Savage Awakening 465. Jack (III)

“Eh?” said the Spirit.

“An attacking Skill,” Zane clarified. He gave it the specifics.

It just stared at him.

“So let me get this straight. You want to imbue a… rock… with your whale of a soul,” it said. “And then hit Ascendants with it.”

He nodded. “Can you make it?”

“Of course I can!” cried the Spirit.

“Great.”

The Spirit grumbled some more, then got to work.

A few minutes later, it came back with the finished product.

“Alright,” said the Spirit, arms crossed. “The mechanics are simple. It’s akin to Emperor’s Might, which you already know. Just modified to fit in a rock. You do remember Emperor’s Might, don’t you?”

He nodded.

The Spirit demonstrated the motion. The essence flows, the way you poured your soul in. Then the strike.

“…Is that it?” It seemed rather simple—a bit crude, even.

“Look, you’re hitting things with a rock,” said the Spirit. “I don’t know what to tell you.”

“That’s fair.”

The Spirit then summoned an Ascendant Spirit—just for practice. A Flood Dragon came out howling, ready to kill.

Then it gave one look at Zane, felt his aura, and its eyes bulged.

It looked at the Spirit, as though it were saying—‘You want me to fight THAT?’

“I know,” said the Spirit. “He’s going to hit you. Stay strong.”

Zane was speechless. Now he felt kind of bad about the whole thing.

“It won’t actually hurt the thing,” grumbled the Spirit. “It’s an instant knockout—won’t even feel it. Go for it.”

“…Sure.”

He gave it an experimental swing—the Dragon screeched and made a break for it.

Then he leaped, whacked it, and it passed out. He could almost see the crosses over its eyes—fully knocked out. All it took was a tap. A picture-perfect bonk.

He nodded, satisfied.

Then he considered the beast for a moment.

“One more thing.”

“What?”

“I don’t want to have to chase these things.” He could imagine birds still being a pain. Especially if he was limiting himself.

“Give it some soul pressure,” he said. “Something that locks them in place. So when I start swinging, they don’t dodge.”

“Temporary paralysis,” muttered the Spirit. “Shouldn’t be too hard.”

It paused. Thought about

it.“Wait,” it said. “You’re telling me you want a Skill that doesn’t hit very hard, doesn’t move very fast—something they see coming the whole way—but that freezes them inexplicably at the last second, just when they’re about to dodge. And knocks them out anyway.”

“Sounds about right.”

“… You trying to torture some poor newbie fighter? Break them mentally, or something?”

“Nothing like that.”

“Look—I served a pirate king. I’m no stranger to this kind of stuff. But this… this really is strange and unusual.”

“It’s just for a martial arts tournament,” Zane assured him.

“Why—”

The Pagoda Spirit pinched the bridge of its nose and sighed.

“I don’t want to know.”

“I figured.”

Another few minutes of tinkering and the Spirit had it all figured out. Zane tried it out again on a random beast soul. It worked like a charm.

This time the Spirit summoned an Ascendant ogre chief. When he came for the bonk, it snorted.

He saw the split second when it realized it couldn’t get out of the way.

Then it connected, and it keeled over drooling.

Skill learned!

Rock Smash [Legendary (P)]

“…Yeah,” said Zane, pleased. “This’ll get the job done.”

“Got anything else?”

“That’s about it.”

It promptly booted him out and locked the gates behind him.

“…You do know I own this thing, right?”

Silence.

The Pagoda Spirit always grumbled—but when it came down to it, it always helped too. He’d let it have its fun.

He headed off, tossing his rock about.

Yeah. This would do.

“Just three days to go!” said Jun. “How are we feeling?”

“How do you think?” said Kira.

She’d been brooding silently at the edge of the camp, staring into the mists.

“Hey,” he said, blinking. “Look, I’m nervous too.”

She huffed. “I’m not nervous.”

“…Oh. I just thought—”

“Fine. I’m nervous! It’s only the biggest tournament of all time! Where legends are made and lives are changed forever—why wouldn’t I be?”

“I guess so.”

“You gonna tell me to smile? Is that it?"

“…No, just—” he looked helplessly at Zane. “I just figured it’s better to talk about it than to keep it all bottled up. I didn’t mean to offend, or anything...”

Kira blinked, then laughed and punched him playfully. “I'm messing with you! You’re such a pushover.”

“H-hey!”

Ryu and Zane were playing a game quite similar to poker. Zane had a pretty good poker face. Ryu didn’t seem to mind whether he won or lost, so they were evenly matched.

“So,” said Zane, munching on a stick of fried dough, “this top prize—anyone know what it is?”

Ryu shrugged.

Kira stopped pulling on Jun’s ear and shrugged. “It’s at least a ton of platinum for each of the placers. No one knows the top prize, though. It’s different every time.”

“The prestige is more than enough for most,” said Ryu.

“It’s a key.”

It was the first time he’d heard the man speak. Cane—a death mage wrapped in quite a few bandages, smoking a pipe.

“A key to what?” said Jun.

“Something called the Lost Library,” rasped Cane.

Several perked up at that.

“I used to work for the Underground. We got an offer to steal it.” Cane shrugged. “Can’t.”

At Zane’s look—“You’d have to break into the System,” said Cane. “Cloud Atlas Empire’s running the tourney, but it’s System-sponsored. That’s what gives the rewards.”

“Wait…” Jun blinked. “The Lost Library? Like the one from the myths?”

