∼ Day 82 ∼

Having Darkan oversee and manage the bracket for this small tournament, we had it all quickly set up.

Up first, already squaring off against one another, were Rena and Grul.

The twins had recently evolved into their special blood orc archetype of the greenskin evolution linage, so I was quite excited to see how much stronger they had become. They both were equipped with a multitude of different weaponry, as customary to orcs' innate mastery of wielding anything meant to kill.

As for the lean and swift Rena, she had a short sword, well short for her stature... a dagger, and a rugged saber. Contrasting that, Grul's strength and bulky physique meant that he was utilizing weapons on the heavier side of things as he was carrying a thick longsword, a short sword, and a shield.

As the air grew pregnant with tension, Darkan loudly exclaimed. "Begin!"

Exploding into motion, both blood orcs had already drawn their main weapon, creating a resounding metal clang as their weapons clashed. Not even wasting a breath of time, a flurry of attack, parries, and blocks were expertly executed by both.

To the inexperienced eye, their fight would've looked extremely barbaric and out of control, however, such was the art of orcs. Order in chaos; utter destruction under a masterful onslaught.

I had already told everybody participating that since they will have to fight multiple fights, so they shouldn't draw out the fight or hold back to create a victory of attrition. As such, Rena and Grul, after having exchanged initial probing attacks, threw in their trump cards and finishing moves.

With the atmosphere suddenly changing, both their onslaughts only increased in magnitude. Upon seeing this, my eyes went wide with astonishment. I had known their primal tattoos were special, but as they began to light up across their bodies with a soft crimson glow, I could feel them drawing on the innate power of my blood running through their veins.

This was apparently either a skill or a trait they had acquired from becoming a blood orc, and it seemed to boost their physical capabilities.

Although I didn't know what such a skill must cost to activate, I could only assume it was stamina. But what really shocked me, was the fact that the power displayed right now, at the peak of their strength, I knew undoubtedly that they would be able to contest, and maybe even defeat, a fully-fledged monster of the D rank.

Being mere newly-minted D- ranks, such a feat was grand. With such an ability, their value sky-rocketed as powerful fighters and duelists. I could only imagine how strong they could become with such an ability at the higher ranks once they level up some more.

The fight didn't last much longer though, and surprisingly, it wasn't Rena that won, but Grul, her twin brother. I had honestly put my money on the woman since her agile and lithe figure usually was more efficient in one on one dueling fights, compared to the brother's brawn and brute force which excelled against lathe swathes of weaker enemies.

But even though Rena had just lost and with their innate greenskin competitiveness, both twins were visibly happy with their performance - be it a win or a loss.

"Winner, Grul!" Darkan announced to the cheers of the small crowd of greenskins that had formed to watch.

Next on, we had Mia and Frank. Frank was the other orc who evolved with Rena and Grul, and after having spoken with the older great orc during our trip to the basin, I decided to name him as I quite liked his attitude.

Standing before each other, Mia was immensely dwarfed by Frank's naturally tall great orc figure. But contrary to what most would expect, it was actually Frank who looked like he was about to face some dangerous beast; unconscious worry and apprehension written all over his face.

But rightfully so, as Mia was simply not a woman to be trifled with when it came to combat. With the flipside of her personality, the vicious and uncaring nature that had caused quite a few terror-filled nights for the tribesmen who had dared to or even just accidentally crossed her.

"-Um, Begin!" Darkan announced the slight note of pity in his voice not going unheard.

The fight went as expected, and with the simple usage of her bewildering magic, Frank was unable to properly form conscious thought, his mind being invaded by her magic. Before he knew or could put up a defense, he had found a dagger to his throat.

"Winner, Mia!" Darkan declared, much to the amusing chagrin of Frank and the laughter of everyone watching.

Next up, we had Roc and Bob. Similar to Frank, Roc was a new face amongst the stronger figures of the tribe. Actually, he had evolved just the day before. But different from Frank, Roc did not evolve into a great orc.

