After we made it back to the dojo I slunk into my room as quickly as possible, doing my best to avoid talking to or even looking at anyone. Especially Jane. I had lots on my list of things to do but getting over my hangover and humiliation took priority, so my list got shunted aside and the bulk of the rest of that day was spent either napping or soaking in the big, outdoor bath. Alone. Nothing like a long, hot soak to clear your head.

What the hell had I done?

Did I seriously use that stupid power to slice and dice three people into chunks of meat? In public?

I wasn’t worried about getting in trouble for it. If anything, it was the most legal fight I’d had so far against other people. Authorized and overseen by Annabelle and everything.

It made me realize how little I’d had to use my abilities against other Players compared to everyone else. Sparring aside, of course. But you never really fight to the best of your abilities unless it’s for real.

I wished I knew what parts of Andy’s telling of the story were true and what parts were all in his warped head. I mean, he was drunk too, right? Maybe not as drunk, clearly, but still.

Ridiculous. Taking on four at once or moving so fast it was a blur? Come on. That’s just crazy. Like, hyperbolic crazy. Even if I had used superspeed...although...if I had used body-enhancing qi power first then augmented it with superspeed there should be a multiplication effect for something like pure speed...but anyway, where was I? Right, ridiculous assertions like these aside, did I really take out half a team? In public? In the arena?

I must’ve been exceptionally drunk to do something so stupid. Even if it was officially authorized, how could I not catch some heat for that?

I did my best to mentally prepare for some fallout from my escapades, but there was absolutely no way I could’ve predicted what would actually happen as a result.

It was late afternoon, the day after my drunken shenanigans, and I was out for a run with Sigrid through the city after being coerced into exorcizing my hangover with exercise when I received an unexpected notice, a kind I’d never seen before.

System: You have mail

I stopped suddenly, and Sigrid stumbled a few steps as she did the same.

“What is it?” she said.

“I’ve got mail.” I told System to share the notice with her.

“That’s new,” she said.

“I know. I’ve never seen that before.”

“So open it, dummy.”

System Mail From: Annabelle

Come see me.

“Well that’s mysterious,” Sigrid said.

“I’d call it more ominous,” I said. “Why do I feel like I’ve just been called to the Principal’s office?”

“You think it has something to do with last night?”

“What else could it be?”

"Do you think we've been able to send mail like that all along and just didn't know?" Sigrid said.

"Let's find out. System, can I send a reply to Annabelle?"

System: Negative

"Guess not," Sigrid said.

"Pity. I've always wished there was a way to communicate with people."

"Honestly, I'm surprised you haven't just made one by now," Sigrid said.

"Just what do you think I'm able to do?"

"I have no clue," she said. "I haven't seen your Status in a long time, so who knows what you're capable of now. Hint hint."

I started running again.

"Shall I take this to mean you're still not going to show me?" she called after me.

I kept running.

"Dummy."

We finished our run and I had a quick bath and a change of clothing. I was almost at the arena to look for Annabelle when a new notification popped up.

System: Team Invictus has entered the Light Dungeon

Well well. Someone finally found it. I was so glad it was Invictus, too.

Because its entrance was in a cave hidden in the mountain crags, nobody else had found the Light Dungeon yet, until now. I was willing to bet Invictus and friends had been scouring everywhere to find it, and I could only imagine their glee when they did.

Poor buggers.

“Sorry Annabelle, duty calls.”

It was right outside the arena so I was already heading toward the city’s teleportation circle, so in no time I appeared in the affinity circle outside the labyrinth.

When I entered the room with the three doors that allowed access to the maze I found the guardian statues in ruins. I also discovered some of those creepy NPCs who cart away dead Players still there, packaging up the corpse of one of the Invictus goofs, so the battle must have just taken place.

A sudden fear gripped me. "System?"

System: Player?

"That Player who died here, will they respawn?"

Pause.

System: Affirmative

Phew. "That's a relief." I had no love for the Players on Team Invictus, but also didn't want them to die-die.

Then I had a sudden thought that made me slap my forehead. "I am so stupid. System, as controller of this dungeon, is it possible to make it so that any Player who dies here will respawn?"

System: Affirmative

My heart leapt into my throat.

"System, when those Players attacked the Nature Dungeon some of them did not respawn. Was it possible for me to have done the same there and prevent that?"

System: Negative

I was able to breathe again. It wasn't my fault.

"Why can I do that here but not there? What's the difference?"

System: Different rules apply to different dungeons

"It would have been nice to know this before. Okay, here's the deal: whenever a Player dies in one of my dungeons, wherever possible I want them to always respawn. Got it?"

System: Affirmative

I waved my hand over the shards of marble and they began reforming into solid statues again.

“Good work guys, you got one of them,” I said as they lumbered back to their positions around the perimeter of the room. “Looks like the training paid off.”

I stepped through a door and emerged into Daedalus’ office to find Alice there.

