Kaz Goes To The Beach [Event]

Ah beaches, it was difficult to find a reason to dislike them, in Kaz’s opinion. The sand and the water admittedly did not matter much to him, but there were not many places where he was allowed to wear very little and no one complained about it. How marvelous an invention swimsuits were, filling the beach below with copious amounts of eye candy.

Below with the operative word at the moment, as Kaz was currently suspended above the sea water in a parasail. Besides the thrill of the (admittedly slight) chance of injury, he was given a birds eye view of the sandy beach. This allowed him to look down on those below him, both physically and metaphorically. Eventually the fun had to end, and he was brought back to the surface of the water.

Standing up in the shallows, he pushed wet trusses from his face and gave a smile that caught the attention of more than one beach goer. He of course planned on capitalizing on that attention eventually, but he had not yet had his fill of the ongoing summer event.

“Here is your participation coin, thanks for flying with us!” the boat driver said as he handed over a coin.

“It was thrilling,” Kaz returned as he took the coin, “I may be back tomorrow.”

Having been given one participation medal convinced Kaz to get more so he could receive whatever the prize was. To him it was like being presented with a challenge, and he never backed down from challenges. That left the question of what event to participate in next though. Building a sandcastle was obviously not an option, that was an activity for children. The swimsuit contest was an even more obvious must, but he would save that one for last. Considering the options, he ultimately decided that the limbo contest would be the best event to do next.

Wading his way from the water, the dark mage made his way to the limbo event. Signing up required waiting in a line, and this severely tried his patience. Thankfully with the help of chatting up some cuties in line near him, he managed to survive the waiting and got himself signed up for the event.

Now for the actual event itself, he was aware of limbo and its rules even if he had never done it before. His tall frame gave him a slight disadvantage, but Kaz believed his strength and famous (in some circles) flexibility would give him the edge. This belief lasted up until it was down to just him and one other contestant.

He was the first to go, and even strengthening his muscles getting underneath the part without falling over proved a challenge. In the previous round his female opponent had clearly had an easier time, and as she began to shuffle under the pole to the obnoxious salsa music Kaz could tell she was not struggling in the slightest. It seemed that his defeat would be assured unless he took drastic measures, but any obvious signs of magic would just get him disqualified.

No obvious sign of magic just meant he would need to do something less obvious. Keeping a passive expression on his face, he sent a small amount of mana into the woman’s leg. Just a small amount of mana was all that was required, as her muscle gave a tiny, but significant, spasm that jerked her chest into the pole and knocked it down. The woman looked heartbroken as she stood up, having been convinced all her practice and hard work would finally make her the winner of this annual event. Being the good sport he was, Kaz walked up and placed a comforting hand on her smaller shoulder.

“You were so close,” he said in a friendly tone, "I thought you had me. What happened?”

“I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head. “All of a sudden I got a leg cramp or something. Ugh, and I thought this year would be the year.”

“I am sure you will get it next year,” he reassured her. Unless he chose to compete again, of course. Being second best at anything was simply not an option for him.

After receiving his participation coin, he gave a casual wave to his former rival that still had no idea she had been cheated from her victory. Lying and cheating came as second nature to Kaz, and the reality that cheating did not make him better than those he cheated would never occur to him. Rather the opposite was true, they only had themselves to blame for not being better at cheating themselves. The real winners in life always cheated themselves to the top, and it would not be long before he stood at the top of the world where he belonged.

That was a topic for another day though, as obsessed with his research as he was he also knew working too hard would get him nowhere. Sometimes a guy just had to let loose for a day, so he could go back to work refreshed and recharged.

So now he had to find another event to tackle, though he already knew what that event would be. Unlike limbo where he was not physically suited for it, beach volleyball seemed right up his alley. Not that it would prevent him from preparing ahead of time to maximize his chances of victory. Casually he scanned the crowd as he walked until he saw his target: an old man who seemed to be alone.

Carefully navigating through the crowd, he angled himself to pass close enough. The man was cleaning against a pole resting clearly not feeling well, and the crowd around him was simply ignoring him. As Kaz passed him, their bare hands touched briefly, and then it was over. The man disappeared as he was absorbed into Kaz’s body, leaving only clothes behind to flutter to the ground. Using the power given to him by eating the man, the dark mage enhanced his muscles. Now he was far stronger than his bulk would imply, which would surely give him an advantage during the contest.

