Arcturus kicked away his opponent, spun, and leaned back out of the way of a wild club-swing. He felt the air of its passage tickle his face as he snapped up his empty left hand and conjured a punch-dagger over his gauntlet, stepping forwards to slam it into the kidneys of the woman in front of him.

His newly enhanced speed won through, and his heightened strength staggered her as the telekinetic construct punched through her aether-forged flesh and into the organ beneath.

Blood pumped out of her abdomen at the same time as she coughed it out of her mouth, the construct already dismissed as Arcturus danced away from his maimed foe.

He’d learned not to linger on one enemy after suffering a particularly painful hit to the ribs during the first few moments of this first round of Minions, and had instead focused on using his speed for swift and targeted attacks.

His perception allowed him to take note of the second woman approaching his flank and he stomped his left foot, creating and propelling a telekinetic spike from the ground under his feet in an attempt to impale her thigh.

His aim was off, however, and he only managed a flesh wound; sending the Simulacrum stumbling away with a snarl of pain as he turned to the sound of approaching feet.

Both the males were charging at him together, clubs held ready to swing for the proverbial fences as they closed in. Instead of letting them keep closing passively, Arcturus went on the offensive: Launching himself forward with a clatter of plate and lifting his left hand to conjure three escalating plates of telekinetic force just ahead of him.

Before his enemies could react, Arcturus was ascending upwards seemingly on thin air. As he reached the apex of his climb and the two vagrants looked up in bewilderment, he threw himself off the plates and swept his left hand forwards.

All three square-metre constructs smashed into the two aether-forged enemies like flung bricks, sending one of them tumbling and disorienting the other momentarily.

Okay, that was pretty good.

It was enough.

Arcturus came in from the disoriented man’s flank and gripped Perdition in both hands, tensing his body for impact as he used all of his newfound speed to ram the four foot sword of coalesced aether into his foe’s left side.

A moment later, his aetherblade’s tip exploded out the other side of the man’s body in a spray of red mist, coating the practice floor in blood as his enemy vomited more of it.

Growling to himself as much in exertion as in an attempt to remind himself it wasn’t real, Arcturus wrenched his sword to the left and tore it out of the simulacrum’s body in an explosion of viscera and intestines.

Arcturus dismissed the soon-to-be corpse from his notice and advanced towards the remaining male vagrant with intent, only to stagger from a sudden impact against his left shoulder.

He stumbled to look in the direction of what had hit him, and cursed as a club crashed down onto his left arm with shattering force. Only a combination of his vambrace and a reflexive telekinetic layering atop his arm stopped it from sustaining more than a severe bruising.

The woman attacking him was relentless, and Arcturus was forced to expend far more of his mana than he wished to stop her: Creating a telekinetic bulwark between them and shoving it to push her — growling and snarling — westward and away from him.

Unfortunately that had given the remaining male time to recover, and he was already coming for revenge, his club raised and poised to attack. A quick glance at his mana showed Arcturus his situation, reassuring him when he saw the (70) 65 / 160.

Instead of wasting more mana immediately, Arcturus took a chance on his upgraded Agility and darted in as the vagrant swung, charging into his guard and attempting to sway under the club’s high swing. He was only partially successful, and received a glancing blow to the top of his helmet as a reward for his recklessness.

It did, however, mean that his enemy was pulled off-centre by momentum.

Arcturus knew he was running out of time before the females — the injured of the two likely now already partially recovered, thanks to the accelerated healing they received — joined the surviving male. Wasting no more time, Arcturus slammed his fist into the man’s solar plexus with an underarm swing, effectively winding the vagrant.

Despite only partially succeeding, thanks to the man’s frantic attempts to get his club into another swing, Arcturus used the time bought by the consequent loss of breath to rear back his right arm and swung down hard with Perdition, splattering himself in blood and viscera as he successfully opened the vagrant from sternum to groin.

Pivoting as his screaming foe lashed out haphazardly with his club, Arcturus used his enhanced strength to catch the weakened swing in his left hand and then wrench the club out of the man’s grip.

While the simulacrum made a very convincing effort of trying to scoop his insides back to where they belonged, Arcturus continued his pivot to turn the full 270 degrees and fling the club at the sprinting pair of females to slow them down, if only for a second. The howling male was silenced a moment later by Perdition’s taloned pommel punching through his throat as Arcturus hit him with the bottom of his clenched right fist.

