“Alright let's see what we have here. Two mages, one bard, one huge snake and me. This should be interesting.” I said.

It was the first ever Carnival Wars. We split the teams such that Horse and Beathoven would be on opposing ends as both of them were the only ones who could not contribute a single cent to the front lines. Beathoven recently learn from Hel abit of necromastery but seeing as there are no corpses anywhere, it would be pointless anyway as he could not raise any undead minions.

The other team would then obviously consist of Breadtalk, Soup, FuzzyWuzzy, Xantos and Horse. A level 1 noob was really nothing to be worried about, we just included her so we would have an even number. Besides apart from her first impression, she wasn't THAT bad. I mean she sucks but it could've been worse. She was also the first ever human like us to enter Carnival so i figured she deserved some sort of special privilege and being part of the first ever Carnival Wars ought to be eventful enough.

We were in the blue castle and had 10 minutes to discuss out battle plan. Only the middle lane could be used so splitting up would be a tactic we would be unable to use. I briefly assessed their strengths. FuzzyWuzzy and Soup were both the best front liners we have so without a doubt they would come charging at us and we would not be able to do anything much. Xantos would most probably be providing air support which is really irritating and she could also heal both the tanks so it was going to be a hard fight since we could only use one lane and it would be just massive up front fighting. However, M1 and M2 were able to dish out huge damage spells so I wasn't too worried. My concern was with Breadtalk.

It had already been 24 hours so the Loki's Entourage buff should have worn off. That level 10 weapon was no joke. It could turn anyone into a chicken and if he just turned all 5 of us into chickens. Well.. Game is obviously lost. His unpredictability was extremely bad. Even though I considered myself to be quite apt at strategy, he was one piece of the puzzle which could not fit in anywhere. As such, I figured that the most versatile one should be the one marking and handling Breadtalk which was without a doubt, me.

“Alright here's the plan guys. We're going to totally ignore Horse because you all don't need me to explain. She doesn't even has a class. M1 just cast a homing fireball at her or something and she's done. Soup and Fuzzy would without a doubt come charging at us, most probably flying on Xantos since she's big enough to transport all 4 of them. I need you to find a way to bring that bird down. Slick I need you to buy some time for M1 and M2 to nuke down either Soup or Fuzzy. I'm counting on you to do that. Beathoven just stay back and try to use your chaotic melody on me. I'm going to go for Breadtalk immediately and spend all my mana.”

All of them nodded. The instructions were clear, the battle plan was clear. We weren't going to use some diversion tactic to sneak the flag back to our base since only one lane was available. We needed to fight it out straight away, eliminate the 5 of them and bring the flag over to our castle without anyone to stop us.

“RIIINNNNNNNNNGGGGGG!” Something like our school bell sounded.

“Your time is up. The gates of your castle will be opening in 10,9,8,7...”

We rushed down to the first floor and awaited the opening of the gates. When it opened, all 5 of us rushed out and sure enough, Xantos was swooping out of the gates with the whole team on its back. It started flying higher and higher to avoid our attacks but M1 and M2 were on it. They shut off the skies by forming thunder clouds ready to strike anything it sees, the nearer the better and Xantos immediately decided that it was not a good place to be. She came swooping down while Soup and Fuzzy jumped off Xantos. While they were jumping off, Fuzzy did the superman pose while Soup went with two middle fingers. Breadtalk was still nowhere to be seen so i figured he was still on Xantos's back. Suddenly, another figure appeared above Soup and Fuzzy. For some reason, a level 1 noob was seen hurtling downwards from about 20 meters from the air and she didn't even have time to pose. Soup and Fuzzy landed firmly and started readying their assault on M1 and M2 as I predicted but before they could do that, soemthing huge came in between their path.

“Sup gaiiiis” Slick said before releasing a pool of venom on the side with Soup and Fuzzy. Just then, Horse landed I think face first and remained motionless.

“Why did she jump off?” I asked.

“I think Breadtalk pushed her.” Soup replied before striking the huge body of Slick, trying to make him move.

