Partying and battling for one night without thinking about war, scheming, or the coming system event had centered Thalion's mind. He had even slept well into the next day, mostly because he wanted to. Thalion couldn't remember the last time he had done nothing productive for such a long period since being integrated into the System.
Sadly, the time to dillydally was over. It wouldn't be long until the third system event and the show. So far, he was well prepared. His levels were fine, his blood reservoir had been restored, and only a bit of tempering was still missing. Especially the Eclipsari had suffered greatly after the experiment, and Thalion needed to restore his darkness tempering as soon as possible.
Normally, those tasks should have been trivial, but Thalion was constantly distracted by what he had learned about the system's mark. Thoughts of whether he should destroy one part of his soul kept surfacing, but how would he even know if it had worked? More and more questions popped up in Thalion's mind the longer he thought about it, slowly eroding both his confidence and his hope that this mystery would be solved anytime soon.
The time leading up to the show passed rather quickly, and Thalion focused mostly on tempering while also flying out in his wyvern form to gain a bit more hunting experience in close combat. He had already been trained by Ratgul, but even the best training needed refreshing from time to time. The gods still hadn't found a form with time affinity for his serpent form, but at this point he likely wouldn't have enough time to get used to it anyway.
The ants didn't bother the humans too much, except that Ricarda continued to suffer heavy setbacks as they relentlessly destroyed her plants. The greatest strength of Ricarda's class was that the kills made by her plants also granted her experience. This could be extremely powerful as long as the plants survived, but otherwise the class lost most of its advantages.
The sun rose and sank behind the horizon while Thalion worked tirelessly until it was finally time for the first appointment before the third system event. The farming between tempering sessions had brought him up to level 168. It wouldn't make much of a difference for the show since Thalion wasn't planning on flexing his aura. Against D grades, it wouldn't work anyway, even with his terrifying presence.
The gods had been rather quiet over the last two weeks, only sending him a few additional forms. Sadly, most of them weren't useful for Thalion. Many of the active skills were too specific, and he simply didn't possess the necessary body parts to use them. The other problem was that he already had a wide variety of passive skills covering most situations. To truly improve, he needed a genuinely unique passive skill.
Most of his friends didn't really care about the show and simply told him to blame the Chosen—everyone except one. Pikar entered Thalion's home carrying several thick stacks of paper.
"Okay, Thalion. The show will start in two hours, and until then I'll give you a short briefing. It is important that you capture the audience and entertain the local crowd. Furthermore, you need to make it clear that an alliance with you can be very beneficial."
Pikar looked extremely pleased with himself as he continued.
"Always stand tall, shoulders relaxed. Keep your chest open and your feet shoulder-width apart. That makes you much harder to read. Make sure never to shift your weight or sway. Actions like that would be catastrophic."
Thalion had a hard time following along as Pikar gave him a rapid introduction to body language. Most of it was wasted on him since he already knew the basics, and the lecture about where to place his feet sounded especially ridiculous.
"Okay, thanks, Pikar. I think I'm all set. Could you leave me alone now? It won't be much longer until it starts," Thalion tried to interrupt, but Pikar had already moved on to facial expressions.
"But we're only at point 2.3 and still have five more sections to go," Pikar complained. "Completing my lesson will increase your chances of making a good impression during the grand show to over sixty percent."
"So could we..."
Luckily, he didn't get to finish as the circle suddenly flared up, signaling that it was time for Thalion to join the show.
"Oh, come on. All that work and preparation. But you do remember what I told you, yes?" Pikar said with a forced smile, obviously not paying attention to his own lesson.
"Mhm. I'll do my best." Thalion smiled and gave Pikar a thumbs-up before stepping onto the circle. In fact, he had already thought about how to approach this show, and he didn't really intend to convince anybody. He would simply tell them his story and share his thoughts. Trying to manipulate the rest of the multiverse with some made-up tale wouldn't work anyway.
The moment Thalion stepped into the circle, with Pikar still loudly shouting tips in the background, he appeared before a very excited Pinkype. Like last time, they were in a very small room with no one else present. It was here that Pinkype had also given him a short briefing before the previous show.
"Welcome, Thalion. Welcome!" Pinkype greeted him with a wide smile. "Do you have any questions before we begin the short briefing for this magnificent show right before the third system event?"
Thalion, of course, had plenty of questions.
"Hello. First of all, I destroyed a small D-grade faction that likely sent recordings everywhere. You don't happen to know which of the guests wants to use them to their advantage?"
