Chapter 2007: Third Example

For his final example, Crownus brought Ning to another world.

The change in environment was immediate. The air was dry and hot, with an orange tint hanging over everything beneath a similarly colored sky. Sand covered nearly every stretch of land Ning could see, forming low hills between settlements and gathering against walls wherever the wind carried it. Even the distant mountains had taken on the same dull orange shade after being worn down by countless years of dust.

Ning looked around for a moment before glancing at Crownus.

"This place doesn’t look particularly comfortable."

"Is that so?" Crownus asked. "I don’t find this that different from all the other places people live in."

Ning rolled his eyes, saying nothing.

There were people living here, though, and quite a lot of them had gathered in one place nearby. Their voices carried through the dry air, mixed with occasional cheers and angry shouts that suggested something more entertaining than a market was taking place.

Ning changed his clothing before approaching.

What he had worn before would have made him stand out immediately, so he copied the sort of clothing he saw on the people nearby. Loose fabric covered most of his body to keep the sand and sunlight away, while a cloth around his neck could easily be pulled over his face if the wind became worse.

Crownus appeared beside him, dressed appropriately as well.

The two of them entered the crowd without drawing much attention.

Ning quickly realized what everyone had gathered around.

An arena had been built in an open section of the settlement, though calling it an arena was perhaps giving it too much credit. There were no elaborate walls or raised platforms around the fighting area. Several rows of barbed wire had simply been wrapped around posts to create a large enclosed space, while the crowd stood outside and watched from every direction.

Inside were two fighters.

The first was a large man with a heavily muscled body. His arms were thick, his shoulders broad, and there were enough scars across his skin to show that this was hardly his first fight.

Standing opposite him was a woman who looked almost ridiculous by comparison.

She was much shorter and considerably thinner, to the point that Ning guessed she might weigh barely half as much as the man in front of her. She had a lean build rather than a muscular one, and nothing about her appearance suggested that she should have been the favorite in a direct contest of strength.

Ning examined both of them before extending his senses across the arena and then much farther.

Nothing unusual appeared.

"No unique Energy," Ning said quietly.

"There is none," Crownus replied.

Ning checked again, this time paying more attention to the people in the crowd as well. He found nothing resembling Mana, Qi, spiritual energy, an Awakening, or any other form of supernatural power that might have explained why Crownus had chosen this world.

"So this is just a normal planet?"

"That depends on who you ask," Crownus said. "The majority of the planets in my galaxy do not hold even microscopic life-forms. Considering that, this is a rather unique world."

"You know what I meant," Ning said, sounding slightly frustrated. He looked toward the arena again. "And someone here still got a System?"

Crownus directed his gaze toward the smaller fighter.

"The woman."

That immediately made the match more interesting.

Ning focused on her as the fight began.

The large man moved first.

He rushed forward with surprising speed for someone his size, closing the distance while swinging one arm toward the woman’s head. There was enough force behind the attack that even without any special Energy, a clean hit could have ended the fight immediately.

The woman did not try to block.

Instead, she dropped low and slid underneath the attack just before his arm passed over her. Her movement took her beside him, where she twisted her body and struck hard against the back of his knee.

The man’s leg buckled.

He managed to keep himself upright, but the woman was already moving again.

She spun around behind him and immediately returned to an attacking position, forcing him to turn before he could properly recover. There was nothing supernatural about her speed, yet every movement seemed to happen at exactly the right time.

Ning narrowed his eyes.

The large man attacked again, adjusting his approach this time, but the woman shifted sideways before he had fully committed. She avoided his reach by a small margin and countered with another strike before retreating.

Ning ignored the crowd as it grew louder.

Something about the woman’s behavior had caught his attention.

She was not simply watching her opponent.

Her eyes occasionally moved somewhere else for the briefest moment, sometimes toward empty space near the man and sometimes toward a point beside herself. The glances were so quick that most people would have assumed she was merely keeping track of her surroundings, but Ning could tell she was paying attention to something specific.

"She’s distracted," Ning said.

Crownus did not respond.

Ning watched another exchange.

The large fighter stepped forward and feinted high before suddenly kicking toward her side. The woman had already begun moving before the real attack came, slipping away from it and striking at his exposed leg again.

Her eyes shifted immediately afterward.

Not toward the crowd.

Toward empty air.

Ning turned slightly toward Crownus. "She’s looking at something."

"Yes."

"What?"

Crownus raised one hand.

Ning felt something change in his perception.

It was not an increase in range or clarity. Instead, Crownus had allowed him to perceive something that had already been there but had been hidden from everyone else.

An illusory figure stood inside the arena.

Ning looked at it with surprise.

It was a man.

He did not appear solid, and there was no physical body for Ning to sense, but he moved around the arena as though he were another participant in the fight. Whenever the woman was about to be attacked, the man shifted positions and pointed toward where she needed to move.

Ning turned toward Crownus while still keeping part of his attention on the fight.

"Does that man have something to do with your System?"