I reach Min-Jae just as he catches up to a smaller group of people. Once again I hide my mana and watch from a distance.

Without hearing their words, I can only guess at their conversation, but it's not all that difficult. The people he’s confronted seem to be from Hard difficulty, specifically from the group that challenged his Avatar just a few moments ago.

At first, Min-Jae seems non-aggressive even though I can sense his wildly swirling mana and see his clenched fists.

The situation escalates after a short exchange, and the group ends up easily pushed to the ground by a gravity field. Yet even then, the boy seems confused. There is none of the satisfaction he expected, just a dirty feeling, I would think.

It's hard for me to guess because I'm just an asshole who doesn't care about anyone outside of his own family and friends. If someone had asked me one of those trolley questions like, "Would you rather save 1 friend or a million people you don't know?" I would let the strangers die. Without hesitation.

Of course, the situation would be shitty and I like to think that I would feel something, but I have my priorities straight. That's one of the main reasons I want to be so strong. So things like that won’t happen to me, leaving me to do whatever I want.

Min-Jae, on the other hand, is young, troubled, and had a difficult childhood, forever caught in the shadow of his siblings. You can even see it in his choice of subclass, Envy, and the ways he’s been trying to emulate me.

I don’t think it's too big of a problem. Min-Jae will grow and change, and these experiences will serve to guide him in the future. He is still young, and looking for his place in this world.

So for now, I don’t bother to intercept him even as he waves his hand, uprooting and crushing a few of the surrounding trees. He stomps angrily, causing more trees to fall under the resulting gravitational waves.

Then he almost seems to flee from the people at his feet, with an indescribable look on his face.

(They’re about to challenge Savant,) Sophie says over the web some time later.

(I see. I won't be watching this time,) I answer and then disconnect from the web. Keeping an eye on the man in front of me, I create a chair from mana and take a seat opposite him.

“You didn’t watch my Avatar fight. Why?” I ask Savant.

Sitting in a cheap camping chair, he returns my gaze.

“It cost me a few uncommon items,” he says in lieu of an answer as he touches it carefully. “It’s only been a year, but I have this weird feeling of nostalgia seeing these items from Earth.”

“It’s just a chair.”

“Yes, it’s just a chair.”

He stands up and throws a few logs into the fire he’s built nearby, over which hangs an iron kettle with water coming to a boil inside. Nearby, he has a glass with a tea bag prepared.

“I wanted to observe everyone. To collect some information I could use during the Duels,” he says.

“But?”

“I changed my mind. It was mostly thanks to you. I still think my way is better, but watching you during the 2nd event, I came to the question - why am I being so timid and nervous?”

When the water starts boiling, he pours it into the glass and then leans back in his cheap camping chair, his eyes turning back to me.

“I’m stronger than any of you.” He declares like he’s speaking an absolute truth. “The moment I entered the 2nd Floor, Champion Tristan took an interest in me. Through my talent, I became his disciple and grew quickly. Before he died, he declared me a Champion candidate. I am strong,” he repeats.

Silence fills the small camp Savant has set up in the forest. A spoon clinks as he starts mixing the water in his glass.

In a quieter voice, he continues, “I don’t need to see more, learn more, prepare more. I will win even without the effort. I want to confirm that.”

“So you're second guessing yourself and want to prove that you are the strongest? How human,” I reply.

“It’s highly possible. I'm human too in the end. So what’s your reason, why aren’t you watching my Avatar fight?” He asks.

“Same here. I mean, if I thought you were going to lose your additional rewards, I would probably watch, just to laugh, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. Plus it wouldn’t be as satisfying to beat you.”

“Pride?”

I nod, “Patience, Diligence, or Pride?”

“Patience.”

“I see.”

“Yes.” Taking a sip, he looks at me, “You haven’t been declared Champion candidate yet, right?”

“Nope, but I might try to have someone declare me an Absolute candidate.”

He swirls the tea inside of his glass and nods, “I see.”

“So, is that the damaged Sword of Aeons?” I ask, gesturing at the broken sword on his hip.

“Yes.”

“The best mana battery of Eladore?”

