57 - Becoming Single’s Tournament Champion

I woke up the next morning and after saying goodbye I moved everyone back into storage. I then contacted Yonder through the communication crystal.

“Good Morning Yonder, Where should I meet you?”

“Good Morning Lad, I want you to just hang out near the Single’s Tournament Board. I need you to look like you might have made a mistake yesterday, study the board intently. I will bring over two new marks for you to bet with. You can still talk to me like you know me, but when I warn against you betting you need to take over.”

“Sure thing Yonder, I will see you soon.”

About twenty minutes later I was reclining on a couch staring up at the Single’s Tournament Board. I guess I could see why people usually don’t bet as much as I was. There were so many names that had already made the top 500. If you think about the General Melee, people could team up to take down stronger opponents it would be chaos. There was no real way for most people to guarantee a win. I saw Yonder approaching me followed by two others. Identify.

Name: Duchess Winter (Elana Winter) Race: Vampire (Noble) Level: 460

Affinities: Fire- 100%

Unique Skills: (Hide In Shadows II), (Seduction)

Resistances: Fire - 75% Air – 50%

Name: Loki Kitsune Race: Beastkin (Fox) Level: 375 (442)

Affinities: Earth - 75% Fire – 100%

Unique Skills: (False Status), (Overwrite)

Resistances: Earth - 50% Fire – 80%

First person I have seen with False Status besides myself. This should be interesting.

“Good Morning Yonder.”

“Good Morning Lad, I brought two of my acquaintances along for you to meet.”

“Oh, well hello then, my name is Mark Anderson.”

“Greetings Mark you can call me Duchess Winter.”

“Hello kid, my name is Loki.”

“How can I help you today?”

“Well lad, remember our discussion yesterday about the upper levels of the tournament and you were talking about setting goals. We got off on a tangent and you made some bets that you probably shouldn’t have. I wanted you to meet two of the strongest people I know to help you realize your limitations. I am not ashamed to admit that I have lost to both of these people in the past and even with my recent level gains, I am not sure that I could beat either one again this year.”

“Well Yonder, I thank you for what you are trying to do, but I will not back out of my responsibilities. I cannot cancel the bets anyway. I am glad to meet your friends though.”

“Lad I understand, what I was trying to accomplish today is that you should pick your battles more wisely. Betting is part of the game, but I do not know how much you have bet. My companions today are long time competitors and will treat you right if you feel you need to bet against someone to give yourself a goal to reach.”

“Well thank you all. I do want to set goals and having something on the line always makes me bring out my best, but I have already bet the 50 levels that I am going to gain today. I won 30 more levels in the New Comer’s Tournament, but I do want to leave here with some gains no matter what.”

Duchess Winter took this chance to start talking. It looked like she was worried they would lose an easy mark.

“We respect such a wise position from someone so young. How about this then Loki and I will make a joint bet with you for only twenty levels, that way you have a realistic goal and you will leave with a guaranteed 10 extra levels plus any you might earn from your other bets.”

I frowned and made it look like I was contemplating it. I wonder what there game was?

“I guess that does make sense, but I do not understand joint bets I have never heard of them.”

Duchess Winter smiled and then answered.

“I had forgotten that you were new, with you having such a high level and worldly experience. A joint bet can be made between any group of people and a single person or another group of people at the competition. While it is usually reserved for the Team Tournament to allow teams to bet a joint amount of experience shared between them, there is nothing saying we cannot do the same now.”

She had turned on the charm hard. She must be trying to use her seduction skill on me. I am glad that I have gained immunity from mental attacks, because I am having a hard time concentrating enough right now. She is a very attractive lady. If I had to deal with mind manipulation I probably would bark like a dog if she asked.

“Ok, that seems reasonable. This should be my last bet then. I want to be able to keep some of my hard earned gains.”

We walked over to the personal betting area and I received a very interesting Great Game message.

Reach the top 256 in the Single’s Tournament (Win the Single’s Tournament), Mark Anderson and Duchess Winter + Loki Kitsune, 20 Levels (150 levels), Single’s Tournament

I mentally accepted it and then turned and spoke.

“Thank You for helping me set my goal. I am confident I will make the top 256 in the Single’s Tournament so I would like to apologize in advance for taking your levels.”

“Do not worry, if you make it to the top 256 you deserve those extra levels. Loki and I have plenty and it is always good to help out the younger generations.”

Man she was good. I am pretty sure that Loki’s skill is why I had such a weird message. Luckily my Fountain of Knowledge skill seems to have overwritten it though. I will investigate in just a minute.

“Thank You Yonder, for helping me out. I am going to go and get a room to watch the General Melee in peace and quiet. You have helped me so much would you like to join me?”

“Sure lad, let me say my goodbyes and we can go.”

