The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

"PLAYER ONE HAS LANDED ON A BEAST SQUARE. THEY WILL FIGHT THESE EXALTS BEASTS. FAILURE TO DEFEAT THEM WILL RESULT IN DEATH. TO MAKE IT MORE INTERESTING, EVERYONE CAN WATCH PLAYER ONE'S BATTLE. BATTLE WILL START IN 10…9."

One of the Exalt Beasts pulled itself out of the magma. From an initial glance, Demon thought they were made of rock and metal due to their craggy faces, but a closer look revealed their faces were more akin to roots and charcoal, a form of burnt wood. The Exalt Beasts had large spiky turtle shells, crab-like arms, four legs, and a pair of purple slits for eyes on their turtle heads.

In time, more of them came onto the platform until five in total surrounded Demon.

"7."

"A game…and anyone can watch…I wonder who created this game. They have quite the taste," Demon didn't care about the creatures climbing onto his platform. A cursory glance was enough to gauge their power. None of the beasts were a serious threat. He pulled up his status, seeing the moving image of himself and the unknown turtle-crab Exalt Beasts.

It was a good decision not to wear his bulwark at the start. Demon wanted to ensure no one could relate his actions to Oscar's. He didn't care who he had to kill other than Oscar's friends. But in this place, it was unwise to create more fervent enemies for Oscar, such as in the case of Gail and the others.

Also, he couldn't let more people know about Oscar's spells and come up with counters, whether in this game or in the future.

'Which weapon should I use?' Demon rummaged around in the space pocket full of Oscar's looted armaments. He passed by swords, knives, spears, and other kinds of weaponry. The nagging sound of the voice continued to count down.

"3."

'Almost forgot, we still had that…' Pulling out his hand and entering another space pocket, Demon took out the Reis-forged hammer created by the Forgemaster. Orden used his hammer effectively, so there should be no issues in using his own. Demon gripped the hammer; its blue swirl patterns resonated with his Ein.

"1."

Ein flowing from the runes immobilized the turtle-crabs the entire time until the countdown finally struck zero. The runes powered down, fading back into mere etchings on stone. The turtle-crabs croaked and groaned, stomping their heavy round feet on the platform while clacking their claws.

"These are only the starting squares. I assume the battles will get more intense as the game progresses." Demon lifted his hammer, swinging it around to get used to its weight. He took a slow step forward, not displaying his speed, a leisurely walk toward one of the turtle-crabs.

The turtle-crabs stomped toward him, opening their mouths wide. In a fast motion, they all retreated into their shells and spun around like spinning tops with their claws extended out. Demon watched, unimpressed at this display. When he took another step, the spinning, spiky shells targeted him, flinging themselves through the air to impale him.

From Demon's eyes, the spinning shells spun so fast the rocky spikes appeared to have blended together in a smooth ball. Undeterred, Demon continued to walk as the shells spun toward him. He kicked up the Reis from his feet, fused it into his Ein, and flowed it all into the hammer.

Oscar complained endlessly about the heaviness and pain it wracked through his body. Demon felt none of that. He gripped his hammer with two hands. The destructive wake of his swing flung the turtle-crabs into the magma, invisible barriers, and stone platform.

Many yelped. Their shells and claws shattered into pieces, exposing the pale flesh underneath. Demon stomped on one head, crushing its brain and skull and showing his brutality to the other players. He went over to each turtle-crab and brought the hammer down upon their skulls in a gruesome, messy beheading.

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"PLAYER ONE HAS COMPLETED HIS CHALLENGE. HE IS FREE TO LOOT THE CREATURES. BUT THERE IS ALSO A REWARD FOR HIS VICTORY. HE WILL RECEIVE AN EIN BURST ELIXIR."

"One elixir?" Demon whispered coldly. Out of nowhere, a small potion materialized on the ground.

"PLAYER TWO'S TURN TO ROLL."

After harvesting everything from the turtle-crabs and picking up the Ein Burst elixir, Demon sat properly in the center of his platform. From his status, he saw the image shift to show player two, a person from the Thousand Storm Palace, moving up several places. When player two landed on a certain square, the runes lit up again.

"PLATER TWO MUST WITHSTAND THE BOMBARDMENT OF EIN FOR FIVE MINUTES."

