"What are you doing here?"

The man sprawled on the luxuriously appointed couch pushed himself up unsteadily and turned to face Palinus and Rufian.

"You really took your time!" Marius deflected as he lifted his cup to his mouth to empty it.

"We have merely been keeping ourselves amused as we waited for the two of you." Domitia said as she eyed them with a complicated expression of amusement and something more sinister.

"How did…?" Confusion wrinkled Palinus's face.

"So. Servius must have told you about the Calculus." Rufian said. "I didn't realise that you were a provocator! It makes sense, since you are such a lousy soldier."

"Bahaha, I'm nothing so lofty. Just a dog's body really, doing odd jobs for the old man." Marius scratched himself under his tunic as he talked. "But you are half right, Censor Caelus and Provocator Servius did want you to get your hands on the stone."

*Bang*

The sound came from the closed door behind them. The legionnaires following them must have made it through the door to the outer wall before it closed.

*Bang*

They couldn't force their way through the door.

"..-know you're in there Palinus!... " Anger came through clearly in the muffled voice on the other side of the thick wooden door.

"Hehehe, what did you do to him? Sleep with his mother?" Domitia asked Palinus with a smile, "You would, you dirty boy."

As usual she managed to make Palinus turn a shade of red within a few sentences.

*Bang*

"PAAAllllinussssSSSSS!" Palinus identified the voice as the swordsman who was desperately trying to get through the door. This time he had squeezed the tip of his sword through a tiny gap in the door as he rammed it with his shoulder. "Come and fight me you coward!"

"We don't-" He started to decline.

"I am going to insist that you take him up on that offer." Domitia said cutting him off.

"What? But we need to get back to camp!" Palinus replied

"Hmm, I think you misunderstand. I. Insist. That you, Palinus, stay and fight this boy with the big sword… and if you don't…" She spoke quietly, but the menace of her words grew as she made the unfinished threat.

"Marius?" Palinus appealed to the soldier.

"Eh, it sounds like you're in a jam. You might as well make a night of it while Rufian and I go and fetch the calculus. I'll sneak you both back... if you aren't too injured. Have fun 'Tia!" Marius said as he ushered the other boy out of the room.

Rufian was clearly torn on what to do. He hesitated as he looked between the other people in the room, eyes lingering on the playful malice on Domitia's face. He met Palinus's pleading gaze with a shrug and an apologetic look as he followed Marius.

"Very good!" Domitia sighed. "Shall we let your friend in?"

"Wait," Palinus reeled at the betrayal he felt. Rufian leaving him to fight alone suddenly made the impending violence more of a threat.

"FIGHT ME PALINUS!" The swordsman must have heard what was going on as he chose the moment to yell again.

*Clunk*

Domitia pressed a button on the wall behind her.

As the swordsman shoved his shoulder against the door again it provided no resistance as it swung open forcefully and hit the wall with a thump. The swordsman flew through the door and lost his feet with a clatter as he fell forward, dropped his sword and landing sprawled on the stone floor.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" The young man yelled again too loudly in the small room as he stood up awkwardly and tried to pick up his sword, which was caught under the couch.

Palinus pulled out his whip and channeled his shield ars.

As he considered striking first he hesitated, he couldn't bring himself to attack.

The swordsman finally gathered his weapon and channeled the ars to make it glow. With a yell and a wild slash he tried to strike at Palinus's head.

"Stop."

Domitia was looking absently at her fingernails as she said the essentia empowered words and near simultaneously cast a shield which blocked the golden light of the sword slash.

"I am disappointed you still don't have the killer instinct little Pal'." She said with a scolding tone before turning to include the swordsman. "Let's save this for the arena shall we! It will be so much fun!"

"Rhggghh!" The swordsman growled, but he and Palinus were both unable to move as Domitia teased them for a moment and left them frozen in the room.

"Where did your teammate go?" Palinus asked after a few uncomfortable minutes of being unable to move.

"HE WENT TO REPORT YOU!" The swordsman was somehow maintaining his intensity despite being stuck staring awkwardly at Palinus.

"What is your name? I've been thinking of you as the Golden Boner."

"My name is Aurelius Arcavius and I am going to kill you!"

"Why are you so mad?" Palinus asked genuinely.

"You ruined our team!" The swordsman yelled, Palinus sensed a hint of pain to the frustration as he waited for more of the story.

"Sophia… she left me! Because you and your thugs targeted her!"

