image [https://i.imgur.com/C5fnIMd.png]

Lava Lake

Up on the peak of the mountain lies the mouth of the volcano, and within it lies a lake of molten lava, home to elementals, salamanders, and the occasional dragon

The first thing Will noticed was the heat. The sheer, unbelievable, oppressive heat. If he’d still been a human, he would have been soaked with sweat withing seconds. As a wombat, however, Will was both in a better position to handle the heat, and a worse one.

Better, because wombats are far better suited to the heat than humans.

Worse, because the main method wombats have of avoiding the heat is burrowing. And even if Will could dig fast enough to get out of the heat, it would certainly interfere with doing the current space’s quest.

Speaking of which…

Main quest

Slay 10 Lava Elementals.

Reward:

Space rank-up

200 XP

1 skill shard

Nope. Absolute nope. Not even going to try facing lava elementals inside a lava lake without something to protect me from the heat. Moving on now.

There wasn’t going to be a second thing that Will noticed about the space. The decision had been made, and the dice have been rolled. The wombat had spent less than five minutes on the shores of the lava lake before moving on.

image [https://i.imgur.com/EGqqBaE.png]

East Arena

On the middle of the eastern side of the Board lies the East Arena. One of the Four Arenas, the East specializes in duels.

Will was standing in a small room made of stone. The walls were bare of any decorations, and the only furniture he could see was a stone bench next to one of the walls. The only way out of the room was a closed door on the opposite side.

Will had just enough time to realize that he hadn’t received a quest before the door opened and somebody entered.

She stood over two meters tall. Will had trouble telling precisely how much, from his modest height of forty-something centimeters. Her shoulders were broad enough she had to twist sideways to go through the door, and her arms were lean and muscled. She was also green-skinned, and had a pair of large tusks jutting out from her lower lip.

And as if to intentionally counter the scary warrior-brute-orc image, she was also wearing a pantsuit, and on a pair of glasses, and was carrying a clipboard. There was also a pen tucked behind one pointed, green ear.

Will was still staring in confusion when the woman started talking.

“Ah, excellent. You must be our new contestant! I’ll need your name. Or a name you’d like to be called in the arena, at least. Doesn’t have to be your real one.”

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

Um, what? Contestant? I have no idea what’s going on here.

“Yes, contestant. What did you think you were doing in the arena?”

I didn’t even know there was an arena! Who even are you, anyway?

“I’m Lilac, and I’m the event manager for the bronze tier in this arena. Which you are in, and you’re up in thirty minutes.”

Up? Up where?

“For your duel, of course! Players from over a hundred different realms come here to fight each other for glory!”

Yeah, nope. I don’t do PvP.

“You’re in the arena, which means you have to participate. I mean, you can forfeit the duel, but the penalties for that are the same as losing, so it’s not like you’re risking anything by not fighting at all. And the rewards for winning are worth it.”

And what are those penalties?

“You’ll lose one piece of equipment. And at your rank, fifty XP. If you win, you get one piece of equipment from your opponent, and the same fifty XP.”

That’s not too bad. I was afraid it was a fight to the death, or something.

“Most certainly not. Not on the bronze tier, and not without both contestants actively signing up for it.”

OK then. If I don’t have a choice, I may as well go for it.

“Wonderful! I’ll need a name to introduce you with.”

My name is Will.

“I’ll need something more than that, I’m afraid. Something that will set you apart from every other Will out there.”

Will the Wombat?

“Better,” Lilac took the pen from behind her ear and wrote something on her clipboard. “Come with me please.”

Will followed her out of the room and into a stone corridor. The floor sloped upwards, presumably leading into the arena itself.

By the way, what are the rules of this fight?

“No rules. You can use anything you have, and so can your opponent. We have healers on site to deal with anything that happens, so don’t hesitate to go all out.”

Sounds like fun.

“Oh, it is!” Will’s sarcasm was obviously lost on the orc. “There is nothing quite like standing on the arena sand, a war club in your hand and an opponent opposite you. It’s quite the rush!”

You used to fight in the arena?

“Of course! And not just this one! I’ve gotten to the platinum tier on three of the arenas before I retired to a management position!”

What about the fourth?

“I was only gold tier on the North Arena. It’s not a combat arena, so it just wasn’t the same.”

The corridor ended at a T junction. On one side, a door led to another small room. It was as bare as the room Will entered the arena from, with just a single bench for a waiting gladiator. On the opposite side, Will could see sandy ground out of an open archway.

On the other side, the corridor led onward in a curve, leading somewhere Will couldn’t see.

“Well, here we are, Will the Wombat,” Lilac gestured into the room. “Wait here until your name is called, then go out into the arena floor.”

Will entered the room, and Lilac turned to the other corridor. There was nothing interesting in the room itself, so he went to the archway and looked outside.

The archway led into what was obviously the arena floor itself. It was a large expanse of sand, taking up a circle about a hundred meters across. There was a large number of people on the sand. Most of them were raking the sand back into a smooth surface, presumably after the previous duel. The others were trailed by leashed slimes, and were leading them to clean up spots of blood that had spilled on the sand.

The sand was surrounded by a wall, about three meters tall, and Will could see another archway, directly opposite his own, flanked by two purple banners.

It took a few more minutes for the workers to finish tidying up the arena and leave, and then Will could hear Lilac’s amplified voice echoing across the arena.

“Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome, once again, to the East Arena! We are ready to continue today’s bronze tier fights, and we have two brand new fighters, here for the very first time! On the purple entrance, we have Jeremy, The All Devourer!”

Will had no idea what to think about that name. On the one hand, anyway called “The All Devourer” was bound to be bad news. On the other hand, “Jeremy” was not a name that usually inspired fear.

Before he could decide which part of the name was the dominant one, a large lizard walked out of the opposite archway. It was as big as Will himself, and had spiked running along its spine. A large metal helmet covered its head, protecting the top and sides while still leaving the fang-filled mouth free to open and bite.

As the lizard pranced around in a circle, Will could see a heavy flanged mace head attached to its tail.

Sporadic applause greeted Jeremy, The All Devourer’s entrance, and Lilac gave it a couple of minutes to die down before introducing Will.

“And on the green entrance, we have Will, The Wombat!”

Will walked into the arena and looked around.

The arena must have been as large as a medium soccer stadium, with rising tiers filled with enough seats for tens of thousands of spectators. It was also almost completely empty, with a mere few dozen seats filled with bored looking people.

Will got a few cheers of his own, though significantly fewer than Jeremy got.

Maybe I should have chosen a more bloodthirsty sounding name? Will wondered. Eh, whatever. Not like I care all that much about this. Better to just get the mandatory PvP over with so I can move on.

“As both of our fighters are new to the East Arena, I will go over the rules of battle again!” Lilac’s voice drowned the watchers’ groans. It was obvious that they all new the rules by heart, and were eager to get to the actual fight. “The fighters may use any skill, gear or innate ability they possess. Consumable items may not be used. The fight will continue until one of the fighters gives up, or cannot continue. The winner gets one piece of gear and fifty XP from the loser. Both fighters will be fully healed by the arena’s resident healers after the fight.”

Lilac paused for a few seconds, just for extra tension.

“Fighters, for glory and fame, fight!”