Chương 68: Advancement

I stare at the bracer as it anchors me to the ground. Veins bulge and muscles tense as I pull up, but the thing barely lifts from the ground before I exhale and it goes back down. What's going on here!? How heavy is this thing? The second my mana exits the formation, the weight releases, returning the bracer to its still-heavy normal.

"What happened!?" Brax rushes closer, watching anxiously.

"Ugh." I stretch my back.

"I think that formation is related to gravity." He nods seriously.

"That makes sense. It is your strongest affinity." Curious, I send my mana into a different formation. The entrance to this one lies at the back of the bracer, near my elbow. This one is simple, taking a single loop around my arm before returning. It's at least twenty times smaller than even Stone Pillar. The loop completes, and the metal warps. Like before, it melts and takes on a mind of its own. It spreads over my elbow, extending an inch past it.

On the front, it envelops my hand and pushes my fingers into a fist. The metal morphs, taking on the shape of a cylinder, similar to a hydraulic press. Childish joy fills my heart. My grin grows wider. At the front of the gauntlet, a short, stubby pyramid takes form, clearly created to direct the force of a blow onto a single point. The entire process takes only a second. Both Brax and I stare at the finished product in wonder.

As if created by an ultra-minimalist advanced society, the seamless metal curves past my elbow and down my arm, following the natural shape and contours. Snug. I wave my arm around, feeling the balance. Somehow, holding it up this long is making my arm ache. That's through triple-digit strength and endurance. And a handful of body augments. And the stat increases from control tame. These things are heavy. I copy my actions and activate the other hand. Another second passes, and the same changes take place.

Brax lunges forward and grabs my left gauntlet in both hands, his eyes squeezing shut without a word. His face falls immediately.

"What? What is it?" I ask with concern. He sighs and droops.

"There are protections on it, I can't look at the formations anymore." I raise an eyebrow.

"Isn't that good?"

"Not for me." His downcast expression makes me chuckle. I reach out to rustle his hair. He swings his head back, avoiding the giant slab of white metal swinging at his head. I wince and pull it back.

"Oops. My bad."

"Please be careful. My fortitude is under twenty. Even a weak movement from you could kill me." An image of what I did to the Royal Guardsman flashes through my mind.

"Yeah, sorry." He doesn't seem too concerned. I go back into the gauntlet and look at the remaining formations. Both of them are close to the front. One is simple, like the one that makes it transform. The other is complex, though not near as complex as the gravity formation taking up eighty percent of the gauntlet. I try the complex one, filling it to the brim. The familiar click sounds in my mind, and the mana evaporates. Along with it, my exhaustion grows ever so slightly. It must have taken my stamina.

Didn't know that was possible. A pale, grey, wispy energy emerges from the fist of the gauntlet, slowly shifting around it.

"That's force magic." Brax says. The words bring my attention to my earring, which I still haven't used even once. For a few seconds, I stare at the wispy energy as it fades. Brax looks at me like I'm stupid.

"What?" I give him an offended look.

"It's force magic. On a gauntlet. You have to punch to make it work, it's kinda obvious."

"Hmph." I turn away and activate it again. Once again, stamina is sapped from my body. The ethereal energy forms, hanging around the head of the gauntlet, just like before. I wave it around, but it sticks firmly. Taking a deep breath, I pull my arm back and punch the air. At the peak of the hook, my fist collides against the air, as if there's an invisible punching bag. The energy doesn't do the same, shooting off the front of the gauntlet like a bullet.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. It flies through the air, coiling around itself. At a reasonable speed, it collides against one of the grand, golden doors to the throne room. The impact sends the door shooting open about a foot before it slows to a stop. It doesn't seem like much, but I know how heavy those ornate doors are. It's powerful.

"Yes!" I thrust my gauntlet mightily into the air.

"Ranged attack acquired! That's one weakness down!"

"Yeah, I was wondering how you dealt with archers." He looks over to the corpse of the royal longbowman and nods to it.

"How'd you deal with that guy?" I wave him off.

"Ah, I just dodged him. One of his arrows blew my arm off, but it regrew, so it's no biggie." He gives me a weak, incredulous look.

"Uh-huh?"

"Yup!" I give him a beaming smile. He holds his expression. God, I love messing with him.

"What, don't believe me?" I act offended.

"No?" He looks unsure, as if I surprise him with incredible things on a regular basis. I smile evilly, walking to the center of the room and picking up a certain item off the ground. Anxiousness is clear on his face as I walk back to him, hiding the item behind my back. He steps backward.

"What are you doing?" From behind my back, I hold out my own severed limb, hand limply hanging from my forearm.

"Ugh!" He jerks back in pure disgust, shielding his eyes.

"What is that!? Whose arm is that!?"

"Didn't I say? It's mine."

"What!? H-how did you-" Curiosity slowly replaces disgust.

"Your healing skill is that powerful? Already?" His shocked gaze snaps to the arm. I shake my head and wave him away.

