Entrance ceremony,first fight
After a good night's sleep, I was ready. After meeting up with Oliver, we went to the place where the competition was going to take place.
It was a very big dome-like building, and it sort of resembled the Colosseum from the Roman Empire, just a tad bit more modern. It had multiple octagons in its interior and a big stage at the center. The building could fit up to roughly 50000 people, although, judging by the number of fights that could take place simultaneously, at most 25 matches could take place at the same time.
We were guided to the stands to watch the entrance ceremony. After everybody settled in, a woman walked on stage. She was wearing a formal suit and exuded confidence and nobility. From her attitude, one could infer that she was in an important position
"Hello, everyone, and welcome to the first edition of the TNT, or Testing and Nurturing Tournament. My name is Valerie Sterling and I am the leading figure of the New Generation department from the World Government, and I will be the host for this competition. Due to the significant number of participants, we have decided to spread the fights across this entire week. Schedules will be given to you by the assistants, but I will also explain how we will be proceeding: today will be the first day of the competition and the participants of grades G, F and E will be having official matches, until the first 8 will be nominated from each category. The next day, the same process will happen for grades D, C and B. On the third day, the first 8 from G, F and E will be competing and at the end of the day, the winner from each category will be declared. Across the next 3 days, the winners of ranks D, C and B will be decided. For ranks A and S, the participants are scarce, and the winner from each category will be decided on the last day. Without further addition, I am declaring the start of the tournament. Let the duels begin!"
After talking with Oliver, he decided to stay and watch my matches. With a G+ rank, my position is pretty good, as I should have the advantage in stats. Even though I don't have any skills or significant arts, most of my competitors should be in the same situation. G rank is more or less just a peak human from my previous life, after all. But I still don't know how strong the average G rank so I may just be deluding myself.
From the schedule, today there were going to be 5 matches for each person, more or less. Given the fact that the number of participants was not a power of 2, some people entered 6 matches. I was one of the lucky ones.
For my first fight, I was guided to one of the octagons. There stood my first opponent, along with a judge, presumably. Engaging in conversation was allowed, so I naturally wanted to find out just how much information I could gather about him.
After confirming that both I and my opponent were ready and handing us our weapons of choice, the judge started the match.
Seeing that he wasn't making a move, I stayed motionless as well. His name was Alric Blackwood according to the schedule. I could act impressed by his strength and ask for it later, saying that I only remember strong people. That could make me look a bit arrogant, but I was also feeding his ego, so chances are that he wouldn't notice.
Lunging forward, I slashed my sword diagonally with slow speed. He blocked with both his daggers and redirected it, making a gap in my defense.
[DAGGER ART DETECTED. CONCRETE INFORMATION ACQUIERED. CATALOGUE UPDATED]
I wanted to stand out a bit and also get his interest, so when he attacked that gap with his dagger, instead of blocking it with the hilt, I dropped my sword, twisted my body and delivered a hook to his face. After that, I lept backward.
"Aren't you going to pick up your sword?"
"What would be the fun in that? Besides, I think I'll manage even without it."
"You're crazy. Wonder if you will go back on your words later in the fight"
Having said that, he started to run towards me. His pattern was obvious, and his speed was slow. I didn't need my sword to defeat him, and now I had his attention. Although not in a good way. More specifically, he's pretty pissed right now. My taunting worked, which means he's somewhat vulnerable, mentally speaking. I'll continue to observe him.
[Catalogue[Oliver], [Alrick Blackwood]]
[Alric Blackwood
Philosophy:(not known)
Tendency:(not known)
Impression of you: Pissed off by your arrogance.
Stats:
Rank: G
Skills: ???
Traits: ???
Arts: Basic daggership(dagger art, grade 1, proficiency:???), ???
Abilities: ???
Strength: ???(???)
Agility: ???(???)
Stamina: ???(???)
Mana: ???/???
Mana core: ???
Intelligence: ???
