Overpowered Wizard

Free from his mental dissonance thanks to Para’s rational arguments, Zarian focused more on the overt grandeur of Carrowmore as he and the others herded down their main road and were assaulted by … cheer, music, dance, and legendary stuff.

They really used legendary materials to pave every freaking street. Every freaking structure. Nothing was short of legendary in this damn place.

They even threw legendary bouquets of flowers at the contestants. Small fights broke out among the most desperate and weakest of Master Rankers, as if they were starving to get their hands on anything that was legendary.

Zarian folded his arms in front of his chest and ignored his instincts to snatch up the legendary offerings. He refused to play into the games of the driders and kept his focus on observing things.

From what he could see, the city wasn’t as big as he’d expected. The depth was great enough where they could have towers of stone and gems and precious metals standing hundreds of feet tall. Above them was a cavern ceiling covered in magic gems that shone with a colorful array of lights like crystalized disco balls.

The evil city of driders had bridges made of webbing, gold, more legendary materials, never settling for less. Constant music played from every direction, with more gothic themes coming from the darker and more mysterious districts, and lighter and more fanciful themes from the more colorful and alluring districts.

It was all grand and showy and legendary, but still, Zarian was expecting the city to be larger.

“It’s so nice having all of you! We might be able to fill up space in the center for once!” cheered a drider woman with a top hat and cane who was looking out from a balcony above them.

“This isn’t the main part of the city?” blabbered Valin.

“I’m scanning all I can and it’s overwhelming my sensors,” Arty said.

“Are their drinks legendary?” Turret asked.

“Dude, I think legendary alcohol would kill us,” Shield said. “But I’m willing to try.”

The same drider woman laughed. “Yes, yes, we have the best legendary drinks anyone can find in the World of Castles and Caverns. You’ll even find MYTHICAL drinks if you head to the heart of our great city. This is only one of our entrance districts to host guests! But for this event, you should try to cram your way into the center of Carrowmore!”

Again, Zarian was glad he was wearing a mask to hide his shock.

Because this mere ‘entrance’ city was considerably bigger than New Florida, and his capital city was expanding aggressively. Another comparison would be Central Crossdeath, and Zarian imagined this ‘entrance city’ could hold ten of Central Crossdeath.

With that perspective shift, Zarian imagined the trek to the heart of the city would take a while.

“I’m going ahead,” Zarian said to Valin and the drop troopers. “If I see you, I see you. Good luck.”

He shot forward before they replied, leaving his group of contestants behind.

He heard driders laugh and cheer. He noticed other contestants flying ahead as well, some of them speeding up, as if reaching the heart of Carrowmore the fastest was an important part of the tournament.

Zarian imagined it wasn’t that big of a deal, since they were a week early before the tournament began in truth. But when he looked at the others who could fly with him, and felt their eagerness to overtake him, something inside of Zarian sparked and had his blood roaring.

Competition.

He must destroy the competition.

All the suffering and torment from his absolute training while getting crushed by Ruvaria throughout demanded he win. He couldn’t accept anything less.

With his absolute resolve, Zarian sped up his flight with Aura Mastery by making the air flow from in front of him and thrust out from behind him.

That still wasn’t enough.

So he layered himself with arrays for force and wind, pushing him even faster.

Even then, that still wasn’t enough.

He poked at Para for her help, and while she gave him an impression that she thought this was a bad idea, she still helped.

All nine fox tails sparked with blue flames, some light blue, some dark blue, as Para conducted her own magic by accessing some of Zarian’s abilities.

The nine blue flames erupted with a small but potent series of explosion before concentrating all of that force behind Zarian and sending him flying even faster.

Even then, that still wasn’t enough.

So, Zarian weaved aura manipulation, his arrays, and Para’s magic with more efficiency, with more tightly bound sorcery, and gained further and further speed. By that point, nobody else seemed like they could keep up for long. And yet, Zarian could’ve gone even faster if he used one of his other new skills.

