"What does it mean to be mighty? To be mighty is to be right, to determine what is worthy and unworthy, what is true and what is false. It is to take your Beliefs, your Ideals, and make them sacrosanct to all who stand beneath you. For who can prove you wrong?"

- quote from the Xingkong family patriarch.

Eden Floor 1 | The town of Weir:

"So uh, how do we actually accept one of these?" Ars asks from where he's standing beside me.

We're both intently looking at the screens before us, one in particular had caught our interests amongst all the listed quests and challenges we'd seen. When some of the other challenges we'd seen were things like "create a map of the surrounding forest" or "find 100 golden nuts hidden throughout Weir" it was a bit unexpected to find something that actually seemed simple.

A simple sounding challenge that almost seemed to good to be true:

Challenge:

Deal enough damage to the striking dummy within 60 seconds.

Reward: 1 attack stat

Note: Any number of Seekers can accept this challenge. Each Seeker can only obtain the reward once per day.

"Maybe try touching your palm to it?" I suggest, and Ars places his right palm on the screen, "...the left one Ars."

"I'm right handed okay?!" And sure enough, once he switches palms the challenge pops up over top of his hand as well. "Now what?" he starts to ask when we feel a rumble beneath our feet and the sounds of people exclaiming out from below us. Eyeing each other momentarily, we head over to the edge of the platform and look down over the railings, we see some of the other Seekers beginning to congregate around a glass room that wasn't there before. It seems to have detached from the underside of the platform we're currently located on before floating down to the one beneath us. There's a single entrance to the room and inside of it stands a simple Striking Dummy with a large zero floating above it and nothing else.

"Well it would seem we have our answer," Amelia states, "Now the question is, is it worth showing off your strength where everyone can see for a single stat point?"

"Why would it matter if people see how strong we are? It's not like the tests have us actually fighting the other Seekers." I ask causing Ars and Amelia both to give me a look like I should somehow know better. "Well then, what's the number floating above the striking dummy for?"

"Oh right you wouldn't know," Ars mutters to himself before explaining further, "it's a way of showcasing how much damage has been dealt. The math that calculates it goes over my head, something to do with like how much time and energy it would take to heal from if the same attack had been dealt to the Xingkong Patriarch."

"Before you ask, the Xingkong Patriarch is a famous Ascendant, as well as a Blessed of the god of Might. He's probably one of the strongest known Ascendants. The whole family though places huge emphasis on martial might, and respects strength above all else. They're a bit unique amongst the noble families and clans with their practices and beliefs. Not that they're impossible to deal with by any means, a long time ago actually, someone from my Felaine family had gone to visit a friend in the Xingkong family and saw the striking dummies being used to test the strength of the clan members there. He saw the untapped business opportunity they provided, so he struck a deal between our families in order to mass produce them and sell them to be used throughout Eden," Amelia provides the information proudly.

"So that thing-" I gesture down to the rather rickety looking striking dummy below us before continuing doubtfully, "is supposed to represent the body of this guy- this..famous Ascendant you're talking about?"

"Well pseudo-represent it i guess you could say? This one is likely just for initiates, so while it's still plenty sturdy, it's going to be nowhere near as sturdy as the patriarch himself or even some of the other striking dummies. The Xingkong patriarch himself even specially made a few that are close way stronger than the others in hopes of finding someone who could destroy them so that he can challenge them to a fight." Ars earnestly explains with an excited look, "if it actually happens it will be a fight that will make history all throughout the Tower! There's a whole leader board of Ascendants specifically for who people think has the highest chance of doing it at some point. Personally, I think the 'Stormrider' is probably the closest to achieving it but last I heard he's taking a break from Ascending so my next person would have to-"

At this point I feel like Ars has forgotten what even started this discussion in the first place, so great is his enthusiasm. It's endearing to see him going on and on about the whole thing, getting so excited about the history and going-ons of the Tower as well as all the big names within it, but it does remind me as well that he's still just a young man who hasn't come into his own just yet. I imagine that's part of the purpose behind the families like Amelia's and presumably his own sending them to become Seekers. It gives them a chance to prove themselves and gain valuable experiences, and hopefully make long lasting allies along the way.

