Holy hell, that felt satisfying, and it was surprisingly easy. Sure, I would have probably died if I had done that outside the bounds of the tournament, but it's totally fine. Sooner or later, I will get to the point where I can pull off stunts like that with impunity.

The amount of black mana I used to keep my body from breaking apart as I channeled all that mana was enough to kill me. However I was able to hold on until the end, and the system ended the event before I crumbled. I don’t think the others even saw that.

I need some time to think over my actions. The inscriptions and the black mana strengthening my body helped me channel the force of my mana. I’m surprised how close I am to being able to pull that off even without the black mana to strengthen my body.

My Mana Circuit is really pulling its weight. The new eyes are helping and my passives are helping too. So maybe I should strengthen my Mana Circuit again? A few more rounds of active tempering after we leave the tournament? A few more levels in my skills?

But damn, the [Mana Crown] is really good. I Love that thing. Keep doing a good job. I also love the ax, good stuff. It handled all of that mana like a champ, without picking up a single scratch.

Anyway, it's time to check my rewards.

Before opening the notification, I make sure to act strong and slowly walk through the crowd.

At some point, a group of people from the lower difficulties starts to cheer, “Noname! Noname! Noname!” the chant carried by dozens of voices.

It's surprisingly disturbing, especially seeing the expressions they are making.

Are they not ashamed? Weirdos.

Well, it's better than having them shout Tent Creep, so I place an anchor far away and teleport a few times, reaching our house and taking my favorite spot in the armchair near the window.

Congratulations, you have completed the 2nd event - The Siege of Aether Keep in 1st place and you have taken 1st place in terms of points collected - 1298 pts.

No [Restriction] was placed therefore no bonus has been awarded

You may exchange your points for shards. 1 point = 5 shards.

Your reward for taking 1st place overall comes out to 5 thousand shards.

You may choose to receive the full allotment of shards (11,490) and pick one of three rewards or forfeit the shards to increase the quality of your options.

It’s here that I hesitate. Eleven thousand shards is a lot and it would be a nice bump to my current total. I don't think I’m going to get an arcane passive anytime soon, but that amount could help a lot.

Yet I still have to question how these shards will actually improve my rewards. Maybe it’ll be enough to net me an upper tier epic passive? It could be a high grade epic item again, perhaps it’ll be a bit better? I already have a few good passives that fit me, so it would be hard to change them.

Well, let's take out the shards this time.

“I want to receive shards,” I state, and the balance of shards I hold increases.

Shards: 77,644

I’m still short but I will get there, and when I do, it will be glorious.

Now then, let's check out the rewards.

Please pick one of the three following rewards!

levels, skill upgrade token

Epic grade passive skill

Epic grade item

Well, nothing for my minion, but that’s okay.

My first complaint is that I should be getting these 10 levels anyways; I killed a shitload of enemies, even two of the stronger ones, so why’s the system cheaping out... the fuck am I even thinking, it's the system we're talking about here.

I give the window the bird and check the rewards again. Once again, I’ve been offered an item and a passive. Maybe they are really good? Upper epic grade?

Whatever, I’ll check them out later if I get another offer after the remaining events, but there is one thing I still want to try.

“Can I forgo my reward to improve my final rewards for the tournament and the last event?”

It is possible to forgo rewards to improve any future rewards.

And you didn't tell me that?! This asshole of a system needs a manual. If I had known that before, I wouldn’t... never mind, I would have still taken the summoning token for my minion even if I had known. Haaaa... I'm too old for this crap.

“I want to save my rewards and improve my final rewards.”

There is no other notification, and the window disappears. Then I check other notifications that flooded my inbox after I completed the event.

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 38 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 39]

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 39 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 40]This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 40 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 41]

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 41 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 42]

[Redistribution - lvl 45 > Redistribution - lvl 46]

[Redistribution - lvl 46 > Redistribution - lvl 47]

[Mana Domain - lvl 36 > Mana Domain - lvl 37]

[Mana Crown - lvl 17 > Mana Crown - lvl 18]

[Mana Crown - lvl 18 > Mana Crown - lvl 19]

[Mana Crown - lvl 19 > Mana Crown - lvl 20]

Good stuff, I should do stuff like that more often. Damn though, isn’t [Mana Manipulation] about to reach the level it was before I used it in that skill fusion? The next time I get a skill combination token, I will have to seriously consider using [Mana Manipulation] in the mix. I might be really able to get it back again.

Screw you, system.

Done with the rewards, I stretch and start replaying the fight in my mind when group 4 rushes into the house.

“Holy fuck, what are you, a nuke?” Maya calls from the door.

“That's a weird pickup line,” I reply.

“Hey babe, are you a nuke? Because you've blown me away,” Dennis says in response to my quip, and the three boys laugh together.

"Are you a volcano? Because you just melted through my heart." Aaron adds to another wave of laughter.

"Is your name Atomic? Because you just split my heart in two." This time it's Tess piling on with a cheeky expression.

That makes the boys laugh even more.

"Do you work at a nuclear facility? Because you’ve just caused a meltdown in my heart." Min-Jae also joins.

Do they wanna get beaten?

"Is it hot in here, or is that just the nuclear fusion between us? It’s fusion, right?" a quiet voice joins in.

