another puff of his pipe, then offered me to do the same. A growling noise made me think twice before accepting. A step away, a large dog had appeared, growling at Avon as if he were an enemy. No, it wasn't a dog, but a sabertooth, and it wasn't growling at him, but at the pipe in his hand.

"You've gotten a pet?" Avon asked, pulling his hand back.

"Something of the sort." I patted the creature on its head.

"I guess it doesn't want me to start smoking."

"It's probably right." The man took another puff.

"It's a disgusting habit. I wish I could quit."

"Why don't you?" He laughed.

"See them?" he pointed at the lights.

"Getting there demands sacrifice."

"You're sacrificing your health?" I asked.

"Or tobacco?"

"No. The tobacco is for helping me live with what I've done." I opened my eyes. The arena hall was empty as always. I had no idea how long I had slept, but seeing that Harlequin wasn't here to issue a warning, it couldn't have been too much.

"You alright, pup?" I stood up and stretched. Sleeping in a seat wasn't among the smartest things one could do, but there were a lot of worse options.

"Did anything happen?" You snored a lot. Serp didn't miss an opportunity for his daily insults. Frankly, I was impressed that he had remained silent for so long.

"Anything important happen?" You're still weak, the sword continued. Were you trying to impress the girl?

"Impress her?" There was a scary thought.

"No." What I actually intended was to intimidate her, and there was a good chance that it had worked. Grabbing my backpack, I looked at the arena. In my current condition, I could manage another round, more if I resorted to using Serp and my bard skills. With a bit of effort, I could boost myself up to level twenty, at which point the incremental increases would become visible. Already, anything aether-related appeared a lot brighter.

My speed, strength, and even resistance had likely doubled, setting me apart from the rest of the group. Yet, if I were to overindulge, there was no telling what the next trial might become.

"The more you change yourself, the more you change the world," I said. Huh? You okay, old man? Serp sounded confused.

"Nothing. Let's see what the rest are doing." The gym was suspiciously empty when I got there. It was beyond me why no one had even made an attempt to get stronger. Money was one possibility. With everyone focusing on cards, coins were few and far between. Sometimes it was easy to forget how careless the uninformed were regarding money, and how jealously they went about guarding it. A lot more people were in the main hall. Most stood alone or in pairs, speculating what the next trial might be.

The doom cycle, I thought. This would be the point at which everyone would try to outdo the rest, making terrible predictions only so they could "feel" that the trial wasn't as bad as they feared. From experience, I knew that wouldn't last long. Both Marcus and Cathy were at the table, enjoying what was left of the free meal. Their silence told me all I needed to know. Using Harlequin's Sight, I examined them once more. Unlike Carl, none of them had anything hidden.

Even more impressively, Marcus still hadn't formed a pact.

"Hey," I took a seat and joined them.

"Anything interesting happen?"

"Everyone hates Seb," Marcus said flatly.

"Some idiot tried to kill him in his sleep. That's before he remembered the non-harm rule." He casually looked over his shoulder.

"Any new dreams?"

"Nah," I lied. There was a bit of irony in that I had experienced the first real dream in quite a while and couldn't talk about it.

"But there's one thing I know from my last. How are you on coins?" I looked at both of them, even though I could see the exact amounts.

"I'm fine," Marcus said, a note of suspicion in his voice.

"Why?"

"You think there will be merchants?" Kathy whispered.

"There might be." That wasn't the real reason I needed gold. With the next trial yet to be announced, this was a good opportunity to feed my divine blades, stopping one coin short of awakening.

"What I know is that we can never have enough." It was scary how fast all my resources had dwindled, even after making a point to go through as many loot caches as possible.

"We'll have to do some gambling," I added.

"No one wins against the house." Marcus focused back on his food.

"Odds are bad and you can't win in the long run."

"That's true, but for all that, there's one huge benefit to being in the Arcana." I took out a few gold coins and handed them to Cathy.

"Win as much as you can."