A crushing weight landed on Luke’s chest, causing him to gasp awake.

  This weight, unfortunately also came with the ability to speak, unsurprising, considering it was a person.

  Aruna continually bore herself onto Luke, shaking him like a mixer, “Get up, you lazy little brother. You’ve got an arena challenge to go attend to. A Spell Sword named Janeus? Betting your artifact for everything he owns was devious. As your big sister, I approve. Get up, lazy bones.”

  Speaking of bones, Luke’s still ached, although not enough to impact any functionality. He currently preferred to not move on account of that. Aruna determined he would fail to have such a choice. She sat him up and slapped him on the back hard enough to get him to force his eyes open. The soft black sheets were too inviting. A cold draft swirled around Luke, the source being the open window near the bed he sat on.

  “Alright, alright, I get it, you family obsessed monic. I’ll get up and go, can’t get a break these days. My vitality threshold broke hours ago. Can’t it be rescheduled?”

  “All the more reason to do it now, before the cowards find out. Imagine the look on his face when he realizes he’d got no advantage there either. Come on. Come on!”

  The conversation between him and Aruna had been short so far, but Luke was already sure of one thing. Aruna should be pinned as a battle junkie. Her personality a different layer when the arena became involved. As it so happened, he still wore his gear. Thankfully, the passive effect to cleanse itself had long been finished.

  If anything, he was more dirty and in disrepair than his gear. Shoving Aruna off, he said, “Can I wash up first?”

  “Nope. People are expecting you to show up at any minute. Enjoy the debut fight, there’s going to be several interesting sets of eyes there, scouting you out.”

  “Such as?”

  Tapping a finger to her chin while looking up, Aruna began to drag Luke away, “Like other nobles, Aloysius might be there, and tower hunters. Not the dregs stuck at floor ten, the useful ones that can go past it.”

  Stealing a wistful glance at his ruffled black sheet bed, Luke exited the room, dragged along by Aruna. While reluctantly going down the hall with her, a missing weight on his shoulder irked him. These halls felt a lot more empty without his crow.

  “Shouldn’t I be bringing along Sooty? This fight is important; I can’t afford to lose Xera.”

  Xera sniffed, “Master…I knew you cared…”

  Wayfinder twisted his needle in silent laughter.

  Shooing away servants coming up to them, Aruna said, “Your birdie is hard at work. I tried bringing her along, but Lulu and Iona both made a strict case it’d be best to leave her uninterrupted and let your companion grow up some more.” Aruna’s black cheek runes faintly glowed in the dim interior lighting. By now, the pair had passed the Black Arch and exited the Defier’s Branch.

  Hunters in the common area—that being the room dominated by the artificial blue sun—gave Luke and Aruna an odd glance before returning to their business. The Tide had people who’d otherwise be at leisure busy for once. It seemed only a minority could be at ease in these times. Widening his strides, Luke kept quiet as he tried to sift through the Interface Log. Aruna was in an animated chatter, one he responded to as minimally as possible. He felt he had a more important task. Something that could prepare him better for his first arena challenge.

  While there’d been precious little time to take a gander at the changes he underwent while plundering the Vampiric Wing, now was as good as ever. And, even without the Interface telling him so, he could feel various positive changes within. Frost essence appeared more condensed, easier to control, and more deadly yet again. His body went without saying, tougher, denser, cleansed. His attributes underwent another evolution.

  None of that included the loot he’d failed to acknowledge so far. As they passed by the statues of the four founding Defier statues, Luke sifted through the vital log notices in the Interface.

  Ordinary, moonlit beams shone over his face as he began to untangle the various log notices. There was quite a stack this time, and he set about organizing it, adapting the settings to the log to assist.

  [Filtering…]

  [Settings for search adjusted, displaying desired attribute and level logs, separating attribute gains by type, item logs excluded at user’s request]

  Being that he lacked time to internalize and use any items he pillaged before the arena fight, Luke cared only for what he could use immediately—attributes, levels, and skill points.

  [You have stolen 2516 HP, 88 Agility, 37 Strength, and 284 Intellect]

  [Expanded Greed has stolen 10 Blood Resistance, 10 Shadow Resistance, and 5 Fire Resistance]

  Next, he pulled up any other successful attribute thefts, suppressing a smile. Aruna had stopped dragging him around, with a cursory glance, he found himself in an elongated line leading up to a purple, orange, and silver styled crystal-marble portal building.

