Chapter 447: Meet the Peanut Gallery - Part 2

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Chapter 447: Meet the Peanut Gallery - Part 2

“Yeah, let’s not talk about her. Them. I’m too old to die,” said the Primordial.

Despite the humor in his tone, the statement sent a chill through the gathering. Amid the panic of the high Tiers, Priam remained calm. For those people, danger was a rarity. For the Juggernaut, it was routine.

“Alright. Why are you here?” he asked.

“To kill time,” Thaal smiled.

“... Why am I here?”

“Mainly because even an Administrator can’t wipe his ass with the Colosseum’s rules. The phoenix nugget was only part of the compensation. I’ve also got some advice: don’t mention Hailcyon when you return to Elysium. They aren’t dead, and nothing in the rules prevents them from hunting you.”

“I wonder how strong they are now…” Priam mused, picking up a crumb left on the table. He swallowed it absentmindedly and nearly toppled over when, as it hit his stomach, it released a wave of vitality that swept through his body, erasing every micro-imperfection the phantom of his mentor had failed to heal.

Lvl Up: [Adaptive Golden Meridians] lvl 40
META (Focus) +3
META (Endurance) +6

“Damn, that’s good shit…”

“Thanks,” smiled the pastry chef.

Priam returned the smile, then gave in to curiosity. “Are there other phantoms whose original is still alive?”

“Your mentor, for one. Last I heard, he’s placing magic Dyson spheres around stars to moonform them. As for the rest, I’m unfortunately bound by professional secrecy,” Thaal lamented. “Unless someone wants to lift it?”

All eyes turned to Hastenash, who shrugged. “Aarthash is still alive. So am I. Hey, you’re looking at the boss of wave ninety-six. Undefeated by locals since the dawn of the Sector,” he flexed.

Priam tilted his head. Wearing a heavy gold chain and clutching a female against his bare chest, the Immortal looked more like a rapper than a warrior. The Juggernaut had imagined top-tier gladiators as being more… glorious.

“Speechless, kiddo?”

“Sure.” Priam frowned. “The dawn of the Sector? How old does that make you?”

“I know I don’t look it, but I’ll be celebrating my first million years soon.” Priam wouldn’t have given him more than thirty-five. “You’re invited, of course.”

“That’s kind, but I’ve got the second Reunion coming up—”

The drake waved it off. “My birthday’s in two centuries.”

“… Ah. I’ll have to check my calendar, but I don’t think I’ve got anything planned around then,” Priam deadpanned, before turning to the other Immortals. “I assume you’re the other bosses?”

Hastenash burst out laughing. “Neitlan’h wishes! I stole her spot when we were young, and she spent almost her entire life raising a son to kick me out.” He smirked. “We all know how that ended.”

“Says the one who ran away with his tails between his legs the last time we fought,” mocked the phoenix.

The drake flipped her off.

Priam could no longer ignore reality. “You are Keltan’h’s mother.”

The fiery Queen looked the Juggernaut up and down. “If that is the full extent of your Champion’s processing speed, I find it hard to believe humanity ever managed to discover fire.”

“Not only did we discover it,” Priam replied, “we domesticated it.”

The phoenix rolled her eyes. “With Hastenash monopolizing my contempt, I fear I have none left for you.”

“If I am unworthy of your contempt, then you won’t try to assassinate me for my bloodline?”

“Why make the effort when you seem intent on committing suicide against my son’s phantom?”

The bait was obvious, but the Juggernaut intended to bite.

“She’s not wrong, kiddo,” warned Hastenash. “As long as you need cheap tricks to beat Aarthash, Keltan’h will remain out of your reach. And after burning your Second Wind to clear wave ninety-three and your Emergency Token to escape ninety-five, your survival odds aren’t great. I wouldn’t recommend another Colosseum run without a serious power-up… but know this: if you manage to evict her kid’s phantom from the Colosseum, you’ll earn a nice reward from me. In addition to the one my son will give you for beating his phantom.”

Second Wind? Ah!

