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No matter how much Jin tried to distract himself from the unfortunate reality of his situation by working on Skyrim, the day only had 24 hours. Considering his ability to condense workflow, his day had maybe been 72 hours long instead, but it nevertheless had to come to an end.
He'd done the music, discussed the progress with Hashimi, but the tournament match was as inevitable as the diarrhoea after Chipotle.
Bright and early, the contestants, halved from the original 32 to 16, were gathered once again at the massive arena hung onto the top of the volcano.
Jin could feel the heat bubbling up from beneath and wondered if this was another minor advantage granted to the disciples of the Blazing Fire Sect, who likely benefited from an increased air temperature.
The crowd clapped enthusiastically as the tournament was announced to start, although Jin noticed with some amusement how several noblemen and cultivators in the crowd ordered the servants arrayed around them to clap rather than doing so themselves.
He thought he could spot his own servant, Bao, in one of the lowest, cheapest rows, but she seemed too busy looking analytically at the men around her rather than paying attention.
The first match was between a disciple of the Purple Cloud Sect against what appeared to be an invisible woman. The purple-robed youth was a bit of a crowd favourite and managed to draw sufficient cheers despite the fact that the fight was largely uneventful, with one of the participants being, well, invisible.
After he won, he didn't lose his opportunity to pass by Jin, who was standing around idly in the contestant's stand.
"One more embarrassment to go," the boy said with a sneer, ugly intent clearly visible in his dark eyes. "Although your sect-mates certainly fulfilled their purpose more than just a little already."
Jin, for a lack of anyone to talk to, considering all the other Illusion Room Sect members had been knocked out, simply ignored the boy.
"Huh, did you say something?"
The next match was between Xiao and Biri, the two traitors, which was somewhat ironic. Jin paid special attention to that match just in case he met either of them later on.
It was the only fight that, if it were to occur, he would have the intrinsic motivation to truly go all out on an emotional, rather than pragmatic level.
Although the spirit stones were nice, even if he could only use them to progress his cultivation.
The fight between the hammer-wielding giant and the staff-wielding monk was spectacular in the sense that both participants had clearly mastered their weapons.
Jin noted that it wasn't through weapons skills that the fight was decided, however.
Xiao ended up winning when a black shield pushed back an incoming hammer blow, giving the monk the opportunity to extend his staff straight into Biri's forehead and rattling the smith's brains. The tall man fell over on his back and had to be carried off.
"The shield," Jin muttered to himself. That hadn't been a Mad Monk's skill, at least not to his knowledge. He channelled qi into his eyes and saw a small glimpse of gold on Xiao's hand. A ring.
An engagement ring.
Something was ringing a bell, but Jin didn't know what. "I don't think they take a celibacy vow," he eventually concluded as the matches continued.
There wasn't anything interesting to say about the next fights, as they all contained at least one Blazing Fire Sect disciple, which made them spectacles of fire and heat that had already lost their lustre in the first round.
Today, Jin was set to appear last, for some reason, which gave him time to mentally prepare himself and to see what the results of the other fights had been.
Out of the eight progressing to the next round, four of them were Blazing Fire Sect disciples, one of which was Xin Erwa, the crazy woman who had hunted a wyrm. Otherwise, there was Xiao representing the monks, the man wielding three kamas who had betrayed his team in the oasis, the purple cloud sect disciple, and the last slot would be decided in the next fight between Jin and the female imperial army cultivator.
Jin stepped onto the sweltering hot stone platform by hopping across the stone chain links, something he'd never even thought was possible in his last life.
He landed in the middle of the arena just as the imperial army cultivator did, and Jin idly wondered how she survived in her black carapace armour. Not only was the heat coming from below, but also the desert sun was scorching at this time of day.
Each match took only a few minutes with a 20-minute interlude in the middle.
They had started in the morning, and the last match would now occur during high noon, the worst time of the day.
The nondescript referee ordered the battle to begin and jumped back to allow the two fighters to meet.
Jin was already circling his opponent, feeling Elder Flower's gaze boring into his back, when his opponent did something so unexpected that he forgot to even capitalise on it.
The large black armoured woman gave a deep bow before righting herself. "I consider myself very fortunate to face you today, Jin Fan. It means I get the opportunity to thank you in person."
Jin continued circling. He was too confused to do anything else. "Thank me for what?" he eventually asked.
"Your Illusion Room, The Last of Us, I had the opportunity to experience during the most recent border war," the woman continued in a respectful voice.
