Fighting a player—especially someone as skilled as GesStar—was nothing like battling a raid boss. The Alicorn had been huge and struggled to maneuver, while a mage like GesStar had no such limitations. The open area of the arena made Sheko an easy target. In this situation, he felt like the Alicorn, chasing after GesStar, who was remarkably adept at evasion.

  It took the entire two hours they had agreed upon for Sheko to finally formulate a strategy to get through GesStar's conjured walls. However, just as he thought he’d closed the gap, GesStar enveloped himself in a bubble as black as outer space and shot upward to the top of the dome.

  Sheko improved significantly during those two hours, but GesStar didn’t allow him to close the gap entirely. Instead, GesStar adapted his tactics to counter Sheko’s growing skill. Out of nearly 30 duels they fought in the arena, Sheko managed to win only once—and even that was by technicality.

  In his sole victory, GesStar allowed Sheko to land a throwing knife on him, which allowed him to target GesStar’s neck with the mark left by Odysseus and behead him. This little stunt garnered significant attention from viewers glancing at their pit. A player getting repeatedly beaten by another player more than twice their level wasn’t particularly remarkable. However, it was much rarer to see someone with Sheko’s build land a one-shot kill on their opponent.

  Even though GesStar was a mage build with low END and STR stats, the stats granted by a single maxed out high-rank job made his overall stats much greater than the combined sum of six maxed-out low-rank jobs. He was still almost able to resist Sheko’s one-hit-kill attack. This point was further proven in their next bout when GesStar allowed Sheko to try the same tactic again. This time, GesStar nearly nullified the attack, taking less than half the damage he should have. He had clearly cast some sort of buff spell, as a bronze-colored aura appeared around him.

  GesStar was generally open about his embryo’s abilities and job skills once he’d used them in combat. However, when Sheko asked about the mysterious buff spell, GesStar’s lips were sealed.

  After their agreed two hours, GesStar departed. To Sheko’s surprise and delight, a line had formed at the entrance to the pit. At the front of the line stood an arena attendant, who informed Sheko that there was no urgency for him to leave. The ten or so players in line were apparently there to fight him.

  At first, Sheko found this odd. Then, he overheard some of the players murmuring about his fight with the Alicorn. Some were fans, while others were skeptics. Although Sheko had struggled against GesStar, the comparison wasn’t entirely fair.

  The arena dome was some sort of energy construct that Odysseus couldn’t mark, significantly limiting Sheko’s mobility. Moreover, GesStar’s experience as a player meant he didn’t give Sheko any exploitable openings.

  Feeling tired from his defeat by GesStar, Sheko decided to prioritize fighting the more enthusiastic players in line.

  At least they won't scorn me like the skeptics. If I lose, I lose. If I win—well, I could use a confidence boost right now.

  However, his plan backfired quickly. The most enthusiastic players turned out to be newer ones, only recently past the minimum level 50 required to fight in the arena. Sheko tried to make the most of these matches, opting to fight in close quarters and consciously attempting to mix capoeira kicks into his fighting style. Unlike his proficiency with spears and throwing knives, Sheko’s martial arts skills weren’t enhanced by his jobs—they came entirely from him.

  If not for Odysseus, which allowed him to perform seemingly impossible moves like spinning in midair to deliver a devastating axe kick, Sheko might have lost to these players. One particularly cocky Master-Gardener pair tried to overwhelm him with simple attacks but was soundly defeated.

  The newer players quickly left when one of the skeptics pointed out that Sheko wasn’t fighting in earnest. The skeptic complained that Sheko was wasting their time fighting weaker players instead of challenging someone on his level. Sheko didn’t want to admit they had a point, but after a fourth duel in which he won easily without being hit, he knew he wouldn’t get much value from training with his newly acquired fans.

  The skeptics, on average, were more skilled. But even among them, there were exceptions. One such exception immediately reminded Sheko of Phantasm, carrying himself with unearned confidence. Trusting his emotions rather than logic, Sheko decided to challenge the pompous player first.

  It took less than 10 seconds for Sheko to determine that this player was no more formidable than his fans—which wasn’t much. The opponent’s embryo created a small area filled with weak shadow minions that mimicked his appearance. Unbothered, Sheko used the player as a test dummy, spinning like a tornado to avoid slow sword swipes. After 10 seconds of spinning, which gave him a headache, Sheko ended the fight with a single knife to the chest.

