The vessel was small, but it would carry the three of them to where they needed to go.

The center mast’s sail was unfurled, and the pair of oars were manned by Keith and Elenore, both holding onto their side of the ship’s wading tools.

“You’re lucky. The winds are fair and due east tonight, you should be able to make it there within the hour,” said the guard, pushing their boat away with his boot.

“Thanks, mister!” Elenore waved, then matched Keith’s rowing speed.

After waiting a moment for them to make a decent distance from the harbor’s torches, Caster pushed open the pouch of the rucksack. Climbing out of the bag, Caster nearly fell on his hooded face as Elenore paddled the boat.

“Woah, I almost forgot you were in there little guy,” she said. “Say, you mind getting that box of fish out of my bag? I’m starving.”

“Sure,” Caster got on his tiptoes and grabbed the sides of the wooden box. He hoisted it up and out, setting it down on the deck beside her.

“We don’t have time to eat. We need both arms to row and make it to New R’lyeh as soon as possible,” Keith said in his usual raspy whisper.

“Speak for yourself bud, I can do this one-handed,” Elenore kept her right arm on the paddle, dipping it into the water at the same speed she was before.

Elenore’s Strength Increased! +1

“Well, lookie there. Cheers to the seven-one,” Elenore said triumphantly as she peeled the top off the fish box.

“Hey! I’ve seen those blue boxes a couple of times. Do you have them too?” Caster asked, tilting his head to get a better glance at the text before it faded.

“Course I do. Everyone does.” Elenore took a fistful of sardines from the box and shoved them into her mouth.

“What are they? What do they mean?”

“They’re your stats. What you’re good at, you know? Like how good I am at swinging this ax, or how Keith is at stabbing people. Everyone that’s been in an Arena match even once got them. The higher the number the better you are at certain things. Didn’t you learn this when you were a baby?”

“No? I have no idea what you’re talking about Elenore,” Caster shrugged.

“Look, I’ve got my chart here, see.” Elenore opened her palm toward Caster, revealing a blue box filled with different numbers. “Look at your hand. I’m sure you got one too.”

Caster looked at his palm in the same manner, fingers together and flat. Instantly, the same kind of image flickered over his hand.

“Ahh!” He exclaimed, tripping back. “I don’t remember this being a normal thing before.”

“Well to be fair, you don’t remember much.”

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Touché.” Caster looked over his screen, then back to Elenore’s. “Why are your stats all so much higher than mine?”

“Yer a minion. Y'all have terrible stats. Really can’t do much. I’ve never seen one leave The Arena.”

“The Arena is the thing I woke up in, right? With that guy and his ax?”

“Yup. Combat is where these stats matter most.”

“What is the Arena anyway? It felt so real when I was there.”

“Because you were there. The Arena is what the Old Gods call a simulation. They use some fancy advanced magic to grab someone high level, they call ‘em Legends, and throw you into another world, along with someone or another group of people to fight. It hurts like hell, but once one of the Monoliths shutdowns, the Arena match is finished, and you get sent back to your body in the real world.”

“Wow. I’ve never heard of something like that before. And wait, did you say something about Gods?”

“Yeah, the Old Gods. There’s a couple different kinds of Gods and things nearly as strong as them. The Old Gods have been around since before Arena. At the end of the last God Wars, only six of them survived and they took over their parts of the world. Since the damage done was so great and so many folks died, they decided to use the Arena to settle their disputes since it’s not really real. Most of the time they’ll have one of their strongest warriors go against another of the Gods' warriors. Sometimes there are dozens or even hundreds. But mostly just the classic five-on-five.”

Clever - Knowledge is Power, Activated! +1 Arcane

Huh. I guess ‘Clever - Knowledge is Power’ does work.

“They sound horrible. Are they really that strong?” Caster asked.

“They ain’t perfect, but they’re a whole lot nicer than the Elder Gods.”

“What’s the difference? They’re both Gods, right?”

“Well, kinda. If by God you mean someone that mastered so much of the magic that controls stuff like the Arena, then yeah that’s the Old Gods. They’ve got a whole lot of experience and way better know-how of how the game of life is played. But the Elder Gods, whew. They’re different. Imagine an angry flower that’s the size of the moon or a wagon wheel bigger than the horizon with a million eyes. That’s what the Elder Gods are, and they aren’t nice.”

“You seem strong. Why aren’t you an Old God?” Caster pried.

“Oh, shucks stop yer making me blush. I’ve barely been doing this intern job for six months. The Old Gods have been at it for probably longer than a century. I've been swinging axes since I was a kid, but it takes a lot longer than that to max out even one stat. I'm getting close to being a Lord though!”

“Do people try to become Old Gods? Or try to overthrow them over and take their powers?”

“Well, yes. Most Legends that fight in the Arena aren’t even close though, and they’re some of the best on the planet. I think most people just train their non-combat skills casually to help themselves in life in a more practical way, ya know? No point in spending ten years for level 93 strength when you can put all that effort into getting level 30 in every non-combat skill for less time and effort. Cooking truant beats wearing armor you could only wear if you took a trip to Leng and risked your life with fighting some Elder God spawn.”

“I don’t see any non-combat skills on my display.” Caster checked again.

“Huh, well I guess you’re a special case since you’re a minion and all. Fighting is easy for folks like us, but the casual skills got all kinds of forks and branches and perks and all that jazz. I’ll show you what they look like if we can get you back to your human body.”

“That’d be great!” Caster nodded.

Clever - Knowledge is Power, Activated! +1 Arcane

Woah. That was fast...

“What about him?” he said a bit quieter, even though Keith could hear him as he sat less than a pace away.

“That’s Keith. He’s a real rose. A bit thorny at first, but once you get a hold of him and pummel him a few times he’ll start to be nice.”

“Shut up,” Keith hissed.

“Oh, don’t be like that Keith-

“Shut up!” He seethed, pointing a finger toward the front of the boat.

They weren’t alone.