Jin furrowed his brows. The resolution for The Last of Us had been set primarily to fulfil the needs of mortals. A cultivator, even a low-ranking one, wouldn't benefit so much from it. "The Room was created for mortals," he stated.
The helmet bobbed up and down.
The heat was beating on Jin's head, requiring him to circulate cooling qi to counteract it. His opponent was probably suffering more, considering the armour, and also considering that the Imperial Army was designated as a combat organisation, meaning that the female soldier was the equivalent of an outer disciple there. She likely had less qi available than him.
Any delay benefited him.
"I was a mortal, until recently. But all soldiers wish to become cultivators. In a way, the army is a sect that accepts everyone, even the least talented. I had no luck until recently, until I experienced your Illusion Room. After seeing the price of inaction, the price of failure, I suddenly understood, I had a deeper reason to fight. I am too old to succeed as a cultivator anymore, but for my niece, I will advance as far as I can, so she can live a better life than I did." The soldier drew her sword, a curved, bone-white saber. She demonstratively turned it, so the sharpened edge was facing towards her, instead of Jin.
The crowd murmured, then shouted excitedly.
Jin narrowed his eyes and tried to analyse the situation.
Facing someone with the blunt edge of the sword had several meanings in this society. Some good, some bad, all depending on the context.
At the base, it could be seen as a gesture of disrespect, as seeing an enemy beneath him. On the other hand, it was a promise that the fight would not devolve to a match to the death. The blunt edge essentially signalled a sort of martial pacifism. The third meaning was the most complex. A disciple of the sword who thought they had surpassed their master often faced their erstwhile teacher with the blunt edge of the sword as a sign of respect. The gesture signalled that if the disciple could not win with the great disadvantage, they still had more to learn.
Most cultivators were unwilling to continue studying under a master whom they could best in strength. Master became an honorary title only. Willing to continue studying under someone weaker was a sign that the master, despite potentially lacking martial prowess, had so much wisdom to pass on that martial prowess became secondary.
Out of all these options, it was probably the second option. The soldier simply wanted to have an exhibition match, a spar, essentially.
The thought that she was bluffing and that she would turn her saber in the last moment briefly flashed through Jin's mind, before he rationalised that with the focus on face and the fact that the soldier was representing technically the biggest cultivator organisation in the empire, she wouldn't dare shame herself like that.
"Unfortunately, my weapon is double-bladed," Jin replied simply, inclining his head.
"I am wearing armour and have comprehended the dao of protection," the soldier replied before unceremoniously squatting down to her knees and jumping off high into the air.
Jin confusedly looked at the small stone indent she left behind before following her ascent.
"That's at least a dozen meters," he noted, wondering how she could jump that high. "Fuck," he cursed. She'd just jumped right in front of the sun as well; he could barely make out her form.
Qi flowed to his eyes, dampening the sunlight, and his pupils widened at what they saw. A large circular pane consisting of fist-sized hexagonal plates spread out underneath the soldier, now coming down onto his own position. The technique was at least a hundred feet wide.
Furthermore, while his opponent had ascended at a normal pace, she was descending very quickly, the qi dome technique coming at Jin rapidly alongside his foe.
Strengthening his legs, Jin jumped backwards just in time to avoid the meteoric smash that shook the foundation they were fighting on.
'Oy, are you sure you've only been a cultivator for three months?' Jin asked accusingly as he held up a hand to prevent the stone shards kicked up by the impact from nicking his eyes.
"I guess that would have been too simple!" the soldier shouted before rushing at him with what was now a body enveloping circular shield composed entirely of hexagons.
Jin dodged a saber swipe and spun his lance to land a blow to the shield. As expected, the shield easily deflected his strike, a certain reverb shaking Jin's hand from the blowback.
The hexagon shattered from the impact, leaving behind a gap in the shield. The shield then promptly spun so that the one missing hexagon was at the soldier's back instead of the front.
These observations passed through Jin's mind in an instant, but the moment for the counter-measure wasn't yet ripe. The only reason he didn't lose the match in the following minute, which consisted of a blood-boiling melee exchange, was because he was faster than his opponent, in body and mind.
His lance tapped away at the shield, and he noticed a pattern, namely, that the side of the shield with the most gaps always shifted to be in the back.
"Aren't you already wearing armour? This is completely exaggerated!" Jin complained loudly as he continued dodging.
