To the Arena

Itsuki sat cross-legged on the bed. The sheets felt coarse and cheap, but it didn't bother him at all. It didn't take the softest of fabrics to make his carapace-covered body feel comfortable.

Speaking of, he'd investigated his body and what it felt like.

To be honest, he didn't feel at all different. Atleast, not physically. According to lore, Insectoids did have skeletons and a musculature similar to that of humans, so his movements didn't feel restricted in any way. They also had the added bonus of looking almost completely human, with the main exception being, of course, the glossy, armored skin that, in Itsuki's case, shone gold.

There was a tiny bit of sluggishness when he bent his limbs at their joints because of his rigid exoskeleton, but his body had a natural acclimation to it. It was as if he'd spent his whole life in this strange body.

That is to say that it wasn't entirely the same as a human body. The exoskeleton, for one thing, served as a natural body armor that did feel a little heavy. It taxed his VIG stat a little as it counted as armor that weighed him down, but at the same time this meant he didn't need to spend time and effort scrounging around for a set of armor. This was the primary reason why he'd chosen an Insectoid as a new character – their early games were powerful.

With enhanced senses, particularly that of sight through compound eyes, natural armor, and natural weapons such as claws and jaws, insectoids were like armored tanks compared to the defenseless level 1 human. However, they didn't have as high a stat growth, couldn't wear the heaviest and strongest armors due to their natural shells weighing them down, and didn't have access to a few humanoid warrior skills.

On top of that, they had a severe drawback of having to shut down and hibernate if they reached 0 in their resource stat. For a warrior, this meant going to 0 spirit while for a mage it meant going to 0 mana. A balancing measure to prevent insectoid mages from dominating by having powerful natural armor on top of ranged magical abilities.

And he felt that hibernation come onto him now. It felt like a chill crawling through his body, starting from his heart outwards, at first giving him tingling sensations and then transitioning into a numbing. He could bring up his status screen with a thought, but whenever he checked it, it said he had full spirit. He figured that since the game had become real life, getting physically tired also triggered the hibernation, which did suck.

He'd have liked to thought about his situation more, but it grew harder and harder with each passing minute. When the cold numbness reached his brain, he gave up and slept.

The witch woke him up the next morning. She was in a hurry, wordlessly packing her things from the room. She didn't pack much – what little she had fit into a single leather satchel that slung around her shoulder. An assortment of vials, mildewed texts, and various pouches that had money, but not enough money to clink. What stood out to Itsuki was a small shortsword she hung to a belt.

With a wave, she gestured for Itsuki to follow her and leave. She looked tense, her brows furrowed in anxiety. When Itsuki left the room, he noticed she left the cage behind.

Outside the inn, a whole new world greeted him. A world ripped from the fantasy worlds of his dreams. Sprawling cobblestone streets flanked with wood, brick and daub buildings of various heights and sizes. However, no buildings went above four stories – a far cry from the high-rises that dominated the skylines where he'd once lived.

On these streets, the bustle of street vendors mixed in with the chaotic murmurs of the crowds. Hawkish cries touting wares clashed with the staccato of footsteps on cobblestone and the clatter of metal greaves from knights patrolling the streets.

And boy, were there a lot of people. And not just people, too. Aside from humans, Itsuki could point out elves, dwarves, demon-kin, and beastmen of various kinds and species. He got a few curious glances here and there considering he was a rare species, but even then, nobody looked at him long enough to make him uncomfortable.

Surprisingly, with this many people and this much activity, the streets didn't smell bad either. He'd always heard stories of people in the middle ages throwing their sewage out the windows and onto the streets, but everything looked so clean and orderly.

Arguments got broken up in seconds by patrolling knights, of which there were many, and everyone in general had light steps and polite expressions.

In the dark, war-torn video game world of Volsunga where every race clawed at each other's throats and monsters tore civilizations to shreds every other week, this really felt out of place.

"What city is this?" asked Itsuki as he swerved by to dodge a few running children.

The witch kept walking forwards with a brisk pace, but she did respond. "Pacem. City of the free, but only if you're rich."

"Place seems nice enough."

"Should be. This is the only international city where every friendly race gathers. It's the nexus that keeps peace and balance between so many races. The People of the Tree, the Demons of the Under, the Beastmen of the Green, and so on."