Trying to contain my laughter, I decided to go after Breadtalk now as there would never be a more appropriate time.

I used gravity magic to make Xantos heavier so now she was flying at a much slower speed. Chaotic melody was being used by Beathoven from inside the castle so I figured now wasn't the time to be stingy on the mana. I used all my mana, even the one inside the ouroboros seal which I had fully recovered during the meeting without Breadtalk and Beathoven while they were dead and used it to further elevate the thunderstorm M1 and M2 had created.

Saying the clouds became darker was an understatement. The clouds suddenly became so dark that the arena was shrouded in darkness. I couldn't even see 5 meters ahead of me. I focused my mana to my eyes to read the mana around me. It was a skill I learnt from reading books and true enough, I saw everyone's mana like a heat reading sensor and saw Xantos flying higher and higher, trying to escape above the clouds. I stopped her right there.

“BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!”

Nope. That wasn't Breadtalk's exploding spear or some stomp from Fuzzy, A lightning bolt the size a skyscraper flashed and striked directly onto Xantos. The flash of light was so huge and blinding that everyone lost their vision for a moment. Even though I was just using my eyes to see mana, they too were blinded temporarily by a sea of white.

“ABUSE! FUCKING ANIMAL ABUSE!” Shouted FuzzyWuzzy.

“DUDE THIS IS CRUELER THAN HOW KFC KILLS THEIR CHICKENS. COULDN'T YOU DO IT ABIT MORE LIKE BREADTALK DID TO BEAT?!!” Soup yelled.

“FRIED CHICKEN FOR DINNER WOOOOOOOOO!” Shouted Beathoven from inside the castle.

I saw the mana die out and I assumed that Xantos and whoever was on her was also dead. Breadtalk didn't have many defensive skills that I could think of.

The skies then began to clear up after that immense amount of energy was released. Everyone's vision became back to normal and I saw that within the few moments I was focused on Xantos, Slick was already becoming badly beaten up by the two tanks. M1 and M2 tried to help also but Slick was so huge that he obstructed their line of sight so it wasn't exactly a perfect idea. Seeing Breadtalk and Xantos dead, I immediately went to focus on Fuzzy and Soup. I could engage Fuzzy long enough with just my sword skills from my sparring sessions. I already used all my mana so I just leapt in with my katana, taking on Fuzzy so Slick would get one less attacker.

“You again huh. Sorry but I don't plan on dragging this fight until you get your mana back.” Fuzzy growled.

Holy shit what a smart wolf someone needs to dumb him down.

Fuzzy immediately used the few active skills he had and a flurry of blows rained down so fast and heavy that I could not dodge at all and every parry I made made my knees feel like they were about to buckle anytime. In just 5 seconds, my HP already went down by half. I did not have an answer to this.

Suddenly, the song changed and I recognised what was being done. Beathoven changed the buff to Reunion and M1 and M2 poured their mana into me. They were fully fledged mages so their mana pool was no joke. Level 200 fully specialised mages gave me 20000 mana immediately and I'm pretty sure they left a bit with themselves too.

“Sorry Fuzzy but you haven't seen this buff before. Poison Torrent”

The poisonous whirpool wrapped itself around Fuzzy and usually that was my trump card that decided a fight immediately. I used the remaining mana to quickly cast ice age and searing chains like I did before. I wouldn't even need impure beckoning as Fuzzy had already used roar to try to bring me down as fast as possible. I left Fuzzy there to let his health tick down to 0 and ran over to Soup who was now terrorizing the twins. M1 was already unconscious on the floor and M2 was close to dying.

I wanted to ask Slick to help but I guess it was too much. Slick has already bought quite a bit of time for me and was now busy shedding his skin to remove all the bleeding effects stacked on him due to the ferocity of Soup and Fuzzy's attacks. I ran over to Soup but in that 3 seconds, he had already dealt with M2. It must have been because they gave me too much mana and did not leave enough for themselves.

“Beathoven! Back to Chaotic Melody please!”

However there was no answer from back inside the castle.

