Soul Art Online
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Chapter 24: Tournament - Finale
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- Arthas -
I looked blankly at the man in front of me.
The blonde haired blue eyed man looked a few years older than me. A quick use of Scan showed his identity. T6, Holy Knight… Arthas… It took me a second to register what that meant and there was only one word I could say in my mind.
Fuck!
I didn't let it show on my face however, and instead bowed. "Your Highness."
The man laughed instead. "Raise your head."
I did and looked at him.
"So, do you accept?" He asked again.
"I… would be honoured."
"Good then. I will have the formal declaration drafted in a few days. I have heard that you are friends with Arnold Straight. He is about to come to the Capital to receive his honour. You should follow him too."
"As you command."
He nodded. "Now, I believe you have a match to win. Go and fight with your all without any distractions. Don't worry about your companions. No one will harm them. I give you my word."
"Thank you, Your Highness."
Uther took this opportunity to speak again. "Your assumption is correct. Mad Brawler Tyrone is indeed mostly likely innocent and the real culprit will be the one you face next. However we do not have any evidence to get them and knowing what I know about the Black Hand, I doubt anyone will find any evidence either. If you want justice, the best way is to completely trample on their main goal… to establish a name in Greenfrost to spread their influence. Crush their spirits in your fight. Go on."
"It will be done, Sir." In fact, I wasn't saying this just to please them. I was really pissed.
While I knew this was a game and they were most likely advanced AI or something, it didn't prevent me from being pissed any less.
"Go on then. A good Knight should be punctual. Showing up late for the finals would not look good for you." Uther said and I nodded.
"Oh and please keep my presence and your appointment a secret for a while. It will be announced after the tournament's end." Prince Arthas said.
I nodded. Bowing to them once more before getting up and leaving the room.
Outside Rose, Veena and the people from the Knight's Academy were waiting. Even Arnold had joined them., standing there looking serious.
"Arthas! Is everything alright?" Sir Ralph asked, representing the entire Knight's Academy.
I nodded. "Yes."
"Don't worry. We will find out the ones responsible. They will not get away." Sir Ralph said seriously.
Unfortunately, I don't think they would be able to do anything. From Uther's words, it was clear that the Black Hand had been involved in this kind of thing for a while. And since they can get away for so long, they must have a lot of experience doing these kinds of things.
If they had the courage to do such a thing under the nose of the strongest Paladin of the Kingdom, they wouldn't make such easy mistakes.
I still nodded as I knew the Marquis had to make some kind of statement and that Sir Ralph meant well.
"Your match is about to begin soon. You should go and heal first." Arnold said, speaking for the first time.
I nodded and was led by them to a room where the healers worked on me. I was even given some potions to restore my energy back to full.
While they were doing that, I checked on the rewards from an unexpected reference which was triggered while I was in the last match.
My 'Playtime's Over' had triggered a reference.
Congratulations Traveller.
You have discovered another secret!
Traveller.
A Special Title given to those who complete the Hidden Quests, Man of Culture.
+19 to all stats.
+38% to Exp Gained.
Note: The Effect of the Title can be enhanced the more secrets the Traveller discovers in the world.
Reward: Slime Equipment Blueprint
It was actually a Blueprint to make Slime Equipment used by the Shadow Garden.
Was the equipment really the same as the Shadow Garden used or was it a different type of equipment?
Who knows?
But since this was a reward from one of the References, I doubt it would be as simple as any other equipment.
The equipment however needed a Magic Blacksmith to make so I will have to find one for our group or it would be like giving away a free Blueprint of a Rare Equipment away for free.
I will have to talk to Veena about this. I will probably play it off as a reward from my quest for this Tournament.
The last match had brought me several gains.
Since I had to stall the entire fight against Tyrone until they found Rose. Tyrone was an insane fighter and I was actually having a hard time fighting against him.
But this also meant that my Skills were rising up at a rapid rate.
My Armament Haki had gone up by two levels, Observation Haki by three and finally, my Shingen-ryū had leveled up to max level
This meant that I got an extra bonus to the Skill. It was this very bonus which helped me win the match in the end or it would have been a close call.
