Chapter 837 – Remior’s golden century – Reward tiers (Patreon)

“Do you think he’s ever regretted his choice?” Micky asked, causing every pair of eyes in the VIP section to glance at him.

Booming shockwaves shook the entire stadium every few moments, eliciting gasps and enthusiastic cheers from the audience, though Percy’s friends weren’t very moved by the display unfolding over their heads, having witnessed far deadlier fights.

“Unlikely,” Elaine replied. “He’s too proud to admit it, but he still looks up to you two. Just like when he was little.”

Back when Percy had given a younger Owain his second core, he’d asked the boy what common element he would like to add to his water affinity. Nobody had been surprised that Owain had picked air to follow in Micky’s footsteps. Had Elaine’s brother awakened a pure core instead, he might have kept it unchanged or asked Percy to find him a soul-granting treasure.

Luckily for Owain, the Huehuan had left behind a lot of unused droplets of Clear mana from Tenefyre after internalizing his Blessing of Frost. The boy had been one of only a handful of people on Remior to have received a blessing from Percy as well.

“At least he’s using his abilities well,” Nesha chimed in, causing Percy to nod in agreement.

Owain whizzed around his opponent, Jalad, like a mosquito, taking advantage of his superior speed to harass the older mage from every direction.

Jalad was a Yellow-born who was over three hundred years old, though Percy’s cousin had surpassed his opponent’s grades due to having access to superior resources. Jalad didn’t have a Cradle in either core, and his second core was still at Blue as he’d only cleansed it with Aurora Dew. His first core had barely reached Violet, which was the only reason he had lasted against Owain for so long.

Watching Owain fight reminded Percy of Zurvanai.

His cousin lacked the Denyte’s ridiculously powerful mana-stealing bloodline, but he could replicate her large mana reserves and high regeneration thanks to his own time affinity, second core and boosting arts. Owain didn’t have the blessing that allowed Zurvanai to decelerate her surroundings more effectively than the average time mage, but he could achieve something similar through affinity fusion.

Of course, there were plenty of differences as well.

Unlike Zurvanai, Owain couldn’t win the battle simply by remaining in his opponent’s vicinity and draining Jalad’s cores. He fought with his fists, combining his Brawling trait, reinforced bones, willpower, and the layer of midnight blue ice coating his knuckles to deliver devastating punches.

Powerful mages who specialized in close combat were rare, but Owain’s arsenal synergized well with that fighting style, and it was easy to see who he was trying to copy. By accelerating his own movements and slowing his opponents down, Owain added a lot of speed and unpredictability to his raw power. According to Elaine, his strongest spells had merged into a top-tier Masterful spell called Assault of the Savage Gods a few decades back.

‘I’m only comparing him to the old Zurvanai though,’ Percy reminded himself. ‘Who knows how powerful that woman has become?’

The female Denyte had only possessed a single core and very few of the alliance’s Decrees the last time Percy had seen her fight, and she’d already been capable of fighting two grades above her own. With three cores, the rest of the tournament’s Decrees, and an entire century of training under her belt, Zurvanai had undoubtedly reached the level of a paragon. Perhaps she’d even climbed to Percy’s level, and she could potentially grow even stronger if she ever studied a spell like the Dance.

‘Let’s not grow complacent,’ Percy decided. ‘Just because I seem to have been the first to achieve certain milestones, it doesn’t mean that others can’t follow or even surpass me. The universe is constantly evolving.’

“The other guy isn’t half bad,” Micky mused, breaking Percy out of his thoughts. “He counters Owain quite well. The kid would have been in trouble if not for the grade mismatch.”

Jalad was too slow to dodge Owain’s blows, but he had managed to block them by encasing his body in a thick layer of steel. His light affinity wasn’t strong enough to deal any serious damage but could at least blind or distract Owain temporarily.

Despite having the advantage, Elaine’s brother had been struggling to score a winning blow for over ten minutes.

