Standing at the intersection of the hallway lined with cages made Zahn appreciate the scale of the building he needed to escape and just how big this organization was. After being walked under the portcullis by some high-level fighter who didn’t give his name, the lowbie was escorted to the end of a long hall and left at a T-intersection as the nameless skull level wandered back to the construction project.

The stone wall he stood next to was made of even larger bricks than the inner wall lining the arena, with a lighter shade that looked less like dungeon black and more like desert brown. Why am I trying to make the bigger wall seem friendly? The Custom blinked and shook his head, trying to clear the darting thoughts and settle his pounding heart. Adrenaline was making his imagination run wild as the sheer scale of what he had to beat was rearing up in front of him. I need to get out, which means getting that key, and probably means winning. Against those horrible high-level numbered gladiators. Fuuuck, this isn’t going to work. He looked down the long curved arms of the hallway to see nothing but cages on the inner side and solid stone on the outer. I just want to leave. Getting to one hundred lets me go home, just let me out…

While bemoaning his life to himself, the lowbie missed someone walking closer down the other hall. As the man reached out to jostle the immobile newbie, the low level in question suddenly began to detect the other man’s presence.

“Yah! Fuck!” Jumping to the side and back, Zahn hopped into a cage along the hall and set its occupant screeching and rattling against its bars. The sneak merely smiled and straightened up, offering the custom a hand up.

“Sorry about that. Not always easy to stop suppressing myself, you understand.” Dressed in tan layers and what looked like cloth belts, the unassuming man gave an easy grin and pulled his prey to his feet. “I usually end up tending the Fodder after we catch them, looks like you’ve been left helping me today.”

Zahn guarded his tongue, trying to keep his knees from shaking. After trying to wrestle with the reality of absurdly high leveled warriors between him and his freedom, here he stood shaking hands with someone who felt like a live wire. Even without his mana sight showing the sneak was filled with swirling energy, the custom could feel through the air the man’s body radiated a solidity and being, one that made his own spark of life feel cold and insignificant. Shaking hands with the walking reactor made him want to stay behind the man and hide from his gaze in the same breath, until their greeting ended and he felt reality solidify under his feet again.

“Thanks for the hand up,” he managed while breaking contact and clenching his hand to get the feeling back into it. “You aren’t the first person to mention Fodder to me, is that the term for the animals here?” Looking away from the stealthy fighter made breathing around him easier, but even while looking into the cage of a screaming beast he could feel the man’s living force behind him. Focusing his thoughts on the feeling he could almost make out a shape in the pattern of tingling alarm at the back of his neck, which suddenly flared as a shadow lengthened.

“Yes, though I’d hardly call them animals.” The tan man laughed as he explained, reaching past the lowbie to pat the complaining monster on its head. It sat on brown haunches in a pile of hay and scowled a furred muzzle back up at the caretaker. Trying to find something to compare it to, Zahn settled on a bat merging with a badger with wings that wrapped around its torso and sharp clawed paws resting on the ledge of its own wings. Shifting side to side and settling back in its nest, the brown furry beast growled at Zahn another time before curling in place and tucking its head away from sight.

“This one is a Beast, which is the word we use for an animal that gains levels and is able to kill you.” Zahn’s head snapped around at the man’s word choice, and he found him staring back evenly as he explained. “An animal, like a deer or chipmunk, is considered to be below beasts in combat aspects. A best is something you need to be ready to kill when you see them in the wild.” He paused, looking away a moment before continuing with a smirk, “Or should I say if you get in the wild.”

Zahn stared agog at the impassive man casually dropping lore in his lap. “Why are you talking like this? Are you like Guide? Are you part of the game?”

The tan man sighed before rolling his eyes and patting the lowbie far too hard on his shoulder. “No, I’m not an immortal like the legendary Guide of the Tutorial City. It’s just obvious to anyone with Inspect that you aren’t a Local. So, I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you aren’t some secret high rank whose come here to train back up into a demigod?”

Blinking dumbly in return was enough of an answer.

“Yeah. So, if I were to find someone of your level out in the wild somehow and take them under my wing, this would be basic info. Happy?” The tan sneak turned in place without waiting for Zahn’s answer. “Follow.”

Trudging after his new warden the lowbie found him stopped in front of a cage four doors down. Inside sat something that looked like a mess of vines with a very flat cat’s head sleeping on top of it. The fighter grinned as he pointed a finger at the bars and gestured to Zahn to come closer.

