The unpleasantly smelling biome and the slight chill in the air did nothing to calm his roiling emotions. Kang had been so confident about his ability to change Briana’s mind, and that attitude made no sense to him. Kang was going to be confusing her deliberately and making her believe an alternative reality; Tom understood the need, but it didn’t make him feel good to be part of the deception.


    He summoned a construct to find Corrine and then informed her perfunctorily of their choice. He was rude, but she didn’t seem to mind.


    She grabbed him and hugged him tightly. “It’s for the best, Tom. I know you don’t like the concept, but this is the right call. If Kang’s as confident as he’s implying, then you’ll get out of this fine. Children’s minds at that age are infinitely malleable.”


    Eventually, the claustrophobia of being held by her was too much, so he excused himself and fled. His wandering feet brought him into a training room. A moment later, he was locked in and guaranteed absolute privacy for as long as he needed it. After confirming that knife-throwing only came with a penalty of sixty percent, he decided to get some practice.


    A table filled with knives appeared, along with wooden dummies set up against the walls. He set to work.


    Thunk


    The knife shivered where it was embedded over an inch into the wood. It was right where the heart of the misshapen creature was most likely to be. A good, solid throw, especially for a warmup.


    He grabbed another one, focused momentarily on his form, and released. This one spun half a rotation too far, and thudded, hilt-first, into the wood. It failed to cut in, and clattered onto the floor after bouncing away. He didn’t care about perfection. This was focused solely on pursuing the release of pressure from physical activity. Barely restrained violence was calming.


    Thunk


    He picked up a fourth knife, and the only reason he bothered with form was that the extra release of force was soothing.


    Thunk, Thunk


    Knife after knife was thrown as he released his tension. Whenever Tom wasn’t looking, the training room cleaned up after him. A target that was bristling with weapons was refreshed in the moment, and, when he reached for a knife, there was always one waiting for him. It was meditative, even if it made for substandard training.


    Half an hour later, he left the room regretfully, and, with Kang next to him, met Briana for dinner. There was a flood of memories with the transition as always, but they were distant, unimportant, and not critical, so he mostly ignored it.


    Tom tried to give Briana an encouraging grin as they lined up to get food, but she ignored it. If he was forced to assess her body language, he would have said she was treating the two of them like they were adults. This attitude was, he supposed, pretty sensible, given the circumstances. While she didn’t try to separate herself, she was withdrawn and quiet.


    The whole time her lips were moving slightly, and, try as he might, he couldn’t tell what she was saying.


    She was muttering something under her breath continuously. It was both disturbing and creepy. Unable to interpret any syllables, he counted the cadence instead as they sat to begin eating. Between mouthfuls, her lips moved, and she was repeating the same thing.


    If he could just…


    Then he caught it.


    He swallowed heavily.


    She was pretending calm while her eyes glistened. She was trying to interact like everything was normal, but why did she repeat the words under her breath?


    The same ones, continuously, like a lost and despairing child. But it wasn’t a stranger. This was Bri, and she was breaking.


    ‘Don’t talk. Don’t ask. Don’t question.’


    And the secondary context hit him in the guts. What she was really saying, pretend not to know. Pretend everything continues as normal and probably in her head. Don’t create more Ba’s.


    He felt like crying.


    Kang appeared completely oblivious to her mood, but Tom had seen him enough to know it wasn’t true. However, that wasn’t going to stop him from implementing their plan. “The joke I played was pretty funny, wasn’t it?”


    From his spot seated between them, he nudged them both. “It totally fooled Bri.”


    Next to him, she shrank away and looked like she wanted to disappear into the ground. The patterns her lip were making became more pronounced to the point that he could lip read them clearly.


    “It took absolutely ages to learn how to say those words. I had to get volunteer help and everything.”


    Briana looked at him. Her eyes were frosty. They narrowed. “When?”


    “What was that?” Kang asked.


    “When? When did you get time to do that?” She looked up at him defiantly.


    “An hour a day, every day for two weeks.”


    Anguish crossed her face. She looked like she wanted to cradle her head in her hands, but she resisted the impulse and shook her head in response. “No, no. I don’t believe you - there was no time.”


