Andrei woke up to Mini's Alarm Clock and this time Sophia was with her. Andrei had finished and didn't know that Sophia was the one to do so. He was still half asleep and just said "Thanks Mini, give me a few and I got you"
"I will hold you up to that!" Sophia confidently spoke under the sheets. It startled Andrei to lift the sheets and seeing Mini with Sophia he thought she was the best. Then he thought, was she his girlfriend? They had never commented as such, but she was now waking him daily and bringing friends.
[New Buff learned: "Sophia's Desire"]
["Sophia's Desire" buff will increase the user's HP by 50%. Buff lasts 20 hours]
He also had a message on his communication device that he was to report to the Military Academy's Central Command at noon. He had time till then and he was wondering what would be so important that he was needed at noon. It wasn't SPRU which made him ponder what could be up.
He ran into Edwin who also had the invite which he asked Andrei about as they ran into each other. "What do you think they want from us?" Edwin inquired, wondering if Andrei had any idea what the invitation was about.
"Wanted to ask the same thing, does anyone else have this invitation from Death Squad?" Andrei responded to the inquiry. They hadn't spoken to everyone but so far they were the only two. Andrei had a couple hours till he needed to be at the meeting so he decided to head to Goliath.
He arrived in his room on Deck 1 and was by himself. He stepped out of his room and thought he heard a whimper. He looked towards the sound and it came from a door with "Airwrecka" written above it.
He knocked on the door and got an immediate "Go away I know I'm ugly!" Which caused Andrei to step back and hesitate for a minute not sure what to say.
"Hey it's me Andrei, I have always thought you're beautiful and even more so now. Your tail is one of the coolest things I have ever seen!" He spoke softly but loudly so she could hear him.
The door suddenly opened and she was standing there with tears in her eyes "You really think that?"
"Of course, now why did you yell at me that you know you're ugly when that isn't the case? Did the guys say something?" Andrei inquired of the succubus.
"Oh no, they didn't say anything, it's the way they look at me. I can feel their eyes lingering on my tail and I know they think I'm hideous. But they have never said anything wrong, I think it's just me. I am feeling better just being around you, can you stay?" She was blabbering at this point.
"Hey I just wanted to check up on how things are going here and this is the reason. You obviously are struggling with all of this, how can I help?" Andrei gave her a warm smile and opened his arms signaling a hug.
She leapt to him and hugged him tightly and her tail wrapped around his leg rubbing him softly. She started to hum with her breathing and it felt like LaLa's purr or even Mini's purr. Andrei was wondering if it was something he was doing to women or if he just attracted that type.
Her tail had moved up and down his leg and now was lowering his pants without Andrei realizing it till he felt her hand on his member. She knelt down and on her way down "Let me take care of you, I need this" which Andrei thought there was not a man who would say no to her in that moment.
[Airwrecka's Treat active]
Andrei pulled her up on her feet and their eyes locked. "Thank you, that helps me more than you could imagine"
"I feel better than I felt since becoming a succubus. Can we do this more often?" Airwrecka looked up at Andrei with puppy dog eyes. Andrei gave her a warm smile and said "Soon I believe we will all be staying here on the regular so there will be plenty of time for that, plus we aren't going to keep you a secret forever, just need to figure out when."
He said his goodbye and checked on Henry and Jayson who were busy working in the Epic Shield. He then had a thought as they talked about Edwin's shield and he produced Poco's dagger to show them that he could duplicate weapons even not around them. His question was if they could utilize what he creates or if it disappears.
They listened to his idea and were told that it lasts an hour but he has to get going to break down the dagger and see if the components disappeared or could be remodeled.
Henry melted it down and Jayson laid out a different dagger mold and they went to work on it. So far so good and when they cooled it down and applied their hammers to it there was a significantly better looking dagger. They wielded it around and Andrei even grabbed it and went to multiply it and a new entry in his tab was added "Poco's Intermediate Dagger by JH".
