Chapter 88- The Challenge Token
Leo headed to the forge dimension first. No point hunting around Ironhaven anymore, the monsters there were all low level, strictly beginner stuff.
He got to the forge dimension in a few minutes, running the whole way at full speed.
He didn’t want to just teleport there directly though. It was better to save that for emergencies.
The ability had already bailed him out twice from sure death situation and he wasn’t going to waste a charge just because he felt lazy.
Still, he ended up teleporting once anyway, to the woods near Gray Haven.
Landed in the same spot he’d left before, right by the Dire Fang Wards’ cave, and got straight into his grind.
He tore through the forest like a man possessed by a killing god, trying to end every fight as fast as he could so he wouldn’t lose momentum.
[Kill Streak: 3] +2,847 XP
[Kill Streak: 5] +4,210 XP
[Kill Streak: 8] +5,100 XP
Then came a pack of rare-rank wolves, level 12-14. He cut through them with ease, the epic gear doing most of the work honestly. They never had a chance.
He wasn’t worrying about refining his skills right now, leveling mattered more. He’d fallen way too far behind. He couldn’t even think about competing with the top players, most of the average player’s were already in their 30s while he was sitting here, a level 19 noob.
After another round of wolves the notification he’d been waiting for finally popped up.
[Level 20 Reached!]
STR +5 | VIT +5 | DEX +4 | INT +2 | WIS +2
The notification scrolled by. Leo kept moving, didn’t even slow down.
[Kill Streak: 12] +6,340 XP
[Kill Streak: 15] +7,800 XP
By noon he’d cleared four hunting zones already. He got lucky, hadn’t run into a single occupied one the whole time.
He Kept the streak going.
His ashen blade hummed as it cut through everything in front of him. But he noticed something off. Unlike his Ember-Touched Sword, this one wasn’t infinitely durable. Even being epic rank, the durability kept dropping, slow, but it was dropping.
He checked the rate it dropped and figured it would still last him enough until he could complete his hunt for the day.
With this assurance, he continued the grind.
He cut through the group of goblins, finishing off nearly every one left in the area, and capped it off by taking down the goblin chief.
[Level 21 Reached!]
STR +5 | VIT +5 | DEX +4 | INT +2 | WIS +2
Leo finally stopped for a breather and checked his status panel.
[Status Panel]
NAME: Leo Stone
RACE: Human
LEVEL: 21
CLASS: Eternal Forge (Mythic)
BRANCH: Soul Forge (Initiate), Runic Inscription (Expert)
STATS:
STR: 425 (base: 195 + Ashen Blade: 80 + Blood-Chanter: 100 + Dusk Striders: 50)
VIT: 197 (base: 167 + Ashen Blade: 30)
DEX: 342 (base: 142 + Ashen Blade: 60 + Blood-Chanter: 20 + Dusk Striders: 120)
INT: 90 (base: 90) WIS: 89 (base: 89)
CHA: 121 (base: 121)
MFT: 151 (base: 151)
STM: 143 (base: 143)
LCK: 77 (base: 77)
DEF: 780 (Blood-Chanter: 750 + Dusk Striders: 30 + Iron-Forged Body: 30% dmg reduction)
HP: 3,400 MP: 1,820
Qi Pool: 580 (base: 5000 + Ashen Blade: 80)
Unallocated Stat Points: 114 [LOCKED]
FORGING PROFICIENCY: Adept
[TALENTS]
[1] Soul & Steel (SSS)
[2] Talisman Forging (S+)
Talent Slots: 2/4
1 Hidden Talent: 12%.....
[PASSIVE SKILLS]
Eternal Flame | Weapon Memory | Soulforge Attunement | Forge Resonance | Qi Sense....
[ACTIVE SKILLS] Forgefire Strike | Anvil Drop | Rising Forge | Hyperfocus | Slash | Tempered Strike...
[BRANCH SKILLS — Soul Forge]
[Soul Capture] Active
[Soul Receptacle] Active
[Soul Merge] Active
[Soul Forging] Passive
[Soul Cultivation]
[Soul Imprint] Passive
[BRANCH SKILLS — Runic Inscription]
[Rune Carving] Passive
[Rune Combination] Active
[TRAITS]
Iron-Forged Body (D-Tier) — 30% damage reduction, +15% fire resistance, +15% stamina recovery
Spiritual Integrity: 72%
Awakened Soul Receptacle: 22/22
Devil Energy: 53 points
[TITLES]
Forge Pioneer II (Rare Growth)
Forge-Wielder’s Heir [Crown]
[POCKET REALM: FORGE-HEART]
Soul-bound, reachable anywhere, 4 teleports/day
[EQUIPMENT]
Ashen Blade (Epic)
STR +80 | DEX +60 | VIT +30 | Qi Pool +80
Durability: CRITICAL
[Passive] Heartblood Bond: Qi regen +15%
[Passive] Ash Fang Core: +20% damage vs corrupted
[Active] Soulfire Veil: 30s white fire, 50 Qi, 10min CD
[Locked] ???
