The silence grew, the crowd still stunned by the fight. Well, he wouldn’t really call it a fight, and that was likely the cause of the quiet. The rain drowned out the smallest noises so it truly felt like not a single word was being said. The announcer was probably struggling to find the right words for this situation. Mash didn’t know how to fill the momentary lull, and considered firing lightning off, just to get a reaction from the crowd. But he held himself back, instead, settling his wooden creation down beside him. Only as it landed did he realize how large it really was. The improvement to his creation speed was significant, more than doubling the rate at which he could make things. This structure was over twice his own height, and several times thicker than him as well. It could’ve easily chomped through several of the lizards.

He was surprised to feel that he had gained a level from the monster, the fight having been trivial. It probably meant that he was close to the level up after the previous fight, and this merely carried him over the edge. He was tempted to check his status now, but also wanted to pay attention to what the announcer would say. Though, maybe he wouldn’t be saying anything at this rate. Mash hadn’t moved from the rising platform that he stood on and knew that it was supposed to lower after the fight, so he simply waited for that to happen.

“What a display of power! Easily surpassing what those double his level might accomplish, the speed and power he demonstrated eclipsing his peers. Truly a monster in appearance and talent. Looks like we will have to raise the bar for his next fight, which will be three days from now.”

The crowd started cheering finally, though Mash was considering the announcer’s words. How did he know of Mash’s monstrous appearance, the mask should have hidden the features well. Though a more thorough scan of the battlefield told him what the announcer probably saw. The dragon’s maw that lay beside him was covered in blood, and more seemed to be seeping out from the sides. Not to mention the remains of the lizard were lying not too far from his as well. The scene probably painted him as a monster more than his appearance had. As the platform lowered back towards the ground, he was a little surprised to see that the attendant from earlier was gone. He somewhat expected her to be in charge of leading fighters too and from the entrance, but he guessed that it wasn’t really necessary. It was a straight line in and out, so he couldn’t really get lost.

Starting to walk out, he checked over his status, a little surprised to see his stats had changed.

Name: Mash Class: Scale Wood Devourer

Level: 41

Health: 1000 / 1000

Energy: 1374 / 1780

Fortitude: 100

Endurance: 71

Strength: 71

Agility: 72

Intelligence: 100 → 107

Wisdom: 66 → 68

Charisma: 32 → 35

Free Stats: 5

Skills: Persist, Mana-wood Creation, Inhuman Hibernation, Mana Territory, Unnatural Monster Core, Inhumanity, Wooden Body, Carnivorous Tree

The improvement to his charisma made sense, given the reaction the audience had to his fight. However, the changes to his mental stats didn’t. thinking about what might have caused the improvement, he realized that it was probably the fusion with Priscilla. It had probably taken the system, or his body, time to adjust to the changes of the connection. He didn’t spend long checking his status, his skills remained unchanged from the level up.

The attendant from earlier was rushing down the ramp, a little disheveled from something. She seemed startled to see him making his way up and apologized as she ran up to him.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think your fight would end so soon, and hadn’t been ready.”

Her voice was still alluring, and he waved off her apology.

“It’s not a big deal. It’s not like I could get lost even if I tried.”

He tried to give her a smile, taking off the lower portion of his mask so that she could see it. Either the gesture or his words didn’t seem to help, and she gave him a very forced chortle in response. Deciding to ignore the awkwardness, he let the lady lead him out of the arena. At the exit of the tunnel, she reminded him that his fight would be in three days, and around the same time as today.

Giving her a nod of confirmation, he formed a singular wing behind him, raising it above his head to block the rain. His clothes were already wet, so the gesture seemed pointless, but it still felt right. Before the fight, he had made several holes in his shirt, places where he could grow his wooden creations from. He would typically just wear armor, since that would be the easiest for him, but had thought that keeping his normal clothing would add more to the spectacle.

At first he had debated whether or not he wanted to make a spectacle of himself, and up until the last moment, he was undecided. The announcer’s words before the fight began had helped him make the decision. To some extent, the fight would act as a display of his new family name. The reputation that Alex spoke about was made through moments like that, so he played it up a bit. He wanted the city to know that his family was not one to mess with. The tournament in a few days would do the same.

