Finally, the last fight ended. A small boy, at most 1.20m tall (a whole 10cm shorter than Alfred) from the Wolf continent had dragged out the fight by evading most everything until the other boy tired himself out fully. It was an extremely safe option, and Alfred took note of it.

After the last body vanished, Alfred felt a slight vibration and sharp screech before the ground began to rise back up to their level. As this was happening, the weapon racks returned to everyone's circle, implying they should put them back.

Alfred and the others immediately complied with this notion, knowing that they had masters watching their every move.

Just then, Alfred facepalmed. 'I didn't take advantage of the two 3rd Degree techniques I know! I was so focused on winning that I forgot to learn!'

He shook his head. 'Master will probably badger me about that.'

Finally, the floor returned and they began to move. Alfred wiped off the new blood that had dripped down his face as best he could while walking towards the only open exit.

'I guess this is for those who are injured… the hallway leading out from this does lead directly to the medical wing.'

Once the crowd of slaves reached the medical wing, some broke off to go rest, as they hadn't taken any damage, while the rest walked in.

Inside, different from the last time Alfred had visited, every part of the room was filled with patients and nurses were there helping with treatment.

One at the reception desk called them over.

"Hey! You lot! Line up single file, urgent cases make a new line on the left."

The slaves did what they were told. As the name suggested, everyone inside of this building other than other slaves was in a higher societal position than them, so any and every order must be followed properly to continue reaping the benefits of being a slave of a colosseum. Same even went for the foreign slaves, who Alfred guessed could have a different custom/not even have slaves, but that wasn't the case.

Alfred was near the front of the "normal" line, and eventually got to the desk. A separate nurse had been called to deal with their line while the one who called them over was busy dealing with the supposedly urgent cases.

"Girl, it's your turn" the nurse said.

Alfred moved up closer to give her a decent look.

"Hmm… should be able to be healed by tomorrow with this," she said while rummaging through a box. "It will leave a noticeable scar, if you really need it removed, come later on, we don't have time for such delicate procedures."

She handed Alfred a small, thin, and round tin container and shooed him off. On his way out of the Medical ward, he noticed a small group of slaves eyeing him.

'... huh. The same kids I avoided after cleaning myself off.'

"Chuckle~"

'Kids are far too easy to read,' he thought to himself. 'Still, I'm in no position to be able to effortlessly deal with multiple opponents near my level, so I have to be careful.'

Once Alfred turned the corner, the group continued their discussion.

"She's definitely on to us!" the short kid who ended his fight last whispered. "What if she has a master? Won't this all go to shit if she does? Her techniques looked pretty good for someone our age…"

"It doesn't matter, Rat!" a brown haired boy said. He leaned in and began to whisper, "The warden said we had to win no matter what! If we leave her alone, that's another dangerous individual we have to deal with. She already got rid of the spear kid anyways."

"You're being too cautions, Rat" a chubbier kid said to the short while patting his back. "No matter how good she is, we're all at the apprentice level! As we are now, numbers are everything!" he declared confidently.

Rat thought for a second, and accepted his leaders thought process.

'I mean, how hard could it be? It's just one girl.'

Wait, she's a girl, right?'

.

.

.

Alfred made sure to speed up after the first corner, up until he had at least put two more in between them and him.

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He then slowed down his walk and opened the container.

Inside was a thin layer of cream. It's use was obvious, but he didn't see how an ointment from such a seemingly scientifically inept society could possibly close a wound at the level that he has within a day.

'Oh well!' he said with a shrug, and dipped his finger in the cream.

HSM helped, but martial arts made him extremely spatially aware, enough so that with his feeling of pain faintly back, he was able to easily visualize the boundaries of the cut without a mirror.

He then began to apply the cream. It felt like alcohol at first, giving a slight stingy feeling, but soon he heard and saw crackling and smoke.

All three sensations went away after a minute, but he stayed alert. 'There's always the possibility that this was a poison… but that would be suicide, killing a colosseum slave outside of the ring.'

He sped up his pace just in case, but his paranoia was proven false after careful introspection and a refinement session.

Once he finished this refinement session and felt energized, he ran over to the SE to retrieve the Grimoire.

On his way there, he saw a strange sight.

The tall and lanky slave he fought earlier on that day was fixed up and talking to the last kid from his SE about something. 'Weird, I haven't Stag continent slaves in this quadrant at all. It's not uncommon to see Wolf continent slaves due to the close proximity of our quadrants, and the Bear continent slaves are well scattered around this place…'

As Alfred neared them, the boy from the Stag continent noticed the kid he was talking to focusing on Alfred, making him turn around.

His eyes widened and he hurried over to him.

"Senior sister!" he said while waving.

Alfred rolled his eyes and turned around.

"Mnn?"

"It was an informative fight! I thank you for your guidance and humility, senior sister" he said in an accent Alfred had never heard.