  [Expanded Green has stolen 5 Crafting Affinity, 10 Blood Affinity, 10 Shadow Affinity, and 5 Fire Affinity]

  That appeared to be the end to all the stats Luke successfully stole from fighting monsters, sub-bosses, and Arjanax. He intuited that the Hallow Priest must’ve specialized in intellect since he stole that primary attribute the most by far. The Reaver came into a sort of wall, where normal monsters—even above him in level—ceased to grow him at all, except in special attributes.

  Currently, that barely counted as a problem; from instinct he felt the Shadowed Sanctum could still advance him—if only Arjanax, and the Hallow Priests. Beggars couldn’t be choosers, and Luke was begging for strength. Rather, stealing it—same difference.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Organizing the gains, his body thrummed with vitality—no doubt a double sided effect—from the thousands of health points increase, and breaking the vitality threshold. He’d surpassed nine thousand health, stopping at an even nine thousand two hundred. If there were rules governing what caused one to break a threshold, Luke believed the process started once he reached nine thousand health points, or perhaps when he exactly hit nine thousand two hundred. It’d be hard to be confident with which was the case.

  And really, the end result was the same. His internals all felt refreshed, toughened, more efficient, like he’d become iron within. Moreover, Luke’s ice felt tamed. If before it bursted at his seams internally, now it remained compressed, less burdensome to use.

  Two of the four new affinities he gained caught his special attention. The first being the Shadow Affinity. Back when Luke tested his elements at the Hunter’s Branch bottom floor, two came to the forefront. The most obvious, his ice, and secondarily, darkness, or shadow. Should he ‘bring out’ that second element, the Shadow Affinity could be a game changer.

  Then came crafting affinity, likely from the Vampire Smiths he slaughtered for roughly three hours. Should the name be meaningful, Luke hoped this would allow him to do Runic Enchanting more easily. He’d test it another time. To Blood Affinity and Fire Affinity, the Reaver cast them aside. Expanded Greed, the passive from the Spectral Heart, stole to its heart’s content. That meant some of its targets would fail to be immensely useful. These two fell into that category to him.

  Aruna tugged him along, silent with excitement. The monic Enhancer bounced in place, occasionally rocking on her feet, a giddy smile squirmed around her face. Other people in line kept a healthy distance from the Defier pair.

  “Done looking at the boring screens, little brother? How could they be more exciting than an arena battle? You should be excited, rearing to go.”

  “It’s a necessary evil, Janeus had to be confident for a reason.”

  “Bah, the first couple of challenge requests were the same to me. The drinks they’ll be serving to spectators are something to find nowhere else. My poor little brother will be too busy fighting for his precious artifact to enjoy one. Should your big sister save one for you?”

  Luke responded absentmindedly, “I’ll pass. Let me sort the rest of this out before the line ends.”

  “Your loss, the wisdom of alcohol and its taste is to die for.”

  Leaving his battle and drink-focused Monic guide to her happy thoughts, Luke brought out the rest of the relevant growth logs he could find. Fortunately, the line crawled along at a snail’s pace.

  [You have reached level 48, acquired 12 Skill Points]

  [Your companion, Sooty, has reached level 48, acquired 6 Skill Points]

  [Quest rewards distributed, receiving 10 Shadow Resistance, and 5 Skill Points]

  The Reaver breathed a sign of relief, while Iona hinted this would happen, now he had solid proof. Through Reaver’s link, Sooty still gained experience from monsters he fought, even if she were a great distance away. Luke didn’t know if there was a limit, but it appeared to be a generous amount even if there were. Moving on, the Reaver scanned the last vital notices. The quest from releasing Arjanax also came through. It didn’t appear to have a chain quest like in Orlan’s Beast Divide.

  [You have shed the second vitality threshold. Your vessel restructures to the frost within, Ice Affinity has been raised by eight. Frost Resistance has been raised by sixteen]

  [You have reached twenty Ice Affinity. Your body becomes the bearer of the Lesser Ice Soul. Your command over ice grows, as does its effectiveness. Only the deadliest cold can affect you]

  [Detected the host understands the Ice Elementalization technique. Due to the Ice Soul, the secrets to learning the Master level of this specific technique have been made more accessible. Note, the host must still endeavor to understand the necessary knowledge to reach the Master level]

  A soft wind brushed over Luke’s face, lifting his black hair. He stretched and cracked his joints. After double-checking, he thought this would be the end to what could be useful against Janeus. The rest of his gains were pure loot, valuable, but useless for the upcoming challenge due to the lack of time.