“Now this,” he whispered, his voice barely reaching the custom’s ears, “is what we call a Monster. The biggest difference between a Beast and a Monster lies within them, in their Cores. I’m using specific vocabulary, so pay attention Player.” Zahn nodded silently as the sneak ignored him and continued his whispered lecture. “When a Beast lives its life, it will take in resources from the environment such as plant and animal matter. It eats, basically. Everything has some level of magic in nature, and when enough is concentrated in a single Beast’s body it has a transformation that turns it into a Monster. When transformed, it is able to not only draw on the mana in its own Core but also shape it into Spells and other abilities to hunt or protect itself. Some, like this Tigerlily here are combinations of various things and fused into a single monster. Others such as many filling the stronger cages down that away look like normal Beasts but are far more dangerous.”

Leading his charge away from the sleeping plant monster, he waved towards the distant cages and continued his narrative. “You won’t be needing to worry about them either, unless that projection bit pays off for the master. You’ll be doing simple stuff, like feeding the Beasts and opening doors when I say.” Turning on his heel, Zahn almost stumbled into the sneak who stopped him with a single finger against his forehead.

“You can start by walking back past the intersection towards the other end, where you’ll find the room with tools and feed. I expect the rest is simple enough, and you won’t have any problems that need me.”

Zahn blinked as he spun again and began stalking silently between torches and shadows before a thought occurred to him. “Hey, if I do need you, how do I call for help?”

The man’s voice echoed in the stone hall even as his shape disappeared in the shadows between lights. “Just ask for me by name. Call me Two.”

* * * * *

Stolen novel; please report.

Zahn’s back ached from using the wooden shovel to haul brown grains and wads of hay, but at least the labor was something he already knew. Silently shoveling various feed types into their containers was simple once he figured out the system. Hay went into troughs and pellets went into the buckets, and he could reach it all through the bars. Easy. His HUD meant to track tasks like his current ones and quests given for rewards was being spectacularly useless, showing his approximate location on the world’s worst map and tracking how many hours he stood shoveling pig food.

His own stomach rumbled in complaint as his hunger peaked, and he even found the debuff Hungry appear after the first four hours and then upgrade itself to Starving as he continued to work another six. He paused frequently for breaks as his Stamina bar quickly drained and slowly refilled, even after raising his physical stats high enough to remove the constant drain he’d been dealing with before the Dungeon crawl he found the simple labor sapping his strength faster and faster.

What at first seemed both frightening and exciting quickly wore off as the caged Beasts crashed against their immovable barred doors before gulping down whatever food he dropped in their rooms. Giant boars, cats with vines growing out of their bodies, birds that kept to a swarm shape with each individual able to fit through the bars but the group unable to break formation. One creature that looked like a snake had pressed itself into the corners and edges of its cell in layers with its head firmly wedged into a corner sat eyeing him, refusing to touch its pile of kibble despite his cajoling.

After hours of moving food around and staring at strange Beasts, he was finally found by a pair of Gladiators bearing a piece of bread. Zahn’s stomach audibly growled as he encountered the smell and he found himself staring at the offered morsel so intently he didn’t even try to identify either fighter. His fixated attention was intruded by an unwelcome and familiar voice once again laughing at him.

“Looks like he’s starving,” Burnato’s chipper observation echoed against the tall hallway. “I wasn’t even sure his kind ate like normal folk.”

“Of course he eats,” snapped the smaller of the duo as he handed the lowbie the partial loaf and watched him stuff his face. “Humans need food or they starve, it doesn’t matter if they’re from here or not. It’s called being compassionate.”

The fifth position brute snorted and gestured at the custom trying to suck spare crumbs off his sore palms. “Come along, you have something to retrieve. Master’s orders.” Apparently finding the announcement sufficient, he turned and left with the thinner warrior crouching down to Zahn’s desperate level.

“Make you deal. I’ll tell you about some of what’s going on around here and you take a walk with us for a few minutes. I promise you won’t be harmed out on the sands or the tournament stage.”

Zahn’s ears perked up at the possibility of getting answers and closer to freedom but the deal sounded a bit too much like being led to the pasture. Squinting suspiciously at the man behaving like a friendly, he stood and nodded before clearing his throat.

“Thanks, for the roll. Nobody’s bothered to feed me since I respawned here.”

The gladiator chuckled, straightening and turning to follow Burnato. “To be fair, you’ve been dead most of the time. Your respawn rates have been giving the Ringmaster a headache and he can’t seem to pin when you’ll pop up next. That’s honestly half the reason he’s been keeping you alive today, so he doesn’t have to wrestle with when you’ll appear during the competition.”

