Chapter 2: God of Combat: Chapter 1
A/N: Hello there, my lovely readers. It seems you are interested enough in my story to try out another chapter, and see where it goes in the future. Thank you for giving it a chance. Not much to say for now, so let's hop straight into the story!
(Also, crossposted on Fanfiction, Wattpad, and QuestionableQuesting if you prefer using those websites).
—
[Headon POV, 1st Floor]
[A few minutes later.]
Jun looks at his body in surprise for just a moment, then turns to me, and says in genuine appreciation: "Thank you Headon. I am sure to put what you have taught me to good use. Farewell." The Outsider is then completely submerged in light, and starts his journey up the Tower.
Before Jun goes to the next Floor, I say "Welcome to the Tower, young Outsider."
...
Seems the Tower has finally decided to "evolve" once more. I can't wait to see the waves you make in the Tower, "Combat God."
—
God of Combat Chapter 1, 2nd Floor:
King of the Sea.
—
[3rd Person POV, 2nd floor]
We see our Main character lying unconscious in a small boat, floating in the middle of a vast ocean. The boat is almost like a wooden raft, with an oar on each side of the ship, and a tall mast (with no sail) in the center. Under the mast there is a chest, made out of the same wood as the boat. The sky is a bright shade of blue; indicative of the time of day it is right now. However, there is no "sun" that can be seen in the sky, only the occasional cloud and seagull.
However, Jun is not the only one there on the boat. There are four other people, who are also unconscious, lying all around the mast on the wooden boat. After a moment, everyone finally wake up.
When Jun finally opens his eyes, a heavy scent of salt fills his nostrils. He could even hear the water sloshing all around him, and the chirp of seagulls in the distance. The only time his senses of hearing and smell registered such stimulus was whenever he was near the ocean, back on the outside.
However, a sixth sense is also in use by Jun at the current moment. With this sixth sense, Jun can sense all the creatures around him, including four different people on the boat. Jun then immediately stands up on the boat, cautious of the people around him. While everyone else slowly rises from their short slumber, Jun already finished surveying the scene around him.
This is probably the next Floor Headon sent me to. And these people are probably my fellow Regulars also climbing the Tower. I don't know what the next test could be like, but there is a chance I may have to work with these people. Though it's probably best to stay at arm's length for now. Thought Jun, carefully evaluating the situation before him.
When everyone finally stands up, there is nothing but silence as the Regulars size each other up. Jun however is focused on the wooden chest as he's already realized that everyone here is not a threat to him. The first to speak is a short young man (5ft 3in) carrying a long sword on his back, and has short black hair, brown eyes, a black t-shirt, black pants, and some brown sandals.
"Hello my fellow Regulars, it seems we find ourselves in a…peculiar situation. My name is Michael, a pleasure to meet you all!" He says, in an effort to break the tension growing tension. Jun does not respond, as he does not know the language, so it just sounds like mumbling to his ears.
The next to speak is a tall (6ft 5in), lanky man wearing a black turtleneck, with dark blue sweat pants, black leather gloves, and some dark brown combat boots. He is decently handsome, with chocolate brown hair, blue eyes, and some stubble on his chin. He also carries himself confidently, so he most likely has some decent skills. On his waist, he carries a long red needle.
"Hmmph. Well, it is just us on this boat, in the middle of nowhere. I'll play along for now. The name's Jackson," and he sticks out his hand for Michael to shake. Michael gladly takes his hand and gives a light squeeze. They then turn to the rest of the group, hoping for the others to introduce themselves. Jun, while all of this is happening, goes over to the chest. He opens it, and sees five round black objects stored inside.
'Hmmm, is this a "pocket" that Headon said I was going to get in this Floor? Hopefully, it works the way Headon said it would,' Jun thinks, while looking around for any other objects in the chest. Once he finds nothing, he takes hold of one of the objects.
When Jun touches the object, it makes a couple of noises, an activation mechanism, and starts floating around him.
*BRRRRRP, DO DO DO DO DO, WHOOSH.*
Jun suddenly understands the words being said by those around him, as though a flip was switched on in his head. Fascinating, Jun thought in wonder; though his poker face has not changed since he woke up. As he looks at the pocket, he sees the letter "E" on the screen. After a moment, it then switches over to show "Jun."
"Oh, you seem to have picked up an E-ranked pocket. I didn't know they gave those out this early on in the Floor of Tests. My name's Maxus, by the way," said one of the Regulars, while waving his hand. This young man had on glasses, a white long sleeve shirt, khaki pants, and some white tennis shoes. He is also decently handsome, with black hair and black eyes. He is not tall, but not very short either, at around 5ft 6in, and seems to have a decent bit of knowledge, if his earlier dialogue was any indication.
"Amazing, I've never actually seen a pocket in person, but I have heard of them before." Said Michael in slight wonder, while staring at the floating object.
"Well, there are four pockets left in the chest. I suspect everyone here is supposed to get one before we start the test. If any of you get annoyed by the pocket's presence, just say 'pocket invisible mode.' To reverse this effect, say 'pocket visible mode.' " Explains Maxus as he looks in the chest.
After everyone grabs a pocket from the chest, Maxus addresses the group: "Nice to meet all of you. since Jackson, Michael, and I have already started introductions, how about you two introduce yourselves? It's only fair in the long run, as there's a good chance we will have to work together," Maxus says, while looking at Jun and the last Regular, who is standing next to Jun.
This Regular is a decently handsome young man, and is only shorter than Jackson and Jun at a height of 5ft 8in. He has on black pants, a zipped up black leather jacket, a white T-shirt poking out the top, and some black tennis shoes. His black hair is slicked to the side, with light brown pupils looking at Maxus. Like Michael, there is a long sword strapped to his back.
"*SIGHS,* fine. The name's Buck, for your information. Whether or not we work together isn't really my concern, as long as you all pull your weight." Buck says, while lightly glaring at his fellow Regulars on the boat. Most of the Regulars are a bit taken aback by this up-front personality.
Jun just holds back a snort of amusement. 'I hope this guy doesn't think he's special. Though he does have some skills, if his chi is any indication,' thinks Jun.
