Chapter 27: An Old Friend

His laughter contrasted sharply with the nervous milling of the rest of the contestants, and a few of those around him, flashed him an annoyed expression. He couldn’t bring himself to care. What he had just said was so on brand, but even so, it caught him completely off guard.

But, as Spiros’s eyes met his, his face blushing an angry red, Luke realized that he may have come across in a way that he didn’t want to.

“I had a good reason, okay.” He said, glaring at Arya. Her own lips stretched into a small smile at his expense.

“I– I’m sure you did.” Luke grinned, ignoring the nervous ball of tension congealing in his chest. Then glancing at his companions, he walked forward, quickly closing the distance between them and held his hand out. “I’m Luke, by the way,” he said. Looking him straight in the eye, as they shook hands.

Nothing strange here, nope. Nothing at all. I’m just some guy who heard that you shit your pants, and came over to introduce himself. That’s totally not weird.

He smiled, briefly considering feeling the other warrior out with his mana, wanting to see how well he had progressed since they last met, but decided against it. The warning Clite had given him back when she was teaching him the lesson ringing in his head.

“It’s considered immensely rude, shy of assault, many will consider it an act of aggression, while at best others will take it as a sign of you being atypically curious and familiar if they catch you doing it. Like yelling, or grabbing someone’s nose without cause. There are of course times and situations when it is acceptable, and I’ll leave them for you to determine. I will warn you however, especially now that you are a warrior, to be cautious with who you do it to and when.”

In Luke’s opinion, it was getting caught that was the rude part. The actual act of sensing other peoples mana, was pretty simple to do, and if done subtly enough, imperceptible. He just needed to send a wave of mana into his target, and he would get some feel for the potency of their mana compared to his own. The sense was more limited than he had initially thought, and the resolution, for a lack of a better term, wasn’t great, but it did give him a very rough idea of how strong someone was.

Both Heracles and Jason’s mana, felt like an insurmountable and sturdy wall. While someone like Rose who had broken through a month after him, felt like a shoddy picket fence. Mortals ranged from having mana that felt like air, to pushing his hand against a shirt hanging to dry on a line.

Still, betting on Spiros being incompetent, wasn’t the way to go. The kid was oblivious, but he was far from dumb, and if he had any training in the warrior-tier, he would be on the lookout for exactly that. Especially when he was in contact with a stranger.

Yeah. let's not. He thought, observing their reaction to his name.

Both Spiros and Arya still went at hearing his name, and they shared a tiny, almost imperceptible, glance, before looking at him oddly.

It warmed his heart, just a little, to know that he hadn’t been forgotten.

Turning around, he ignored the strange looks on their faces, and began to introduce his new friends to his old. It felt awkward in a way that he didn’t quite expect, but he smothered the feeling and pressed on. “That’s Lukeus, beside him is Rex, and the angry redhead is Rose.”

The three of them waved uncertainty. No doubt, wondering why he was talking to the competition.

I should have thought this through better. He realized, as he was encircled with five very confused stares.

“I’m Spiros!” He said, unwittingly coming to the rescue.

“Arya.” She said, her eyes lingered on the thre, darting between their robes and their faces, before raking across his body. Searching for something, but unsure what it was.

For a moment, he feared he had been discovered, but he dismissed that thought as soon as it entered his mind.

I look different, I sound different, and they have no reason to suspect that I’m someone they know. We’re wearing the same clothes, so she’s probably just trying to remember if she knows us from somewhere. Hopefully.

“I have a friend named Luke.” Spiros suddenly chimed in, and it took everything Luke had to portray what he hoped was just the right amount of interest. “The asshole just kind of upped and disappeared though.”

“Did he?”

“Yeah.” He turned to face the stairs, and began walking up them. “I was hoping he’d show up for the games. It would have been nice seeing him again.”

“Maybe he did? We did just lose a few thousand people.”

“No.” Spiros shook his head. “If he was here, he wouldn’t have lost so quickly. He’s… he’s better than that. A prodigy. A smile wouldn’t have phased him.”

What the hell did I do to make him so confident in me? Luke thought curiously, as he followed after him. Other than going from never cultivating a day in my life, to a pretty solid level in a few weeks, but still. This seems like a bit much. He thought, feeling a small amount of pride. Not that he would let it show.

“Well, being smart doesn’t always translate to whatever that was. One look, and Hephaestus had us–” His arm spazzed in front of him, the mere memory of the experience bringing forth a sense of disgust.

Spiros shrugged. “Maybe, but I doubt it.”

A thumping noise coming from behind him, made him turn back, and then immediately press himself flat against the warm metallic wall.

It wasn’t a second too soon, as half a dozen, thirty foot tall cyclops, bolted past them at a speed that felt unnatural for their frame.

Despite the seriousness of the situation though, they looked almost comical as they did. They stepped over the handful of people that were too slow to get out of the way, so as to not crush them under their feet.

“Should we be running?” Rex asked.

“I… don’t… think so.” Lukeus said.