“Boss!” she said. She was flushed with excitement, sitting at the desk operating the labyrinth controls and showing no signs that she found anything strange about the grid of floating screens hovering over it showing various views of the dungeon’s interior, like a modern day security guard monitoring security camera footage.

I came up behind her and checked out the screens. I saw on two of them images of Players carefully exploring empty corridors. “Hey Alice, what’s happening?”

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

“Everything is going as you instructed. The invaders all entered through the same door but they have already been split up by a falling block trap.”

“Well done.”

“The labyrinth is under code orange alert. Everyone is in their homes and will stay there until further notice.”

She made to get up and relinquish the command chair to me, but I put my hand on her shoulder.

“Will you not be taking over?” she said.

“No, you can handle it, Alice. You’ve trained hard for this, everyone has. I have complete faith in you.”

“Thanks, Boss. I will keep trying to split the invaders up and adjust the layout of the maze to keep them away from any rooms with our guys in them."

“Perfect. The only thing I want them to find are endless corridors, empty rooms, and all the traps you can throw at them.”

“Understood," she said. On one of the screens, a Player stepped on a floor trigger and received a dart in the arm in return. Classic. Alice cackled. "Next one's poisoned."

"How long shall we keep them here?” I said. “What do you think? Two days? Three?”

“I think you are too lenient.”

“You know what? You’re right. How about you just keep them here as long as it takes until there’s only one left, then give the survivor an exit.”

Now that I knew there was no chance they'd die-die as a result, I had no problem making this a lethal experience for them. None at all. They clearly need to learn that nobody messes with my dungeons.

“Understood. I shall take the opportunity to test the effectiveness of the new traps you installed.”

“Just don’t kill them off too quickly. I want them tired, hungry, hurt, and despondent.”

She turned around to look at me. “Are you sure I can’t let them meet a few of us? Our people are all itching to see some action and put their training to use.”

“Really? Okay, tell you what. You can attack them whenever they try to rest.”

“Who shall I send?”

“Up to you. None of the big guns, and nobody who drops treasure. And don’t send too many at a time. We don’t want to demolish them, just whittle them down and make them as miserable as possible.”

“Understood. I shall slowly pick them off one by one until only one remains. They shall suffer greatly for their transgression.”

I patted her shoulder. “I’m really glad you’re on my side, Alice.”

"Same here, Boss."

A short time later, I was back in the city at the arena entrance. I found the gate unlocked, as though I had been expected.

I heard the sound of metal clashing against metal coming from the arena floor, so I headed up the stairs to the lowest level of seating to take a peek. Down on the packed dirt arena floor I saw a surprising sight.

Akari, the powerful pink-haired NPC we’d watch take down a Wyvern was there, looking deceptively fragile and puny as she fought against a hulking figure clad in a massive suit of plate armor with an impressively large sword and a giant shield to match. I evaluated it, and discovered that it wasn’t just wearing armor, it was armor. Living Armor. Or a reasonable facsimile thereof.

Living Armor (Reproduction)

Often used by powerful mages as guardian sentinels, Living Armor are tough hombres that are hard to take down and can dish out massive amounts of damage in return. This one isn’t real, but a realistic reproduction generated by the arena.

Gifts:

Strong As Steel - Outstanding strength

Sturdy As Steel - Outstanding vitality

Tough As Steel - Outstanding resistance

Powers:

Armor Clobber - Expert: Mana-infused attack

Armor Bash - Expert: Shield attack

You Didn’t Think It Would Be That Easy, Did You? - Expert: Regeneration

Skills:

Sword - Expert

So even S-rankers like her needed to train, huh?

How was the arena able to create reproductions of monsters to train with? I focused on Versatility For The Win to see if it was a power I could copy.

It wasn’t.

Interesting.

I tried the same thing after the Living Armor tried to clobber her with its massive sword. I wouldn’t be able to copy that either.

Very interesting.

A few sections over, I noticed a flash of purple in the stands. It was Annabelle, watching me watching Akari. When our eyes met, she waved me over. Ordinarily, I’d have gone down the stairs in this section, traverse some halls, then go back up the stairs to her section. Like a normal person. But I was feeling a bit lazy after everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, so instead I borrowed Chika’s Boing Boing power and hopped along the rows of seats until I was sitting beside Annabelle.

“You summoned me?” I said.

“You’re late,” she said testily without looking at me.

“Sorry about that. I had to take care of some business first.”

“Mmmm,” was all she said as she reached under her seat with one hand and withdrew a bulging sack. She plopped it onto my lap with a clink then returned her eyes to Akari’s battle down below.

“Oof,” I said. It was heavy. How’d she lift it so easily with only one hand? “What’s this?”

“Your winnings,” she said. “You wagered a hundred gold that you’d win a fight in my arena.”

“So I really did that, huh?”

She glanced sideways at me. “You don’t remember?”

“A lot of what happened last night was a bit of a blur.”

A smile crinkled the corner of her mouth and she looked back down at the action.

I hefted the sack. “This feels like a lot more than a hundred gold.”

“You won six fights.”

“Wow.”