“Beathoven??”

Soup charged at me and brought his greatsword down. I had no choice but to parry. I had a bit of mana left over from the fight with Fuzzy but it wasn't much. About one full mana pool of mine. 6000 mana. That was all I had. I wondered what happened to Beathoven.

Did he fall asleep or something? Where the fuck is he?

I used electric impulse and swift steps to fight with Soup. He was way stronger than me but in return I was faster and more agile. Fuzzy was a stronger close ranged fighter than he was but I soon remembered what was the gay part about Soup's class. He was extremely tanky. Even more so when he activated berserker's call and I had no choice but to attack him while he had +200 armour. Every direct hit didn't even inflict 1% of damage on his HP. The longer the fight lasted, the stronger the gladiator got. I forgotten such a simple rule. In about one minute I would not be able to handle the even more excessive strength and speed he would get from his buff bonuses.

I needed to end this fast. But I could not kill him. I had to do something but do what?

Suddenly it struck me. There was only Soup, Slick and I left. Slick was about to be done regenerating from his skin shedding and then he could take over me fighting Soup while I use my mana to quickly get into their castle and grab the flag, take it back to our castle and win the game! It might be running away from the battle but hey it's to win the war right??

“Soup I'm sorry I love you in spite of your small dick and unbelievably huge aeriolas i've seen countless times in the shower but this is not one of those times where I will love you to the death. SLICK! SWAP!”

I made myself lighter using gravity magic and used a torrent of water to blast me high and away from Soup in the direction of their castle, flying over the lake and huge stone in the middle and landing on the opposite side, where their castle was.

However, there was a surprise waiting for me there.

Breadtalk was one step away from the entrance to his own castle. Furthermore, there was a blue flag in his hands which was unmistakably from our castle.

“WHAT?! How?”

And then I realised. Maybe Breadtalk did not even come out with the other 3 of them when the gates were open! He could've waited till the fight broke out and then swam over to the other side while we were all distracted amongst all the fighting. But I thought I saw four people on Xantos....

“You didn't come out of the castle at the start did you?”

“I did. I was on Xantos.”

“How?”

Quickly buy time while I cast rooted on him and kill him before he gets inside the castle.

“You see... Shapeshifting has its advantages you know. Like I could shapeshift into someone who looks like level 1 cute tall girl and act like I fell out of the sky tumbling to the ground, landing face first and pretended like I died? I may have made my boobs a little too big thoough.” Breadtalk said with a wry smile on his face. He begun taking his last step into his castle.

“Rooted!”

Breadtalk flung the blue flag into the red castle by throwing it.

“STOPPPPPPPPPPPPPP! We have a winnerrrrrrr!” The PA's voice took over the entire arena again.

“WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! DON'T MESS WITH THE TALKING BREAD!” Breadtalk screamed and begun stripping all his clothes, running laps around the balloon castle.

Even though I lost, it was still an entertaining antic to see.

We were then teleported out of the arena, back into the space between the stadium and the arena where we were joined by Xantos, Horse, M1, M2, Beathoven and Fuzzy. It looks like the players who died would immediately be teleported here to spectate the rest of the fight.

“What happened to you Beat?”

“Breadtalk manged to sneak in and stuck his exploding spear into my butt. It was a weird feeling you know. As if having something stuck up your ass wasn't good enough when it exploded I felt like... Like you know how when you drink coke too fast and the gas starts charging up your stomach, throat and mouth? Yeah well that sensation became hot and spicy as well and it started from my anus up. I died instantly after that of course.”

“Damnnnn. When did Breadtalk become so smart? Maybe he should take over as the tactician of the group.” I said.

“It wasn't me.” He said with a sheepish smile. “It was a horse's idea.”

I turned and looked at her immediately. “No way.”

“Way.” She said in her extremely haughty default face. Not that I can complaint about it even though it looked proud, it was pretty badass and she did come up with an incredible idea.

“Looks like I can't say horses are dumb anymore then.” I said.

