"Dang, wish I was able to get that Skill. Chuuni figured out how to turn normal electricity into mana, and I'm certain he'd have been able to figure out a way to turn kinetic energy either directly into mana or into electricity first. I know there are crystals that turn- create electricity when they're compressed, but I don't think they can take an impact."

"How did he turn electricity into Mana? That could be useful in many places, and even potentially as a stepping stone toward a more base energy, assuming you lose and we need one."

"I do not claim to know the specifics, or even general idea. I kinda just let Chuuni work and only asked if something was possible, not how he did it, and just assumed he'd be around for the rest of eternity to fix anything if it broke, since he was invincible."

Disappointed, Melena said, "Oh, well."

"I can have a golem disassemble itself to let you look at one later, if there isn't a base energy for me to use to become as powerful as Chuuni, or if using it is harder than I think it will be."

"What do you mean by that?"

Degritone shrugged and said, "Each pocket's energy has its own control method. The one in the RP was a language, though it didn't need to be verbalized. You could simply think a sentence in the language and it would work. Assuming images are physical manifestations of," pause, "this pocket's energy," short pause, "then it probably works on some other method than a language, as no one would be capable of," long pause.

"- image materialization, as no one knows the language, and if they did, then everyone would already know exactly how to use image materialization perfectly. Well, everyone who had access to that knowledge. I doubt every world is as generous with knowledge as ours. Plus, raw imagination didn't work back before the system came, so it's not just imagining stuff that interacts with the pocket's energy, if that's even how the system works."

After a few seconds of neither saying anything, Degritone shrugged and began pat Melena's head. A thought occurred to him. "Do you like head pats, or should I stop because it's annoying to have my hand on your head 24/7?"

Melena thought for a second before responding, "I do not dislike them, so you have nothing to fear there. I am uncertain how far above neutral they are, but they are more enjoyable than a neutral experience. On a scale from 0 being neutral and 100 being best thing ever, they're somewhere between 6 and 10, whereas the word you used translated to a word in my language that would equate to roughly a 20."

"I feel like the phrasing you're using has gotten more and more formal as we've been together."

Melena shrugged and said, "I don't believe I've changed how I've spoken too much. Maybe it's just the translator getting better over time. However, I do tend to speak more formally when I have time to properly articulate my thoughts, so maybe I have and just haven't noticed. I'm not trying to push you away or anything, and that's not reverse psychology." She punctuated that statement by pointing in the general direction of Degritone's face. "If anything, it means I feel comfortable enough that I feel I can take the time to properly word my thoughts without you getting bored."

Degritone did a quick sideways nod of his head. "You're not wrong. I do enjoy your voice."

"If you want, I can be more casual. Not too hard a transition to make."

Degritone sneered just at the mention of the idea. "No, be yourself. Don't change just because I'm here."

Melena smiled and nodded. Monody began to play in Degritone's head. Quickly entering his mental space, he saw that it was still the one person and the void was still there. He projected, "Music?"

He felt a nod in response.

"Where's Chuuni, then?"

Music sent a shrug, then projected, "Void."

"You ok?"

Another shrug as the song continued on.

Degritone projected a head pat to her and left after a few seconds of Music doing what she always did before she'd had a real body.

As the time came for Degritone's next fight, he wasn't transported into the clearing. He waited a few seconds before asking, "Did I get a bye or something?"

"It seems you did, but you should not have. Last I heard, there was a perfect power of two competitors left in your bracket and you can neither can be killed while here nor forfeit without first entering the arena. You should be getting 40 free SP, which is sadly less than what you would have gotten if you had fought. Give me a few seconds to ask around and see what's going on."

Degritone nodded and dismissed his armor and weapon. Melena began messing with her interface, and Degritone picked her up and sat her on his stomach as he laid back down. A few seconds after he completed the motion, Melena spoke up, "It seems your opponent found a way to die. His friends reported him saying he was feeling sick for the last few rounds, and when he went to put his last earned SP into his Skills, he just dropped dead.