"Well the next time I see the team I'm going to start multiplying all the weapons so I can then give you them to upgrade them. If possible I will get the shield then you guys can figure out the indestructible part even if I have to keep making new ones every hour for you." Andrei told them his ideas of how he was going to use this new found information.
He said his goodbyes and ported back to his room. Mini was waiting for him having been told by Airwrecka how much better she felt. She had a grin on her face and also was excited to inform him she found out what the invitation involved.
"You're going to be fighting in the Annual Military Academy Challenge. This is something that SPRU members have been excluded from but this cycle they decided to change the rules or ignore them. You and Edwin are two of the representatives from Hathin. You each can bring 4 friends for VIP access so I was thinking Lily, Sophia, Surany and myself could be your VIP and we will dress the part!" She spat out hurriedly trying to spit out all of her plans without forgetting something.
"Oh and this will be broadcasted across the Galaxy as always so we need to make sure you look your best at all times. If you're cool with this idea I will get the girls ready as we will be leaving quickly for the Elryn home world." She concluded.
Andrei couldn't argue with any of her points nor did he think he could change mind if he tried. He gave her a kiss and simply told her "you're the best!" And departed to his invitation.
Upon reaching the lobby of Central Command he was greeted by a Colonel who was dressed in his finest military uniform. "Private Ierdna, Colonel O'Neill with two L's, there is another with one L who has no sense of humor. Follow me to the meeting room."
"What does this meeting involve?" Andrei asked the Colonel as they walked through the building.
"I'm not sure, but there's cake!" Chimed in the Colonel.
They continued in silence as Andrei was taking in the surroundings. The walls in the hallway had pictures of highly decorated military personnel from the past. They had pictures of them in uniform and also in their beast gear. Some of the gear Andrei was wishing Jayson and Henry could duplicate just on appearance.
Jayson woke up from a nap to find out that there was a series of visuals showing up on the beast core requests. Andrei didn't know that once again Goliath was reading his thoughts and Jayson went straight away making gear looking like the requests.
Andrei walked into the meeting room and saw Edwin already sitting down at the table with 3 other individuals. Colonel O'Neill walked around to the largest chair and sat down clearing his throat.
"So now that we are all here I will get straight to the point. You five have been selected for the Annual Military Challenge. The five of you will both compete individually and as a unit representing Hathin's MA. At this time I would like you guys to introduce each of yourselves." Colonel O'Neill concluded looking to his left at the young woman.
She nervously looked around as public speaking wasn't her thing. "I'm Ashinat Seyer, I am 10 cycles old, my power is super strength. I'm proficient with two axes." She was a larger woman standing 6 feet tall, she had short white hair on carmel colored skin.
"I'm DeAngelo Dean, I'm 11 cycles old and graduate next week. My power is the more I block the stronger I get. My body absorbs the energy and makes me stronger so I try to be on the front lines at all times." Said the next individual who was a man about 5'9" with short black hair and dark tan skin.
"I'm Brutus Pons, I am 10 cycles old. I have two powers, element nature and I can reload guns. I know that sounds crazy but believe me when I say I can reload a lot of ammo before I tire out." The last individual to introduce themselves who was not Edwin and Andrei. He was 6 feet tall, dirty brown hair, and pale skin.
"I am Edwin Jarvis, I am 9 cycles old. I am attuned so far to Fire, Water, Lightning and Nature." He stopped there and there was an awkward silence till Andrei realized that he was done and everyone was waiting on him.
"I'm Andrei Ierdna, I'm 9 cycles old. My powers are too long to list." And he too stopped talking.
"I like this guy!" Colonel O'Neall shouted out as he heard Andrei give the least informative speech about himself the Colonel had ever heard. "How are you going to say it's too long to list?"
"Fire, Water, Wind, Lightning, Nature, Blood are the elements I can control, I have biotic powers as well as the ability to port anywhere in the known Galaxy including taking a party of an unknown amount. I have two pets, two eternal spirits and a succubus all at my whim. The more enemies I face the more powerful I become." Andrei looked the Colonel dead in the eye coolly saying what he said.
