Chapter 131: The Weak Point Was Supposed to Break
Jin knew the opening was bait. He also knew his other options were disappearing.
Elian had the scoring lead, and waiting would only give the Spider time to reinforce the rest of the arena. Glitch couldn’t retreat safely across the entire network, while standing still until the clock expired would hand Elian the match. The open road might be a trap, but every other road led to a slower loss.
Jin chose it with his eyes open.
He kept Glitch low, used the edge of a block to guard one side, and advanced in short bursts instead of committing to a full sprint.
"Close behind him," Elian ordered.
The Spider stretched a fresh strand across the route Glitch had just passed. Jin had expected that, so Glitch didn’t turn back.
Ahead, the route contained fewer visible strands because Elian had always intended Jin to enter it. Existing lines bordered the lane without crossing it, squeezing the opening narrower the deeper Glitch went. Near the marker, hidden in the shadow of a block, a low strand waited.
Glitch’s rear leg caught it.
"Stop—hold!"
Jin killed the second stride before the thread could wrap around both legs. The Spider moved along the connected web and began drawing the section tight.
"Harden—now."
Glitch’s scales darkened. Harden kept the tightening strands from cutting into his hide, but it didn’t loosen the adhesive or give him enough strength to tear through the reinforced silk. It protected him while he was trapped, nothing more.
Jin remembered the first strand. Pull away, and it tightened. Move toward the anchor, and it slackened.
"Go with it—one step toward the pull."
Glitch drove in the same direction the web was hauling him. The sudden slack gave him enough room to lift one leg over the strand.
"Reverse—marker, now!"
He burst through the final stretch and came within a single claw’s reach of Elian’s marker.
"Lower junction," Elian commanded. "Cut him off."
The Chainweb Spider descended along a reinforced line and crossed Glitch’s final approach at the angle Elian had prepared. Glitch tried to turn around it, but a bordering strand caught his front leg.
The channel had narrowed too far for a full stop-and-reverse. His turn carried him into a second line, then a third as the Spider pulled the connected section taut. Glitch seized up just short of the marker, partially bound, one claw stretching toward an objective he could see but couldn’t touch.
The Spider tightened only the strands Glitch had already contacted. Each one stole a little more movement until it held a decisive attacking position over him, while Glitch strained toward the marker, incandescent with fury that it sat right there.
Jin read the position honestly. Elian had the lead, and Glitch couldn’t reach the marker without dragging several strands tighter. Thrashing would grind them against his bruised shoulder, while the Spider already had a clean strike lined up.
Glitch’s real body did not respawn.
"Stop. Down. It’s done."
Jin gave the command at almost the same instant the instructor called the match. A barrier snapped between the beasts before the Spider could deliver the decisive hit.
[Match Complete]
[Winner: Elian Voss]
[Victory Condition: Safety Intervention]
[Combat Ladder Evaluation: Updated After Practical Completion]
Elian crossed to him, as calm as before.
"The line I broke," Jin said. "You left it weak on purpose."
"Yes." Elian glanced toward the tangled lane. "I watched you find the route Corven couldn’t cover and force Mira into a losing choice. I knew you’d look for the one part of the web that could break, so I gave you one."
"It really was weak."
"It had to be. You wouldn’t have trusted it otherwise." Elian met his eyes. "It was weak because it was supposed to break."
The opened road hadn’t escaped Elian’s plan. It had been the plan, one lane prepared for Jin’s marker attack and presented as the weakness he would choose to exploit.
"You almost had it," Elian added. "Using the slack at the end nearly got you to the marker. Closer than I wanted."
Jin turned the loss over in his mind. Elian hadn’t beaten him because he’d failed to notice the trap; Jin had seen it. The problem was that recognizing it hadn’t produced a better option. Every other route was already closing, so knowing the opening was bait hadn’t changed what he needed to do.
Arthur had taught Jin not to depend on an opponent being stupid.