But that would’ve given too much away. If he was going to make a bold statement of himself, he would prefer to make himself look like an expert battle sorcerer, despite Ekri’s warning.

Zarian figured he could make that angle work as long as he didn’t show off his darkness or his spells out in the open.

Zarian zoomed past the other contestants who were moving via air. He left them far behind him, shocking them with his speed, as he moved further ahead of his original herd and caught up to the tail end of another herd who’d reached the entrance city earlier.

Zarian rocketed over them, too, like a streaking blue comet, legendary towers and buildings blurring by him as driders laughed and cheered and danced.

What were you saying about staying hidden? Zarian asked Para via mind.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Para replied with a mental sigh. Nevermind. We do want some attention to draw challengers after all. It would be easier for them to come to us than to go find them if we look strong and talented.

Zarian laughed as they continued rocketing until they reached a dark tunnel at the end of the entrance city. Only then did Zarian finally slow down while reaching a smaller herd of contestants.

He ignored their squawks, gibbers, roars, and questions, and continued to fly ahead while at a pace that wouldn’t make it seem he was one mistake away from smashing his head on the tunnel’s rocky surface. He really wouldn’t let that happen to himself. He had too much Agility and free evil for that.

Again, he noticed there were certain weaknesses in the wards that shouldn’t be there. He also noticed a few troublesome cracks in the tunnel’s integrity, but nothing major.

The driders should probably fix that in the next dozen years or before someone too powerful showed off their magic and caused a cave in.

Soon enough, once the descending tunnel ended, Zarian put the weakness in wards, the structural cracks, and the many Master Rankers trailing in behind him. He took in the full splendor of true Carrowmore.

It was immense.

It was bigger than some countries

It could hold multiple kingdoms with room to spare.

Zarian floated in the air and looked out far, very far, vaguely seeing the other end of the massive cavern. And between his position and the end of Carrowmore’s central district, he saw towers that dwarfed the Central Library Continental Artillery Tower back home.

He saw structures spiraling slowly in the air with nothing under them, nothing but magic holding up their immense bulk. He saw large bats carrying passengers on their backs as they flew from one section of true Carrowmore to the other section.

He saw a wide variety of bio domes, a few of them looking like deserts, or rain forests, or grand and sparkling seas, with formations of magic that maintained them all while living alongside structures of stone, of gem, of metal, of mushrooms, of bone, and some that were made of living flesh.

He saw beautiful things that he didn’t know could exist, and he saw horrible nightmares made of flayed skin from various creatures – there was one that looked like it was made entirely of gnoll pelts and shaped like a skinny pyramid.

He thought of Ezda and had to struggle with himself to not do what Zarian Sainte-Darkrun would do. That was too far out of bounds of his current persona, so he made a promise with himself to act out later.

He kept scanning the grand city and kept seeing unimaginable things.

And there was constant music.

Endless song and dance. And wonders beyond wonders.

He could smell high quality alcohol in the air and feel himself getting tipsy from the scent alone. They really might have mythical drinks here.

He could taste the wafting flavors of magic food that could rival a few of Foodie’s own crafts. He doubted they had Foodie’s specific power, but he imagined the flavors were … masterful.

And he felt waves of waves of magic and auras and energies and forces irradiating the place constantly. So much so that he imagined the average Level 50 adventurer human would get melted by the sheer power on display if they weren’t wary enough or lucky enough.

Finally, when Zarian saw enough from the tunnel entrance, he moved forward. Others who took to the air had stopped to gaze upon the wonders of this massive place along with him. They remained in place, too shocked, too amazed to continue their trek until they saw or experienced enough.

Zarian didn’t blame them. He’d gone to another universe, a whole ass place outside of the Star System, and that couldn’t hold a candle to Carrowmore.

Zarian followed the main road underneath him, passing by smaller herds and groups of contestants. The further he went, the fewer contestants he saw, which meant that contestants hadn’t started showing until just recently.