"Bullshit!" Brutus coughed out and both DeAngelo and Ashinat chuckled. The Colonel gave him a look then put his attention back on Andrei.
"You mean to tell me that you have more powers than any being in the galaxy and I'm sitting across from him? That's rich! I'm going to grab some cake!" The Colonel stood up and walked over to the table on the side of the room that in fact had a large rectangle cake with white icing.
"When they said that they needed the SPRU guys in order to win this cycle they didn't mention a god was one of them!" O'Neall was laughing as he sliced into the cake continuing to talk to the group while not facing them.
"Kid, let me see three elements and I will shut up! But that probably isn't possible as you just made up this entire…" Andrei produced an ice wolf with his "Snap Dragon Kick of Ice with Wind Slash" followed by "A Thousand Fists of Fire with Slash" that sent Dragon heads firing out from his fists then finishing it up with "Hurricane Kick of Lightning" and he spun around shooting lightning 5 yards out of his foot as he spun in the air and landed it.
"OK, so this guy is for real and at least you four have the group competition to win with him." The Colonel had changed his tune so fast one would think he was used to eating his own words.
"Can I add I can multiply weapons!" As he touched Colonel O'Neill's staff a new one then appeared in his own hand. The power he felt from it was really nice and he ran his "Identify" on the staff.
[+Advanced Staff of Nature]
[+100 Agility, +50 Strength, + 50 Spirit]
[+25 Nature]
Then he thought about the fact that if he needed to use lots of nature magic this staff would be a nice boost for that fight. He walked over to Edwin and touched the shield to run the multiply skill on it and it appeared in his inventory through his own thoughts. He hadn't realized he could do that but was excited as he thought at minimum he could just touch anyone's weapons and duplicate them.
O'Neill, not understanding how his staff was duplicated, quickly just stopped mid bite staring at Andrei. "You're a one man army!" He blurted out as he was contemplating all that Andrei said he could do, and what he had witnessed.
"No, I already killed him, he was an assassin for the terrorist group Ra." Andrei responded, looking at the rest of the group for any response. O'Neill actually knew of this reference and it had slipped his mind until now. "Touché, well let me close with the fact that you can bring 5 people with you as they will get VIP treatment for this event. You have four hours to inform them and get them to the portal room to depart for the Elryn Homeworld."
Upon leaving Edwin asked Andrei who he was going to bring and he said that Mini already had 4 girls in mind and Edwin pointed out it was 5. He thought about and decided Jiks would be perfect as she was Elryn, and should appreciate the trip. Edwin, hearing who was going could figure out what Andrei was doing and figured he had no chance of competing with that anyways so he invited O, Flen, Poco, Loco, and Hook.
Andrei informed Mini about adding Jiks to the plans and she was already there with them acting jealous till she heard the news. The MAC was one of a few events that broadcasted across the Galaxy in real time and the chance to just be in the crowd was many people's ultimate goals, being in the VIP was just fantasy for almost everyone.
*********************************************
The portal room for Elondinonin right away told you that it was a new planet. The structures looked to be grown as the walls appeared to be bark. The floor was a moss like substance that was soft to step on. The groups of each MAC representative were porting in and moving through the complex as they were directed to by the soldiers of Elryn.
They exited the portal building and were all taken back by the natural beauty of the planet. Everything was alive, the buildings were swaying in the wind gently. The leaves of the trees were all vibrant colors and shapes and sizes. Vines of various colors wrapping around in an artistic display in the architecture.
They walked for several minutes till they came across a valley that they had built the Arena into. Looking down they could see the arena held 250 thousand people who were already starting to pile in. The VIP groups were all led down a path that ended at a lift that brought them down to the basement of the arena.
