After what felt like hours of fighting, he had somehow managed to drink his Stamina potion and after several encounters with those magic arrows, I was on my last Health potion. He had gotten smarter about allowing me too close but I had managed a few close encounters that had brought his Health down to below half and just around where my own was. But the price I paid for that was that I was running on fumes where Mana was concerned. But so was he, so that was a win-win, or was it lose-lose?
When I saw the last arrow he had fired lie on the arena ground beside me, I was surprised. I had known it was coming but it still surprised me. I checked him just to be sure.
‘[Human : Braden][Level: 35]
Status:
[HP: 2310/6191]
[MP: 311/6437]
[SP: 1329/5477]’
He still had a little juice left, and I couldn’t determine what he was saving it for. Could he have a Skill that only needed that much if I got close enough? It was highly likely. On the other hand, what I had was just enough for one mighty [Hurtling Projectile] and a few [Staff Strike]s. None of which would be enough to take care of Braden.
I approached cautiously, swirling my staff as I closed the distance between us. He took small half steps back, as if trying to stop himself from taking steps away from me. I wanted to enjoy being the hunter, before I realized he could be trying to bait me, make me commit and then do me in. Whether a bait or not, we had to engage. We couldn’t keep staring at each other waiting for the other to attack.
When I got close enough, I immediately went on the offensive. Landing a few hits every once in a while, as he evaded, blocked and attacked with his bow, hands and legs. During our encounter after taking the health potions, I had learnt just how high his [Strength] was. His punches and kicks dealt a lot more damage than someone focused on agility and endurance at his Level should.
After sometime in the exchange, I began to gain the upper hand. I knew he was still of a mind to dodge any projectile I could throw at him. I was waiting for when I landed a proper hit to his head. I went through an upper swipe from his bow, landing a good torso hit. But I knew his leather armor would negate some of that. He tried to step into my range of the staff, but I took steps back as I kept him at bay.
He pushed forward still, always taking a step in with each attack he avoided. I soon realized that I would run out of room and he would be on me then. I tried stepping to the right instead of back and that was when he released it. A magic arrow, aimed straight at my chest. The staff was in no position to form a proper [Staff Shield] but I still needed any protection I could get.
The flimsy thing I managed to conjure up only managed to deflect it a little upward. I ducked to get out of range. The arrow still hit me, but only on the shoulder, nearly rendering it useless. He moved in to take advantage but I brought the left aft of the staff forward with a [Staff Strike] and it connected with the head. He tried to recover but I followed with a second one, my right arm might not have been able to deliver strikes but it could control the direction. All that was left was for my left arm to do the rest. And another [Staff Strike] landed. It was then I realized he was no longer capable of getting away, unless I gave him a breather.
I didn’t, and strike after strike, he just became a standing striking bag. It wasn’t long before a strike sent him down and he didn’t get up. I went to make sure he was down for good, but I was called off.
“The fight is won. Stand back.”
I couldn’t believe it, I had won. It hadn’t felt like I was fighting someone with seven Levels on me. He had felt stronger than me in most areas, but I got lucky where it counted and used my strengths where I needed to. The potions had worked in my favor too. That, and his lack of a proper secondary weapon. That was what I told myself. It had been close though, my Health was very close to dipping below the thousand mark.
The healers first came for Braden, attending to him before loading him into some kind of stretcher. As they occupied themselves with him, I slowly wobbled myself out of the arena, retrieving my dagger on my way out. I didn’t know if I was supposed to stay and celebrate my victory, nor was I interested in that.
My healers, or those meant to attend to my injuries after the fight was over, caught up with me before I could enter the waiting room.
“You need to come with us,” a voice stopped me from opening the door to the waiting room.
I turned around with my staff held in a defensive position, and came to face six figures, all dressed in light green clothes and what I would call lab-coats, but for one. In my last life, that statement always meant trouble. And not the good kind.
When the figure, a woman in white and a lab-coat of light green, that had spoken saw my reaction, she quickly added, “For checkup and treatment. We are the healers attending to the competitors.”
“Oh…”
But I didn’t relax at all. I tried, but I just couldn’t. I followed them as they led me to a separate area of the arena. It didn’t look that much different from the rest of the arena, and it didn’t need to. From what I had seen the potions do in the fight, there was no need for sophisticated machines and sterile environments in the Realm of Mesily.
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I hadn’t done any research concerning how medicine and healing worked, but the little I had gathered in my pursuit for self-protection from pathogens had enlightened me to the contrast between the two worlds. A healer could use a Skill to tell what pathogen or misfortune befell you and then either use another Skill to treat you or turn to another person with the needed Skill to do that. Of course, top notch service providers demanded exorbitant fees for their services.
Despite all my efforts, I had gained not even a single Skill in the field of healing. With what Silas had said, I knew I needed to read more than I already was, but given my current occupation, that wasn’t really an option. Maybe after I lose.
There were eight beds in total that I could see in the recovery room. At least the beds had a soft bedding on top. But it wasn’t that much softer than the earth beneath. Braden was already on another of the beds, still getting treatment. Had I done more damage than I had thought? In my defense, he had a lot on me, I was trying to make sure that he didn’t get the opportunity to get a jump on me. That would have ended the fight differently.
“Don’t worry. He will be fine,” the woman-healer spoke as she gestured for me to take a sit on one of the beds.
