Reflections on the Warpath - [An Isekai Progression Fantasy]

Jay put the shirt aside and turned to face the new voice.

The slender man stood about a metre behind Lyra's chair, patiently waiting for a response with a faint smile. His skin was a light, almost mint, green and popped out against his faded brown leather armour. The man had delicate features and no beard; he tucked his dark hair neatly behind slender, slightly pointed ears.

Jay had grown accustomed to people with strange eyes at the coliseum. Hell, when he used Eye of the storm, he became one of them. The man in front of him didn't beat the storm sage's nebulous gaze, but Jay reckoned he was firmly number two in the weirdest eyes ranking.

Two immaculately cut diamonds rested in place of his eyeballs. As the newcomer's gaze shifted between Jay, Lyra and Akira, Jay could almost feel the crystal ridges brushing against his own eye sockets.

"Of course. Take a seat Mr… Crystalborn." said Lyra. A golden sheen faded from her face as she pointed inside the booth next to Akira.

Jay followed Lyra's lead and opened the newcomer's rankings. He still found it somewhat disrespectful to scout someone so blatantly, but most of the gladiator's here didn't care.

They fought to the death every week. Etiquette was the least of their concerns.

Weird balance of rankings, but I can't exactly trust them much. I'll watch his fights later.

"Thank you." said Karis. He sat next to Akira before clearing his throat and placing his hands on the table.

"Perhaps you've already received similar requests, perhaps not. Over the next two weeks I'm sure you'll be inundated with them."

Lyra slightly nodded, but Jay had no idea what Karis was talking about.

"Initially, I had planned on asking the two of you…" he nodded at Lyra and Akira. "…whether you would be interested in partnering with me for the advancement tournament. My predictions have it at roughly a sixty percent chance of it being a trio oriented task this cycle. However, it appears you already have a third member. Nonetheless, I would like to offer my services in case advancement is conducted in groups of four."

Karis paused like he was waiting for someone to interject. Nobody bothered him, so he continued his pitch.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"All three of you have tremendous combat ability. I won't attempt to rank any of you, since there is a great lack of information surrounding every gladiator currently preparing for advancement, but I firmly believe that this trio has the greatest average combat strength. Were advancement to be conducted inside the newbie arena, via a series of one on one fights, I believe you would be highly likely to advance and achieve selection for the subsequent Luminary tournament.

"But it's not.

"As you probably know, the advancement tournament always involves a primary objective that funnels gladiators into unorthodox scenarios to create captivating fights. Examples from the past that I've studied include gathering ingredients for an antidote, capturing flags owned by other teams, and solving a gigantic maze. From what I've gathered from your fights, you all seem very intelligent. It's part of the reason I came to you. But intelligence only solves half of the problem. You can't find an optimal solution without adequate information. Luckily for you, that's what I'm offering."

Karis pulled out a fingernail sized ruby and held it in the palm of his hand. He enclosed it beneath his slender fingers before clenching his fist. It cracked loudly, before a burst of quieter snaps followed. When his fingers unfurled, all Jay saw was a handful of fine red powder.

He threw the dust in the air. It puffed into a glittery red cloud.

SQUAWK!

A waft from within blew the smoke cloud into Jay's face. As he coughed away the gemstone dust, the red cloud dissipated to reveal a crow perched atop Karis' forearm. It had crystalline eyes that matched its creator, except the crow's were blood red. The same shade as the ruby it'd just hatched from.

"During my journey to the Second Chance Coliseum, I joined a band of hunters travelling south through the Verdant Frontier. I couldn't help them much in battle, so I earned my place by scouting. My Harmony revolves around the essence of information, and my crows are how I manifest it.

"I can make up to twenty crows, each sapient. They can operate independently, and there's a one-way information transfer between me and them. Everything I know, they also know. I had hoped to make it a two way system before advancement, but as of today I'm likely too far away.

"I can hold my own in battle, as evidenced by my proficient rankings, however it is not where my skillset lies. I believe partnering with skilled combatants such as yourselves provides the best route to advancement into D grade for both parties."

What next, previous employers?

Karis paused, inviting them to ask any questions. Jay could see Lyra and Akira deep in thought, so he decided to give them some awkwardness-free time to think.

"These guys are the brains of the operation, I'm just the fists!" he said, filling in the silence. Karis politely matched Jay's smile. "Do you mind if I ask you a rather personal question?"

"Sure."

"You said it yourself, you focus on the essence of information, and when you met up with those hunters, your main use was scouting and not combat. Now you're saying the same thing, trying to find a supporting role in a coliseum. But to climb to rank 36 you must've had quite a lot of fights to the death, that's quite impressive. You're obviously strong, no matter what you might say, but that just makes me more confused.

"You're not soulbound, like us three. You don't focus on combat. Why the hell did you sign up to the Second Chance Coliseum?"

Karis met Jay's eyes. He gave himself a moment before replying.

"Good question. I don't need the essence of information to tell that you're much more than just a pair of fists Jay. However, your inexperience betrays you. There are pockets of this planet far less forgiving than Arenara Fortunis. I grew up inside the Verdant Frontier, where brushes with death are daily, not weekly, and there's no coliseum to heal us every time."

The crow hopped onto Karis' shoulder, nestling its head in the crook of his neck.

"To answer your question, I came here to learn. I won't always have a hunting band to cover for my weaknesses. To accomplish my goals, I may need to traverse the Frontier alone. Where better to learn how to fight on one's own than here?

"You may think that partnering this way is contrary to my aim of getting stronger. I somewhat agree, but I believe that entering D grade quickly is more pertinent than maximising the lessons of E grade.

"I'm intimately acquainted with putting my life on the line. So I'm looking for the most efficient way into D grade since there's more useful lessons waiting for me there."

Makes sense, I guess.

There's still so much about this place that I don't know yet.

Akira chuckled and sat up in his seat.

"Efficiency huh. Spoken like a true Frontiersman, the stereotypes really are true!"

"Pragmatism's a way of life out there." said Karis. "If you think I'm bad, you should meet the men who've never left."

Silence fell over their table. Jay turned to Lyra, unsubtly wondering what she'd ask next.

"You make a good point." said Lyra. Karis' face hardened. "Gaining information will certainly be useful during advancement. We'll watch your fights and think about it. If advancement is in groups of five this year, and we still wanted to team up, who would you suggest as a fifth member?"

Man, this really is like a job interview.

Again, Karis waited for a few seconds before responding.

"Our options would be limited based on alliances and other factors. The decision would also depend on the specific requirements of the trial. However, if I had to choose one person with no prior stipulations, it would most likely be the Ten Tailed Fox. He already has a rapport with you, so there will be no chemistry issues, and he is a close range fighter like yourselves.

"You may think indexing in one aspect of combat is limiting. I somewhat agree, but sufficient information limits that downside. My abilities will eliminate most of the situations where our group would be at a disadvantage and create scenarios where we could leverage our immense advantage."

Karis looked like he could've said more, but he left it at that. He stood up, but Akira stopped him before he turned to leave.

"What'll you do if it's in threes?"

"Why would I tell you? In that scenario, we'd be fighting against each other." Karis gave Akira a wry smile before relenting.

"I'll give you this, at least. There's plenty of duos in E grade. Some are unaffiliated, others are the pride of their alliance.

"Some are stronger than others, even if they're harder to work with.

"I'll join the pair that gives me the best shot at advancement. Whoever they are."

Jay watched Karis walk out in silence.

The man was clearly intelligent. He'd be an asset during advancement, regardless of how well he could fight.

Jay knew of a strong duo in E grade. If advancement did take place in threes, he quietly hoped that Karis wouldn't join them.