"There was reportedly no preamble; he simply placed an SP into a Skill and dropped dead immediately after. The Patron of Insight came, looked over the body, and found their soul had shattered. It seems we now know why the Skill level cap exists. If you begin feeling unwell as you place SP into your Skills, immediately stop. That is an order; I do not want to lose another protege."

Degritone nodded. "I already have an order to not die, so I won't die, but noted."

"Do you feel fine at this moment?"

"I mean... my head still hurts from the void, but otherwise, yes. I feel fine. Really nice, even, since you're," he simply flailed his arms in her direction, rather than finishing his sentence with words. After about a minute of silence, Degritone asked, "How does the tournament deal with byes?"

"It tries to keep an even number of contestants at all times, to maximize the number of combats that take place; however, it ensures there will always be exactly 64 combatants left for the last 6 rounds, even if it requires multiple byes. The exact combatants who get byes when they are needed is random, rather than always being the weakest, strongest, or exact center, power-wise.

"Those who get byes get an amount of SP equal to the maximum level of their bracket, except those in the Patron and 91+ brackets, who get SP equal to 75% of the SP they would have gotten should they have won against the highest leveled combatant in their bracket."

After another few minutes of comfortable silence, doubt crept into Degritone's mind, which he verbalized, "Would a regen image even help me? Or skill set, even? I already have Being of Vitality and I'm almost double my maximum- my skill level cap. I wouldn't be able to level any new skills... well, I might be able to get to level 2 during or before the first- the finals."

Melena thought for a few seconds before saying, "You're the image savant. I am comfortable in stating that no matter what image you use, Skill levels will only be a concern after the tournament. You also have some additional SP, though you should make sure to slowly add SP to your Skills from now on in order to make sure you don't kill yourself."

"Does my soul look normal? Well, my weird normal?"

Melena looked down at his soul before responding, "The lines between the largest section and the medium section have faded by about 26%, but given your soul is the way it is, I'm uncertain if that's something to be concerned about."

Degritone shrugged. "Seems like Music and I are merging, then. Sad, but oh well. It'll be lonely when they're gone."

"Hopefully, it will not have enough of a mental impact to distract you from a fight."

Degritone shrugged. "It was pretty smooth with Mind and Scout. I'm sure it'll go smoothly this time."

Degritone arrived in the clearing once again, and the world slowed. A thought occurred to him, Does this Skill work to make image materialization easier? He tried, but despite the fact he'd have been able to spend over 18 seconds pulling an image to the front of his mind to materialize it in less time than would be required outside his own mind, the young Immortal Troll did not appear.

Sad, he turned his attention to his opponent. To Degritone, it appeared to be his best match up: A non-burst melee combatant. They were a humanoid with 4 arms. In their left two arms was a massive sword, their right hands each holding a buckler. Their chain mail glowed a dim red as the round began.

Round 34 begin!

Within seconds of Degritone's accelerated time, the two had met, with Degritone having only moved a few feet while his opponent had moved almost one hundred. Degritone's prediction had his opponent sending a vertical slash downward, and he moved his sword up to meet it. As he did, however, the prediction had his opponent batting his sword out of the way with one of their bucklers.

No matter where or when he moved to intercept, his opponent would deflect his sword before the two swords could clash. So, he took a single step back before the attack could land, forcing his opponent to step in to get in range to deflect his sword, which they did without hesitation. Finally, his sword was deflected away as the sword came crashing down onto Degritone's armor. Despite the impact moving Degritone into the ground an inch, the blow did not pierce his armor.

A quick buckler blow to the chest came as he activated Revitalize. As his opponent got his sword in place for another swing, Degritone cast each of his Omens as he took yet another step back. They were each dispatched with a single blow from a buckler and Degritone moved at the same moment his opponent took a step to match him, casting his Omens once again before going for a shoulder bash.

