THEOS

Spiros scratched the side of his neck, shrugged, and said, “Yeah. I’ll try it. Me and Arya kind of forgot to bring food, and this is definitely better than cooking some monster or scrounging for berries.”

“I’ll take some too.” Theseus said eagerly butting into the conversation.

“Well, I have more food than I can eat so, I guess it’s dinner time.” Luke shrugged, and with a flex of his will, entire boxes of the stuff came pouring out of his storage ring. Enough to feed a dozen mortals, and each one covered in stasis talismans keeping them fresh.

Cultivators actually required less sustenance than the average person, as they advanced, their need for sleep, food, and water would lessen until it all but disappeared when they reached the Saint-tier.

But, because they were cultivators, they could eat far, far more than the average mortal could. Luke wasn’t even sure where the calories went. No cultivator he had seen was in anything but glorious physical shape, and more than a few inhaled practically inhaled one buttery and doughy delicacy after another.

Honestly, it seemed a little unhealthy, but seeing as it meant that he could literally eat to his heart's content without getting sick, he wouldn’t be complaining– ever. It was one of the better perks of their occupation as far as he was concerned.

It almost made up for all the danger and stress that came with the act of shedding his mortal limits and ascending to divinity– almost. Only actually becoming a god, and finally being free from the rat race he had found himself in would make the struggle worth it. Anything less than the ultimate prize was just consolation until he actually made it.

“We need to find a better spot to eat than here. There's too much cover for any attackers and we have a lot of scrolls.” Arya interrupted them before they could dig in.

“I can take care of that.” Theuses grinned, and shot towards the ground. A ring of water appeared at his feet, and rapidly expanded with him at the epicenter.

Luke watched, stunned as one after another every tree in a kilometer radius fell to the ground. If that wasn’t enough, Theseus activated the spell he had won in the earlier stage and burned everything he had cut to ash. The warrior tier flames being far more effective at incinerating the mortal tier wood than any regular fire could even dream of being.

Then, before the smoke could even begin to irritate their lungs or eyes, a dome of water surrounded them, and ballooned its way over smoldering ash that had once been a forest. Soaking the soot and coal and filtering all the pollutants out of the air.

“No more cover for anyone to hide in.” Theseus proclaimed when he was done with his grand work. His arms spread to his side, a wide smile splitting his face in two, and his chest heaving with exertion.

I can do that too, kinda… But, holy fuck. Thought Luke, impressed in spite of himself. The whole affair had taken less than five minutes from start to finish, and had completely changed the environment on a very impressive scale.”

“That was a waste of mana and of a spell.” Spiros said, looking at the Son of Poseidon with narrowed eyes.

Obviously. He’s just showing off how much stronger he is than us… Which might be more than I thought. If I end up fighting him in the next round, it's going to be seriously hard.

Fuck… I need to advance my technique and fast.

Or I can just eliminate him now… No. Luke shut the thought down as fast as it came. Theseus had proven himself thick headed, but he wasn’t dumb. He wouldn’t expend all his mana on something stupid like burning trees and not leave anything in the tank for one, or even all of them, trying something in his weakened state.

They were allies in theory, but in the back of their heads they were all thinking the same thing. That they were in a competition and there could only be so many winners.

The glimmer of moving metal to his right caught Luke’s eye, and he saw Ella not so subtly flex her wings, and straighten her sword. Not enough to indicate a desire to attack, but a subtle warning, letting all of them know that she was ready to fight back if need be.

She had been so silent since the others had come that Luke had almost forgotten she was there at all, and truth be told he would be nervous too if he were suddenly surrounded by strangers. Still her actions instantly changed the atmosphere, with both Theseus and Spiros suddenly on guard.

More surprisingly, he found Arya looking right at him, a knowing glint in her eyes, even as she averted her gaze and looked at Theseus instead and began to subtly rub the hilt of her dagger with her thumb.

Whether she was signaling that she would have Luke’s back if he did try something, or warning him away from trying it, he wasn’t sure. If he had to guess though, he would pick the former rather than the latter.

Theseus hadn’t exactly made the best first impression, and among all of them Luke had the greatest reason to want him gone. The Son of Poseidon had eliminated Rex, and on top of that, they never really had the chance to finish discussing if they wanted him with them in the first place. So he could understand where Arya was coming from.

But, Arya and Spirod had also spent a couple hours alone with Theseus. Which was its own can of worms as far as loyalty went.

This is such a cluster fuck.

Either way, if we do attack him, he’ll take out at least one of us. Which is a no go. Me and Spiros need to make it to the next round, and I’d prefer Arya make it to the next one as well.

It’s already bad enough that Rex got eliminated, it’s not worth risking the rest of us to get rid of him or even bothering to start something about it now. Like him or not, it’s just safer to have him with us than against us. Besides… He isn’t terrible.

“Alright, let’s eat!” Luke said, clapping his hands together, and donning the most charming smile he could in an effort to get everyone to relax.

Thankfully it worked. The moment of tension passed, noticed but unremarked upon, and they all settled into a loose formation in the newly expanded clearing.

