Chapter 267: Chapter Two Hundred Sixty Eight

"Dear gods." I said through a mouthful of rice and cheese and sauce.  "These enchiladas are amazing. Like, top five of all time in terms of  sheer deliciousness. These are only H-rank?" I shoveled in another bite  happily, ignoring the blistering glare Owen was shooting all of us as we  scarfed down free enchiladas for almost twenty people. I was planning  to eat here every meal for the week we got these free. They weren't that  expensive honestly, it just kind of added up because I couldn't stop  eating them.

Abel, who was polishing off his fiftieth  somehow, nodded without looking up. "Yeah. The original recipe was  created by some D-rank chef Taggert met ages ago. He pulled some kind of  high ranking nonsense and figured out how to make the ingredients  harmonize perfectly to boost the flavor profile. Still only H-rank  materials and results, but the taste is G-ranked in quality somehow.  Gods I forgot how good these are. I didn't see the chef, who is cooking  these things anyway? They must hate me." He laughed after he said that  like it was a joke, but I was pretty sure he was right about that.

Owen  actually smirked a bit at that. "Cherry took over as chef ages ago. And  yes, she hates you, but to be fair, she's hated you for years. My  sister always could hold a grudge, and she never forgave you for winning  her motorcycle in that poker game and then crashing it. I think she  might have tried to have you killed if anyone would have been willing to  take the bounty." He was smiling fondly as he stared off into the  distance, but at that last word shook his head to clear it. "Ah, right,  bounties. You wanted to hear about all the contestants I've met so far."

I  fixed my eyes on him, waiting expectantly as I continued eating  enchiladas. There was a pair of big platters in the center of the table,  and Rudy kept bringing out a fresh one to swap for whichever emptied  first. Apparently deciding he might as well enjoy the expense, Owen  grabbed a plate and started piling on enchiladas himself, starting to  eat as he decided where to begin.

"Well." He said between  bites. "I think the first thing to mention is that while I was only  planning to collect the information bounty, most of the local factions  are taking out legitimate contracts on the known contestants. Once  you're all noticed you'll undoubtedly have a few taken out on you too.  There's a whole pre tournament war game type thing going on down here,  and the biggest names are all paying the most. The outsider factions  don't have as much in the way of connections, but most of them are  making offers where they can, so just being down here is dangerous as  hell."

Abel swallowed a bite and actually stopped eating.  "Really? That sounds fun. Anyone we would know participating? We can't  be the only ones from the old days that held up at G-rank for whatever  reason. I know some of the old Twenty were almost as into combat  specialization as I was. Granted, they'd be too old for the list now,  but still, they would be decent competition."

That got a  chuckle for Owen. "Just two. Rayka Vale and Helix. Vale has been running  a bounty hunting business down here for years now. Never felt the need  to jump up ranks because she didn't want to lose her cash cow. Word on  the street is she's finally ready to make the jump up to F-rank after  the tournament. Helix disappeared for a few years there. No one is sure  where he went, but I heard rumors he ended up in one of Mad Madigans  lost mazes and got stuck there for a while. He came out...weird. I'd  avoid him. It's not common for Ascendants to go crazy for non recursive  reasons, but I'm pretty sure Helix did."

Abel actually  cringed at that. "That's...not ideal. Helix was a scary bastard even  back in the day. That transmutation power of his is nasty, and he was  always good at coming up with creative ways to use it. Sad to hear he's  had such a bad time. He wasn't very talkative, but I always liked him  well enough. I remember Rayka too, but she made less of an impression.  Something about energy constructs I think? I'll keep an eye out for  them. What about the new bloods? Anyone with potential or just the usual  legacies?"

Owen shrugged. "Most of the E-rankers have  kids going in, but not too many of them are notable. We've got them  coming in from both sides too. The Unity and WCP both. Screaming Stevie  has a kid entering who seems to be pretty competent. Sonic powers are  always a pain in the ass to deal with so he's under scrutiny. Dread's  daughter is going to be in it, to no one's surprise. The entire Titan  Twenty is going to be competing, though only a few of those are notable.  Beat and Sever are supposed to be solid, and they've been seen around  with Serenity, the Peace Lord's daughter, though all three vanished for a  while."

I shared a look with Callie, who smirked slightly  at the mention of our defeated enemies. Good to know that was getting  around. Abel, on the other hand, looked annoyed. "Food aside, this isn't  really worth much man. You've told me about a few people I could have  heard about elsewhere. You made it sound like you had the inside line on  anyone we might be meeting. I assume that you can at least give us the  details on the outsider factions?"

The eye roll Owen gave  my teacher reminded me so much of something Benny would do that I had to  stop myself from choking on my food. "Impatient ass. " He said fondly.  "Yes, I have the details on most of the recent arrivals. I also have my  sources still scrounging and have my ear to the ground. I'll get you the  new information as it becomes available too. We're in this together  now, so I want the four of you to place well. How else will I get paid?"