With his opponent distracted by the ghouls, the shoulder bash connected, sending his opponent back two steps, still in range of the swords, but out of Degritone's sweet spot. Regardless, he used his momentum, the portion of which affecting his torso having been dissipated against his opponent, to help bring a rapid sword swipe at his opponent, who was still recovering from the shoulder bash.

His opponent batted the sword away with one of his bucklers and brought his own sword down hard onto Degritone's ribs. Degritone's armor cracked and he barely had time to fix it before his opponent took a step forward and landed another blow from a buckler in the chest, accompanied by a small puff of Mana, sending him back two steps and right into the sweet spot of his opponent's weapon.

Now outside his opponent's buckler range, Degritone was able to bring his sword between his opponent's sword and his own body, but his opponent's power was too great and the sword continued forward. Its impact was lessened, but not negated, as it smashed into Degritone's upper arm. His opponent took two steps forward while resetting his sword and Degritone struck with the pommel of his sword.

His opponent's chain mail rustled, but not much else happened visually before Degritone was hit with two quick strikes, one from each of his opponent's bucklers, each hit accompanied by a slightly larger puff of Mana and sending him two steps back. After restoring himself to full health, Degritone noticed his ghouls get their first attack off, so he recast his Omens.

His opponent took two steps forward and sent a horizontal slash at Degritone's upper body. He reset his own sword and ducked the incoming sword slash just before it hit him. A small amount of steam began to appear from under his opponent's armor as Degritone stood back up while taking a step forward while his opponent send a buckler blow into each of his ghouls, sending a thrust right at their throat.

The hit connected and the steam from his opponent grew in volume. Degritone knew that no matter where he tried to move, his opponent would land a hit, so he took another step forward to mitigate the blow slightly, then cast Revitalize to restore himself to full health. Two buckler strikes met Degritone's chest, and he brought his sword around to land a swipe at his opponent as two large puffs of Mana sent him flying back a combined 12 steps.

He cast each of his Omens as fast as he could as he flew, and his opponent was, from Degritone's perspective, enveloped in a cloud of steam. Before Degritone could fully land, his opponent was upon him, sending a vertical slash at Degritone, which he lessened the blow of with his own sword. However, the blow still sent him falling onto his back due to him not actually having landed yet.

With two casts of Revitalize to restore himself to full, Degritone realized his Mana was getting quite low from Adaptive Palisade eating his Mana. With each blow doing slightly less damage each time, it wasn't yet a concern, but he knew that if the fight went at this pace for too long, he would run out of Mana and, eventually, Health. So, he materialized a one foot thick AR500 steel box around himself. He could hear his opponent's sword strike the metal twice as he cast Energize to increase his effective Mana Regeneration.

After ten smaller hits, a flash of blue was the first light Degritone saw as a spear of Mana pierced through his box. Sad he couldn't buy more time, Degritone started a thrust and dismissed the box right before his sword impacted it. The surprise attack managed to land on his opponent and break a few rungs of the chain mail, as well as draw the first blood he'd seen the entire fight.

His opponent released his own sword with one hand and grabbed Degritone's sword, keeping him from pulling it back. Degritone accepted this and released his own sword before conjuring his Condensed sword between a single-handed slash and himself. With only a single arm backing the attack, Degritone was able to actually deflect the attack before it hit him and go for another strike of his own.

His opponent released a deep breath, releasing a massive cloud of steam before batting Degritone's attack aside with a buckler and stepping in for a blow with his other buckler, dropping Degritone's Mana sword and regrabbing his own sword. The attack landed right on Degritone's chest and rather than sending him back, the Mana released from the buckler pierced straight through his armor and half into his chest, almost reaching his spine before dissipating.

Two Revitalizes were needed to heal to full health and he began repairing his armor as he weakened another incoming slash. He cast his Omens twice each before remembering he needed to conserve Mana and stopped. Another blow from his opponent's buckler blew a home straight through his chest. Three casts of Revitalize completely healed the wound, but his armor was now beyond repair and the next blow came without anything between him and the buckler.

Degritone's upper body was turned into a fine red mist as his head, neck, and left arm were sent flying into the trees and out of sight.