    Kang laughed.


    He was like the consummate professional actor, and his performance was flawless.


    It was all fake, but Tom could only tell as much because he was looking for it.


    “Sometimes it was in the mornings, before you got up, and other times during the day.” He snapped his fingers. “You know the time I missed the obstacle course? That was a lesson.”


    “You said you were going to axe-training.”


    “I lied. It was worth it. A great joke. You should have seen your face.”


    “It doesn’t make sense. You couldn’t have known.”


    “Eventually, you were always going to ask for help again. I actually expected to get a few more weeks of practice. You surprised me.”


    Her lips continued to move silently, though she was hiding it better once more. Tom could see the beat of the mantra, but if he didn’t know it from earlier, there was no way he could have guessed. He focused on his dinner as Kang expounded on the lies, talked about the effort he did and deflected all of her questions.


    “You knew, didn’t you, Tom?”


    “Yes,” he answered stiffly. “I told you that it wouldn’t work.”


    “But you were wrong, because it did.” He lowered his voice. “I’m a reincarnator,” he whispered so only the three of them could hear, and then he laughed like it was the best joke in the world. “Ha, ha. You should have seen your two faces. This is too easy.”


    Briana and he made eye contact, and he could see her confusion. There was already confusion there. Despite her attempts to keep pretending everything was normal, she couldn’t do it. She edged further away from them, and tilted her body like she was no longer in their group.


    Kang pretended not to notice, and Tom decided he didn’t like the other reincarnator very much. The behaviour was too familiar. He was calm, controlled, and apparently gifted at being manipulative. His use of shadow magic to deceive his opponent in combat had never really gelled with the rest of Kang’s personality, but after seeing him work on Briana, it began to make a lot more sense. At heart, he wasn’t as calm and straightforward as Tom had thought.


    Then he felt like an idiot for not realising this earlier. This side of the other boy had never been hidden. It was just that, when it was used previously, it had been more subtle and in areas Tom had deemed worthwhile. It had been Kang, not him, who had influenced Briana into training as hard as she did at both her magic and her athletic pursuits. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    Dessert included fresh jelly cake and vanilla ice cream, which was his favourite combination, but Tom couldn’t bring himself to stay in the present just to eat it. With a silent apology to Briana, he fled into his new system room and then out onto the blue grass of the champion’s common area.


    Corrine was waiting for him, and she ran over and engulfed him in a hug.


    “Why are you here?” he asked when he extracted himself.


    She grinned lopsidedly at him. “I wasn’t about to let you be all fucking sulky and morose by yourself. I’d be a pretty bad friend if I did that wouldn’t I.”


    “I expected you to be at dinner.”


    “You too, Tom. You’re supposed to be eating too. But I figured you would skip out at some point.”


    Tom sighed. He couldn’t help himself. “Yeah, I couldn’t do it anymore. I’ve never seen her have that expression. She was so confused, hurt, and uncertain.”


    Corrine frowned. “It’s better than the alternative.”


    “It sucks, and she kept half miming. Don’t ask. Don’t say. Don’t question. If you didn’t know what she was saying, you couldn’t tell, but fuck it hurts to watch.”


    “It’s fucked up,” she agreed.


    “Do you know where Vturalta is?”


    “There is no need. I cancelled your lecture.”


    “Why would you do that?”


    “Why the fuck do you think, Tom?”


    “Oh.”


    “Yeah, oh.” She ruffled his hair.


    “So, what should I do instead?” he asked.


    “Chat, fight, talk. I don’t fucking know, I’m not your mum. Is there anything you want to do? Some knowledge you’d like to get?”


    Tom recognised the offer underlying the question. She was willing to expose herself to make him feel better. If he pushed for more information about the past human champions, or to hear firsthand how a kid was apparently killed to protect a reincarnator, he was sure she was going to answer despite the personal pain.


    “What do you know about domains?” he asked instead.


    “Domains? I know fuck-all about domains. Never had one. But I’m hoping to get this fire, wind, inferno combination that Vturalta showed me. You?”


