DESTINY GAMES

"Thunderhead achieved all of these through power and through having friends in high places. Let me be your friend in high places. Bring the power you have, and we can achieve great things together."

He turned to leave. He said as he left, "I hope we can meet again soon."

His guards flanked him and followed him back to his car. The other nine guards who had been watching earlier also returned to their vehicles. Then they left.

Kelvin watched them leave before he patted himself as if dusting his clothes. He made sure to pat all over his body, even the back of his neck that is difficult to reach.

He only stopped when Wrath told him that he had gotten rid of the ant. Then he stood up and left the park.

Wrath was not impressed by his speech. It sneered and said, "He should be a motivational speaker or a sales man instead of being an information broker."

Kelvin, on the other hand, wasn’t sure of what to feel about Pauli’s proposal yet. He is tempted by the offer because he has lost all traces of trust in the mission system of the villain league. So he needed a replacement as soon as possible, and preferably a reliable replacement.

He is not desperate, though. At least not yet, because he can always be a bounty hunter for the police force. But the services that Paul’s cabal offers are still tempting. Especially the use of his network to find vulnerable targets with powerful abilities to steal their destiny.

Now he knows that he was being naive to think he could use the villain system to get something like that. He has come to the understanding that if big corpos don’t beat him to the punch, villain or hero leagues will beat him to it, and cabals like Pauli’s might recruit them before he can get to them.

Most importantly, the Thunderstorm Villain League themselves will have access to that information even if it is real, and they might decide to recruit the person into their core or sell the information to other clients.

He still wants to have his freedom, but having a reliable source of information is welcomed too.

Wrath was still complaining about it. "And to think I had such high expectations for this meeting. I thought he had a sexual fetish or was doing a reality TV show or was partaking in life hunting. Instead he bored me with his stinking cabal."

Kelvin asked, "How do you know that his cabal is stinky? You can’t even smell."

"You must think you’re really funny. Maybe you too should have a career change and become a comedian."

That made Kelvin chuckle. He eventually got serious and asked, "What’s the foreign battlefield?"

Wrath considered his question carefully before replying. "How should I put it? In very simple terms, it is a dangerous alternative to the monthly games."

"You know that those who don’t advance to the professional league will play the games for the rest of their lives, right?"

He nodded in reply. "I know."

It is common knowledge that those in the amateur leagues will have their levels reset after each ten levels, and they won’t be able to use their game points to get more abilities until they reach the professional league.

They will continue to have a game every month for the rest of their lives. In exchange, the games they get won’t be dangerous. It would be silly games like dodgeball ball and races. As long as they win occasionally, the games won’t kill them.

Only those who advance to the professional league would be able to expand their repertoire of abilities. They would also be limited to a maximum of 99 games, which if they survive to the end, will make them demigods.

Wrath continued, "But those in the professional league and above will need 99 months in total, or 8 years and 3 months to finish the games. That means they will either get eternal life after 8 years or they won’t live for 8 years at all. This time is too short for some to accept."

"This is why many people prefer to wallow in the amateur league. As long as they don’t encounter freaks like you, then it is mostly sunshine and rainbows. So the foreign battlefield was provided as an alternative to expand the limit of time that those in the professional leagues have."

"Those that sign up for it will be sent to other planets by Yggdrasil to invade them. Essentially, they would be soldiers on tour. The tour can last anywhere from one year to ten years. It all depends on how difficult the resistance of the planet is."

"Technically, a single tour counts as a single game. So instead of spending a few minutes or an hour on a game, you can spend 10 years on it. And if you perform well on the foreign battlefield, you can actually gain 10 levels instead of just one and make it count as 10 games."

"So the value of your time depends on how well you perform. If you like, you can be laid back and while away tour time. But there is a cost. Death on the foreign battlefield is permanent."

"The games in the professional leagues are dangerous, but at least you can make mistakes and die many times as long as you have enough destiny to afford it. You will only be weakened as each death costs you 50% of your permanent destiny. But you can’t make any mistakes on the foreign battlefield. If you die once, you die permanently."

Kelvin was enlightened. He said, "I guess that’s why a cabal is so important. Having a squad of talented people helping each other can help to improve your chances of survival."

Wrath chuckled sinisterly. "Don’t be so hopeful yet. Anyone who hopes to cheat the system will only be cheated in the end. In the professional league and above, you will only encounter people in the same league as you. You can’t be a professional and have to fight a champion. But that is not so on the foreign battlefield." Find your next read at empire