Bad surprise

Limping with some difficulty on the bridge, Frederick was reading the descriptions of the authorities he had just obtained. Most of their forged authorities were of lesser rarity. Even if they possessed some medium authority orbs, they did not forge it for obvious reasons.

It wasn't surprising. If a candidate wanted to forge a permanent authority, it had to be worth bearing the associated curse. It was also foolish to forge any authority simply because the curse seemed light.

Curses can stack, amplifying their effects, so acquiring one would always be a big deal. Forgotten Times and Starving World's Curses were examples of this. One decreased the user's experience gain by a whole ten times, while the other would amplify the latter twice. These two curses combined would create an unbearable situation for the user.

However, the opposite was also possible. The presence of two compatible authorities could have their effect amplified. This was the archer's case. He had multiple authorities, all focused on long-range attacks, and in spite of having lower attributes and experience than Frederick, he still heavily wounded him because each of his arrows was under the influence of multiple authorities and complemented each other in a brilliant way.

Despite "only" having lesser authorities, they were all very compatible with each other, making him a formidable foe and way more dangerous than someone who would forge random medium rarity authority.

'Unfortunately for him, the issue was not his authority or attributes but his brain.'

After Frederick obtained the archer authorities, he noticed that the man did have a way to locate him using some sort of eco-location authority. It was one of the weaknesses of his coat as it only masked the light around him, not the sound or anything else. However, for some reason, he did not use it.

Perhaps he was still not used to his authority? Perhaps the man became too arrogant and did not bother to familiarize himself with his own powers. Perhaps it was because of fear or stress. Perhaps he just did not think of using this authority.

Yet none of that matters. In a death-and-life battle, there are no excuses. It was a brutal"Winner takes all." Despite their absolute and extremely unfair environmental advantage, they ultimately died.b

'Yet they did not totally lose.' thought Frederick. Looking at his wounds, he could not help but frown. A little part of his coat was ripped, and there was a hole in his arm.

"The assimilation of the coat decreased a little because of the damage...From 33%, it decreased to 31%. So an item can have its assimilation decrease if damaged..."

However, this wound was not so simple. His right arm was in a critical condition. This time, the arrow pierced his bone, shattering it. While he could easily ignore the pain of having some of his shattered bone piercing his muscles, it was still taking a toll on his body as it could create internal bleeding.

But this was not the worst part. The arrow actually pierced a vital artery. The only reason he did not bleed to death was because of Blood Dominion. However, he also had to constantly use his calculative power so he wouldn't bleed out.

The moment he ran out of calculative power, he would bleed to death. Even with his strong physique and enhanced regeneration, it was impossible for him to heal a vital artery this fast. He was still human in the end.

So, his next plan is to find somewhere to heal. And he needs somewhere fast.

'Even if I survive this, I will likely die later. This kind of wound is unforgiving,' thought Frederick as he approached the next island.

Honestly, Frederick couldn't really consider this story as particularly difficult. The main difficulty lies in the constant pressure to climb from island to island, as slowing down meant death. That is, if we forget the fact that the number of bridges is limited.

If he really wanted to, he could climb eight islands a day and would be safe from the threat of falling into the void or even fighting other candidates. But that wouldn't provide any point of experience.

So, instead of rushing, Frederick decided to take his time. His objective was not only to survive but also to grow stronger, and the only way to do that was to fight.

Shortly after, Frederick arrived at the end of the stone bridge. Looking around, he noticed a small hut. It was not much, but it was a place to rest. Surprisingly, the hut's door was shut tight. Without a choice, he kicked the wooden frame, breaking it and forcing the door open. Entering the hut, he saw a bed, a table, and a chair. It was a very basic room, but it was still better than nothing.

This kind of building could be seen from time to time. As Frederick had guessed, all those buildings and even the earth of each floating island originated from the realm of Terra.

There were no other humans, probably because they were not allowed to enter the main hub world since they were not candidates. As for where they were, Frederick genuinely did not care. They were either spared from being teleported along those islands or perhaps they were sent into random realms. Either way, it was not Frederick's problem.

Frederick took off his clothes and sat on the bed without a second thought. His fit and athletic body was covered in bruises and scars from previous battles. Some were healing, while others were still fresh.

Taking a deep breath, he took out a knife and started to cut into his flesh. He had to remove the arrowhead before the wound could heal around it. As the blade penetrated his flesh, he did not scream, nor did he flinch. In fact, he did not even blink or react.

His knife skillfully cut through his flesh. Soon, the room was filled with the smell of blood and the wet sound of flesh being sliced.

'Cutting myself... sure brings back old memories.' When he was a kid, he had a habit of cutting himself with a knife or cutter. It was an odd habit, but the pain would often make him forget about his worries. It was a kind of drug for him.

As he finished cutting the last part, he pulled out the arrowhead and threw it away. Blood poured from the wound but was soon stopped by his Blood Dominion ability. Taking out a needle and thread from his subspace, he started to sew the wound.

After a few minutes, the wound was closed and wouldn't reopen. His arm was still broken, but there was nothing he could do about that. At least he no longer had to worry about bleeding to death.

Once he was done, he ate some jerky from his subspace. After finishing, Frederick put his clothes back on and went outside. He could have rested, but he needed to keep moving. He was already behind schedule; if he didn't hurry, he would have to deal with the wave of candidates that would soon arrive.

Looking around, Frederick quickly located his next bridge. Surprisingly, this bridge was extremely short and connected to a very close island. He would probably only need a few minutes of walking at most.

Heading toward the bridge, he started to think about his next steps.

'I should try to find someone with a healing type authority... Although it is rare, it should still be available-'

click

BOOM

Frederick's expression shifted from a frown to resignation as he watched the other half of his body fly in the air.

'... A landmine.' he thought as his body fell to the ground and his vision faded.