February 12, 2019, 3:04 pm. Immediately after deciding to charge back into the arena.

Our next set of opponents are both wielding ridiculous weapons. One of them has an axe with a head the size of a smart-car while the other has a whip with a studded ball at the end. Neither of them are able to hit us, but every swing from the ax leaves a wind blade that flows outward. It's enough that I have to actively counter the effect. Though part of me is tempted to let them hit us. There's no reason we need to face Atun.

Ah, if only Rufka or I were able to humble ourselves like that. Didn't realize I was so proud of my abilities. But there's certainly that feeling as I teleport around the ax-wielder to crack them over the head with a summoned club of steel. Even as they collapse, I glance up towards Atun. No noticeable change, though I'm not expecting one.

But I wasn't expecting her to jump in and kick our asses the first time either.

Rufka and I work through the rest of the round, and the pair is challenging enough, I have to Pause on the final round, as much to position myself near the outer edge of Atun's aura as anything. This time, we're going to test if stepping out of her aura triggers the pull ability she used.

Smoulder is already wiggling, prepared to pounce as Rufka defeats the whip wielder. Atun steps up to the edge of the balcony, proclaiming our third round of flawless victories. Nice of her not to count the curb-stomping she's been giving us in there.

Before she has time to set foot in the arena, Smoulder smashes into her then leaps away. At the same time, I pedal back several steps until I'm out of her aura. The second I'm outside, I start channeling Pause while creating compacted Stone walls, sucking as much mana out of them as possible. The walls of the arena don't seem to be affected by her ability, so this is our first real-

"Attend me!" Atun bellows, and despite the wall I threw up, I find myself in her face again. I drop to the ground, rolling to the side, and this time she misses in her attempt to grab me. A slash at her with the crude blade of steel I made, and am gratified when it doesn't crumble when I hit her. But then she grabs it, flipping it around and backhanding me with a laugh. I crash through the stands, pushing my way back out of the benches I crashed through only to come face to sword with my blade.

It still doesn't manage to take me to zero health, though it does send me spinning. I attempt to Pause on reflex, and discover it works for nearly a full second before her field disrupts it. That second is just enough time for me to realize she wasn't wielding my sword, and simply used it as a projectile. Grabbing my fancy club off the ground, I charge back towards her, Pausing again right as I'm striking. It gives me a single second of time where I can manipulate the sword to swing even faster. And I have the satisfaction of knocking her back half a step.

I don't see what knocks me out after.

Waking on the stone slab outside, I can't help but pump my fist. That was way better than our first two attempts. When I sit up, I find Rufka staring out the open door at where the jungle is already starting to creep back in. If we stay as long as Beth expects, Smoulder might have to blast our way out too. Not that she'll mind.

"So, that went well," I say, sitting up and slinging my feet over the side of my slab.

Rufka sits up, leaning on her left elbows as she meets my gaze. "I messed up. She shouldn't have had time to get you, but I was more worried about you than..."

"Hey. It's fine. We're learning here. And... you avoided looking, right? Like we agreed?"

"Yeah. And... it did help," Rufka says, nodding.

"Kinda glad bodies poof quickly. Be a lot tougher to avoid looking otherwise," I say, pulling her to her feet. "Now, come on. We've got a lot more of these jerks to get through. And we're doing better."

"Yeah... Yeah, let's kick her Vaus damn ass," Rufka shouts right as Roberts is walking down from his most recent challenge. He just raises an eyebrow at us as we select our next opponent and very casually run up the stairs at full speed. Super chill.

We blast through the next few rounds, our opponents barely able to hamper us with the sword and spear combo. When we're fighting the final pair, we spend more time prepping the arena. Several metal traps that we can easily dive through but will require Atun to go around or get beaten up breaking through.

Thwacking the sword-K'tharn over the head with a new metal club, I check my positioning, hoisting my shield up. Rufka takes her opponent down with a roar, riding the spear-K'tharn several meters towards one of our tangles of steel. I tried doing titanium, but it's crazy mana intensive.

"Congratulations, Citizen Pandora and Citizen Ashkaban, on achieving twenty-four consecutive Flawless Victories," Atun calls, keeping one leg on the wall of bone separating us, instead of immediately jumping into the arena.

"This is new, I hate it when she does new stuff," I grumble while hefting my shield.

"Not loving it either," Rufka agrees, her bow held at the ready.

"Three times you have fought my least avatar, and already, you start to improve. I wish you luck, in this fourth... and final, attempt." At the end of her speech, Atun launches herself into the arena. I've already paused time, and shot several thick metal nets in her direction. Smoulder leaps forward, trailing a net of her own, one that's heated to temperatures that mostly negate the net's structure as it crashes into what is apparently Atun's weakest version.

