Pandora Unchained - a Cultivation Progression Fantasy

As Sorin's team fought the serpent, the remaining heroes surrounded Melinoë and her ally, Bast. The light mage seemed unsurprised by the situation but expressed his desire for distance between himself and his polarizing patron.

"Perhaps the details should be discussed," Melinoë said after a minute of silence. "I have never sabotaged a team that was having a hard time, and have only syphoned luck from teams that are doing well."

"Is that supposed to reassure us somehow?" exclaimed Fenrig. "A bunch of teams that were supposed to do well almost died? Some might have even died because they faced one more elite challenge than they had to?"

"I'm talking about cases like Team 'We Don't Need a Life Mage'," said Melinoë. "They are more than capable of overcoming tough challenges, as they are currently showing us in this match against a floor boss. Notice how half its scales have already been melted off; it's only a matter of time before their rogue and their myth-binder unleash a killing blow on the creature through the hole on its hide that their archer and their mage have been creating this entire time."

"You speak a lot of sense," said Sorin.

"I'm glad you can see things the way I do," said Melinoë.

"Unfortunately for you, my friends are my reverse scale," said Sorin, pointing his dagger at her once again. "Return their luck. Now. Or I'll gut you."

Melinoë pursed her lips. "Are you threatening a God Seed? Are you threatening a ranking member of this expedition under direct orders from Administrator Pollen? I have good reasons for what I am doing and have explained myself sufficiently well. I'm not going to alter my course of action because one member decides his team needs special treatment."

"You need to back off now, Sorin," added Charles. "Otherwise, you'll give me sufficient excuse to eliminate you once and for all."

"Calm down, Sorin," said Michael. "Your friends are clearly able to deal with this situation. And she has a point. Her status does outstrip yours. While I can't completely agree with her way of doing things, I'll be obligated to back her if you decide to take matters into your own hands."

Sorin's eyes turned cold as madness and violence filled his blood and his bones. He knew he was being reckless, and he knew his actions would have dire consequences, but those were long-term worries, and his friends needed help right now.

"So, because she's a God Seed, she can put my friends in danger," whispered Sorin. "Is that the way this world works?"

"Unfortunately… yes," said Michael.

"All three of us could kill you and not face any consequences," added Charles. "Honestly, Sorin, the only reason I haven't done so is because I don't want to jeopardize this mission. You're still useful, after all. Don't become a liability to this expedition."

"Useful," repeated Sorin, his anger mounting. He no longer sought to contain the corruption in his body and allowed it to fuse with his divinity. The fox head medallion on Sorin's chest throbbed as it filtered the tarnished gold light Sorin gave off until it was no different than the light emitted by the three God Seeds.

The pressure he gave off was staggering and directly clashed with Melinoë, Michael, and Charles's subdued auras. Having successfully shocked the surrounding heroes into submission, Sorin blinked using his wraith hair boots and launched a sneak attack from Melinoë's rear.

Melinoë, having expected this kind of attack, struck Sorin with a wave of madness-infused energy. Unfortunately for her, Sorin had already purchased an S-Tier ring; it absorbed the bulk of the attack, and Sorin, not wanting to let the opportunity slip, took the remainder head on to strike back at Melinoë with Cobra's Glare, paralyzing her as his dagger stabbed towards her bare heart.

A shield of light sprang up and intercepted Sorin's dagger. The shield shattered, but Sorin's attack was slowed by just enough that Melinoë was able to use distortion to step out of the way and retreat to safety.

"You're making a terrible enemy, Bast," said Sorin calmly. "Also, I can keep doing this all day. You can defend her now, but what about later? More to the point, does anyone dare try to stop me, a God Seed cultivating the Ten Thousand Poison Canon? I could probably kill everyone here if I put my life on the line."

Coincidentally, the situation on the arena underwent large changes during his outburst. Things went exactly as Melinoë had predicted, with Lawrence and Astley, having bided their time for sufficiently long, attacking the serpent boss from opposite directions and lopping its head off."

Melinoë was now in a tough spot. Those who were reluctantly supporting her had promptly withdrawn their support once Sorin revealed his identity as a God Seed. "What do you want?" she asked finally. "The match ended as I predicted. Out of respect for a fellow God Seed, I will hold back from siphoning their luck any further."

Sorin shook his head. "Fifty percent."

