Chapter 641 - Time to party

Mornn and Kuli arrived with Bookie a good minute after Sofia had secured the room.

“Did you three get lost?” Sofia asked from her bed.

“We were gathering data, since you handled the room,” Kuli answered, “I counted around ten-thousand people on the top level. It’s a lot but that’s clearly not everyone who ever went through the trial.”

“We both noticed many people we know,” Mornn continued, “So it’s likely that our acquaintances were more likely to be chosen. We’re lucky though, I haven’t seen Sky.”

“The oracle?” Sofia asked, “He’s that young?”

“I wouldn’t say over a thousand is especially young, but yeah. Young enough to have gone through the system’s leveling at least. Really good news that he’s not here because he’s always been… You know. Sun picked him when he was five.”

“Hmm… Well, on my end, I’ve seen someone who I know has failed the trial, so it’s not all winners around us. I think the people in the top ten rooms are probably the ones we will have to really worry about,” Sofia told the others, “Notably there’s my sister, Sen, who we all know, the Andarian who got the second room, and Tartaros.”

“Yeah… Tartaros is going to be an issue,” Mornn commented, “From what I know, he was one of the fastest people to level all the way to 500 using the system. From a backwaters village orc to one of the planet’s strongest men in like fifty years.”

“Right, the guy who took room four was an elf, about this tall, maybe fifteen, all scrawny and a bit pale,” Sofia described, “Any idea who that could be?”

Mornn scratched her chin, “This… Could be just about anyone, could it not? I would need to see the man to tell you. Guess I’ll just go knock, be right back!” She finished, standing up and leaving the room.

Kuli looked at the door close, then turned back toward Sofia, “I didn’t see him but there is a good chance Xeros is here too. Maybe Valeure as well… And probably Scripture’s Oracle.” 

“Jeffrey, right?”

“That’s him,” Kuli confirmed, “Or was him, I think we can say? Scripture is using his body now. That’s what you get for working for an asshole god.”

“Right, how is the situation with that now? I have been out of the loop just playing in my swamp on the other side of the Empire.”

“Not great but not bad. Lots of people fled Skyreach so we’ve had to deal with refugees, but it’s hard to get any territory with a god in the flesh enforcing the borders.”

“Are you not worried he might try to attack Drakron?” Sofia asked, surprised to see Kuli laugh in answer.

“Not anymore! I shouldn’t be saying this but…” Kuli came closer to Sofia, and whispered in her hear, “we signed a protection treaty with a Fae. He gets to use our underground, anything under 100 meters below the surface is his, and in exchange he protects the territory.”

“Over level 500?” Sofia asked.

“Of course. A true and real powerhouse. It wasn’t easy to convince him, but Sleep helped smooth the deal over. It feels good to finally have someone other than the old dragon protecting the human continent!”

“The old dragon… You mean Alkorm?”

“Yes. Don’t ask me why but… I always feel like we can’t trust him. The Fae at least we know is reputable.”

“I see… Are the angels not already protecting us though?”

“You would entrust your protection to them when you personally know an Avian and what happened to them?” Kuli asked back with narrowed eyes.

“You have a point… For the Phageid too, they were a bit late…”

The conversation stopped there as Mornn irrupted back into the room, “Alright, got some good and some bad news. Good is, I know the elf in question. Bad, I know the elf in question.”

“And that would be?” Kuli asked.

“His name is Happy Cloud…” Mornn announced with a grave tone. 

Sofia couldn’t help but giggle. “Sorry…”

“I get it, traditional elven names are like that…” Mornn answered with a sigh as she sat on one of her swords that she just kept floating in the middle of the room, “Happy Cloud may be a funny sounding name but it’s also the name of our current Executor.”

“Oh. I think I have heard of him also…” Kuli noted, her tone also becoming a bit darker all of a sudden.

“What’s an executor?!” Bookie asked, standing up on Sofia’s bed.

