Wolf

I open my eyes as soon as the bright, green light of the teleportation fades again, only to hear the same tapping noise from earlier.

“The hell…?” I mutter, turning around to find another one – if not the same one – of those ralcans tapping on the ice dome behind me.

Well, now is as good a time as any to figure out what a ralcan is.

Ignoring the strange creature for now, I open up my status and navigate to the System Forums before searching it up and selecting the first thread that shows up.

As I read the thread, a frown begins to form on my face.

“That…” I mutter without pausing in my reading.

Soon enough, my mouth drops open and I turn to stare at the creature, sending a cursory glance towards its claws.

It can turn into sand as long as it’s touching a large body of sand – sandstone not included – and it has claws that have a rusting effect on them? That doesn’t sound like something I want to deal with.

At least, not the sand part.

The rusting won’t actually affect me as much, seeing as I don’t use a metal weapon. I think.

I glance at my gauntlets before shaking my head.

At least I think these gauntlets aren’t made of metal. They feel more like they are made out of scales or hide, or something else like that, rather than metal.

As for the iron in the human body? Not only am I not even sure if I have that anymore, considering the changes to my body, but even if I did still have it, I don’t think it would be enough for it to be a problem.

What’s more interesting is thinking about what types of creatures that rusting effect would be dangerous towards.

Some sort of creature with liquid metal blood? Maybe one with a metal body?

Either way, it’s pretty interesting.

The sand part of its ability, however, doesn’t sound like something I want to deal with.

Wait a second…

I turn my head back towards the forums thread before focusing on the line about its mentality.

Ralcans are random and unpredictable. They might be as calm and innocent as a sweet little bunny rabbit at one moment, and as vicious as a hungry tiger the next.

But one thing that beats out anything else, is their curiosity.

Maybe I can use that against…

My thoughts trail off as I turn my head to see the ralcan casually walking away again before turning into sand and vanishing into the sand sea.

I stare at the barren land for nearly an entire minute before shaking my head and clearing a hole in the ice dome, not feeling like removing the entire thing.

It would probably be best to ignore that thing. It’s not like it’s bothering me.

Plus, I doubt I could find it when it’s in that form anyways.

I look through the teleport pads before going towards the closest lit-up one.

Time to take on the mini-boss.

“Sign me up for the star ranked challenge,” I ask the guardian as I stand in front of him with my arms crossed.

This time, both of the two guardians at the entrance slam their staffs into the ground three times each before a menu appears in bright orange text in between them.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

You have now been signed up for the star ranked challenge and have been temporarily labeled a challenger!

Your challenge will occur in five minutes.

If you willingly enter combat of any kind before your challenge, then you will automatically be disqualified from challenging this arena again.

At the same time, if another Competitor attacks you during this time within the arena grounds, they will be disqualified from challenging this arena again and dealt with accordingly by the guardians.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

As soon as I finish reading the menu, the entire arena begins to shake, causing dust to fall from the ceiling.

I turn around to look at the monsters within the audience, only to find them not reacting at all to the disturbance as thin openings appear on both ends of the pillars surrounding the arena. Soon after that, thin walls suddenly begin to shoot out of the openings, sealing off the arena from the outside.

When I turn around to look at the teleport pad, I find the pad having dimmed, no longer having its previous pale blue glow.

“Okay then…” I mutter with a strange look on my face as I turn back towards the center of the arena to look at the fight that is still going on without showing any signs of stopping. “I guess there isn’t any leaving after starting this challenge.”

Not like I was planning on doing that in the first place.

Although, does that also mean that no Competitors can enter the arena during this time either? If there were Competitors other than me on the floor, that is.

I look around the arena one last time before moving over to a pillar to watch the current battle at.

That makes me curious. If the other Competitors are banned from attacking the challengers, then why block anyone from entering the arena during a star ranked challenge?

It doesn’t really make much sense.

I frown in thought without taking my eyes off of the two battling jackyls before shaking my head.

In the end, it doesn’t really affect me. Not after considering how much of a lead I have on the other Competitors.

They can’t exactly do anything to me if they aren’t on the same floor, regardless of how the arenas do their challenges.

The frown on my face clears up as I focus on the fight.

Several seconds pass as the roar of the audience continues before I mutter, “I wonder what is different about this challenge when compared to the default challenges…”

Executive Stream

“What do you think the challenge is going to be?” Amalia asks Diane as the two women sit alone in Diane’s executive room. “My guess is that it probably has something to do with the locked door.”

Diane nods her head in agreement, “That’s my guess too.”

Before Amalia can respond again, a screen appears in front of her, indicating a System Call.

“Hold on, I should take this,” she says without getting up from the couch before the face of a man with gray eyes, black hair, and blackish-gray colored scales covering his entire body.

“Hello, Talroth,” Amalia says in greeting with a slight nod of her head, “what do you want?”

The devourer glances at Diane before looking back at Amalia in question.

“Don’t mind her, just say whatever it is that you wanted to say,” Amalia says, waving her hand.

The man squints his eyes slightly before turning his focus entirely to Diane and saying, “Since you’re here, there isn’t any reason to ask this of the dryad.”

Amalia’s eyebrows jump slightly at his statement before Talroth continues speaking.

“The Ascendency would like to know if the boy has truly inherited one of The Reaper’s abilities or not,” the man says with a slightly gruff tone of voice as his gray eyes stare directly into Diane’s golden ones.

Diane doesn’t even blink as Amalia gasps in shock at the devourer’s statement.

“And what makes you think he has one?” Diane asks with one eyebrow raised.

“Do you think I’m stupid?” the man says, scoffing at her words, “It was plain as day after seeing that his original ability was already at Tier 8 as its original Tier.”

Diane doesn’t say anything, prompting the man to scoff again and leave the call with one last sentence, “If you can keep him under control, then Tiamat and I won’t do anything against the boy. But if he ends up like the last reaper? Then we will have to deal with him.”

The calm look on Diane’s face is replaced by a frown as silence fills the room. Meanwhile, Amalia’s eyes are still wide open after the revelation she had just heard.

After a few seconds of staring at Diane’s pondering face, she turns to look at Wolf as he continues watching the battle within the arena, waiting for his challenge to begin.

‘Both a harbinger, and a reaper…’ Amalia thinks to herself, feeling a slight shiver run down her spine. ‘And a possible Administrator too, if he can get out of the dungeon alive.’