He tried not to think how dramatic he looked as he tore his pommel out of the vagrant’s throat, and let the mutilated simulacrum fall to the floor with wet, dying rasps.

How Shakespearian. Are you sure you didn’t mean to major in theatre?

The two remaining vagrants were on him almost immediately, and Arcturus had no choice but to eat one of the club-swings in the side of the breastplate while Perdition parried the other, wincing as he felt his ribs scream under the impact.

His breathing hitched at the pain, but he ignored it thanks to adrenaline and stepped forwards to headbutt the female in front of him, breaking her nose on the metal of his helmet in a spray of blood. Wasting no time, he used his pained right arm — the parry had hurt — to push down the second woman’s club with force and direction on his side, slicing her cheek in the process.

As the first simulacrum recovered, Arcturus pushed forwards his left hand as if he were gripping a spear and conjured one in the same frame of seconds it took to make the stabbing motion, forcing her to jump aside — though not quite fast enough. His weapon took her in the hip instead of the gut, and she howled in pain as the manifested weapon dug its serrated spearhead into her bone.

Dismissing the conjuration immediately, Arcturus stepped into the guard of the face-cut female — the one he’d punch-daggered, based on her partially-bleeding abdomen — and mimicked his headbutt from the previous engagement, staggering her enough for him to snap his left hand to his aetherblade’s hilt and sweep the impossible weapon upwards. Radiating light and eating it in equal measure, his aetherblade sliced into her left hip and dug deep as it cut upwards; opening her guts and curving to the left to slice through the right side of her torso in an eruption of blood, before finally exiting her body with visceral effect.

The simulacrum’s eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell backwards in shock as Arcturus turned back to his final opponent, only to eat a far-too-fast club swing to the head.

His helmet was knocked clear off and tore up the left side of his face, spraying his own blood into the air as he cried out in agony. Panic and animal instinct kicked in, and Arcturus threw up a half-dozen telekinetic knives in desperation: Firing them off in his enemy’s general direction, and vaguely recognising the sound of fleshy impacts.

He bit back a scream of pain and forced himself to his feet, panting against the tears of pain welling in his eyes as he focused on his enemy. Half of the six telekinetic weapons had hit her; striking her twice in the stomach and once in the centre of the chest. Long but thin, they’d definitely done damage — but it was by no means fatal.

Show them who they’re messing with!

Harnessing his rage, Arcturus snarled through his pain and charged her, slapping aside her clumsy swing with her club with a burst of adrenal strength and ramming Perdition upwards into her stomach and out of her back. Not satisfied, Arcturus reached up with his left hand as he did so and gripped her by the throat. Roaring in anger, pain, and residual fear; he tightened his grip until her flesh gave way, her eyes rolled up into her head, and her cartilage was crushed under his fist.

Injured but undefeated, Arcturus ripped his blade from her body and dropped her spasming to the floor.

He kept his eyes fixed on the dying female simulacrum until the last vestiges of life left her pale body, and her blonde hair was dyed red with her own blood.

A notification flashed in his HUD, but he minimized it without even thinking, too transfixed on the corpse at his feet.

“Round complete.” Tylariel’s voice cut through his haze of bloodlust like a blade, severing his glare at the corpse and bringing him back to the present — and to pain. Tears welled up in his eyes again, and he deactivated Perdition with a stagger as he found a clean part of the floor to fall onto his arse. A whimper of pain left him at the pain in his ribs and left arm, but he ignored them both as he gingerly touched his head and felt wet blood there still.

A quick glance at his Health told him he’d lost 45 points of his remaining 126, bringing him to a total of 81 / 160. His Mana hadn’t fared much better, with only 110 / 160 remaining. That meant that if he activated Perdition again, he’d only have 40 points of mana to work with. That was far, far less than ideal. He needed time to recuperate.

A glance at Tylariel told him she was very likely thinking the same thing, his mentor’s eyes going from the corpses back to him.

Something warm and wet hit him in the back of the head, and Arcturus swore as fresh pain lanced through his temple. Turning, he spotted Andy grinning at him before Danica reached up to whack him upside the head with an audible “Idiot!”, turning his shit-eating expression into a scowl of pain as he was reprimanded.

