AA. 169

Congratulations! You have won the hunt!

Your performance and victory have earned you 6 Schema Tokens, 1100 Schema Credit, a Cleansing Ticket, and a star-metal ingot.

The Cleansing begins in six weeks of your world’s time. Please create a team or join another’s roster. Everyone on the list will be teleported to the Cleansing when it begins, no matter their location or state. You may also pass your Cleansing ticket to another. If you’ve already registered with a team, you’ll have no choice but to accompany them into the arena.

Achieving first place in a high-value event has earned you 250 Ascension Points!

Your arena rank has increased to Bronze VIII!

The massive jump in his Bronze Gauntlet rank made Nil’s heart flutter harder than it already was. Achieving second place in the Cleansing would qualify for the Silver Gauntlet. If his team scraped third, less than a handful of victories in ordinary Bronze Gauntlet matches would score him the necessary Ascension Points to progress. From what he had heard, all teams that made it to the top three positions got Silver Ascension Tokens. Just about a year and a half had passed for Nil since he ascended to Bronze Realm. Now Silver was almost in reach. He was sure that he and his friends were on the verge of breaking some sort of record for their world.

You have earned 1 Silver Ascension Token, 5 Schema Tokens, 5000 Schema Credit for completing your quest.

It took one match and completing the quest to regain everything he had given Andrew for soul weapon materials and more. Nil intended to hand the star metal over to his friend. It would help with Selia’s chassis or one of his other teammate’s equipment. Star metal was among the few materials the Nexus allowed on Earth, but the government heavily regulated it. Nil couldn’t sell it if he wanted, and only Artisans had the power to transport materials to the Nexus.

The money mattered little to Nil. Bronze Danger-Level quests paid well, and he could also make a tidy sum off arena matches. The Nexus also paid him extraordinarily for his service, and the Forge’s monthly fees of two hundred credits—which mostly went to upkeep, salaries, and supplies, barely bothered him. It was approximately twenty-thousand Great British Pounds and would’ve made him balk as a civilian, but it was now an insignificant amount. 

Thanks to the many partnership and advertisement deals, Nil’s Earth-side savings continued to rise rapidly. Meanwhile, Nil had no expenses besides his premium, protected Holo-network fees, and a handful of subscriptions. He also found it amusing how fame got him everything he could ever want and more for free. No one wanted his money. It almost made sense how several famous Summoned athletes and celebrities went down a path of drugs, depravity, and worse. Boredom, bottomless funds, and the ability to conceal things from the law or public eye meant no fantasy or desire was beyond reach.

What excited him most was the Schema and Ascension Token. Nil now had over fifty of the former stashed away, and the time to use them all was almost here. Thanks to endless training, cultivation, and the Through Sheer Grit feat, he was able to increase all of his attributes—except Mind, which no longer mattered as much thanks to Toggled Supercharging—without the Schema’s assistance. All Silver Realm attributes demanded four tokens to grow. He expected to get them halfway to gold with what he had stored away. Nil also looked forward to whatever feat would come with his ascension to Silver.

“I told you so.” Selia kissed him once he returned from the arena backrooms. The healers hadn’t kept him for long. Nil had no injuries besides a few cuts and a minor concussion. Swift healing magic fixed everything. He also paid a few extra credits for a Cleansing spell. It purged all supernatural infections and alien bacteria or viruses that could’ve entered his system. The violent magic in the arena apparently bred powerful bugs. “There was always a cleansing ticket out there with your name on it.”

“It wasn’t even close this time,” Shawn said, clapping Nil on the back. It stung. Unlike Nil, Shieldmaster had natural Silver potential in Might—along with Gold in both Finesse and Spark. He had pushed all but Mind to Silver Realm, and it showed. “I didn’t think they’d three-on-one you, but you made it look easy.”

“It was three-on-two,” Nil replied. “I couldn’t have done it without Meatball. I think Eli was key to their strategy, and she kept him effectively busy, keeping them from getting in formation.”

“A spirit companion is part of their owner. That’s what the druids taught us anyway. You share the fruits of your cultivation with them.”

“Whatever it is, I’m glad the Source Gauntlets put in work,” Andrew said. “Good job, Sunny-boi. I’m proud of you.” He grinned. “I would’ve considered it an insult to my work if you failed. Like the amazing soul weapon upgrade I personally did for you wasn’t good enough.”

“Shut up, Andy.” Nil laughed. “Where’s Susan?”

