The hubbub of the Cauldron of Blood was somewhat nostalgic for Dee. It had been many years since Faylen had taken her here to pick a fighting style, but she remembered enjoying that short visit. There was an especially aggressive air in the area, which was caused by the fact that almost everyone here was a warrior of some sort. There were some merchants and those that just came to watch mixed in the crowd, but in general, they were in the minority. The area was dominated by rowdy warriors of all types, and it gave the place a different feel from normal.

There were several interesting details as a result of the odd demographics of the place. For one, everyone was armed. This in itself was less weird than one might think because Pantheon was a dangerous place, but usually the weapons were not displayed so openly. Additionally, normally a throng of people like this would create a sort of crushed and pushing flow of people, but here everyone kept their distance to avoid surprise attacks.

With the mood of the warriors already running on the aggressive side, it would not be strange to find yourself at the business end of a weapon if you accidentally pushed someone, and that was assuming they didn’t want you dead before getting shoved. The area was filled with various races, some of which hated each other with a passion. They were all also possible competitors and enemies, so taking someone out before they became a problem might be a good idea. Assuming you didn’t get caught. The guards around the place took a dim view of killings outside the arena. A bar fight was ok, but once weapons were drawn the guards intervened. That’s also why people kept their distance, to allow the guards easy visibility of any disturbances and perhaps, more importantly, their non-involvement in anything that happened.

Such trends only went so far though. When many beings want to get to the same place and the routes are limited, the crush of people will eventually push them together. This was especially true in the arena entrances and around certain shops. Dee didn’t especially hide or advertise her presence, but all the trained warriors in the area could sense the danger she radiated. They could also faintly sense the presence of something greater, which Dee would later find out to be the first hints of her Domain. So despite her hiding her exact strength, a path opened around her no matter where she went.

Watching fights had a certain appeal to her and she was already somewhat familiar with the place, so she had chosen the Cauldron of Blood as the first destination to find some entertainment. She realized that a public place like this also provided a certain level of danger in case she ran into some elves from the great forest because they would be able to sense her presence. The elves themselves didn’t really worry her, but the elves might decide to inform possible bounty hunters of her presence. And pretty much every warrior here was a potential bounty hunter for the right price. She’d heard some rumors of the bounty set by elves and Sidhe, and the price was quite enough to attract any non-immortal bounty hunters.

‘Well, at least things would get entertaining that way.’ Dee thought to herself. She wasn’t all that worried, as she had several plans to escape, and she had taken some precautions.

Her first target was one of the higher ranked arenas open to the public, for a suitable fee of course. One of these days she would have to come up with a good way of earning some money, as it was a little bothersome to pay for things with information and power. A positive side was that she could easily find seating in the arena built of dark stone. The entry fee was enough to discourage most people from attending, so while the viewing areas were well filled, they were not completely packed.

Dee observed her surroundings with some curiosity. Her special sight allowed her to easily assess the strength of others, with some margin of error due to skill differences, and most of the audience was made up of people around ranks four to six. A couple of rank seven people were scattered among the people, mostly working as protection for notable people with money to spend on high-rank guards. One seemed to be here to cheer for his brother according to an overheard discussion. They were clearly not here for enjoyment, which made Dee a little curious. This was after all supposed to be one of the highest ranked public showings. Why the disinterest?

As the fights begun, Dee quickly realized the reason. Most of the fighters were of similar ranks to the observers, though mostly on the higher end of the spectrum with rank five or six. Most higher ranked people would find it very uninteresting to observe the fights of people weaker than them. Dee found it slightly interesting as the fighters were clearly professional, but fought differently to what she had seen before. Nearly all of the fights were not to the death, and so the participants were not really fighting to optimize victory and survival. Because they weren’t fighting for their lives, they made many inefficient decisions mostly to make the fights more entertaining and dramatic. Usually this only happened when the fight wasn’t even, so they had some room to perform some theatrics. It seemed to be for the benefit of the audience, as the more theatrical people got more cheers and increased betting on their matches.

“Disgusting isn’t it?” A nearby High Orc asked noticing Dee’s displeasure. “You haven’t spent much time here, have you? The fights here are mostly show matches. The participants have already reached their peak on the rankings and are just trying to ride on their success for some extra fame and money.”