Their route nearly exited the animal pens by this point, and several things still didn’t make sense to the Custom. “You’d think if he wanted me alive he’d remember to actually feed his prisoner. And what contest? That stage can’t be a regular thing.” Exiting the tunnel into the evening sky, Zahn checked his clock to find it was nearly six and his total calorie intake for the day was less than an apple. Rubbing his aching stomach as he looked down from the sunset sky he once again took in the massive wooden stage, now apparently finished and decorated with several sets of stairs and cloth drapes in varied colors around its edges.

His guide patted the wooden floor as they approached before turning back with a grin. “It’s just about summer now, so we’ll be having contests every month. Each other tournament is public and we get the stage like this one, all pulled out from storage. Come winter time,” He balanced his hand back and forth before waving the idea away. “It barely gets warm enough on the sands to keep in shape, let alone compete for our freedom. Hardly worth the effort and so we just train against dummies. Like you.” Smiling broadly as he finished his summary, the kindly fighter patted Zahn on the shoulder. “Chin up. Also, walk faster.”

Turning from the huge stage they walked around its edge to find the massive doors at the south end of the circular arena and the eternally cheerful Burnato doing pushups while alternating hands. The reason for their trip was obvious as they approached, with Zahn’s grave sitting embedded in the wall where he last died via hammer and spiderweb. The gray obelisk jutted up from the wall at an angle and looked like some giant misplaced his coat hangar more than anything else.

“Ah, the great gates.” Apparently his tour wasn’t finished with the destination, as his helpful narrative continued. “These bad boys can only be opened with the right key, which you can get from a specific quest. All registered Gladiators get it and can challenge the current Ringmaster at any time to set it off.” He nudged the Player with a tap of his elbow to send him rocking, “I’m thinking of taking up the mantle myself you know. It’s not a bad gig to run the infamous fight ring in the North.”

Burnato chimed in from the ground, speaking clearly even as he swapped burly muscled arms between pushups in front of the gates. “No point. In telling. Him about. The key. He won’t. Be one of. Us. The master. Said so, so. There. Ask him. Yourself.” Watching him pant between breaths, the lowbie was still impressed he could actually carry a conversation with someone who kept planting his own face in the dirt.

The more positive of the pair snorted and waved the objection away. “Ignore our fifth place reject, he just wants to be ranked. I’m Ethan by the way, I’m basically the other lowest member here. The other fella, whose clothes you’re wearing? His name was Gordy, but he’s gone now.” Ethan sighed and shook his head and the ground before looking back up at the Player. “Dangers of having fights not in the register. Every duel we run through here is verified and kept to the rules, which means if we die we just return in the common areas. If you die to Fodder though, they’re not registered which runs the risk of true death.”

The slightly less chipper bodybuilder barked from the ground, “Ets not. Called true. Death. Don’t use. Player words.”

Ethan gave the musclebound bladesman a weary stare before sharing a look with Zahn. “I spent a number of years in the local Dungeon before coming here, and picked up some terms not everyone agrees with.” He gestured towards the gravestone perched on the wall, “Some call them graves, others resting sites, I’ve even heard them called the ‘Player’s Wallet’ for suicidal loot runs. When a Player is killed for good or leaves this realm forever, their name stops being legible and until then everyone gets to see whoever’s shame. In your case I don’t think reputation is quite on the line and something tells me you don’t drop any loot, so.” He made the same wobbly hand motion from before and shrugged.

Zahn took in the infodump and nodded to himself, eyeing the impressive exercises by the psychopathic killer on the ground. Looking up at his own gravesite he stepped close and took a breath, lifting his hand. “So when a registered Gladiator dies they don’t leave a stone like this, and you lot just come back in that kitchen area?”

“Something to that point, yeah.” Ethan’s voice sounded from somewhere behind him and was echoed by the formerly cheery thug.

“No point. In guessin’. Yer just. Mah target.”

Nodding again and making his choice, Zahn watched the quest update before he slapped the grave and watched it crumble away into nothing. Turning back to the pair he saw the fifth rank grinning once again and gesturing back towards the pens. “Now you just stay out of sight. No reason for you to get out during the fights, some of us have futures here.”

Without Ethan making a defense for him the Player let himself be led back around the edge of the ring and towards the Eastern gate still standing open. Looking up at the silent stands he saw the stacked rows of stone seats even had dark banners hanging from them with some symbol shining against the cloth. As he entered the hall he heard the doors creak and spun to see Burnato with his eternal smirk as he closed the double doors and left him in the stone hallway lined with cages and Fodder.

Spinning back on his heel and rubbing his aching stomach, Zahn wandered down the path towards where he’d last left his trusty shovel and opened up his quest menu again with his mental finger. Where his only requirement before was to escape he now finally knew how to get that key.

Become a Gladiator.