"-and that's why I really think they have a good chance, because even though they're still young they're already an Ascendant and a Blessed." I didn't mean to tune him out, but bringing up so many things I have no context or reference for makes it hard to pay attention.

Thankfully before he can continue on for longer or go off on another tangent, Amelia interrupts him with a roll of her eyes, "Yes that's all very interesting but more importantly, shouldn't you be deciding whether you're going to go down there or not?"

"If you do I think you should go soon, more and more people are showing up." Even as I'm saying this, I see a couple more Seekers trickling onto the platform below, their curiosities stoked by the inexplicable appearance of the room with the striking dummy in it. It seems like without having the challenge accepted they were unable to get into the room though, I could see a few of the more intrepid ones trying to open the door to no avail.

Ars chews his lip in thought for a moment before asking us, "What about the two of you, are you not going to accept the challenge as well? I thought the whole point of this was for Sola to get the attack point so she could go and challenge someone."

He was right but, not to be cocky, I was a bit skeptic of the supposed sturdiness of the thing. It really looked like it would break after one good hit from me, even taking into an account my lack of an actual weapon, when the thing can't fight back it hardly makes a difference. I'd probably need to gauge my strength off of Ars' attack so as not to overdo it. The idea for the striking dummy was intriguing to me though, maybe once I went back to my world I could make something similar. Maybe I'd base it off various common beasts and monsters? Knowing how much damage your attacks would theoretically do to the more common enemies found on Sola would no doubt be pretty valuable.

With those thoughts in mind, I smugly replied to Ars, "I'll go if you do it first." With him as my guinea pig, so long as he didn't fail I'd just be able to mimic the strength of his attack.

With a shrug and a small sigh, he resigns himself to his fate and begins working his way back towards the lift leading to the lower platform where the challenge dummy sits waiting, I turn and quickly go press my hand to the screen with the challenge in order to accept it as well before going off after him. Amelia pauses for a moment deliberating, but ultimately decides not to take the challenge before following along.

Ars was having a hard time not feeling a bit nervous, it wasn't that he lacked confidence in himself or his abilities, but as he walked through the dozen or so others whose curiosity had led them to gather in front of the room holding the striking dummy, it was hard not to get a little anxious. Taking a deep breath he spoke to the Seeker in front of him currently trying to get into the door, "Ah, excuse me. I think I'll be able to open the door." Several unkind eyes, as well as a few dismissive ones immediately turn to him after he says so.

"Several of us have already tried and it won't budge, what makes you think you'll be any different?" A man calls out condescendingly from where he stands to the side, arms crossed.

"We literally just accepted a challenge to deal damage to a striking dummy, and this room appeared right afterwards. Do you think that's just a coincidence?" Sola walks up behind Ars and glares back at the man who spoke.

"Ah-ahem well I guess that makes sense then," he coughs into his fist, stammering out a response.

At a glance Sola isn't exactly what you'd call intimidating or imposing looking. Yet Ars can't help but feel intimidated by her sometimes, and clearly the man was no different. Something about her eyes when she looks at you, its like she becomes larger than life for a moment. Regardless, Ars is grateful she stood up for him before anyone could try and cause any problems, he was thankful that Sola had wanted to become allies for the first floor, and surprisingly Amelia agreed to it as well. Stepping forwards once more, he places his palm to the door, Sola and Amelia both snicker for a moment before Ars looks down and notices that he's placed his right hand on the door instead of his left.

