A few minutes after I had tiered up my skills, Cerion and I found ourselves in my temporary private underground training yard. Cerion had some skills he wanted to practice as well, since he was in the middle of tiering up some stragglers as well, so we decided to do it all at once.

“So how do you want to do this?” Cerion asked confidently.

For some reason, acting as a dummy for my new skill hadn’t deterred him. In his eyes, the fact that I could handle overloaded mana meant that he could, too.

Despite his confidence, we took some time to buy some expensive health potions, just in case.

“Well, the skill description says it will add more mana with each strike, so we’ll start slow. I’ll leave some small cuts along your skin and we’ll see if larger wounds insert more mana or not. Then we’ll take a break so you can heal. Ready?”

Cerion breathed out, focusing his mind.

“Ready.” he replied, determined.

I walked up to him and drew my sword, coating it in overloaded mana by using [Overload Aura]. Then, I pulled in Cerion’s arm and left a small knick. As I pulled back the sword, the wound started to bleed. With my [Dark Sight] skill, I saw some of the mana surrounding the sword entering the wound, turning the nearby skin black.

Cerion pulled back his arm with a hiss, grimacing in pain.

“Fuck, that hurts!” he said, trying to shake off the pain. He started breathing heavily to distract himself as the flesh around his wound was torn apart by my mana. A few moments later, he settled himself again. I could see the wound turn back to normal, losing its dark coloration, as my mana dissipated.

Still, it took nearly ten seconds for the mana to disappear. For such a small amount of mana, that was pretty incredible.

“How did it feel?” I asked my friend impatiently.

Cerion took a few gulps from a healing potion before replying.

“Like a thousand small ants were eating away at the inside of my wound, before spreading to my veins.”

“Just like how I remember it then.” I responded. While I used Dark form to shut out the pain most of the time, there had been occasions where I had experienced the brunt of what mana overload could do to a man, so I was rather familiar with the feeling Cerion was describing.

“As for the part about spreading to your veins, mana naturally travels through one’s veins, as you know, so it’s no surprise the ‘infection’ would spread there first.” I continued.

Cerion nodded along to my explanation. He was far more learned when it came to mana and its behavior, so he knew what I was talking about better than I did, to be honest.

“Ready for the second part?” I asked.

Cerion didn’t bother replying and simply nodded, holding out his other arm this time, just in case unhealed wounds had some effect on the effectiveness of my skill.

I held out my great sword again, and drew a long cut along his arm, as far from his artery as possible.

I could see more dark mana enter the wound, though not enough to clear my hypothesis about how ‘a bigger wound means more mana’. Instead, about 50% more mana entered the wound, despite it being far larger than the small knick from before.

Still, 50% was more than enough to cause Cerion to curse in pain, clutching his arm. It took nearly twenty seconds for the pain to stop this time, releasing my friend from his plight.

“How did that one feel in comparison to the last one?” I asked.

“Do you even have to ask?”, Cerion replied frustratedly, “That one hurt even more! Arg. It feels like the mana tried to spread to my veins again, but it was purged before it could do anything. My arm is wrecked, though. It feels like I bruised it all over, only on the inside. Are we nearly done? I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”

I shook my head. Continuing to test my skill with Cerion as the dummy just didn’t seem safe. If I continued to test the skill’s increasing power, Cerion might not heal in time for the tournament, which would be a worst-case scenario. Instead, it would be better to find another way.

“No, I think it would be best if we found another target. Someone who could more easily deal with dark mana.” I replied.

Before Cerion could respond, someone opened the heavy wooden door of the training yard. Doran entered, his blond hair swishing around his head majestically.

He greeted us calmly, like he always did. Instead of returning his greeting, Cerion and I stared at him intently.

It seemed we had found the perfect target…

~scene transition~

Three hours and an exhausted Doran later, Cerion and I discussed what we had determined about my skill.

“So it increases in intensity by an additive 50% with each successful strike that draws blood… Blunt strikes don’t seem to work unless they pierce the skin, because the mana travels by following the bloodstream of the opponent’s body.” Cerion observed.

“That might mean that opponents without blood wouldn’t be affected.” I analysed.

“Not necessarily.”, Cerion countered, “Blood just so happens to be the pathway most creatures use for their mana. A golem has its own pathways. As long as you can breach those, it will be affected.”

Doran wasn’t listening to our conversation though, preferring to chug potions and heal from his ordeal.

He had resisted the mana intrusion much better than Cerion had, in part because of the two tier difference between our classes and in part because of his light-aspected mana, the natural antithesis to my own. Despite all this, my overloaded mana proved to become too much for his body after the twentieth strike, where a solid chunk of mana would enter his veins and quickly spread to his arteries. At that point, a wound left on his arm could spread all the way to his torso, leaving a spiderweb of black veins in its wake, before tearing apart everything it touched. At that point, even Doran’s regenerative passive skill combined with potions couldn’t counter the damage my mana was dealing. All in all, the skill had been a success. It practically guaranteed that any long-winded battle would end up in my favor, as long as I kept penetrating the opponent's defenses.

“I’m not sure how effective the skill would be on larger opponents with higher constitution, but overall, I’m satisfied with my decision to pick it.” I declared, before calling it a day and returning to my quarters to rest.

The next day, it would be time to train again, after all.

~scene transition~

Before I knew it, the day had arrived. I had used the rest of the week to train diligently, all to get used to my new skills and to round out my skill progression.