5 minutes later we were inside one of the secure rooms and I held up a hand to forestall Yonder from speaking. Help, please show me the description of the Unique Skill Overwrite.

(Unique Skill) Overwrite: This skill allows the user to change any Great Game message to read what they would like as long as it would not directly harm the intended recipient. Skill cannot overcome Fountain of Knowledge or Truth Seer.

So that is their game. The duchess distracts, Loki rewrites and they probably clean up against one person each year. I doubt that they do more than that just because people would become suspicious. They probably saw a chance to clean me out and took it. I do not think they normally would try for as many levels as they did with me.

“Ok Yonder say your piece.”

“I thought they would be good for more levels lad. They gamble every year, no more than two bets, but always seem to win. I figured it would be good to teach them a lesson.”

“Oh they bet way more than you think and yes I will win the bet against them causing them to fall drastically in the rankings next tournament.”

“What do you mean lad?”

“Loki has a Unique Skill called Overwrite. It allows you to change what someone else sees on the Great Game messages. Instead of a bet for me making the top 256 and for 20 levels, he bet me 150 levels and that I had to win the tournament. They probably thought that no one would believe a new kid and saw a chance for a big score.”

“Why those dirty cheating….”

“Stop right there Yonder, there is no need to worry. I accepted the bet knowing the changes. I am going to win the tournament and you and them just gave me another 150 levels. However, I do think that I should stop betting now.”

“That seems smart lad. I will let the others know and then they can join us and we can watch the Great Melee and then we will need to break up our group and get ready for our own fights.”

“Sounds good Yonder.”

The other three joined us soon and after some small talk we settled in to watch the Great Melee.

The Great Melee was utter chaos. As I watched I realized how lucky I was that I got to skip this round due to my achievements. No matter what your level it seems there would be no guarantee that you could pass the Great Melee. In fact the more you stood out as a dominating individual the more likely those around you would gang up or sneak attack you causing you to be unable to continue on.

I guess Yonder and the others could see the bewildered look on my face because he started explaining.

“It is said it did not always be this violent and chaotic lad. Around 20-25 competitions ago before I started attending. The Great Melee was mostly a hide and attack fest. However the Great Game decided that the event was taking too long. So the rules were changed to encourage more fighting. Now you are forced to fight at least one contestant each hour or you will be forcibly removed. This led to nobody being able to hide for very long and the chaotic mess you are watching now.”

Soon enough the Great Melee was over. The sheer carnage and amount of magic thrown was impressive if a little too random for my tastes. As soon as the champion of the Great Melee was declared I received my betting message from the Great Game.

You have placed winning bets on the outcome of the Great Melee. You have been awarded 25,000,000 mithral coins, you have been awarded 50 levels of experience, you have been awarded 3 World Perks.

I open up my status and distribute the 500 free points I just received. Try to keep things even and that should do it.

Error, you cannot raise an attribute above 1,000 points until reaching tier 5. Player is still 18 levels shy of tier 5. Please redistribute your attribute points.

Another one of those messages, ok how about this then.

Status.

Name: Mark Anderson

Level: 382 -45%

Unspent Attribute Points: 0

Str: 675

HP: 6,750

Int: 1,000 +250% MP

MP: 70,000

Wis: 1,000 +250% MP/Regen

HP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.

Agi: 675

MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.

Con: 675 +250% HP/Regen

Luck: 675

Affinities: Earth - 100%

Water – 100%

Fire – 100%

Air – 100%

Resistances: Earth - 100%

Water - 100%

Fire – 100%

Air – 100%

I decide to mess with my new friends minds once again, for a very important reason. I was bored.

“Hey Yonder, I just got those levels from the bets. When I tried to place my stat points I got and error message from the Great Game.”

Everyones heads turned to look at me. This is perfect.

“Did you know that you are not allowed to raise a stat past 1,000 until you reach tier 5?”

There it is, my old friend, bugged out eyes and wide hanging open mouths.

“Lad are you trying to say you have one of your stats at 1,000 points?”

“No Yonder, I have two of them at 1,000 and the rest have now passed 600.”

The other just look numbed. I hear several mumbles about this is not fair, what am I doing wrong, glad he is on my side. I spoke up.

“Anyway I thought I would head back to the resting rooms and grab one quick and prepare for the rest of the rounds. We all have each other’s communication crystals so we can stay in touch.”

I make sure to reset my false status. I think level 240 would be about right. That should take care of my confidence and let people think they know how much I bet on the Great Melee. I walked out of the viewing room and started to head back to the other side so I could grab a private room and call out my companions when I was stopped my group of what can be only described as thugs or bullies.

“Stop right there. I heard how you were saying how you could easily beat others. I think you are all talk and are hoping to get a low level opponent in the first round to move up. If you really think you are hot stuff how about a personal bet against me in the first round so we can fight each other.”

Identify.

