Solomon's first order of business was to purchase a fresh batch of magisteel from Mort, together with some paper to make fuses. He then headed back to the anteroom to start making up a pair of bombs. It might be a wasteful use of his explosive powder, but he needed to be loaded for bear when he stepped into the arena.

As he sank into what was becoming a familiar process of building explosives, Solomon called up his character screen and considered the new choice ahead of him.

Name: Solomon Gragg

Skills: Pain Tolerance (MAX), Improvised Weapons Mastery (MAX), Bladed Weapons Mastery (5), Explosives (3), Marksmanship (1)

Grids: Tutorial (6/6)

Field Engineering (7/7), Personal Equipment (9/9), Weapons (11/11), Projectile Weapons (13/13), Firearms (15/15)

Bladed Weapons (7/7), Duelist (9/9), One-handed Weapons (11/11)

Marksmanship (7/7), Sharpshooter (9/9), Sniper (11/11)

Free grid points: 23

Strength: 19

Constitution: 20

Dexterity: 32

M. Capacity: 10

M. Intensity: 10

Free attribute points: 0

HP: 200/200

MP: 92/100

He had enough grid points to finish a thirteen point grid and a seven point grid. Or a seven point grid and a nine point grid. Adding the Explosives skill had opened up the new seven point Explosives grid. He had four different thirteen point grids to choose from: the weapon specialization or general melee weapon boost from the Bladed Weapons tree, and the Crowd Control or One Shot options from the Marksmanship tree.

He ruled out the melee weapon option first. Judging from Mort's reaction to his firearm testing, it was at least a little bit rare for people working with the system to have guns. They had to be doing something to kill each other, and considering the way that HP healing worked Solomon figured that mostly meant chopping each other up from melee range. Solomon had been doing all right for himself with his hatchet, but he didn't like his chances going up against somebody who had been studying the blade from childhood.

If it came down to a slugging match, his best bet was probably to try and affix a bomb to his opponent and then get out of the blast range.

The starter grid for Explosives wasn't too exciting. It only offered an attribute point for every three grid points invested. The passive was another boost to manual dexterity. The active ability to expend MP to give a temporary boost to the explosive output of a bomb seemed like it could be useful if he wound up facing off with some kind of tank.

He went ahead and bought out the whole starter grid first, just in case the nine point grid offered something amazing. As it turned out, both Sapper and Grenadier were nice, but they couldn't match the utility of the thirteen point Marksmanship grids. In general it seemed the better abilities were tucked away in the more expensive grids.

Solomon took one last look at the Crowd Control grid. It offered a passive ability that would reduce recoil and an active ability that would let him mark multiple targets such that he could instinctively aim at each in turn. It would be perfect if he had a functioning sniper rifle.

Of course, his whole day would have gone much differently if he had a functioning sniper rifle.

He still felt a twinge of regret as he waved farewell to the Crowd Control grid and instead picked up One Shot. The passive ability was a full body version of Steady Hand, in theory allowing him to line up long range targets without letting his aim be affected by anything outside of his conscious control. The active ability was Exploding Shot, allowing him to spend MP to cause the next bullet he fired to explode after penetrating his target's body.

The explosion itself would do more damage than an ordinary shot. It also increased the chance of the bullet lodging somewhere important, preventing HP healing from repairing the wound.

Solomon knew he would be able to design a bullet to do something similar someday. That wouldn't do him much good if he died in the upcoming duel.

His grid purchases gave him eight new attribute points. Three of them were forced into Dexterity. He put the remaining five into Magical Intensity. In all likelihood, he was going to be relying on firearms and explosives to do damage. Both would benefit from a little magical boost.

Name: Solomon Gragg

Skills: Pain Tolerance (MAX), Improvised Weapons Mastery (MAX), Bladed Weapons Mastery (5), Explosives (3), Marksmanship (1)

Grids: Tutorial (6/6)

Field Engineering (7/7), Personal Equipment (9/9), Weapons (11/11), Projectile Weapons (13/13), Firearms (15/15)

Bladed Weapons (7/7), Duelist (9/9), One-handed Weapons (11/11)

Marksmanship (7/7), Sharpshooter (9/9), Sniper (11/11), One Shot (13/13)

Explosives (7/7)

Free grid points: 3

Strength: 19

Constitution: 20

Dexterity: 35

M. Capacity: 10

M. Intensity: 15

Free attribute points: 0

HP: 200/200

MP: 97/100

With his grid and attribute points spent, his gun reloaded, and two fresh new bombs hanging on his belt, Solomon was just about ready. He waited a few minutes until his MP were topped off, then approached the door and selected the Arena.

He was, as expected, subjected to the system's teleport once more. He was surprised though, to find that it ended by depositing him in a small waiting room instead of the arena floor.

Thinking a little more, it did make sense that another player couldn't just be dropped into a fight on command. Not that he thought the system incapable of doing it, but rather that the system seemed to treat players with a little more respect than the monsters and puppets that it set up to challenge them.

A new system dialog box reinforced that impression.

ARENA BATTLE!

SOLOMON GRAGG

versus

KANMI CRITONIA

Wagers: D$0 - D$0

Solomon kept an eye on the betting line. He wasn't going to hand the system his money for free again, but if this Kanmi decided to throw some cash into the pot then he'd try to scoop it up.

There was also a new display that hadn't been present when Solomon had fought Boss Hogg: a timer, counting down from ten minutes. It would have been nice to have the time to prepare, if he hadn't already done all his prep work before he entered the arena. As it was, all he could do was try and calm himself down and review his strategy.

Calling it a strategy might have been a little ambitious. Solomon planned to shoot his opponent using a bullet enchanted with everything he could put on it. Assuming that failed, he'd get two chances to try and bomb the guy into submission. He figured he'd try using the first bomb like a grenade. The second one, well, he'd have to make sure it worked, one way or another.

When the countdown timer hit thirty seconds, a section of the wall of the waiting room slid open. Behind it was a ramp leading down to another opening. From where he was sitting, Solomon could see a small sliver of the arena floor.

He checked his weapons one last time to be sure. They were just as ready as they had been when he checked them five minutes ago.

He took a deep breath. Showtime.