<h4>Chapter 1357 Chapter 1357 A Chance for Others to Thrive </h4>


    ?--- March --- (Around the same time as Lily is negotiating with the crab)


    "HAHAHAA I FUCKING LOVE THIS!" shouted March as she took down her most recent opponent.


    March had wondered towards an odd structure with a bunch of lights shining out of it. At the front, she''d met a grungy looking Thyme with a dirty beard, rags for clothes and missing an arm. The Thyme had informed her that if she wanted, she could fight for treasure in the arena, but that she''d have to be everything each time she made a challenge.


    March had shrugged at that, considering she only had the one item to begin with. The ''water gun'' she''d found in the middle of the sticky syrup. She''d spent a decent chunk of time wandering the beach looking for more chests, missing several clues along the way. After herck of sess she''d moved on, and found the structure she was currently inside.


    Betting one treasure for the chance at one more was a great deal. March had needed to fight off a bunch of fish with really sharp teeth. Sadly for them, their teeth were sharp yes, but also incredibly fragile, and if March so much as flexed in their direction the fish ended up seriously injured or dead.


    At the end of that round, March had been offered the chance to open the one chest she''d received and leave the arena, or keep it shut put it up, alongside her original bet, to win a third chest. March of course, went for the third chest. That fight had been even easier. She was supposed to fight this boxing sea horse. It seemed really cool, throwing out a few jabs into the water as it bobbed towards her with its weird boxing glove hand things…


    But one punch straight to the jaw and it was out. It didn''t even TRY to block the attack March had sent at it. March was thoroughly disappointed in that match. It hadn''t even been one of her stronger punches. She''d just wanted to test the waters a bit and had been expecting the sea horse to block the punch easily ande in for a follow up. Not get one hit K.Oed from what March considered a love tap.


    With that disappointed out of the way March didn''t hesitate to bet everything AGAIN. The next match was against a swordfish, wielded by another more muscr swordfish that had human-like arms and legs. It was very weird, and obviously a golem Thyme had made… but that only became obvious once it was defeated.


    March found she''d actually needed to try a bit for that fight. She''d ducked and dodged a few times after noticing how sharp the swordfish actually was… but she quickly worked out the ''trick'' to the fight. See the swordfish with humans arms and legs still looked like a swordfish so it had a massive ''sword'' sticking out of the front of its face. All you needed to do wase in close on its right side, the side without a sword, and then start attacking the pair.


    A few good jabs, that admittedly the fish tried to block with some punches and kicks, had March exposing the internals. The internals that were very much NOT fish guts. March wasn''t skilled enough to say what they were exactly, but it wasn''t natural, not at all. It did take a weight off of March''s mind though. Killing rabid animals for sport was one things, but killing questionable sentient fish that could wield swords was another. Luckily, it was just a golem that looked sentient, or was remote controlled so destroying them was no problem.


    After that realisation March had ploughed through the next three matchespletely bodying her opponents by simply being faster and stronger then they could deal with. It took a bit of mana and more than a bit of steam, but it wasn''t any great amount. March was barely feeling the strain on her reserves.


    Though, as she stood there panting she looked over at the six treasure chests and the single treasure she''d found earlier. The reward was now the thing weighing on her. *This has been a lot of fun. Thest fight was even a bit interesting with the sea slug that could sprout spikes… but I don''t know how long I want to stay here. It''s a great source of chests and I can seemingly keep going forever…


    But I''m pretty sure those spikes were poisoned. I can feel it trying to affect me now as I rest. Actually let me just.* March quickly charged up a bit of mana and sent a round of steam careening through her body, hopefully destroying the poison. Considering how much easier it felt breathing, March was going to guess she seeded.


    *Ok d it worked. That technique can be a bit hit and miss. Now, what was I saying? Oh yeah the fights… I''m good to keep going for a while but they''re getting harder. I''m not sure when I''ll reach my limit, but the problem isn''t actually MY limit, it''s what am I going to do if I use up too much energy here and run into a real fight. I''m already unsure if I can beat Blue under the water, but if I keep going then I doubt my chances against everyone else as well.


    I can probably just body Romilda if I really have to… but Marigold and Lily those two might be a bit tricky. I''d have to rush Lily down I think. I don''t know exactly what she can do but she''s a mage and they''re always a pain if you give them time. Combine that with the fact that her animal form, while small, is obviously an ambush predator and I can see her giving me a hard time.


    Romilda… she might be able to do something but if I just give her a good punch she''ll probably get removed by time. I can do some decent palm strikes to get through the metal if that''s necessary. I''m not sure that it IS but I can try it if she doesn''t leave anything exposed. Enough strikes and she''ll get overwhelmed anyway…


    But Marigold and Blue. They''re going to be an issue. Unless I''m near the and I can just push Marigold out that elf bitch will just keep going. If she''d picked up a good weapon I''ll be in trouble. She''s also crazy enough that if I stuck her down with the gun she''d just use what leverage she had to rip out her own skin to escape. Complete basket case that one. Ma always said that elves could be a bit soft in the head… but she always seemed to imply it took them a few decades to get there. Marigold seems to be starting early.


    Then there''s Blue. I do NOT want to fight a water mage on the ocean let alone IN the ocean. I''m honestly not sure what I can do about her. I think I''d just have to grit my teeth and charge straight at her, tanking whatever she throws at me until either I go down, or I punch her lights out… and I just don''t think I can quite manage to be thest one standing in that confrontation.*


    March let out a long sigh as she eyed the treasure chests all along the wall. Thyme was waiting for her answer, but there didn''t seem to be a time limit, apart from the one imposed on the entire round. "You know what? THYME! Give me another round!" shouted March. All this thinking was getting annoying. She needed to do a bit more punching before considering the serious stuff.


    --- Blue --- (Around the same time as Lily is negotiating with the crab)


    Blue let out a long breath as she started to ''sit down'' in the cave she''d found. She needed a bit of a break, and she needed to sort out her shit properly. She''d managed to find thirty treasure chests. Which sounded fantastic… but eight of those were aplete wash because either she hadn''t found the challenge for them, or they were time based and weren''t ready to open yet.


    Then there was the next five. They all had challenges that had seemed a bit hard at the time so Blue had chosen to ignore them for now and focus on other things. In the end, that meant she''d ended up with eighteen treasures and NOT A ONE was a storage artifact of some kind. Well that wasn''t entirely true one of them was a water bottle called ''The infinite water bottle'' which was great for storing water, and really useful for a water mage in a fight…


    EXCEPT WHEN YOU WERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN. Yeah Blue had been a touch annoyed when she''d found that one thinking she might be able to squeeze some of the treasures into it. Really it was more of a jug then a bottle, the opening wasrge enough to fit her hand in, and a lot of the junk she''d acquired… but nope. Only water.


    Because of this, Blue had taken to dragging a not-bubble of stuff around behind her and it was bing an annoying drain on her reserves to carry around. Plus she was pretty sure that one of the two paintings she''d found had a tear in it now because of the rough handling.


    *Well, I suppose I can''tin too much. Really, I''m suffering from my own sess here. I just wish that Thyme had some more storage artifacts around. That would''ve made this so much easier. Hopefully sorting things out a bit will help… though knowing my luck the next chest will have a storage ring in it. Aw well, I''ve had that same thought about six times already so best not to hold out hope.*