In lieu of tables and chairs, all of them propped themselves up with their mana and began to scarf down the food. It was a way to dine, not quite as comfortable as sitting down on a cozy chair in front of a table, but acceptable.

As they ate, Luke’s mind wandered to what had been troubling him since he had returned from his side quest.

He was beyond curious about where the three of them had come from, but his questions could wait.

Especially since the rather distinctive scroll shaped bulges the three of them had in their robes were very telling of their activities. Luke didn’t know why or how, but each of them had come back with scrolls of their own. Four of them in total, unless one of them had hidden a scroll somewhere creative.

Considering the looks Arya and Spiros were giving Ella though, he wasn’t the only one waiting to ask questions either.

I bet every cultivator from the archipelago has seen Arke and Ella looks like a younger version of her. They’re definitely going to have questions, even if she hadn’t just appeared. Which honestly, works pretty well for me. I can learn the answers to all the questions I want, without having to ask them. Underrated ability, that.

“So… what’s the story with you?” Spiros asked in between a bite.

“Uhhh.” Then like a deer caught in headlights Ella turned to Luke to do the explaining.

“Oh, right. Her name is Ella. I ran into her on the way here. She even helped us get another scroll. So, I was hoping she could join us. What do you think?” Luke said, phrasing it like a request, while meeting each of their eyes with what he hoped was a deadpan stare that brokered no argument. Technically they were all a team, and if they said no, he would try to convince them otherwise with words, but he wasn’t willing to escalate the issue further than that.

What he would do, was give Ella the scroll they had taken from the Spartan. Both as an offering for not eliminating him when he was running on fumes, and for being good company. He fingered he owed her that much.

Luckily for all of them, it didn’t come to that.

“We could use another girl.” Arya said with a smile.

Immediately after Spiros shrugged in acceptance, and seeing that he was outnumbered Theseus nodded as well. Even if he didn’t seem thrilled about it.

“So, where did you guys go?” Luke asked.

“Oh you wouldn’t believe it.” Spiros grinned. “An hour after you left, this monster came running right after us. Some kind of lion, but its skin was impenetrable. Anyway, it had two scrolls strapped to its collar, one of each color, and there were a bunch of people chasing it for them. Apparently the person who challenged it initially failed and got eliminated, so now it's just running towards people who don’t have any scrolls, while the people with scrolls find it and run after it. We didn’t have a lot of mana, but it didn’t seem right that you were out alone while we were just sitting here, so we went after it too.”

That sounds like the nemean lion. Didn’t Heracles fight one of those in the myths too? And I guess it isn’t too weird that there would be one of those in the trial. But, hydras and now the lion, seems like there's some kind of theme. Huh.

“Sounds hard to beat. How’d you guys do it? Did you make it choke on something, did you strangle it, drown it?” Luke asked.

“Oh we didn’t beat it. That would be crazy” Theseus scoffed. “The thing was way too fast. But we took the scrolls from everyone who was flying after it and came back here.”

“Huh. I guess that works. What scrolls did you get?”

Wearing matching grins, the three of them reached into their robes and pulled out the loot. Revealing one black scroll and three white scrolls.

Luke whistled in appreciation.

“Okay. Combining that with what I managed to get, we have nine scrolls total. Four complete pairs and we’re missing a white one. That’s… pretty good.” Luke said.

“No, it’s really good.” Theseus corrected him. “We’d be all done if it weren’t for your new friend, and could focus the rest of our energy resting up and defending our prize.”

“That’s not a big deal though. With nine scrolls here, we should draw one or two more people. So it’s not a problem.” Luke said.

Arya shook her head. “There aren’t many people in the trial who’ll attack five people by themselves. Not when there are lower risk options.”

“I disagree. We can put the scrolls somewhere and ambush people from a hidden spot. Me and Ella already baited that one guy, and I can guarantee others will bite too. It hasn’t even been a full day since this round started, so there’s plenty of time left until the first winners are teleported out. We can do it.” Luke argued.

“I’m good with whatever.” Spiros said with a yawn. “For now… I barely have any mana left, and I’m tired. Let’s just figure out how we’re dividing the shifts for the scrolls so we’re all holding onto them for an equal amount of time. We also need to decide on a sleep schedule, so that some of us can get some rest, while the rest of us keep watch. To be safe, let's have three people awake and two asleep at any given time. Yeah? Also, is this the spot we’re going to stick to?”

“Well, Theseus did clear it out, and there are a bunch of monsters everywhere else I’ve been. We can move tomorrow if we want, but for now let's just stay here. But you're right, we should rest up a bit too.” Luke said, realizing just how eager to sleep he was.

It was hard to keep time with multiple teleports, but it had been more than thirty hours since he had left Sylcra, and a good chunk of that time had been spent physically exerting himself.

Had he still been a mortal, he would have long ago been laid out in exhaustion. As it was, he could keep pushing for a little longer if the need arose. At the same time however, he really didn’t want to.

That in mind, Luke reached into his ring, and removed a sleeping bag. “I’ll sleep first. Please don’t stab me while I’m unconscious.”