The basement had VR pods like the arena in Hathin. They were given a couple minutes to say their goodbyes to their five guests and then were told to proceed to their assigned pods. Andrei was glad there wasn't going to be a long wait and that they seemed to be quite proficient.
Andrei was getting lots of stares as he was the only one with five girls. All five of them had dressed in their best outfits for this and they all were proudly displaying their affection for Andrei. Jealous looks and comments were being made by other contestants and their guests.
"Go have fun being the center of attention all night as I keep winning," Andrei confidently told the girls. He gave each a kiss and was surprised when Surany and Jiks kissed him back. He had hesitated at first but Surany gave him a look of you better kiss me as well. Jiks didn't want to feel left out and embarrassed so she jumped right up and kissed him. They all got a giggle as she was even smaller than Mini and jumping up to him the contrast was a sight.
Andrei stepped into his VR pod and was in the usual white lobby of the VR realm. He just had the thought that the system might not know blood skills and he shot out a Blood Dagger that definitely was large and hit the wall. He knew pets weren't allowed in the battle so he didn't try to summon them but he did wonder if Prince and LaLa could experience the VR or not.
The best part of the VR was being able to go all out and not worry about accidentally killing someone. Long ago this was a battle to the death but technology has allowed for a more civil approach.
Andrei didn't know that he was not in the first round but he continued to look over what he had and could do. All his weapons and abilities were available and so was his gear. Then he received a message he wasn't sure what was going on till he accepted it.
[Apply Third Armor Loadout? Y/N]
He thought Yes and while looking at his loadout tab a third set of gear appeared and it looked exactly like the set he wanted it to look like when he was walking through the halls. Jayson had seen the gear, made it quickly with standard beast cores and then placed it on his mannequin which allowed for Andrei to then utilize the set.
The VR was designed to show the armor that the user wears so he summoned the gear and saw that they all had +10 Strength and +10 Agility and the advanced stat for each was +1 to all elements. So the set increased all of his elemental attacks.
The gear was black with dark green camouflage pattern, the armor had scales that would come together with bright green highlighted lines around the scales. The gear appears to be alive with Andrei's breathing as the green camouflage and highlights would grow bright and darker in rhythm.
He hadn't had the armor on long when his vision changed and he was standing in an open field of bushes with trees dotted around giving some shade on a bright sunny day on some simulated planet. Across the way was his opponent, this time he wasn't given any information. "Identify" only told him that it was an Elryn Commando named Hullty.
"3,2,1, Fight!" And Andrei could move from his spot, he had the new gear on, the gear actually felt lighter than anything else and was thinking this might be his go to from now on just for comfort. He knew his opponent was a nature user, he just didn't know what type.
"Skill Sap" he thought and was greeted with a new ability that sounded like it would be quite useful, however he wasn't trying to read it and got into the fight.
Then he felt a rumble under his feet and he didn't want to find out what it was and so he leapt to his right. Just as he did that the ground under him exploded like a land mine. Andrei then knew he was going to have to be careful about where he was standing. He felt another rumble and could tell it was most on his right so he stepped left and the explosion went off without hurting him.
The opponent had a mace and shield and came charging in seeing that his unique attack had failed. He hardened his shield with nature and his mace had thorns on the head of it. The mace was swung at Andrei who dodged it with ease not realizing he was that much faster than his opponent Andrei wasn't sure what was going on.
The thorns shot out as the mace just missed him and they stuck into Andrei's side causing his HP bar in the game to drop. Then his HP returned back to full and Andrei's opponent let out an audible "huh?".
He swung again and Andrei decided to use his shield this time to see what reflecting a weapon swing back at the opponent would do. The effect was more than Andrei would have expected as the mace made contact and reflected back twice as fast as the mace was swung. The resulting hit knocked the opponent onto his ass and half of his HP was gone.
Andrei then had a thought as he didn't know who all was watching but he knew that they couldn't see wind attacks. He pulled on his slingshot and thought "Wind" and a "Wind Pellet" shot out and hit the Elryn right in the face, killing him.