Biting back a withering verbal condemnation of his own, Arcturus instead took the offered towel, sucked in a breath, and pressed it against his injured head. Pain erupted from the point of pressure, but he kept it pressed firmly against the wound and grit his teeth against the instinct to rip it away. Tears fell from his eyes, then, but he ignored them. He could already see his health ticking up with what seemed to be glacial slowness, and he knew that his own accelerated System-enhanced healing would kick in if he bore with the pain long enough.

Suck it up, you big baby.

Arcturus knew Danica could have helped speed up the healing considerably, but one of Tylariel’s conditions for his friends to observe had been non-intervention. She’d told them what would happen if they violated her terms, and Arcturus had seen the fear flicker on his friends’ faces at the excruciating detail with which she’d described the consequences.

Since he was still waiting to hear what Tylariel would decree, he chose to look at the completion notification he received while he waited.

⚔ COMBAT REPORT ⚔

Congratulations, you have defeated 4 enemies!

Minion Simulacrum (Level 6) 55 Experience Minion Simulacrum (Level 6) 55 Experience Minion Simulacrum (Level 6) 55 Experience Minion Simulacrum (Level 6) 55 Experience

REWARD(S)

220 Experience

Your Aetherblade Wielding skill has risen to Level 3!

Your Aetherblade Wielding skill has risen to Level 4!

Your Telekinesis skill has risen to Level 6!

Your Vitality attribute has risen to 19!

Arcturus stared at the notification for a moment, then snorted. Of course the System would tease him with that. Incentivizing suffering seemed perfectly within the realm of reality for the enigmatic magical interface that seemed tied to a Nephilim’s fate. He couldn’t say, in truth, that he was too surprised by it. Nephilim were presumably manifested by Order’s power after they chose to be reborn following their transit to The Highest. It made sense that a being called Order would create a System to help them.

It wasn’t exactly a hard deduction.

Besides, having met Order, Arcturus could absolutely believe He’d tie the System into his ‘Great Tapestry’ and use it as a vehicle to encourage Nephilic growth and push them where he wanted. Why the System didn’t apply to Terrans was a mystery Arcturus couldn’t be bothered to ponder. He’d given up trying to understand Order and His motivations after their conversation in The Highest, and what had followed. Arcturus and Order were done.

The manner of his Rebirth had seen to that.

“Hey, Adam!” He called out as he turned to look at his friends. “I have a question for you.”

“What’s up?” His friend answered as he approached, raising an eyebrow.

“How often do you gain skill levels from combat?”

Adam blinked, and then laughed at the question. “I forgot you’re still new to all this. All the time, man. It’s the fastest way to level skills, which is why Dungeons are so popular. You can get a ludicrously fast level up speed if you fight the right kinds of enemies, too, since the amount of damage you do factors into how fast the skill levels.”

Intellect Check successful!

“The percentage of damage done per skill per enemy, right?”

“Right.” Adam agreed with a nod. “The more overall damage something does in an engagement, the more skill experience is diverted towards it.”

“Cool.” Arcturus said with a smile. “Is there a cap?”

“Not that I know of.” Adam said with a shake of the head. “You can abuse it a little by drawing out the fight, but it’s better to just end it quickly and kill more enemies, since it accrues faster that way. Quantity of kills over quality of kills.”

“What about diminishing returns?” Arcturus asked, the gears already turning in his head.

“Level differences.” Adam said, cluing in immediately. “Enemies two levels or more below you give less experience. Enemies one level below or two levels above give the same experience, and enemies three or more levels above give more.”

“Is there a fixed increase?”

“Not really. There’s no actual way to calculate it, since the System doesn’t give you an equation for it.”

“There has to be a logic to it, though.” Arcturus insisted.

“I have theories, but I can talk to you about them when you’re not… You know.” He gestured with distaste at the corpses.

“Ah… Yeah, sorry, I—”

“We’re not squeamish. Andy’s class isn’t Mageslayer for nothing. We got over the killing thing, as callous as it is to say, about six months in. Nephilim rarely lead peaceful lives, and in an Empire this big there’s plenty of people who choose paths in life that bring them into contention with law enforcement. Bounties are a big part of Adventurers’ lives.”

“Makes sense.” Arcturus said as he nodded along.

“Besides, taking down sapients is the fastest way to earn experience — both in skills and overall levels. It’s… kind of fucked up, honestly, but that’s just how the System works.”

“That’s… Yeah, that is fucked up.”

