Chapter 1048: Exhibition

The two of us made our way towards the coliseum, where Chel paid for our tickets to let us in, explaining with a small smile. “This is a common way for powerful combatants to try to get the attention of Elisae, hoping to be employed as an imperial knight. Although Elisae herself doesn’t attend the matches, the recordings of promising fighters will be sent to her regularly.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

So you brought me here because you knew that this was somewhere she wasn’t likely to show up? I asked myself with a knowing smirk on my face.

Chelsea seemed to get what I was thinking, simply chuckling in response. “The empress is too busy dealing with other matters, so it’s only normal that she doesn’t make a personal appearance.”

“How do you know so much about this arena?” I couldn’t help but ask. This didn’t seem like the type of thing that would interest Chel, so it felt strange that she was so well informed.

She smiled, but did not voice her answer out loud. Instead, she sent it to me mentally. Because I’m the one that designed the security for this place, and advised her not to attend personally, under any circumstances. Even for someone with her karmic value, she’s not immune to assassination. In a facility where people are displaying their full power over a virtual interface, there are countless ways to target her secretly. As long as someone was willing to bear the burden of killing her, this place was the biggest security risk in her empire.

Instead, the audience votes on the three best fights every day. The recordings of these fights are then delayed for twenty-four hours to wait for any signs of memetic interference in the crowd. After that period, the recordings will be released to her to review.

After she has reviewed each fight, she will flip a coin on whether to recruit one of the fighters, and again to decide which one. For most people, coin flips are an even chance. When we’re talking about Elisae, though, they will always be skewed in her favor. You have no idea how frustrating it is to acknowledge that her flipping a coin is better than any background check I could create…

I couldn’t help but chuckle, turning my attention towards the fight. Currently, there were two human men doing battle. One of them appeared to be a god, though it was hard to tell exactly what his domain was, since I couldn’t appraise him through the holographic interface. However, I could tell that any of the attacks that should have hit him appeared to curve at the last moment. Even attacks such as dropping giant masses from above were left with holes that conveniently allowed him to escape unharmed.

As for his opponent, he had the ability to create a multitude of weapons, seemingly out of thin air. Everything from swords, spears, hammers, even entire buildings were thrown out. Moreover, many of these items were enchanted at the same time as their creation, the strongest among them rivaling a low-class divine weapon.

My eyes couldn’t help but widen as I saw this, trying to figure out the nature of these powers. Next to me, Chelsea smiled. “Anyone who participates in this arena is bound to have their own unique style. Maybe they have acquired a legend that allows them to use powers beyond the norm, or their domain is so unusual that it is hard to predict its uses.”

“Let’s take that god, for example. His domain could be Avoidance, Emptiness, Accuracy, Gap, or any number of things. It could even be a domain focused on technology, one that would only work in such a digital fight. If someone doesn’t register their domain, there’s no way of knowing.”

“As for the other… there is still the chance that his domain could be focused on the digital realm, being able to so rapidly create equipment. The Digital Conversion system isn’t available in the simulation, so the other alternative is that he has mastered an advanced technique that allows for instant craftsmanship and enchantment. However… that’s not the most interesting thing about his way of fighting.”

I gave a small nod, looking at the holographic display. “He’s not using any materials. If they weren’t in a digital battlefield, I would think that he hacked the system and gave himself an admin account, regardless of how unlikely that is.”

Chelsea agreed, leaning back with her hands behind her head. “That’s right. And his weapons all disappear after he’s done using them. In other words, he’s recycling the materials. If I’m not mistaken, this man should be a craftsman who obtained a legend about instant crafting. Perhaps he was trying to emulate the DC system with a mortal’s means. Thus, he crafts a weapon in an instant, attacks with it, and then ‘crafts’ it back into its base components with the same energy that he used to make it.”

“To disguise the nature of his ability, he keeps everything in his inventory during the process, meaning that he has found a method to connect his own energy with the inventory system.” When Chelsea revealed that, I was even more surprised. To think that people had managed to find such complex legends already. “Or perhaps, his legend might only work if he uses his inventory as the intermediary in the first place.”

I nodded my head, but couldn’t imagine any way for the craftsman to win this fight. Even when spears pierced towards his foe from all sides, they couldn’t so much as make him take a single step, all of the spears curving around him.

After giving enough time for the craftsman to fully display his abilities, the deity walked forward with calm steps. Everyone knew that he was ready to end the fight, and that included the craftsman. He slammed his hands to the ground, and thick, iron walls rose up all around the battlefield, forming a maze.