  Got to get used to all that spinning, he thought.

  With the weaker players sorted out and a few new challengers joining the end of the line, Sheko’s training began in earnest again.

  For the next 10 hours, Sheko accepted any challenger who stepped forward. Among them was a surprise visit from Mai, who was eager to show off her newest job. Without explanation, she started their fight by drinking a handful of potions. Sheko initially thought it was her usual poison bomb routine from the raid, but instead, Mai’s muscles and height doubled before his eyes.

  “Mutagenesist! What do you think?” she shouted from across the arena.

  “I think it’s terrifying.”

  “Oh, thanks!” she replied. “I realized I could just overdose on all the buffs it gives and cancel out the debuffs. Sad thing is, it’s quite expensive to get the full effect. I probably won’t do a rematch.”

  “Well, I’d like to fight other people first, but don’t worry about the potions. The arena gives them back after the fight,” Sheko explained.

  Mai’s face twisted into a predatory grin.

  I might’ve unleashed something terrible on the arena right now, Sheko thought.

  His fears were confirmed. In her powered-up state, Mai became a fully offensive frontliner. Her strength was probably ten times higher than normal, likely from a static STR buff. Her speed had doubled or even tripled, almost matching Sheko’s base speed. However, this only put them on roughly equal footing when it came to stats.

  Sheko’s tripled mental AGI made her amateurish attacks easy to predict. Like him, Mai’s job gave her no formal hand-to-hand combat skills, but unlike him, she lacked any real-world training. Though it had been a while since Sheko had trained regularly, his technique allowed him to counter her easily. Using his END-negating skill from the Knife Thrower job, he cut through her hardened skin and won the short bout.

  Still, Mai’s performance was impressive. She had only just acquired the Mutagenesist job, and her buffs would undoubtedly grow stronger with time. It was a shame that Raggedy, her embryo, had to bear all the debuffs instead of Mai. Technically, Raggedy was part of the fight, but she looked more like a pile of rags than the human-sized doll she actually was.

  After those 10 intense hours, Sheko had to take a break. He stopped by the adventurer's guild for a quick check and was pleasantly surprised to find that his guess was correct. The requirements for the Greater Matador job had been fulfilled by his fights in the arena. Although he didn’t gain any levels in Philosopher from those battles, he had earned himself a new job.

  The week had flown by, but the last six hours were the hardest. As Sheko gained experience fighting players in the arena, Kai’s doubts grew. Over the past two and a half real-world days, Kai had slept for less than 10 hours in total, while his in-game avatar, Sheko, had only managed eight. Very late in his week-long training session, he had been warned that if his avatar never slept, it would accumulate sleep deprivation debuffs. While high END stat could help delay the issue, it was still better to let the avatar rest. The best solution was to find a place for Sheko to sleep and log out, allowing the avatar to recover while Kai was offline.

  Sheko rushed to the magic tailor shop where he had placed a commission. The rush order had burned through his pockets like a hot coal, but when he saw the glistening coat made from his raid reward, he knew it was worth it. Three days earlier, he had picked up a new spear. That request had been much simpler than the coat.

  The spear, crafted from enchanted electrum, was stronger than steel and highly resistant to magic. While it had a minor paralysis effect, replicating the petrification effect of the cockatrice had proven unfeasible, even if he had both eyes as materials.

  The coat, on the other hand, was a masterpiece made from every part of the Alicorn’s wing. Sheko had been given a choice between a self-repair function and a flight enchantment, but he requested something entirely different. Feeling that his offensive capabilities were lacking—aside from his one-hit-kill option, which wasn’t effective against high-level targets—Sheko opted for a feature that would enhance his versatility. The coat was enchanted to conjure up to 50 throwing knives every three days.

  The knives could be picked up and reused, but if a new knife was summoned while all 50 were still in existence, the oldest knife would disappear.

  Whenever Sheko wasn’t waiting in line or fighting in the arena, familiarizing himself with some of the regulars, he went on more grinding sessions with Emilia and Nue whenever they were available. He might have burned through the goodwill he’d earned with them, along with almost half of his remaining funds, as long as he kept the brooch and continued trying to pay their fees.

  Grinding was much slower with his new Greater Matador job, largely because, after the raid, he was over-leveled for almost any monster in the crystal caves. The bosses, however, were now his best option. He could handle them solo, albeit not easily.