Refusing to acknowledge the two, he hurriedly switches hands, the door in front of him immediately clicking open. Summoning his red Byun to hand, he steps forward into the room, eyes taking the time to analyze the distances and various angles between the walls and his soon-to-be target. The room seems to be a perfect cube, with the striking dummy sitting about two-thirds of the way towards the back of the room from where he entered. Slick glass makes up the walls and ceiling, with sturdy metal beams making up the edges of the room, the floor was also glass, leaving him briefly wondering how the room had been floated down from up above. Maybe some sort of isometric internment field had been set up.

In an enclosed and perfectly geometric room like this he was actually at quite an advantage with his Byun, assuming the challenge didn't start until he actually hit the striking dummy then he could take his time to set up for the best attack possible, continuously building up momentum by letting the Byun repeatedly ricochet around the room and back to him where he could launch it back with ever increasing speed and force. Then once he got it going as fast as he could manage, he'd simply manipulate the spin so that instead of returning to him after bouncing around the room, it would head towards the striking dummy instead. After that, it'd just be as simple as standing there and waiting out the timer while the dummy took repeated hits from the constant ricochets without him even having to do anything.

Taking a deep breath, he lets the red Byun fall from his hand, watching as it bounces once from floor to ceiling before he catches it midair with a quick roundhouse kick, sending it careening into the center of the leftmost wall where it ricochets at a right angle and continues bouncing around the room. Planting himself in the center of the room, he watches as it bounces; left wall, back wall, right wall.. door. He hadn't noticed when he entered but the door sits slightly inset along the wall, causing the trajectory to shift marginally, he'd have to adjust the spin a little each time the ball went around in order to correct for it.

He continues letting the ball bounce its square pattern around him, the rhythmic impacts of it against the glass helping to calm his nerves. The task of mentally adjusting the spin each time it hits the door keeps him focused. He begins doing some basic stretches in order to loosen up in preparation, it may just be a simple challenge but he still wanted to do his best. A brief glance out of the windows and he sees Amelia rolling her eyes at one of the nearby Seekers, apparently they'd said something she found stupid, not a hard task he mused. To her left, Sola met his eyes and gave him a little thumbs up. With that and his body limbered up, he was ready to finally begin.

"Alright lets get this started yeah?" Ars mutters to himself while taking a stance in the center of the room, the ball continuing to bounce in its square pattern around him.

Door, left wall, back wall, right wall, door again, and finally "Now!" Ars pivots left with a shout, throwing out a punch with his dominant arm. He'd altered the spin of the previous bounce so that when the Byun hit the left wall it bounced straight towards him, then he timed the apex of his punch to nail the now-incoming ball. With a crack from the collision, the ball bounced back at the left wall significantly faster than before. From there, he once again adjusted the spin to send it bouncing back onto its previous course. He repeated this same process again when it reached the right wall, pivoting in that direction and throwing another punch, further accelerating the ball. From there, Ars gets into a steady rhythm, repeating his actions over and over, with the Byun getting faster and faster each cycle. Eventually it gets to the point where its too fast for him to pivot in time so he has to let it bounce a full cycle around the room before changing the spin in order to punch it again. Then two cycles..then three.

And finally when the ball was moving so fast it looked like a blurred red square superimposed in the air of the room, and the rapid sounds of its bouncing became a constant susurrus of noise droning all else, and he was just barely able to keep up with adjusting the spin each time it cycled around the room. He decided that he was ready to begin his actual attack. Ducking under the path of the red projectile, he went to stand in the far corner of the room, away from the side the striking dummy was on.

Once he was safely in the corner, he began to slowly adjust the spin in order to start ricocheting the ball closer and closer to the striking dummy. But to his dismay, as soon as the first glancing blow impacted the dummy, his personal screen lit up, indicating that the challenge had been successfully completed. And all he'd managed to deal was a whopping 7 damage according to the number floating above the striking dummy. Dumbfounded, he sheepishly looked out through the glass behind him, where unsurprisingly it seemed like most of the Seekers gathered found the situation to be incredibly funny.