Most of the audience didn’t seem to understand what was going on. To their eyes, Owain’s movements probably appeared as a series of afterimages rushing into Jalad and pushing him around the aerial battlefield like a ragdoll. Each punch rattled the entire district like a thunderclap, leaving a short-lived crater on Jalad’s armour. The frequent flashes of light would have melted the eyeballs of the weaker audience members out of their sockets if not for the protective enchantments mitigating the brightness.

Percy, on the other hand, could follow everything easily enough.

His cousin would eventually outlast the metal mage, though Owain appeared quite frustrated with his inability to score a cleaner victory against a nominally weaker opponent. Reaching a certain decision, Owain drew a large amount of mana from both cores to his right fist, causing the layer of ice coating it to quadruple in thickness and start wobbling under the temporal forces grinding against it.

Percy frowned, recognizing his cousin’s finishing move. ‘Idiot! He knows that he can’t use that here. The protective enchantments are not strong enough to stop it!’

Embarrassing Elaine’s brother in public was the last thing Percy wanted to do, but he would be forced to intervene if Owain went through with this.

Percy’s cousin accumulated mana for a couple of seconds longer before shooting at his opponent from behind, fist pulled back and ready to strike.

Just as Percy was getting ready to block the deadly attack with a wall of willpower, his cousin’s projection allowed half of the mana around his hand to dissipate, causing Percy to relax.

A moment later, the projection delivered the watered-down attack, with the real Owain following a second after that with an equally pathetic punch.

The blow sank deep into the steel armour and caused Jalad to spit a mouthful of blood by stopping his heart for a couple of beats. However, Owain’s restraint had prevented him from dealing any serious damage, and a mage at Jalad’s level could recover from a mild injury like that easily enough.

Percy heard the bones in Owain’s fist crack against the metal, causing him to flinch in pain long enough for his opponent to spin around and finally land a blow of his own.

A thick metallic club struck Owain from above as Percy’s cousin barely raised his arms in time to mitigate the impact. The enchantments engraved on the arena floor flashed red to protect Elaine’s brother as he was sent crashing into the tiles.

“At least he’s somewhat sensible,” Percy exhaled in relief. “Though he could have tried to make his loss more convincing.”

“Why did he even bother joining the tournament if he was planning to throw the fight right at the end?” Nesha wondered.

“Probably to show off to his girlfriend again,” Elaine scoffed.

Owain had actually grown into a bit of a womanizer. Percy guessed that his cousin had inherited that trait from their grandfather. Archibald had also married several times and produced multiple sets of children, though he’d at least done that over a period of several centuries and had always had the decency of waiting a few decades after one of his wives passed away. Percy had never actually seen his grandfather in love, as the man’s most recent wife had been Percy’s own grandmother – a woman who had died before Percy’s birth.

Owain had turned out a lot bolder than Archibald, as he was more than happy to date women one after the other, or even simultaneously.

“You guys are being too harsh,” Micky protested. “I’m sure he was originally planning to make it all the way. He’s just figured that his opponent needs the rewards more than him.”

Percy nodded. It was true that Jalad was quite talented. It would be a shame if he lost his shot at the prizes to somebody who already had everything.

There were many things that Percy could give to the people of Remior, such as the Moirais’ Decree, spectral traits, mutations and mindsets. He’d originally wanted to freely share everything, because granting his fellow humans as many advantages as early as possible would accelerate their world’s development.

It hadn’t taken him long to realize that he had to make certain concessions, because some of his resources were too limited or troublesome to grant. Not only that, but there was wisdom in withholding a few rewards to motivate people to work for them. This was something that other factions understood quite well, even if the methods of someone like Metatron were too cruel for Percy’s taste.

Consequently, Percy had spent a lot of time considering how to distribute his various gifts as efficiently as possible, eventually deciding to separate them into four major reward tiers: bronze, silver, gold, and platinum.