“Easy money, right?” Annabelle said.

“You tell me, was it easy?”

She laughed. No demure giggles here, she tossed her head back and belted out a full-on belly laugh. “You really don’t remember. That’s hilarious.”

“I heard about it this morning, but I wasn’t sure what to believe.”

Annabelle flinched and grimaced when the Living Armor bashed Akari with its shield, dropping her momentarily to her knees. “What’d you hear?”

“That I fought the first two guys one-on-one, then took on the other four all at once.”

“That’s how it happened, alright. And yeah, whether it actually was or not, you sure made it look easy.”

“Guess I know what to do next time I’m low on funds.”

This time she didn’t just glance, she turned to face me. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I was joking.”

“You’d better be. I don’t intend to make a habit of chasing people around to collect your winnings.”

“You did that yourself?”

She smiled and shrugged. “Actually, it wasn’t that much work, but still. It’s not my job to play collection agent for you.”

I thought for a few moments while we watched Akari fight in silence. There was something weird about this conversation. System could’ve just deposited the gold directly into my magic coin purse. Why did I have to come meet with Annabelle to do this in person? Unless there was more to this than met the eye.

A sixty gigawatt lightbulb went off over my head.

“Whose job is it?” I said.

“Whose job is what?” Annabelle said.

“Collecting wagers from the losers.”

“Well, it isn’t anybody’s job. This was the first time.”

“That was the first time there was a Player versus Player match in the arena?”

“Outside of the tournament, yes.”

“Don’t you find that a bit odd? Isn’t that what the arena’s for?”

She shrugged and turned her attention back to the arena floor. “Life’s what you make it,” she said enigmatically.

I knew it.

“What did you think about it?” I said. “The fight, I mean.”

“It was entertaining. You put on a good show.”

“Thanks. So what do you think about it happening again?”

Annabelle glanced over at me. “You intend to fight a lot of people, do you?”

“I didn’t mean me specifically. I meant: what if more Players fought each other here?”

“You mean, like, official duels or something?”

“That is exactly what I mean. What if we turned the arena into the place where Players could settle disputes with one another? Officially.”

That got her full attention. “What do you mean, we?”

“You said it yourself. You don’t want to chase down losers to collect their wagers, but you seem to like watching people fight. So what if you handle the fights and I manage the wager part?”

It was Madame Devorah who’d given me the idea. I had no intention of taking her up on the offer of a part-time job playing piano in a brothel, but I thought it wouldn’t be so bad to have some kind of side hustle. As a vice, gambling was much more my speed — it was just another game, after all — and being the arena’s bookie sounded like it could be fun, not to mention lucrative.

“I do enjoy watching a good fight,” Annabelle said. She ran her palm lovingly along the smooth, polished wood of the railing in front of her. “And it would be nice to see the arena get more use.”

“Exactly.”

“What’s in it for you?” she said.

I reached into the sack and took out a handful of gold. “Here,” I said, handing it to her.

“What’s this?”

“Well I can’t expect you to handle my wager last night for free. The house always takes a cut.”

A grin spread across her face as understanding dawned. “Easy money.”

“Exactly.”

And that’s how the arena became the new official place for PvP fights, and how I became its official bookie.

Annabelle and I worked through the logistics of how people would set up fights and agree on the terms, how people would be notified when the fights would take place, and how anybody could come watch and place bets on the outcome.

This was the first time I’d ever had the opportunity to speak with Annabelle like this and I was immediately struck by how different she was, even for a named NPC. NPCs like Petal translated meta-gaming elements into thematic terms, but Annabelle didn’t. It was almost like she knew she was part of a game, and clearly knew about System and was even able to send mail through it. Then again, she had worked with Stratos on the tournament quest, so perhaps she was a special kind of NPC.

In the end, we managed to work out an arrangement where System would do most of the work of scheduling duels and notifying people. Bets would be also made through a System interface.

The extent of my involvement in the arena fights would be to act as oddsmaker and covering the payouts of all winning bets made. Naturally, I’d get to keep the losing wagers. I baked in an arrangement through System to put all wagered amounts in escrow, making debt collection simple and assured: if you didn’t have the cash on hand, you couldn’t place the bet. I decided on a modest 10% commission for my trouble.

It was a bit like the God Game at the convention. As long as I was able to accurately assess the Players’ abilities and set decent odds it promised to be a profitable enterprise. I almost felt guilty. Easy money, indeed.

Meanwhile, down on the arena floor, Akari continued sparring with the Living Armor construct. Watching her, it became apparent that she was not actually trying to win but was testing out various approaches and combinations. Only once she’d had enough and decided to end things did she finally make an effort to put it down. And she did so, quite decisively too. I was glad it wasn't me down there fighting her.

When she was done, the Living Armor replicant sparkled and vanished and Akari stalked off the arena floor through the open portcullis gate. She never once even looked up at us.

I had thought I was putting in the work to get stronger, but after observing this I realized how much farther I had yet to go, and how much more effort I needed to put into my training.