  Ignoring the cockatrice—which was still too risky to fight without Mai—the other mini-bosses proved relatively straightforward. Thanks to the impressive stat scaling granted by the Greater Matador job, Sheko had doubled most of his stats. This significant boost also brought about a curious phenomenon, one he hoped to surprise everyone with in his upcoming fight against Phantasm.

  The entire raid party had already entered the arena. Mai, Emilia, and Nue waited by the contestant entrance, joined by the surprising arrival of Kaizo's group. Against all conventional wisdom, Tsuno had been as active as Sheko over the past week. She had already evolved Achille to its second form and taken her second job, almost maxing it out as well.

  Sheko had a few more duels with GesStar during that time and even one with Tsuno. However, Achille's effectiveness was hindered by the fact that, once its ability was known to the enemy, the strategy to counter it became simple. Tsuno tried to make up for this with vines, but against a strong target, they were almost useless. Sheko was tempted to goad Phantasm into fighting her, knowing how full of himself he was, but he didn’t trust Tsuno’s chances enough to risk damaging her self-esteem.

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  They shared quick greetings as they walked in. GesStar’s demeanor shifted, becoming more serious and focused, almost like a personal trainer—an apt description, considering his support over the past week. He had recommended the tailor who made Sheko's coat and checked in on him almost daily.

  Kaizo, on the other hand, seemed less enthusiastic, clearly annoyed by the antics of the brother-sister duo. Still, he remarked, “As long as the fight’s good, I won’t care,” his tone making the statement sound more like a warning.

  Surrounded by his team and a few others, Sheko arrived at his reserved pit. Phantasm was already there, impatiently lounging in a corner that somehow appeared darker than it should have in the small waiting room. As soon as he spotted Sheko, Phantasm raised his arm.

  “Give it,” he demanded.

  Sheko immediately understood but feigned ignorance. “Give what?”

  “My shadow medium.”

  “How do I know you won’t run off with it?”

  “I’m already here—that was the deal. So give it.”

  “The deal was for a duel. A best-of-three deathmatch sound good to you?”

  “Sure, fine. Let’s get on with it, then. The gem—now.”

  “I’ll give it to you when we get inside. Then you can’t escape.”

  “Such a paranoid coward. You think everyone is as big a loser as you? Fine. It changes nothing, so I’ll accommodate you. But when I beat you, I’m coming for your head. And if I find out you didn’t get the message the first time, I’ll come back. Over and over, until you do.”

  Phantasm left for his side of the arena, and Sheko went to his.

  As Sheko entered the pit, he was caught off guard by the crowd. Usually, around 30 people watched his matches, but today was different. His former raid members had come in force, bringing friends along. Among the spectators, Sheko spotted the tailor who had made his coat, likely there to see his creation in action. Sheko could understand his excitement—he, too, hoped his investment would pay off.

  What surprised him most was the dozen or so spectators who seemed to be there solely for Phantasm. Some carried the same dark aura as him, watching silently. However, most were clearly players who Phantasm had wronged in the past. Sheko guessed as much when he noticed a group of four behind him, hurling insults that matched the personas of the illusory team Phantasm had brought to the raid. Not only had Phantasm lied to the raid, but he had also impersonated other players, tarnishing their reputations with his actions.

  The dome closed around the arena, and the battle began. Phantasm wasted no time, shouting, “Happy now? Give me the gem!”

  With the battle underway and Phantasm accepting my terms, there’s no reason to keep the gem. For now.

  Sheko no longer had any use for his lethal springs—not that they had ever been particularly effective. He placed the gem into a spring and threw it at Phantasm, who jumped away as it flew across the 60 meters between them.

  Not as stupid as I expected.

  The spring landed inert. Phantasm retrieved the gem, sneering. “Trying more dirty tricks, are you?”

  He placed the gem into his glove and activated his embryo. Gold light mixed with the rapidly growing shadows spreading beneath him. To gloat, now that he was in his boosted state, Phantasm kicked the lethal spring. It locked onto his leg, but instead of cutting him, it simply pressed against his boot. With a single finger, he snapped the cord effortlessly.

  Yeah, okay, that’s pretty freaky strength. And that throw was crap. I aimed for shoulder height, but the coat locked up. Guess there’s not enough magic in the world to make crystals flexible like leather.

