James brought his dagger down, piercing through the top of Ponbas' skull before the Grandmaster could react. This time, the Assassin did not even sense the danger before it came down on him.
After all, the previous situation had only occurred because James was a bit unfamiliar with his own speed. Normally, he used the Darkness element and the Sound element together to conceal himself, but Ponbas' method of moving around had intrigued the apprentice.
Why waste mana when he can move faster than his enemy could even follow?
James and Ponbas exited the 'speed realm', appearing before the flabbergasted crowd as suddenly as they disappeared. After all, not every Grandmaster focused on Speed or had enough Speed to follow.
One needed minimum 100 points in the Speed stat to be able to see into the realm that James and Ponbas had moved in. Luckily, unlike Ponbas, they could see both of them if they concentrated hard enough, because they were stationary and relaxed.
Ponbas, who had physically entered that realm but at a lower state, could not. He hadn't had the luxury of exiting to look for James, not that it would have changed the outcome in any way.
After the first enemy was killed, the rest of the crowd were hesitant to go up. What was the point of fighting someone who could move faster than your eye could follow?
As such, only those who could counter speedsters or had high Constitution began to apply.
James' next challenger was selected from the many. It was a Goblin Grandmaster who was quite ugly. He wore two rusty goggles and wore a pair of khaki shorts that were held up with brown suspenders.
[Name: Ger Kek || Race: Goblin || Stage: Grandmaster || Jobs: Inventor, Gadget Lord.
HP: 1,035/1,035 (14,552) || MP: 42,864/42,864 (17,680) || STA: 8,100/8,100 (4,280)
Level: 94 || (Note: The stats in the brackets are James' current stats.)
Power: 45 (136) || Speed: 89 (325) || Constitution: 23 (107)
Magic: 456 (442) || Will: 98 (1020) || Luck: 13 (70).
Skills: Deploy, Merge, Assimilate, Invent, Construct, Deconstruct.
Spells: None.]
James' expression became solemn. Goblins were a race of geniuses that had poor physical stats and decent magic resistance, but their Intellect (now called Magic) was higher than most races in the same stage.
However, this did not yield them the typical benefits of such a high stat. They could not use magic nor psychic abilities like any other race with such stats could.
It was not because they were incapable of doing it, but because their racial characteristics limited them. Their small bodies could not contain much mana nor could they support the ability to lift items and zip them around the place.
However, nature balances things out.
Their natural affinity for the elements was high, and their ability to create was only matched by the Gnomes and Dwarves.
This gave Goblins a unique ability that slowly made them rise in status on Fallon, until they had carved a part of the southern lands for themselves, forming an empire in the top ten.
"Bwehehe! Kid, I don't want to do this, but the price for beating you, could literally change the quality of my institution's research for the next 100 years!" Ger Kek giggled as he pressed a button on his necklace.
This was a familiar scene for most Fallon residents who were well-traveled, but for Darius who came from Earth, it was uncannily similar to how a certain superhero donned his metallic armor later on in his movie series.
Chromium metal expanded out from the necklace and covered the goblin inventor's entire body, forming into a blob that began to quickly shape itself. Its final design was that of an enclosed animal mech, especially that of a large tiger.
It was about the size of a large truck, three times James' height. With its tough metallic build and lithe form, it looked to be speedy and strong, possessing the capital to give the apprentice a tough time.
James frowned slightly and disappeared the next moment, the place where he stood dented in by the casual swipe of the Tiger Mech. He appeared behind it, just in time to see its tail swinging towards him.
This too he avoided with ease, but his face became darker. The special ability of the Goblin race was truly bothersome.
Thanks to their high elemental affinity, they could connect with machinery made with specific metals and display a level of proficiency unlike that of a robot and more like a living being.
James continued to avoid the rapid strikes that erupted all around him. Ger Kek himself may not be fast, but his high Intellect/Magic made it such that his synchro rate with the mech was higher than 100%.
For every percentage higher than 100, it added to the Mech's own stats, multiplying them by that amount. So the already quick Mech was now fast enough that it could not only follow James' movements, but even strike him.
Now it made sense why these little greenskins could establish themselves amidst such fierce competition!
If all high-level masters like Ger Kek enjoyed such boosts from high Intellect/Magic stats, then they would become nightmares in their machines while being soft persimmons in their normal state.
However, James was not pressured. He continued to weave through the attacks, feeling the pattern out, and noticed that Ger Kek acted just like a normal feline when in this mode.
Maybe he was trained to fight this way given his Mech choice, or it could be that the nature of his Mech influenced his fighting style subconsciously, but James didn't ponder over it given the current situation.
With that in mind, the apprentice channeled his Darkness element to reach out and bind the Mech for a split second, using this opening to aim for Ger Kek himself who was in the cockpit, connected to the machine through some strange tube at the back of his head.
Ger's expression changed when he saw the blur that was the oncoming James, aware that he was unable to survive a direct strike, so he cruelly set his Mech to self-destruct immediately.
If he did not get to live, no one should! Especially not James who caused all this!
KRA-KOOM!!!
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