Bob made it into his cage and collapsed on his sleeping pad. It had taken all his remaining strength after the fight and healing to climb the ladder into his cage. He was still filthy from the match but had no energy to do anything other than sleep.

System Notice

Victory

You have unlocked your second ability

Ability: Smoke Flask

You have gained the favor of lesser god x3

You have gained two free attribute points

Current distributed points

Health - 5

Stamina - 1

Strength - 1

Dexterity - 6

Intelligence - 5

Wisdom - 1

Bob was surprised at the system screen window this time around. He wasn't expecting to get favored by a third lesser god. He was concerned about the branding process, but that was a worry for when he woke up. After feeling the effects of using his ability he wanted to make sure he put another point into wisdom to get his mana regeneration higher. He felt like his current mana reserve was fine for now, it just needed to be refilled faster. His second point left him with a bit of a conundrum, however, he didn't know if he wanted to put his point into. He thought hard about speed and asked in his head what attribute controlled that.

Information request detected

Speed is dictated by a combination of strength and dexterity

He dumped his point into strength. His gut was telling him he needed to try and be more balanced in his attribute distribution. He was worried that only receiving two points per match was going to take him a long time to get his points where he wanted them. The matches he fought in were no doubt going to be more difficult each time he entered the arena, so maybe he would be rewarded more points. He thought he should definitely get more points this time considering he beat his opponent that already had five other matches under his belt.

System notice

Granting of favor x3

Favor of the lesser god Mischief: plus one attribute point stamina, plus one attribute point intelligence

Favor of the lesser god Pain: armor granted, Leather Cuirass

Favor of the lesser goddess Luck: armor granted, Leather gauntlets

Favors granted

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Standby for branding

Bob woke to the searing pain of the brand, although this time it felt like the pain didn't last as long. The back of his right hand was the location of the new brand. It was a simple four-leaf clover. He rubbed the back of his hand even though he knew it wouldn't help with the pain. He was glad that he didn't get any new marks from Pain or Mischief, he would hate to have to go through the branding process every time he got favor from the same god.

After being woken up from the branding process, he felt like he still needed more rest. His plate of food and cup of water were next to him, so he quickly ate his meal. The lights outside his cage were still dim, so it was probably late in the evening he figured. There wasn't much noise coming from the other cages except some snoring. He looked down at his body still covered in now dried blood, sweat, and dirt. He had the energy and didn't want to go back to sleep dirty, so he got up and washed himself off at the sink. Now that he felt clean, he went back to his sleeping pad for more sleep.

He woke up a while later to the door of his cage being opened. A little startled he got up quickly, but calmed down after seeing it was the Pitboss.

"About time your lazy ass got up," the Pitboss said. "You have another fight in two days, though this one will be different from your last two. This one will be with a partner. You and your partner will fight another group of two."

"Who is my partner," Bob asked. He was still trying to clear the sleep from his mind.

"Your partner is an avatar named Ally," the Pitboss answered. "Your opponents are named Felix and Indareal. You will get time tomorrow to have a practice session with your partner, so the two of you can work out a strategy. Remember what I told you about sharing information here though. Yes, she will be your partner for now, but she may become your opponent later on. So keep that in mind."

"Why would they allow partners to fight against each other," Bob asked.

"It's a brutal game you all play," the Pitboss said. "But you have to remember you are the entertainment, and if the gods want to see former partners fight, well, they will make it happen."

"That seems completely fucked," Bob said. "We are just the gods play things, nothing else?"

"For now at least," the Pitboss answered with a sigh. "Just get ready for tomorrow's training session with your partner. Your body is still recovering so get more rest."

The Pitboss turned and walked out of Bob's cage closing the gate behind him. He worked his way over to the other cages on the top row. Bob watched him go and started thinking to himself. It didn't take long till he felt the exhaustion hit him again. He laid back down and went to sleep.

The next day arrived and Bob was feeling much better. He felt he was almost back to full strength. After being called by the Pitboss to come down out of his cage, he followed him into a strange circular room. The floor was the same as the arena, and the walls looked to be the same height. The Pitboss led him into the room, on the other side of them another door opened and to people stepped through.

"There is your partner," the Pitboss said. "The woman, obviously."

"Thanks," Bob answered. "I kinda figured the hairy man over there wasn't named Ally."

The Pitboss and the other man waved to each other.

"It is you and your partners time to work out a strategy," the Pitboss said. "I will be back in a few hours to bring you back to your cage."

Bob nodded and started walking towards the center of the room. It looked like Ally was getting the same run-down that he had gotten from his Pitboss. He stood there awkwardly for a bit until they were finally done. He watched as Ally walked over to him. She was a human woman with sandy color hair tied back into a ponytail. She had soft facial features with brown eyes. Her build from what he could see was thin, she didn't look to have much muscle on her. He noticed she was doing the same as he was, they both were evaluating each other physique. He was almost a foot taller than her, and it didn't become obvious till she stood in front of him.

"Hello Ally," Bob said.

"Hello," Ally replied.

"Did your boss give you the talk about sharing information," Bob asked.

Ally nodded her head and replied. "I haven't decided what information I'm going to tell you yet."

"This is a shit place we are in, they force us to be wary of each other even though we are going to be fighting together," Bob said. "I'm a grenadier. That is the only information I feel comfortable giving out for now. It's ok if you don't want to tell me your class for now, but I feel like that is going to be the bare minimum information we will need to figure out a strategy."

"Assassin," Ally said. "hopefully our opponents are similar in composition. One ranged the other melee."

"We can only hope," Bob said.