Itsuki took in the gentle energy of the city with a deep breath. "Certainly feels like it's doing its job keeping the peace."

The witch scoffed. "Through the Arena, sure. Better than warring, but it's still a brutal way of doing things."

"The arena?" Itsuki widened his emerald green, criss-crossed compound pupils. He'd always known the arena as just a game function. A place where people could connect to, make lobbies, and start matches in. In the real world, how exactly did it function? "Does it do more than just let people fight each other?"

"Much more." The witch took a sharp turn across a bakery, and the buildings beyond it disappeared, leaving only a massive road that led to a great colosseum in the distance. "A country has an issue they want settled? They put a champion in the Arena. A king takes offense at an insult? Then he puts out a champion in the Arena."

"How is that any semblance of law, though? It's just a might makes right policy."

"Tell me about it." The witch slowed down now. Not because she wanted to, but because as they got closer to the colosseum, the crowds grew thicker and thicker. "I guess in the end, the only thing that every race can enjoy is spilled blood. But that's my bias. There IS a separate court within the Arena if someone wants to appeal a loss, but nobody really does that. You'd lose way too much face for disagreeing with the Arena with how popular it is and all."

'That's barbaric,' is what Itsuki wanted to say, but he wasn't in a position to judge. He was going to fight in this place soon.

The Arena looked massive from a distance, but close-up, it blew Itsuki away. It must have been thirty stories tall, and from the ground-shaking cheers that rung within it every few minutes, all thirty stories were occupied.

"How does anyone even see anything from the top?" said Itsuki.

The witch looked up for a second. "They don't. We use magical screens to broadcast, but your average citizen won't have the money to use such a screen. The top floors are private ones for heads of state and really wealthy people – nothing us dirty peasants have to worry about."

The last sentence oozed with a bitter sarcasm, but the witch shrugged and pressed forward, towards a great arch that marked one of four entrances to the Arena. One half of the entrance held stairs going up, and the other went down.

The witch went down, and Itsuki followed. He noticed not nearly as many people went down as they did up, and of the people he spied around him, most of them were here for obvious reasons.

There were men and women dressed in fine silks and robes with burly warriors following them, collars around their necks and chains ringing from their wrists and ankles. Some had servants dragging around cages that held ferocious beasts. Just from a cursory glance, Itsuki could spot drakelings, golems, barghests, hellhounds, and even a few undead.

These were his competitors. And he was not impressed.

"Nobody here's above level thirty, huh?" said Itsuki as he followed close behind the witch.

"Bronze League matches start early, so you're not going to see amazing monsters or fighters."

"We're here early and the Arena's already full?"

"I told you: everyone likes to see blood spill."

Itsuki followed the witch to an underground plaza filled with magical lighting that lit up marble walls and floors with such brilliance that he couldn't even tell he was a story below the colosseum. Every so often, he could hear the dull rumble of the cheering crowd above him, and it made his heart throb in excitement.

He wanted those cheers for himself.

"You're feeling awfully excited, aren't you?" said the witch. "I can feel it even through our summoning link."

"I'm aiming for the top, remember? If I got afraid here, I deserve to die."

The witch grew quiet. She picked up her pace and Ituski followed her to the other end where there lay a wall formed from a series of desks that looked a little like the counters at a bank. Glass enchanted with magic glimmered a faint shade of purple as uniformed clerks behind them bowed and greeted pet owners.

The two moved over to an empty desk where an elven clerk smiled and gave a bow, bending her slender figure at the waist, her blonde ponytail swaying from side to side.

"Good morning, Ina," said the elf. Her voice moved through the glass, perfectly audible. "I see you want to get broke again."

The witch sighed. "Knock it off, Vela. I wanted to sell this guy at the slave market, but he insisted on coming here."

Vela raised a hand to her lips. "My, my, he's that confident? I hear Insectoids are a ferocious bunch, what with them beating back our armies at the southern mountains, but do they actually have the power to back up their talk?"

"He's level one," said Ina flatly.

Vela coughed into her hand. "Excuse me?"

"Level one."

"You know I can't let him in then, right? Minimum entry level for even the Bronze League is level 10, and you know why I can't-"

"Yeah, yeah," said Ina. She shrugged. "It's boring to see low levels beating each other up with their bare fists and what not. Still don't get how using fancy slashes and magic bullets makes the killing any more bearable, but whatever."

