Chapter 25 The Player's Arena

The broad-shouldered youth and his compadres took Rayleigh to a restaurant only fighters from the 200th Floor could access and told him to order whatever he wanted.

The menu looked good, and the scent of spices in the air gave away the high-rated chefs performing their art in the kitchen.

After getting their orders, the one who called himself Springheeled Jack asked, "Are you a Pirate or a Jedi?"

He was obviously referring to his first class. Since they were paying the bill for this nice meal, Rayleigh politely answered, "Jedi."

The white-haired Player dubbed White Knight asked, "Didn't you take the Hunter Exam? Did you actually pass it?"

Rayleigh nodded and said, "Yeah. It was pretty easy."

Knight asked, "How did you find it?"

Before Rayleigh could speak up, Jack stated, "Hey, does it matter? Do you still need a license?"

Knight considered it for a moment before shaking his head.

Jack added, "White Knight was the only Pirate who didn't return to the Pirate World after the end of the Hunter Exam. We found him and made a deal."

Rayleigh guessed aloud, "You teach him Nen, and he teaches you the Pirate system when he learns it?"

Jack looked surprised at the accurate guess, but only for a moment. It wasn't that hard to piece together.

The tall, gray-haired one called Armory asked, "So you already learned Nen?"

Rayleigh answered honestly, "Only Ten at the moment. My friends and I are learning it together, but our teacher said he would not teach us anything else for two months and said to spend that time doing mental exercises."

Jack frowned directly at that. He asked aloud, mostly to himself, "Two months to learn the basics? That's 1 in 100,000 Talent. They can't be the main characters, can they?"

Seeing that there was some misunderstanding, Rayleigh added fuel to the fire by stating, "One of them failed the exam and the other only won because two of the three strongest guys in the exam were merciful. Apparently, there are people to take the Exam as young as 10 years old, much less 11."

In a number of aspects, Rayleigh was very much like Wing. He didn't directly lie, but he was willing to give truthful information to misdirect others.

Armory asked, "Do you plan to teach Nen to any other Players?"

Rayleigh shrugged. "No one has asked me, but I haven't exactly advertised that I know it."

White Knight rolled his eyes and said, "You didn't tell anyone you arrived at and passed the Hunter Exam either."

The food was delivered, and the group devoured it like hungry beasts. Then they ordered another helping.

Rayleigh asked, "Why do you care if I teach anyone Nen?"

Jack answered, quite honestly, "We want to keep our advantage for as long as possible. It won't remain a secret forever, but we want at least one more year. So what will it take for you to keep quiet about Nen for a year?"

Rayleigh answered, "What can you give me?"

Armory answered, "Do you know what privileges a Floor Master gets?"

The receptionist had told him when he signed up, "A chance to participate in an event of some kind?"

Jack nodded, "It happens every two years, and it's going to happen next year. The event itself is highly valued, as participation will make us much stronger."

Armory added, "We'll help you become a Floor Master. There are twenty-one Floor Masters and we know the strengths and weaknesses of most of them. Agree to our proposal, and you can join us, become a Floor Master, and take part in the event with us."

White Knight chipped in, "Their parents know a lot about Nen and are better teachers than whoever you probably have."

Jack gave a side glare that told Knight to remain silent.

Now Rayleigh understood. These guys learned Nen from their parents, and like Killua's parents told him to beat the 190th floor and return, these guys have parents who probably gave insider info on the benefits of the events on the tower.

Rayleigh shook his head. "I'm not interested." If the Main Characters didn't even take part, how good could the event be?

Rayleigh then said, "But I'm not unreasonable. How about this? If any of you three beat me, I'll promise not to teach anyone Nen for a year."

Jack asked, "Here?"

Rayleigh shook his head, "No, the Tavern. I already used my time up today, so how about we all go there tomorrow, 8 PM?"

Jack smiled and said, "Deal."

Rayleigh left the table while Jack took care of the bill.