"Ahahahah-" an especially boisterous man sounded out above everyone else, his laughter carrying his voice to Ars even through the walls dividing them, "all that set up, just to have it locked in at 7 damage! Ahahahaha!! Whooo~ that's great!" He pauses to wipe a tear form his eye, "What about you little lady, still planning on going next? That'll be a tough act to follow. Hahahah!" The man looks down at Sola where she stands inscrutable off to the side with Amelia.

Perhaps thankfully, Ars can't tell if she's laughing at him or not through her mask, surprisingly Amelia seems rather restrained in her amusement, only showing the slightest bit of mirth in her expression. Even Ars couldn't help but smile deprecatingly at himself, he'd been trying his best, but he felt like he'd been fooled by the nature of the challenge. With a final glare at the striking dummy, he summoned his Byun back to his hand before leaving the room. Even if it was a bit of a poor showing in the end, at least he'd still gotten the extra attack point. Why'd the challenge say he'd have 60 seconds though if the first attack that hit instantly completed it?

I felt like whoever had came up with this challenge must've been having a laugh at Ars expense right about now, though if my guess was correct then the phrasing of the challenge would make more sense now that someone had completed it once. Seeing as the 7 continued floating above the striking dummy, showcasing the amount of damage dealt even after Ars rejoined Amelia and I. I was guessing that the number displayed above the dummy was actually just the number that had to be beaten in order to successfully complete the challenge. So when I went to do the challenge next, I'd get 60 seconds to beat Ars' score of 7. But since Ars was the first challenger, all he had to do was beat a score of 0, which obviously happened as soon as he hit it. It did imply that the challenge would get harder and hard as time passed, if a new high-score had to be set every time in order to successfully complete it, then eventually no one would be able to top whoever set the previous score. Even if people could accept it daily. I wonder if there'll be any sort of hidden reward for whoever holds the highest score at the end of the 6 week period?

"Amelia are you sure you don't want to go back and accept the challenge as well? May be a good idea to do before everyone figures it out." I whisper to her.

She hesitates a moment with a slightly complicated expression on her face before replying, "I don't think I'll be able to use Kuro, and my personal strengths aren't exactly combat oriented."

"Hmm," I wonder if I'd somehow misread her. I could have guessed that she'd prefer to have Kuro fight for her wherever possible, but I'd still had the impression that she was quite strong in her own right as well. From the time she'd first leapt from the tree when we met, it'd been clear that she could handle herself. Oh well though, it could just be that she's not comfortable showing any of her techniques off, or maybe they're ill suited for something like this.

Shrugging back at her, I go ahead and make my way into the room. Taking a glance back out at the other Seekers who'd been gathered, it seems that some of the more clever ones are preemptively leaving. The ones who'd been paying attention earlier and knew that Ars had already won a challenge today, meaning he couldn't challenge anyone again. They'd been happy to stay before, but seeing someone they hadn't seen challenge anyone, they decided it wasn't worth the risk of sticking around and getting challenged just to obtain some info on a fellow Seekers strength. Others clearly felt it was worth the risk though, or they were just simple, who knows? Either way I wasn't going to give them information or entertainment at my expense.

Walking up to the striking dummy I simply place my palm over it's center of mass before pressing down on it with a bit of my internal energy. As soon as I do so, the 60 second timer begins ticking down, but I'm not worried, ever so slightly I begin to increase the pressure until finally... 8 suddenly appears overtop the striking dummy, followed by my personal screen lighting up and showing that I'd completed the challenge.

With my 1 attack point awarded to me, I promptly turn around and leave the room, immediately making my way over the boisterous man who'd been laughing at Ars earlier, "This 'little lady' would like to challenge you."

The mans expression and dismay at the sudden reversal is great. Ars busts out laughing at the mans sudden misfortune, clearly reveling in the petty revenge.

And just like that, with the man left spluttering like a fish, I've also acquired my first win!

Attack: 2 Defense: 1 Wins: 1 / 35 Penalty: 0 / 7