"Defence is the best offence!" his opponent replied.
Jin parried a blow from the saber and kicked out with his leg, opening another hole in the shield. It spun. That's when his eyes narrowed. He trusted his qi-enchanced mind, and the side of the shield that now turned to face him was missing a gap, the first one he'd made.
The conclusion was simply, self-repairing.
This meant that Jin's initial plan of whittling the soldier down wouldn't work.
He could try to outlast her; she was at a lower cultivation realm than him, but the problem was that she was simply a better combatant.
She swung the saber with more skill than he wielded his lance. The fact that the shield protected her also meant that she could do it completely fearlessly. The only reason he was keeping up was because his body was slightly faster than hers, and that his mind was vastly accelerated. The problem was that he had no way of knowing how much qi she was consuming. All he knew was that he'd be out in a few minutes. If he ran out first, it was an instant loss.
No gambles, Jin decided and struck out rapidly, knocking a few strategic holes in the shield and forcing it to rotate. Then, when the shield finished its shift, he jumped forward, lance wielded straight like an arrow.
Wary, the soldier raised her saber to block the most obvious gap in her shield, the gap Jin was seemingly aiming for.
But Jin wasn't aiming for any gap. The gaps were a trap, he'd been able to ascertain that. After all, a saber was also a perfectly good parrying weapon. By putting the enemy's focus on the gaps this soldier made them forget that, especially with how recklessly she wielded it.
That's why, when the saber went to protect the gap right in front of the soldier's helmet, Jin exerted control over his body and shifted his position. His lance was now aiming tip-first at the hexagon covering the soldier's armpit, the armpit left wide open from the saber being held up to block.
The hexagon shattered. Jin's lance was thrown back by the recoil, but immediately shot back out when Jin channelled qi into it and thus extended it.
In a perfect moment in time, the top of the lance was aimed at one of the weakest parts of the armour, the joints. Threading through a gap to find its target, the saber completely mispositioned to block the attempt.
Then the soldier exploded. All the hexagons suddenly flew out in all directions, a third of them straight into Jin.
The Illusion Room disciple managed to shift his body into a position where he would suffer the least damage, but a dozen or so hexagons still slammed into him before dissipating, throwing him straight onto the floor.
The match was over. Jin's body was reverberating from the impact, the soldier was rushing at him, saber raised up for a powerful strike that would shatter if not cut a bone.
Jin's left hand, the one not gripping his lance, hushed over his face.
"Scumbag style, hostage situation," Jin muttered quietly, invoking his newest technique. The qi on his hand covered his face like sticky gum, leaving behind another person entirely.
"No!" Ellie's face screamed in a fake girlish voice as her eyes teared up.
Funny thing about the Illusion Room sect's qi painting technique. There was a connection to be made between image models created for scenarios and being able to superimpose them onto reality, even for a brief moment.
That brief moment was all that mattered. The soldier froze for a nanosecond, an amount of time that would have been irrelevant in a competition between mortals.
Jin's lance extended, angled perfectly to take advantage of the situation. The tip of the wooden blade shot towards the woman's eye slit and stopped barely a centimetre before it would have penetrated her left eyeball and then her brain.
The soldier was left frozen in that nanosecond during which she'd glitched. She'd halted her movement due to shock; now she had to halt it out of self-preservation.
The referee announced Jin's win.
The crowd started booing.
The soldier took a step back and bowed. "Thank you for the lesson, I still have much to learn," she said before turning around and leaving the arena.
Jin laid there, on his back, lance extended. Eventually, he got up, shakily, hand grasping his heart.
His eyes avoided the crowd and stared straight ahead as he returned to the contestant area, where the purple cloud sect disciple was the only one sarcastically clapping.
The man with three kamas was clapping a bit less sarcastically.
Everyone else was less amused. Using a technique like that against someone who had offered the blunt side of the blade. Well… It wasn't very honourable.
The spirit stones though…
From that day onwards, having reached the top 8 of the outer disciple intra-sect tournament, a new name emerged in the cultivation world, a name that provoked both grudging respect for the holder's scenarios, but frothing hatred for his fighting style.
Scumbag Jin, they called him.
And this? This was his story.
Prologue End
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AN: The vote for the next video game to be adapted is being held on Patreon tomorrow! Free members already gave the options, now it's the turn of the subscribers to vote for the top 3 from which the winner will be chosen in another poll. I offer a free week trial for the lowest tier if you want to go participate without actually subscribing.