MTL NOVEL Chapter 28: Chapter 28
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This day, I made a note to myself about this way of increasing my strength. The benefits were few, but the pain was so great that I was beginning to understand Logan. If you've experienced the blast of a nuclear bomb, the pain of being hit by a bullet is hardly surprising to your brain and nerves. I even felt for the Hydra soldiers who were injected with that stuff. Not everyone can take it for two days. Shit, even I still have a terrible weakness in my body after that day. A normal person would probably be in bed for a couple of days. I'll have to thank whoever gave me the system. Because if I had to go through it all the time to increase my chance of survival, my eyes would have narrowed or I would have just died from all that pumping.
After resting until noon, I dialled the number Colson gave me.
-Hello, it's Ryan Pierce. -Hello. - I said, realising that I was now entering a really big game of mastodons in the business.
-Hello, Mr Pierce. I've been expecting your call. Are you in? - Colson asked with his usual friendly manner of speech.
-Yes. -What papers do I need to prepare? - I asked, expecting a bunch of certificates, timesheets and stuff. They are a government organisation after all.
-You won't need anything. We'll prepare everything and you'll just have to sign some papers. - Colson reassured me.
-Good. Where do I have to go? - I asked, wanting to know where one of the shield universities was.
-Oh, don't worry about that, I'll come by tomorrow with the contract ready. - Said Colson.
I wonder if they do that with all students or is it just me? Like it's part of the package of a super who is the son of the man at the top of the shield?
-Do you have any other questions about the training? - Colson asked.
-No. -I answered, realising I could find out tomorrow in person.
-Okay, well, goodbye then, Mr Pierce. -Goodbye. - Said Colson and hung up.
I was about to leave the living room when a sign popped up in front of me.
Secret ticket unlocked. The prize had been determined.
I'd already forgotten about it. Hmmm, I wondered, what could he possibly have to offer? Giving in to my curiosity, I took out the ticket and immediately tore it in half. It shattered into small particles that disappeared a second later, leaving nothing behind. The outcry of outrage that had already begun was interrupted by a new alert window.
Модернизация 1%...5%...10%...30%...50%…70%...90%...99%...99,9%...100%. Your system has a new feature. Shadow Arena. This feature will allow your consciousness to enter a separate world while you sleep. In it, you will fight opponents from multiple worlds and other universes. You may also meet other reborn humans. Death within this world will not be real, unlike pain. But if you die, you can only return to the arena after a month of real time.
Great, now I won't be able to sleep. Although, to be honest, the function is kind of, like, extremely useful. Basically, there's nothing to do for the rest of the day, so I can try out this Shadow Arena.
At some point in my inactivity on the bed, I did fall asleep. And the transfer to this arena is not a pleasant one, let me tell you. How many of you have had that moment in your dreams when you felt yourself in free fall and woke up? So I spent a few minutes in such a state in which I was surrounded by boundless darkness. The landing was surprisingly comfortable. A hundred metres before contact with the surface, my body began to slow down. At the end of the fall it felt like I was wearing a parachute.
Looking around, I realised I was in a replica of the Colosseum. The sight of the stands gave the impression that the Colosseum had only recently been built. Although the marks of claws, swords, and possibly plasma or laser weapons in the arena told a different story. Attempting to go inside the Coliseum, I was stopped by a barrier and system alert.Access to this area of the location is temporarily closed. To start the fight, activate the pressure plate in the centre of the arena.
As I approached the centre, I found the plate mentioned in the message and stepped on it. The arena was immediately covered by some sort of field and silhouettes began to appear in the stands. Their appearance seemed to be obscured by darkness, but the silhouettes of some of them didn't look even remotely humanoid. In front of me, a blinding beam of light struck from the sky. Somehow this way of travelling reminded me of the Asgardian rainbow bridge. A warrior dressed in medieval knight armour emerged from it. Then a timer appeared above the arena, counting down the seconds until the battle began and a message from the system.
The evaluation of the user's strength has begun. Defeat the greatest number of enemies. Each successive enemy will be stronger than the previous one. For each victory you will receive some reinforcements that will help you fight better in the arena, but will be useless in the real world.