Dee gave a glance at the large and heavily muscled form of the orc that towered above even her already tall form. The orc seemed to have muscles on his muscles. In general the High Orcs looked a lot more powerful and sophisticated than their lesser cousins and this individual was not an exception. This particular orc seemed to be at the higher end of rank six according to his ki.

“It is a little disappointing. The level is much lower than the rumors let on.” Dee replied. She had asked around and these fights had been highly recommended. She had asked the wrong people apparently. That’s what you get for using low ranked people as sources of information. Sometimes they didn’t know any better.

The High Orc gave a small but deep laugh. “Much lower, is it?” Despite the inefficiency, the current people fighting were still rank six, so saying the level was much lower told a lot about Dee’s own ability. “The really high-level fights are restricted for many reasons. One of the obvious reasons being that the audience couldn’t even follow the fights of that level unless they were higher ranked as well. The competition on the Path of Glory is much higher at that level, so they don’t like to advertise their abilities too much. So you have to fulfill some conditions to be allowed to watch.”

“And what would those conditions be, if I may ask?” Dee asked patiently. The orc was nice enough to provide information, so at least she could be patient in return.

The orc had known the question was coming, so he had a reply ready. “Well, there are several. Being part of certain communities, like on the second and third circle gains you entry. Enough money, right connections, enough personal power and so on. Each of those things gains you a certain level of entry. The best way is to be high on the rankings yourself. That gains you entry pretty much everywhere. Which level fight did you want to see?”

“What would it take to see a fight between immortals?” Dee asked firmly.

The orc gave a small whistle. Well, small for his size meaning that it was heard pretty far, but everyone who looked over either recognized the orc and looked away, or felt the danger radiating from Dee and looked away even faster. “That’s a high bar. Only some of the very highest ranked people in the top hundred list, which we call the Peak of Glory, are immortal. I don’t think any of them have fought each other in years. Those at the Peak of Glory rarely do. It’s always a real event when they do.”

Dee gave a small sigh of defeat. She had suspected immortals usually didn’t bother participating, but it had been worth a shot. “Rank nines then.”

“Well, that still narrows it down to people at the Peak or trying to get in. Why aim so high?” The orc asked curiously. He could feel the danger radiated by Dee and the slight pressure of her Domain passively affecting people, but didn’t connect it with someone of immortal level. At most he guessed Dee to be around rank eight and even that felt generous. A person that had seen plenty of death, sure, but not necessarily powerful to that level.

“It’s a bit boring watching the fights of those much weaker than myself.” Dee replied firmly. She had gotten used to watching skill at the level of the old man that trained her, and he would’ve tossed these people out after the first move. Then she had spent time with Sidhe who spent millennia honing their skills. Sure they weren’t all powerful, but they all had a certain level of skill at least. These people were a disappointment in comparison. They all also seemed to be moving as slow as snails, so there was that too.

“Much weaker than yourself?” The orc asked, his voice rising a bit in question. He suddenly felt like he might have approached someone he shouldn’t have.

Dee looked at the orc for a moment and then grinned. So far her tails had been hidden by her cloak, but she slid all nine of them out just long enough for the orc to see and count them. Sweat beaded the orc’s forehead as he realized the woman in front of him could kill everyone inside the building fairly easily. “Can I do something to help your grace?” The orc asked suddenly even more polite.

‘Your grace again?’ Dee thought with some amusement. “Where can I go to get myself ranked? Preferably in a way, where I don’t have to crush a thousand people before being able to challenge for a spot on the Peak of Glory. It would waste all our time if I had to fight a lot of people who had no chance.”

‘Weren’t you here to watch fights?’ Croestia asked silently, her voice tinged with mirth.

‘Fights are so much more interesting when you’re taking part personally. It’s a good excuse to get some exercise anyway.’ Dee replied. The brief fight with the old man had helped her get more familiar with her own strength, but the old man wasn’t the best opponent for comparison. Fighting a few people of similar rank to her would do wonders. She didn’t need to try for the top rankings, but a couple of decent fights should be fun.

