“Well, Priscilla, it’s your time to shine.”

Mash spoke to an overly eager Priscilla, though he was infected by her excitement. A little anxious too, however, he chose to trust Priscilla for this fight. She was more experienced than him in combat, and despite having won against her, he knew what she was capable of. This fight would be a good opportunity to see what her instincts were like, as well as see how their fusion would impact her. She was becoming more like him, and this was somewhat of a test to understand how dangerous she was. After their last fusion, he realized that he could no longer transfer control of his body to her. He could let her control his body without doing that though and had found a workaround. It was only a small difference.

They had tested much of what they could do after their last fusion and found that she couldn’t control him once he fell unconscious. Priscilla didn’t like that since she saw it as a weakness, but he was relieved to know that she couldn’t do whatever she wanted when he fell unconscious. There had been a small fear that she would control him while he was asleep, even knowing that doing that went against her core beliefs. They did find somewhat of a workaround and found that she could control parts of his body, while he controlled others. The biggest difference from before was that he could snatch his body away at any time and was entirely aware of what Priscilla was doing. So, he didn’t mind letting Priscilla do what she wanted, confident he could stop anything that went too far.

The platform finally reached the arena, and he looked across the tiled stone floor to see an elf. It was his opponent, and he looked at Mash furiously, angled eyebrows relaying his anger in great detail. There was no way Mash had offended this man, this was his first time ever meeting him. Sometimes it felt like there was a group of people that secretly knew about Mash and decided that they hated him. Other than his angry glare, the man had light blond hair and wore a golden armor that seemed like it had been made of cloth. It was made of metal, and he wondered why it looked like it had been sewn. That didn’t seem very likely, and he could only grimace as the referee started the fight.

Immediately scales started covering his body, and a wooden imitation of Priscilla started to sprout around him. It grew large quickly, and a spear of ice colliding with his wood didn’t stop its growth in the slightest. It was still faster than he could manage, even with Priscilla’s outlines, reminding him of just how high her magical control really was. It started as an enormous snake; a pointed beak was the only sign that it was not such a simple creature. The elven man seemed to be channeling his mana around him, but Priscilla ignored him entirely. Once the imitation had grown tall enough to easily demolish a house, it split near the head. A bouquet of snakes seemed connected to a single tail. The image reminded Mash, that Priscilla might be a type of hydra. It was not impossible, but if it were true, then she would be almost as legendary as a dragon.

The imitation certainly looked as intimidating, as a blast of lightning from the elf seemed only to highlight its toughness. He was highly resistant to lightning while covered in Priscilla’s scales, and his wood itself was made to deal with the element. So, the elf’s attack did nothing to even hurt him, and Priscilla retaliated with a blast of her own. Mash realized that it was the explosion that she had him test earlier, and he reacted by stopping all but two of the heads from doing the attack. When he had done it with only two bolts of lightning, the force had surprised him. He didn’t want to see what would happen with nine blasts. Well, he wanted to see what would happen, but not against an unsuspecting opponent.

Priscilla’s frustration was palpable, as he felt her sigh at his decision. The two bolts fired at the elf, only to bend around him and miss one another directly. There was no explosion other than from each bolt striking stone, and the resounding thunder was not enough to pass as an earthquake. Again, he was reminded that he should probably trust Priscilla more but forbid her from trying that particular attack. Mash had no doubts that the man would die if he was even near the explosion when it happened.

Adapting quickly to his command, several of the snake-like heads stretched towards the elf. Two of them swung like clubs to connect with him, and another chased him to skewer him on its beak. Walls of stone rose to block the pointed beak, and he used the wind to leap over the coming clubs. He was, however, unprepared for the tail of a disconnected wooden body that swatted him out of the air like a fly. Priscilla had split off two of the heads into individual replicas of her full form. The elf had missed them and was not ready to avoid the swing.

Unceremoniously, he crashed into a stone floor, the tiles seeming to crack under the force. No, they didn’t crack fully but bend as if softened into a cushion. Even still he saw some cracks on the stone and knew the man had not gotten off without damage. He was incredibly fast with his magic, able to react to many variables. The stone walls he had raised, and the softening of the ground, had been accomplished faster than Mash could manage with his wood. However, not as fast as Priscilla could manage. Lances of wood arced towards the elf, and even as walls of stone rose to meet them, they were a bit too slow. A lance struck the elf in his shoulder, sending him across the arena. Mash was surprised to see him still standing but knew that wouldn’t last much longer.

A pointed stone lanced out attempting to impale the imitation, probably trying to strike at his true body. The elf didn’t know where it was and must have decided that quantity was better than quality. Hundreds of stone lances attempted to pierce the wooden scales of the imitation. It turned out that his wood was stronger than the stone, and Priscilla met each lance of stone with one of wood. It was completely unnecessary, a pure show of superiority, and Mash realized he probably should’ve stopped that. The elf grew angrier, red touching his pale skin. That did not protect him though, and a tail slapped him like a whip.