Before anyone could address Buck and his slightly aggressive behavior, Jun speaks up: "My name is Jun, since you were polite enough to ask, Maxus."
Maxus smiles a little at the respectful tone used by Jun, unlike Buck's introduction. He then says "Well thank you. Since introductions are out of the way, how about we—" and then the pockets line themselves up in the middle of the boat, and a feminine voice comes from the pockets.
"Welcome everyone to the 2nd Floor of the Tower! We are very excited to have you here on the Floor of Tests! Be prepared to stake your lives on this test, as all losers will be executed!"
Most of the Regulars on the boat are visibly shaken by this revelation. Jun, however, just narrows his eyes. 'It seems climbing the Tower might be more dangerous than I initially thought. Though this test will probably not be as hard as Headon's considering he himself made my test harder than usual,' thought Jun.
The voice continues to speak: "Before we begin, if everyone would please go over to the wooden chest and open the secret compartment at the bottom." Hearing this, Jun immediately goes over to the chest and presses against the bottom. When he does this, the bottom lifts up, and Jun picks up a rolled-up piece of parchment that was in the secret compartment.
Jun then unrolls the parchment, and sees what's written. The parchment seems to be some type of map, with depictions of islands of varying sizes scattered throughout it. The islands are shaded a different color depending on its size. From smallest to largest it goes like this: dark grey, pink, green, yellow, and purple. There is only one purple island, and it's at the center of the map.
There is also a smaller sheet of parchment that fell out when the map was unfurled. This is what's on the parchment:
—
Meter Island: +20
Centimeter Island: +10
Millimeter Island: +5
Kilo Island: Win
—
"This game is called King of the Sea! Your goal in this game is to collect as many islands as possible. Whoever claims the island and holds it until the end of the game, scores points based on that island's size. It doesn't matter who claims the island first, all that matters is your team holding that island until the end of the game.
The game will last for 3 hours. As you can tell, each island is worth various amounts of points. The smallest islands, the grey ones, are worth 0 points. Then there are 5, 10, and 20 points. The big one in the center is an automatic victory if you hold it until the end of the game. At this point, please select a team leader."
*BRRRRP,*
The pockets' screens then says:
—
Leader?
Yes No
—
Jun immediately grabs Buck's left wrist with a firm grip. Jun could see that Buck was reaching for the "yes" option on the pocket.
"Don't you dare." Jun said in a threatening tone, while glaring at Buck.
"We are a team now, don't you think it would be wise to discuss this?" Pointedly questioned Maxus, looking at Buck.
"Well, none of you look that strong to me, so I thought I would save you guys the trouble of discussion, since I would be the obvious candidate in the end." Said Buck in an arrogant tone, while subtly trying to remove Jun's hand from his wrist with his other arm. Jun does not budge an inch, and narrows his eyes at Buck.
Jun's deep voice reverberates throughout the air in a highly intimidating and dark tone; despite the scarf covering his mouth. "If you ever make a decision like that again without anyone's consent, you won't have to worry about losing this test, as I will kill you myself. Do I make myself clear?" Jun even focuses a small amount of his bloodlust towards the haughty Regular.
Buck, when he hears this, looks in Jun's direction. Alongside the stifling bloodlust and dark voice, Jun's silver eyes seem to glow with the light made by the shinsu in the air, and are the only visible feature Buck sees on the redhead's face. If there's one word Buck would use to describe Jun right now, it would be a hungry predator ready to tear him apart limb from limb should he step out of line.
Buck visibly pales, and Jun could feel the goosebumps on Buck's skin. Buck then frantically nods his head, hoping Jun will release him so he can lift away the horrifying presence emanating off of him.
Jun silently observes Buck with his narrowed eyes, and finally releases him from his grasp. The other Regulars could see light red hand marks on Buck's wrist. Buck immediately falls to his knees, and others could see his prone form shaking in fear.
Everyone else is visibly grateful for the Redhead's quick actions as they turn towards Jun. Maxus even nods his head towards Jun in appreciation. Jun just nods his head in acceptance of Maxus's gratitude.
Jackson then speaks up, "Well, I vote for Jun to be the leader. He takes action, and he's quick, if his demonstration just now is any indication."
"I second that opinion," said Maxus.
"Jun is strong! I also want him to be the leader!" Exclaimed Michael.
Buck is still shivering at Jun's feet, not saying anything. No one pays him any attention.
Jun chuckles in slight amusement, and says: "Well, I wouldn't mind leading this team," and he presses the "yes" option on the pocket.
*BRRRRP, DO DO DO DO.*
Then all the screens of the other pockets go blank. On Jun's pocket however, there are the words: "Please choose a color," with 10 to choose from. The colors are: black, grey, light blue, yellow, orange, green, white, brown, dark blue, and pink.
"Do the colors mean anything?" Asked Michael.
"I don't think so. It might have something to do with the teams though," answered Maxus. While everyone else was discussing this new step of the test, Jun is staring blankly at his pocket.
'Why is red not on here? They basically have every other basic color, but red.' Thought Jun, seemingly annoyed by this fact. If one looks close enough, they could even notice a subtle twitch in his left eye, in contrast to his barely-changing poker face.
"*SIGH,* I don't think the colors are too important. I'll just choose randomly." Jun said, addressing his fellow teammates. Jun then just closes his eyes, and presses the pocket. His finger lands on the color brown. As this happens, all of the other colors start disappearing rapidly from the pocket.
"Yeah, I think that was a good choice. No need to spend excess energy on something trivial like this." Jackson said in approval.
*BRRRRP, DO DO DO DO.*
The pockets loads for a moment, then on the screen it reads: "Your team color has been chosen. Welcome, Team Brown!"
Once all the colors have disappeared from the pocket, the voice over the speaker says: "Excellently done! There are 10 teams that will be participating in the game. Only 4 teams will pass. Each team is currently made up of 5 players. Your goal is to place a flag at the island of your choice, as there is a designated location at each island in the center. When you place your flag into that spot in the center, you will claim that island."
*FLASH.*
Suddenly, 30 small brown flags stack up in a pile appear on the side of the boat.