Bright spheres of Ein rained down on player two. It wasn't of any element, only raw, powerful Ein collected and focused. Demon turned off his status, not interested in how people would perform in the earlier stages. The board was tremendously large. He had ample time and opportunities to watch the others later.

He lifted his helmet to his mouth and drank the rewarded Ein Burst Elixir. He needed to gather and improve his strength in this idle time. With the flood of Ein flooding into his body, Demon held the ataerstone to control the raging torrents into gentler streams.

"PLAYER TWO HAS WITHSTOOD IT. HIS REWARD…."

Demon maintained his focus and had his eyes closed in meditation.

"PLAYER THREE'S TURN TO ROLL."

"PLAYER THREE HAS LANDED ON AN ACTION. MOVE BACK THREE PLACES."

Player three rolled a two previously, bringing them back to the start. Demon opened his eyes, having finished absorbing the Ein Burst Elixir. The action squares brought up a different view of the game; this game didn't only have fights and trials of strength. It didn't matter. Demon remained indifferent to this new information.

"Going back several spaces is bad, but it is still better than wasting time." Demon held a golden fig, the reward Oscar obtained from the Desert Realm. Oscar had over eighty figs and yet decided not to use them for his own training because of how much Ein within it was wasted.

So what if he wasted some? Demon threw the whole fig into his mouth. From Oscar's earlier experiment, the fig, which was ten Ein Burst Elixirs, amounted to only two elixirs thanks to the ataerstone's purification and his core's absorption rate.

"Two elixirs worth…is good enough. Who cares if you give less to the Pavilion? I'll improve us further without your idiocy." Demon guided the rampant Ein of the figs to the ataerstone and fed it back to his core. He stayed still despite the new wounds under his fabricator uniform. Unlike Oscar, he didn't feel the pain, an inconvenient trait that only slackened the mind.

"PLAYER ONE'S TURN"

"Good timing," Demon put away the ataerstone. The dice rolled with a tap of his finger, spinning until it landed on a four. With his move decided, Demon went forward four spaces onto a new platform. Its runic symbols lit up with the Ein flowing through them.

"PLAYER ONE HAS LANDED ON AN AUGMENT SPACE. THEY WILL RECEIVE A CHANCE TO SELECT ONE OF THE THREE. EACH CARD HAS A SINGLE USE AND A UNIQUE POWER."

Three cards popped out of thin air. Demon stared at them for a minute, not wanting to be tricked. He said coldly in a different tone to hide his true identity under the helmet, "How do these cards work? What powers them? I don't think anything such as this existed in the past or present."

"QUESTION RECEIVED. ANSWER IS ALLOWED. THE CARDS ARE INDICATORS. THE EIN COMES FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE AND USES THE CARD AS A PROXY."

"That makes sense," Demon didn't move yet. If people could imbue pieces of paper with their Ein, it would have been widespread already. If spells could be stored on scrolls and used, the world of Exalts would be drastically different. Demon reached out and took the middle card.

Indeed, it was just a normal paper card with a runic symbol. Much like formations and these platforms, the cards relied on an outside Ein source, as the voice explained. The cards themselves held no power on their own.

"YOU HAVE CHOSEN THE ALACRITY CARD. USE IT ON YOURSELF TO BOOST YOUR SPEED AND AGILITY. TO ACTIVATE IT, POUR YOUR EIN, AND IT WILL RESPOND."

A remote piece of paper could provide such a boon…Demon stored it away. He wouldn't keep it and had to find an opportunity to use it in this game. The voice explained everything already; the chances of using this paper card outside were impossible. The Ein source had to be the same powering this game.

Demon waited for the image to shift for player two's turn and resumed his training. He fed on another gold fig, using the ataerstone freely. Slowly, his and Oscar's core began to progress further. It wasn't much due to the stringent requirements of lower cores, but any progress for survival was good.

This went on. Demon waited for his turn, fought beasts, withstood all manners of attacks, and went forward or backward some spaces. Every time, he would train himself in short intervals. According to the map, they were now midway through the board.

"It should be time to start watching them in earnest. Some are getting closer to me." Demon gazed at the map, seeing some red dots close to his own.

"PLAYER TWO HAS MET PLAYER THIRTEEN! CONGRATULATIONS ON STARTING A NEW EVENT!"

"Perfect," Demon kept his status open to watch. "I needed some information. Is it similar to when Oscar first met Serena or a fight to the death?"

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