“That would be the person Sun sends to get revenge when an Elf meets a bad fate at the hands of another race. As for Happy Cloud… He has been in service for more than two thousand years. It’s no exaggeration to call him a genius assassin…”

“Do you have some information on his class maybe?” Sofia asked.

“[Assassin],” Mornn deadpanned.

“Hah. Dumb question, huh. I wonder what the admins’ plan even was to be designing classes like [Assassin]... In any case though, this is him when he was still young. Just like all the others, it’s not like we have to go against full-strength Tartaros, thankfully.”

“Correct, and speaking of which, we should share our status pages now.”

“You want to share everything?” Mornn asked, slightly taken aback, almost falling from her sword.

“How else are we to have good teamwork? I do realise I have the more uninteresting class and abilities here, but still…”

“Don’t say that, Kuli, I am pretty curious about that time-stop ability you used back then. It’s not something just anyone can do,” Sofia commented.

“It’s not a time-stop, I can’t even imagine how much mana that kind of thing would cost. But that was my signature skill, [Spring Autumn Cicada], there, you can just read it if you want,” Kuli offered, “Just to prove that I am serious about this.”

[Spring Autumn Cicada]: /SSS rank Signature Skill/

This is about just as far as I can push it before your brain breaks - Clint

Passively dramatically enhance the user’s senses, allowing them to predict the near future with relative confidence.

Upon activation, slows down your and up to one target’s perception of time significantly for an instant.

You may reactivate early to cancel and forcefully restore your immediate surroundings to a pre-activation state. 

Cooldown: One month.

“Hey, not bad, so you could predict my sword strikes if we fought?” Mornn asked.

“As long as you do not move too fast for me to see, yes. But seeing and avoiding are two different things.”

“Right, you said you don’t like sword… But don’t you fight with a weapon at all?” Mornn continued to ask Kuli.

“No. I get unarmed bonuses from my class, [Martial Artist], half my skills are useless with a weapon. I could use a shield, but without a weapon it is just awkward…”

“Too bad. You would look really good with a long sword.”

“Neh. I’m too short anyway, and too used to punching, now. What about you two? I know Saints get quite the random assortment of skills after the first few.”

“Yeah, a bit more than random in my case, as you know,” Sofia commented, pointing at Pareth, “but basically just treat me as a necromancer capable of throwing lightning and you are 90% of the way there.”

“Then to put it simply, I would be a fire swordman?” Mornn asked with a shrug, “That is… Well if I am to be honest a fire and space mage that also happens to use swords is probably the more accurate description.”

“What about your signature?” Kuli asked Mornn.

“That would be… I can charge a sword strike to hit very strong… Yes… It’s not very practical, but if you three… Four? All manage to pin down someone for like five good seconds, I can send them straight to the afterlife.”

“You don’t known whether to count Bookie?” Sofia asked, seeing Mornn’s hesitation on the number of participants. “If you want to count the people here, of course you should include him. If we are talking about trial participants, he’s a book.”

“And they just let him in?” Mornn asked, incredulous.

“The Seraphs said nothing about him this time so I assume everything is good. He will probably just get his level 300 when I get mine.”

“I will!” Bookie confirmed, sounding quite confident.

The discussion continued, the team exchanging status to better understand everyone’s abilities. Night slowly fell outside of the Ark, and just when everyone was starting to get bored, the second quest came out of nowhere.

‘You have received a new quest’

[The second test of the Ark:

Tournament points are the main currency on the Ark, they allow you to buy many things, from food and drinks to skills and equipment you can take out of the trial. You will soon be teleported to a random place in the Ark for the first night’s event, allowing you to gain your first points.

Group Penalty: Your entire party will lose 20% of their points when a member dies, and a dead member can no longer participate until the next event.

To end the event without receiving a penalty: return to your room or wait until morning.

Trialees in their room can no longer attack or be attacked.

1 Kill = 10 Tournament points

Start in 10:00]