The Tavern had an Arena function where Players could basically fight to the death without consequences. It cost some Mission Points to use, but not many. Since Rayleigh brought up the idea, he'd pay the Mission Points himself.

He had not even thought about teaching Nen to others. He told others in the Tavern that he would if he could, but he couldn't remember everything he said outside the Tavern because the conversation heavily involved Metaknowledge. Now that someone else had brought it up, he could take a moment to actually consider it. It didn't matter if he won or lost, he wouldn't be able to teach anything useful for a year anyways, but he wanted an all-out fight against someone who already knew how to use Nen.

After finishing up his meal, Rayleigh went down a few floors to a Gym built into the tower and put on a few hundred kilograms of weights before using his Second Level Zetsu to cut his body completely off from the Force and Aura. He then proceeded to run as fast as he could for as long as he could before collapsing.

One advantage of Zetsu was that remaining in Zetsu accelerated the healing process, so he could do this kind of physical exercise more and more often.

Rayleigh spent the next day chatting with Gon and Killua while exercising and practicing Contrary Belief. He would imagine at the same time that a rock on the ground was getting light enough to float while also imagining that it was getting heavier and heavier. It was awkward and felt like he was splitting his vision, seeing things with one eye independently of seeing things with the other. Continuing this exercise for a while would naturally lead to enabling one to split their own mind and be capable of thinking different things at the same time.

Once every step of Alar training was complete, he could return to this step with both his minds and use Contrary Belief with both, leading to his two split minds splitting again into four different minds, each capable of independent thought. Perhaps he could even go further.

At 8 PM precisely, Rayleigh mentally entered the Tavern and soon spotted the adult versions of Springheeled Jack, Armory, and White Knight.

As an adult, Jack looked even bulkier, like he could wrap his arms around a tree and squeeze it to splinters. Armory appeared refined, whereas Knight appeared heroic.

While he was sizing them up, he was being sized up in turn. Though Rayleigh considered his brown hair and brown eyes plain, his sharp features stood out like a drawn blade, regal and imposing.

Jack directly stated, "You'll fight White Knight first. He's been learning Nen for a month already, and since he has 1 in 10,000,000 Talent, he already has the basics down."

The group headed to a hall beneath the stairs to the second floor. At the end was a door with a plaque. [Arena. Challenge Players or Figures from various worlds.]

Challenging a Player was cheap but only worked if they agreed. If you had enough points, you could also challenge figures you knew about from various worlds. A Player could pay to fight Captain Ginyu or Sage Mode Madara Uchiha if they had enough points. No one was strong enough to fight anyone interesting, so this feature had not been used much by the Players yet.

Rayleigh opened the door and entered, followed by the others. If he closed the door, the space would separate, and they would enter a different version of that room if they opened it after he entered and closed it.

The new space was a bit smaller than a high school gymnasium, but that was just the basic setting. Every Player had explored it at least once. There was a massive square platform of white stone with an illuminated area in the middle. In front of the platform was a Terminal one could use to change the settings of the Arena, set the challenge parameters, or spar with a significant fictional character. The only problem some Players complained about was the limits on who they could choose to face.

To the chagrin of many, Metaknowledge was Sealed in the Arena. The upside of that was that all the fighting experience and memories gained within the Arena were perfectly translated to your Character. But for those who want to fight, they could only fight those they knew about. So Rayleigh could fight Hisoka, Netero, Master Dyanameez, or even Yoda, but he could not fight someone he didn't know while his Metaknowlegde was sealed. Fighting someone for the first time was also more expensive the less you knew about the person. So paying to fight Yoda, someone he'd never even met, would be far more expensive than paying to fight Netero, someone he knew a few things about and even had a mock spar with.

Rayleigh selected the standard fight, either till death or until one fighter gave up.

Rayleigh then entered the ring and waited for his opponent.