"I seem to recall you diving the tower and leav-" Palinus's reply was cut off by a snarl of rage.

"FIGHT ME! One versus one! Or are you a coward!"

Palinus tried to shrug.

"Well, it sounds like we are going to get the chance."

"You certainly will!" Domitia bustled back into the room holding an albumstone tablet as she released the boys from the ars which held them in place.

The swordsman again went to attack Palinus, but this time he barely managed to raise his sword before Domitia intervened.

"Come." She ordered the two boys.

The ars she was using was effective as the swordsman instantly stopped the sword strike and meekly followed her and Palinus out of the room and up a long sloping tunnel.

The route they took was a confusing maze of tunnels, back alleys and at one point a wooden plank that spanned a narrow drainage channel.

Eventually they were separated and Palinus found himself standing in a small office with a bored looking man in a black tunic with gold trim who sat behind the desk. He had several visible calculii and was fiddling with an albumstone tablet that looked like some sort of form with several blank tables.

"Name?"

"Um. Palinus."

The man gave him a sharp look as he broke the tablet in half with a frustrated huff.

"I am using a recording ars, be concise when you respond. Surely you must know your own name…. Alright, let's try again. Name?"

"Palinus." He responded carefully and the man nodded approvingly.

"Do you know your attunement?"

"Yes: CXXXIX,IV,II."

"Aspect?"

"Smoke."

"Take this to the next room on the right." he said as he ushered Palinus out of the office and returned to his seat with a sigh.

In the next room Palinus saw a familiar set up with a machine for testing his strength as well as a similar apparatus to the one they had used previously to test his essentia.

Another man with a black tunic, which Palinus now realised was some sort of uniform, walked him through the tests and made notes on the tablet as they tested Palinus's statistics. As always he enjoyed pushing himself and was almost sad to leave the room with another block filled on the tablet.

It was only in the next room as he handed the tablet to another man that he thought to actually look at the tablet. He hoped he would get it back so he could see the changes since he had gone up to Tier 2.

"Ok boy, show me your calculii." The man looked at the tablet as he waited for Palinus to comply. He had an easy attitude and a smile as if he just expected Palinus to do as he was asked, his uniform showed his seniority and skill witht he most gold trim so far.

The experience was a little bit awkward for Palinus to pull his tunic up and show the man the calculus on his leg. Especially when he pulled a magnifying glass and a torchstone out and examined the stone embedded in his thigh.

"So… hmm a Smoke Field. With a modification..?" The man said to himself as he examined the protrusion of the Saturnine Veil Calculus. "A debuff modification… but installed with an inversion. Yes, I see.

Go ahead and channel the ars. Ensure that it covers the dummy."

The man gestured at the vaguely humanoid looking padded copper machine in the corner of the room.

With a quick focusing breath Palinus used his ars and filled the room with smoke.

A light on the dummy lit up and flashed amber several times before turning green.

"Good, now keep up the effect as long as you can." The man said as he looked at a panel on the side of the device.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

After Palinus had shown the man the Smouldering Wisp calculii he felt a bit embarrassed to admit that those were the only calculii that he had.

"Two is fairly standard for a Tier 2 who is thinking about their future, boy." The man said as he took notes on the tablet. "You wouldn't want to be taking up slots with rubbish and the two you have are good choices, and extremely well aligned with your attunement. Show me your weapon."

Palinus pulled out his whip and showed the man.

"A vitis?" He seemed puzzled by the stick.

"Oh, it can channel essentia," Palinus showed the man how he used the long stick as a whip by channeling a small amount of essentia and slashing at the air.

"Ah, I see. So what does wielding that make your Weapon Class?" The man asked.

"Flagellant." Palinus responded.

"Oh! I see, that is unusual!" The man seemed to think for a while and made some further notes.

"What are you going to do with all this information?" Palinus finally got up the courage to ask.

The man chuckled as he kept working at the tablet in his hand.

"It is good to be protective of your stats and abilities, but it is a bit late to worry about that!" He laughed as he spoke. "It is ok this time, we are Auxilia administrative agents stationed with the arena here in Tremona, he indicated his uniform. Some of the information will be for the betting pools, but we don't publish the full record anywhere other than your own service records.

….and we are done!"

He finished writing with a flourish as he put down his stylus.

"Can… Can I see?" Palinus asked the man nervously.

He laughed again as he handed Palinus the tablet.

"Knock yourself out, hand it to the man at the end of the hallway when you are ready and good luck in the arena!"

