Annual New Warriors Tournament

Before Hikaru left the grass plains, he had consumed all of the bodies and clothing except for the equipment. Especially the magic items and magic-enhanced items since if he did absorb them, he wouldn't be able to replicate the magic effects.

He finally learnt the basics of magic from absorbing the mage's memories but there was nothing about magic enchantment techniques.

He shot out blobs of flesh from his palms at the places where they had died thanks to his photographic memory.

The blobs took on the equipment that hadn't been consumed and then shapeshifted to the exact conditions of the bodies of the original.

***

A man with a haggard beard slammed his mazer* on the table, an expression of his ever-smoldering rage.

"Fill it up," the man coldly commanded from his chair.

There was no room to say no and he had said it with absolute authority.

He spoke to a young girl with long brown hair who was hugging her knees as she stared at the dirty floor. The floor was filled with scraps of food and paper documents.

"... They all said that you don't practice anymore, that you're going to retire."

She said perfunctorily but with a quiet tone.

"Let the weak talk nonsense. I'm the strongest, no one can replace me."

"They claim you're bad to everyone because you drink all the time."

"I'm free to stop drinking anytime I choose."

Silence descended upon them but it didn't last for long.

"Then do it."

"What?"

"You just said you can do it!"

Passion was reignited in the cold girl.

"How dare you speak back to your Father!"

The man kicked his chair down and strode over to her in two steps.

"Ahh!"

He slapped her as if he was striking a man.

"You're nothing! I can kill you and it wouldn't mean a damn thing in this world. You're useless!"

"I'm not useless…"

"Speak louder! Let me hear you!"

"Mother said that God doesn't make junk and everyone-Ah!"

A slap more furious than the last drew blood from her lips.

***

Tears fell from Kate's cheeks.

It was not Kate's as she was still unconscious but tears that had fallen from Mia's.

She can feel that Kate's pulse was weakening and her body had become colder.

As the inevitability drew near, Mia's sobs grew louder.

Until a shadow loomed over her.

She looked up at the silhouette and her gaze moved to what was in his hands.

It was full of Amrans herbs.

***

"Oi! Take a look at that guy coming this way!"

Four thieves who were all close to achieving official rank were hidden in the bushes along the road from Dogwell town to Angelgrasp city.

They were all stunned and their mouths were slightly parted under their hemp bag masks. They spotted a huge figure, around 2 metres tall who walked with an overwhelming gait. His armour was blindingly white.

"I didn't see any ticket on him and he wasn't on the list of people who won."

"Well, we can't be sure until we search him but forget that! Look at how expensive his armour is… We'll be making almost ten times that for this job!"

"But doesn't he look dangerous?"

"That's just a facade. The armour's too good, it's gotta be a rich kid under that. If anyone strong got a new armour, word would have reached us."

"Yeah, and there are 32 people on the list, what are the chances that we can't take him?."

"Alright, you two move to the other side, we'll ambush him in four directions all at once!"

"Yes, sir!"

***

Hikaru walked along the world because he had detected presences nearby with mana detection and from the wildlife under his control. He had consumed birds and insects and then cloned them. With telepathy, he could receive intel and all sensory information including what they see, hear and feel.

Additionally, when he got close enough to the thieves, he would reach out with his magic and sense the mana flowing in them.

All magic users can do this and sensing the flow of magic in the environment and air is the first step to controlling it. However, Hikaru can do this to an enormous extent even with a basic mage's power because of his superbrain that runs on autopilot.

Like all things, even magic sensing and control requires focus. With multiple superbrains in Hikaru's body, that was as easy as letting a program run in the background.

All clones weren't as strong as Hikaru as he limits their powers and freedom.

As they are all independent to a degree, it would be problematic if there was an uprising.

This clone of Hikaru could be differentiated from the bird and wildlife clones by mainly the amount of biomass contained, the access to Hikaru's large repertoire of abilities and degree of free will and intelligence.

That said, this clone wasn't restricted in physical power and had the same strength and speed as the original, which was around level 75 Elijah.

5…

4…

3…

Hikaru pretended to walk without knowing that the thieves were in wait.

Every step was like seconds ticking down on a countdown timer.

2…

1…

"!"

The four thieves leapt in the air from four diagonal directions to Hikaru's direction of travel.

*Shing!*

They all heard the sound of the blade being drawn yet his sword was still unsheathed and his arm never moved.

The four thieves returned to the ground but not in their original state, they were sliced salamis.

He had struck so fast that they couldn't even see him draw his sword.

After sensing again that there was no one around, Hikaru hid their bodies off the road, merged with them and cloned dead bodies.

A reasonable person might think that removing the evidence is a good idea but in the face of the lack of information, it was better to have this information revealed as vanishing people would yield an investigation from a more dangerous angle than he would like.

Although he didn't add their biomass to the millions he already had, he had taken their genetic data, physiological information, memories, traces of mana and pieces of the System. These were what was truly important.

Hikaru was previously on his way to a branch of the adventurer's guild in Dogwell town but a carriage driver he met along the way, mentioned an ongoing "Annual New Warriors" tournament in Angelgrasp city.

He was going over there to gauge the strength of the warriors and also gain some general knowledge. However, he discovered something interesting in the memories he had recently taken.

The New Warriors tournament was a tournament adopted in almost all Kingdoms on the continent. The concept was that new faces, either amateurs or professionals can battle each other to grow their name.

The number of participants increases each year so to filter such a large number of them out, there are entry battles in every town. Thousands of participants are whittled down to 128 which will travel over to the Colosseum in Angelgrasp city this year.

The tournament occurs over 7 days.

Day 1: Thousands battle it out

Day 2: Hundreds battle it out

Day 3: Half of 128 fights in 32 matches. (Many commoners still have to work in their jobs, run approx less than 3 hours)

Day 4: The other half fought in 32 matches.

Day 5: 64 fight in 32 matches.

Day 6: 32 fight, 16 fight, 8 fight

Day 7: Semi-finals, Finals.

As the number whittles down, the stronger fighters will become more recognised and there may be hiring opportunities as many rich and powerful people will be watching.

What was interesting was that on day 2, tickets were given to 128 people. The tickets were rights to participate in the tournament and anyone holding them could enter.

This means that they can be stolen.

The strong can take away the rights of the weak. The cunning can craft their way in through money and leverage. The ones with many friends can easily pillage those with few friends and weak backings.

Isn't this cheating one will ask?

The officials said that a warrior isn't just a man with sword skills, a warrior is a type of man who not only has strength in swordsmanship, but a man who could survive in this world with cunning and bravery.

Alas, a real warrior is one that is still alive and can whither through the challenges of the world.

After day 6, the semi-finalists will have their name recorded and the tickets will no longer be needed. One's place is safe once they've made it to the semi-finals and today was the sixth day.

The thieves were hired to steal a ticket from the thirty-two finalists for their client.

Now Hikaru just needed to find someone with a ticket. The ticket is a magically imbued copper-plated dog tag bracelet.

He walked without a hurry and came upon the beginning of a fight.

A full-plated armour stood in the centre surrounded by four thieves. This was similar to the situation Hikaru was in before except the thieves held swords instead of daggers.

The armour was grey steel in colour and had a red feather with golden streaks. It was a panache*.

He recognised the panache, it represented the fury of the Eeggett family.

*A mazer is a special type of wooden drinking vessel, a wide cup or shallow bowl without handles

*Panache: These plumes, known as panaches, were common 16th-century tournament wear. Feathers indicated status, wealth, the colours of one's family, and much more. They were status symbols and were entirely ephemeral.