White Knight approached the stage and stopped for a moment. Rayleigh couldn't see it, but Knight had just received a pop-up asking him to confirm if he was going to participate in this match.

Knight agreed and jumped onto the stage, opposite Rayleigh.

The bodies of both players glowed for a moment. They suddenly reverted from their adult selves to their twelve-year-old bodies. You could only use the Arena using your actual age.

A ten-second countdown appeared, giving both Players time to remove items from their Inventory and prepare themselves.

Rayleigh removed his Lightsaber but not his melee shield. This fight was to have fun, not hide behind a shield.

Knight did not take out any equipment from his inventory, instead, a white substance with a shine poured out of his hands and covered his body before shaping itself into something resembling armor.

The only substance that came to mind when Rayleigh looked at it was wax, and the only reason he thought it was wax was because Knight suddenly developed a cowlick on the top of his head, which now burned with a small flame, making him resemble a candle.

The armor formed around him and finished hardening. In addition to the armor, he also had spiked extended gloves and spiked platform shoes, granting him height and a longer reach.

Almost every inch of him other than his eyes, nose, and joints was covered in wax shaped like an elongated suit of Knight's armor.

Knight then smashed his spiky mitts together, and the clang that rang out sounded more like steel than wax.

The countdown reached zero, and White Knight's aura surged over his body and into his wax.

He then jumped forward to slam his spiky fist into Rayleigh's position.

The spectators saw White Knight jump up and smash his fist into the ground. Pulverized stone shot into the air, and dust momentarily covered the stage.

The Arena flashed twice, signaling the end of the match.

When the dust settled, the observing Jack and Armory were dumbfounded.

Rayleigh was fine, he had dodged the attack with minimal movement, and his blue Lightsaber was extending into White Knight's chest. The wax around the laser sword was dripping madly.

Both Players were surrounded by light and returned to their starting positions in their 21-year-old forms.

White Knight exclaimed, "Dammit! Is that thing really that hot?! I heard Jedi had laser swords but I didn't think it would actually go through my wax like an actual hot knife through butter!"

He was whining, but it was somewhat excusable.

Rayleigh asked, "How hard is that wax supposed to be?"

Armory answered, "As hard as steel. At least most swords can't hope to cut through it. He even strengthened the wax further with his Nen."

Springheeled Jack patted Knight's shoulder comfortingly and said, "It's fine. Devil Fruits often have weaknesses, but they usually have more strengths."

White Knight continued pouting, "Easy for you to say. Won't every Jedi have one of those laser swords?"

Though the question wasn't for him, Rayleigh answered, "No. Most Players have to choose between easy masteries or a Lightsaber rather than both. Though everyone gets one eventually, and they might be able to use Mission Points to turn it into an Inventory item at some point."

Springheeled Jack said, "I'm next."

Rayleigh returned to the Terminal and paid for another round, same conditions.

The pair entered the ring and waited as the countdown initiated once more.

Springheeled Jack did not take out any weapons or anything, but his aura was flaring brightly. Rayleigh couldn't tell if it was on the same level of Hisoka, but it was at least in the same ballpark.

Rayleigh flexed his Ten, protecting himself somewhat from the intimidation factor caused by someone's Ren.

The moment the countdown reached zero, Rayleigh turned away on instinct as a fist passed by where his head had been. Only after Jack flew past him did he notice the sound of the crack of the stone floor that shattered when Jack jumped at Rayleigh's position.

Before Rayleigh could turn, Jack was already on his way back, having reached the wall and literally bouncing off.

Rayleigh guarded himself with his lightsaber, forcing Jack to evade around it by twisting his body. However, once he was past the Lightsaber, he extended his fist to strike from what should have been an impossible-to-attack position. Rayleigh's battle precognition saved him again, and this time he got a good look at his opponent mid-attack.

Jack's calves to the ankle and forearms to the wrist had been replaced with coiled metal springs.

