Humanity’s last stand rests with the Ascendant Program. As one of the few remaining Humans, you are to gain strength and unite against Ignacious, The Mad King.

Rewards: Title: King Slayer, Experience, Unique Traits

Tony regarded the expanding quest log hovering in the corner of his vision. “Usurp the Mad King.” He read the title over again and frowned. The quest had no objective, no requirement that would mark it as complete. Most games would have a defined condition, “Kill X NPC,” “Obtain McGuffin and deliver to said person.” Nothing like that was in the description of the quest. This frustrated him immensely.

So all I have to do is kill Ignacious?

He did note that the “Completed Quests” tab was pulsing gently as if it were trying to get his attention. Tony focused on it. The quest log scrolled over to “The Desolation.” The quest registered as completed, but it also noted he would have to speak with Auren again to reap the reward of standing around and listening to the game spew exposition. The whole thing gave him the creeps. Space-Opera-Post-Apocalyptica was not what Tony had been expecting from "Ascendant Online" but here he was.

“So, what now?” Tony asked.

“Now,” Auren started, “we get you to your Trainer.” The god put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and guided him down the hallway. “Then, we’ll rush you through the initial quests, and then get you right into the action.”

Tony couldn’t help but smirk. He had always been into “high risk; high reward” gaming. Most games would advise a cautious approach to the world. Yet, the fact remained that he was encouraged by the AI to play how he preferred. Part of him couldn’t help but wonder if this had been part of the “Headset Sync.” Maybe his play data from other Gambit Games titles had been uploaded to his Ascendant Online profile?

Questions for later.

Auren continued down the hall ushering Tony at arm's reach in front of him. Before long, the sounds of combat reached his ears. Spells detonating, the crackling of essence in the air, and the frenzied metronome of steel clashing against steel. At first, Tony thought they were under attack; upon reaching the hangar of the flagship, he discovered that it was repurposed into a massive training facility. At least twelve different sparring pits stood where starfighters and transports should have been. Semi-solid holograms sprinted in and out of cover in a handful of live-fire courses, buzzers and announcers blared, and the occasional brass bell could be heard at the end of an obstacle course, the likes of which Ninja Warrior could only hope to replicate.

The scene before Tony was complete and utter chaos. His heart thumped against his ribs with his mounting excitement.

Wait a second, I shouldn't be able to feel my heartbeat in here, should I? Tony thought.

“That one,” Auren said, cutting off his train of thought as he pointed to a pit toward the middle of the hangar, “your trainer is at Pit Eight. Let's see what you can do.”

Tony nodded and jogged off toward the pit; he was used to fighting to prove himself. He pushed his way angrily through the crowd as memories of his father watching coldly from the bleachers during his martial arts tournaments burning in his mind. Cheers of victory meshed with gasps of shock and surprise and roared in his ears. After a lot of shoving, a couple ducked punches, and a whole lot of shouting Tony reached the edge of the pit and looked down at the combatants.

There were two in the pit. One of them was at least a head taller than Tony and his set of Squire’s armor was a tattered mess of what it had been. Bruises and small cuts stood out on the large Squire’s exposed flesh and a gold dot shone over his head.

Name: Tolik Level: 6* Race: Human (Ascendant)

Class: Squire Specialization: Duelist Essence: 2

Tolik was the first person that Tony had seen and been able to focus on with a gold point above their head. The fact that there was no (Dormant) descriptor next to the Essence trait in the nameplate that popped up was connected, though Tony wasn't entirely sure how.

Tolik looked like Ivan Drago and Xena had a baby and sent him to Hercules to train. He was absolutely massive and Tony would have been surprised if there were more than ten pounds of fat on the man. The brown hair on top of his head was plastered to the sides of it by sweat, and Tony caught the glint of hazel eyes as he traced his opponent's movements.

The other duelist, an Earth-aspected Ashtar, glided across the ground on a wave of dirt and rocks, sweeping inside Tolik's guard, attacking with quick thrusting motions, and gliding out before Tolik could riposte. The ease with which the massive man shrugged off the strikes from his opponent’s training sword suggested that the damage reduction enchantments still held, or that Tolik had monstrous damage reduction of his own. The other duelist was closer to Tony’s size and looked to be in much better condition, using the "earth-surfing" to conserve their Stamina in an attempt to whittle down their opponent.