“Yes, though I think it’s weaker than it should be. The system is probably limiting items and the like to arcane at maximum within the tutorial.”

“That’s unfortunate. Still, I will buy it from you. 100 thousand shards.”

“No.”

“You could bet it. I’ll throw in my ax and shards and you bet your broken, and certainly useless-to-you, sword, winner takes all.”

“No.”

“Are you worried?”

“No.”

He seems to be getting a tiny bit annoyed. It's quite fun. Is that how people feel, teasing me when all I want is to be left alone? I think I understand a little now.

Out of nowhere, I feel a ping at the edge of my detection as Tacita enters the area. She is still hiding, but after our standoff, it doesn’t feel as annoying as before. The girl is surprisingly understanding. As long as I try not to trigger her, she tries not to trigger me.I mean, she will still try to stab me in the neck if I cross that invisible line, but as weird as it sounds, I think that's fine.

A bit later, Savant takes notice as she passes through his domain which he keeps activated at all times. Of course, it's not at its full power, but it seems to be enough to detect Tacita, who hasn’t been making the greatest effort. Still, [Dawn] seems like a really good skill.

“You are not going to watch them challenge you?” I ask Tacita.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

She shakes her head and sits on the ground to my left side and Savant’s right.

The fire crackles and the man sitting in the camping chair sighs.

Tacita’s hand moves and she uses a stick to draw on the ground.

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

“I mean, yeah, they’re probably going to lose, but won’t it be fun to watch? You could also watch them challenge this guy here and use the information to beat him later.”

( •̀ - •́)ᕤ

“She says she can take you on easily,” I translate for Savant’s benefit.

“I think at this point it's obvious that the winner of the 4th event is going to be one of us.” He pours more boiling water and then adds another tea bag. Then he opens five packages of sugar and pours them all in.

My teeth hurt watching that.

“There is Gareth, Sset, and Grumpy, but none of them are likely to win,” he says, thinking aloud while stirring his tea with his spoon.

His green eyes seem to shine in the light of the campfire, “Sset is strong at the range, but other than a few surprises, she can't take any of us up close. Not without a degree of preparation she won’t have. Gareth lacks damage output. He is also too slow to catch anyone here.”

Savant takes a sip and then adds two more packages of sugar, “Grumpy will probably win the duels during the second tournament if she grows properly. But right now she is lacking.”

(•̀ - •́ )

“Tacita disagrees.”

“She could still win, of course. But Grumpy will be very dangerous in a few years.”

As if I didn’t know that.

“What do you think?” I ask Tacita.

乁(ツ゚)ㄏ

“Yeah, same.”

“So what are you doing here?” Savant asks me.

“I was curious,” I say honestly. There is nothing more behind it. I just wanted to talk with this man who reached Beyond so early. Well, other than the one who started there.

Even now, he doesn’t feel that strong, to be honest. I know most of his favorite skills and I nearly beat him once. Yet I still get the same unnerving feeling every time I go over the fight and imagine it continuing with the new information I have.

It's exciting, and out of everyone here, he is the one I want to fight the most. Even more than Tacita, more even than Tess and Lily.

“And you?” Savant asks Tacita.

ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ

“I see.” He nods.

Unlike other people, he doesn’t do sudden movements while Tacita is nearby. Even his voice is calmer and softer. He also doesn’t get closer to her when he throws a piece of wood into the fire.

And his behavior towards me isn’t any different. I can’t bring myself to be annoyed by his actions, and I'm sure it's calculated on his part. He is clearly reading and observing me the same way I am him.

Having seen enough, I stand up, turning to him, and say, “You really need to lay off the sugar,” and with that last sentence, I use [Tether] to telepo…

Huh.

I use [Tether] to teleport away.

…

I use [Tether].

…

(≧▽≦)

I find myself unable to teleport within Savant’s domain. Somehow, sneakily, he cut off my connection to my anchor right when I was about to disappear.

( ´ ▽ ` )

Well, there goes my cool exit.

Savant, to make it worse, doesn’t even say anything, sipping on his glass of sugar as he watches me.

I sit back down. ”Do it again,” I say as I examine his domain and the way it sneakily blocked my skill. Right away, I activate my Mana Wavelength Iris and try to examine it deeper.