The first elimination round of the tournament had passed, which meant that it was now time for the second round of the tournament's different categories. First, the doubles tournament would happen. Then, the team tournament, in which Cerion and I weren’t participating. Finally, the singles tournament, the most important of the three, would occur.

Only after all tier 2 categories were finished, would the tier 3 bracket begin, so all eyes were on us.

Cerion and I were welcomed into the arena by a clerk that led us to a room near the bottom of the cellars, where we would be equipping our weapons and armor, as well as storing any unnecessary items that we didn’t want to risk being destroyed. We followed instructions and left behind our spatial items in a locked chest, before we were scanned for any malicious items, potions or drugs that could give us an unfair advantage. When the tier 4 appraiser cleared us, we were led to a wide gate that led right to the center of the round arena, to a group of already waiting participants.

As Cerion and I entered, we looked around at the giant arena, which was draped in red and gold banners representing the imperial family. The chanting of the crowd drowned out all the other noises, almost distracting me from the line of central booths, which had different flags and crests adorning each box. They housed the different wealthy and influential factions, I knew.

In one of them, I saw the old guild head, who smiled and waved at me. I returned his gesture somewhat lackadaisically, since I didn’t want to stand out from the crowd. There would be plenty of room to stand out once the round started, after all.

I redirected my focus to the other competitors, noticing a few people standing out from the diverse group of tier 2 classers. One person near my age was smirking confidently. He had a black robe with orange accents on, with only some shoulder guards to serve as armor. Only when I took note of him did I notice his companion, an unassuming middle-aged man with a scraggly beard. He seemed average, but he gave off a weird feeling as he stood there, smiling awkwardly. Mentally, I decided to keep his face in mind, just in case.

Another remarkable pair was a team made up of a young woman with adventurer garb. She had a bright smile and was waving at the crowd excitedly, even as her mage companion, a green haired girl, tried to calm her down. Was she that seeded participant? That adventurer girl? I couldn’t be sure.

On the other side of the crowd, a finely dressed young man equipped with a bastard sword stood. I hadn’t even noticed him earlier, because he was lazily leaning against the arena wall. He was accompanied by an average-looking knight, that stood at attention in his presence. It reminded me of the seeded participant, count Arcellus’ son, who was described as lazy, but, again, I couldn’t be sure.

There were a few more noteworthy classers, but some just looked like they were full of hot air, rather than genuine warriors.

Whether they were a threat or they weren’t, there was plenty of time to find out once the round started.

As more people filtered into the arena, I thought about today’s challenge. The second round was scheduled to take a full day and usually consisted of a challenge of some sort, rather than a standard tournament like the third and final round was.

Previous tournaments had had obstacle courses, mazes and so on, so we couldn’t know what we would have to do until the round’s contents were announced.

Right as I pondered this point, a tall, thin man dressed in a black suit took to the stage on one end of the arena. He was carrying a walking cane, which he picked up and brought to his mouth. A moment later, the stadium was filled with his loud voice.

“Ladies, gentlemen and everything in between, I would like to welcome you all to the second round of the Royal tournament!” he declared bombastically, causing the crowd to erupt in cheers.

The announcer waited for them to calm down again before continuing.

“Today, the doubles tournament for our young tier 2 warriors continues! The next challenge will separate the wheat from the chaff! Weed out the weak! Annihilate the cowardly!” he continued, riling up the crowd even further.

“Indeed! Today’s challenge is one never before seen in the tournament! May I introduce… the bounty hunt!” he finished, as a large blue screen appeared behind him.

Team A1: 100 Team A2: 100 Team A3: 100 Team A4: 100 Team A5: 100 Team A6: 100 Team A7: 100 Team A8: 100 Team A9: 100 Team A10: 100 Team B1: 100 Team B2: 100 Team B3: 100 Team B4: 100 Team B5: 100 Team B6: 100 Team B7: 100 Team B8: 100 Team B9: 100 Team B10: 100 Team C1: 100 Team C2: 100 Team C3: 100 Team C4: 100 Team C5: 100 Team C6: 100 Team C7: 100 Team C8: 100 Team C9: 100 Team C10: 100 ...

“This year, 270 teams have qualified to participate in this event. As you can see, each team has been assigned 100 points, and given a team name with a number and a letter. To gain more points, the teams will be sent to an enchanted forest, where they can hunt down other teams to steal their points by defeating them or making them surrender. If an opponent is defeated, they must leave the forest with 0 points. If they surrender, they lose all of their points but are allowed to re-enter the forest after one hour, to gain more points.

After 12 hours, the 16 teams with the most points qualify for the next round.

To top this all off, there will be multiple ways to gain more points throughout the challenge, which will be announced here on the bounty board. Each team has access to this board at all times, so our top competitors will be hunted constantly.”

The crowd chanted along to his explanation, like a pack of rabid animals, but I still managed to digest his instructions. Those with the highest number of points would become targets, but that also meant that they would have more opportunities to fight new teams.

The option to surrender was also an interesting one, that could be used tactically in a pinch.

Before I could continue my train of thought, the announcer spoke up again.

“Now, with everything explained, it’s time for the challenge to begin! I wish all participants good luck! Tata!” he finished, swinging his cane in a wide motion.

Before I knew it, I found myself falling into the middle of a bush, face first.

As I recovered, a system notification appeared.

Ding! You have joined an event: Bounty hunt!

Ding! You now have access to event-exclusive: Bounty board.

Event notification: You have been separated from your partner. The first team to reunite receives 300 points.

It seemed the challenge had already begun. Luckily, Cerion would recognise the sound of my explosions.