“So they say.” Cane went back to smoking his pipe. He seemed done talking.

“Explain,” said Zane.

“It’s said to be filled with tomes from only one author,” breathed Jun. “The Scribe of Lost Ages! An ancient Empyrean—supposedly, one of the most powerful. One of the First Ones that came to Dragonspire… she had the gift of the all-seeing Eye. She chronicled the lives of all the biggest figures of the time—that includes their Skills and Law insights—and put them into these tomes bound of drakehide… there’s even forbidden knowledge in there, stuff from beyond this galaxy—at least, that’s what the legends say. If you could get a look at that…”

“You’d have some of the strongest Laws and Skills,” said Zane, nodding. “Maybe ever.”

“That’s the theory,” said Jun. “If you could comprehend it.”

“Isn’t it lost, though?” said Kira.

“Mhm. The Scribe was killed right after its making. There was this huge war fought over who got control of it. In the end, the First True Dragons torched the whole thing and stuffed it full of traps… most of it’s meant to be burned beyond use now.”

They all sat with that for a while. Zane was still intrigued, though.

“It might be treacherous inside,” said Ryu. “But if even a small fraction of it’s still intact… there could be some of the cleanest sword Skills ever made.”

“Bet there’s some nasty dagger arts there too,” said Kira wistfully. “Even if it’s just one Skill…”

He could bet the Red Giant Concepts he was looking for were waiting for him there.

By the sounds of it, there was a fair chance there was even more for him.

As the wagons rumbled along and the days eased by, he felt something to look forward to.

***

On their last day through the Uncharted Woods, their ragtag crew was hit by their second monster attack.

This time it went much better. Zane even got to try out his new Skill a fair bit.

Rock Smash was unstoppable.

As he swung, a pouncing Dreadwolf crouched, made to spring away.

Then it froze for just a split second—it was hard to notice at first. To an observer, it would look like it simply forgot to dodge—just presented its snout to be whacked.

Nice and low-profile.

No big explosions—nothing too eye-catching. Just simple, honest bonking. Until all the monsters keeled over.

“Phew!” The crew grinned at each other and wiped off some sweat.

They were just heading back when an aura swept over them all. Towering over the trees…

They all froze. A few went quite pale—it must’ve felt like being drowned in ancient pressure.

Everyone felt it but Zane. He knew that feeling.

It scoured them all—and passed right by.

The crew breathed a big sigh of relief.

“…What was that thing?” croaked Jun.

“Minor God,” said Kira, wide-eyed.

“Do you think it’s what’s been causing all these disturbances?” said Ryu.

“Has to be…”

“Jack?” said Jun, uncertain.

He blinked. Only then did he realize he was still frowning at the sky, fists clenched. He relaxed and grinned.

“I’m good.”

He was the only one who knew that was no Minor God.

He knew a True God Monster King when he felt one.

And he knew just who it was trying to find.

Kira looked around, shoulders tense—“We’d better get out of here.”

They rode hard for the rest of the night. But it wasn’t long before they broke out into green plains, then rolling fields.

From there, it was an easy road to the capital.

***

“Almost there!” said Jun.

They crested one more hill. And there it was, stark in the dawn sun.

A megacity built atop nine mountain peaks, linked in a spectacular range. Greenery peppered each of those proud, sky-spearing spikes of stone. Tons of bridges, natural and man-made, linked them all.

Eight peaks were arranged in a loose circle, surrounding the big one, smack-dab at the center.

“That's the heart of the capital,” said Jun. “Where the bulk of the fighting goes down…”

It was all drenched in thick mists, so that it looked like something out of a dream.

The whole thing was streaming pale pillars.

They got closer, and the crash grew clear.

Waterfalls. Thousands and thousands of them, roaring down from that great city. It must’ve been filled with rivers and canals.

Soon they got up to a vast lake. There was no way to climb that range—at least not by carriage. It was just too steep. But fleets of airships were taking passengers to the top every few minutes. It was easy getting tickets.

“All aboard!”

The sails puffed up—and off they went.

There were lots of sect-folk on board—all silks and sashes and delicate fans. Most were headed for the upper boxes. Zane saw a retinue trailing a young master with a cobra around his shoulders.

“Must be here for the same thing we are,” said Jun, sounding starstruck.

But most of the passengers didn't seem to be fighters. A few were dressed in farmers' linens, others in business suits. Priests and smiths, too. A smattering of accents.

He guessed they were there for the show.

Soon their ship touched down in the middle of a white-brick plaza. There was a giant fountain at the center, built around a geyser, spraying gentle walls of mist.

“Well, everyone,” said Jun. “We’re here.”

They gave a great cheer.

Then they all split off slowly—hugging and shaking hands.

“I expect it’ll be a hectic next few days,” said Jun. “What with qualifications and all—there are hundreds of thousands of folks here, all across the peaks… by the end of it, it’ll be two hundred.”

“It’s been fun,” said Zane, and he meant it. He was surprised how much he'd enjoyed that trip. It was a neat change of pace from all that war—tinkering, working out his new backstory. And these guys were pretty good company.

“My inn’s on Dragon Island,” said Jun.

“My inn’s on Swan,” said Kira, arms crossed.

“Mine’s down the street,” said Ryu, shrugging.

“Guess this is it, then…” Jun grinned. “Let’s all make it through the prelims! Maybe after all this, we’ll have dinner to celebrate?”

With that, they were off.

Well—the three of them were off, anyway.

Zane still had to find somewhere to stay.