“Mmhmm. You can start describing them as beautiful and amazing though I have no complaints about that.” She flashed a smile which indeed looked beautiful but there was no way in hell I was going to tell her that.

“I agree horses are beautiful but try saying that maybe when your hair is a little less frizzled and smoking.” Breadtalk chipped in.

Everyone chuckled and Horse immediately shot me a nasty look. "Someone could've went a little easier on the thunder. It wiped out a level 130 Roc instantly how would a level 1 fare? Argh I need a mirror."

The winners got 1700 Carnival War points and a small amount of EXP. However it looks like the skill proficiencies increased at a faster than average pace because you were using skills like crazy against other players who could use skills too. Guess it would make good proficiency grinding which I needed for my katana mastery.

Carnival War points could be traded for special items which Loki and his children have blessed. There were weapons and armours of every type and Breadtalk must've convinced Loki to do that for the town. It was pretty attractive though but the level requirements for the items were quite high and the points needed were insane. An enchanted katana made by Hel cost 300000 points. I would have to win like 200 times to get that!

However, there were some lower level items too which were pretty affordable. The points were given by the average level of the party you won against in Carnival War. Ours was about 170 so 1700 points was given. Horse immediately traded her points for a pair of level 1 daggers.

“Why daggers?” I asked.

“Because I didn't know what job I wanted to be. However you guys are a pretty fun bunch to be around with and it looks like you all need a thief.” She said.

Oh boyyyy.

“Guys should we let her in? “ I whispered in our party chat.

“I'm fine with anything~” said Beat.

“The more the merrier?” asked Soup.

“I WANT I WANT! ITS A GIRL THERE'S FINALLY A GIRL AMONG OUR GROUP.”

“Breadtalk chill the fuck out. Okay okay. God bless us.We have never had a girl in our group before so we have no idea what close proximity to estrogen will do to us okay.” I explained.

“HOORAY FOR ESTROGENESIS!” Breadtalk cheered.

“Thats stu- Wait genesis means beginning of so I guess its an apt name.” Breadtalk will always have his moments of ingenuity in conjunction with his 24/7 retardedness.

“Alright. You'll be a thief then I'll leave the class up to you be it thief, ninja, rogue whatever you want. Starting tomorrow you'll go get your class and we can power level you after your 30 days ban.”

We left the stadium after celebrating an epic first Carnival War and when we got to the town square, it struck us. Many NPCs were around, setting up their stalls, some could be seen packing into the residences. Rainbow sack has been extremely well received despite its... Appearance.

When we got back to the castle, the guild elders were all awaiting our presence. The representatives of the thief guild, archer guild, warrior's guild, intelligence guild and even the new pastor for Loki's church has all arrived. They sought us out for talks regarding their rent, services provided etc. We immediately gave Horse to the thief guild elder, Roxanne to study under her tutelage.

The four of us then went to our respective spines to usher in the new NPCs who all got here because of Hermes' recommendation. It seems that new towns with a good chance of becoming popular were very important information as the start up cost was cheap and when the town gets a few months of history and when more and more players start to come in, they will receive a spike in revenue and profits.

Profession masters also started approaching me to set up their guilds in the town centre since I had a little bit of space left over in between all the paths branching to the other towns. There was tailoring, blacksmithing, artist, sculpting, enchanting, mining, farming... you name it you got it. I also needed to find a profession other than cooking which has finally reached advanced level 1 in order to make use of my art stat. I gave them all a piece of land for rent and watched as they erected their guilds.

The town centre was populated for now and I could not wait for the day where it would be crowded and bustling with life with the roaring sound of the PA system and crowd from The Ascension and people flocking to the Carnival looking for fun. I was pretty sure things would all fall into place starting from now. We also had to level up to 300 within the next 3 years in game while managing this city and making sure everyone also reaches a certain level and usefulness for the upcoming war which they have no idea was going to happen.

The gears are now all set in place. The wheel starts to turn. Fate is in motion.

Ask not what fun does for you. Ask rather what you do for fun. Welcome, to Carnival.

End of Chapter 21