The speaker then continues: "It doesn't matter if you're on the island, all that matters is that your flag is in the designated spot until the end of the game for you to keep the points. The 4 teams with the most points at the end of the game will pass. The other 6 teams will fail.
Also, there is one more rule. Although everyone right now is a team of 5, the maximum number of teammates that are possible is 6. That means that the adding or subtracting of teammates is allowed, as well the trading of teammates. If you wish to make a trade, please note so using your pockets.
All that matters is that the team leaders making the trade must agree on the decision. To achieve this, the team leaders must line their pockets together, then one must choose a member to trade off to the other team. Once both sides agree to the trade on the pockets, the trade is done! Any questions from the participants?" The speaker finishes
Jun hears another voice coming from the pocket. "Thank you very much, but I do have one question. Is um… is lethal force something we have to do?" This new voice, another Regular, nervously asks the speaker.
"Oh, any form of violence is allowed," The speaker says in a patronizing tone.
The Regular's voice seems slightly shaken, but says: "Any form of violence? Alright. um, that's all then!"
The speaker then continues.: "Excellent! With that—"
Jun cuts the speaker off. "I have a question. Can the leader trade themselves over to another team?"
Seemingly unbothered by the slight disrespect from Jun, the speaker enthusiastically responds with: "Indeed they can! The leader just has to follow the same procedure as though they were trading another member of their team. The only difference is the leader chooses their own name, which should be at the top of their pocket when initiating a trade."
Hearing that, Jun nods his head.
He then asks: "Also, if all the members of a team die, what happens to the islands the dead team claimed previously?"
….
After a moment, speaker gladly responds with: "Should a team be completely eliminated, all of the islands of the dead team will go to the team who slayed their last member, unless the dead team has the middle island. Should that situation occur, then the middle island will go back to being unclaimed, and a team will have to put their flag in the center area to claim it."
'Interesting, that may be a crucial mechanic for the future,' Jun thought.
"Thank you, and no more questions." Jun said.
Learning from the first interruption, the speaker asks: "Any more questions?"
…
Only thing heard from the pockets is silence.
"Excellent! With that, let the game begin!" The speaker says.
When the speaker finishes speaking, a timer appears on the pockets:
—
3:00:00
—
The timer then starts ticking down by the second.
*TICK, TOCK. TICK, TOCK.*
Jun immediately jumps into a discussion with his teammates, while laying the map down onto the floor.
"Alright, it seems we have a few ways to win the game. 1, claim the middle island and fortify it to defend from possible invaders. 2, find teams and steal their points by killing them all. 3, wait until the last second to swoop in and either claim the middle, or 4, kill a team with a lot of points near the end of the game. All come with downsides, but before I give my opinion on what we should go with, I'll let you guys speak." Jun says, laying down the options.
Everyone on the boat including Buck, who seems to have slightly recovered from earlier, ponders the options presented by Jun.
After a moment, Maxus questions Jun. "Before any of that, why don't we just take it slow and steady, and stick together while claiming islands? Those other options seem a bit... risky, in my opinion."
Everyone else slowly nods their heads in agreement with Maxus's assessment. Jun however, just shakes his head.
He then answers Maxus's question. "Well, we do want to win this game, don't we? Unfortunately, to do that, slow and steady will not win this race. What do you think wil happen should one of the teams steal our island? We'll be constantly going back and forth with other teams until the end of the game."
"In that case, going for the middle would definitely be more beneficial in the long run." Jackson said, understanding Jun's thought process.
Jun then responds with: "Also, actually keeping the islands from other Regulars will be basically impossible even if we did leave one of you on the islands, as I don't think you guys could handle entire teams on your own should they decide to take one of our islands."
Michael then lightly chuckles, and looks down. He then says: "That's true, while I am a Regular, I'm probably the weakest here."
Jun says to Michael: "You don't have to be the strongest to not be of use. Keep your head up, young warrior."
Michael's spirits are lifted a bit by Jun's encouraging words.
Maxus then narrows his eyes at Jun, and says to him: "The way you phrased that, it seems you're confident in yourself, no?"
Jun looks at him with a hint of amusement, then responds: "I have reason to be."
Then a cloud of smoke appears around his figure. Once the smoke clears, there are two identical copies of Jun standing right next to him.
Everyone on the boat is utterly flabbergasted by this shocking ability. Jun's clones then go to the sides of the boat and picks up the oars, and wait for his signal.
"How did you do that?!" Exclaims Jackson.
"Are you even human?" Asks Maxus.
"That's so cool Jun!" Exclaims Michael, while walking up to one of the clones. The clone turns to Michael, and just nods his head. Michael just looks in awe, and even touches the clone on his bicep. Michael can feel is the cloth of Jun's coat, and even the dense muscles of Jun underneath.
Buck just stands there, mouth agape. He doesn't say anything for fear of earning anymore ire with the redhead.
Jun has a shine in his eyes, reminiscent of joyful delight. Though his face stays the same save for a slight tilt upwards on the left corner of his mouth, which is covered by his black scarf. He again gives a light chuckle, and says, "I have a couple of tricks up my sleeves. Very useful in situations like this."
Maxus then says to Jun: "Wow, I've only heard of other species being able to make clones, but never a human." After a moment, Maxus seems to realize something. He then questions Jun: "Wait, with your ability, why don't we just leave a few of your clones at each island we come across?"
Jun immediately responds with: "Because they are not very durable or strong in comparison to myself, and I can't make that many."
Jun then walks up to one of the clones and hits it with a hard left jab to the face. The clone drops the oar, and is blasted off of the boat. Before the clone even hits the water, it disappears in a cloud of smoke.
"See? Who knows how strong the other Regulars may be. There's a good chance it will be easy for others to dispel them. Not only that, making them saps away my strength, so I won't be able to perform at 100% whenever I use this ability," explained Jun. ''And they can't even use any of my special skills like chi sensing or my Flying Thunder God, but that part is really unnecessary for them to know.' Thought Jun.
Actually, he could've left an absurd amount of clones on each island with no repercussions on himself after a couple minutes of rest, but he is wary of the eyes of the Test Administrators that are no doubt overseeing the test. It's best to downplay his abilities for a bit to avoid unwanted attention until the situation calls for it. Headon himself did say there would be people interested in him due to his status as an Outsider.
