Kai received a reply from Droozle, who had been hunting for rockhopper legs with Arson thanks to a quest given by an alchemist, when he was halfway to the arena. Kai quickly gave them a reply, deciding to wait in a nearby cafe until his friends joined his plight. Half an hour later, the trio once again were reunited.

"So, what's this about an arena?" Droozle questioned once he'd greeted Kai. "It sounds fun enough."

"Gladiator fighting, and don't worry, it's not to the death. Those near death get teleported out of the fight. We get to fight against all sorts of creatures and people, without being thrown to jail, and we'll get paid for it."

"That does sound fun. I imagine we'd be able to level up our skills nicely during the fights? How haven't I heard of this before?"

"Absolutely, and I don't know. But that's not all the good news I have, I got a healing skill," Kai enthused.

"How?" Droozle nearly shouted. "Everyone has been trying to get healing skills left and right since ECLIPSE went public. Did you find an adept healer or just get lucky?"

"What do you mean? I just went to the library. There were instructions on getting a dozen common and uncommon healing skills, there were even two rare ones. It's where I learned of the gladiator matches."

"Huh, I imagine everyone who's found the same thing you did have just kept the knowledge to themselves. I mean, if everyone learnt of this, then the pay for healing wouldn't be as good. And NPCs don't want to be combat medics because they can die permanently." Arson pondered.

"What healing skill did you get?"

"Healing toss. I heal people by throwing them." Kai said.

"That's… why did you choose that?"

"Got a touch based healing skill at first, then tried to combine it with pebble toss to make it ranged."

"Can you teach me how you got the touch based skill?" Droozle carefully asked. "I've got one skill slot free, and a healing skill would be great."

"Sure, I should have some leftover salve," Kai said, searching his backpack for the tube before handing it to his friend. "Spread that all over your palm, make a cut somewhere, and rub your palm on it."

"...Are you messing with me?"

"No, not at all. If it doesn't work first try, then try again. Trust me." Kai let out a toothy grin.

Droozle hesitantly took the tube out of Kai's hand, before doing what Kai had said. After a few attempts, each time giving Kai's still grinning face more suspicious glances, Droozle exclaimed loudly, "It worked!"

With Droozle's new skill, the trio spent the rest of the walk towards the arena discussing the various paths to skills Kai had discovered. Until eventually, the large arena came into sight.

Hundreds, if not thousands of people were gathered around the oval building, walking in it through a multitude of entrances. As it turned out, once the trio made their way to a booth selling tickets, there was a large event starting in about forty minutes.

"We're interested in joining." Kai said to the teenager in the booth.

"Tickets cost two gold per person." The bored voice of the teenager came.

"You misunderstood, were interested in joining as gladiators."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Have you registered beforehand, or is this a spur of the moment decision?"

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"Spur of the moment."

"Alright, in that case, wait for a moment, I'll see what I can do." The teenager said, before writing a few words on a piece of paper, and continuing selling tickets to the crowd waiting in line.

Ten minutes later, a well dressed older man walked in the booth,"So, you're interested in joining as gladiators?" he asked, to which each member of the trio nodded. "In that case follow me. We'll get you set up."

Together, Kai followed the well dressed man through a door inside the booth, to below the arena. It was a space full of storage rooms, cages, weapons racks, mechanical ramps, people getting ready for combat and much more.

"Alright, to start with, there is about one to three hours before you will get on stage. We have three planned battles for new gladiators today, each with about twenty gladiators. The best gladiators from those, meaning the ones left standing, will get to enter the tournament held after the large scale battle. While we wait, we can get you your gear, I'm assuming you don't want to lose the equipment you have with you, and determine which large scale match you'll be joining. You can put your stuff in any unlocked locker, each has a sigil in them, keep that on your skin at all times. You'll use them to unlock your lockers later, and not die."

The information was clear enough, so the trio were left to choose their weapons and armor. Kai quickly found a spear and gladius of similar size and balance to his own weapons, along with a studded leather tunic. It was heavier than Kai's leather armor, but nimble enough to his liking. His friends too had chosen weapons similar to their usual wear, Arson with a longsword, and Droozle with a single bow.

"Aren't you going to take arrows with the bow?" The old man said, having appeared from nowhere once Kai and his friends had chosen their equipment, and stored what they owned in the wooden lockers.

"I have a water manipulation Skill, it allows me to make ice arrows, and other weapons." Droozle explained.

"Nice and flashy, that's good. What about you two? Any skills with special requirements?"

"I have a skill I can only use in the shadows." Kai said.

Once it became clear Arson wasn't going to answer, the man spoke. "Alright, in that case we've got everything sorted. Much of the arena is in shadow, so you're able to use your skills," he pointed at Kai, "And you, there isn't much water in there, but we can give you a flask of water." The man pointed at Droozle this time.

"Thanks, that's good enough."

"In that case, you'll be fighting in a free for all against others. Fighting will get you twenty gold, and for each person you defeat, you will earn an additional 5 gold. Be the last one standing, and you get to enter the tournament. There is one rule, you're not allowed to remove your, or someone else's sigils. Other than that, you're free to win by any means necessary. Oh, and I suggest turning your notifications off. You'll automatically get the money to your bank accounts after the match. If you don't have an account, I'll give you the coins."

Quest offered: Free for All, part 1. Take part in the free for all taking place in one hour.

Rewards: 20 gold, +25 reputation. 5 gold and +20 reputation per opponent defeated.

Failure: -100 reputation.

Additional quest: Free for All, part 2. In the case of you being the last one standing, you will be offered the second part of this quest.

Accept Y / N.

Having accepted the quest, Arson, Droozle and Kai were left waiting beneath the arena, listening to the shouting and cheering coming from above them, as their fellow gladiators fought in the arena above them.

Finally, after what was the longest hour Kai could remember, one after another, they were sent walking up a ramp to face their opponents. Droozle had walked up first, two minutes later, Arson was sent up. And finally, it was Kai's turn

The ramp was covered in smooth sand, soft beneath Kai's feet. The walk was short, slowly revealing a mass of cheering people filling the seats all around him, kept safe behind a transparent dome. Large sails were set above the arena, casting multiple shadows throughout the space. Seventeen people, covered in various bits of metal and armor, holding tight to their unique weapons were standing on individual slightly raised platforms, four of which were free.

"And our 18th fighter, the fearsome man of shade! He may be only level seven, but don't let that fool you! Fighting with a spear and sword, he's fearless enough to face even those over twice his level!" An enthusiastic announcement echoed throughout the arena as Kai made his final steps off the ramp, and headed towards the nearest empty platform.

From another ramp, on the other side of the arena, a new face made itself known to the crowd. "Give cheer to our 19th fighter. His large frame…" the announcer continued, but Kai wasn't listening anymore. Instead, he was looking all around himself, at the thousands of people all around the arena. Thousands of eyes, which would be watching Kai's every action.

Slowly, Kai noticed his heart slowly pump faster, and faster, as the twenty-first gladiator stepped up the ramp, and made his way to the last free platform. In that moment, Kai became aware of an opponent much more frightening than any of the gladiators around him. As Arson and Droozle gazed at Kai with worried expressions, Kai became very much aware of stage fright.