The upper section was familiar to Palinus, his basic details, attunement and stats.

Details

Name

Palinus

Attunement

CXXXIX, IV, II

Aspect

Smoke

Tier

II

Physical Statistics

Strength

I

Resistance

-

Vitality

I

Essential Statistics

Area

II

Force

II

Power

IV

Mastery

Mastery

II

He was amazed to see the information that the man was able to get in he next panel just from just looking at his calculii and the dummy. Looking more closely he noticed that the numbers had been modified.

Flagellant

Smoke Mage

Mage

Ars

Multi Strike

The Saturnine Veil

Magic Missiles

Attunement

153, 8, 5

nil

Cooldown

n/a

3 Minutes 58 Seconds

30 seconds

Compatibility

n/a

n/a

n/a

Skill Type

Enhancement

Debuff/Buff, Area

Projectile

Slot

[Wrist], [Arm]

[+Shoulder] , [+Leg]

[Fist, hand, wrist]

Slot Bonus

n/a

Additional 50% to buff

n/a

Description

Each strike applies effects twice.

Shroud an area [51m, circle] in a smoke for [40.8 seconds]. Limiting enemy vision to [1.04m] and applying +[46.8]% speed to allies.

Shoot three bolts of energy doing [52] damage each to one target.

Ars

Fire Lash

Smouldering Wisp

-Unknown-

Attunement

nil

142, 3, 3

nil

Cooldown

45 sec

45 Sec

Compatibility

n/a

n/a

Skill Type

Enhancement

Shield, Buff

Slot

[Chest, Shoulder]

[Chest, +Shoulder]

Slot Bonus

n/a

Additional 15 damage to damage buff.

Description

On strike deal an addition [31] fire damage, applies burning.

Summon a wisp of smoke that wafts around the caster and shields for [156] damage. Drains nearby sources of smoke to add to itself and can be applied to a weapon to add +[47] fire damage, applies [Burning].

Ars

Vengeful Strike

Smokeball

-Unknown-

Attunement

nil

nil

nil

Cooldown

n/a

59 seconds

Compatibility

n/a

n/a

Skill Type

Enhancement

Projectile, Area

Slot

[Chest, Shoulder]

[Fist, hand, wrist]

Slot Bonus

n/a

n/a

Description

Add [2] * [% Health Missing] to the next [1] attack.

Shoot a lingering [3 sec] smokeball damaging everything [156] within [2m] on strike and every [1 sec]. Applies [Burning].

As he turned back to ask why the numbers were different to the base skills he found that the door was shut and locked behind him.

He guessed that the modifications were probably the base stats modified by his statistics, he had noticed that his damage had gone up each time he leveled up in the rift and the numbers were roughly in line with what he was seeing with the increased stats from his tier 2 status.

While he was deep in thought he had been walking down the corridor. As he walked through the doorway at the end of the passage he walked into a large room which had been sectioned off by bars as though it was a prison or a holding cell.

The passage way he walked down was mirrored on the other side of the big room and there was a similar passage to the left and right giving access to each of the four sections of the room. The middle of the room was dominated by a circular desk behind bars that was manned by a group of people in the black uniform.

A woman at the desk beckoned him to come over.

"Pass me the tablet." She said brusquely.

Checking his name she referenced another tablet and put his tablet in a pile of similar tablets.

"Your fight is… the one after next, so don't get too comfortable. When your name is called you will go up the staircase directly," She pointed at a staircase that spiraled up from behind him towards the roof as she continued to speak as if she was reading a script,"you will not delay. Do not fight, touch or antagonise any of the other fighters in the waiting room. Do you have any questions? No? Go sit till you are called."

She shooed him away without allowing him to ask any questions and walked away from the desk.

Accepting his dismissal Palinus turned and looked around the area. Apart from the spiral staircase the room was pretty sparse, with a few sets of bench seats. There were a couple of people already waiting in the area and he was startled as he realised that he recognised one of them as one of the other legionnaires from another team.

With that revelation he started to look around the room in the other holding areas and he found that there were indeed several other people from their century in the room.

"I'm going to kill you!" A now familiar yell came from the far side of the room as Aurelius stood rattling the bars.

The man's continued anger was starting to feel comical to Palinus. Without acknowledging the fool he turned away and sat calmly on one of the benches and focused on the impending one versus one battle. If he had to fight, he was going to, and he was going to win.

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