[Nightmare]

The training grounds were a sand-filled arena on the far edge of the town they were staying in.

When Helix arrived, he looked around.

The people traveling in the caravan saw him walking with Tilo and followed behind him in interest.

News quickly spread, and soon the teachers and grandmasters arrived with their students to watch what was happening.

"Are you waiting for everyone to show up, so I work hard not to embarrass myself?" Helix sighed.

"Hoh? You're quite sharp. That's exactly what I'm doing." Tilo replied with an amused grin.

Helix gave Tilo a mocking glance.

"I don't suppose you're also taking this moment to downplay my talents, are you?

You'd get a better deal if the warrior types didn't find me promising."

Tilo laughed.

"Well now, boy. You've read me like a book." He announced.

He was smiling, but his eyes weren't smiling.

"However, it's a double-edged sword.

You're famous for your weakness.

Therefore, I'll have a harder time keeping my cards in order if you do well." Tilo replied with a sly smile.

"So I suppose you'll ramp up the heat if I start doing well, won't you?" Helix sighed.

"You know that sharp intelligence of yours is forcing me to work harder don't you?" Tilo asked.

"Well, it's a good thing that I want to learn from you from the start." Helix chuckled bitterly.

"It's fate." Tilo grinned.

Once the man was satisfied with the turnout, he touched the black swirl tattoo on his neck and pulled out three packs of disks.

Helix's eyebrow raised when he saw them.

"These—" Tilo announced.

"—are battle discs. They allow you to throw magic circles into an area in the middle of a battle."

After the tied bundles were at his feet, Tilo picked up two of them and approached Helix.

The young man accepted both bundles, put them down, and started inspecting them.

Finally, Tilo reached into his item storage, pulled out a pack of self-correcting chalk, and handed it to him.

"In the future, you will not use this chalk since you will not always have it.

However, for now, you can use it during our warm-up." The man announced with a wicked grin.

Helix narrowed his eyes.

One of the bundles of the discs had pre-made magic circles on them.

The other bundle was left blank.

"What are the rules?" Helix asked with sharp eyes.

Tilo gazed at him with satisfaction.

His amusement was clear as day.

"The rules are simple.

There are twenty-four discs there.

As you can see, twelve have magic circles, and the others do not.

You can use that amount of discs trying to land some type of attack on me.

If you fail to harm me after 24 attacks, I'll start attacking you physically with my hands."

"I see." Helix replied with a slight smile.

Tilo narrowed his eyes with interest.

"Let's hope that I'm not giving you more credit than you deserve." He chuckled.

"Isn't that something you're supposed to say under your breath before the match begins?" Helix asked with a mocking smile.

Tilo laughed.

"Boy, I'll do whatever the hell I want."

Helix gave him a slight smile.

"How much time do I have to prepare?" He responded.

"There is twenty minutes of preparation time for the both of us.

The magic circles I've provided are marked, so I expect you to use that freaky library of yours to the utmost potential." Tilo explained with a cheeky smile.

"I'll get started then. Whenever you're ready." Helix said with a slight smile.

"Despite being told I'm about to beat you senseless, you look confident." Tilo commented.

"I'm going to be beaten senseless in front of important people either way.

So I'm showcasing my interest in the training." Helix sighed.

"Please don't beat overconfidence out of me. I don't deserve it."

Tilo chuckled in bewilderment.

"Fair enough. Then let's get started." He replied.

"Your twenty minutes start now!" Tilo bellowed to all of the spectators.

Murmurs of excitement ripped through the crowd of observers.

The other two grandmasters studied Helix like a hawk, and the paid teachers did not mask their excitement.

Helix quickly started reading off the names of the discs.

"Circle of Reflection."

"Circle of Silence."

"Circle of Illusion."

"Circle of Negation."

"Line Shot Trigger."

"Acceleration Trigger."

"Ghost Walker Trigger."

"Gravity Lock Trigger."

"King Killer."

"Eruption."