"We  appreciate the help either way." Callie cut in with a reproachful glare  at Abel. "Any information is better than none, and this food is  delicious." I tried not to snicker at that. Callie was obsessed with  good food, so this deal was already a good investment as far as she was  concerned. Abel knew her well enough to know the same and just rolled  his eyes at her predictable reaction. "In any case, any info on the  outsiders is bound to be useful. We can find out about the locals from  anywhere, but knowledge about the new arrivals is sure to be sparse."

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Even  Abel couldn't argue that, and he raised an eyebrow at Owen, silently  prompting the green haired man to continue. With a victorious smirk at  my silver masked teacher, he did so. " There are a few of them that I've  heard about. Mostly bigger factions from the nearby star systems. The  Twilight Order is here. They're monk types, most of them use some  variation of light and shadow powers, sometimes both. Big on tricks and  illusions and SUPER pretentious. Their contender's name is MacGregor.  Big blonde bastard with a beard who prefers light based attacks. Heard  he burns out peoples eyes sometimes."

He looked around  quickly before continuing, lowering his voice. "The Darkling Institute   use some weird combination of necromancy and mad science to create  minions. They're mostly pretty scary, but the most dangerous is a girl  named Mordaunt. Dark blue hair and dark skin, travels with a huge  bandaged guy in manacles. Has the creepiest glowing green eyes. The  minion's name is Malgrim and he's got a freaky level of regeneration.  Some kind of Vitality multiplier ability I think, because he straight up  knits back together as you watch."

I shuddered a bit at  what kind of abominations necromancy and mad science could produce in  conjunction. Mad science could seemingly bend or even break the rules  that governed most ranks out of sheer randomness, and necromancy created  powerful undead servants. The last thing I felt like running into was  some kind of super corpse with rule bending abilities, and I made a not  to avoid the Institute's people if possible. I had to ask. "Are there  any less...creepy options? Someone more into direct combat?"

He  smirked at that. "Well, the Spear Legion are here. They all have the  same ability actually, or versions of it. Spear Mastery. They tend to  synergize it with odd stuff, but their whole thing is just being really  good at stabbing stuff with a spear. It's less straight forward than it  sounds though. Weapon masters are nasty in a fight. They only have the  one trick, but they're damn good at it." He gestured at Abel. "This  scary bastard could technically be considered an unarmed combat  specialist, to give you a bit of context."

That  did give me a bit of an idea about how versatile some of those spear  users might be, but far from scaring me off, it made me even more  excited. I hadn't ever fought a spear user before, and I was betting  they had some fantastic martial arts. I wanted to see how they would  measure up against our Balam Mastery, not to mention my combination  style with Callie. "Who did the Spear Legion send? Most of the system  factions have a primary inheritor right? Same as the locals? They must  have some really impressive contestant lined up as their primary."

"Got  it in one." He said with a nod. "Lament is their main contender. That  girl basically breathes the spear from what I've heard. She's spent  twenty five years in G-rank, just polishing her spear skills to the peak  of Intermediate. If I had to pick, I'd say she's Apollyon's best shot  at a decent match up, though the other three members of that team are no  slouches either. Their second is a guy named Wren, uses an absolutely  gigantic spear made from some oversized animal bone."

At  the mention of a peak Intermediate Skill, I just blinked in shock. The  absurd amount of dedication that would have to have taken at G-rank  boggled the mind. If her Spear Mastery Skill was peak Intermediate and  she was still at G-rank, it also meant that wasn't her actual ability  either. Probably a synergized Skill. Someone that scary having an  unknown ability made me even more excited, and even Abel looked  intrigued.

My  mentor's eyes had lit up at the comment as he looked at Owen intensely.  "Peak Intermediate? My Ragam is intermediate, but its a ways off from  peak. Managing to get a Skill more than a single rank above your current  ability rank is difficult, bordering on impossible. The soul weight is  too much for most people to take. If she's planning to break through to  Expert before she hits F-rank she must be a monster."

That  was something I was curious about actually. "Does combat mastery have a  high requirement for soul strength? I know that any alterations to a  technique strain the soul, and combat specialists are all about  maximizing usage. Do you and Mel have a high soul strength? I know  Alden's is above average for his rank." The news that having a Skill  more than a single rank above your standard caused soul weight made  sense when I thought about it, considering how elixirs and such worked,  but it opened up a lot of possible questions.

Abel  nodded absently, barely paying attention. "Yeah, any decent combat  specialist has a strong soul. Soul strength is pretty important for any  decent elite, it's much more common in higher ranked planets. We need to  feel out some of the competition. Most of them will probably be holed  up scheming, but the Spear Legion sound like they're the kind to prefer a  straight fight." He turned his predatory grin on Owen. "I only have one  more question. What are the chances the Spear Legion fighters are at  the Bone Arena?" Owen's answering smirk was all the confirmation I  needed. Guess I knew where we were heading next.

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