“Damn it, Lily.”

“Yeah! Damn it, Lily!”

“Shut up, Maya! You too, Dennis! I will beat you up!”

(Food! Food!)

Go and get them, boy! Defend your friend!

“Okay, okay, this is enough. Let's stop before we cause pun-tamination.”

Damn it, Tess. Damn it.

At least Biscuit rushes into the room and floats into my lap, looking at me with a curious expression. I return his gaze, and for a moment we look at each other.

In the end, he just woofs once and lies down so I can pet him.

Do I look like a villain, sitting in an armchair with my legs crossed and the best doggo of the tournament floor in my lap instead of a white cat?

“Izzy, take a pic!” Lily calls.

“Yes!” cries the 11-year-old girl with the smartphone I bought, as she pulls it out of the dresser she stored it in.

She then cleans the lenses and takes a pic before I can protest.

Quickly running to me on her short legs she shows me the photo, “Look!”

I am indeed a villain. But damn, Biscuit is really photogenic. Then I look at my face and freeze.

What is that expression?

“I’m going to take pictures of others too!” Izzy shouts happily, rushing back into the room to do just that. Some members of our group even pose for group photos.

The atmosphere is nice, my people are happy with the results of the event, and not the least bit surprised by my actions, unlike the others. But I guess it’s not the first time they’ve seen me do something like that.

Tess moves in closer to speak, “Good job out there. You made the right decision, waiting until the end. People could see us struggle to fight the monster and the others from Hell could feel how strong it was. While you wiped it out just like that.”

“I will be relying on you to keep the people at bay,” I respond simply.

“No problem. You’re mine too, so I have to prevent any poaching.” She smiles, then looks up and calls, “Izzy! Can you take a picture of me and Nat?”

“Coming!” Isabella shouts and quickly takes a few more photos of Noodle hanging around Maya’s neck, while Maya pretends to be strangled and Noodle is clearly not impressed.

Tess plops down on the armrest of my armchair and smiles while Isabella takes a photo of us. That prompts the others to rush in and take a few more photos against my will. There’s one with Lily, and the boys surrounding me. And another of Maya forming a victory sign with her fingers.

Some of them notice my growing annoyance and that only seems to egg them on as they continue to bully me.

Biscuit is woofing, and they start talking about rewards, Isabella finally stops taking photos, and Tess and Maya fight over the phone, each wanting to play a song they like from its library.

Lily starts telling me about her experiments with the remains of the Champion’s heart. She becomes instantly interested when I show her a bone from the Champion’s finger I retrieved from the 5th floor. We make plans to try something together before the tournament ends. There’s a lot of testing to be done, after all, we can’t die.

The twins then proceed to ask about the coordinates to Lissandra’s home world, Eladore, while telling me about the conversation they had with Sophie during the assault. They offer me a nice cut, so we agree to do that sometime after the tournament and put our time here to better use.

At this point, I’m beginning to suspect that the people here are taking advantage of my good mood to get their way and my eyes naturally slide to Tess who suspiciously averts her gaze.

I knew it.

I will let it pass for today, I’m still in a good mood after the event. Even though I almost obliterated the Aether Keep along with the Rotweaver.

A small mistake. A tiny one.

Could have happened to the best of us.

Against my will, I also learn rumors about a guy from Easy difficulty who’s reached the highest floor of anyone here. The rumors also say he killed the other 199 people from his group.

At some point, Izzy proudly presents me with a smartphone, and judging by Sophie's look of shame, I can only guess that she somehow has something to do with this. Probably some form of coercion on the part of her little sister.

Isabella shows me a video of myself. It looks like she recorded it from the giant screen during the event. In the video, I’m floating in the air, with a golden circle appearing around my pupils and the crown glowing over my head as I lift the ax.

The video has a number of glitchy effects layered over it and she even added filters, along with some kind of Phonk music playing in the background, trying to make the video’s contents, and me by extension, look cool.

Please help.

Should I destroy the hellish device? We haven't seen any smartphones on the other floors yet. Not even on the super developed 2nd Floor. So maybe they shouldn't exist. It only cost me a few rare items, so I could easily do it; it's a cost I'm willing to pay to put an end to this. It seems like Isabella’s just getting started and who knows what else she’s going to get up to.

She even happily chirps that she saw someone with a laptop while sitting in my lap, her objective clear. Even Noodle’s been roped into helping, poor little disgraced guy. Poked and prodded by Izzy, as he slithers closer, the entire time glancing at Biscuit who keeps a close watch on him.

Noodle acts cute, Isabella acts cute. In an attempt to make me buy the laptop for her. She says she could make even better videos for me as if that were something I would want.

Hell, I am willing to pay if she doesn’t make them anymore.

With a sigh, I agree to buy it if she promises to be nice to Vega when I summon her here and let me do some small tests on Noodle. She agrees right away.

Poor Noodle.

Vega is still only around level 40 while Isabella sits somewhere over 150. But their ages are fairly similar, and I remember the stories Vega told me. It would be nice if she could have fun with Isabella at least for that one day.

When the snacks start appearing on the table and everyone takes a short break before doing their tournament stuff, I decide to do the same.

I just move to my quieter corner and stay there while experimenting with my mana.