While Savant starts saying something, I create an extremely small anchor near one of the legs of his chair and start sending vibrating mana through it, stealthily weakening the leg.

After some time, I leave, Savant unwilling to show me how he cut off my access to my anchor. It's not surprising, but he’s still an asshole.

At least he didn't notice the damage I did to the leg of his precious chair. Unfortunately, it didn't break while I was watching, but it will probably happen sometime soon in the future. That's what he gets.

With people from Group 4 nearby, a notification finally pops up.

Congratulations, you have placed 1st in the 3rd event - Avatar Confrontation.

You may choose one of the three rewards if you decide to accept.

“I want to use them to enhance my final reward,” I say right away and the screen disappears.

At the same time, the four giant screens disappear as well.

As expected, Savant, Tacita, and Lily were not defeated. Sophie survived too, and from one point of view, I think people are scared of her more than anyone else.

I can see it in the way they look at her and the way they avoid her. Even some members of Hell difficulty seem to share in the sentiment. Mind manipulation seems to be just that despised, even among people who have very little experience with it.

Izzy and Maya both lost. Izzy was defeated by the strategy they tried to use for me and Maya lost when they tired her out. It could be different if they chose no restriction, and the challengers seem to realize that even as they defeated the Avatars.

But overall the mood seems good in lower difficulties, the event was fun for them even though they didn’t get the most juicy additional rewards.

Honestly, it's surprising considering that most of them died multiple times in the process. The reason might be the difference between how “death” feels during the event and in the common area. Having some experience with that, I would say that death in the common area feels much, much worse, and certainly feels more real.

It's possible that that’s the system at work.

The 4th event, Duels, will start in 24 hours. The 5th day of the tournament affords the opportunity to take a break and get to know your fellow tutorial attendees.

You will receive more information as the duels approach closer.

Well, it's time.

“Use minio… disciple summon,” I call.

The invitation was sent to your disciple. If accepted, your disciple will join your side for the following 24 hours!

“Where is she?” Tess asks curiously.

“She needs to accept the invitation.”

“That makes sense.”

I nod and then we wait. We're soon joined by Lily, Maya, and the rest of group 4 now that I think about it. It's kind of weird, to be honest, and I hope they don’t spook my disciple. At least we’re off to the side of the common area, far from the noise of others.

Your disciple has accepted your invitation. Creating an entrance!

A few seconds later, Vega steps out of a door we can't see.

Seeing her face carefully looking around and blossoming into a big smile as she spots me, hits surprisingly hard. The end of the 5th floor was just a short time ago, so why? I bet it’s because she is a kid. I can't bring myself to be mean to kids. Probably a result of my past. Well, I don't think that’s a bad thing, so I won't try to change it.

But damn, Nathaniel Gwyn, you are getting soft with some people. I need to beat up BenDover to feel manly again. That reminds me that I once again forgot about him. I wonder if he is sitting somewhere, scared, expecting me to come for him.

“Master!” Vega shouts and comes running on her short legs. I notice she glances at group 4, but once she sees me acting normal, she decides to ignore them as she comes to a stop in front of me. She lifts her arms so I can pick her up. Then she nestles her ear against my chest where my heart is.

“Minion,” I say seriously.

“It’s Vega, master!”

“Why do you feel stronger? You left close to level 40, so why are you 50-60?”

“Kaboom!”

“Don’t ‘kaboom’ me!”

At that moment, I hear shouts and screams nearby and sense a powerful presence appear in my domain. When I turn around, I find a giant wolf.

The wolf is pitch black and taller than the tips of the trees nearby. The golden eyes shine with surprising intelligence, and he is looking in a single direction.

At Biscuit, who is in Isabella’s arms.

(Human…no, Asshole! Let go of my master right away!) the powerful, and young voice shouts in our heads and probably those of everyone nearby.

Even though people around are panicking and preparing to fight, Biscuit doesn’t seem bothered in the least. He simply allows himself to be held by Isabella. As he does, with his legs hanging down and his tongue lolling, he almost looks as if he’s smiling with a cheeky look in his eyes.