"I beg your pardon?" asked Melinoë.

"Transfer fifty percent of the luck you've siphoned off to my team, and I'll stop," said Sorin. "Otherwise, I'll just fight you to the death. You might not be concerned about dying, since you always end up coming back, but it's different this time, isn't it? You have big things to accomplish, big plans that need unfolding. If you don't accept my proposal, I'll end your current life at the most inconvenient time."

"Calm down, Sorin," said Michael. "Let's not rush to extremes." Though his words were relaxed, his posture wasn't. And for good reason; there was a look in Sorin's eyes that experienced adventurers would have no difficulty spotting. It was the look of a cornered beast. "Melinoë, do as he says."

Melinoë frowned. "That luck was rightfully earned, and I'll be putting it to good use."

"I wasn't asking," said Michael. "Moreover, he's in the right here, and his status now matches yours."

"I have orders from Administrator Pollen to do whatever it takes to make it through to the third level of the catacombs!" hissed Melinoë.

"And I have orders from my Grandfather, Administrator Pollen, instructing me to shoot an arrow straight through your heart if you prove too difficult to work with!" snapped Michael.

Melinoë gnashed her teeth but grudgingly agreed. "Fine." She swept her hand, and half the tangible reservoir of luck flowed over to Sorin's teammates, who were exhausted but who had triumphed against the boss monster, securing a bronze wish-fire sphere apiece."

Though they'd met their quota, their energy reserves were still high. Ignorant to the show that was playing out, they decided to challenge the wheel anther time. It seemed like it was going to land on yet another elite combat when suddenly, it stopped and landed on a rare silver flame. Their wish-fire spheres immediately gained a huge amount of energy, and though they were upgraded to silver spheres, they gained a considerable amount of silver runes.

Surprised at the outcome, the team huddled and decided to stay for another spin. Once again, it was a silver flame, and the team spun the wheel one more time. At this point, the number of elite challenges had doubled, so it wasn't surprising when they encountered three elite panthers, which they cleaned up without any issues and obtained silver wish-fire spheres and withdrew from the arena.

Four teams quickly stepped up after Team 'We Don't Need a Life Mage.' Three succeeded in meeting their bronze quota, while the fourth got unlucky and hit a boss monster early. They barely cleared it and only succeeded in securing ruby wish-fire spheres by suffering two casualties.

"What are we dealing with, Bast?" Michael asked the light mage as he ran some quick calculations. "How's our target looking."

"Not great," Bast confessed. "It seems we underestimated how the wish-fire scales. Too many defeats have reinforced the disc to the point that we really have no leeway."

"Be specific," snapped Melinoë. "What results do we need to meet our target? How many bouts do we need to win?"

"Basically all of them," said Bast helplessly.

Sorin's gaze flickered between the remaining combatants. Michael, Melinoë, Charles would naturally be aiming for gold wish-fire robs. As for Bast, Faile, Fenrig, Joseph, Onesca, and Owen, they would all be going for silver orbs.

"If only we had a massive reservoir of luck to draw on to get everyone through their challenges," said Melinoë coldly. "But instead, you wasted them on your teammates."

"Wasted?" Sorin asked, raising an eyebrow. The way I see it, we netted five silver-tier wish-fire orbs. I wonder how well your ploy would have worked if we hadn't done so?"

"Enough with the infighting," said Michael. "Surely you're exaggerating, Bast?"

"My words are more or less accurate," said Bast. "There are nine of us, and two are allowed to miss their mark by a single tier. At most, one of these can be a God Seed participant. Also, no one is allowed to die."

"So you're saying it's fortunate that we have an extra God Seed participating?" Sorin asked. "That's excellent news, Bast. It's a good thing Melinoë didn't force the issue, isn't it?"

"We get it, Sorin," said Michael. "But I hope you understand that the benefits you've gained come with serious obligations. If you don't obtain a gold wish-fire orb, I'm going to have a very hard time explaining my actions to my grandfather, the administrator."

"I naturally won't disappoint you," said Sorin. "Charles, you look like you ate a lemon. Is there something you want to say?"

The pale-faced plague mage was not taking the reveal of Sorin's status as a God Seed well. "My lunch just isn't sitting well with me," Charles said. "Rest assured that I am fully committed to seeing out this mission and can definitely pull my own weight."