When the countdown reached zero the knight ran towards me. There was nothing threatening about him, so I dodged the swing of his sword and simply punched his body and armour through and through. I was informed that reinforcements would be given on the second victory.
The new opponent was no surprise either. I was facing an ordinary soldier in a modern outfit. I sped up and got close to him faster than he could point his gun at me. Breaking the poor guy's neck, I waited for the next opponent and the promised reinforcement. I was confronted by a rather familiar foe. A young vampire. And as a reward I was given a desert needle with infinite ammunition, but with a limit on the rate of ammo recovery. 5 seconds per bullet. There were only eight bullets in the magazine.
The countdown shows zero again, and my night friend's eyes turn red, and he comes at me at the maximum speed available to him. I, having got a firearm, decided to experiment with one idea. Activating hellfire, I spread it over the gun and launched some of the flame inside the muzzle. Dodging the bloodsucker's throw, I broke the distance of 3 metres with him and shot him in the leg with a bullet. The effect of the hit didn't take long. At first the hit spot started to just glow, but then his leg started to burn and disintegrate. The fire spread to his whole body and after 8 seconds the vampire was just a handful of ashes.
I was rewarded with a silver knife. I wasn't sure why I needed it now that the vampire was dead. The answer to my question came at the start of the fight, when they put a seemingly ordinary guy against me. Only when the countdown ended, that kid turned into a wolf. A big wolf. This beast was about 2.5-2.8 metres tall, and his punching power left quite eloquent traces of cracks in the arena. I still didn't think it was necessary to transform even against him, so I used my knife to stab him in the eye, taking advantage of his hiccup, and pumped a full clip of bullets into him, pre-reinforced with hellfire. After my attack he struggled a bit more, but soon he whimpered and went to the other side.
The next fights were pretty similar to this one. It was only after 20 fights that I found myself in a rather unfortunate position. I was facing a speedster. The only good news was that he, like most of his colleagues, did not use his advantage 100%. I couldn't do anything to him, but his attacks didn't have much effect either. His attacks were painful, but his regeneration and my combat experience could cover his critical points and minimise his damage. If he had used knives or some other weapon, I might have had a problem. Though even now it's more of a battle of attrition. But considering the amount of calories a speedster requires to sustain his body, he'll be exhausted in the next couple of hours, unlike me. With my stamina stats I can go over a week without food, and I won't need water for at least another 4 days. Only the damage it does accumulates, and after a couple of hours I'm unlikely to last more than one fight.
After a mini brainstorming session, I was able to come up with a solution to the problem. Only for that, I'd have to lure the bastard closer. Clasping my palms together, I began to store up flame energy for a big boom in the area. The only drawback to my plan was that it would drain 80-90% of my energy. Waiting for his next attack, I turned my head in the direction of his carcass and howled with all my might. He covered his ears in pain and hesitated for a second. That was enough time for me to unleash all my accumulated charge in his direction. Half the arena was on fire, and in the centre of this little branch of hell was the figure of a speedster rolling on the ground, trying to put himself out. I transferred the rest of my energy to fire defence and rushed towards my speedster. When I reached him, I clawed through his left leg first. And then I stepped on him and broke his right leg. Now he's no more dangerous than a normal human.
After 16 more fights, I could barely stand on my feet. My left arm was lying a few metres behind me, and my legs were buckling. Some of the fingers on my right had been lost two fights ago, as well as a litre and a half of blood. And now I was waiting for the one who would break my winning streak. And the one who came out exceeded all my expectations. At that moment, against my will, a smile crept onto my face and I laughed hysterically. This is already cheating. I'd rather fight Logan ten more times. But the timer didn't care about my wishes and the countdown went to zero again.
I was standing in front of the Hulk, barely alive. The fucking Hulk!!! It couldn't even be called a battle. I dodged one of his attacks with the last of my strength, tearing the muscles in my legs. But the other one hit me right in the face. My organs mashed to mashed potatoes under the pressure of the rib cage. The only bones still intact were probably in my legs. And that didn't stop him. He pounced on my remains and continued to knead them into mush.
When I woke up, I saw the notice.
You've qualified, and we've begun our search for suitable opponents. See you in a week.
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