Jack could practically cross the room and bounce back before Rayleigh could react. He was moving faster than Rayleigh could, but not faster than Rayleigh's Battle Precognition-assisted senses allowed him to dodge. After three dodges, Rayleigh understood Jack could only move in straight lines and swiped his Lightsaber into Jack's path, but Jack did something unexpected. He flicked his spring-loaded wrist to throw his fist to the side before causing it to return to him in midair. The act of doing so altered his trajectory, neatly dodging Rayleigh's strike and aiming once more for an opening, forcing Rayleigh to dodge again.

Jack stopped bouncing around and jumped over to the other side of the ring. He shook his head and said, "Man, you're the first person to dodge me so easily. Guess I need to move faster."

His calf springs and forearm springs started compressing. Aura seemed to converge into the springs, giving Rayleigh a strong sense of danger. Jack then started rotating his wrists. They spun around slowly, further compressing the springs.

Once everything seemed loaded, Jack shouted, "Dam Breaker!" while launching himself forward. His compressed arms shot out, his fists breaking the sound barrier due to moving faster than the crack of a whip.

Rayleigh didn't bother to dodge. His Battle Precognition told him Jack would alter his course to strike wherever Rayleigh shifted to. Both of Jack's fists were like cannonballs. Even if Rayleigh used his Lightsaber to cut one, the other would pass through his body like it was made of Styrofoam, turning him into a meat paste. If he tried to strike both, they would use the stored torque from when he spun them around to shift out of the way. Even if Rayleigh successfully cut them both, it wouldn't greatly reduce their momentum.

Jack would lose an arm or two but win the fight. This was the advantage of the Arena. Injuries didn't matter, you really could go all out.

If this was before Rayleigh opened his Aura Nodes, this would have been game over, but the Force in his body was freely exchanging itself with the Force in the room, granting him far stronger control over the Force around him. This meant Alter Aspects of the Force, like Telekinesis, were greatly strengthened when he used Ten.

Rayleigh could not stop or greatly divert the two incoming cannonballs, but he could nudge them to the sides. Before Jack's mighty fists reached Rayleigh, they suddenly distanced themselves from one another, giving Rayleigh room between their paths to just stand there safely.

Jack noticed Rayleigh's telekinesis a moment too late. He did not have any form of precognition at the moment, or he would have been able to counter this. He tried twisting his hands, but the torque he applied took into account Rayleigh dodging left or right, allowing him to easily move them further left or right. It didn't account for Rayleigh staying in the middle and having to move them closer to the center.

The pair of fists passed harmlessly around Rayleigh and Jack was wide open. Jack actually closed his eyes as Rayleigh passed by; he didn't want to see his own bisection as Rayleigh's Lightsaber split the man length-wise in two.

The Arena flashed twice, and both Players returned to their starting positions

Rayleigh asked aloud, "Was that a Devil Fruit or Nen thing?"

Jack didn't seem dismayed. He actually had a smile on his face and was even lost in thought. Rayleigh shook his head with a smile. It seemed he was not the only battle junkie in the room.

Armory answered for him, "He has the power of the Spring Fruit, acquired from a Devil Fruit Trial Pass. He only used Nen to enhance the strength and speed of the springs."

Rayleigh looked over to the gray-haired man and asked, "I thought you both were Hunters, not Pirates."

Armory answered amicably, "You can take the Trial for a Devil Fruit even if you have not unlocked the Pirate Class as long as you paid for the Trial Pass. Pirate is both of our Secondary Class. After getting a Devil Fruit's power from clearing a Trial, we simply went to the Pirate World to unlock the Class which also granted the Devil Fruit's abilities. Then we came back."

Rayleigh asked, "So you have one too?"

Armory replied back, "You don't? Devil Fruits are very powerful."

Rayleigh smiled and challenged back, "Show me."

Rayleigh paid for a third match, depleting the remainder of his Mission Points. He'd have to do a bunch of 45~49 Point Missions or hopefully figure out Nen and get strong enough to do the 50 Point and above Missions.

