EV B2 Chapter 32:

  I was entirely certain that the pain in my hip was a reversed placebo, and I forced myself not to limp as I walked back into the city from one of the many exits to the arena. It was nice to leave the building without being chased, and with little effort, I slipped into the crowd unnoticed.

  I had more than accomplished my goal. Challenging myself was necessary, but I had definitely made a bigger splash than I mainly wanted. Now, I was kicking myself for not having signed my stats. There were several things I could work on from thinking about the fight.

  As I wandered the streets, trying to put some distance between me and where I had just been, I realized I needed to be faster, stronger—something. Honestly, any sort of improvement would have probably helped against that wyvern. Of course, improving my stats depended more on what kind of fighter I wanted to be. If I had been a bit stronger, maybe I would have had an easier time getting through the scales, but I didn't think it really would have helped me that much. No, I also wanted more mana to use. Still, I remembered my class gave me more focus than anything else, so I wasn't exactly excited about putting my valuable free points there.

  I had also gotten some speed. I ruled out putting points into my charm stat. I figured that anything I could talk my way out of, I was already pretty decent at handling. Besides, I didn't think charm was a widespread stat type that people around here had unlocked, which gave me a massive advantage over everyone else. Still, I didn't want to specialize in it too heavily.

  I considered putting everything up to speed, but eventually, I decided that I wanted to allocate some to focus on it despite already receiving it from my class. I was pretty set on ignoring strength and constitution, though. At least from my previous experience—which might be recency bias talking—I didn't think increasing them would have prevented me from becoming more injured. My problem wasn't really doing damage when I had a weapon but rather hitting the weak spots, which could continuously be improved by moving faster or using more magic.

  I did want to specialize somewhat, so speed and focus it was. I just needed to check how many class levels I had gotten, and that would help. First, I needed a private place to perform the full status ritual.

  ***

  In the back room of some inn, I used one of the tables they had dedicated for patrols. I made sure the door was locked, and no one was watching. I even went so far as to use a variation on the disguise spell to form a general wall of light around me. It wasn't what the spell was made for, and it took a little effort to force it to do something like this, but it wasn't too tricky. I was relatively confident that no one would see the full status ritual, and when I rolled it out, I couldn't help but smile. Not only had I gained those four total levels, but my class had grown as well.

  Level: 27

  Status: Tier 4: Valhalla Proper

  Class: Arcane Fool, Lvl 19

  Subclass: N/A

  Traits:

  Incisive Gaze

  Loki's Champion

  Skills:

  Mana Perception Enhanced

  Spells:

  A Fool's Constitution

  Dance of the Jester

  Disguise

  Weapon proficiencies

  Sword: D-7

  Spear: F-2

  Striking: D-3

  Halberd: D-3

  Dagger: D-6

  Grappling: F-9

  Shield: D-9

  Stats

  Strength: 45

  Speed: 82

  Constitution: 44

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  Focus: 67

  Charm: 17

  Free Points: 28

  Blessing: Loki's Favor

  Strength: +2

  Speed: +2

  Constitution: +2

  Focus: +6

  Charm: +10

  Jester Shop Access

  Direct line access

  Additional effects: ???

  I noticed other changes, though. I had gained one strength, and the hit I'd taken must have done a lot for my constitution, as I gained four, even though my constitution was already relatively high. My charm had even moved up by a couple of points. Speed and focus hadn't budged, except for the boosts I got from my class leveling. I had increased a few proficiencies here and there, but nothing too noteworthy.

  ***

  The rest of the day, I wasn't exactly sure what to do. I now had some money and could potentially go buy some more spells—maybe something offensive or an ability to create more damage. So, I went and visited Phil the Gnome in his spell shop. We had a nice time catching up as he closed the shop when I came in.

  Eventually, I got a somewhat simple Arcane Piercer spell. It was relatively cheap, as I didn't have that much money, but it would allow me to put an edge of arcane energy over any sort of weapon I had. That would help pierce through any sort of physical armor, passing through it as if it were not there. The physical sword blade would still stop, and I could only extend the arcane influence from the edge, maybe an inch or so. Heavy plate armor would potentially protect people—for the most part—if they had inch-thick armor. But most armor wasn't that thick. Most of the time, it was an eighth of an inch thick or something like that. Once the blade hit flesh, well, things would start to stack up. Also, was the armor loose, or did it use a lot of padding? There were several factors that could influence how effective it was.