I don't have time to worry about that, diving to the side through the metal tangle as Atun attempts to grab me. Thanks to the nets and the constrictive passage, I manage to get away, slipping into the next tangle before she pulls herself free. Then Rufka hits her from behind. We continue to harass her, neither of us getting too close or too far away. Then I see a fleck of blood go flying. Which is when she cries out, "Attend me!"

When we're drawn forth, I'm already swinging my club. It bounces off, barely staggering Atun's giant frame. But when Smoulder follows up a second later, it's enough to knock Atun to one knee. Then Rufka manages to take a gouge out of her cheek with an arrow.

Not willing to give Atun time to recover, I grab one of the nets that missed her earlier, then Pause, gaining just enough time to throw the net with metal manipulation. Atun jabs a hand out, catching the net and wrapping it around her hand until it looks like a mitten. A solid steel mitten that is speeding towards me. My shield absorbs most of the blow, but crumbles in half, nearly useless.

Even so, I'm feeling pretty good about our chances until I look up and see that Atun's wounds are healing before my eyes.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" I yell as I get caught in the shoulder by her mailed fist before my head slams into one of our tangles.

The next thing I know, I'm waking up from unconsciousness. Though this time, I'm still in the arena. I only blanked out for a second, though my health is still at zero. Rufka is still peppering Atun with arrows, and Smoulder is spending more time avoiding Atun's strikes than attacking. Atun is close, no more than five meters from me. And I have a handy projectile right over my head. I Pause, accelerating the entire tangle into Atun's back. Despite her fast healing, it doesn't seem like her Health is back, and the projectile tears something that was keeping her standing. Once Atun goes down on one knee, Rufka and Smoulder become relentless, striking her over and over.

I'm barely able to stand with the assistance of my club turned oversized walking stick. Rufka practically cackles as Atun collapses forward.

Our moment of triumph is cut short when she bursts into blue dust. I cough on the thick sweet cloud as it swirls back to her throne, reforming into Atun. She laughs, then as we glare up at her she starts clapping which is accompanied by a notification.

"Hidden Objective Complete: Defeat the Least Avatar of Desh Atun before purchasing the final ritual combat. 1/1. Rewards: 10000 Arena Points. Counts as one Arena Achievement for purposes of unique gear and unlocks."

"Really doesn't feel that hidden when she comes in to kick our ass after the fight," I mutter, my eyes still fixed on Desh Atun. Finished with her clapping, she lazily plucks a still-sizzling piece of meat from a tray and pops it into her mouth, with a raised eyebrow in our direction.

"Nope," Rufka agrees. "But I've had enough of her for today. Let's go spend some points. Pretty sure we've got enough for a couple levels."

I throw one last glance at Atun before following Rufka out. She gives me a casual wave before tossing another piece of meat into the air. I don't watch to see if she catches it, already following behind Rufka. We stop once we're down the ramp, and Rufka leans over, hugging against my side.

"We did it," I say, now that we're not in the arena.

"Yep," Rufka agrees into my shoulder.

"I honestly didn't think we'd pull it off."

"Liar."

"Okay. Didn't think we'd get it this early."

"Did too."

"You know I-"

"Yep."

"You don't want to talk about it do you?" I ask, finally turning to Rufka.

"Nope," she replies, tilting her head to the side with a grin. "Let's go spend our points."

"Right," I chuckle, following her as we return to the arena shop. Today was decently productive, especially with the bonus points from defeating Atun. Not enough to buy the truly exorbitant items, but more than enough for the last two advancement points I need, plus ten integration points. And that's while keeping enough points to unlock our next challenge. Those bonuses from our flawless victories really added up.

Once Rufka's done buying basically the same stuff, we return to the kitchen. While making dinner together, we remain quiet as we each look over our new class unlocks.

Surprisingly, each of my levels gives me two new abilities to choose from. Meaning that I'll need even more progression points if I want to buy them both. Since there are still eight points left for purchase, it doesn't seem like a particularly daunting task.

"Eye of the Storm: Grants passive flight speed. Improved defence and maneuverability while flying if channelling at least two elements at once."

While passing Rufka a spice mix I'm still not sure of the contents of, despite analyzing it, I almost drop it when I read my first ability. Straight up flight. I suspected it was coming, but this is... I should probably read my other options first. That's what I should do. As a responsible adult.

I don't.

Humming happily to myself, I start reading the next ability.

"Anchor: Allows casting an anchor in the tides of time, allowing momentary reruns through local space time. Does not account for outside forces interfering. Can not use best result. Must end the result to resume the flow of time."

This time I do drop the honey for the glazed yams.

