Mash was not expecting to meet the king and had no idea how to act. The guild master was with him; however, all of Mash’s attention was on the king. The other fighters were all there, and Mash noticed that the hero was in her armor again. Mash stood before the king as he sat upon a throne on a slightly raised platform. The room was luxuriously dressed, with a chandelier for light, and banners along the walls. It was strange to find a room like this within the guild, but he remembered that the king supported the guild in the city. Guilds were supposed to be independent of the kingdom, but that was usually not the case. It was obvious that the guild here was heavily impacted by the King’s presence.

The king himself was bigger than Mash expected and was easily half again Mash’s height. He was probably the biggest person Mash had ever seen. Something like that could only be due to a class unless he was part of another race. It wasn’t impossible but extremely rare. He wore a regal set of armor. The metal was a mix of gold and silver. Normally, those metals would be useless, but the gold was used to engrave enchantments into the silver armor, and Mash guessed the man probably didn’t need it anyway. According to rumors, the man was the highest-level person alive, so not many things could damage him, regardless of the armor.

The man looked older than Mash expected. The king was relatively new, but Mash could make out a few wrinkles around the edges of his eyes. However, his brown hair was unblemished by grey, and his jawline was pronounced. The only thing that surprised him was the man’s eyes themselves. There was nothing in them, and all he could see was golden light emanating from them. Mash shivered slightly when those eyes fell upon him.

“What are you doing?”

The guild master’s voice startled Mash, but it was not unexpected. He had slowly been edging closer, trying to get the king within his draconic domain. In response, he coughed awkwardly while coming up with some explanation.

“Sorry, I lost myself for a moment.”

He tried to sound awed as if the king’s presence had been what attracted him. It was the truth, though not necessarily for the right reasons. Mash relaxed a bit when the king spoke.

“It is fine, I was planning on having a meeting with you at some point. My daughter speaks a lot of you and your friends. However, that will have to be a discussion for later. All of you have performed admirably, and I have arranged some rewards for you four, as well as a special prize for whoever wins the remaining fights.”

The king’s voice carried easily, and there was a depth to it that Mash couldn’t understand. Mash took a step back when he felt something enter his domain, but realized it was a chest of some kind. Mash was tempted to open it there, but everyone else was hiding their prizes. It made sense as each item was probably going to be useful for the remaining fights.

The king said something else before leaving, but Mash’s attention was on the box that he felt moving in his hands. Hopefully, that was a good sign. The guild master said something as well, but Mash only listened superficially. All she mentioned was that Mash would be fighting first, against the strong warrior that he wanted to test his dragon form on. That was all she talked about before dismissing them. None of them lingered, and they returned to their rooms quickly.

As soon as Mash got inside, he cracked open the box. What he gazed at was not exactly something he was expecting. It was an odd-shaped piece of wood, with roots dangling from the entire object. Mash only had five minutes to figure out what the item did, thankfully Priscilla recognized it. She sent him a message, but in a strange way where he could hear her voice along with it.

“It is the heart of a tree beast.”

“Can you give me some images?”

As the images entered his mind, Mash considered the implication of the object. The king had some way of knowing what Mash’s abilities were, or at least had guessed correctly. It wasn’t impossible as Mash had been open in testing his new forms. The only form Mash had hidden was his dragon form, and he had revealed the cat-like form soon after fighting the monster in the arena. As Mash stared at the squirming heart, he couldn’t help but smile.

Priscilla’s images had shown him monsters of wood. Mash knew that they were treants, he had seen those in books often enough. They looked like elaborate carvings, and he could feel Priscilla’s annoyance with the memories. She had been stronger than the monsters, but they were incredibly annoying to kill. She had needed to find the heart and rip it out of the monster to do real damage. Mash eagerly ate the heart before him, taking a bite with his actual mouth before tossing the rest into a wooden creation.

It wasn’t very surprising, that it tasted like a piece of wood. He still swallowed the piece in his mouth easily, as the taste wasn’t really all that bad. Simply tasting like wood was not really a deterrent for him. He had eaten much worse than that. Mash was tempted to test the form, but that would only drain his energy. He wasn’t planning on using it for his next fight, and it wouldn’t do to be lacking in energy. His dragon form would require that he kept most of his energy.

At least, that was what he told himself. The reality was a bit different, as his curiosity overpowered his sense. As he transformed into the treant form, he watched as his skin turned to wood. It was the same wood that he normally; made and he could feel lightning thrumming through his body. He was glad that it took the properties of his wood, as that was several times more sturdy than normal. Even with the information that Priscilla could gather, Mash knew that his wood affinity was drastically improved. He noticed something else change, though he couldn’t place it. He briefly checked his energy curious to see how much the drain had been for the transformation.