  I was told that not every wyvern or draconic-style beast would be affected by it, as several of their types of scales were magical in nature or had magical properties that would interact with the Arcane Piercer. It would still do more damage than simple steel, but it wouldn't be able to just slide right through like it would for most human armor. This seemed to be the best part of the kit I could have to deal with damage directly. Apparently, I could also work on making the arcane edge cut non-living material as well. However, that would massively decrease the efficiency, cost, and distance I could hold the edge. But if I could basically wield something like a lightsaber—well, that was pretty broken, wasn't it?

  After that, I went around and, after shoring up my weaknesses both with stats and my new spell, I completed several of the tasks I had picked up for the temple. It didn't take particularly long, as I knew most of what I was doing. Still, there were things I had to take care of.

  By the time evening rolled around, I found myself with nothing that urgently needed doing. So, I participated in one of Valhalla's favorite pastimes—getting drunk.

  I found a bar that was not too fancy but not too dirty either, where the mead and ale were tolerable, and some skald was playing songs on a lute with people singing along. I was able to fade into the background for the most part and not pull too much attention to myself while enjoying the music, the drinks, and making a few friends at the bar.

  After several hours and a couple of lighthearted bar fights, I was ready for bed. It wasn't hard to find a room and crash.

  I slept hard through the night, and the next morning, I woke up with a mild hangover and a craving for breakfast food.

  When I got downstairs, I realized that it was a little bit later than I thought, and I would need to run. I scarfed down a plate of hash browns, eggs, sausage, toast, and a bunch of other food. After paying, I dashed out and located a main thoroughfare—a double-wide street that went in a straight line, which made it easier to cross the various boroughs of Valhalla. I hadn't used it much, as most of the time, I wasn't going to one particular destination. Instead, I was either following a trail or finding the nearest shop that was convenient.

  After I oriented myself, I ran along with the crowd, sometimes flashing over or around people, using my mana sparingly. My increased focus made this extremely easy until I reached the designated arena. Checking the posted time for the events, I saw that I had made it with a few minutes to spare.

  Going in, I found the arena half empty. It was not exactly surprising, as I had not actually ever attended a graduation myself. I'd gone through two of them, but I hadn't bothered to see one. Honestly, I wasn't sure why anyone would. Maybe it was because it was the women's graduation? That would make sense, but I didn't see a bunch of creeps just watching. Also, the arena was not empty when I went through it.

  It wasn't something that I had particularly paid attention to, though. However, the stands were about half full, and the crowd was nowhere near as excited as at some of the big matches I had seen when high-level people duked it out. But they were more interested than they were in the average fight between very low-level members at a random time slot. When I looked around at the crowd, I saw why. Almost everyone had some sort of robe or insignia showing that they were part of one god's faction or another. There were several unnamed people who sat around looking bored, who I presumed were either waiting for the next show or just curious.

  I slipped into a seat and settled down to wait. I even saw someone with robes that had a jester emblazoned on them. People were giving him a wide berth and dirty looks, but it was interesting to know that Loki actually had a public side of the organization as well. It was good because otherwise, people would probably assume that I was a member of Loki's Cult of the World Eater, looking out for potential new recruits.

  I could feel my heartbeat increasing as the ceremony started. Unlike the Men's Lesser Hall, it wasn't a tournament, so we weren't watching people fight in the arena below. Rather, it was an actual graduation ceremony. A somewhat mystical recording of the students' fight with a teacher was played.

  The fights were not very interesting. It was simple magic, and I had already seen mages of higher levels put on much more impressive performances. The current fight ended, and the successful warrior joined the few who already had their accomplishments shown. There was a lull in the action and chatter of conversation from the stands as we all waited for the next graduate to come up and be recognized.

  I could only think of one reason why I was here, but I kept my hopes low. Honestly, I thought about contacting Loki, but I wasn't sure if he'd tell me. He seemed to like giving surprises, and if I was right about who had set this up, he hadn't told me for a reason. Why--

  My inner monologue cut off as my mind went blank, filled with static, as she walked up onto the stage.