Alfred nodded and began to walk away but the boy began speaking again.

"I overheard a group of slaves talking about attacking you, seni-"

"Did you, now?" Alfred said. "And, why are you calling me 'Senior Sister'? I'm pretty sure I might be younger than you."

"Ah! That's right, but in my culture, the strong and skilled are respected. As you beat me in a fair bout, you are now my senior sister!" he said with confidence, as if his words were completely logical.

"Pfft-"

'!!!'

'... He got a chuckle out of me? I mean, the way he said it almost made me believe him.'

"Ah!" he said while facepalming. "I failed to introduce myself, senior sister!"

He bowed low. "I am Du Quigang! Please trust my words, senior sister. They truly did say they were targeting you!"

Alfred sighed. "Yeah, I figured as much. They were from the Wolf continent, were they not?"

Du nodded in confirmation.

"Okay, then don't get yourself involved anymore, you'll get in the way" Alfred said. "I have to be going now."

Alfred paused for a second. "S-see you?"

"Be warm and well fed, senior sister!"

Alfred sped up his pace without looking back. 'Damn, I fucking stuttered a typical goodbye? My social skills really took a nosedive. Kids like him are hard to deal with though… no room to get mad, nor to stay indifferent.'

Soon, Alfred arrived at the SE, seeing his master in his usual spot.

Expecting to just be allowed to take the grimoire and leave, Alfred only performed a slight bow to his master before spinning around.

"Öthe" Cysandoth said softly. "I have something to discuss with you once the last of today's events are over. By then, master that last technique and begin on Kororo."

Alfred turned around and bowed lower this time. "Understood, master."

.

.

.

"Uhhgh~"

Alfred was sprawled out on the ground grunting and panting from exhaustion. To master Continuous Remise before Cysandoth got back was pushing his capabilities. To accomplish this feat, he had to abuse HSM not to react faster, but to train more.

The controls for the training simulation were fairly in depth, making it possible for him to set the speed of the wisp's actions faster than they should be. This forced Alfred to strain his body to do things faster than he should have been comfortable with (namely earlier on when learning it). But, with the use of HSM at this key point in his training, it was as if he were training at normal speed.

It goes without saying that he wasn't using any more than a low level HSM to accomplish this, but even that over a couple hours is straining for him.

Soon, this technique showed its results nicely, with him finishing a 10 hour task in a mere six hours.

Alfred noticed Cysandoth rounding the corner out of the corner of his eye, so he begrudgingly sat up to greet him.

"I assume you have completed the task I gave you, right?"

"Yes sir," Alfred confirmed. "May I ask the reason why I had to master the technique in such a short period of time?"

"..." Cysandoth stood there for a second, then shrugged. "To see if you could do it."

"..."

"Now!" He clasped his hands together and sat down, "On to what I was going to tell you."

Alfred returned from his stupor and listened up.

"Your training will be speeding up after this tournament is over. For personal reasons, I am leaving this colosseum for good, but first you must become an Advanced martial artist," he said. "We only have a time frame of 5 years to do it, and once we do, you have to leave as well."

"How hard will that be? I don't have the slightest clue how long it normally takes people to reach that level."

"Well… with my help, it should be possible. The thing is, the earliest record of someone becoming an advanced martial artist is 18, and you'll have to reach it by 14."

"Is- how is that possible? You haven't told me of any way to speed up my refinement, and I assume that martial artist had all the help they could get anyways. How am I supposed to do better at such a linear process?"

Cysandoth nodded at Alfred's statement. "Your logic is sound, Öthe. However, there is one way that should work."

Raising an eyebrow, Alfred asked "Should? Do you not know if it will work?"

"It's not about if it will work, but rather, will it kill you before it does?"

Alfred allowed a much more serious expression to leak onto his face. "I…"

"Öthe, I know you may feel scared, but trust me, if you are to leave the 'protection' of this place without at least being an advanced martial artist, you will die. In fact, I guarantee it," Cysandoth said with the most serious look Alfred had ever seen his master wear. "Before I tell you about this, I ask you, will you continue to be my disciple, or will you take the little I've taught you, and quietly hone your skills here in the colosseum?"

Really, please think hard about this Öthe."

Alfred nodded and closed his eyes.

'Although following the teachings of the Junanbi discipline will no doubt provide me with the best martial arts I'm likely to find, I can't help but think that the library of this place could provide me with close if not equal benefits, with it's only downside being I have to purchase them with boons,' Alfred thought to himself.

'It is pretty clear that once I leave this place, something to do with my connection to Master will place a target on my head, but who's to say that there isn't already one? If whatever or whomever can make my master this serious is dedicated enough, how safe can this place really be? I may be taken out before I can learn a single 1st Division technique the moment Master leaves this place.'

'...'

...What should I do?'