Maxus replies with: "I see, all abilities have limits after all. Makes complete sense. Anyway, we should go find the nearest island to pinpoint our location on the map, regardless of the plan we're going with."
Everyone agrees with Maxus's line of thinking, and Jun makes one more clone to help row the boat; mainly because he just dispelled the previous one. Before they start to row however, everyone goes to the edge of the boat to look for islands in the distance. Jun goes to the front of the boat, Michael the back, Maxus the right, Jackson the left, and Buck the back right.
'The clan did say all the time that I had good eyesight. But then again, I was good at everything.' Thought Jun with humor, and a hint of nostalgia. While peering over the seemingly endless expanse of salt water, Jun finally sees a decent-sized island at his 2 o'clock. If he were to give a distance as to how far away it was, he would say about 3km (or about 1.86 miles for Americans).
"Found an island!" Jun notified his teammates. He then points in the direction of the island, and his two clones start rowing to the island at a good pace. Jun then goes back to the center of the boat and sits down in a lotus position. The rest of the team sees this, and sits down around their leader. Jun then grabs the map, and is disappears in a flash.
Everyone else gawks at this action. Before they say anything, Jun says: "I'll talk about it later, as I would rather keep my secrets for right now." Everyone else reluctantly nods their heads in acceptance.
Michael then speaks up: "So, how about we get to know each other some more! I know this is a test, but we don't have anything else to do right now. And you all seem like cool people! In my eyes anyway." Says Michael, rubbing the back of his head nervously towards the end. Jackson just chuckles a little at Michael's nervous gesture.
"I say we should just talk about little of our past and explain our reasons for climbing the Tower, as any other topic might take too long for this test." Everyone nods their head in agreement with Maxus's idea.
Jackson then speaks. "I'll go first, as most of you seem like decent people." When he said "most," he glared at Buck for a moment. He continues: "My reason for climbing the Tower is mainly to provide for my family. As I lived in a small village on the 44th Floor, my family were mainly farmers, just living our days in peace. Well, until permanent drought hit us a couple decades ago, when I was only in my early teens.
My parents then started to struggle to provide for me and my four younger siblings, as they had to take on odd jobs in the city we moved to, in order to make q living. Every day, I could see the stress lines growing on their faces, the wear and tear their bodies went through doing this new work, and the utter exhaustion they felt every time they came home from their jobs; all for our sakes. It made me angry; knowing I could do nothing but watch as my loving parents suffer, just to provide for their family.
I then decided to do one thing I know I was good at: fighting. As I was the oldest, and pretty strong for my age, I started training with a needle in hopes I could be of some use with my self-taught skills. I have seen some mercenaries come by the village occasionally, so when I was older, I decided to also become a mercenary to hopefully put those skills to good use.
Ever since then, I've been sending most of my money to my family in hopes that they and my parents live well. When eventually Headon approached me, I knew it was my chance to gain enough money to let my family live well, permanently; no matter the costs." A glare of determination and ferocity appears in Jackson's eyes at the end.
Jun merely raises an eyebrow at the look on Jackson's face. Maxus and Michael on the other hand seem a bit perturbed by Jackson's glare, while Buck is contemplating something while staring at his lap. Jackson then shakes his head, and says: "Sorry for the long backstory, I guess I just needed to vent for a moment."
Maxus replies casually: "No problem. You have an honorable goal, Jackson. No one will judge you for that."
Jackson smiles a little at the compliment. Michael stares in awe of Jackson's familial dedication. He's just like my big brother! So cool. Thought Michael. He's quite the impressionable young man, if one hasn't figured it out already. Jun and Buck don't say anything, but Jun nods his head in respect to Jackson.
Family is a good thing to fight for and protect. He's a good man. Thought Jun, while looking at Jackson. Buck just continues looking at his lap as the boat nears towards the island.
Maxus is the next to speak: "While my goal is not as commendable. I am an explorer. My reason for climbing the Tower is mainly the journey. This stems from the tales told to me in my childhood by my parents, as they were also Regulars as one point in time. They went through all types of terrain and seen a lot of mysterious wildlife, so I desired to be chosen and experience those same things; it always sounded fun to me, especially as a kid."
Maxus then leans back onto the side of the boat and continues: "As Rankers have a lot more privileges and power, I'll probably continue exploration even after my climb. At least until I get tired of it, which will probably happen after a few millennia. In that instance, I'll probably settle down, just like my parents, and live the rest of my days in peace. Not really monumental or selfless, but it's what I want to do."
After Maxus's little backstory, there is not a big response among the team as with Jackson's, but they (excluding Buck) do nod their heads in approval.
Michael then speaks up enthusiastically: "My reason to climb is to reunite with my brother, and become Rankers together! He was chosen to climb a couple years earlier by Headon, and I'm really excited to meet up with him. He's so cool, and has been taking care of me for as long as I can remember.
I was surprised when he eventually talked to me about being chosen to climb the Tower, but by then I could already fend for myself, so I encouraged him to go. I can't wait to finally meet up with him again! Though he's probably already half way up the Tower by now..." Michael's tone gets bit disheartened near the end.
Maxus chuckles at Michael's last statement."Don't worry, it takes Regulars centuries to climb the Tower. While I don't doubt he's awesome, you'll probably catch up to him if you put in enough work," Maxus says to lift Michael's spirits. It seems to work, as Michael visibly cheers up.
Jun has a small smile on his face, though it is hidden by his scarf.
Jun then says to Michael: "I hope you eventually reunite with your brother. I am sure he would be proud of you for taking this journey up the Tower. Men like your brother will no doubt make it far." While he doesn't know Michael's brother personally, Jun will trust Michael's judgment until they actually meet his brother. Not only that, but Michael's a good kid; no reason to rain on his parade.
Buck then speaks up: "Well, you all have some… interesting goals. But I, on the other hand, am looking to become a Floor Ruler, and gain such a big reputation, that even Jahad will acknowledge me." As he finishes, Buck sticks out his chest in pride. Everyone else, besides Jun, raises an eyebrow at Buck's goal.