    “I made an earth one, once.”


    “In the tutorial?”


    He shook his head.


    “Fuck, Tom. Didn’t you only live in Existentia for a year?”


    He shrugged. “I had both help and inspiration to get me over the line. But I want a better one this time.”


    “Was the one you got bad? I mean, bad for a domain, because all domains are great.”


    “No, it was amazing, but it was too restrictive for what I want from this life. I want a multi-purpose solution that consolidates all my skills together.”


    She paused. “Including spear? Because that seems a little like wishful thinking.”


    “If it’s possible, but with what research I’ve managed, it isn’t.”


    Corrine tapped her feet on the blue grass thoughtfully. “Can someone get me Vturalta, Hossi, and Rambord, and bring them to a meeting room?”


    “I don’t know who they are.” Tom started and then stopped talking and followed her gaze.


    Two humanoid constructs had appeared. They left silently.


    “One of those three is obviously not here.” Corrine concluded. “Come on, let’s not keep them waiting to long.”


    “Waiting? What do you mean?” he asked as he rushed after her.


    “You’ll see. They’re open contestants.”


    They hurried to the meeting room and when they got there, Vturalta was in her tub of water, and there was another octopus-like person present. It was smaller than Tom himself, and clearly not the same species as Vturalta, both because of its lack of size and the fact it was not a water-based animal, but had instead evolved for dry land. The tentacles appeared more like leather, but moved with deadly precision.


    “Ah, Rambord,” Corrine said happily. “Thank you for joining us. I’m very happy you’re available.”


    “It was the least I could do. You’ve never asked for my help before,” the female octopus said. “It was only right that I responded. What do you need us for?”


    “I don’t,” she said brightly. “But Tom has some questions.”


    Quickly, he explained the issue he was facing: that he was aware of the bonus of the fourth-class, and that he was hoping all of his effort could consolidate into a single domain to allow him to get the most out of the title bonus.


    “Ambitious,” Vturalta observed in amusement.


    “Impossible,” Rambord told him.


    “Damn,” Tom cursed. He had thought that was the case, but part of him had hoped there was something he had missed.


    “Well, almost impossible.”


    He looked up at that hopefully.


    “Do you want to answer him, Vturalta?”


    The armoured octopus waved her tentacles in disagreement. “No. You’re better at explaining things than I am.”


    Rambord scooted closer, leaving her chair so that she was on the table. When she tucked her tentacles in, she was the size of an average dog. Tom suspected that he outweighed her. Kang and Corrine definitely did.


    “Well, I’m sure you’ve noticed for the shop that, as a rule, domains don’t like doing multiple things.”


    “Yes,” Tom agreed. “I can see domains that boost all elemental magic, but nothing that’s tailored for just earth and lightning.”


    “That makes a lot of sense, since those two elements are not closely related to each other. That’s the opposite of Corrine’s natural affinities. Her fire and wind are complementary, with inferno bridging the gap. I’ve seen earth and water act similarly by adding mud into the mix, but what’s a combination of lightning and earth?”


    “There isn’t anything.”


    “That’s my point. But you aren’t quite right. There is an Earth, Metal, Lightning combination, but in practice, it turns out to be more metal and lightning with a hazy link to earth. As you’re well aware, most rocks and crystals are not conductive to electricity. Some are, but not all. Given your earth magic is more rock-flavoured than metal, I wouldn’t go down that path.”


    The day, Tom decided, was not getting any better. “Then what am I going to do?”


    The octopus on the table turned red, which was its equivalent of chuckling. “Luckily for you, I have the answer. Basically, you want a buffing or synergetic domain.”


    “What are they?”


    Rambord lifted herself off the table, and a text appeared on the space she had freed up.


    “They’re broader than the ones you’re used to, and generally, according to face value, weaker. But remember, the GODs balance everything to be even. Just because you think something sucks doesn’t mean it does.”


    Tom read the text, conscious of her warning.


    Skill: Exceptional Offense Buffing Domain – Tier 8


    Provides an area of control that gives a percentage boost to the damage of all skills and spells originating from within it.


    At level one it provides a 2m sphere around you and increases damage by 27%.