It wasn’t a lot, but more than he expected. The monster the king had gotten this from must have been high leveled. Not as strong as the dragon, but stronger even than Priscilla. At least if he followed the energy consumption of the transformation. He dismissed the form quickly. The transformation itself had taken almost a hundred energy, though that process tended to be the most expensive part of the skill.

He heard a small knock on the door soon after his test and knew that it was time for his fight. He left the door quickly, finding an attendant waiting for him. The man looked anxious for some reason. Mash was tempted to ask, but the man didn’t look to be in the mood for it. The walk to the arena was silent, and he was led to the moving platform like he always was.

As the platform rose, Mash didn’t bother listening to the introductions, instead, waiting to see the man on the other side. Honestly, this had been the fight Mash had been most excited for, as the warrior was clearly the strongest among the competitors. The hero might be close, but Mash hadn’t seen much of her abilities, other than attacking with the sword.

Looking across the grounds Mash finally got a good look at the man. He didn’t wear much armor, only having leather strips tied tightly around his body. It was a simple armor, that wouldn’t really do much of anything at this level. However, the man did have a new tattoo, along his forehead, and Mash assumed that was the item he received. The man was bald, and his eyes shone red with anger. It was not unexpected considering that he had a barbarian-type class.

“Begin!”

The announcer’s words kicked off the fight, and Mash let the draconic scales grow over his body. It was time to reveal his true power. The fighter didn’t hesitate, closing the distance in an instant, slamming his fist into the side of Mash’s head. The man’s whole body had grown a little during the motion, and his fist was easily bigger than Mash’s whole head. The sound of his fist landing reverberated across the grounds. It was loud enough that it silenced the crowd from the sheer force it revealed.

However, Mash hardly took any damage. He slid across the ground a little, but not enough that he couldn’t strike back immediately. Mash’s fist collided with the man’s side, and he was sent flying much like the demon had. The man smacked against the arena walls, actually managing to crack them with the force. The fight wasn’t over as the man pulled himself from the wall. The tattoo on his forehead glowed golden, and Mash could tell that it was healing him. The fighter launched himself towards Mash, but he was too slow. With his improved speed, Mash did what his brother had done before and caught the punch. Immediately, he turned the man’s failed punch into a throw and chucked him at another wall. This time the noise was even louder.

Still, the man managed to pull himself from the rubble. Letting out a guttural yell, the man’s body grew more ferocious. He grew a bit bigger too, but it was the darkening of his skin that surprised Mash. This was not something he had revealed yet. Mash wanted to see if the man could do real damage to him and let his next strike land. This time Mash was sent skidding across the ground; however, he didn’t fall. The blow had strained his muscles a bit, but his scales and bones were undamaged. Now to test if the darkened skin did anything for his durability.

Mash’s own punch landed squarely into the man’s chest. His dash having been too fast for the man to truly follow. It sounded like his ribs broke, though the warrior only grunted in response. Mash was surprised when the man didn’t get sent flying and took another blow to the head. This time the man’s fist came down on it, and the floor beneath them quaked from the force. Mash shrugged off the attack, returning with another punch to the man’s chest. Even with the healing, he could only take so many broken ribs.

At least that was what Mash assumed, but the fight kept dragging on. Mash didn’t take much damage, but his opponent seemed to be getting better at handling the blows. The fight had grown boring in the past two minutes of repetition. Even with their inhuman speed and strength, it was clear that Mash wasn’t taking any damage. The audience seemed to share his opinion, as they had remained quiet. Mash could only last so much longer with his energy. It was almost completely drained and would only last a little longer. Deciding to end the fight with his next attack, Mash struck the man’s spine. The fighter had tried moving out of the way, but he was simply too slow for Mash. The sickening crunch of the man’s spine breaking was loud. Though the scream that followed it was even louder.

Even still the man stayed standing, and the golden light of his tattoo began healing him. Mash sighed in resignation, knowing that he couldn’t win without killing the man. He felt the temptation to end the fight and smash the man’s skull. It was a sickening thought, that he was consciously aware of as it passed through his mind. He stamped it down, shivering at the very notion. Even if he was stronger, his abilities were simply not suited for a fight like this.

Mash couldn’t tell if it was the system’s corruption, but he knew the thought bothered him. Even if he wanted to be like his brother had mentioned, he didn’t want to follow the system’s influence. It was impossible to tell what parts of him were true, and what came from the class system. He decided to act like what he wanted to be, not necessarily what he felt like he needed, even if it would help him in the long run. He was not as free as he would like but had enough freedom that he could start acting as he wanted.

It was the simple truth of the matter. He needed to weigh every decision, rather than caring about whether it was a part of the system or not. The only thing that mattered was whether he could live with the decision. Coming to that conclusion, he spoke loudly, easily loud enough that anyone among the audience could hear.

“I surrender!”