Rumbleheim—the world of raw, primal fighting for people of myriad races.
Mortal Region Outskirts, Millar’s Arena. Almond appeared in a shabby room with a wooden bench and a loud rumble and uproar ringing from outside.
“Where am I?” Almond muttered. He saw a closed door and began moving towards it, but suddenly, the black cat appeared before his face.
“You are going to fight someone in ten minutes. Only one weapon is allowed in the fight, and no other items, so don’t use anything else.”
Almond raised an eyebrow, “So I am here physically, in one of the worlds of the second layer?”
“Indeed, the world’s name is Rumbleheim. A perfect place to evaluate your combat ability and combat will.”
The cat landed on his shoulder and licked his paws before adding, “Use your eyes to learn during the fights and apply it.”
“Learn what?”
“Use of Prana. You can’t store it yet, but you can use the abundant Prana that’s in the atmosphere. Your strong will can complement this process, so exert your will over Prana. Try it here. Use the ten minutes you got.”
“Alright,” Almond focused and exerted his will over the Prana and it indeed bent.
“Infuse it in the sword to observe the first proper use of it,” the cat instructed upon seeing Almond controlling Prana.
Almond did as told and infused Prana in the sword. The wooden sword sucked it and suddenly lit up in gentle icy blue flames.
‘This…’ Almond’s eyes flickered as his All-Seeing Eyes observed the sword and found a strange symbolic letter within the sword.
‘There’s no formation or magical structure like skill runes, but this symbolic letter is responsible for this flame enchant on the sword, but it’s just carved inside the wooden sword…’
“You saw it, good. You can win the first battle with pure techniques if you have talent in your combat, but If you can’t figure out how that symbol is formed and its underlying principle on your own, you are going to lose the second fight.”
The cat smirked and added, “If you lose the second fight, you’re dead, I won’t revive you. But if you win the second fight, I will revive you if you die in the next fights.”
Almond frowned, “For real?”
“Absolutely. Did you enter the academy without knowing that people die like flies here? You saw thousands of people, right? Well, many of them can start over with their souls returning with the backing they have, but many don’t, like you, so they just die and their soul washes up for new life somewhere. All in all, only a small number of people graduate each year, and the graduation requirement is simple. You only need to stay alive for a year in the academy. Of course, you can also take leaves and return, or leave forever by choice if you fear the challenges of the academy.”
“I can send you back right now if you want to.”
Almond gripped the sword tightly and grinned, “Nope, I am staying.”
“Good, then here’s the grand tip. Prana is an energy that is affected by one’s mind and one’s thoughts, but most importantly, by one’s will. There’s a limit, but you will have to find it and play within it. The principle of limit is the same everywhere. Two people with different strengths fight, but the winner is not the one with higher strength, but the one who utilizes the strength most proficiently to bring out more power.”
The cat vanished after saying that.
‘That’s true,’ Almond smiled, feeling excited.
But he calmed down and took a deep breath before focusing on the symbolic letter. Although he would’ve liked more information, he wasn’t opposed to the idea of self-exploration as it was fun.
‘Time to break it down.’
He could feel there was a mystery to this symbol, and he was going to uncover it.
‘First, the symbol is made of Prana, but it’s similar to transmutation. So Prana has been turned into something else when this symbol was carved onto the wood…’
While Almond was observing and feeling the symbol, the flames on the sword suddenly dimmed and vanished.
‘Wait, these blue flames…’ Almond’s eyes glinted as he observed the flames. He infused more Prana in the sword, and the blue flame enchantment’s intensity returned. He tried to add more Prana, but its intensity didn’t increase further. Instead, the excess Prana just dispersed.
‘The enchantment stays active for one minute, and the usage of Prana is 100 motes if I count it as per my observation. Adding more won’t help as 100 is the limit of this sword, or rather this symbol.’
‘The flames will vanish after all 100 Prana is used up…’
Almond’s eyes glinted. ‘The symbol is the main thing. It’s turning the Prana into this flame and I have to figure out how it works.’
‘The cat said Prana is affected by one’s mind and one’s thoughts.’
Almond grabbed 100 Prana motes in his hand, and exerted his will over it, wanting to turn it into liquified Prana.
The 100 Prana motes actually turned into dreamy golden liquid, which he shaped into a small bead.
‘Exert my asset over it…’
*Shrrr…*
The bead of prana began changing. It was half-backed at first, but then it completely turned into a tiny elemental tornado of his Sand of Vibrant Waves.
However, it automatically dispersed two seconds later even though it was in his control.
He formed a tiny tornado again and actively tried to keep it in shape, but it still dispersed away after two seconds.
‘Why? It feels like it lacks an anchor point to remain in my control…’ Almond thought and soon figured it out as he focused on the symbol. ‘Yep, this is the key.’
‘For the blue flames, this symbol is the anchor point to keep this enchant active and as that cat said, I have to figure out its underlying principle.’
Suddenly, the room’s door opened, and a red orc woman covering just her chest and bottom with black embroidered cloths entered.
“So, you’re the next one, eh? Come on, boy. It’s your turn.”
After saying that, she turned around and began walking.
Almond quickly followed her and walked through a small passage before arriving in a small hall with an entrance to the arena.
He could hear people cheering, chanting the name “Mad Shark” and saw his opponent as he faced the entrance.
“What’s your name?”
‘Maybe I should use a cool name here.’
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“The name’s Blade King.”
“…” The orc woman blinked.
Almond smiled.
The woman laughed and said, “Well, Blade King it is. Now, kill your opponent to win or die.”
Slapping his back, she added with a grin, “Good luck.”
Almond felt a jolt in his body and shock to his organs with the slap and weakly smiled. ‘Fucking everyone is strong here.’
In the arena, a dwarf floating on a round-shield-like device welcomed Almond, his voice resounding throughout the Colosseum battleground, “And here comes the next opponent of Mad Shark. Oyaa, this one chap has a rather overbearing name.”
“Let us welcome, the Blade King!”
The audience, numbering thousands, erupted in uproar, though most of them were booing and telling Mad Shark to eat him alive.
‘Damn, they are hungry here,’ Almond looked around while walking in the battleground, which was roughly 200 meters diameter in size.
“Oi, kiddo. Did you separate from your parents and stumbled here?” Mad Shark asked with a ruthless grin.
The audience burst into laughter.
‘Mad Shark, eh? Yeah, suitable,’ Almond thought as he looked at his opponent. A stubby humanoid shark beastfolk with small legs, a big bulky muscled middle-frame, and a shark-head with sharp jagged teeth. His weapon of choice was gauntlets.
[Mad Shark]
-Lifeform Rank: Mortal
-Ability Power: D+
-Prana Sea: 10
-Soul Sea: 10
-Stats:
— Body Constitution: 40
— Mental Constitution: 30
— Soul Constitution: 10
— Arcane Constitution: 20
‘His stats are a bit higher than mine, but my Mental Constituion is higher. I wish I knew more about these new stats, but whatever. I can use assets with Prana, so this won’t be hard with this difference.’
“I am not lost,” Almond responded to Mad Shark’s taunt with a smile. “My dogs were carving some seafood, and I heard there was Mad Shark here, so I thought I’d come here to slice it and grill it.”
“Ooooo…”
The audience’s reaction was stanky with many laughing.
Mad Shark’s eyes twitched, and this clearly stung him as he expressed anger. Smashing his gauntlets and causing sparks to fly, he said with a ruthless glint in his eyes, “I am going to eat you alive.”
Almond pointed his wooden sword at him, a carefree smile on his face, “Come and die.”