Vela smiled. "Good. Then are we done here?"

Ina smiled in return, but it was obvious she wasn't used to faking smiles. "You know, Vela, I have an experience wand that'll make him level 10. I just want him to win one battle, and you owe me from the last girls night out, right? Who knows what those creeps would have done to you when you were drunk."

"Well…" Vela bit her lip, looked around for a second, and leaned forward to the glass, whispering.

"Just this once, alright? I'll sign him up. Give me his documents."

"My pleasure." Ina smiled for real this time. She reached into her satchel and took out a single paper. Itsuki tried to make out the letters on it, but failed. However, from the familiar layout of the words, he could tell it was his status screen.

"Everything looks to be in order," said Vela. She looked at Itsuki up and down. "He's definitely the real deal on this I.D."

"You thought I'd bring a fake Insectoid?"

"It's not like they're common. He'd be the second one to ever fight here."

Ina shrugged. A mischievous glint sparked up in her amber eyes. "True, and that gives me a lot more leverage in placing him in a match, right? The crowd would love to see a new fighter like an insectoid, so I can put him in any timeslot, right?"

Vela slumped her shoulders, but surrendered. "Yes, I suppose. Why? Where do you want to put him? The Bronze League Premiere? He's literally level 1."

"That's exactly where I want to put him." Ina raised seven fingers. "I'll get seven hundred white serpents if he wins against someone in the Premiere, and enough nobles and bigshots watch the Premiere that I figure I can get a sponsorship for even more money."

"By the Serpent." Vela shook her head. "He's level one. Well, level ten with the wand, but he's going to be fighting near level thirties. This is just…cruel. Are you sure you're not making him do anything against his will? There ARE laws protecting rare species, you know."

Ina elbowed Itsuki and motioned to Vela.

"Alright," said Itsuki. He stepped forward and met Vela's gaze. She was tall enough to meet him at eye-level. "This fight is my choice, and mine alone. This woman – Ina – just gets the side bonus of getting money. I want to fight, and I'll fight anyone I think I can beat."

Vela stared at Itsuki for a few seconds and blinked hard. When her eyes opened, they were watery. "Sorry, I had to use truesight to make sure you weren't lying or Ina here wasn't forcing you to say anything. But really, now? You think you can beat a level 30?"

"Probably. Won't know until I try."

Vela sighed. "Okay. Okay. I guess this sort of warmongering is in your culture, and there are laws against being offensive, so I won't push the topic. I'll sign you up for your match and try to get the other side to have a non-lethal fight, but the odds are against me."

Itsuki gave a slight bow. "Thank you."

"I don't feel comfortable signing you to die, but I'll take any compliment I can get," said Vela. "Now you two get to the waiting room before any of my superiors catches me slacking off."

The waiting room was a dark room of rough stone bricks lit with dim torchlight. At its center lay a wooden elevator that would bring Itsuki up to the colosseum floor. The room had a solemn aura to it, a seriousness in its almost grim, bare structure.

Itsuki sat on a cold wooden bench and Ina was to his side, a sheathed dagger on her lap and a chipped wooden buckler resting on her shins.

"I'm sorry I couldn't get anything better," she said, turning the dagger over and over and staring at it with something like pity.

"It's fine." Itsuki looked at the elevator and felt his heart beat quicker, excitement creeping into his veins – the same feeling he got staring at his booth at gaming tournaments. "You have some data on my opponent, right?"

Before coming to this room, Ina had met with the other owner and exchanged some bits of information. The other owner was a broad-shouldered, built man with ramrod straight posture and eyebrows thick like brush strokes. A soldier, Ina had said, almost looking like he belonged in the arena himself, but his own champion was nowhere to be seen.

"It's all bad news, though." Ina tossed the dagger over to Itsuki. "That owner was feeling very confident in winning. Gave me most of his champion's status screen. Just enough to try and get us to call it quits."

She reached into a satchel and withdrew a piece of paper. When Itsuki saw it, a status screen flashed into his mind.

Name: Lok'dar

Race: Troll

-Racial Abilities

--Regeneration

--Tough Skin

--Natural Weapon: Jaws

Level: 25

Class: Slave Knight

Sub-Class: Berserker

Current Health %: ???

Current Spirit: ???

Current Mana %: NONE

Current Equipment Weight %: ???