From what he could see, the heart of Carrowmore had plenty of space, more space than they knew what to do with. He saw groups or single driders on mostly empty streets, and he could go minutes seeing no one out and about in this massive place.

He did see other evil adventurer beings, such as gnolls, goblins, trolls, vampires, lycans, and more. Most of them seemed like servants to the powerful and merry driders, quick to do as they were told or to wait on their greater lords and ladies.

Zarian found humans, too, and they seemed out of place in Carrowmore, acting more like pets than people. They were certainly well-dressed and well-fed pets, but Zarian could tell the nature of these relationships between various races was very against the freedom alignment.

Anyone who wasn’t a drider was subjected to being a second-class citizen or lesser.

Eventually, after flying long enough to take in the many extraordinary sights, Zarian turned his attention to what he needed to get done immediately – registering for the tournament. He found a drider kicking his legs idly in the air while sitting on the ledge of a two-thousand-foot building made of purple gems.

“Hello, there!” said the drider, his fanged face smiling wide. “I love your attire. It evokes a sense of allure and danger. Both mystique and monstrous.”

“Thank you,” Zarian said plainly. “It is a gift from a friend. I intend to wear it all the way to the end of the tournament, which I need to register for. Any chance you can point me to the nearest registry, or do I need to keep following this main road?”

“No need to register, contestant! Direct registrations have been canceled.”

“Since when?”

“Since yesterday, when the Star System and the other Systems have fully taken over the event. Too many contestants are getting involved to do direct registrations now. As long as you’re here for the tournament, you’re already registered!”

“I … see.”

The drider man laughed. “I bet you don’t know what to do with yourself now! Well, there’s plenty to enjoy in Carrowmore. And we have … say … five more days before the tournament starts properly! You can eat our food. Walk our parks. Go to a temple or several! I’m a big fan of Sinfeast, personally. His temples throw the best parties, and he’s the main god of Carrowmore!”

Zarian nodded his head stiffly. “Oh, yeah, Sinfeast. Yes, that Evil God. Hm. I have a history with him. Passionate … history.”

“Whoa, ho, ho! Now, don’t let me hold you back from having a good time. If you ever find yourself drained or in need of some relaxation, I have several massage parlor businesses. I also have this strange new venture called ice cream! Ever had that before? I’ve never had it until we had some Outsiders introduce it. Apparently, it’s a lost art to us!”

Zarian looked around. “It seems like you have every art imaginable.”

“Oh, you know how it is. When you have it all, it’s easy for things to slip through the cracks. But that’s Carrowmore for you! Which leads me to this question I must ask. Can I have one of your tails?”

Not bothering to answer, Zarian flew away, his direction set to something random for the moment.

He left behind the main road and the herds of contestants who were probably going down a straight line to register even though that was unnecessary.

Untethered from any destination, Zarian simply wandered as he came across more grand sites that boggled the mind, some of them looking pretty, some of them looking horrifying, and some of them looking straight up bizarre and icky.

Are we going to pay the temples of Sinfeast a visit? Para asked gingerly.

No. That’s a Zarian thing. I’m not him right now. Not exactly, Zarian replied.

Para seemed curious about what he would do next.

After thinking about it, Zarian turned his attention to a fault in one of the alleyways.

Again, he wondered about the structural integrity of everything, but he figured he was overthinking things. This place was too big and too grand to fall apart so easily.

But the crack leading deeper into the earth gave him an idea.

He went down into the gap and passed by hundreds of feet of pure rock before reaching a smaller cavern below. Then he found another crack that led further downward.

By that point, Zarian dressed himself in enough anti-divining wards that he felt the weight drag on him while his aura drained from having to update the moving wards constantly.

The caution was necessary while at the most important place for a multiverse-wide tournament, to where Zarian went a step further in hiding himself to avoid prying eyes.

He cut himself off from outside aura.