As the first of our tribe, we now finally had an ogre. Huge and bulky like any other ogre I had seen in Maldrak, Roc was the spitting image of brawn.

However, Roc wasn't just any other ogre, he was a damn bloodthrall variant too!

-Appraisal!-

Appraisal - Roc

Information Attributes

Traits. Titles. and Skills -Name- "Roc" STR 65 Skills ??? -Race- Ogre "Bloodthrall" VIT 85 Traits ??? -Sex- Male AGI 21 Titles ??? -Rank- D- DEX 20 Resistances

-Level- 1/50 INT 14 Health 902/902 CHR 8 Physical Resistance 12 Stamina 413/413 WILL 20 Magical Resistance 8 Mana 0/0 MAG 2 Mental Resistance 6

Sporting an even greater size than ordinary ogres, Roc would be a true menace on a battlefield. But the difference in size and skill color wasn't just all that made him different from the norm. Unlike great orcs, ogres didn't have any tattoos or other special discernable features - or well, at least from what I've seen so far.

But essentially, they were just huge and much more powerful orcs.

However, Roc, in addition to his red skin, sported not tattoos, but odd red gems on his knees, elbows, heels, and knuckles. While Roc informed me that he didn't even know what they could be used for, he could instinctually feel they more than just pretty and hard.

Actually, they were pretty damn hard, practically indestructible to anything both me and Bob could throw at them. I didn't sport any impressive physical strength, so it was no wonder that I couldn't damage the gems, however, as Bob with his newly acquired tyrannical strength could only leave a scratch with his huge blood cleaver, it was evident that the gems were sturdy.

Although we didn't know what other uses the gems had, they were essentially perfect blunt weapons attached directly to Roc's attacking extremities. Impressed by Roc's new evolution, I had also granted him a name as I did with Frank.

"Begin!" Darkan exclaimed, bringing me out of my wandering thoughts.

The two huge fighters didn't wait was they burst into motion, both Bob and Roc rushing directly at each other.

Seeing Bob not even draw his weapon, I snorted.

"He wants to match strength with that brawns for brains..." I thought amusedly to myself.

But to be honest, the fight wouldn't be fair or safe if Bob used his huge cleaver. His weapon and his fighting style were not meant to spar, they were to decimate and kill. If his blade even touched anything else than Roc's gems, Bob would be blowing chunks off the lumbering giant, something that was rather unneeded for this friendly tournament.

As both of the massive guys collided, a thundering clap resounded accompanied by a forceful wave of air billowing through my hair. Roc had been forced to stumble backward, however, Bob, even though his strength not being far below Roc's, simply didn't have his overwhelming bodyweight causing Bob to be hurled back almost a dozen meters.

But of course, something like that wouldn't discourage the goofy champion as he instantly got back to his feet and once again charged at Roc.

Instead of meeting Bob's charge with one of his own again though, Roc hunkered up, ready to brunt it. It was clear from Roc's stance alone, that he wanted to take the fight close range so he could utilize his gems to pummel Bob. But contrary to my expectation, instead of stopping his mad charge seeing that Roc was trying to cajole him into close-quarters, Bob continued onwards.

However, I barely got to question Bob's actions further as he did something unfathomable.

Crashing into the hunkered down ogre, Roc stretched out with his huge hands to grapple Bob. But surprisingly enough, his huge hands found no limbs nor a Bob to hold onto.

Roc barely managed to register this before his world was turned upside down as he ended up in a rear-naked chokehold from Bob.

The Draugr who had used his momentum to leap over Roc and with an impressive display of dexterity and flexibility grappled him to the ground.

Me, who had forgotten that Bob's specialty wasn't just wielding weapons but any type of fighting was astonished at the scene. Even though Roc beat him in strength and mass, in this hold, he wouldn't be able to get free and was quickly losing consciousness from oxygen loss as Bob had pressure on his trachea.