"Oh, no, no, no. You cheeky human. I'm not going to spoil the fun like that." Pinkype chuckled, slightly disappointing Thalion.
"Now don't look like that. Today is going to be a great show. I have to say, the last few weren't nearly as exciting, and I'm happy to see you again. The whole studio sold out the moment I announced that you would be taking part. Phew... I'm babbling again. This time things will be a little different. First, we'll have an open discussion with a few questions from me and the audience. Then there will be a big, awesome announcement from the Voice of the System personally. Last but not least, we'll have more questions and the premise of the third system event. System events where only the top-ranked participants are matched against one another are very rare."
Pinkype's stalked eyes bounced up and down in anticipation.
"Okay, if you don't have any further questions, I'm going to introduce you just like last time. All the others are already waiting for you, but the best always comes last." Pinkype giggled, and when Thalion nodded, he disappeared.
A moment later, Thalion heard Pinkype's booming voice.
"Finally, our last guest has arrived and will be part of the twenty-sixth show of Beyond the System! Please, everyone, welcome the most famous mortal in the new universe and the audience's favorite from our last show... THALION!"
The moment Pinkype screamed out his name, reminding Thalion more of a WWE entrance than anything else, he was teleported onto a floating platform just like before.
The show must have gone very well because the studio had increased drastically in size. Now Thalion had no idea where the rows of spectators even ended as he looked around in awe. The applause was also so thunderous that he almost had to cover his ears. In the front rows sat several beings with enormous elephant-like heads who roared louder than anyone else.
Thalion grew curious enough to identify them.
Tarigoephant - ?
Thalion had absolutely no idea what kind of race a Tarigoephant was supposed to be. When the group finally stopped their thunderous applause, however, he got the feeling that identifying one of them had been a mistake.
He was immediately hit by countless Identify skills, though none of them should have worked since he was currently only a projection. Hopefully, he hadn't unknowingly broken some taboo.
The Tarigoephant he had identified slowly turned toward him in shock before spinning around to face her comrades, shouting something in a loud, high-pitched voice that didn't fit her massive head in the slightest.
"He identified me. Thalion identified me!" she shouted as she bounced up and down. Soon afterward, the others were bouncing around as well. Thalion had a hard time not to frown as his hardcore fans were having the time of their lives over a single Identify. Now more and more people in the front row were shouting at him, and he had a hard time hiding his discomfort.
"Identify me too! I spent the savings of the last twenty thousand years to get these seats!" a pale human with black earrings shouted, only to be drowned out by some red crab with eight claws.
"My mother got killed by a pressure cooker! Do you have any tips for me?"
Not wanting to get caught off guard, Thalion looked toward the other participants of the show because he had absolutely no idea what to say to someone whose mother had been killed by a pressure cooker.
The other participants were also very interesting. This time there were far fewer representatives from each faction than during the last show, but many more individuals. From the human faction of New Earth, only Ethan and Erik were present. For the elves, it was only the king and queen. Those were the only ones Thalion remembered from the last show, but this time there were many more unfamiliar faces.
Urgol, the Chosen of Ghor'Var, was also here, an orc Thalion knew from the finals of the first system event. Back then, the broad-shouldered orc had left quite an impression with his brutality and ruthlessness while fighting the king. This time there were many more floating platforms like the one Thalion was standing on. One disadvantage of being introduced last was that he had no idea who most of the others were, something he would have very much liked to know.
There were two alien-looking humanoids with four eyes. Both wielded swords and were quite muscular.
Orias – Level 181
Orias – Level 180
Those two weren't the only newcomers, and there were ten more, each belonging to a different race. There was even a water elemental among them. Thalion guessed they were Chosen who had also placed very highly during the previous system events, meaning they would all be matched against one another in the third system event.
In general, he had to admit that every single D grade was an absolute monster. First of all, not a single one was still E grade, and their auras were on an entirely different level, eroding much of Thalion's newly gained confidence. Eric, especially, must have achieved several major breakthroughs. His aura blazed like the sun, and he had grown another head taller, not to mention the sheer amount of muscle he had gained. Beneath his eyes ran a set of rune-like markings that resembled tears flowing down his cheeks.
The superior expression on his face, combined with a broad smile, made it obvious that he and Ethan had been looking forward to this show for a long time, as though it were finally time to get revenge for everything Thalion had done to them during the last one.
Well, not if I have something to say about it, Thalion thought, hiding his true feelings from the audience as he patiently waited for Pinkype to continue.