Elian had taught him the harder lesson: an opponent could build a plan around Jin being smart.
Another rival, and the most dangerous one yet.
Glitch made his opinion of the entire result obvious. As far as his posture, angry gold-eyed stare, and continued hostility toward the web were concerned, webs were a dishonest attempt to make losing somebody else’s fault. He also appeared to want the official record to show that the Spider had never defeated him in a respectable, architecture-free fight.
The post-match inspection found no dangerous worsening of Glitch’s shoulder. The threads had left minor pressure marks and superficial irritation across his scales, but there were no deep cuts or damaged joints.
The recommendation was simple: rest before any more real-body combat.
Jin accepted it.
His tournament run ended there, but he made himself look at what he had actually accomplished. A Fifth Class student with an Iron-quality lizard had beaten students from Fourth and Third Class, then come within one claw of taking a First Class student’s marker from a Silver-quality beast.
The instructors’ attention lingered on him longer than before. Students who had dismissed Glitch now discussed his discipline and Jin’s command timing, and a few wondered aloud whether Data Appraisal was more useful for combat preparation than its reputation suggested.
No one needed to invent a secret quality for Glitch. His limits had remained visible throughout the match.
Elian wasn’t Meridian’s ceiling, either. Higher on the tournament board were the three First Class students who owned the academy’s known Gold-quality first-year beasts. Jin had seen them around campus, but Fifth Class schedules and the lower ladder brackets had kept them distant until now.
The board updated.
[Reward Qualification Complete]
[Feed-Credit Allocation: Minimum Tier Confirmed]
[Combat Ladder Placement: Provisional Update Recorded]
[Class Placement: Fifth Class—Unchanged]
There was no promotion. Formal class reviews considered academics, beast care, mission records, and command ability alongside ladder performance.
But the feed credits were secured. They would meaningfully reduce Glitch’s feeding costs and give his family more room to breathe.
Jin let himself feel disappointed about the loss. He also let himself keep the thing he’d entered the tournament to earn.
He called Arthur afterward.
"Is he hurt?" Arthur asked before anything else.
"Minor bruising and scrapes. Nothing deep. He’s fine, but he needs rest." Jin leaned against the corridor wall. "We won twice. Lost the third to a First Class student with a Silver-quality beast. I secured the feed credits, though. That’s what I went in for."
"How did he beat you?"
"He left a weak spot in his defence on purpose because he knew I’d look for one." Jin almost smiled. "I saw it was a trap and took it anyway because everything else was worse."
Arthur went quiet for a moment.
"That’s a good opponent," he said. "Might’ve taught you more than beating him would have. Remember that one."
No long speech followed. Just a father who was proud and unwilling to make a production of it.
"Rest the beast. You did well, Jin."
Jin hadn’t become the academy’s strongest first-year. He had proven, against three better-resourced students in succession, that he belonged in its combat program.
That was enough for one day.
Back in his room, with the door locked and the real Glitch curled up to rest, Jin pulled out his phone.
[Shattered Iron Quarry—Incomplete]
[Tremor Sense Fragment: 2/10]
[Fragments Required: 8]
He thought about the Chainweb Spider feeling every disturbance across its connected threads. It had known where Glitch was without seeing him and read the battlefield through changes in tension.
Jin had wanted Tremor Sense because enemies in the quarry hid beneath the floor. Elian had shown him something larger: information from the ground wasn’t only a defence. Used properly, it became control of the entire battlefield.
Eight more fragments no longer felt like a chore. They were the difference between a blind spot and a battlefield Glitch could read.
The real Glitch closed his eyes.
His digital avatar took shape at the quarry entrance, whole and rested, its irritation with the Chainweb Spider undiminished. A tunnel full of mantises had just become a perfectly acceptable target for that anger.
The tournament was over. The grind for Tremor Sense resumed.
Jin deployed the avatar into the Shattered Iron Quarry.