Blood-Chanter (Epic, Flawless)
STR +100 | AGI +20 | DEF +750 Durability: 12%
[Passive] Guardian’s Ward
[Passive] Self-Repair: draining mana
[Active] Aegis-Blood Synergy Shield
[Passive] Blood Frenzy: DMG ×1.5 / ×2 / ×2.5 / ×4 (scales with HP%)
[Passive] Devilization: 30s devil form
Warg’s Dusk Striders (Epic)
AGI +120 | STR +50 | DEF +30 Move Speed +15%
[Active] Shadow Lunge: 40 MP, CD 12s, range 12m
[Active] Dusk Mark: guaranteed critical
[Passive] Shadow Veil: no cooldowns at night
Forgeheart Bracers (Uncommon)
Copied Skill: [Gungnir Descent]
His attributes were already pushing close to 500 now, and he still hadn’t allocated the free stat points, he’d been putting it off since level five or six, they’d just kept piling up over time. For whatever reason he somehow couldn’t spend them though. The number just sat there grayed out. Locked.
Leo didn’t think much of it. Kept hunting.
He’d just finished off a wild bear when someone appeared right in front of him.
A woman. Dressed head to toe in black, hood pulled up over her face so nothing about her features could be made out. Except that she was hot, that much was obvious even with the hood.
She tossed a token at him.
"From Thane. He’s challenging you to a duel."
Leo caught it and looked her over. "Haha, I’m just level 21. He wants to fight a level 21 as a level 41?" He let out a chuckle. "Doesn’t sound very heroic to me."
The girl just froze for a second. Then burst out laughing.
"Hahahahaha—" She actually doubled over, grabbing her stomach, practically rolling on the ground she was laughing so hard.
"You’re an idiot," she finally managed once she calmed down enough to stand back up. "It’s not that he isn’t heroic, it’s that you’re just ignorant. Are you living under a rock or something? How do you not know about the challenge token? You seriously don’t know anything about the arena, do you?"
Now it was Leo’s turn to be confused.
He genuinely had no clue what she was talking about.
The girl sighed. "Fine, I’ll explain it. Once you accept a challenge in the arena you both get leveled to the same stats. Sometimes you even both get nuked down to level 1. No special weapons either, just whatever standard stuff the arena hands out."
She looked at his blank expression and sighed again, longer this time.
"Anyway. Message delivered." A pause.
"Oh, and you’d better accept it. You won’t lose anything except maybe your dignity, Thane might humiliate you a bit, but you’re not gonna die. And that company backing him is kind of creepy honestly, so just go show up."
And then she was just gone.
Leo stood there not really knowing what to do with himself.
He teleported back to the forge and logged out.
Went digging through the internet, checking forums, trying to see if any of what she said actually held up.
It did. All of it.
Turned out the challenge from Thane had already gone viral, there was a whole thread about it going.
[Ironhaven Forums — Public Discussion]
[Thread: THANE IS IN IRONHAVEN] Posted by ShadowWatcher_IH:
Just saw him. Walking through the west gate. Full Legendary set. Didn’t even glance at the vendors. The forger is dead.
Reply.. KangFan_2099: Thane doesn’t PvP. He wins.
Reply.. IronSmith_Mira: I heard the forger cleared Kang. 30 players. That has to mean something.
Reply.. ArenaRegular: Kang was an assassin. Thane’s a duelist. Different weight class entirely. Kang hides in shadows. Thane walks straight at you. If you’re standing in front of Thane, you’ve already lost.
Reply.. ForgeWatcher_: Does anyone actually know why Thane’s here?
Reply — AscendantLeaks: Ascendant’s insurance policy. The forger said no to a contract. This is the follow-up.
Reply.. Suckyourdad;s###**: Aren’t the Ascendants pushing a little too hard here? Cut the forger some slack. Honestly feel bad for the guy.
Reply.. PvP观众: Saw Thane solo-clear a party dungeon last month. Full clear. Didn’t use a single named skill. Pure sword fundamentals. The forger’s about to learn what that means.
Reply.. BettingPool_Mods: Odds are 97–3 in Thane’s favor. Last time odds were this lopsided, a level 5 walked into a dragon’s den.
Place your bets here: [LINK]
Leo read through the whole thing, every reply, and finally got why the girl had laughed at him like that.
’If the stats actually get equalized... then I’ve got a chance.’
He set his jaw. ’I should accept.’
Logged back in with that thought stuck in his head, determined now, and checked his messages first.
"Hey man I’m still stuck in this dungeon, but I logged out for a sec and saw your situation isn’t looking too good. You doing okay? Sorry, don’t think I can help you out right now."
Leo read Shen’s message and texted back, told him not to worry about it.
Then he looked down at the token still in his hand and activated it.
Everything around him dissolved.
When the world came back into focus he was standing in an arena.
Thane was already there, waiting on the other side.
The second Leo appeared, the crowd started cheering.
...