The flood of people shoved its way down the street. Stall owners hawked their wares from the side, doing their job to entice people over to buy something. There were a few times I was curious enough to want to look, only to be stuck in the crowd and carried along. A couple of minutes later, a giant structure came into view. Given its size, I probably could have seen it sooner if not for all the people around me. Each person around me subtly reminded me that I was short.
The structure looked to me like a copy of the Colosseum, or at least what I had seen in various movies. This copy made the buildings around us look tiny. Each stone was a dark blue that shone as if polished in the sun. The sunlight was the only thing preventing the structure from appearing black.
As we got closer, a portion of the crowd separated. Moving to multiple tables that were set up along one side of the road. Each had a sign proclaiming they were there for those who needed to sign up for the tournament. I maneuvered my way through the crowd so that, when it split, I was standing in the one clear spot, taking the time to look over the two groups.
While I knew I would have no chance in the tournament, that didn’t mean I didn’t want to join in the fun. I mean, how many times have I read a book where the main character participated in such an event? And, while I had participated in a number of small tournaments in various games, this would be my first time really getting a chance to do so in person. After a bit of time, I finally couldn’t say no to the excited little kid jumping around in my head, pushing me to join in on the fun.
Stepping over to the nearest table, I stood in the line of people waiting to register. People up and down the line were talking to each other. Discussing the various weapons, skills, and tactics they had been working on since hearing that this tournament would be held this year. As I halfheartedly listened to each discussion, I looked around at the competition, curious about who might have grabbed the advantage the SoulStones presented. Every single person was human. I had expected at least one or two people to have used their SoulStones, yet there was no one.
What was worse was the fact that, as far as I could tell, there were no non-humans in the crowd. “Next!” Someone called from a table near us. The person in front of me walked off in that direction, allowing me to step to the front of the line.
“Next!” another attendant called out from a nearby table. I walked over, a bit nervous about whether they would even let me join in. Pulling out a piece of paper, the man behind the table asked, “Name?”
“Kyren Vulpier.”
“Race?” I looked at him in confusion. He looked up at me, his expression bored. “There are species that look human but are not. Seeing as you didn’t know that, I will put human down. Level?”
I took a second to double-check my stats sheet before answering. “Thirteen.”
“Solo or group?”
“Solo.” Did I look like I had any friends with me?
“Weapon of choice?”
“Sword and magic?” My tone was more in the form of a question than an answer.
“Sword then. Magic is free to use if you feel like it. The suppression effect of the shield this year can handle anything anyone here could use. Contact information?” His question surprised me. It must have been evident on my face as he blushed. “Not for the tournament. I just thought that, since you were alone, that you might like someone to hang out with.”
Outwardly, I smiled. My insides were clenching in annoyance. I had to hold myself back from punching to guy. It wasn’t his fault that I looked like this. When I could finally speak without gritting my teeth, I spoke. “Is there anything else you need?” He didn’t answer me, simply grabbing something from a bin under the table, copying whatever was on the object onto the paper, before passing it over to me.
“This is your Tournament Chit. It will enable you to access the stairs to the pit as well as serve as an easy way for the spells to track your stats during the fight,” he said as I accepted the object. The moment it settled into my hand, a prompt appeared.
User:
Kyren Vulpier
Tournament:
Proxima Spring Festival – Solo
User Tournament Number:
562
Place
-NULL-
Health:
-NULL-
Mana:
-NULL-
Would you like to share your status with the tournament system? This would enable the various spells and officials to more accurately protect you and predict when a match is over.
Yes
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No
So I could choose to let the piece of metal in my hands transmit my information to the tournament officials. I could see where someone might say no, but I honestly had no reason to do so. It wasn’t like I had any secrets relating to my stats, at least not yet. Hell, I was fairly sure most of us were pretty close in stats.
Considering the limitation that one’s lowest stat had to be over seventy percent of the highest, there wouldn’t be any real spreads until players' stats approached one hundred. This was probably the most even playing field one could find. Accepting the prompt, I turned and left the tables, making my way into the tunnels leading into the building.
As I passed out of the street and into the tunnel, a window popped up informing me that I had been charged ten silver as an entry fee. Another window appeared below it, informing me that I had been charged an additional forty silver as I was participating in the tournament and not just watching. While the cost was annoying and expensive, it was nothing compared to some of the events in real life. Some of my coworkers had told me stories about times they had spent more than a paycheck for a single event. In my opinion, nothing that was a one-off was worth that much.
Shaking my head, I continued walking. There were signs strategically placed under lights directing people where to go. I followed the ones leading to the lower stands where it would be easier to see what was going on during each fight. As I stepped up the shallow stairs at the end of the tunnel, I found a chest-high rail blocking my forward path. Given the steep drop on the other side, it was there to prevent people from falling into whatever fight was going on below.
Looking over the railing, I found several people raking the bone-white sand. Every once in a while, one of them would reach down, pick something up, and toss it into a cart set off to the side. I tried to not look too closely as I probably didn’t want to know what they were removing.