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The High Orc had taken her to a large official looking building and explained that she could apply for a pass to skip ranks inside. There were often people of certain level of strength that came to test themselves at the Cauldron of Blood. Sometimes they were so strong that there was no point to have them fight their way up from the very bottom, so there was a system in place. She had allowed the orc to leave when she reached the building as the poor guy was not feeling good about his choices.

As she went in, the lobby was filled with people on official business. The room was filled with receptionist that could filter the people to the right place, but still those that had business here were forced to wait in line due to the sheer number of them. As she approached, the people in front of her were about to argue but a single look at her convinced them that it might be better to let her go first. The lines in front of her parted and she didn’t have to wait. The receptionist that waved her to approach had a smile of delight on her face. It was clearly entertaining for her to see large gruff warriors scurrying away in front of a woman like Dee.

“What can I do for you?” She asked pleasantly.

“I would like to start my journey on the Path of Glory.” Dee mentioned the sentence usually uttered to start fighting in the arenas. She continued. “I would also like to apply for a permission to skip ranks.”

“That is fine, but you will have to prove your ability. Do you have a community that can vouch for you? That would speed things along.” The receptionist hinted. Even here connections mattered. Dee pulled out the insignia of the Four Winds and showed it so only the receptionist saw it. She didn’t want to advertise her membership with the community in case she ran into trouble.

“Oh my. Well that’s a good recommendation.” The receptionist recognized the insignia. “How far do you want to skip exactly?”

“High enough that I can challenge for a spot on the Peak as soon as possible. There’s no point in wasting everyone’s time.” Dee replied confidently.

“That’s…a little problematic. I’ll ask for our highest ranked testers, but…oh well. Not my problem.” She handed a small token to Dee that had an arrow on it. “That token will point you the right way. Just follow the directions.”

Dee did as she was instructed and the token lead her deeper and deeper inside the building. She noted that the walls became thicker and stronger as she went along, and they were clearly enchanted by the time she reached her destination. Once she opened the door, she found herself in a fairly large room, not quite an arena but not much smaller either. Almost at the same time, another door on the other side opened, and a large centaur walked through.

The centaur was looking at some documents and not at Dee. “Oh, so we have someone who thinks they can challenge for a spot at the Peak straight off? Young ones these days.” He looked up at Dee at this point and stopped. Dee’s form was very unique and he could clearly see the nine tails waving behind her back. Any centaur that had been part of the attack near the forest had heard rumors about the death that stalked their camp at night. The accompanying descriptions were sparse but agreed on few details. This particular centaur had also had the dubious pleasure of seeing Dee in action in a battle. And she’d only had eight tails back then.

He looked back at the forms. “Approved.” He said simply and marched straight back out the door. He was one of the bodyguards of the Khan of his tribe and very strong for a centaur. Yet he knew better than to pick this fight.

“That’s it?” Dee asked with fair bit of surprise. Her token began to blink, guiding her deeper inside the large building. Unknown to her, she had been assigned more than one test, and the centaur was supposed to weed out those who thought too much of themselves. She found herself in another similar room, built just a bit stronger again.

This time she had to wait a bit before a large being seemingly made of dark obsidian walked through the wide double doors on the other side of the room. Despite the size of the entrance, the stony wings still scraped against the doorframes, causing a screeching sound that was quite unpleasant to Dee’s sharp ears. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen a living Gargoyle before.’ Dee messaged Croestia.

‘It looks positively demonic.’ Croestia commented, quite right in her assessment. The gargoyle had a twisted and demonic face and its other features were not any less horrendous.

“Trying to get approval to skip right to challenging the Peak of Glory?” The Gargoyle asked in a surprisingly pleasant voice.

“Indeed. I can most likely challenge for the top twenty of the Peak, so why waste time fighting opponents no match for me.” Dee replied. Surprisingly she was unable to judge the exact power of the Gargoyle, as something in its stony skin made it hard to see through. She could also sense the being would be very resistant to magic and many things like ki attacks.

“A fair point. I can see you have nine tails, attesting to your rank, so I won’t quibble. We will fight, and if you defeat me, you will qualify.” Suddenly the Gargoyle surged forward and swung a dark obsidian hammer at Dee. The weapon had appeared out of nowhere, and on instinct, Dee equipped her gauntlets.