Name: Crusher (Elmer Rockhead) Race: Giantkin (Stone) Level: 291

Affinities: Earth - 25% Water – 20%

Unique Skills: None

Resistances: Earth - 50% Fire – 80%

Oh I get it. They are probably walking around looking for those on the board with lower levels and challenging them to make sure they make it past the first round. Mildly clever but it will backfire on Crusher today.

“Fine what’s the bet.”

“Ten levels that I will beat you in the first round.”

“Ten, you must be scared of me. I will bet 50 levels that I can beat you.”

I could see his eyes get large. He definitely did not want to, but he was surrounded by his friends. He looked around at them, and yep peer pressure got to him.

“Fine fifty levels it is.”

We headed over to the betting booth and pretty soon.

Please state the nature of the bet, the participants, the stakes, and the tournament.

One versus one, Mark Anderson and Crusher, 50 levels of experience, first round Single’s Tournament.

Bet has been verified with your opponent. You will face Crusher in the first round to determine the outcome.

That is probably the end of my free levels in the Single’s Tournament. I assume that people will smarten up when they see me win in the first round or at least stop bothering me when they see the increase in my levels as I go on.

I finally reach my private room and call out my companions. I need some friend therapy. After playing around and catching up with everybody we go to sleep. 24 hours seems like a long time in between each round but I know in a couple of days it won’t seem that long at all.

The next day I waited around for the inevitable game screen warning and was teleported into an arena identical to the one I was in for the New Comer’s Tournament. I had at first thought I might pretend to struggle for a while in the early rounds, but I have gotten tired of that. I am just going to dominate this thing. I will keep my real levels hidden still but I am tired of playing around.

I see “Crusher” start to run towards me and I just sigh and start pumping mana into my version of the old D & D spell of Meteor Swarm. I could see Crusher start to smile as he got closer, the idiot probably thought I was scared stiff. I just pointed up and saw him skid to a stop as he saw 5 very large rocks, moving very fast towards him. 10 seconds later and all that was left of poor “Crusher” was a crushed mess on the floor.

I was teleported back to the staging area. Where I immediately raised my False Status level to 290 and I started back to my personal room. I noticed that it was much quieter on the way back. So many people had been teleported away as they lost. This staging area was starting to get a little creepy as it got emptier. There are only 512 people left in the Single’s Tournament and those others that are going to participate in the Team Tournament. Compared to two days ago we have probably had about ¾ of the competitors teleported out.

When I reached my room I made the adjustments to my status and then checked everything out. Status.

Name: Mark Anderson

Level: 442 -86%

Unspent Attribute Points: 0

Str: 775

HP: 7,750

Int: 1,100 +250% MP

MP: 77,000

Wis: 1,100 +250% MP/Regen

HP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.

Agi: 775

MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.

Con: 775 +250% HP/Regen

Luck: 775

Affinities: Earth - 100%

Water – 100%

Fire – 100%

Air – 100%

Resistances: Earth - 100%

Water - 100%

Fire – 100%

Air – 100%

This is getting repetitive. What can I do to spice it up. I know I will try and beat each round faster than the last. I think I should get all of my stats above 1,000 to see if there is another bonus like when I reached all stats above 500 also.

I checked in with Yonder and the others and found out they had all passed the first round easily. The new levels and higher stats had helped. I signed off and then just vegged out on the bed. I needed some alone time. I had been around people a lot more recently than I had in the past year and it was taking a toll on me. I was getting great benefits, but I could feel myself falling into one of my funks. I just need to keep it together until after the tournament and then I can go hide somewhere for a month or so and decompress.

For the round of 256 I decided that the fastest I could possibly destroy someone else was to just blink behind them and smash them into the ground with my strength and magic weapons. So that is exactly what I did. As soon as my opponent died I was teleported to the staging area and a surprise message.

Attention Great Game Competition competitors. Mark Anderson has set a new speed record in defeating an opponent. He was able to beat Alex Hegred in only 7 seconds.

As a new record holder you are granted the title Speedster +5

Your levels have now exceed the Great Game Competition limit. You must designate an heir within 12 months.

I head back to my room and assign my points. I am now above 1,000 in everything.

Congratulations you have managed to bring all of your stats to 1,000 or above you have walked further on the path of the Gods. You are granted the title Low God +15.

Well that means that I could reach a High God status after some point right.

Name: Mark Anderson

Level: 664 - 4%

Unspent Attribute Points: 0

Str: 1,145

HP: 11,450

Int: 1,525 +250% MP

MP: 106,750

Wis: 1,525 +250% MP/Regen

HP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.

Agi: 1,145

MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.