  Taking into account the resistance from the coat, Sheko dashed forward as more shadows were conjured by Phantasm. Each shadow was only about half as tall as the one Phantasm had summoned during the raid, but they were significantly faster. Sheko met the shadows 20 meters from Phantasm, throwing three flaming knives through the shadows and toward Phantasm.

  There was no fancy trick or physics-defying flight pattern this time. The shadows were momentarily stunned while Phantasm parried the knives with a metal staff.

  Fire is extra effective against them—good to know. He probably equipped the staff using Instant Equip, which means…

  Sheko jumped through a gap between the shadows to create some distance while adding pressure by throwing a pair of force-enchanted knives. Phantasm moved to block, but the staff spun out of his grip, spinning at supersonic speed and almost shattering his hand and launched itself 20 meters away. The knives struck Phantasm simultaneously, pushing him back but causing no visible damage.

  that he cannot use instant equip for another minute

  Even with Sting Like a Bee at level 5, which reduced Phantasm’s END by 50% of Sheko’s DEX, the attacks weren’t effective—yet.

  The shadows doubled back to attack him again, but Sheko was warned by his Danger Sense and dodged five attacks with ease. Red Cape boosted his AGI by 25% and his other stats by 15%. Thinking quickly, Sheko activated Seeing Red against all five shadows simultaneously, burning more than 10% of his SP in an instant.

  Seeing Red was an aggro management skill from the Greater Matador job. It afflicted recent attackers with the Berserk debuff for one minute. While useless in a 1v1 fight, as Phantasm was about to discover, it could wreak havoc on summoners and tamers.

  Phantasm had finally set up his counterattack, conjuring 20 illusory clones to hide among. The illusion overwhelmed Sheko’s Danger Sense, causing him to lose track of the real Phantasm. However, he didn’t have to search long, as Phantasm shouted from behind him, “What are you doing, stupid shadow? Attack him, not me!”

  One of the shadows struck Phantasm while attempting to attack Sheko. The warning didn’t help much, as moments later, Phantasm closed the distance and was right next to Sheko. Still turning and dodging shadow attacks, Sheko noticed Phantasm preparing a devastating right hook aimed at his chest.

  Just as the fist was about to connect, Sheko vanished in a sonic boom, reappearing behind Phantasm. His heavy-duty boots were burnt and shredded from the friction. He threw four flaming knives, which spun around him, taking down one shadow and stunning the others before homing in on Phantasm.

  Phantasm had already anticipated the incoming attack and managed to dodge the knives with ease. The entire exchange, from start to finish, lasted about 15 seconds.

  “Let’s see how you handle this,” Sheko announced, his eyes locked onto the real Phantasm as the illusory clones converged on them. Phantasm prepared for another surprise attack, but Sheko remained calm, dodging sluggish and discordant shadow attacks.

  Sheko then leaped into the air, clearing more than 20 meters as he avoided another wave of shadows. Maxing out his Red Cape ability, he soared over some of the lower seats, pulling out his electrum spear.

  This is the first test run for this. Hopefully, it’s worthwhile.

  In addition to aggro management skills, the Greater Matador job granted Sheko access to martial spells called flourishes. These didn’t use SP but instead consumed Red Cape buff stacks. Now, Sheko was about to show Phantasm the first flourish he had unlocked.

  Phantasm quickly jumped to follow Sheko, but it was already too late. Without worrying about friction in the air, Sheko unleashed another sonic boom as he spun and threw the spear. Empowered by Odysseus’s Spin and the Return Strike flourish at maximum power, the spear tore a fist-sized hole through Phantasm’s chest, sending him crashing to the ground before exploding under its own force.

  Phantasm lay motionless on the arena floor as Sheko landed. His left arm, which had thrown the spear, hung limp, profusely bleeding. His hand was completely gone. The shadows resumed their attacks, and dodging them became challenging again until Sheko built back his speed—only to lose it once more as white light enveloped his arm, sealing the bleeding wounds.

  It was his second flourish, Second Wind, which let him healbased on the number of Red Cape stacks he sacrificed, once activated it had a cooldown of one minute. While his arm remained limp and amputated at the wrist, he was no longer at risk of bleeding out. In contrast, Phantasm seemed beyond recovery. Repairing massive damage—like a missing heart, lungs, or broken bones—was no easy feat. By all accounts, Phantasm was on the verge of death, while Sheko was fully healed.