As the attack approached though, she could feel the strength behind it better. It had great weight and momentum, but that was only natural for something so heavy. It wasn’t very fast though, and she could dodge it easily if she wanted to. She didn’t want to though. She was supposed to prove her strength, so that’s what she would do.

As the attack approached, she simply placed a single gauntleted finger on the path of the attack. The gargoyle was clearly surprised, which turned into shock as its strike stopped like it had hit a wall of steel. Dee didn’t move a single centimel despite to the weight of the attack, and in fact her finger didn’t even bend. Her strength had increased greatly after ‘eating’ the Tree of Life, and something like a simple attack from the Gargoyle was not enough to faze her. “You’ll have to do better than that.” She said, almost admonishing the being. The strike had been heavy but didn’t even contain any ki behind it.

“My apologies.” The being said a little contrite, realizing how much it had underestimated its opponent. A weird power ran through the being, and lines of mana dotted the stony surface everywhere.

‘So a magical warrior and not someone who uses ki. Makes sense considering the being is almost an animated statue.’ Dee thought to herself. Magical warriors were sparse, but not to the extent of really surprising people.

The being moved much faster, but still seemed much too slow to Dee’s eyes. Apparently speed was not its forte. This time it swung a weapon with each hand and the blows were much, much heavier. Dee allowed the psionic power inside her to enhance her strength and met both weapons with the palms of her hands. These attacks met the same fate as the first attack. The gargoyle might have increased his strength, but so had Dee. This time she countered with her two free hands and struck two heavy blows on the stony body of the gargoyle.

The body of the being was even tougher than it looked, but Dee had quite enough strength to crack the dark stone. Interestingly there was no blood, as it looked like she had struck a statue. It did send the being stumbling back though, and Dee followed up with an invisible fist of telekinetic energy in an attempt to push it off balance. Worryingly the psionic energy dissipated as it came into contact with the stony body, only shoving it a bit.

With a growl, Dee materialized the halo that improved her psionic abilities. She didn’t think the being would be able to resist all such attacks. Hundreds of heavy invisible fists rained on the being, the sheer volume of attacks overwhelming its defenses. It stumbled backward and fell to one knee. The strikes managed to get through now but were not able to damage the dark stone that made up its body. Clearly this tester was someone who excelled in defense and especially against attacks made up of pure power.

After the first three strikes the being had made, it never got the chance to make more. Dee spent a little bit of time testing the effectiveness of her different abilities, and the fight came to a quick conclusion once she rammed a small black pearl through the being’s shoulder, severing its left hand. The gargoyle truly was a nice punching bag, though it felt a bit of a shame that she didn’t really get to test her own defenses. Still judging by the three attacks it had made, there was little danger. While the being was a great punching bag, Dee had no desire to become one herself.

After the test was over, an official looking gentleman entered the room, while another who was apparently a mage rushed to repair the damage done to the Gargoyle. “You have shown enough strength to vie for a spot at the Peak of Glory. Is there a particular person in the ranks one hundred to ninety that you’d like to challenge?” The official-looking man asked.

“Number ninety of course. No point in challenging anyone weaker.” Dee replied with a smile.

The man grunted. “Challenging the only true mage among the eleven you are allowed to challenge. It will take some time to arrange. A challenge to enter the Peak is always a public spectacle that draws a lot of audience. The person you challenged also needs time to prepare. We will contact you through this once we can set the date, but expect it to take a few weeks.” The man gave Dee a small crystal ball for communication.

‘A few weeks? Bloody hell, what do I do now? This is becoming more complicated than it is worth.’ Dee thought to herself.

‘Well, Faylen and Moirai did mention other options. Besides, there’s one ability that you still haven’t tested after what happened with the Tree of Life.’ Croestia suggested.

‘Yeah. My flames as a kitsune.’ Dee remembered. She had been a little leery to test them, considering they were something that bled over from her Domain connecting. They were theoretically only supposed to work once she became an immortal, but she was halfway there already. She wasn’t entirely sure she could control the flames.

‘Only one way to find out.’ Croestia knew what she was thinking, and encouraged her to try.