A Contest of Winners and Losers - Part 3
Eventually, the winners lounge filled up with more and more of the winners from throughout the day. There were approximately twenty-five students all having a snack and lounging around. After a while, a teacher walked in and stood at the front of the room.
'Your opponents for tomorrow are on the sheet I am handing out right now.'
The room suddenly went silent as everyone waited for their sheet. One by one, the teacher handed out the papers until they finally arrived at me.
{Opponent: Nendo Furugiri - Second Year Student.}
My opponent was a second year this time which was somewhat interesting.
-
{Level-2 Esper, mud user. He is capable of forming mud and either covering his body in it for protection or building walls of mud from the ground as a barrier. He can harden or soften mud at will and form it into projectiles for his slingshot.}
-
This looked like a better matchup for me. Considering that his main offensive weapon was a slingshot, I assumed that it wouldn't be too difficult to defend against. I still didn't have much information on his abilities however, but students generally didn't train in the middle of a tournament. I didn't manage to see him while he was fighting in his first qualifier round. I would be in the dark for the specifics of his ability until the actual fight.
I wasn't sure if he managed to watch my fight but I needed to prepare with that in mind. I decided to make my way to the bathroom and travel off to Haven. I had around 18 hours before my next fight and I wanted at least 8 hours of sleep. I would be able to practice a little in Haven but I definitely wouldn't be able to level up.
*
I pricked my left index finger and suddenly I was transported to Haven
I instantly opened my 'contracts' menu and had a look.
-
[Lucky Farmer]
Experience: 12/10 [Upgrade!]
Upgrade Level: 1.89%
[COLLECT REWARDS]
-
It seemed that he had gathered enough experience to level up. I decided to collect the rewards and upgrade him.
-
- 4 Vampire Tokens
- 878 Experience Points
- [Rare Item!] Random Uncommon Ability Unlock
~
The experience gain wasn't that great but the 4 Vampire Tokens would be useful. The main thing however was the new ability unlock. It seemed that the rare rewards consisted of useful stuff like this. I was quickly shown the next screen. I had two common abilities and one uncommon ability as of now—well, I also had that other ability which I still don't know what it does.
Anyways, let's see what my new ability is.
-
NEW Uncommon Skill [Vampiric Sense]
-
Vampiric Sense (Rarity: Uncommon):
You can track the location of any object or person with your blood on it. The outline of the object or person will be shown in red. There is a 50m radius and you can only track three things at the same time at most. You can turn the tracking on and off for each object or person at will. The effect lasts two hours or until the blood is significantly removed.
-
{You have reached the maximum number of abilities}
-
Huh? I guess I could only have a maximum of four abilities at the same time. I decided to have a quick look at my abilities and decided which one to switch it for.
-
Unlocked Abilities:
- The Soul of Swallowing Hope (Rarity: ???)
- Blood Strength (Rarity: Common)
- Blood Blade (Rarity: Uncommon)
- Vampiric Scanner (Rarity: Common)
~
All my abilities at the moment were quite useful, although it seemed that [Vampiric Sense] was better than [Vampiric Scanner] in most situations. My unused abilities would just sit in my inventory so I could switch them around when necessary. I took out [Vampiric Scanner] and replaced it with [Vampiric Sense].
-
Unlocked Abilities:
- The Soul of Swallowing Hope (Rarity: ???)
- Blood Strength (Rarity: Common)
- Blood Blade (Rarity: Uncommon)
- Vampiric Sense (Rarity: Uncommon)
~
That should be it for now.
I had a look at my missions menu since I finally defeated a level-two Esper.
-
1. Spend 3 hours in Haven (Difficulty: 9) - COMPLETED [+91 experience, +5 Vampire Tokens, +1 Lesser Upgrade Token]
2. Defeat a level-2 Esper or above (Difficulty: 13) - COMPLETED [+139 experience, +12 Vampire Tokens, +1 Medium Upgrade Token]
3. [Situational Mission! 2x rewards!] Get an SCS of 80 or above (Difficulty: 14)
-
1. Make a true friend (Difficulty: 99)
2. Defeat a level-3 Esper or above (Difficulty: 33)
3. [Situational Mission! 2x rewards!] Get an SCS of 80 or above (Difficulty: 14)
-
What the heck was the first mission? Why is it difficulty 99... Am I really that bad at socialising? Granted, I wasn't exactly the most liked student at the school but even so, difficulty 99?
Anyways, that aside, my next mission was to defeat a level-3 Esper, that would be quite a challenge, I might not even be able to complete it during this tournament.
I had had enough fun hanging around in Haven for the time being. I was going to go rest up in the recovery pod and get ready for my fight tomorrow. My legs were quite injured and my body still hadn't fully recovered from the poison.
I made my way over to the most comfortable machine in the entire world and opened its welcoming doors as my body was brushed by a wave of soothing hot air. As I lied down on the bed, I looked up at the roof and thought about my strategy for the next battle.
There was still quite a few hours left so I took my time and relaxed to my hearts content.
I just needed to win one more match and then I would be in the next round of qualifiers, with level-3s and level-4s, I still had no idea how strong I was compared to them, I managed to defeat the level-2 without too much difficulty but as the level of Espers got higher, their power increases exponentially. Especially the students at Yokusuka Academy, one of the best Esper academies in the entire area.
Now that thought about it, how did I get into this school in the first place. My memories seemed all blurry and I couldn't recall what happened furthered than around three years ago.
What actually happened all those years ago?