The countdown started once more. Jack eventually came out of his internal thought processes and stood with Knight at the side to watch. Although they each had lost, both had confident smiles on their faces as to the outcome of the current match.

Rayleigh took out his lightsaber once more and Armory's aura flared from his body. Then it did something weird. His aura solidified into what looked like iron sand. The sand didn't float around like particulate matter either, it globed together strongly and floated in the air while shaping itself. The various floating lumps took the shape of various weapons, and before the countdown reached zero, Armory was surrounded by floating shields, knives, and spears.

Once the countdown hit zero, the hardened weapons launched themselves at Rayleigh's position. Rayleigh used his own Telekinesis to block it, but the blocked weapons shifted back into sand and seemed to slip through his conscious grasp of them. That was a problem.

Telekinesis was not an invisible hand that stretched out. It was taking a concept and altering it with your mind. The concept, 'the flying knife' could be identified and targeted, allowing him to will the target identified as 'the flying knife' to move or stop. But what if the concept became immaterial? How could he stop a flying knife if there was no knife?

Rayleigh gave up on Telekinesis and ran. He swerved to avoid the flying weapons and charged toward Armory, intent on slicing through that metal shield.

The moment he approached, he felt an intense sense of danger and stopped before backing up. The problem was that he didn't see or sense where the danger originated from.

He did see the weapons coming from behind and returning towards him though.

When Rayleigh felt a pull on his Lightsaber, he understood that Armory seemed to be acting like a magnet. He had no way to pull the Lightsaber from his hand, but he could pull, push, and shape the magnetic sand around him.

Rayleigh dodged several more times, but he had no way to attack Armory. Every time he got close, he sensed that impending danger but was unable to identify what it was.

A hilarious thought occurred to Ray and almost made him break his concentration. Wasn't this almost exactly what happened to Gon with Guido?

At least Rayleigh had a better-quality of opponent.

Rayleigh asked aloud, "How long can you keep this up?"

Armory politely answered, "For as long as I want. Maintaining the Magnetic Sand doesn't cost much Aura after it's made, and the Magnetism is powered by the Magnet Fruit, not Nen."

Well, that meant he couldn't wait him out. One downside of the Arena was that it still held to the rule that you could only spend two hours a day in the Tavern. Knight's and Jack's matches hadn't taken very long, but they still only had a little over an hour. Besides, ending the match like that would leave a sour taste in Rayleigh's mouth.

He didn't know what the danger was, but he had confidence in his own abilities. If he charged forward for an exchange of blows, he could end Armory before dying himself.

With this in mind, Rayleigh waited for an opening. He stayed a few meters away from Armory, and eventually Armory succumbed to the temptation to attack Rayleigh with the metal shield he kept in front of him, doubling the amount of sand used to fight and doubling the number of weapons.

Rayleigh moved at his fastest speed to strike. The ever-present alarm of danger ringing in his senses was ignored as he aimed for the head.

Armory then did something Rayleigh certainly did not expect. He held up his hands and blocked the Lightsaber. The laser sword stopped a centimeter from Armory's hands, both together, pressing with an invisible force against the incoming Lightsaber. Rayleigh's strength should have overpowered him, but Rayleigh noticed too late that Armory had metal beneath his sleeves. He likely encased his body in metal and hardened it into a statue, granting him the strength not to bend under Rayleigh's attack.

Armory smiled, "So it really is a Plasma sword."

The danger screamed at Rayleigh, he tried to jump back, but felt numerous stabs of pain throughout his body before he could get any distance.

Rayleigh looked carefully at the wounds. He didn't see or sense what was piercing him. Blood dripped down from invisible weapons that had embedded themselves into Rayleigh's body.

The weapons locked his movements, preventing him from dodging the blades that finished him off a moment later.

The Arena flashed twice, and Rayleigh and Armory returned to their starting positions.