Shingen-ryu [Unique Skill] [Level 50/50]
Shingen-ryu or "Style That Originates From The Heart" is a school of Martial Arts in which the practitioner learns hand-to-hand combat as well as the ability to control their aura for combat.
Passively Increases +2 STR +2 END +2 DEX +2 INT +2 WIS per level.
Current Increase: +100 STR +100 END +100 DEX +100 INT +100 WIS
Bonus: Ignore 15% Defense, unlocks Skill Touki.
Touki… it was a surprise but it also made sense. Touki or Ki was the life energy which was the energy required for Nen. This world also had Touki although they don't use it as well as the Nen of the Hunter x Hunter world.
I guess I might get Nen if I were to complete the Touki skill to the max level.
Again, it was all so… planned… almost as if teaching people how to use this power. The degree of planning which must have gone into this game… is unthinkable.
I looked at the Touki Skill description.
Touki [Level 1/100]
Touki is the external manifestation of one's life-force, their Ki, which is wrapped around them as an aura. It allows the user to achieve heightened offense, defense, and speed.
+50% Attack, +50% Defense, +50% Speed.
Cost: 200 Stamina per minute
+5% to Attack Power, +5% to Defence Power increases per level. -5 Stamina Per minute every ten levels.
This Skill was like a Stamina based version of Armament Haki with a similar use. In fact, even the numbers were the same for both Skills. The best part was that both of them can be used at the same time, which is how I was able to pull off that victory against Tyrone in the last match.
It was good as most of my Skills used Mana so having something which could reduce the load on my MP Reserves and use my considerable Stamina Reserves was helpful.
Right now most of my Classes were Stamina based and MP wasn't exactly my strong suit. It was only due to my Man of Culture achievement and extra Stats from my Skills that I was able to maintain my current mana intensive fighting style.
Taking a deep breath, I focused my mind on the finals.
Beating the guy was not the main issue. It was how to use this opportunity to the fullest.
What I wanted to do was not just beat him but also use this as an opportunity to grind some achievements.
I was told to make a show of this and I had several great ideas.
- Veena -
She was invited to the VIPs room once more, this time with Rose and Arnold. Sir Ralph and the other heads of the Magic Tower and the Church were also present.
Uther had asked them to sit with them to watch the finals and no one had argued.
Rose was still a bit flustered. Knowing her, she was probably feeling guilty, even more so after hearing that Arthas was holding back, almost losing the fight due to her.
Still, this incident must have brought up some bad memories for her.
The date with Arthas would do her more good than she had thought.
Her crush on him was quite obvious, almost painful to watch at the moment.
"Still betting on him, Miss Veena?" Uther asked, starting the conversation as the announcer was still announcing the results for the third place match.
"Obviously." She replied, without moving her eyes from the grounds.
"Hahahaha good then. This time I will trust your judgement." He laughed and continued watching the field.
"And now… the moment we have all been waiting for, the final, the ultimate showdown which will give us the winner, the strongest fighter in Greenfrost this year. On one side, we have the man who is as stealthy as a shadow and as fast as the wind. His strikes land on the enemy before they realise it and the only thing they see with the light fading from their vision is their own defeat. Welcome with a huge round of applause…. Garelllllll Cole!"
The crowd clapped, many cheering at the man's entrance.
"Facing him, we have the most surprising member of this whole tournament, the darkest of horses the Greenfrost Tournament has ever seen. He might be the lowest level player in the tournament, but that hasn't stopped him from completely dominating every match, crushing every opponent he has faced in this tournament with the precision of a surgeon. Just when everyone thinks he would lose, he comes back, time and time again, and firmly grasps the final victory in his hands. Welcome with the widest round of applause, the member of Knight's Academy of Greenfrost… Arthas!"
The crowd cheered harder.
In the previous rounds, most of the crowd hadn't been interested in Arthas' matches, probably because for normal people, his fights would have seemed boring compared to the flashy skills thrown around in other fights.
Arthas had kept most of his Skills hidden in his fights, only revealing what was necessary. But that all changed in the last fight when he decided to finish everything with the Mad Brawler Tyrone. It seems this has earned him a lot of fans.
She had seen such things a lot in the Rating Games. For a normal audience, flashy moves were the best. Only the real fighters and warriors could appreciate fights like Arthas' which while looking simple, crushed his opponents one-sidedly.