As I settled down on the bed, I felt the weariness take over me. I might not have had much in the way of physical injuries thanks to the Health potions and my superb evasions, yes they were superb, but those magic arrows and magical dagger slashes had dealt a lot of damage to a part of me that I didn’t know I had. I planned to have a deep-chat with Clare when I was well rested.
When the soothing touch of the healers reached my weary body, it didn’t take long before I succumbed to unconsciousness.
…
When I came to, the room had four more new occupants. And they were all out cold. But Braden wasn’t, I could see his eyes staring at the ceiling in contemplation. What was he thinking? Why he lost? The mistakes he could have avoided? The advantages he could have taken?
“You need a better secondary weapon,” I surprised myself when I said that.
And Braden didn’t fare any better. He first spent over ten seconds behaving like it hadn’t been meant for him before he realized that only the two of us were up and the healers wouldn’t need weapons. He turned his head and faced me, his expression clearly displaying his incomprehension. I decided to preempt any questions he might have, I had had a similar conversation before after all.
“Someone once told me that for them to get better, their opponents needed to get better. So, after every fight they were involved in, they would offer advice on what they thought would help their opponents,” I said as I got out of my bed and retrieved my staff from the ground. I began to walk out of the room, but stopped and added, “I’m not claiming to be an expert or anything, far from it. But if you had had something better than a dagger as a backup, your chances would have been high. Messily knows you have the Attributes for it.”
I walked out then, not waiting to hear his response. I had other things to do. First off was to retrieve my long coat from the waiting room. Then came food, my stomach was not happy with its current state and the grumbling I was getting from it made that very clear. Given how many people I had seen in the recovery room, it was safe to assume that it was late in the day. And the already low sun in the sky proved my point.
I hurriedly made my way back to The Competitors’ Inn. Which wasn’t hard, really. All I had to do was follow the main street to the gates, turn around and walk on the main street until the first branch off. Head straight for the Council Office, from there, one could easily spot the Inn’s sign and the guards outside.
The first thing I did on arrival was eat. The previous meals hadn’t affected me at all, so I stuck with them, going for the bigger potion this time. I still had another meal for the day, and I planned on collecting it before I went to sleep. With the amount of rest I had had, I might stay up late than it was advisable given when my fights tended to be.
In my room, I took a shower, washed and dried my clothes, and then studied them. They had taken a beating, especially the shirt. The long coat was fine, the vest had the two holes from the arrow that had pierced through me and the trouser had a few holes and slashes, and then the shirt. The part that covered the torso was fine, but the sleeves were wrecked. I didn’t think they were salvageable at all. I would have to wear one of my other shirts in the following fights. Or purchase a new one, maybe even two. As it was, I had a guaranteed five golds prize in my pockets, I could afford to spend something to maintain my dignity. But first, I needed to know how much clothes actually cost and whether they had them in my preferred colors.
And off to the tailor I went.
…
I found Paul and Tes in the dining area, but they weren’t eating. Looking around, I realized that the dining area was half full with people, and not just competitors. Had they been there when I had my meal? Oh dear, I might have lost my composure in the first few mouthfuls. I really hoped they hadn’t been.
“How did it go for you guys?” I asked as I joined their table.
Paul’s dour demeanor and Tes’s barely restrained smile was all the answer I needed. I changed subjects then, getting to what had really brought me to their table.
“Where can I get the cheapest clothes in the city? Same quality as the other outfit I had,” I asked. I was clothed in my old farmhand clothes which had clearly seen better days, and were most definitely out of place in The Competitors’ Inn.
“I don’t know,” Tes said as she scratched her chin in thought. “All the tailors I’ve visited charge the same really.”
“The variation in costs come from the materials used. The same quality clothes would cost the same in any tailor,” Paul added.
That surprised me. I had thought that cloth prices were varied from tailor to tailor. In Yange, I hadn’t really visited any other tailor other than Detta, but surely someone could haggle their way into a cheap deal.
“What about haggling?”
“It doesn’t really matter that much,” Paul said. “Take for example the clothes you are wearing. I would estimate their cost at around three silvs. The tailor could offer you a price of five or six, if you are fool enough, then that is what you will pay. Otherwise, they will not let it get past the three silvs. The other outfit I would put it at around seven silvs and the tailor might start at nine or maybe even gold. By the end of the day, it doesn’t change that much. And all tailors worth their salt will always start at the high end.”
I tried remembering the amounts I had paid for my clothes. It didn’t look like I paid too much, maybe I wasn’t that bad at haggling as I had first thought. If the cost would be the same, I decided to ask about my preferences.
“Okay. Where can I find the colors I had on it then?”
There was a pause, a long one. I didn’t want the color to be rare, that would just raise the cost of the clothes even higher than they needed to be.
“I’ve seen colors close to it, but not those exact shades,” Tes offered.
That was good news in a way, the shades I had were poor imitations of the true colors I wanted. If it was something close, it could be that I would finally get the right shade.
“Where exactly did you see them?” I asked eagerly.
“The tailor right next door. They have just about everything anyone could want in this area,” Tes answered.
I deflated at that. Right next door. They would know with certainty that I was a competitor, and they might even decide to start higher than normal. Then again, if I went in dressed like a farmhand, they might not be able to tell. Who was to say that they had even watched the fights. And all of them at that.
I bid them farewell and went to the tailor.