Rayleigh smiled and sat down. "I lost." He turned to Armory and asked, "How did you do that?"

Armory answered, "Aura can be used to enhance things like the strength of Jack's springs or the hardness of Knight's wax. It can transmute itself into other substances, other forms of energy, or matter itself. I'm something of a Transmuter, and something of a Conjurer, so I can easily create Magnetic Sand with my aura that can be perfectly controlled by my Magnet Fruit's abilities. As for how I made my sand invisible? You'll find out later as you learn more about Nen."

Rayleigh frowned. He wanted to know now, but he wouldn't give Armory the pleasure of one-upping him again by being asked.

The group left the Arena and spent the last hour chatting while drinking their free beers.

Rayleigh asked Jack, "You looked like you knew he was gonna beat me before the match started."

Jack nodded with a smile, "Armory is a genius. And I don't mean talent. He's a fucking mastermind playing chess. Every move you made since you got up there was made for you." He then turned to Armory and added, "But I didn't think the bastard would block your Lightsaber with his hands."

They were out of the Arena, so Metaknowledge had returned, but inside the Arena, the idea of blocking a Laser sword with an electromagnetic field was a ballsy one.

"I didn't know if it would work, to be honest," Armory admitted.

Rayleigh sighed, "That's probably why it worked. Battle Precognition works somewhat off the intent of the opponent."

Rayleigh asked, "Why are you called Armory and not Magneto?"

Armory shrugged. "I couldn't think of Magneto. Even though the MCU doesn't have mutants, all Marvel knowledge is sealed, so I didn't even think of him. Instead, I just thought I could have every weapon and armor that existed, so I'm a human armory. It doesn't matter since I'll be walking down the same path regardless."

Rayleigh nodded and said, "Still better than Springheeled Jack."

Jack shouted back, "What did you say?!"

Ray answered, "I mean, you don't have springs on your heels. They're on your ankles."

Jack countered, "Springheeled Jack isn't a name I made up, it's an old urban legend from England about a man capable of jumping over walls. Besides, once I master the use of my Devil Fruit, I won't just be able to turn my arms and legs into springs. I bet if I awaken it, I can turn every body part and cell into a spring. You think I'm fast now? Just wait. And if I can learn that Air-Walk trick from the Pirate World, I'll be able to do even more! I won't need walls and will be able to fight in the sky!"

White Knight added, "My dad in the Pirate World is a retired Cipher Pol officer who knows the Six Techniques. I have those as an Easy Mastery, so once I'm strong enough, he'll teach me, and then I can teach you."

Jack smiled brightly, shouting, "Alright!" Outside of the Tavern, they would not recall the knowledge of the Six Techniques, Rokushiki, but since they already arranged that they'd teach Nen to White Knight in exchange for him teaching them, they should be able to learn it without needing to ask.

They chatted until their two hours were up and returned to the Tower. Rayleigh's Character spent the time meditating, and now he'd get back to Alar training. He hoped to complete Contrary Belief and Mental Division within a month, then Mental Separation and Mental Isolation in two months.

It was true that Rayleigh lost to Armory because he couldn't sense the invisible weapons, but it was also because he was outplayed. Jedi had difficulties multitasking. If Rayleigh could properly split his mind, he'd be able to perform twice as many tasks with the Force. He could even do the same thing he read about in a Light Novel and have one mind dedicated to using the Force to enhance his body while using the other to sense the surroundings and use the Force to alter the environment.

In any case, it would make him stronger than he is now. In a sense, he was thankful for his loss. It accurately pointed out his weaknesses and how he could improve. He'd have to think about visiting the Arena more often in the future.

*Author's Note*

Every Player is having his or her own adventure, and most have their own teacher or guide instructing them on how to get stronger, so it's not an easy thing to simply encounter them wandering around. That being said, there will be a group of them in Greed Island and they will become mini-rivals for Ray's group during the GI Arc since they will all be stronger and more experienced. Biscuit may torture them lightly.