Attributes

HP: 10 (22)

VIG: 10

MP: 3

STR: 14 (34)

DEX: 7 (12)

INT: 3

WIS: 3

FTH: 5

Skills:

-Slash

-Bash

-Charge

-Battle Rage

-Brutal Punch

Spells:

-NONE

Status:

???

Items:

???

Itsuki nodded.

So the people of this world had some idea of strategy.

The Slave Knight class was a corruption of the regular Knight class that changed the all-rounded knight into a tanking role. In lore, the slave knights were expendables sent to the front lines to soak up damage, so they had bonuses to their health pool. The Berserker class, on the other hand, focused on raw damage in exchange for taking extra damage, so the two classes made up for each other's weaknesses somewhat.

What sealed the deal on this build was that his opponent was a troll. Every 5 levels, a warrior could learn a new skill, but every 10 levels, they could choose to level a racial ability or just learn a bonus skill.

This was on top of the free racial ability that races started off with at level 0. In this case, the troll had learned both regeneration and tough skin to offset the Berserker class's damage penalties, which in turn allowed him to put in all of his leveled up stats into health and strength rather than VIT which would have been necessary to wear heavy armor. He had natural weapon: jaws to keep himself useful even when disarmed.

On top of that, the troll's skills were rather balanced. Slash to cut down unarmored opponents, bash to break in armor, charge to deal with ranged enemies, and battle rage and brutal punch to deal serious damage with the Berserker subclass's bonuses.

A solid build. But it felt like it was made for actual combat on a battlefield and not a hardcore PvP duel.

"Good, but not good enough," said Itsuki, making Ina blink in surprise.

"This doesn't scare you?"

"No. Rather, it makes me more confident."

Itsuki decided to start making his skeleton of a build with what little levels he had gained. When all was said and done, he showed his status screen to Ina.

Name: Itsuki

Race: Insectoid

-Racial Abilities

--Natural Armor: Exoskeleton

Level: 10

Class: Knight

Sub-Class: LOCKED UNTIL LEVEL 20

Current Health %: 100

Current Spirit: 100

Current Mana %: NONE

Current Equipment Weight %: 60 [From natural armor]

Attributes

HP: 12

VIG: 12

MP: 5

STR: 10 > 22

DEX: 7 > 10

INT: 5

WIS: 5

FTH: 7

Skills:

-Dash

-Slash

Spells:

-NONE

Status:

HEALTHY

Items:

-Common Dagger

-Common Buckler [Damaged]

"…You're not going to level any health?" Ina looked worried. "I thought maybe you'd level health to try and stall out for the battle timer."

"Nope." Itsuki recalled when he speedran the game's main campaign. In speedrunning, he only ever leveled damage stats and got some mobility. Why did he need shields and armor and health if he could just dodge and beat his enemies into the dirt? "This is fine. If I don't get hit, I don't need health."

"You're insane." Ina smiled a little. "But the right type of insane. I sort of like it, how determined and confident you are."

"It's how I roll." He glanced at her. "By the way, can I use your shortsword?"

"Eh?"

"I'm not going to use my buckler – that troll would smash through it in a few hits anyway. I can parry with a dagger in my left hand and use the right hand sword to attack. A dual wielding build like that keeps me fast and on top of things."

Ina looked at the shortsword strapped to her belt with a little regret. "Well, I suppose I should at least give you this in exchange for sending you off to die."

"For the last time, I am not going to die." Itsuki snatched the sword from her when she offered it. "If things go as I think they will, then I'll be fine."

"And if they don't?"

"I'd never thought of that." Itsuki heard a bell jingle from the elevator, indicating his turn to step up. "But who cares? If I fail, then I didn't deserve to win, and winning is all that matters."

"Don't think like that."

Itsuki cocked his head.

"If you don't deserve to win, you're going to die." Ina wore a gentle smile, and it surprisingly looked good on her. "And nobody deserves to die. There's more to life than just winning."

Itsuki paused, unsure of how to respond. Ina looked at him and eased his uncertainty.

"For example, owing me money is one damn good reason you have a reason to live other than just winning," she said. Her voice cracked a little. "So go out there and show this dumb troll what you've got under your sleeve."

"Will do." He gave her a thumbs up.

He stepped onto the elevator and, sensing his weight, it rumbled, a creaking of a wheel and rope moving him up.