“CIT stuff.” Andrew stiffened at the mention of her, hesitantly glancing at Selia. Nil sensed not all was good in their shared suite. Apparently, Susan had walked in on him, and Selia was talking about how Susan’s take on the weave matter was wrong. Things had been tense since. Now that the stress of getting a Cleansing ticket had passed, Nil wondered whether it was time he got involved. Susan was a close friend, and he hated the friction between her and Selia. Since neither woman had taken steps toward resolving things, and the silence had only made things fester, he believed intervention was necessary for group harmony.

“We should celebrate, though,” Andrew continued. “This is a significant accomplishment. Then it's back to the grind tomorrow. You lot train. I tinker. CIT investigates.”

“Not tonight,” Nil said. “Let me ascend my body first. Then we can have a proper celebration. I wouldn’t mind some food, though.” He glanced at Selia. “Would you mind ordering me some food? Cafeteria food. I’m starving. I’ll get a smoothie here and then follow.”

“Sure,” Selia replied. She appeared to understand that Nil wanted a moment alone with Andrew. “Let’s go, Shawn.”

The old friends found a quiet corner table after grabbing drinks. Nil got a thick smoothie to tie him over until dinner was served. Andrew got a light herbaceous beverage. It smelled citrusy and tempted Nil, but he wanted something with more body. It seemed Meatball’s Regenerate had made him hungrier than usual. The healing seemed to use the target’s calories to partially fuel itself.

“We need to fix this,” Nil said. “A month is too long for this to have gone on.”

“I know.” Andrew sighed. “I’m open to suggestions. Talking to Susan seems to have made things worse. It's like I know what I want to say, but everything comes out wrong.”

“Saying anything at all is dangerous. But we don’t have a choice.”

“You figure this out, Sunny-boi. I’m backing off. If you have ideas, I’m all ears.”

“And here I thought you were the one with the solution to all of our problems with the opposite sex.” A satisfied groan escaped Nil as he gulped down half of his smoothie. The banana and almonds gave it a thickness and flavor that helped fight off the ravenous clawing at the back of his stomach. “We need to figure out something soon. How are things going with the CIT stuff?”

“Good,” Andrew answered. “I think. It took Susan a while to get used to working under Cara Sue, but it seems they’ve fallen into a decent rhythm. They’ve narrowed down the symbiote’s movements to a heavy construction area near New Canary Wharf. Or that’s where the last two attacks were, at least. They haven’t detected any Cursed Energy moving out of the arena since then.”

“I wish they’d let me get involved.” Nil sighed. “Energy Instinct could—”

“They have something similar and are right about you staying out of it. If the symbiote really wants you and might be able to anchor like Layla things, it might get ugly.”

“Even more, the reason for me to get involved. I’m excellent and durable bait.”

“How about we head over to the cafeteria, Sunny-boi? I dropped your family a message after you won. They might be waiting for us as well.”

The pair headed over to the cafeteria, discussing the Hunt. There were a couple of close calls, but Nil was never in any real danger of loss. Things appeared dicey with the bat and summoner. She had practical tools, but none of them had sufficient power to put him down. Nil believed her best would’ve been to have the bat pick him while he was disoriented and struggling to use abilities and drop him off the sky island. The Wilson Ludus trio might’ve had a chance if they successfully caught Nil off guard, but Energy Instinct made it impossible.

Several of the Forge’s residents sat in the green patch—now called the meditation garden—as they passed. A two-story tall ash stood where Meatball had ascended to bronze. Its trunk, branches, and leaves had luminous gold and emerald veins running through it, and the arcane energy reminded Nil of Ashe. He was almost sure the drakeling had planted a daughter of Yggdrasil on Earth, and it was why the Nexus hadn’t forced them to remove the magical plants around the forge.

Besides his family, Isabella and Zora also joined them for dinner. Emily and Sam watched the event together since Udit didn’t stop them. Things appeared tense, but everyone seemed to put their issues aside their issues for Nil’s sake. Not much time had passed for most of them since he started his journey for a Cleansing ticket. They hadn’t been present for his anguish and narrowly missing out during previous attempts. However, it felt great to celebrate with all of them. 

Everyone stuck around long after dinner until Emily and Sam had to take off because it was a school night. Udit also left since, as the ludus manager, he didn’t get enough time off but didn’t seem to mind. Work kept his mind off whatever terrifying quest or training his children were currently pursuing. 

Afterward, Nil and Selia returned to his suite, where they had a more private celebration. She went to bed, and it was tempting to join her, but he went to the training building. The ascension rooms provided soothing, easy-to-sanitize space for the highly messy body ascensions. 

Nil lit the soothing prepared candles, put on some music, and made himself a hot bubble bath. The Forge stocked the ascension room well, providing salt and concoctions not available on the planet. Nil indulged, taking his time with all decisions and then settled in for the long ascension process.