Sudden shouting high above my head caught my attention. Turning, I saw a sphinx surrounded by guards up near the top of the tier I was standing in. Each of the guards was brandishing their weapons while others, further back, looked to be holding spells at the ready. “But why am I being detained?” came the professor's voice. He was practically yelling.
“Any non-human visiting the town must be registered and a human be named as responsible for said visitor.” A voice boomed out from nearby. It captured my attention and demanded that I listen. Turning to the voice, I found a tall human. He wasn’t wearing any armor; instead wearing a collared shirt and pants. If I had seen him on the street, I would have thought that he was an office drone.
“But I was human and I was living here,” the professor insisted.
“You were human,” the man spoke. “That came with some protections. As you are no longer human, you have lost those protections. Non-humans have been legally barred from this town without a guarantor. They have also been barred from owning any property. They are limited to renting property when in the limits of the town.”
“That’s discrimination!” The professor exclaimed.
“That’s the law.” The man said, shrugging. “None of those here make the laws, we just uphold them. If you are unwilling to follow them then we will have no choice but to either kill you or imprison you. So what will it be?”
That caught the professor off guard. He spluttered as his eyes jumped around. Likely looking for someone, anyone, who would be willing to help him. I raised my hand, catching the professor’s eyes, and spoke up. “What does being a guarantor entail?”
The man turned to look at me. His deep purple eyes caught on mine and we locked gazes for a few seconds. “If he harms, kills, damages, or breaks any laws. Both of you will be held responsible. It is up to you to control the beast you have guaranteed.”
“Define damages?” I asked, my mind on the new skill he had used to give me a single point of wisdom.
“Standard definition.” He narrowed his eyes. His voice tinged with a bit of suspicion. “Are you from this town or just passing through?”
“I am a traveler. This is my starting town.” I answered, hoping it would be a good enough answer for him.
“Name? Race?” Instead of answering, I pulled out my tournament chit and held it out for him to take. He eyed it suspiciously but stepped down a few stairs and took it from me. Reading the information out loud. “Kyren Vulpier, human. So you are the one my daughter keeps talking about,” he said this last part as he passed the chit back.
“Maybe,” I replied hesitantly, my eyes flicked from him to the group surrounding the professor. “I don’t know who your daughter is to say for certain.” With a simple gesture from him, the guards around the sphinx put their weapons away and dispersed. Vanishing into the crowd that had grown around us. Their eyes trying to see what was going on and likely hoping for blood.
“Don’t worry about it. We can talk about it later in a more…” the guy looked around, “…private setting. Enjoy the festival and good luck in the tournament. I will be watching to see how you do.” With that, he joined the rest of the guards in vanishing from sight.
“Fucking pigs.” The professor grumped as I joined him at the top of the first level. That part of the section was a wide, flat platform. People kept a fair distance from him giving me room to stand and walk around him without issue. “Has no one ever heard about civil rights? Discrimination has been outlawed for quite a while in most of the large countries back on Earth.”
“Doesn’t stop it from happening even to this day.” I pointed out.
“True.” He acknowledged.
“And this is a video game,” I said, cutting him off. “Even if anti-discrimination laws worked in cases of species discrimination, there is no need for this place to follow laws that are not from this world.”
“I get your point.” He sighed. “Just irks me every time I see someone, let alone find myself, being discriminated against. Now, tell me, are you participating in this little tournament?”
I found his change in topic interesting but went with it. “Yeah. Though I don’t expect to do all that well.”
“I would not be so sure,” he smiled as if he knew something I didn’t. “Want to hear a riddle?”
My head shook but I could find no reason to refuse. It wasn’t like I was doing anything else. “Sure.”
“I start with many but end with one, a battle of skill where the best is won. Through rounds of challenge, I narrow the field, until a champion's name is finally revealed. What am I?”
“Is there a time limit?”
He shook his head. “No, and I can repeat the riddle if you need to hear it again.”
“So, many things at the start but end with only one. Either that means the extras vanish, get removed, or otherwise are no longer around. A battle of skill…wait.” I mumbled through the first part only to roll my eyes as soon as I started on the second. How could he get any more obvious in his riddles? “Are you a tournament?”
Smirking, he nodded. “Easiest I can go without breaking the rules the skill enforces. Want another?”
I felt my grin spread from ear to ear. “Oh hell yes.” Taking a second to look at my stats and do some math, I tell him, “I could use another eleven points in wisdom. If only I could do the same thing for any of my other stats.”
“Unfortunately, I can only affect a player's wisdom. It also limits each riddle to one-time use per person.” I shot him a worried look at that, concerned that he wouldn’t have many that were easy to answer. His expression looked sly, though, “It is a good thing I know quite a few riddles is it not?”
I shook my head and rolled my eyes. The guy was cheating the system and we both knew it. Not that I would complain. I was the one benefiting so why not take advantage of the chance while I could? “So, what is the first riddle?”
“I am here one minute but gone the next, silent as a shadow, I leave no trace, no matter how hard you try to grasp, you cannot hold me in place. What am I?” So much for easy.