  Already, the line had shortened, a handful of humans, monics, and others in front of Aruna and him. A yellow notice popped into his vision, with a warning sign on its screen. Successful in its attempt to take his attention, Luke pressed upon it.

  [Detected the Reaver has acquired over five affinities, a sub-menu under the special stat divider has been created. Other minor updates have been applied. Please review at your leisure]

  Figuring now was as good a time as any, Luke brought up his status screen, minimizing what he could.

  [Status Screen]

  Name: Luke Wallace

  Level: 48

  Class: Essence Reaver

  Tier: 1

  HP: 9400

  Stats: 625 Agility, 784 Intellect, 649 Strength

  Special Stats: 20 Fire Resistance, 76 Frost Resistance, 12 Poison Resistance, 15 Mental Resistance, 10 Water Resistance, 20 Shadow Resistance, 10 Blood Resistance, 17 Resilience

  Affinities: 20 Ice Affinity, 17 Ether Affinity, 10 Shadow Affinity, 10 Blood Affinity, 5 Crafting Affinity, 5 Fire Affinity, 4 Wind Affinity

  Active Abilities 5/5: Infusion Tier 2, Essence Bond Tier 1, Rank II, Essence Lance Tier 1, Rank II, Essence Fissure Tier 1, Siphon Tier 1, Rank III

  Passive Abilities 1/3: Roll of the Reaver Tier 1, Rank III

  Skill Points: 20

  Resource: 124 Essence 12.4/s regeneration

  [Equipment]

  [Inventory]

  There were a few other sub-menus, such as the profession menu, heart menu, and otherwise, but Luke set them to the wayside for now. Instead, he honed in on the twenty skill points staring back at him. The Interface had organized itself better and included his name at the top, something he always found odd when that wasn’t the case. Affinities—while still considered a special attribute—were given its own section.

  Perhaps it pegged him for dead, not bothering to remember his full name up until now. In a way, that’d be the correct, energy saving decision, nine times out of ten. Getting off the depressing rumination, Luke spent his skill points without much introspection this time, pressured by circumstance. He spent five on Roll of the Reaver, upgrading it to its current allowable maximum, Tier 1, Rank IV. Another ten went into Essence Bond, forcing the skill up to Tier 1, Rank IV. Finally, the last five upped Siphon to the same rank.

  As for Essence Lance, it still appeared to be the most effortless skill to upgrade through repeated use. With the remaining levels becoming scarce, he put it on the back burner. He wondered if the Spectral Wing had a quest that rewarded skill points. Maybe Authoria’s request did as well. To find out, he’d need to reach level fifty, first.

  Two more to go. Luke thought.

  One near-discriminatory fact shot at him: the Interface failed to consider killing Arjanax a ‘feat’ for him. Like its standards for classes and individuals stood on a sliding scale, thresholds, within a reasonable doubt for Luke, were instituted in the same way. The vitality threshold was likely lower for a Mage than for him—the same to all of the pure attribute thresholds.

  A dull flick took Luke out of his reverie. Aruna told him he’d done enough of staring into blank space. She paid the portal fare to the mage guards within the portal building. She guided him to one of the three portals cordoned off by chains this time, choosing the central purple-white one.

  “This one leads to the arena. Ready, little brother Luke?”

  Setting his jaw, Luke said, “One question, what’s an Ice soul?”

  Aruna widened her eyes briefly before clamping a hand onto Luke’s mouth. Cautiously looking around, she leaned in to whisper to his ear, “That’s not something to talk about so freely, stupid little brother. Come find me after your match is over. The Interface should’ve told you all you need to know, that ice you use so much will be another beast entirely.”

  Keeping stoic features, Luke accepted that this sort of event was not to flaunt about. Every hunter would try to keep an edge or secret. This Ice Soul could be one for him. He’d already tried to conceal plenty of others. What was one more? Upon seeing Luke slowly nod, Aruna backed off him, then as if her previous demeanor melted away, she skipped into the portal, humming a tune. Following suit, Luke also entered the portal.

  To the arena.