"No, no. There was this super-strong healing potion in the king's bedroom." He relaxes.

"Oh."

"Speaking of, let's finish checking out my gauntlet so I can see the next area." I put on some bravado, but the suspense is really starting to get to me. Without waiting for his response, I send mana through the last formation, the simple one at the front. It completes and sends the mana back to me, just like the other one. The shallow, stubby pyramid at the front of the gauntlet wobbles and melts. It extends and re-hardens into a flat, foot-long blade. Incredibly thin, and a perfect angular triangle.

Just like that, another weakness is eliminated. This time, against impact resistance. I activate both of the morphing formations on the gauntlets, causing them to melt and collapse into the bulky bracers. Sweet. With that done, I walk past the throne.

"Alright, let's take a look." I gesture for Brax to follow. Both of us walk into the hallway lined with doors and emblems.

"Definitely system-made." Brax says.

"No way an actual castle would have symbols like that on every door."

"I call the one on the right. It's the king's room." Nudging him with my elbow, I nod to the right, at the end.

"I think I saw a few staves on the wall in the mage's room." The wonder in his eyes makes me chuckle. Both of us continue, walking down the hallway and into the treasure room. Gold truly must have little value in the wider universe, because Brax barely acknowledges it, only glancing at the chest as we walk by. The ordinary door behind it is unassuming in comparison. Placing my hand on the handle, I push it open. I expect some grand scenery, but the next room is the same size as the treasure room.

The only difference is that it's made of system cobblestone instead of the castle's stone brick. Just like the treasure room, it's completely empty except for a single item in the center. On a simple stone pedestal, an orb the size of a bowling ball sits silently. Inside is the night sky. Stars sparkle, standing in front of an inky backdrop. I stick my arm out, blocking Brax from walking in the room. Without a word, I nervously stick a foot out and hover it over the other side of the doorway.

Nothing from danger sense. I carefully tap my foot on a few different rocks. Still nothing. Carefully, I step into the room and sigh. Chime"What was that all about?" Brax asks with a raised eyebrow.

"When I entered our old home base, the system dropped all those boulders and tried to kill me." His suspicion goes away.

"Alright, I understand the hesitancy now." With the conversation finished, I turn back to the starry crystal ball. System, hit me.

[You have discovered a reward] [For finishing the open world section of the solo phase, additional rewards are provided] [For being in the first 20% of beings on your planet to finish the open world section of the solo phase, additional rewards are provided] [For being in the first 10% of beings on your planet to finish the open world section of the solo phase, additional rewards are provided] The text continues for a while, so I skip to the bottom.

[For being among the first 263 individuals on your planet to finish the open world section of the solo phase, significant additional rewards are provided] [Accept(9) / Bank / Consolidate] Dammit! I forgot! I could've made my gauntlets even better! My head hangs as a sigh leaks from my mouth. Nothing I can do about it now. Reluctantly, I re-read the message above the number of rewards. Two hundred and sixty-third, huh? It feels too high and too low at the same time.

Too low, because of everything I went through to get to this point. Too high, because there were a whopping eight billion people on earth to contend with. I say were, because no doubt a significant portion of them have died. It's a morbid thought, but it makes sense. It wouldn't be strange to say I'm pretty strong, and I still almost died over ten times. For someone younger, or less acquainted with learning the system? Their chances aren't good. Still, how many marines and special-ops forces were sent here?

People with actual training and survival instincts. And I beat all but two hundred of them. I giggle. Ignoring Brax looking at me strangely, I continue.

[After completing the open world section, the user now has access to the exfiltration portion of the solo phase] [Rewards in this section will be represented as an upgrading title that cannot be acquired elsewhere] [The exfiltration section will send the user to real-universe situations in which they will be assigned a primary and secondary objective] [Each situation will last 0. 2 cycles. If the primary objective is not completed within the time frame, the user will forfeit all rewards and be transported back to the exfiltration room] [If the primary objective is failed or otherwise rendered unachievable, the user will forfeit all rewards and be transported back to the exfiltration room] [The secondary objective may be failed at the cost of additional rewards. In this fashion, the primary objective will remain available] [With every completed primary objective, the user will be transported back to the exfiltration room with increased difficulty and rewards for the following situation] [The nature of both primary and secondary objectives will be decided based on the user's: goals, ambitions, and desires] [Warning!] [Rewards collected during the: tutorial, free roam, and open world sections will be forfeit upon beginning the first situation] I nod as I finish reading.

This is different. Very different. No orcs, goblins, or trolls. No simulated environment. Real danger. Not that the danger so far hasn't been real, but this will certainly be more unpredictable. What does it mean that the objectives will be decided by my desires? Does that mean it'll send me to do things I would have already wanted to do? Would it send me to slaughter a city of innocents if that's what I wanted? The implications are fierce.

Looking away from the screen, I see Brax staring intently at the crystal ball in the center of the room. He looks up at me.

"Hey, is it cool if I touch this thing?"