  Even so, Phantasm proved more durable than expected. He sprang back to his feet.

  “What was that spear? I couldn’t move at all,” he demanded.

  “Well, just a little bit of paralysis. Guess that’s what happens when it deals massive damage. Why did you even stand up? You’re about to die in a few seconds anyway. Don’t worry—you still have a chance to win.” Sheko mustered the most encouraging tone he could, clearly trying to get under Phantasm’s skin.

  “This whole fight lasted a few seconds! You’re unarmed, one-armed, and have no weapons that can hurt me,” Phantasm spat back, blood dripping from his mouth. He started healing himself with the Revitalize spell from the Earth Priest job—the same spell Sheko had seen Tsuno use before.

  Something clicked for Sheko. He threw another volley of knives at the four remaining shadows, tearing them apart before speaking again.

  “You’re at best half correct. Anyway, I can beat you unarmed easily. You aren’t level 700, or whatever it says—at least, not the way you play. You’re a half-assed one-man party, all in service of wanting to be the best. You might even have a shot at that—your embryo is amazing—but you’re wasting it by pretending to be more than an egotistical jerk. No one owes you adoration. You’re not entitled to do whatever you want.

  “You talk about teaching me a lesson, but there’s an entire section of the stands here just to see you lose. I don’t know how you are in real life, but you’re a horrible player to be around. And if you’re young, you should stop before things get worse.”

  Enraged, Phantasm tried to attack Sheko but found himself unable to move forward.

  “My whole week here, and I didn’t reveal my second form ability. I hope you appreciate that I saved it for you since you think you’re so special.”

  Sheko had prepared for this. Using the marks left on Phantasm by the spear and his footsteps, Sheko linked him to the arena floor, making movement impossible. Or so he thought. Phantasm, aided by some skill, shattered the arena floor and freed himself, charging toward Sheko.

  Even so, Sheko was ready. Barefoot and unable to move at full speed, he dodged with Odysseus, barely escaping danger. Before Phantasm could attack again, his injuries caught up with him. He collapsed to the ground and died.

  Both fighters appeared on their sides once more—Sheko with his head held high, while Phantasm looked completely exhausted, both physically and mentally. Even so, Phantasm activated his embryo’s ultimate ability once more. However, no shadows emerged from his feet.

  Still dejected, he slowly raised his head to look at Sheko, who was holding the shadow medium gem in his grasp. Fully expecting Phantasm’s confusion, Sheko spoke.

  “Real nice of the arena to make sure you get all your items back after the fight. Lets you go all out, right?”

  Before Phantasm could demand the gem back, Sheko dropped it to the ground and crushed it under the weight of his fully intact electrum spear.

  What followed was a disheartening experience for everyone except Phantasm’s most dedicated detractors. He released a scream that quickly turned into sobbing as he threw himself at Sheko in a desperate attempt to rip him apart.

  Their speed was comparable at base, but Sheko’s skill was leagues ahead. It became evident to all that Phantasm was just a child—barely aware of his own fighting. He lashed out with strength that could shake the ground, but without clever tricks or shadows to preoccupy Sheko, all that strength was wasted.

  Sheko moved with precision, marking Phantasm with quick stabs of his spear before tearing apart the marked spots with Odysseus. The fight was relentless but one-sided, and soon enough, Phantasm fell once more.

  When the arena reset their positions, Phantasm continued to sob, overwhelmed and broken. Then, without a word, he simply logged out.

  Sheko had won, but the victory felt worthless. He couldn’t shake the bitter truth—he had been a hypocrite. In every way that mattered, he realized he was worse than Phantasm.

  Sheko was supposed to be the adult in this situation, but he had let the moment take hold of him. He’d acted manipulative, treating Phantasm like an NPC in a D&D session. But Phantasm wasn’t an NPC—he was a kid. A bit of a jerk, sure, but whatever goodwill might have been guiding Sheko’s actions was marred by his own need to bask in the spotlight.

  It was Kai’s problem, not Sheko’s. He’d caused real-world harm for no good reason.

  All Kai wanted now was to try to make amends. He retrieved Phantasm’s reward chest from his newly purchased inventory and logged out, leaving Mai a message:

  “Give Phantasm his chest if he comes back.”