Ready to play, he signed up for the contest and approached the court where his partner and opponents were already waiting. He took a moment to size them up and contemplate his approach.

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The member 'Kaz Valent' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Normal Dice' :

Immediately he noticed that the other member of his team was scrawny and looked about as useful as ice water in the arctic. In contrast, their opponents had the toned bodies and tanned skin of professional beach volleyball players.They even had matching swim shirts and trunks. Wonderful.

Once he reached the net, he looked down at the much shorter man, or boy really, that was supposed to help him win this volleyball game. Honestly Kaz suspected he would have an easier time in this match if he were playing by himself. At the very least it seemed implausible that the kid would be able to return anything over the net.

“Just do not get in my way,” Kaz warned.

“Oh, uh, okay,” the boy responded, looking a bit hurt and confused. This was supposed to be a fun contest after all, so he had never really expected to win when he entered.

First serve went to Kaz, and he did not let it go to waste. Enhanced muscles let him jump up unusually high, while his serve had far more power than his opponents were expecting. Not being a professional, his aim was far from perfect, but the speed of the ball worked in his favor. At first at least. As his opponents started to adapt to his speed, they began to return his serves more often than not. This back and forth continued for several points until Kaz barely scraped by with a victory at twenty-one to nineteen.

The next set went far worse as he had to contend with his opponent's serve and then cover his entire side of the net, patently ignoring his partner the entire time. Despite his best attempt to prevent them from scoring, even his enhanced muscles could not let him be everywhere at once. Frustration and anger built in his mind as he lost the second set twenty-one to seventeen.

Now was the final set, and it was the scrawny boy’s turn to serve. Unexpectedly he managed to clear the net every time with his underhand serves, if only barely. With some effort Kaz managed to keep them tied score wise up until the final serve. Whomever got this next point would win the game. The ball flew listlessly over the net after being served, and the professionals sent it back with precision. With something like horror Kaz realized he would not be able to reach the ball, only for the boy to do the unexpected and successfully passed the ball. Using this chance, Kaz spiked it hard. He left nothing to chance though, and even as one of his opponents ran to return the ball his ankle suddenly spasmed, causing him to trip.

The final score was fifteen to fourteen.

Walking over to the boy, he slapped him hard enough on the back that the kid almost fell over. “Good job not getting in my way,” he said. It was as close to a compliment as he would ever give in this situation, and the boy seemed to understand that.

“O-oh, yes. Good game!”

Grabbing his participation coin, it was time for the final and most important event. The swimsuit contest! Knowing he would not need his enhanced strength anymore, he let his muscles return to their usual perfect size.

From there it was just a short walk to the stage where the swimsuit contest was being held. Already a parade of gorgeous women in skimpy outfits was parading across it. Even as he stood in line and signed up for the male portion of the contest, he never let himself miss one of the contestants crossing the stage. Doing otherwise would be such a waste.

But alas all good things came to an end and so too did the women’s portion of the competition. After the winner had been crowned, it was time for Kaz and the other men to take the stage. Naturally there were plenty of other fine male specimens in the line up, but he did not feel threatened by them. His obsession with perfection had driven him to control his own looks, from the way he wore his hair to the size of his muscles, to maximize their appeal.

As he took to the stage, he felt his efforts had paid off as most of the women and more than a few of the men cheered him on. He gave them an alluring look, using the years of practice he had manipulating people to his advantage. Feeling his victory was assured, he walked off the stage with all the confidence of a musician leaving the stage to thunderous applause.

Continuing to watch the contestants cross the stage, he started mingling with the small crowd that had come over to speak with him. A few of them showed promise, so he focused his attention on them until the contest wrapped up. By the time it did, Kaz’s evening had become booked.

“And the winner is contestant 13!” the announcer, well, announced. Kaz had won, as expected.

Returning to the stage, he graciously took the applause for his victory. “Thank you, I wasn’t sure if I would win with so many amazing contestants. I had a lot of fun here today!”

Having played his role as the modest victor, he picked up his fourth and final participation coin. True he did not need to win every competition to get them, but not doing so would have counted as failing the event. Honestly he did not even really care about the prize, it had been more about proving he could. It did not matter that no one but he cared.

With all four coins in hand he wrapped her arms around the real prize of the day, the two women and one man that would be accompanying him back to his suite.

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