Familiarity:3%
Even though I may not be able to guess his philosophy or tendency, I can create a train of thoughts for him and guess how he'll respond, basically artificially creating his impression of me. If I try hard enough, perhaps I can take his dagger mastery art. But for that, I need to guess at least one philosophy or tendency. I need to get more information about him.
He tried to stab me, but I evaded easily. Simultaneously, with his other hand, he went for my neck. I blocked the hand and jabbed his face almost at the same time. Using his momentary confusion, I kept hitting his face. But that didn't last very long, as he regained his calm. Yet again he wanted to stab me, but at that distance I couldn't really do anything but back down. Normally, I wouldn't put myself in such a disadvantageous position, but my opponent was extremely weak, both in stats and in battle sense. The only reason I didn't finish this fight was because I wanted to take his art. But considering that I made a fool out of him and that he is very angry at me, it's likely that the only thing I can still get out of him is anger. So, I keep taunting.
"You don't look so well, pal. Something wrong? Have I wounded your pride? Or are expectations on you too heavy?"
"You bastard! You should just stay quiet if you don't understand anything!"
Looks like the nail was hit with the last statement. He is in a vulnerable position. And he is expecting my input.
"Really though? Do you think that you're the only one carrying an absurd level of expectations? That is constantly scrutinized and judged? Trust me, most people from our generation are just like that. Status is becoming more and more dependent on rank, and we are the ones who have untapped potential. Since they have regrets they project themselves on us, put pressure on us and, before you know it, you become nothing more than a bundle of useless pride who antagonizes everyone around you"
"If you know all that, why go out of your way to make a fool out of me? You know this will only make things worse, don't you?"
Bingo.
[CATALOGUE UPDATED IN CONCORDANCE WITH VESSEL'S THOUGHTS OVERLAPPING REALITY]
[Catalogue[Oliver], [Alric Blackwood]]
[Alric Blackwood
Philosophy:
1. Meet their expectations, avoid disappointment
2. Get their approval, at any cost
Tendency: Chaotic neutral
Impression of you: Surprised by your actions. Feels a sense of connection to you because of your similar situations.
Stats:
Rank: G
Skills: ???
Traits: ???
Arts: Basic daggership(dagger art, grade 1, proficiency:???), ???
Abilities: ???
Strength: ???(???)
Agility: ???(???)
Stamina: ???(???)
Mana: ???/???
Mana core: ???
Intelligence: ???
Familiarity:28%
[CERTAIN MILESTONES REACHED; YOU HAVE RECEIVED 1 STT]
[CHOOSE BETWEEN 1STT AND 1ATT]
Well, that's obvious
[ART TRANSFER TOKEN USAGE DETECTED. CHARACTER: ALRIC BLACKWOOD]
[SELECT THE ART YOU WISH TO OBTAIN]
[BASIC DAGGERSHIP]
[BASIC DAGGERSHIP]
Dagger art, grade 1. Contains the basis of daggers. It is necessary to have at least 50% proficiency to begin learning other dagger arts.
[[BASIC DAGGERSHIP] SELECTED. -1 ATT. IT HAS BEEN ADDED TO THE VESSEL'S ATTRIBUTES AT 0% PROFICIENCY]
Alright, I have fulfilled my purpose. The next milestone is at 50%. I doubt that he has any useful skills and I don't give a shit about him anymore. Although I can't help but think it's peculiar that his percentage is at 28% and I barely know anything about him, but Oliver's is 30% with all that I have acquiered until now. Maybe Oliver's character has more depth? That's the only conclusion I can come up with. Either way,this has been dragged on for way too long. However, his question still needs to be answered.
"It was the only way I could think of to make you aware that you are not alone. I have been in your situation for a long time. Until I stopped giving a damn about others and stopped searching for their approval. It seems we dragged this out for way too long. It's time to end this."
Saying that I went with my full force to my sword, grabbed it, and started attacking him relentlessly. He was overwhelmed in no time and admitted defeat.
He wanted to talk to me after the fight, but luckily we didn't get a single break, as our next duels had been planned and were supposed to happen almost immediately.