Seeing the fight was over, Darkan came to Roc's rescue and declared Bob the winner.

Although Roc had just been manhandled like that, he was respectful to Bob since having even been allowed to spar with his very own chief was considered an honor of highest order to a greenskin.

Getting on with the tournament, we moved into the second round.

Facing off now, was Grul and - surprisingly enough, Lily.

I had told her it wasn't necessary for her to join in, but it seemed that she really wanted to show both off and test something. It wasn't hard to guess what she wanted to show off was whatever it had been she gained from drinking my blood yesterday so I indulged in her wishes.

Pulling up Lily's status, there was nothing of change to be seen though. However, that was also to be expected as my blood didn't have an immediate effect when applied in its normal form. It was to enhance and stimulate growth, opening up for new opportunities and power rather than sudden attribute gain.

But it had been clear that she had in fact gained something from the blood as she received a system prompt. Whatever it was though, it was still left to my imagination as when I asked her about it this morning she just gave me a mischievous smile and said that it was a 'secret' for now.

Standing before Grul, Lily unsheathed her lithe sword and agile short sword, duel-wielding them. Getting ready too, Grul pulled forth his long sword and shield.

"Begin!" Darkan announced.

In a blur of motion, Lily shot forward, too fast for most of the audience to even spot; her figure only leaving afterimages in their eyes.

Grul who had been put on the back foot right out of the gate tried desperately to ward off Lily's onslaught. But her small and thin weapons had turned into a storm of blades as they harried down Grul's defenses, leaving innumerable cuts all over his body where he couldn't parry or block.

He didn't even have time to launch any retaliation of his own, Lily's movement being all too elusive and dexterous.

Having seen Lily battle quite a few times over the last couple of weeks, I could immediately see the difference in her fighting style and capabilities. Although I still didn't know what specifically she had gained from my blood, I could see that her flexibility and control over her own body had risen explosively.

No matter what situation her body was in, it could twist and turn like only a world-class acrobat could dream of, closing any potential opening in her fighting stance. But not only that, there was some other change off how her body moved that was different, giving her whole fighting style an exceedingly slippery and flowing characteristic.

The fight didn't last long, seeing as Grul was not able to put up a fight at all. Lily had also made sure not to hurt the big man, only leaving scratches and shallow cuts much to the blood orc's gratitude.

"So, do you want to tell me about it now?" I asked curiously as an excited Lily approached me. "Your fighting style has improved a lot, what exactly was it that you gained?"

"One of my traits evolved!" She exclaimed happily, showing a mix of emotions that typically held hidden.

"Oh really?" I muttered curiously to myself. "I've never had that happen from just drinking my blood."

I paused.

"Quite interesting....." I muttered.

"It is truly amazing, to even think there exists something powerful enough to evolve a trait, and it's in your veins!" She said excitedly, something like this clearly not normal for seeing as she came from just a small country like Mordria where she had been born and raised.

"Well, my blood can do a lot more than just evolving a trait," I said, gesturing to the many red-skinned followers of my tribe and figures like Mia and Bob who all had benefited from it. "Give it time, it should prove even more beneficial.

I smiled genuinely.

"Anyways, what was the trait?"

"It was my Acrobatic trait, something I've painstakingly trained to acquire." She explained, the expression on her face showing her reminisce back to the exhausting amount of work she had to put into just obtain it.

"Oh yeah, you can get traits from hard work, right?" I asked, remembering her mentioning it before. "How long did it take for you to get it?"

"Twelve years." She answered simply, much to my stunned silence.

"Okay... maybe I shouldn't be looking to train traits..." I muttered discouragedly. "*Sigh* Well, what did it evolve into?"

"Sanguine Acrobat." She answered. "It allows my muscles, ligaments, and tendons to become more flexible while also giving me much greater control over my own body."

"I see," I said, nodding appreciatively. "That's definitely going to come in handy for you."