There was a crazy roar heard throughout the arena as the place went wild at the fight they just watched. To them it was a flawless victory, something not often seen given the competition and stakes. Andrei was sent back to his lobby and that is when he noticed that the current fight was viewable. They showed the introduction of each fighter then showed the VIP guests which made him wonder what his girls looked like on the cameras. Little did he know that they were already the hit of the event.
Andrei was looking at the viewing monitor and noticed there were betting lines on everyone. His name just shot up to the top. He also liked the fact that they had some ambiguity by using a stage name of your choosing so really "TheAnswer" just shot to the top of the betting lines.
Andrei watched as he saw fight after fight of people showing different abilities and fighting styles. Fire and lightning seemed to win the most as he continued to watch. Then he was transported into his second fight.
This opponent was Tantan with white hair and red eyes. Andrei knew to be wary of the invisible wind attacks and then be ready to counter fire. He ran his "Skill Sap" and learned a new ability which reminded him he needed to now look up two new abilities.
The Tantan charged in and at a quicker pace than Andrei was expecting then he thought about the white hair being Wind so obviously would have speed bursts from it. He had to figure that out for himself, he pondered slightly distracted from the fight.
The first attack was a punch from a greater distance than Andrei would expect one to be thrown but also told him that it was going to be a wind attack and he needed to move. The pop was heard from the spot that Andrei had just stood and Andrei could tell it was a powerful attack.
The Tantan pulled out a two handed sword quickly caught fire and then was swung down at Andrei's head. Either this guy hadn't seen his fight or didn't register Andrei's shield but Andrei pulled it out and blocked the attack which caused the Tantan to flip several times backwards before landing hard on his back. Small chunk of HP was removed from his virtual health bar and Andrei chuckled louder than he realized.
He aimed another "Wind Pellet" and shot the Tantan between the eyes and killed him causing once again another massive uproar. The ceiling above the pods was shaking from the sheer noise from the crowd and continued to rumble for several minutes into the next fight.
Andrei's two fights thus far their combined time was half the time of the next fastest one fight. Andrei, back in his lobby, glanced at the betting odds and he didn't understand what they meant but now he had a huge negative number next to his name growing by the second.
What Andrei didn't understand was the gambling aspect of the MAC. The first day alone several billion credits would exchange hands. By the end of the 5 days several trillion credits will be moved. What Andrei also didn't know is that before the start of the MAC he had received the largest 1st day bet ever placed.
The forums were going wild about the mysterious gigantic bet, the fact that it was signed by JH no one knew what that meant. Some were putting it together but it felt more conspiracy than fact saying that the new forger known as JH was the one who bet a fortune on "TheAnswer" the moment he was introduced.
Then the Galaxy, seeing the five beautiful women in his VIP, were making bets on which was his girlfriend, which would he kiss first on camera, that all five of them are his girlfriend.
Andrei then remembered to check out his two new abilities.
[New Skill learned: "Nature Bomb" LVL 5]
["Nature Bomb" after a short delay the targeted area of 5 yards will explode from the ground up.]
[-1,000 Spirit]
[New Skill learned: "Inferno" LVL 5]
["Inferno" radiates fire from the user outward in a ring. Has a 5 second cooldown]
[-1,000 Spirit]
He liked both but wasn't sure how to use them or when to use them but they added to his arsenal of attacks which was on you a good thing. He then saw Edwin fight and it showed that he was already 1-0.
Edwin was battling an Elryn who appeared to have similar abilities to Jiks but was even faster than Jiks. The sleeping ability wasn't one of the abilities either but the vine attacks were all similar. Edwin's use of the shield made it difficult for any opponent to get him and then having multiple elemental attacks to choose from he was a force.
As the fight wore on Edwin's username of "Fourman" was moving up the ranks and when the fight finished he was in 4th overall on the rankings or betting rankings, Andrei wasn't sure what the difference was.