For some reason, they had mistaken [He Who Eludes Death] for a consumable Merit. Priam did not bother correcting them.

“Thanks for the intel.” He turned to the remaining Immortals. “What about you?”

“Seuz is a merchant, and I prefer using my blades to butcher rather than kill,” smiled Sweet Mama. “That said, how about selling me a few of your limbs?”

“I’ll think about it,” Priam promised. He was serious. Turning to Thaal: “What about you? Any chance I’ll run into your phantom? Wave one hundred, maybe?”

“Nope. I’m older than this Sector,” the Tier 8 winked. “As for the final wave, it’s shared across all Colosseums. Its current phantom is the one who will become the Faith God—a Zenith Being. Not gonna lie, I attempted that fight once, back when I was young. Lasted less than a second.”

“Damn.” A pause. “Damn.”

“Yup. Back to our Colosseum: don’t bother looking for other local candidates. The last phantoms aren’t natives. Seuz, if you please?”

The squid obliged. “Our Sector is the youngest in our universe. While slightly older than Hastenash, it still hasn’t reached an eon—a megaannum. Before its creation, several super-factions sent their prodigies into cryostasis here. Awakened when Thaal took office, they became the first ‘locals’ and seized the Colosseum, the Hideout, and every other strategic resource. The mark of their cheating remains to this day.” Their chromatophores shifted to an irritated green.

“I guess it’s easier to climb high in a virgin Colosseum,” Priam mused, then frowned. “Wait. The last four waves are occupied by guys too weak to win on their home turf, and no one’s managed to move them in a million years?!” He turned to Thaal. “No offense, but your Sector is pretty pathetic.”

“I’m hoping you and your rivals will change that,” the Administrator smiled.

*

Leaving the arena, Priam spotted Kazuki, Jasmine, and Esmée in the Colosseum hall and approached.

“That fucking Hailcyon is a cheater,” growled the Shadow. “When I cut people’s heads off, I expect them to have the decency to die. That bastard didn’t give a shit.”

The princess grimaced. “At least your build has a chance of killing him. Do you know how hard it is to trigger a butterfly effect when every grain of sand or hailstone is alive?”

“Everyone lost to Hailcyon?” Priam asked as he came up beside Kazuki.

The hoplite shook his head. “He fell to my spear. For now, Aarthash is blocking me. His Mythic skill—”

“Don’t spoil it for me! I killed him before he could use it.”

“Show-off,” Jasmine shot back. And yet, her eyes shone with pride.

“And wave ninety-five?” Kazuki asked.

“My mentor is a fucking monster,” Priam growled. “There’s no point going back before I upgrade my race and grind a lot of levels. Even then, I’ll at least need to temper my Energy Gate to have a chance.”

“What about improving your Supremacies?”

Priam considered Kazuki’s question. “Doing that will trigger a countdown to my High Tribulation. I’d rather keep it for the last possible moment… but it may be necessary. Honestly, I’m almost certain his phantom had at least Domain II. Without that, he wouldn’t have been able to bypass my meta endurance to heal me the way he did.”

Priam recounted his fights to debrief with his friends. It was as useful as it was entertaining.

“So when exactly did you get an outfit?” Jasmine asked.

Priam looked down. For the first time in months, he was no longer wearing his mist toga, but black trousers paired with a suit jacket. Beneath it, a white shirt with mother-of-pearl buttons gleamed almost as much as the silver buckle of his belt.

“It’s 2die4’s first collection. According to Thaal, people like exoticism, and for most of the Sector, a classy Western outfit is something new.” He shrugged.

Jasmine stepped closer, adjusted his collar, and undid one button. “I was worried it’d be harder to get you undressed. Turns out it’s not. I love it. Turn around.”

“Why?”

“When a woman tells you to turn around, you turn around.”

As even Kazuki nodded, Priam complied.

“You’ve got good range of motion in that?” his Shadow asked.

“Yep. Tier 6 material, after all. Very flexible. Why?”

“Because it nicely hugs your little ass.”

Even Micro couldn’t stop Priam from blushing.

