Chapter 182
The arena glowed with a faint, ethereal light as Max stepped in, eyes locked on his opponent across the stone battlefield.
"a Mage."
Max could feel the tension in the air. His opponent stood tall, a young man draped in flowing robes, his eyes glowing faintly with arcane energy. He raised his hand, a small orb of what seemed like blue fire igniting in his palm as he stared at Max with a knowing smirk.
"You look confident," the mage said, his voice echoing across the arena. "But confidence is never enough."
Max cracked his neck, focusing inward, ignoring the words.
Even if he won this guy won't actually die, other than practice it was pointless, so his habit of monologuing simply didn't kick in.
The countdown began.
3... 2... 1... Fight!
The moment the countdown hit zero, Max crushed the air around the mage with over a million kilograms of force— —but the mage blinked away in an instant, appearing outside of Max's range.
Before Max could react, the mage began casting. A shimmering defensive barrier formed around him, its arcane energy reinforcing his body. Max didn't hesitate. He launched his hammer with telekinesis, sending it hurtling toward the mage's skull.
The mage blinked sideways, dodging the attack, and finished his spell. Now shielded, he counterattacked—a blast of energy exploding toward Max.
Max didn't block. He propelled himself forward with a telekinetic burst, dodging mid-air and closing the distance.
The mage's eyes widened as Max reached out— The mage was yanked violently into the air by an invisible force, his body slamming into the ground before he could teleport again.
Boom! The entire arena shook as Max whipped him sideways, slamming him into the walls. The defensive barrier flickered but held. Max clenched his fists as he slammed his opponent head first towards the wall. "Stubborn thing, aren't you?"
The mage blinked out of Max range as he snarled, gathering energy.
His body shimmered—clones split off in every direction.
Max swept the battlefield with a wave of raw force, crushing illusions instantly.
The real mage flashed behind him, unleashing a point-blank arcane blast— BOOM! Max was sent flying.
Pain flared in his right arm as he saw blood and bone—his arm was gone.
Before he could recover, another energy strike was aimed at his head.
instinctively he used telekinesis to deflecte the attack, but not completely as it sliced through his right ear, severing it.
Max gritted his teeth against the pain. Enough.
His telekinetic grip wrapped around the mage—this time, he didn't let go, and that blink spell or whatever it was seemed to be on cooldown.
He slammed the mage into the ground with full force, over and over, the stone cracking beneath the sheer pressure.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
The mage twitched, his barrier shattered— One final impact, and the mage lay still.
Max stood over his fallen opponent, panting, blood dripping from his missing arm.
His body trembled, but his smirk remained. He had won. At a cost.
As the adrenaline faded the pain started to kick in, and Max's smirk was wiped out.
" respwan!".
In an instant Max found himself back in the city fully healed.
With a clear head he started thinking about the battle.
"Hmm, in pure force I should at least be above average, but for quicktime strategy I am completely useless."
Max scratch his hair in annoyance, the mage had used simple yet targeted moves specifically for himself.
At the start he should of used some scanning skill and got Max's information, after the mage gave up on normal range attacks such as fire balls, because he should of known that Max could deflect them easily.
Next he used the right strategy with what's available, his reaction was too fast because of the mages trait (mind space), but that's not an excuse for Max.
"Now that I think about it, I feel like an idiot with a lot of power. Can't leave it like this.... AI next fight."
Max kept fighting.
One battle after another, he pushed himself against every opponent he could find. Some fights ended in his favor, while others exposed his weaknesses brutally.
He faced A-ranks of various professions, and most of them crushed him due to their superior experience. No matter how strong he was, the difference in battle instincts was clear.
One opponent, a speed-focused A-rank, ended the fight before Max could even react. His head was gone in an instant.
Against a pure strength A-rank, however, Max managed to win. The fight dragged on, but eventually, he won.
He even lost to some special B-rank fighters or ones that countered him.
Some had strange, mystical abilities. One could turn into a phantom, completely ignoring Max's telekinesis. Others had bizarre skills that made them unpredictable.
The losses piled up, but Max didn't care. He was learning.
Night had settled over the digital world, as Max stood still, deep in thought.
Fighting alone wasn't enough. He could keep throwing himself into battles, but that wasn't the smartest way to improve.
Then, an idea struck him.
He glanced up at the VR sky, his mind clicking into place.
"There are already four forces stealing the data of fighters in this world… Why can't I be the fifth?"
Max called out to his AI.
"Can you steal the data of fighters and people in the VR?"
[Downloading or copying data would be dangerous and easily detectable.]
"What about redirecting it? If we funnel the information into an NPC, instead of taking it ourselves, than the NPC could teach me, could that work?"
Max held his breath as The AI processed the question, if this works it would be equivalent to having the experience of the entire population in his disposal.
[Calculating...]
[Confirmed. The quest system in Arena Online generates missions randomly. As long as you start a quest, I can create an NPC to act as a teacher, helping you grow stronger for the assigned task.]
[This will be undetectable. The AI will not touch the data directly—only redirect it into the NPC's programming, then slightly adjust the NPC's behavior to serve as a teacher for you specifically.]
"what about the thing where I have to stay away from PVE."
[Calculating... Since it's a special tutor NPC and the battle is friendly, I can manage to hide your info, as long as you avoid being recorded by other players.]
Max smirked. "Then let's do it, and make the NPC theaching exclusive to me."
Max entered a random shop and walked up to the NPC behind the counter.
"I want a quest," he said casually.
The NPC blinked before responding in her pre-programmed tone.
"well! I don't know you, so I can't trust you enough to give you some important job, how about you get some flowers as a starter and we'd see."
[Quest Generated.]
Main Objective:
-Collect 20 flowers from the nearby forest.
Optional Objectives:
-Learn from the Sage Tiger to improve martial arts skills for the quest.
-Learn the Ways of the Mind from the Evil White Monkey to help you succeed.
-learn from....
-learn from....
Max raised an eyebrow. "Flowers?.. Whatever.."
Without hesitation, he ignored the main objective as he flew towards the Forest, and headed straight for a hidden underground arena instead, following the marker of the optional objective.
The underground arena was a vast, dimly lit chamber, its walls lined with stone torches that flickered with an eerie glow.
Eight NPCs stood at different corners, each exuding a different aura—masters of various specialties.
Max's eyes landed on one in particular.
The Evil White Monkey.
A hunched, silver-furred humanoid creature, its glowing red eyes radiated dangerous intelligence. Unlike the other NPCs, who waited passively, the monkey grinned at him, as if expecting his arrival.
Max approached. "Teach me something useful."
The monkey laughed.
"Very well, little one. But lessons here are paid for in pain."
'huh.... Seems pretty smart and alive for an NPC made on the spot, this VR is really something else.'
......
Max spent the next few hours learning telekinetic tricks from the monkey.
It taught him precision control, subtle force manipulation, and ways to layer his telekinesis for compound effects.
But every lesson came with a fight.
And Max died. Again. And again.
Each time, the monkey crushed him mercilessly, breaking his body apart with brutal counters before he could even react.
He respawned on the spot, only to be killed again seconds later.
By the time he gave up, his body ached—even though it wasn't real.
Max sighed, rubbing his temples. "Enough for today."
He exited the underground arena, logging off the VR for now.