Adam shrugged in agreement, but Arcturus knew that it was another aspect of Terra neither of them could do anything but accept. They didn’t have to like it, and Arcturus definitely didn’t, but railing against the injustice of it seemed… pointless. It was what it was. He had no doubt Adam and the others had already wrestled with their consciences regarding it. There was no point reopening closed wounds, so to speak.

“By the way, how are your investments coming?” Adam asked, interrupting Arcturus’ thoughts.

“My investments?”

“Yeah. Your build. How are you managing the depreciation?”

Arcturus stared at him for a moment in bewilderment, confusion dominating his thoughts as he sought clarification. “What are you talking about?”

This time it was Adam who looked momentarily confused. “Oh. Right. Nomenclature. Sorry, we’ve been around veteran Nephilim too much.” He waved a dismissive hand casually. “I’m asking how you’re managing your build. You must have Attributes at level twenty and higher by now. Two points per level can be rough, but it’s worse in the thirties when it’s three per level. How are you managing your build around it?”

Arcturus stared at Adam in growing confusion as he spoke, and his eyebrows furrowed. “Dude, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I get a level per point. My strength is level twenty-three, and I got that by investing two points at level twenty-one.”

It was once again Adam’s turn to stare at him in stunned disbelief. “Dude are you fucking with me right now?”

“No?” Arcturus answered in annoyance. “I’m telling the truth.”

“Holy shit!” Adam exclaimed. “Do you have any idea how insanely broken that is?!”

“Uh, guessing by your reaction, very?”

“Andy! Danica!” Adam turned and called out. “Arcturus doesn’t get depreciation!”

“He hasn’t hit twenty in anything yet?” Andy called back in disbelief.

“No, that’s what I’m saying: He has, and he has no depreciation!”

“How the fuck—?!” Andy cut off at a sound like cracking stone filling the air.

“Are you ready to continue?” Tylariel called from nearby, putting an end to their chat.

Arcturus winced at his Mentor’s tone, glanced apologetically at Adam, and then pulled the towel away from his head and looked at it. The amount of blood staining it was considerable, but it seemed to already be drying. Making sure it wasn’t just the towel, he gingerly reached up and touched his temple; only to find scabbing skin there instead of an open wound. Surprised, he immediately wondered how long he’d been resting. A glance at his Health and Mana told him straight away.

111 / 160 Health and 140 / 160 Mana.

Ten minutes had passed already? That was… concerning.

You daydream and chit-chat worse than that fake Doctor from that one early-2000’s sitcom.

Ignoring his subconscious’ callbacks to ancient TV shows his dad had made him watch, Arcturus turned back to Adam. “Sorry dude. We’ll have to keep talking later.”

“Arcturus, do you even understand how insane what you’re—?!”

“Adam. Seriously dude. Later.”

His friend opened his mouth, then glanced at Tylariel and sighed. “Yeah, okay. Good luck.”

“Thanks.” Arcturus said as he turned away and back to Tylariel, hearing Adam’s retreating footsteps behind him.

“Yes, Mentor.” He called. “Apologies for the delay. I’m ready to continue.”

The athletic redhead arched an eyebrow, then nodded in approval at his words. Without preamble she waved her hand and uttered a command word to trigger the chamber.

While she worked, Arcturus walked over to collect his helmet and slide it onto his head with a wince, holding up Perdition and igniting the blade.

His Mana Bar immediately greyed out 70 points, leaving him with 140 (70) on his HUD.

Arcturus ignored it after taking note and triggered his [Telekinesis], rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck as he readied himself for the almost-formed simulacrums. The immense progress from his combat report flashed through his mind again, and he swept his scarlet gaze over the four new Minions as they started to come to life. Adam’s words about his lack of ‘depreciation’ echoed in his mind, and he immediately considered the ramifications. Mathematically, that meant that if he reached level twenty, he’d in theory be able to surpass his friends.

He’d be able to surpass Amelie, and potentially even overpower her enough to force her to listen to him.

Determination erupted inside of him like a flame. Any lingering doubt about throwing himself headfirst into his training evaporated like water before a wildfire. He’d use his combat training to raise his skills rapidly, and he’d take every point advantage he could damn well get his hands on.

“I don’t make the rules.” He murmured under his breath as he thought about his new objectives. “I just take advantage of them.”

The moment Tylariel called out “Begin!”, Arcturus launched into a full sprint.