Con: 1,145 +250% HP/Regen

Luck: 1,145

Affinities: Earth - 100%

Water – 100%

Fire – 100%

Air – 100%

Resistances: Earth - 100%

Water - 100%

Fire – 100%

Air – 100%

The next several rounds proceed relatively the same. I was never able to surpass the 7 second kill record I set, but none of my matches lasted longer than 30 seconds. Hannah got knocked out in 128 along with Rydel. Melarue lost in 64 and Yonder made it to 32. He was extremely happy with that result as he had never made it past the 128 round before this. Soon enough I was about to go into the finals. One more round and I could be done with the Single’s Tournament. I better check where I am at before the last fight. I had picked up several levels through the Great Game bets after each round.

Status.

Name: Mark Anderson

Level: 704 - 33%

Unspent Attribute Points: 0

Str: 1,245

HP: 12,450

Int: 1,625 +250% MP

MP: 113,750

Wis: 1,625 +250% MP/Regen

HP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.

Agi: 1,245

MP/Regen: 1,000% per 15 min.

Con: 1,245 +250% HP/Regen

Luck: 1,245

Affinities: Earth - 100%

Water – 100%

Fire – 100%

Air – 100%

Resistances: Earth - 100%

Water - 100%

Fire – 100%

Air – 100%

I need to focus on this last fight. Unless there is something very different about the next guy I don’t think I will have a problem, but I don’t want to screw up right at the end. When I teleported into the arena for the final time I was about to identify my opponent when I realized I recognized him. That was Loki. Identify.

Name: Loki Kitsune Race: Beastkin (Fox) Level: 475 (563)

Affinities: Earth - 75% Fire – 100%

Unique Skills: (False Status), (Overwrite)

Resistances: Earth - 50% Fire – 80%

Wow, he had gotten a big boost in power. He must have found several other people to sucker bet with. I wonder how his partner the Duchess made out? Oh well he is about to get a big surprise. I was showing my level to be 463 so he probably thought he had this in the bag. I yelled across the arena just to tweak him a little.

“Hey Loki you still owe me some levels. Why don’t I have them yet? Do I have to beat you?”

“Mark I never thought you would make it this far. You surprise me, but soon you will fall more than you think.”

“I don’t understand. Are you talking about how you tried to trick me and bet 150 levels?”

The look on Loki’s face was priceless.

“How did you..”

I cut him off.

“You are not the only one with Unique Skills, and if you think your measly 563 levels are enough to beat me you are about to get the surprise of your life.”

Poor guy, it was one reveal after another. I could see the perplexed look on his face. Let’s make this final fight flashy. I start channeling mana into each of my four primary elemental spells. I am going to hit him with four elements at once. Each one is going to have an absurd amount of mana in it and the resulting explosion should be awesome.

When Loki saw spells starting to form above me He started to panic and run towards me. I need more time. Walter come out.

“Yes Master, how can I help you?”

“Slow him down and create a shelter behind us. There is going to be a big boom.”

“Yes Master.”

Walter proceeded to make walls rise, some stone hands grabbed on to Loki, and the ground turned into mud. He was going all out. Well so was I, I now had a 5,000 mana Fireball, Iceball, Lightning Ball, and Giant Earth Spike rotating around my head. I was about to set them loose when I had a weird thought. In cartoons they could always combine elements for a bigger bang. I wonder if I could do that also? Let’s find out. With my concentration at its fullest I imagined the four separate spells combining into one massive spell. Forcing them would not work. I needed them to blend together. Almost like they were woven from the same cloth, that’s it. With the new image in my mind I wove the four spells together so they complimented each other and kept each other in check. This was going to work. I launched my new creation at Loki and then stepped back into the shelter Walter had prepared us.

There really was no way to prepare for what happened next. Luckily Walter had been with me long enough to know that I tend to overdo things and so he had picked up the habit also. When I stepped back into the shelter I actually fell into a deep hole that had been reinforced with stone pillars. Walter jumped down after me. The explosion and shaking that occurred next was epic. Both Walter and I had to continuously reinforce the shelter he made due to the fact that the shock wave and earthquakes my explosion set off kept knocking pieces down on top of us. Man I hope someone I know recorded this. I can’t see anything.

After about 30 seconds of feeling like the world was about to collapse I was teleported to the staging area and met with several Great Game messages.

Congratulations on winning the Single’s Tournament. You have been awarded the title Single’s Champion +10, you have been awarded 10 levels, you have been awarded 3 World Perks.

You have placed winning bets on the outcome of this tournament. You have been awarded 25,000,000 mithral coins, you have been awarded 200 levels of experience, you have been awarded 3 World Perks.

Your companions have placed winning bets on the outcome of this tournament. Your companions are each awarded 25 levels of experience.

You have successfully merged all four elements and have unlocked the Primal Element Affinity. For being the first to unlock the Primal Element from Earth you are awarded the title Primal Progenitor +20. For being the first to unlock the Primal Element in the last 10,000 years you are granted full affinity with the Primal Element.