Salim stared down Lilac. He didn’t really want to get into a fight but at the same time, he did not want to be involved with these people whatsoever. It was a dumb idea to pull down their hoods and he just wanted to get out of there so he could test out the new gear.

Thinking quickly Salim decided to do something that would come back to bite him in the ass.

Pulling up his hood Salim signaled to Vivyern to follow him activating anything he could to get a speed boost he jumped with all his might.

With Vivyern in tow, Salim utterly cleared the group of men almost reaching the top of the rafters before coming down with a crash. Luckily not falling down Salim and Vivyern sprinted out of the adventurers guild looking really suspicious.

Luckily not finding any resistance once they got out of the building and ducking into an alley to hide Salim got Vivyern to apply disguises.

Not really having time to come up with a new appearance Vivyern just ended up getting rid of the horns and ears along with lightening their skin color slightly. Salim just looked like the human equivalent of his true form which was fine with him.

Weaving through back alleys to avoid attention they decided to ditch the robes just in case and began to look for anything regarding a tournament. This proved simple as the further they walked into town the more they found posters regarding the tournament.

It was apparently a big deal and was to be held in a week. To qualify for the tournament one had to either be invited by the nobles of the event or place high enough in the qualifying tournaments which was to be held tomorrow.

Salim debated whether he should or shouldn’t but despite his better judgment, he decided he was going to go. It would be good to see how far back he was in his level group and maybe he could even win.

These were just thinly veiled justifications for going as he really was just itching to test out his skills again.

He wouldn’t say that he was addicted to battle it was just using skills and fighting people produced a sort of adrenaline that he really enjoyed. Isn’t that what addiction is though? No matter, he was going to go fight in the qualifiers tomorrow.

Everything seemed to be flying by so fast to Salim… something just kept coming up every second that he was free it seemed.

Maybe that's just how he was set to be though. He couldn’t really see any other solution to what was happening to him other than to just deal with it. That's what he had been doing and he wasn’t dead yet so that had to count for something.

Going further into town Salim and Vivyern stopped and grabbed some fresh fruit which was weirdly named apela. They were sort of green with a wide core with skin that shaped weirdly around the center.

They tasted great though. Similar to a sour banana he would suspect the taste was an interesting combination that he really liked.

Vivyern seemed to enjoy sharing a meal with him. Walking next to him she practically clung to his arm causing more attention than he would have liked to be on him. The feeling of stares was enough to make Salim more than uncomfortable.

They didn’t seem to have another run in with Lilac or her men although that gave no feeling of relief to Salim. He had already started to adopt a more largely applied doctrine if something can go wrong it will.

It seemed as though luck wanted him dead these days. Whatever he had done to get this sort of relationship Salim wasn’t aware but he would definitely try and fix it if he knew.

These thoughts caused a tense air to extrude from around Salim filling Vivyern and causing her to tense up as well.

Nothing was really wrong it was just that Salim felt as though something was wrong even though he couldn’t tell.

In front of the two, the street began to widen out into a wide square with a giant structure in the middle. This was the Coliseum. Similar to the Roman one on earth it stood tall and wide taking up a large portion of the square.

It was a testament to the cities strength and wealth. To be able to build such a large structure for entertainment which was all the tournaments really where. Entertainment to bring happiness to the masses.

It wasn’t all bad though Salim thought. If he could gain the crowd's approval he would certainly have an advantage later on. Winning would make him famous among the people here. Although Salim was pretty sure that was a dumb idea for him to shoot for. Being known is not always the best thing.

Walking to the coliseum signs indicated that today it had been turned into a training grounds to prepare for the tournament. It made sense logically, there were a few places in the city one could practice without causing damage. At least he thought there was.

Although Salim couldn’t really train properly in the Coliseum due to how his skills worked he decided it wouldn't hurt to work on some stuff.

Walking into the coliseum Salim saw that it was largely empty. Dummies stood in rows and only a few occupied by the occasional brute. Otherwise, it was incredibly empty nowhere near the number of people Salim thought would be in here.

Oh well, he wasn’t going to complain. Fewer people to see how he fought not that the way he fought was special or anything.

Going over behind a pillar Salim changed into his new armor and held his dagger.

Immediately he felt the effect. The artificially enhanced agility and perception bothered him for a small bit before fading away into a minor disturbance.

Holding the dagger Salim felt its weight. Or perhaps lack of weight was a better use of words. Having such high strength Salim barely felt the dagger in his hands as he swung it and fast speeds. He could tell why adventurers didn’t use weapons like this.

Being too light it unbalanced him when he put his weight into the slash and it wasn’t heavy enough to support the continued motion of a slash. Stabbing was utterly pointless as it was too thin to penetrate armor.

He could probably combine it with punches and kicks but that would come later he wasn’t the most skilled and it would take a while to pull off motions like that.

Trying to get the hang of motions with a knife Salim attempted movements around the dummy. Keyword attempted.

Still not used to his speed and the momentum Salim would sprint to the side only to be pulled by inertia when he tried to stop. His kicks would bring up a lot of the dirt that lined the floor causing his eyes to get dirt in them.

Vivyern watched him from the sidelines and laughed at his failed attempts only stopping when Salim sent a glare her way.

Continuing for hours Salim worked his way into figuring out his speed and how to control it. Salim’s sprints would involve him moving forward stopping himself by throwing his body to the ground using the continuing force to kick or push himself into an enemy or continue running.

This turn was nowhere near perfect as he fell most of the time throwing himself short or too far leading to a tumble with the ground.

Salim realized he would probably get his ass handed to him if he had to fight head-on with some of the combatants so he would have to fight dirty. This would no doubt put him on the public's shit list.

But he needed it. It turned out that because he was level eleven he just qualified out of level ten and down. He would be fighting opponents that where probably all going to be level twenty so they would be plenty strong against him. Well maybe… Salim wasn’t sure of how all his extra stats went against a normal level twenty human.

Evening fell, as Salim concluded his practice.

He had lowered the durability on his armor and knife slightly but it was negligible. Thinking about all that he had practice Salim fed Vivyern some energy for the day before heading back to the same “Lucky Nights” inn and getting a two-night reservation.

Tomorrow was going to be fun.