Tony scanned the crowd; something seemed off. Other trainees shouted excitedly to each other, “Did you see that? Pay up!” pointing toward the pit and exchanging glowing stones that had to be some sort of currency.

Tolik appeared to be the crowd favorite. Tony focused intently on the fight, falling into old habits from his tournament days.

"A chance to study your opponent in battle must be capitalized on to gain advantage," his Master's words echoed in his head.

Tolik wasn’t badly beaten, his breathing was even and his posture was upright. He had been in the ring fight after fight, yet no one had been able to bring him down or unsteady him. The Ashtar he was fighting thought he was in control, but Tolik's blocks and feigned telegraphing was what truly dictated the pace of the fight.

"That son of a bitch isn't stuck in there, he's farming experience from the other trainees," Tony commented. Tony looked at the nameplate again.

"Level: 6*"

What was the asterisk for? Tolik and the Ashtar were the same level, most of the other trainees that had been in the ring prior were between levels four and six. How was he beating them so badly without taking equal damage?

A hand latched around Tony’s shoulder like a vice, snapping him out of the thought. “You’re next.” a gruff voice said in his ear as the hand lurched him toward the pit’s entry.

The crowd seemed to part in front of him and whoever was doing the manhandling. Tony finally got his footing back and pried the hand off his shoulder. “I’m going, don’t have to push,” he said, not looking at whoever had brought him here and marching to the rack of training weapons.

He glanced over at the pit as cheers erupted from the crowd. Tolik had won, again, the haft of a broken training spear resting across the back of his incapacitated foe. Tony groped around the training weapons as he continued to watch. Tolik didn’t gloat or try to rile the crowd; he instead waited patiently for the next match, regaining what little stamina was lost during the fight.

A wooden gladius hilt found its way into Tony’s grip, and he retrieved the weapon. An icon appeared under his HP, Stamina, and Mana bars, silhouettes that telescoped into each other. He focused on it.

Ancestral Heritage: Double-Edged Swords – Accuracy and Damage with Double-Edged Swords is increased by 10%. Defense Rating Increased by 20%

“CAN ANYONE DETHRONE THE CURRENT CHAMPION OF THE GAUNTLET? LET’S FIND OUT IF ANTONIOUS KING IS UP TO THE TASK! BETTING RESOLVES AT THE SECOND BELL!” an Air-Aspected Ashtar announcer shouted, an innate talent magnifying the volume of his voice to pierce the roar of the crowd.

“That’s you, Antonious,” the gruff voice said again.

Tony nearly jumped out of his skin and whipped around in surprise. The man looking back at him was well-muscled, armed to the teeth, and covered head to toe in plate armor. A pair of pale-blue eyes glared back at him. Why anyone would need so many weapons, Tony could not guess. “Time to get in there. He’s not as tired as he looks, so stay sharp,” the giant said, his azure eyes gleaming with expectation.

"I know he's not. Just not sure how I'm supposed to close a five-level gap," Tony said. The not so subtle hint of sarcasm was not lost on the armored titan.

"You'll figure it out!" the man bellowed over the din of the crowd.

Tony walked into the ring, his mouth dried out, and his heart pounding against his ribs. He wasn’t ready for this, he needed more time to plan, to evaluate, and most importantly, five more levels at least. The battered squire stood from his stool and approached Tony, dried dirt kicking up in dust clouds around his massive boots.

“Hello, friend. I am Tolik, let’s have a good match, yes?” he said, extending his hand to shake.

Tony nodded, ignoring the hand. He had been sucker-punched far too many times at the beginning of a match to trust the gesture. “Yeah, sure.” He tested the balance of the wooden sword, it was no fencing foil or saber, but it would work.

Tolik took a few steps back and retrieved his broken spear from the sand and tensed his legs. A surge of adrenaline slammed through Tony’s veins. An icon of two crossed swords appeared to the left of his “Ancestral Heritage” buff.

You are in Combat

A brass bell chimed twice, and Tolik rushed at him with surprising speed. The haft of the spear over his head careened toward Tony in a vicious downward strike, carrying the brute’s weight and momentum behind it. Tony lurched to the right; the wind gusted past him as he dodged by a hair's breadth. The horizontal follow-up caught Tony in the ribs and off guard, sending him sprawling. The crowd "oohed" and sucked wind as a collective. Tony sprung to his feet nearly immediately, then fell to one knee, pain blossoming and spreading through his side. Tolik chuckled from where he stood, a good five meters from where Tony had been standing.