*

Back in Elysium, Priam crashed on his bed for six hours, an unusually long time for someone with his vitality. Upon waking, he went to Kazuki to tell him that despite his questions, Thaal had offered no way to resurrect Hyshana other than a wish to the Seven or a Tier 4 Resurrection Token. The hoplite thanked him and returned to training with Louis. Sharing the same grief had brought the two warriors closer.

Priam then sought out Osiris to hand over the biological samples he had brought back from the Colosseum. After each victory, he had never forgotten to take a hair, a piece of skin, and sometimes more from his opponents. Each being a powerhouse, it seemed obvious that studying their races could only propel Homo Elysian to new heights.

Osiris accepted every sample as if it were a birthday gift, but the first results quickly dampened Priam’s expectations. Aarthash’s and Hailcyon’s races were of too high a Tier to be analyzable. Emir the Jinn, being a partially magical lifeform and thus too different from Homo Elysian, was also unsuitable. That left only Paakruc the naga, Stryk-7, and Cursed Clock to enrich Osiris’s database.

The latter was particularly interesting. Freed from his curse, Clock was a remarkable elf whose blood was vastly different from that found on the property deed granted by the Demiurge for winning the tribal tournament.

“It’s almost incomprehensible that these two races are both called elves,” Osiris grumbled one day. “They’re as different as a dog and a wolf.”

Priam, for his part, wasn’t surprised. “Let’s call Clock a drow, and the Demiurge’s compatriots wood elves. By the way, do you think we could use Clock’s genome to upgrade Log-a-rhythm?”

Osiris shrugged.

From that point on, Priam divided his days into three parts. Mornings were devoted to upgrading Homo Elysian with Osiris. Afternoons—and nights, in his dreams—were spent sharpening his aether proficiency with Esmée. Despite his progress, the Juggernaut was uneasy: he could not stop postponing the discussion with the princess about her place in Oasis and their hierarchical relationship.

Lvl Up: [High Aether Manipulation] lvl 54, 55
META (Affinity) +6
META (Focus) +6
META (Endurance) +6
Lvl Up: [Ideal Aether Perception] lvl 44
META (Affinity) +3
META (Perception) +6

Finally, in the evenings, he studied Hecate’s New Moon.

During his last Colosseum run, Priam had learned that his Mythic mutation was in fact the prison of a fragment of a terrible curse. Activating his left eye meant opening the cell door and releasing a calamity.

Despite Sna’s help, the Champion failed to better understand the origin of Hecate’s New Moon. He did, however, confirm its effects: the mutation created a sphere that obliterated everyone’s ability to call Concepts or manipulate aether. And while prolonged use would doom Priam, he hoped to eventually produce a pulse with a devastating jammer effect.

Number of deaths: 48

Lvl Up: [Curse Anathema] lvl 4
ERROR. Meta (Endurance) SEALED. 

Number of deaths: 49

Lvl Up: [Curse Anathema] lvl 5
ERROR. Meta (Endurance) SEALED. 

A week later, while Priam and his addon were replaying his last Colosseum run over and over in his head, Osiris came to find him.

“I’ve finished sequencing all the genomes at our disposal.”

The Juggernaut opened his eyes. “Then it’s time to upgrade Homo Elysian to Tier 3.”

*

Status: 

PHYSICAL:
Strength 1 267
Constitution 2 694 SEALED
Agility 1 671
Vitality 2 649
Perception 1 012 

MENTAL:
Vivacity (D) 667
Dexterity 1 018
Memory 1 246
Willpower 1 361
Charisma 1 174 

META:
Meta-affinity (O) 1 514 (+11)
Meta-focus (P) 958 (+11)
Meta-endurance 1 797 (+18) SEALED
Meta-perception 999 (+10)
Meta-chance 837
Meta-authority 1 105 

Potential: 42 612 (+12)
Tier 0

[Tribulation]: Six Tribulations pending.

Next thresholds: 12 attributes > 1 200 / 3 attributes > 1 800 / 1 attribute > 2 700

*

Priam - 2die4 suit