"Don't you have to be a High Ranker to become a Floor Ruler? And aren't all Rulers currently members of the Ten Great Families? Good luck with that dream." Maxus says to Buck in a criticizing and sarcastic manner.
Jackson just shrugs his shoulders, and doesn't comment on Buck's dream.
Michael on the other hand tries to encourage Buck: "I've heard of Floor Rulers before. They sound really strong! My brother always said 'If you try hard enough, you can do anything,' so I'm sure you can do it!" Michael raises his fist at the end of his "speech." Buck chuckles at Michael's enthusiasm, though he starts arguing with Maxus soon after. Jackson however, splits them apart when they got in each other's face.
Jun stopped paying attention once Buck started speaking; he has been looking at the wide ocean scenery instead. As the boat is traveling towards the island Jun spotted earlier, the clear blue water is constantly turned up from the rowing of Jun's clones. With the speed they are rowing, Jun could feel the cool air blow past his face, and the slight uplift of his hair when there is a particularly strong breeze that passes through. He can even smell the salt that comes from the sea water.
Jun's silver eyes are bright from the light reflected off of the water, as Jun partakes in the beauty of nature. With this scenery, Jun remembers his some of his childhood days back in the clan.
He remembers the massive lake at the back of his clan compound. The water extended far as the eye could see, just like now, and the aroma of salt tickled his nose in the same manner. He remembers him and little his brother swimming for hours on end, racing to the lighthouse and back during the Summer. Their clan built the lighthouse about 5km from the shore, so it was always a fun workout to do alongside his brother. Jun won every time, as he was older, but they both always had smiles at the end.
Afterwards, the two brothers always got ice cream made by his favorite cook. The cook was old, and had been cooking for the clan for decades. He was very kind, and came up with all types sweet goodies to give to children with the help of his chi ability: Ice Age. Hell, he's the one that invented ice cream in the first place, and it has become a staple snack used whenever people in the clan get hot, especially during the summer.
Jun remembered the frozen delicacy that was ice cream; especially the sweet flavor of his favorite flavor, strawberry, and the refreshing feeling he got after eating an entire cone alongside his brother. 'God, I haven't had a cone in years,' thought Jun.
As Jun remembers these memories, a sad look comes across his face. Though the other Regulars can't see it as Jun is turned towards the ocean.
"Jun?" Maxus calls out to the redhead, as he's been calling the outsider for the past minute. Jun is next in line for their storytelling.
Jun shakes his head to rid himself of the fond memories. 'Hmm, it seems Michael's story brung up memories about my own brother,' Jun thought with amusement. His face then goes back to his cold, neutral expression.
Jun turns towards the group, and starts his own story: "Sorry, I was just admiring the scenery. My reason for climbing the Tower is to find my little brother, as he got kidnapped a couple of years ago while I was on my travels." Jun grips a golden necklace hidden by his coat with his left hand. "We've been through a lot together, and I will do anything, to bring him back. Luckily, I do have some leads, so I know what direction I'm going in," Jun finishes in a more upbeat tone in comparison to before.
Maxus and Michael gives him a slight look of pity from the brief overview; though everyone felt a shiver down their spines when he said "anything." The tone used with that word could only be described as…dark, and menacing. While Jun's tone so far has been polite and respectful, everyone else finally felt, just for a moment, what made Buck nearly piss his pants earlier. Unlike with Buck however, it was just a fraction of a second, so Maxus and Michael didn't pay it any mind.
Jackson on the other hand instinctively grips his needle in defense. Buck on the other hand, flinched hard when he heard that tone. His left hand, the one Jun grabbed earlier, starts shaking for a moment. While Buck isn't a stranger to pain, the way Jun threatened Buck left a deep impression in his mind: Jun is not a person mess with.
While Jun hates the look of pity from two of his teammates, he finds it understandable given the fabricated story he just told. While the emotion behind the tale Jun told is real, he knows they'll just call him delusional should he tell them what he's actually climbing for. If what Headon says is true, then it may even put himself in danger of the law if he went around telling people he was going to revive the dead.
His other teammates' reaction are also understandable, as he let go of too much emotion; even if it was just for a split second.
Michael then tries to reassure Jun: "Well, you're strong! So I'm sure you'll find your brother in no time, and defeat whoever stands in your way!" He then gets up and does some kicking motions; simulating what'll happen to the kidnappers of Jun's brother. Maxus chuckles at Michael's antics, and Jackson loosens up a bit with the lighter atmosphere. No one else could see it past the scarf, but there is also a small smile on Jun's face.
"Well, if there are Rankers involved, Jun's goal will be very difficult. Not only that, his brother may be dead by the time he finds him." Jackson says, trying to be a voice of logic; even though he hates it, and would like everyone to have a happy ending. Hunting, and sometimes killing people for over a decade does that to a mercenary like Jackson.
Michael seems disheartened by Jackson's words, but Jun is entirely unfazed. Jun will admit however; if his story actually was true, then he probably wouldn't be this calm.
As a melancholic atmosphere envelopes the boat, they finally reach the island Jun saw earlier. The island is pretty big, with a large amount of foliage and trees coming from the center. On the shore, there is nothing but sand, some crabs, and the occasional palm tree.
As the leader of the team, Jun quickly takes charge as the team steps onto the shoreline: "Ok, here's what we're going to do. I'll go up to the center of the island and plant the flag by myself. The rest of you should go around the shore of the island and scout for any other islands you see in the distance, or any signs of another team in our area.
Once we regroup, we can continue our discussion about how to win this test. Make sure to stay together and stay near the beach, as there is a chance another team could be lurking around the corner. In the meantime, I'll leave my clones here to watch over the boat. Any questions?"
Maxus quickly speaks up: "Are you sure you should go up there alone? Just like you said, another team could be waiting in ambush."
Jun just chuckles for a moment, then addresses Maxus's worry: "I'm confident in my speed and strength, so I'll be able to quickly finish my job. I want to be as efficient as possible, so I think it would be a good idea to split up a little; even with the risks involved on my side."