“Me neither,” Said Luke, scratching the back of his head. “The test is to see the last one hundred people, not to see who gets to the top first. Let’s just keep climbing until something happens. Running isn’t going to exert us that much, but with how high we have to go. We’ll be climbing for days at least. Besides… I don’t think Hephaestus cares how fast we can run up a flight of stairs. There’s something about all this that we don’t know yet.”

“They already stopped.” Rose said, her eyes narrowing to slits, as she looked at the group of Cyclops leading the way up the metallic stairs.

Even from where he was, Luke could clearly make out their surprised expressions. Whatever it was they encountered, it didn’t hold them back for long, because a moment later, they began climbing again. This time though, they didn’t bother running, and instead resumed at a more normal pace. Considering their height though, they were still clearing a dozen steps at a time.

Huh.

Spiros and Arya shared a brief glance with each other, before they nodded politely to Luke and the rest of them, before turning and walking away.

He watched them go with a sense of unease. On one hand, he knew that it was a normal reaction. They didn’t know them, and had intruded on a random conversation the two of them were having. A mere eavesdropping stranger, that's all he was to them now. It hurt a little, thinking like that, but it wasn’t enough reason to divulge his identity.

Following a step or two behind them, he felt angry at the Seed, before he ruthlessly crushed the emotion. Completing its quests had made him kill, and run from his first and only friends on Theos, and it didn’t even have the courtesy of leaving them alone after that. Instead, tasking him to help one of them win the tournament for a purpose he couldn’t even begin to fathom. Another, smaller, part of Luke though, couldn’t help but be a little thankful of it too. Because in spite of everything, it felt good to know that they weren’t trapped within the Hero’s Tomb.

He had never wavered in his belief that they would, but confirmation was nice.

And at least now, I won't be tempted to go back in a few years when I’m Hero or higher, to check on Arya. Small victories…. But, going back might not be a terrible idea now that I think about it. Maybe check up on the Tomb, and take everything that’s inside, free the people trapped inside if they're still alive… Maybe even check up on Nefkha. See if he kept his mouth shut or not. If I can get my hands on an oathstone, then I can swear him to secrecy, but if not, I’m not above silencing him more permanently.

… Alright, let’s not get too dark in here Luke. He shook his head silently, and just focused on putting one foot in front of the other. Thinking only about the tournament, and what he needed to do to complete his quest. Watching Spiros practically march forward though, he felt that he didn’t have to worry too much, if at all, about him at this stage. Not when he had willingly shat his pants to massively outperform others on a test like this in the past. Spiros would be the last person to ever give up here. Of that, he was confident.

Besides, if this round ends with a hundred people still in the running, this is probably just the first challenge. Hephaestus is still thinning the herd. The real stuff will be after. That’s when I’ll probably need to step in.

A few minutes later, when Luke and the rest made their way to the thousandth step, they found out exactly what had convinced the cyclops that this wasn’t a race.

The one thousand and first step felt like they were wading through water, but without the feeling of buoyancy that came with it. The space in Vulcan was already weird, in that it actively rebuffed their mana, and prevented them from flying. Now it seemed to push against, and resist the mana within them too. It felt like it was opposed to the mere idea of them traversing through it, and decided to be obstinate and challenge them for every inch they took.

Even so, it still wasn’t hard.

All those competing were in the Warrior-tier, and their bodies were stronger, and full of more vitality than they had any right to be. That, combined with the nourishing and energizing mana soaking the air and filtering into them, the stairs actually felt kind of pleasant. It brought Luke back to what it was like when he was a mere mortal. When moving his limbs hadn’t always been so easy, or effortless.

A thousand steps later, the difficulty rose again. Making it clear to all of them, the nature of the test. The higher they climbed, the more strenuous it would get. Which worked just fine for Luke. He suspected that he had a significant advantage over most of the others when it came to cultivation. He knew first hand just how hard it was to raise attributes for those in their level, and was confident that when it came to raw stats, there was no one here that would be able to beat him. Not when manasinks for warriors seemingly didn’t exist, and he had Maximus to rely on.

On top of that, not only was he a Paragon, with a perfect foundation, but he was also a quarter of the way through the tier itself. He doubted others could boast the same.

But, I can’t be too arrogant. I’ll bet anything that there's at least a few people here, who have backgrounds and training that’s as good as it gets. Not to say my own Techniques and advantages are lacking, but I can’t assume that no one here has better.

A commotion broke him out of his musings.

It happened suddenly, within the time it took to blink, but the moment the cyclops at the very top crossed over to the fifth layer, the whole pyramid shook, and came to life.

The silvery walls of the pyramid undulated in a way unbefitting of a metal. Moments later, large featureless humanoid things walked out.

Each one looked exactly like the last, with smooth androgynous bodies made of what looked like mercury.

Luke paused in his step, and stared at the indents where its eyes would be. The thing looked down at him, and in a single, robotic motion, lifted three fingers in the air.

One dropped down.

Luek withdrew his sword.

The second finger dropped down, and its other arm burst into liquid metal, and reformed as a blade. It’s sharp edge glinting in the light.

Luke cursed internally, as the First Truth of Death failed to activate for a thing that wasn’t alive.

The final finger dropped.