Andrei's next fight was against a Manthra that he had already fought before. He only knew this because when he ran his "Skill Sap" he got the "duh duh" sound and then he saw the Manthra do the spin attack at him. This time it felt like a slow attack and he stepped out of the way with ease.
He even called him out "Hurricane41?" Which the Manthra stopped in its tracks staring at his opponent. "How do you know my Duel account?"
Andrei didn't even think about the fact that they were anonymous right now when he called out the name. Now realizing what he just said he brushed it off with a laugh and decided to summon an "Ice Axe".
The Manthra kicked at him with two of its powerful legs and Andrei parried the attack to get his "Ice Axe" to gain its charge of "Wolf's Bite" which he launched out at his opponent. The white wolf appearing made the crowd respond with a resounding "ooooo". Pets weren't allowed but abilities that made pet forms were rare and always a crowd favorite.
Andrei, now appreciating the crowd's response, decided he would start to put on a show for them. He let the "Wolf's Bite" expire and Hurricane41 leapt into the air to fly away from another wolf grabbing it as he felt he couldn't move while the wolf had its leg.
Andrei wasn't paying close enough attention when he felt himself get knocked back slightly, the Manthra had done a wind attack with its wings and he hadn't caught it. A small chunk of HP was removed but once again it filled right back up.
Andrei wasn't sure which would look cooler so he pulled out the "Sledgehammer of Fire" which got another roar of "oooo". Andrei timed it up and as the Manthra came down with his spiraling attack trying to get a hold of Andrei, Andrei had leapt into the air and down the sledgehammer with a "Wind Hammer". The resulting explosion of fire that expanded out sent the Manthra flying and Andrei was standing in his lobby again.
"The Answer! The Answer! The Answer!" Was being shouted over and over again. The crowd was loving the performance by Andrei as they couldn't figure out what his power entailed. The forums were ablaze with who in the Galaxy could "TheAnswer" be and why is he dominating like it's child's play.
His last two opponents for the day only gave him EXP from "Skill Sap" and both were comically quick as his shield killed both of them. He wondered if they were even watching others to get an advantage or not.
He figured his shield wouldn't be so effective going forward in the event but day one it was the MVP. He was released out of his pod and was greeted by his girls who were all beaming with smiles. They knew he would do well but they didn't know it would be this well.
They were escorted to the "Hall of Champions" which was what they called the living quarters for the contestants and their guests. They entered the room that was designated for them and it had 6 rooms with one being larger than the rest. They decided they wanted to go out and see the sites as none had ever been to Elondinonin.
They headed back towards the lobby and were stopped as they were about to exit. "As a precaution to all contestants, you are forbidden from leaving the Hall of Champions till the event is done, this is one of the many reasons for your guests." An Elryn guard stepped in front of the group before they made it to the door.
"Well guess that changes those plans, let's get some food then head back to the room." Andrei suggested to the girls who didn't argue with the suggestion. They all realized they had been caught up in the excitement and hadn't eaten themselves.
Taking their seats at the fancy restaurant inside of the Hall of Champions, Andrie realized he couldn't eat food anymore. He looked at the menu and saw they had meat, he thought about maybe the rarest of cooked meat would be something he might be able to suck some blood out of with his fangs if needed.
Their food arrived and the girls dug in while Andrei stared at the piece of meat unsure if it would work. He wasn't sure why he was hesitating but he felt like the answer would somehow arrive the longer he stared. Mini saw him staring and offered her wrist with a warm smile.
He shook his head, obviously not wanting to feed in public on her, then took a bite out of the meat and was actually pleasantly surprised that it tasted how he remembered it tasting. He ate the whole piece but it didn't fill him up the way it once did and he knew it wasn't what he needed but would serve as a public substitute.
They all headed back up to their room and instead of going into separate rooms they all piled into the large bed and quickly fell asleep. The day's events had worn them all out and they all were quickly overtaken by exhaustion.