Maxus merely nods his head in acceptance; having faith in Jun's abilities. Especially considering he's only putting himself in risk with this strategy. Buck then reluctantly raises his hand. Jun stares at him for a moment, then nods his head for Buck to speak.
"Who's in charge while you're planting the flag?"
Jun looks at him, slowly turns over to each member of the group, then puts his sight back on Buck.
"While I most likely won't take long, Jackson will be in charge in my stead. Anything else?" Everyone shakes their head. "Great, let's move out."
As he finishes, Jun grabs a few flags in the boat and they disappear in a small flash of light.
With the flags put away, Jun seemingly disappears in the eyes of the Regulars. The only thing they notice is empty space where Jun used to be. Everyone's jaw practically drops at this speed.
"*WHISTLE* I see he has a reason to be so confident," Maxus says in amazement.
—
[Jun POV, 2nd Floor]
As I travel through the forest, I admire the vegetation around me. Even though I couldn't sense this earlier from the shoreline, the chi within the trees is absolutely thriving and the forest is full of life. It's one of the reasons I love spending my time around nature so much.
Though it has been hard for me to sense across long distances lately; ever since I came into the Tower, now that I think about it. Hmm, it's best I figure out at least why this is happening as soon as possible. Chi sensing has always been one of my strong suits, and has saved my ass on numerous occasions. Not being able to use it to its full advantage, especially in a test like this, will no doubt be detrimental for me and the team. At least my chi control hasn't waned at all, as I can easily suppress my presence with no problems.
I stop, jump onto one of the smaller trees, about 15ft, and sit down in the lotus position in the leaves to start meditating with my eyes closed. I try to expand my sensing range as far as possible, but it gets muddled after a radius of 5 ft around me. What a nuisance. Before, I could easily cover a radius of an entire kilometer. This is... I see. The shinsu seems to be interfering with my sensing.
I didn't notice at first because of how low the concentration is compared to the interior of the cage back on the 1st Floor. The same thing happened there, but I only thought it was because of the high density of shinsu. While I could actually feel the shinsu back in the cage, here it is much more difficult; which is probably why I didn't realize this problem earlier.
Well, I also couldn't sense Headon either, but he was definitely hiding his chi in some way. I'll need to get accustomed to the feel of shinsu before I can properly sense chi again. I would love to do it right now, but I have a test to get through, and I suspect it'll take a while to actually get accustomed to shinsu.
I start breathing slowly, while taking deep breaths to calm myself. Meditating like this has always calmed me down during/after stressful situations; a habit picked up from my mother's teachings.
Though, now that I'm sitting here, I also reflect on my current situation. With everything that happened so far, I'm glad I can finally take some time by myself to sit down and truly process what's going on. With the information Headon gave me, and this current test, even I need some time to gather myself without anyone bothering me.
5 minutes later, I finally open my eyes. I then get up, completely relaxed, and continue my journey towards the middle of the island. A few seconds later I find myself in a small clearing, with a metal circular platform in the middle. In the platform, there is a small hole about the size of a golf ball. I walk up to the platform and summon 1 of the flags I stashed in my right storage seal.
*POOF.*
With a plume of smoke, a brown flag is in my right hand. I put the flag in the hole.
*ZWOOOP.*
Once the flag is in the hole, it suddenly expands significantly. Now, a large brown flag looms over the center of the island.
*DING.*
A sound emanates from my pocket, and on the screen I see:
—
+10
—
Hmm, so this was a centimeter island, interesting. I stare at the pocket for a moment, wondering how to check the time remaining for the test. I then remember what Maxus said earlier: "If any of you get annoyed by the pocket's presence, say 'pocket invisible mode.' To reverse this effect, just say 'pocket visible mode.' "
Does the pocket run on verbal commands?
I say "Pocket invisible mode," to confirm my suspicions. Suddenly, my pocket vanishes. Well, that answers my question. I've never seen such technology before. I've only seen people become invisible, and that's because of their chi ability. Amazing.
I make the pocket visible again, then say: "Test time," hoping the pocket responds the way I want. The pocket's screen changes, and it says: —
2:40:00
—
Good, the pocket isn't hard to use. Not only that, but there is still plenty of time left for the test. Though, I wonder what else the pocket can do.
Before I do that, I should search for other islands. There are perfect viewing platforms all around me after all. I jump onto one of the tall, 30ft trees around the clearing, and survey the ocean around me while hiding in the leaves. Never hurts to be cautious.
It takes me a second to focus, but I do find a few islands in the area a good distance from my island. From the position of the boat, which is behind me right now pointing towards me, there are 2 absurdly small islands to the "Southeast." In the "West," I also see 2 islands; 1 is microscopic like the other 2, and another is just as big as the island I'm on right now (a centimeter island). In the "North," I only see 1 island. It's smaller than the centimeter, but bigger than the other three islands. Most likely a millimeter island then.
Hmm, it's probably better we go to that centimeter island to the "West" if we want to gather more points. If the team decides to go to the middle however, finding our position on the map would be the priority. Actually, I may be able to do that right now from all of these islands in the area.
I take out the map and inspect it for a moment. Based on the information given by the person from the pocket, and what I've gathered so far, the green islands are no doubt the centimeter islands on the map. There are not many on the map, yet all of the green islands, but 1, are very close to other islands.
Even taking into account the possible scaling of the map to actual distance, there is no doubt any island that is of proportional distance to the ones shown on the map would be closer than the islands I saw. Especially with us having only 3 hours to complete the test, if the islands are shown close together on the map, there is a good chance they will be close in reality.
That leaves only 1 option: the green island on the Northeast of the map; the only one without any other islands really close to it. Based on that, If I look North and a little ways East from the direction of my team's boat, that should be the direction of the middle island. Not only that, but now I can easily determine the four true cardinal directions.
Now, it's time I go to the rest of my team with this information. This test shouldn't be that hard with full geographical information. The only thing I would worry about now is the other Regulars we may come across. My team is not strong at all, but evaluating other Regulars based on my teammates would be fatal in the long run.
Still on top of the flag, I then look around the shore of the island for my teammates. Hopefully, they aren't in any trouble.