Taking a deep breath, I lean against the counter as I reread the description. Okay. Not actual time travel. I... think? Still, it's... that's still... It's my level nine ability. Sitting down I run my hand through my hair, frowning as my hand gets caught on a knot until I use a short blast of wind to untangle the offending strands.

"Good stuff?" Rufka asks as she picks up the dropped spice mix.

"Uh. Yeah. Yeah, you could definitely say that," I reply. For a second I consider dropping my second point into Anchor. But I was already hasty once.

"Lesser Cataclysm: Area effect ability that rips into every non-linked creature within a 1km diameter OR every linked creature within a 1km radius. Deals Immense spatial damage to all targets."

That doesn't seem as... wait a Facet-enhanced second. Does every creature mean even the bugs? Would that wipe out every living creature in the jungle outside? That's... terrifying. Focusing on it, I'm able to determine that the links the spell is describing are related to my IFF. And it technically includes an upgrade to the IFF that allows me to set specific targets to be targeted by the ability. That's a lot less worrying. And... very powerful. I wonder if it would work through Atun's disruption effect.

...

Nah. That'd be too...

Sigh, that's going on the short list too.

As Rufka sets a plate down in front of me, I read my last ability.

"Seed: Gestates a System Seed."

Huh. Going the opposite direction on this one, I see. Focusing on the description is-

Focusing on the desc-

The room wavers as equations start bombarding me. I feel the faint ding of a System notification, but it's lost in the sea of confusion. Then Wyonna's there.

[Wyonna] "What just happened?" Wyonna asks as the numbers go away, my head still aching.

"I... just tried to read one of my class abilities," I explain while rubbing my head.

"Which one?" Wyonna prompts as Rufka's hand lands on my shoulder.

"Seed," I reply, giving Rufka a small smile to let her know I'm okay. Mostly.

[Wyonna] "Sorry. Whatever you just said isn't translating."

I blink slowly, then try sending the name directly.

[Wyonna] "Okay. Well, good news. I saw that you sent that message. Bad news. I still can't read it."

"It's... one word. It's not even an uncommon word. Like, apple seed," I say. But even as I say it... there's something different about the way I was saying the ability's name.

"What are you doing?" Rufka asks me as I say Seed aloud several times in a row.

"Saying my new ability name," I tell her even as I start switching between lower-case, regular seed and upper-case Seed.

"Your ability name is seed?" Rufka asks with a chuckle. "Isn't that your class name?"

"I... uhm, kinda forgot that," I admit. Despite it being at the top of my character sheet, I don't actually look at my class name very often.

Opening my status, I drop my twenty Integration points, including the ones I'd been saving, equally into Strength and Constitution. Atun being able to take me down so quick is a reminder that every bit of Health helps. Which is why I also bug Rufka to lend me three mana essence so I can bond the armour upgrade I got from Ineesis. Then I review my status again.

STATUS

Class: Cataclysm Seed

Level: Iron-10

ATTRIBUTES

Strength: 55 > 65

Constitution: 60 > 70

Agility: 100

Endurance: 60

Intellect: 125

Spirit: 125

Perception: 110

Resolve: 110

Integration Points: 0

Progression Tokens: 0

Advancement Crests: 0

Storage: 7.94 > 8.65 Cubic meters

Bonded Armour: 3/6 > 4/7

RESOURCES

Health

Pool: 518/518 > 518/551

Edge: [34.5] > [41.8]

Regen: (383/day) > (424/day)

Stamina

Pool: 518/518 > 518/540

Edge: [40] > [51.1]

Regen: (435/day) > (440/day)

Mana

Pool: 1168/1168 > 1168/1176

Edge: [87.6] > [107.2]

Regen: (1092/day) > (1100/day)

Focus

Pool: 1173/1173 > 1173/1181

Edge: [83.8] > [87.8]

Regen: (1065/day) > (1072/day)

Matrix Resources

Facet

Pool: 68/400 > 68/403

Edge: [26.5]

Regen: (332/hour) > (334/hour)

Reading the Seed in my class name feels almost identical to the way I'm saying Seed now. Except everyone can hear it when I say it as part of my class name. Which prompts me to make a rather erudite remark, "Weeeeeeird."

"Mhm," Rufka agrees before stealing one of the glazed yams off my plate. Which distracts me for several seconds as I fight to regain my honour. And my yam.

Then I turn my attention back to my abilities. I... well, I don't feel like Seed is critical. At least, not in the short term. At the same time, it does feel significant.

Still, with the current abilities available, I decide to pick up Lesser Cataclysm. Anchor feels more useful in the long term, especially in social situations, but I intend to buy it tomorrow, once I have enough points. And the same for Seed.

But that can wait for after I get my hands on Rufka for stealing my last piece of glazed yam!