Thankfully, the view offered to the spectators focused on the god, who continued to walk forward with unhurried steps. When he approached the wall, the wall contorted, a hole appearing to allow him through. One wall after another was passed as if they weren’t even there. When he arrived in front of the craftsman, the latter turned and ran to the side, down the passages. This briefly stunned the deity, who continued to follow after him with the same slow pace.

“Field.” I muttered under my breath, thinking that I had identified the domain that he was using. “There is a field around him that displaces anything attempting to enter it, whether it is energy or solid matter. However, such an absolute defense field has to have a high cost, so it comes with restrictions to bring the cost down to his natural recovery. His first restriction would be his limited speed. That’s why he’s not ending this quickly.”

“Couldn’t that be done with a Space domain?” Chelsea asked, and I nodded my head.

“It could, easily. However, if it was simply a God of Space, the battle would have been over immediately.” I smiled, feeling as if I had figured the man out.

“What’s stopping him from using his domain to change the battlefield into a sea of flames?” Chelsea challenged.

“Respect.” I said. “After all… he’s the God of Fields.”

Chelsea looked like she was about to say something again, before pausing. “You’ve got to be kidding me… it’s a match between a blacksmith and a farmer?”

I chuckled slightly, having to agree with that assessment. Such an intense battle being fought by two typical noncombatants. “Do people normally appear like this?” I asked, and Chelsea shook her head.

“Sometimes, there will be one or two that tries to catch Elisae’s attention by showcasing exceptional skills from non combat professions. However… Well, I can’t speak confidently, given that I don’t usually watch these. I can definitely say that this isn’t normal, though. If I had to guess, the two of them reached an agreement to fight one another before signing up.”

Just as Chelsea said that, there was a burst of flames through the projection, signaling the end of the match. As she said, he could have simply turned the entire arena into a field of flames. “How’d you guess the domain?” Chelsea asked, nudging me with an elbow. “Don’t tell me you cheated, right?”

I blinked, before shaking my head. “I just narrowed the scope of my thoughts. Rather than asking why he was able to resist all attacks, I asked why he wasn’t defeating his enemy. No matter what domain he used to create that field, whether it was Space, Emptiness, Accuracy, they all had equally fatal methods to attack.”

“The fact that he didn’t launch any attacks, and just passively defended, meant to me that he was allowing his opponent to showcase his abilities. At the same time, the blacksmith knew the god’s abilities, and was attacking in so many different ways to showcase the god’s power.”

“In the first place, this wasn’t a battle, but an exhibition. Even when he turned to run away, that was likely something that they had decided beforehand, to show “ After saying that, I shrugged. “The only reason for all of this is if they were friends under similar circumstances.”

Chelsea chuckled, nodding her head in agreement. “I guess that I was focused too much on the overall possibilities. Though… I wouldn’t call his defense absolute.” I arched a brow, glancing over at her. “He's visible… Meaning that light is both entering and exiting his field. Otherwise, his field would appear to be a mass of absolute darkness, which would only further give away his power.”

“Thus, if it was someone like Tsubaki, they would be able to use an attack focused on concentrated photons, or perhaps electromagnetism. The blacksmith didn’t use any lightning abilities, so if the two were working together, that might be his secret weakness.”

I hesitated, before conceding that it was definitely a possibility. “Well… I’d like to say that it is unfair to say that Tsubaki would be able to beat someone. I don’t know anyone that she couldn’t defeat, if she really put her mind to it.”

“Even me?” Chelsea asked, grinning playfully. “You think that she’d be able to sneak past all my security and get to me?”

“No… I just think she’d walk right in and dismantle every obstacle in her way.” I rolled my eyes, thinking back to her various trials. “If an opponent can’t be defeated with strength, use intelligence. If an opponent can’t be defeated with intelligence, use strength. If the opponent can’t be defeated with either… you’re missing information.”

Chelsea’s brow twitched, glancing off to the side. “Well… maybe so. To be honest, I’d hate to get on her bad side. I can prepare memetic scripts all day, but if she has taken precautions against them, they would be useless.”

I nodded my head, before turning my attention back to the fighters, who had appeared on stage after their match. “Think Elisae will be hiring either of them?”

“It’s… possible.” She said, though didn’t seem sure herself. “It depends on their luck. Most likely, only one of them will be accepted. The odds of both of them… well, there’s a way… During the second coin toss, the coin has to land perfectly so that it does not fall to either side, such as in a crack. Even with her luck, there’s no guarantee that she’ll be able to get such an unlikely result.”

I paused, before agreeing. There were always ways to fool background checks, so we could only trust Elisae’s… unique way of doing things. Of course, that was assuming that both of them were good people in the first place, because otherwise there would be no chance either way.