—
[Jackson POV, 2nd Floor]
[A few minutes earlier.]
Jun is... a very interesting individual, from what I've seen so far. I've never met anyone quite like him before. Throughout most of our time on that boat, he's just been stoic and polite the entire time. However, he's ready for action when the situation calls for it. Maybe it's because of that scarf around his neck, but he's also not the most expressive person I've met.
Next, there is his possible combat capabilities. I've seen and fought many opponents throughout my years, but I could tell Jun is of a different breed. That calm look in his eyes, his confidence, and his posture give away his prowess as an experienced and dedicated warrior. He's even assertive and quick-thinking, which is why I chose him as the leader. To add onto that, he's no doubt a freak of nature.
First, that ability to make clones of himself, then he could make items disappear. Then that feeling I got for a moment when he was telling us about his ambitions. I've met very few people that could set off my fight or flight like that. No wonder Buck fears him.
Now, he's just fast enough to just vanish right in front of me? I couldn't even sense him when he left, and there was no disturbance in the environment when he moved. He's an absolute monster; probably the strongest Regular in this test. Plus, what else does he have up his sleeves? It's already hard to get a detailed read on him, so there's a good chance he's hiding even more powerful abilities. If he can do all of this when he just started climbing, I dread his future prowess as a Ranker.
"*WHISTLE* I see he has a reason to be so confident," Maxus says in amazement. Me and the others just dazedly nod our heads in agreement. I finally recover however, and shake my head to help get rid of my stupor.
I then say to the group: "Let's go. Our leader gave us a job to do and I'll be damned if he's the only one contributing to this test." This snaps everyone into action, and we start walking along the shore of the island to our left; on high alert, and searching for any clues of other teams like footprints or signs of a battle.
As I look across the vast ocean landscape, I take a moment to breathe in the peaceful scenery around us. If I'm being honest, I dread climbing up the Tower. With the numerous horror stories I've heard from other people, the climb to the 134th Floor just sounds…. taxing, to say the least.
You have to kill, lie, and cheat in order to make it to the top. You're always pitted against other Regulars to prove yourself worthy enough to continue climbing, and it's a constant bloodbath until you make it to the top. All of that death and destruction just for a chance to achieve your dreams. Never appealed to me even now, when I've already signed up for this journey.
Even with that being said however, I'll gladly go on. My family deserves to live better lives; if I have to commit every sin imaginable to get it done, that is a sacrifice I am willing to make. No one else gives a shit about me and my family, and no one would care if we died in a ditch with the rest of our pitiful village.
Even without this "system" of climbing the Tower, people fight and kill for their livelihoods every day; including me. What's another few bodies to add to my already high kill count? I'm a Mercenary for god's sake, not a saint. My family will always come first, even if I have to step over others' dreams to do it.
After indulging in my thoughts for the few minutes our team has been walking on the island's shoreline, I am suddenly snapped out of my thoughts by a shout from Michael: "Look! I see a couple of islands over there," Michael says while pointing to the ocean at our left. This makes the rest of the group stop and look towards the specific direction Michael's pointing at. I on the other hand jump onto the top of one of the shorter palm trees close to our team's position, and look in the same direction.
Hmmm, I don't see any—oh, there it is. Took me a minute , but I see one island in the distance. From here, it's like a speck of dust, but I see it. Wait, did Michael say he sees two islands? Damn, the kid has some really good vision.
"I don't see anything" Buck says. Maxus also shakes his head; it seems like me and Michael are the only ones with good enough eyesight. That is quite far away, so it is understandable for them not to see it. Even I needed to get on a tree, and I can barely see the island.
Buck then says while turning to Maxus: "You don't see anything? Those glasses you wearing just for show four-eyes?" A tick mark then appears on Maxus's forehead. Oh lord.
"Excuse me, you little shit. Just because Jun's not here, you finally decide to grow some balls? Then again, a child always acts up when his parents aren't around to put him in his place." Buck snarls at this comment. Looks like it's time to break it up before things get out of hand.
Buck then steps towards Maxus: "Oi, you motherfu—"
"Enough." I speak with authority as I jump back onto the beach; as the oldest sibling in the family, it was basically my job to stop useless conflicts like this one. This situation is just my cup of tea.
Everyone immediately turns to me. "We're in the middle of a test right now. No need to turn on each other now, as there are other opponents you can spend your energy on in the near future. We are greater together than we are divided." I say in a scolding tone. Two seconds Jun is gone, and Buck already starting shit; what a nuisance.
Buck then backs away from Maxus with a scowl on his face. Maxus just turns away from Buck and continues walking ahead.
"*SIGHS,* children. Michael, can you tell the size of the islands from this distance?" I ask while turning towards Michael. If he could see their sizes from this distances, it'll be easy to tell which one to go to.
As this happens, I see a large brown flag emerge from the center of the island. Took longer than I expected with Jun's speed, but it seems we received our first island of the test.
*DING.*
Everyone's pockets makes a noise, and we see on our screens:
—
+10
—
A centimeter island? Makes sense based off of the island's size. Buck nods his head, Maxus stops to taps the screen of his pocket, and Michael jumps in joy for a moment, before remembering my question.
"I can't tell their size from all the way over here, but the closer one looks slightly bigger than the other island I saw. Or maybe it's because it's closer; still hard to tell from here." Michael says in response to my earlier inquiry. I see; looks like we have found our next island to conquer.
I then speak to the group while giving anod to Michael: "Good enough. Alright, let's finish our reconnaissance around the island. There's a chance we can see more islands located closer to our current position. Not only that, but Jun's no doubt on his way to our boat, so it's better to pick up the pace."
Everyone nods their heads and we start jogging through the beach at a quick pace. Though there has been some tension between Buck and Maxus after their little argument, and Michael seems to be more nervous as a result. Looks like Michael hasn't seen much discourse between people he's familiar with. He still has much to learn, as do all of us Regulars. I'll let Jun sort this one out later; he is the team leader after all.
After a minute or two, we make it to our boat. Looks like we were not far from the boat by the time Michael saw those two islands earlier. Jun's clones just silently stand on the boat side by side with their oars at the ready. Reminds me of the Jahad soldier I met at one point: silent, stiff, and ready for action. However, they feel more closed off than Jun; then again, who knows how that ability works. Jun's clones seem to br completely different from the real him after all.