There was a popular café nearby, and the others wanted to meet up there after the fight. He thought about what he would do for the next fight and wondered how the owners of the Colosseum would raise the difficulty. It was a strange place where the difficulty of the fight fell on the owners. The adventurers were not expected to play up the tension, and an easy fight meant that the administrators had made a mistake. His fight would’ve demonstrated that all monsters at his rank would be too weak to pose a real threat, which meant that he would probably be facing multiple. From the fights he saw today, only one fight had multiple monsters. And there were only four at that. Honestly, he hoped that they would pour out an endless wave of monsters, thinking that he could handle it. With his persist skill, it would only help him level faster. He idly wondered what training would be like tomorrow, Jack certainly would’ve heard about his fight by then.

He spotted the café, noticing the obvious symbol that his friends had mentioned. It was a painting of a small blue animal, hung as a sign in front of the building. It had red eyes, and long ears that were far bigger than the rest of the creature. Other than the ears the creature itself was a small circular ball, with four stumpy legs. Mash didn’t know how the creature really looked but was able to find out quickly. Upon entering the small café, he saw the depicted creature running around on the inside. It waddled more than run, its ears seeming to cause its body to sway with its weight. He guessed it could be considered cute, but to him, it just seemed awkward, and a little sad. His friends were sitting at a big table in the corner, and he made his way towards them.

The building was wooden, some simple carpet was laid across the ground. A few paintings were hung on the walls, depictions of people whom Mash did not know. He did recognize the princess on one of the paintings and guessed that they were all depicting members of the royal family. This building wasn’t lit with mana crystals either, instead, they used more traditional candles and oil lamps. He didn’t know why but enjoyed the ambient light.

“Monster.”

He heard the word muttered as he passed a table. Within his mana sense he could tell that they were talking about him and noticed that most of the people were looking at him. It had probably been the same outside. Since he was so close to the Colosseum, most of the people here would have heard about or seen his fight. He ignored the comment, somewhat used to the reaction now. Before it had felt wrong, having been about his appearance. Now it felt more appropriate being about his power.

“Well, what did you guys think?”

Speaking, he pulled the chair out to sit down. It didn’t surprise him to see his brother and sister sitting there, sure that they would have gone to see his fight after receiving his message.

“It was boring, you should’ve let the thing hit you or something.”

Jill spoke, stuffing her face with a cake of some kind. She had really become looser with her money after her family debts had been cleared. It must have been freeing for her, and she took advantage of the large amount of money they still had on them. He rolled his eyes at her, taking a bite out of one of the other cakes on the table. The gesture was hidden by the mask, but she seemed to get it. He needed to stop himself from doing that too much. He did not want to make it into a habit.

“You did a good job at hiding your real capabilities. Most will be too focused on what you did show, to consider what you didn’t.”

Arthur sounded very pleased with how Mash handled the fight, and told him as much, spending the next few minutes talking about the advantage that would give him for the tournament. Mash knew that as well, having planned on saving his lightning for the tournament. The rest of the meal was pleasant, though it was accented by the whispers of the surrounding people. As they left the building, he looked over the paintings again. He was sure that one was a depiction of the king, and saw another painting of the princesses.

“Where are Niviss and Amara?”

He asked the question without thinking about it too much. He was surprisingly used to seeing them with his siblings and figured that they would’ve come to the fight.

“They are busy with class advancement but said that they would stop by in a couple of days.”

Luna cut off Jill, who looked ready to make a wisecrack. Even though the words were unsaid, he knew what she would’ve said. Though he was able to push the thought aside, processing what Luna had said. So, Niviss had leveled up early, and he wondered what class she received. Did she pick the class related to the mask, or did she have another lined up that was better?

The walk back to Arthur’s home had been covered in whispers. They couldn’t hear them because of the rain, but when it stopped, nothing was covering the mutterings of the crowd around them. At first, Mash made a show of looking towards the sounds, silencing them as he turned his head, but Arthur stopped him, telling him that they would follow him now. As it did for all of them. It would follow their whole group soon since Jill, Red, and Luke had all registered for fights. They got fights for the same day as his next one, and they were already coming up with what they could do to one-up Mash.

Arthur told them it would be unnecessary. Jill’s magic was extremely rare and would cause a stir no matter what she did during the fight. Red similarly had unique magic, though it would cause a stir for a different reason. Mash was surprised to hear that she decided to fight since she seemed to want to keep her family a secret. He made a note to ask her about it later, and Jill about her family too. That had been pushed back by the recent events, but they had nothing planned for tonight. It would be as good a time as any for the conversation.