There's no way this guy is level six, he thought.

“That is good, Antonious, the last one I got with that one didn’t get back up. You have spirit!”

Tony’s retort caught in his chest. Breathing hurt, at least one of his ribs was cracked. He would have to get clever if he wasn’t going to get clobbered in the first minute of the match. He shook his head to clear it and focused. He hated it when people called him by his full name, especially when it came from some arrogant over-leveled jackass. Tony slammed his fist into the ground and was pleasantly surprised when a small crater formed under it.

The traits taken from the headset sync translated to more than just boosted Attributes. Summers packed with martial arts tournaments at his father’s discretion had pitted him against a smattering of opponents, stronger, bigger, faster, more experienced. He was able to win, he wanted to win, he needed to win.

The primal part of Tony's brain kicked into overdrive. That part of his brain determined that he could handle taking a couple of hits to evaluate Tolik's fighting patterns. He endured two more charges, once dodging to the left that ended the same way as the first, he tried dodging back as well but Tolik just stepped in after the haft slammed into the dirt and spun in to slam him across the gut with it. Tony coughed and sputtered, spit and a little bit of bile came up splattering into the dirt. A smirk crept across his face.

He figured it out, how to counter his opponent.

Tolik charged him again, this time with the spear pointed at Tony, and held tight against his massive frame. Against his own instinct and to Tolik’s delight, Tony stood his ground, gladius gripped firmly in both hands. As the pole entered Tony’s guard, he shifted his sword to the right until the blade was parallel with his shoulder. A small movement that sent the spear harmlessly past him.

Tony used the giant’s momentum against him, like a matador to a bull, and spun to his outside, slashing out with the training weapon as Tolik’s bulk came back into view. The wooden sword smashed against Tolik’s back and caused him to stagger forward, interrupting the horizontal counterattack and sending the giant off balance.

Tony danced back from Tolik’s second attempt at a follow-up attack. A sloppy wide swing that Tony knew better than to disregard as a desperate attempt to bait him inside Tolik's reach. The behemoth rocketed from the ground like a freight train at Tony.

The splintering remains of the spear scraped against the dirt and gravel of the pit. Tolik aimed the vicious uppercut at the underside of Tony’s chin.

Tony sidestepped again like he had before and exactly how Tolik expected. Time dilated as Tony's eyes darted back and forth over his opponent. The tears in Tolik’s tunic revealed tensing muscles along the sides of his torso; Tony memorized the way the muscles flexed and stretched. The pattern was simple, vertical attacks that were too risky to parry followed by devastating horizontal attacks.

Brutal and effective.

Tony raised his short sword, blade out, and leaned into it. He may not be the immovable object to Tolik's unstoppable force, but he needed to stop the second attack. Splinters of wood exploded out from the two weapons as they collided. In the split second that Tolik looked down at the ruined spear in shock, Tony leaped and planted a flying knee into the side of his head, sending him crashing to the ground. Tony stood at the ready, the remaining half of a wooden sword in his hand.

Tolik didn’t stir. Tony could see that he was still breathing.

The bells chimed, and the crowd exploded with noise. Tony’s eyes went wide as his interface flooded with experience notifications.

You have ended Tolik’s KO Spree. You are rewarded with Bonus Experience.

You have received 20% of a Player’s wagered Experience.

The second notification repeated more times than Tony could count without scrolling through them. People could bet experience? How much XP had Tolik farmed out from winning against other starting characters? Were the crystals changing hands in the crowd XP?

The walking arsenal from earlier signaled the announcer by drawing a line across his neck.

“SQUIRES, THE FIGHTING PITS ARE NOW CLOSED! PLEASE, RETURN TO YOUR ASCENDANT TRAINERS FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTION!”

Tony didn’t have one of those yet, so he took a moment to open his character sheet and find out just how much XP he had gained.

Side Quest Completed: King of the Ring

XP: 15

Wagered XP Collected x 17

XP: 85

You have met an XP Milestone! 100 Down, Millions to Go

You have met an XP Threshold, speak with your Ascendant Trainer!

And that, Tony thought, is how you skip the tutorial.