The elf managed to lessen the damage, as blowing wind encased him like armor. It was like Mash’s own, but the wind constantly circled around him. the lessened force did not mean there was no damage, and the elf was sent across the room like a thrown ball. The man tried righting himself, only to meet with another tail swatting him like it was playing a game. Before long the man was bouncing between the imitations like an actual game. Each strike made a nasty whipping sound when it collided with the wind armor. Mash felt bad for the elf, as he saw the damage build up. He wasn’t even able to resist as he was eventually smashed into the ground by the main imitation, several heads slamming one on top of the other.

Mash was going to stop Priscilla once he felt the resistance from the elf drop, but he didn’t need to. Priscilla had stopped as soon as the elf’s magic died, and the head revealed a squished bloody elf lying several feet into the ground. Relieved to see him moving, Mash was surprised when Priscilla dismissed the imitation and returned control to him.

He dismissed the scales as well, and quickly grew his armor as the wood around him decayed. He had been worried about ending the fight naked but found that he could form armor around his real body even before dismissing the imitation. With that, he no longer had to fear being left naked after a fight. With his shame intact, he walked over to the elf to check on his condition. It was unneeded as the elf slowly began to pry himself from the ground. It was clear that the fight was over, the decaying wood around him spelling that out as much as the elf’s condition. The ref hadn’t called the end of the fight, and Mash moved to knock the elf out.

It ended up being a pointless gesture as the elf spoke.

“I yield. Tell me how you have gained so much mana. Even though our race naturally has more mana, I know I have less than you. It shouldn’t be possible.”

“No.”

Mash said all that he was willing to, before turning and leaving. His single-word response seemed to send the elf into a fury, but Mash ignored it. Why would he answer a question like that? Nobody was that stupid, and he simply left. He knew why he had more mana than the man, but there was no way he would explain it. Mash could feel his own anger rising, remembering the tone that elf had used with his words. He assumed that Mash had cheated and spoke sounding both knowing and accusatory. Responses rose to Mash’s mouth, but he pushed them down, knowing that the elf wanted him to react. He would not reveal anything and left the arena with a frown.

Even Priscilla was annoyed at the elf’s behavior. Apparently, the elf had stopped trying to attack at some point, resigning himself to the loss. That had squashed much of her enthusiasm, and she wished she could fight a better opponent. Mash agreed, hoping that his next opponent wouldn’t be as shameless. Well, there were only two days until the final rounds and Mash decided that he didn’t want to remain in the arena. Mash didn’t bother returning to their viewing room and sent a messenger to tell his friends that he was leaving.

He headed towards the streets, deciding that it was a good time to allocate his stats. He had held off using his free stats, deciding that it would be better for him to get a feel for his abilities before deciding how to distribute them. After the fights today, he felt like he knew what he needed and focused inwards, allowing the information to race into his mind.

Name: Mash Stellumbra Class: Draconic Thunder-wood Imitation

Level: 60 → 62

Health: 1600 / 1600

Energy: 2400 / 2400

Fortitude: 160

Endurance: 100

Strength: 107 → +3 → 110

Agility: 110 → 113 +2 → 115

Intelligence: 140 → +10 → 150

Wisdom: 83

Charisma: 75

Free Stats: 5 → 15 → 0

Skills: Hunt, Thunder-wood Creation, Inhuman Hibernation, Monstrous Transformation, Thunder-wood Imitation, Draconic Domain, Adaptable Monster Core, Monstrous Humanity, Wooden Body, Mimic’s Avarice

Mimic’s Avarice (Passive): Devour your enemy in battle to temporarily raise your stats. The fresher the victim the stronger the bonus. Gain full benefits even when consuming through your magic. Absorbs some properties of those you devour alive. Removes the negative effects of things you consume.

Draconic Domain (Passive): Your eyes just weren’t enough. Sense the changes in the mana around you. Connect to the mana in your space and inherently understand the nature of the mana. Your presence suffuses the space, weakens the magic of enemies beneath you.

Current Range: 15 feet → 16 feet

Mash was surprised to see that his agility had gone up by three points before he even used his free points. He thought about what had caused the change to that attribute in particular. It didn’t make sense. With how high it was, it shouldn’t have gone up by that amount without months of training, and he hadn’t done any training for that stat to increase. There was only one real explanation that he could come up with.

The battle with the cat-like monster from the arena. He had devoured it gaining a new transformation and some of its abilities. Remembering what his mimic’s avarice skill stated and guessed that this was what it meant by some properties of those he ate alive. He was tempted to go and find some weak, mindless monsters but realizing how much he had gained decided against it for now. The monster from the arena had been estimated to be at level 100, and Mash knew that it had high dexterity. Even still, it had only raised his agility by three points. With that in mind, he figured that eating a lesser creature would not provide any permanent benefits. This did, however, make him wonder if there were any other benefits. It was a possibility he couldn’t ignore but didn’t really have a way to check. Priscilla could check his affinities, but it could have done something else. He could always try a more traditional method and turned towards his sister’s church.