"Quake."

"Corruption."

Helix wanted to strangle Tilo after reading the various spells attached to the discs.

Three were practical trap spells that were extremely useful in combat—for people who could fight.

One was a protective spell that negates spells he was certain Tilo didn't plan to use.

Four were a trap because they required real-time modification to become usable.

It was lucky he could modify them.

Otherwise, he'd be SOL when he tried to use them.

The last four were Level 5 calamity spells that Tilo would beat him ruthlessly for attempting to use in battle.

In short, Tilo set him up to fail and get beaten senselessly.

Helix touched the blood-red tribal sun tattoo on his neck.

"Fuck me."

—

"Howdy, mister! Did you miss me? *giggle."

—

Helix tapped his neck twice to close his interface.

After a second, he tapped it again.

—

"Hyrumpha! Who do you think you are, mister!?"

Helix touched his neck.

"I was just checking you didn't skull fuck my reputation with bright red light again." Helix replied in exasperation.

"Hey now! Don't get moody that I offered you the dream title, and you turned it down."

"Look, Elise. Can we talk about killing you later?

I'm in the middle of something really important."

Ding!

[Congratulations. You have met the necessary conditions to update your title.

You have now been assigned the Level 3 title [The Pragmatic Hypocrite].

Condition: Decide to kill me to end your endless struggles to stay alive.]

Helix's eyebrow twitched.

He wanted to yell at her for updating his titles without confirming his feelings or intentions.

However, after a moment of murderous contemplation, he caved in and released a sigh.

"Elise. You're about to say something grotesquely cliche like:

[Yay! You're finally experiencing loss and getting stronger!

Hurry~up, mister! I'm going to crank up the death in your life soon to relieve my sense of boredom.

I'm not going to stop playing my game on your behalf.

So you better get ready for it!]

Or something like that.

The thing is, I'm currently getting stronger right now so I can survive that death.

So can you give me your ominous warnings tonight so I can begrudgingly play your game?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Fine! 11 pm sharp! We have a date now, mister!

That should give you enough time for your mom to go to bed.

If you stand me up or keep a girl waiting, I'll start massacring villages left and right!"

"Good enough." Helix sighed.

"Call me later, kay? <3."

"Bye, Elise."

The second the popup window closed, Helix quickly entered the Myriad Library.

—

[Ghost Walker Trigger]

[Difficulty: Intermediate]

[Usefulness: Battle Flexible]

[Activation Time: Triggers upon individual stepping within a three-foot radius of the circle. Works for thirty seconds.]

[Cooldown: Single Activation]

[Description: Create a copy of the individual who walks inside the circle and moves independently.]

[Notes: Outer ring modification will cause the illusion to mimic the activators.

Adding an inner ring will modify the illusion to stay close to the activator.

The distance of the illusion will be determined by the relative distance from the inner circle to the main circle.

Time trigger modification will delay the sequence.

Trace multi-layer copies to create multiple illusions.

Advanced modifications—]

—

"That's brutal." Helix muttered under his breath.

There wasn't much time, so Helix quickly got to work.

The first thing he did was take the blank discs and the premade discs and mix them.

Tilo raised his eyebrow in surprise, and an amused grin developed on his face.

Helix took out two pieces of chalk and ground down their tips into two different layers of thickness.

Tilo pouted when he saw Helix get to work.

Since he couldn't differentiate which discs were in front of the young man, he couldn't tell whether he was creating circles or modifying them.

What surprised Tilo the most was that Helix didn't spend more than three minutes in his interface.

Therefore, he was recreating or modifying circles he already knew or modifying a select number of options.

"Your twenty minutes are up!

I hope you're ready!" Tilo announced.

After watching Helix marking discs with chalk like a lunatic, they were eager to watch what happened.

Helix sighed when he saw their enthusiasm.

"Well, I'm ready as I'll ever be." He announced with a slight smile.

—

[A/N: Who's ready to get this level up party started?]