After the team and I took a moment to scour the horizon, not finding any more islands, we decide to huddle up in a circle a few feet in front of the boat and discuss our next course of action. Though Buck at first didn't want to join the discussion in favor of sitting in the boat, once he saw Jun's clones, he nervously joined the team.
"I think going for the middle island would be the better and obvious choice," Buck said.
Maxus, on the other hand, disagrees with Buck's idea: "If it's so obvious, then everyone else will probably do the same. I doubt we have the manpower to fend off numerous other teams. It would be better to just rack up points until the end of the game. When Jun gets back, we can even use the map to try to pinpoint our location and go claim the biggest islands in the area."
In the meantime, Michael seems to be pondering his own idea to win this test. I, on the other hand, speak up to the team: "Speaking of him, it's probably better to just continue this conversation later with Jun. He is the leader after all, so the major decision should be made by him. I don't know what's taking him so long, but he should be back any minute now anyway."
As I finish talking, I shoot a pointed look at Buck as a warning to not step out of line. He seems to get my message and sighs reluctantly while turning his head towards the ocean scenery. Maxus also sighs and starts tapping his pocket again. I don't wonder what he's doing? Does the pocket have more features than I am aware of?
As I am about to make my pocket visible, Michael suddenly starts talking: Wait! I have a great idea! How about we—"
!
My instincts suddenly flares up in alarm. Someone's here! As I stand up and look towards the forest, an object emitting smoke flies past me and strikes the sand between my team and the boat.
*BOOOOOOM*
The last thing I see is white before a violent force assaults my body, and everything fades to black.
—
A/N:
AND DONE! one more chapter completed. Hope you enjoyed reading; wouldn't want to waste your time after all. It took a lot of revision to this chapter before I was satisfied, so I hope you were entertained.
While writing, I found making OCs to be an interesting experience, to say the least. Takes some creativity to make one (or a few) that are good enough for satisfaction. Hope you didn't care too much for the ones I made in this chapter, as they may or may not survive to see the next chapter. Who knows? (Besides me of course). You probably don't care about them anyway...
Moving on, not much action this chapter unfortunately. If you're really into combat and more fighting, don't worry. I promise there will be far more action to come, and I'll do my best to make it as entertaining as possible.
A good thing to note going forward however, is that whether or not any of the information given or events seen in my story is true in the actual ToG storyline is of no relevance. Any discrepancies between this story and canon ToG (and TnG) will be chalked up to it being an AU. Though I will adhere to canon information for good portion of this fic; I'm mainly just gonna add/change some things for my story. Nothing too big. Though certain characters will have a major impact on the Tower going forward, so I will change things in response to their influence.
Oh, and I will explain chi and its capabilities at a later date. I just think the story will flow better without the exposition on chi at this point in time. I'll probably go in-depth on it in the next chapter.
(next part of A/N is mainly for those who watched Towers and Gods on Dr. Bonehead's channel, so if you haven't seen it you can just skip the rest of the A/N).
Now, there is a little information you should have about the characters in God of Combat. As you know, the character's abilities in TnG are usually based on chance, as is common in any DnD campaign. You literally roll the dice for a character's performance whether it is in combat, or deciding how good someone's cooking is. This obviously would not work very well for my writing, as things would get inconsistent in my story; which is a problem I would not like to deal with.
In order to solve this problem, I give the characters in the story three criteria for their abilities. The first, is their additions to any rolls they make in the actual TnG campaign, and passive abilities. A good example I'll use is Damien. He gets an additional 6 on his perception rolls, and he gets advantage on persuasion rolls. This means in my story, he'll have good senses and is very persuasive whenever the situation calls for it.
The second is their consistency for rolls on certain abilities. I'll use Eden and Damien as examples for this one. She commonly gets high on her insight rolls, and Damien gets good rolls for stealth. This of course means that Eden will be good at reading people, which makes it hard to lie around her, and Damien will be very stealthy. This criteria holds the least weight in my evaluation, so the other two will be more important overall; though it's still a factor I take into consideration.
The last, and most important part of my evaluation for a character's abilities will be narrative implications and what makes sense logically based on the information given in the canon TnG story. I will use Brac as an example this time. Brac has had his harpoon for a long time before we even see him in the actual story, and it makes sense for him to be very skilled at using it; as opposed to his skills as a needle, which he only learned when he came into the Tower. However, in the actual story, he constantly gets really good rolls whenever he actually uses the needle in battle. Now, I could have it so Brac is just very talented with the needle, but Brac doesn't like to use needles, so I won't do that.
In my story, based on information in the series, because Brac is better with the harpoon than the needle, his performance in battles will always be better when he uses the harpoon. Another example is Eden being a mother before she entered the Inner Tower, so it makes sense for her to be good at reading people. This evaluation is the most important out of those mentioned previously, so even if a character's skill is consistent in the other two criteria, if it's inconsistent with the narrative, their ability will be changed accordingly for it to be consistent.
—P.S. Again with the long A/N. I hope to not make a habit out of these. I truly appreciate anyone who read this far, and is invested enough in my story to read another chapter. As a reward for getting through the A/N, here are more sneak peeks as to future events in the story :)
—
Cold sweat falls down my face, my breath is deep and ragged; the signs of my fatigue through fighting this opponent standing before me. I have never fought someone before with such strength, speed, and skill. The title "Ranker," which is feared by all Regulars, is well deserved for the man in front of me. It's been at least a decade since I've ever struggled like this against an opponent on the outside. This feeling, this genuine danger I feel right now; I've missed this. It's been a long time since I felt this… alive.
—
"So you need the power of a Ranker in order to kill this thing? That won't be a problem." I then speed towards the strange creature, and use a new skill I made recently.
Alpha style shinsu control skill:
—
"What about the will of other people? What about the good people who WILL die because of your narrow-minded view of the world? Do you really not care that much for your fellow man? For those around you? You disgust me; you disgrace of a human being. Now get the fuck out of my sight."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone