Everything was black, was it darkness? Did I lose my sight? Why can I not hear anything?

I cried for someone, anyone yet no noise was made from my outstretched mouth. Where was Astrid? Where was Cue?

I looked around, or attempted to but this darkness made it hard to move my body... if I had one at this point.

I tried to calm myself down but the darkness had overwhelmed me before there was a flash... and a burst of blinding light that lit up the entire area.

The darkness flew away and now everything was white. Next thing I noticed were the cubes. They were small, almost as if they were specks of dust drifting down as a tiny drizzle.

They were small and insignificant, yet they seemed to add color to this world. The surroundings started to build itself as the floors started to materialize. The walls, the torches, even myself as I lifted my spiritual hand to see bits and pieces of it coming together due to the small cubes that originated from the sky.

I turned to see my two companions Astrid and Cue each geared differently from their leather clothing back at the base camp.

Astrid now sports fur armor that covered most of her body. Her body hands had furred gloves with slots and on her back were two axes crisscrossing.

Cue on the otherhand had forgone his leather armor in favor of blue cloth robes that seemed to radiate a chilling aura around him. In his hand was a eight foot tall staff with a wintry orb at the top of it.

As we finished materializing the area outside of our room started to expand as a circular arena formed. The stands were filled with shadowed silohuettes that cheered. The crowd beckoned us forward and some of them roared for the team at the opposite end of the arena to start moving as well.

[Welcome to Argeon Arena.]

[Under normal rules and procedures a wager is placed and the winner recieves the wager at the end of combat, Common wagers are community resources, points, money, and items. More expensive wagers are Fighters, Buildings, and Contracts. ]

[Since this is a tutorial battle we will disable any penalties that a normal match will contain such as loss of a wager and any damage that a fighter has taken including but not limited to: Loss of Item, Loss of Function or Skill, Loss of Limbs, Diseases Obtained, and Permadeath just to name a few.]

[We will now pit you against a team of A.I. for you to get the hang of the game. You will get a random team that follow multiple categories. Synergy is an important aspect of this game.

Your opponent will be Team A.I.: Control.]

From the opposite side of the Arena, the barrier gates started to lift as three figures strode forward.

The first of the three was a man with a bald head and a grin on his face as he waved to the crowd. His clothing was normal for a fighter as it was just a shirt and long pants but there was one odd detail about him.

The man in question was floating as he sat criss-cross with a jar in his lap.

The next was a girl with purple hair a long flowing robe with pink ambient energy floating around her. Occasionally the energy formed shapes such as a heart, pink lips, or an arrow. She waved and blew kisses toward the crowd which threw them into a frenzy.

The last person was a child. Or it would have been if the person in question did not have a full beard that hung loosely from his face. The man barely reached the waist of the robed woman next to him and was further dwarfed by the various bags that seemingly overflowed with stuff. His eyes were hidden by goggles and his head an aviator's hat as he hobbled toward the center alongside his two companions.

"A control team? Is that some sort of attack?" Astrid asked as she eyed the three people that walked forward.

"Control means something... to manipulate? What is there to manipulate?" Cue said aloud, hand on his chin as he pondered the meaning of a Control Team.

I myself wondered what combat style would a control team be. Wasn't there just Attack and Defense?

The voice spoke to me however, a flash of warning as if it knew that this team was great danger to us and a simple whisper into my ear and I felt a sense of dread start to fill me.

[Welcome to Argeon Arena, Today we will be having a Tutorial match between Team 1 of the Community Sof. Vs Tutorial Team: A.I. Control. Match! Begin!]

I do not know what a "Control" team is, but my insticts tell me that they were a bad thing. I should not get near them so following my instincts and the whispers I threw out my hands and started to chant as green and blue energy started to swirl around me.

Seeing my actions my other two teammates flew forward. Astrid gave a war cry as her eyes changed color and a reddish glow started to flow through her body. Cue twirled his staff and rooted it into the ground. From the blue orb on top of the staff clouds started to billow out as snow began to fall. With a wave of his hand the snow flew forward to create a blizzard.

"I call to thee, being of ice and snow that loves to play, A game I offer to you, fun to have you stay. Cross the Planar Bridge and reside. Artic Spirit.

I felt my hands grow numb as frost grew from my hands before shooting a bolt of ice that quickly rose to become a pillar. It cracked as it grew before shattering to form an icy-blue portal where a small figure emerged from.

It was small, almost the size of my hand. Its leathery wings flapped as snow danced around it. A slim body blue with a tiny bulb for a head. The thing moved and hopped to its feet and twirled as it took flight. It looked around before its small white eyes blinked as it eyed me.

"Hello Mortal. I am Snow Sprite of the Winter Plains. I heard you wanted to play a game? Tell me! Tell me! What are we playing today?"

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

I was confused... why did I summon this thing? Why were the voices recommending it. I was at a loss for words and the sprite flew impatiently.

"To slow! To slow! You're no fun, why did I come anyway."

I quickly waved my hands to catch its attention and I spoke.

"I called you so we can have fun, Follow me to pull a prank." I said quickly, I eyed the being as it flew to and fro thinking about my words.

"You seek to waste my time, fun should be given instantly, I fail to trust you to offer something so soon."

The sprite blew its tongue at me and I could hear the sound of combat. Was that laughter coming from the blizzard?

The laughter also caught the sprite as it turned to face the battle.

"Is that laughter I hear? So there is fun and games. Mortal, I shall accompany you. Appease me and I shall give you my true name!"

A true name? What does that have to do with this small sprite? I didn't have time to think about it as Cue called out to me.

"Mana running low, going to take a break to regen!"

I could only nod as I looked at my own Mana bar, It was already several seconds from when I summoned the sprite and it had already dropped to about 55%. I had to move quickly or else the sprite would disappear.

"Come on, we got a game to play." I said and the Snow Sprite nodded.

I moved carefully into the blizzard, the snow obscuring my vision and the cold chilling me to the bones despite my robes that should have protected me from such things. The snow sprite took a look at me and laughed.

"You mortals are so pitiful against this gentle breeze and summer temperatures. I shall aid [Resist Cold] [Clarity]"

Suddenly my vision cleared up and I could see where I was going. The snow that had chilled me to the bones was now a gentle caress across my skin. I thanked the snow sprite before looking at my opponents.

There was Astrid with her two axes in hand. The pulsing red energy coursed through her as she swung her axes around her. The floating man flew around her as he pelted her with rocks while laughing at her pitiful display.

The robed female was moving on the far side of the arena waiting as the short man dug holes into the ground and grabbed things from his pack. I had an ominous feeling about the two of them so I turned to the sprite.

"Snow Sprite, we're going to prank those two over there." I said simply as I pointed a finger toward the two.

Snow Sprite in question grew a mischevious smile and it started to form a ball of snow.

"Digging is such a boorish past time, why not enjoy a snowball fight instead?"

The snow sprite chucked a ball of snow toward the duo and it landed on top of the short man's head.

The man spluttered and he looked up and around wildly. I was confused at first why he was doing such a thing when I remembered that we were in the middle of a blizzard and not everyone could see.

I quickly approached the man swinging my staff as Snow Sprite sent another ball of snow.

The man must have seen my silohuette approaching becuase he cursed and ran. He gave a shrill whistle and I could see the female figure starting to chant.

"Snow Sprite mess her up" I quickly said and Snow Sprite gave a cackle as it threw a ball of snow at her.

I watched as pink energy flowed from her robe to form a heart. The heart glowed and as the woman turned to cast the heart she was met with a face full of snow. The heart was fired randomly and I moved to avoid the heart, stumbling out of the hole that the small man was digging and with a few steps I became confused. I had walked away only to find myself falling from what was once stable ground.

I attempted to look around but it was to dark to make anything out. I fell and felt pain shot through my body from multiple locations and I gave a cry before I found it was much harder to breathe, I struggled to lift myself and the snow sprite came fluttering over to me and spoke words that I could not understand, I saw it turned to leave and I reached out my hand in an attempt to have it come back. It wasn't until darkness took me that I lowered it.

I awoke to find myself fully intact. Did I die? What killed me? Why am I here? Is the match already over? Where are my teammates? I looked around to find them next time me also looking around confused. I looked at my teammates to see that they still had their gear and I started to check myself. My gear was in pristine conditions and a screen right in front of my eyes to showcase the match that had concluded had popped up.

[Tutorial Match: Argeon Arena: Team 1 of Community Sof v.s. Team A.I.: Control: Results: Loss 0-2]

[Match Result:

Team 1:

Astrid- Berserker: Slain Peeves through Berserk Mode. Slain by Doran's Pitfall Trap.

Bermonte- Druid: Slain by Doran's Pitfall Trap.

Cuelance- Frost Mage: Slain by Angela's Heart Break.

A.I.: Control:

Peeves- Poltergeist: Slain by Astrid's Berserk Mode.

Angela- Charmcaster: Slain Cuelance through Heart Break.

Doran- Trapmeister: Slain Bermonte through Pitfall Trap. Slain Astrid through Pitfall Trap.

Rewards: Astrid gains 5 SP for an Enemy slain.

Tutorial rewards are 25% of normal rewards]

I looked over the classes of the enemy and their kills. What was Heart Break? And did I really die to a pitfall trap? Was that why the small man was digging a hole? What were these classes? Poltergeist? Charmcaster? Trapmeister?

I feel that we could record this information down and utilize it against future opponents, or even utilize it in our own forces yet as soon as I tried to write this information down or at least memorize it a window popped up.

[Due to the absence of a Strategist Tent, Library, Knowledge Vault, or other relative buildings, you have failed in recording information.]

Well that is stupid. Why do I need a specific building to even record information? Is it so that we can keep permanent knowledge about them? Then again, knowledge is power.

I'm not sure how we could get something like that for us though. Julie Baker, if that was what her name was, was in control of our encampment and could decide on what buildings we would have access to; Then how would I be able to tell her that I wanted such a building?

As if to answer my question a window popped up.

[Requests: Residents of your community can request the User for specific buildings, skills or items. These requests can be answer at the User's discretion though.

Consequences for Requests:

Answered:

You are more likely to unconciously follow the User's orders.

You are more likely to accept lower requirements for resources (Food, Lodging, Hygiene)

You are more likely to stay at this encampment.

Unanswered:

You are more likely to rebel against User's orders.

You are more likely to demand better resources.

You are more likely to abandon the encampment as your approval falls.]

I could leave this encampment? I looked pass the border of this camp and into the forest that loomed over us, the dark haze seemed to stay at a certain distance and sounds could be heard in the forest.

I took a look around at the camp to see it was small, there was no much room left in the border and there was already paths going into the forest as if someone had planned for us to follow them, or something to us.

I had a nagging feeling that I should go into the forest... but with the exhausting battle I had just went through I wanted to sleep.

Maybe I'll check the forest in the morning, maybe a new building will have appeared. I do not know. All I know is that I wanted a strategist tent. Maybe Julie Baker will deliver my request. Maybe she won't. For now I just focused on my sleep.

With that said, I closed my eyes and darkness took me once more.