    “I guess that’s good.” Tom said doubtfully. With it his attacks would get a third stronger, but it wasn’t something to get excited about, given it was tier-eight.


    “For the right person, this is a great domain. It also scales better than the domains you are used to. For this one at level four, for example, the power of the domain has tripled. For an adventurer who is a jack of all trades and a master of none, this is perfect. It’s probably not right for you, but it’s an example of what you can get.”


    The text on the table changed.


    Skill: Exceptional Buffing Domain – Tier 9


    Provides an area of control that gives a flat percentage boost to the damage of all skills and spells originating from within it, also improves all defensive abilities.


    At level one, it works on a 3m sphere around you and increases damage by 26% and defensive abilities by 85%.


    This one Tom liked, despite himself. There was, however, one problem.


    “That’s tier-nine. It’d cost me thirteen thousand coins to get. There’s no way I can afford something like that.”


    “Correct, and, to be honest, I’m not sure it’ll suit you, anyway. Those are lazy people domains. They work with everything, but the skill threshold needed to use them is not high. This is what I’d recommend for you.”


    Skill: Basic Adaptive Domain – Tier 6


    Creates an area of space around you that acts as a proxy for your own body. With time an effort spells and skills can be incorporated into the domain, and will receive a slight buff when you do so.


    “I know it seems lacklustre,” Rambord told him immediately. “But it only costs five hundred coins.”


    “What’s a slight buff?” Tom asked.


    The octopus flashed purple green to show shame and worry. “Remember, the GODs balance everything.”


    “What is it? Just spit it out.” Tom interrupted.


    “Only one or two percent.”


    “Are you serious? I know it’s tier-six, but that’s twenty times weaker than the Offensive Buffing Domain.”


    “That’s the downside. Initially, it’s the weakest domain you can get. But it makes up for that with the flexibility it gives.”


    “But if that’s the benefit, wouldn’t I be better off getting a lightning domain? That would buff a third of my offense by fifty percent, which is an immediate improvement of fifteen percent. That’s a lot higher than two.”


    “As I’ve said, this is about flexibility. You can grow this domain rapidly to cover tens of metres, and, once you’ve assimilated, I mean incorporated, a spell, you originate your cast from anywhere within the domain. Your Spark spell instantly has a range of ten metres plus, but the real beauty is, the same thing applies to Instant Strike. That means that you’re no longer limited to a cone around your own weapon. That flexibility is huge, especially when you get more and more abilities.”


    “That does make it sound a lot better,” he admitted.


    “Then, when you receive your fourth class and everything you do had been done via the domain for years, the bonus you’ll get will be huge. You could have the spell count at a hundred percent, and you’ve seen how exponentially that title scales. I don’t know what would be added, but in raw terms, it will definitely be more powerful than the generic buffing domains. The key difference is that this domain becomes your only ability, while with typical domains all your skills and spells remain separate. I guess if you’re not aiming for a fourth class, it is not as good, but your being a competitor species changes everything, since it means you have permanent access to a full experience shop. This means that usually unobtainable outcomes like a fourth class become possible.”


    Tom understood exactly what she was saying. It would be a long journey, but the bonus that the fourth-class title could give him under those circumstances probably made up for the initial weakness of the domain.


    “The real benefit from this is the amount that you’ll be using the domain. It greatly increases the chance of an evolution, not to mention the levels you can gain in it. Within a decade, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to see the base damage increase to five percent. That only requires a level of ten or so.”


    “And that’s the best option for me?”


    “Tom, there is no best. This domain suits you, and it’s what I recommend you get.”


    “I’ll definitely consider it.”


    Rambord was not offended by his obvious resistance to the advice.


    “Check the shop. Do your own research. Now that you know the concept, check and double check to see if there’s anything better. What I do know is that, in this case, you’re better off buying the domain rather than trying to develop it from first principals. Keep creating abilities, but the power of being in the champion’s trial or the competition, is that the shop can be used to close the holes in your build. You don’t need to go down the infinite wormhole that trying to develop this domain yourself would be. Use the shop like the strategic resource it is.”