Hesitantly, I laid a finger upon the knob of my front door.

Were these strangers trustworthy enough?

I looked to Saber, who returned a hesitant nod. Finally, after extended deliberation, I ventured to open my front door - or at least the inside, wooden door. Like plenty of houses around my neighborhood, my house had a double-layered front door, a metal-grate one on the outside, and a solid, wooden one on the inside. This way, if we only opened the wooden one, we'd be able to get fresh air while still keeping our house locked. And like now, it allowed us to see eye-to-eye with strangers without too much risk involved.

I took a closer look at the three strangers. On the left was the lady that had been introduced as Sylvia. She had jet-black hair in a bob cut and plain plate armor. Upon her chest, she wore the badge of the Silvercreek Guard's Guild, a shining, engraved medallion. Just like Mr. Atlas's, but a bit more beaten-up and dinged. Noticeably, she didn't carry any weapons on her, at least not visibly.

"Hey, it looks like you've gotten yourself a Magus Battlehat," she said with beaming eyes. "So did my old teammate." She had been the female voice that spoke to us through the door. I returned a polite smile.

The guy in the middle was Brandon, who looked about college aged, and had red hair that curled wildly, like fire. He had a Beatles t-shirt, cargo shorts, and red sneakers. Surprisingly, his clothes were perfectly clean and in mint condition. No tears or holes at all.

And to the right was Reina. She looked young, possibly fifteen or sixteen. She wore brown leather armor, and she had her golden hair in a short ponytail. I didn't remember hearing her voice. Out of the three of them, she was the only one with a weapon – a wooden crossbow strapped to her back.

"I get it if you're cautious," Brandon said. "Gold feels a lot different from Silver. The whole setup can be pretty unnerving, especially if you're, like, someone who just came. It can be a bit of a culture shock." He looked to Sylvia.

"Is that the right term?" he asked. "Culture shock?"

She shrugged. "I don't think so."

"OK, yeah, whatever." Brandon turned back to us. "Anyways. Yeah, this place doesn't have the kinda vibe Silver does. It creeps people out, you know, puts them on edge. I think it's by design that it's hard to trust people in Gold. 'Cuz guess what, here, trust is what lets you win." He gave a self-deprecating chuckle. "I know we've teased you enough with all the suspense, so I'll get to the point."

Finally. Reflexively, I scuffled a half-step toward Saber, apprehensive about what he'd say next.

"Gold is the first rank where you can opt for PvP matches," Brandon explained. "You can do it in place of an ordinary Challenge against robots. In fact, PvP lets you rank up to Platinum faster. But the price is your own humanity."

Sylvia nodded. "Some players wanted to progress so bad, they were willing to kill others. The thing is, PvP will happen even if one side disagrees. If one party challenges another party to PvP, they'll all get dragged into a match, regardless of what the second party wants. So you've got gangs of strong players that banded together, looking for the weakest teams to challenge. Things were bad."

"Mhm," Brandon agreed. "But eventually people realized something. What if you started a PvP match, get teleported to the arena, and, just…didn't fight? I know it's hecka obvious in hindsight, but at first it blew everyone's mind."

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"What happens if you don't fight?" Saber inquired.

Brandon shrugged. "That's the good part. Nothing happens."

"Remember Bronze?" Sylvia asked us. "People were just in the arenas, hanging out and all that. You catch fish from the river. You get the fruits from the trees. You can build yourselves nice little houses."

"That's what happens if no one fights," Brandon said. "The golems will still spawn, of course, and so will the undead in the forest caves. You just gotta leave those alone. But the rest of the land is all yours. More than enough for ten people. Or six, if you do a 3v3 PvP. You can also do a 1v1 PvP, but personally I think that's a bad idea. It's hard living the rest of your life with just one other person."

"Wait," I said. "The rest of your life?"

"Yup, it's what it sounds like," Sylvia said. "In exchange for staying alive, you give up your chance to go home. You'll live inside the arena for the rest of your days. I think it's pretty chill, but obviously it's not for everyone. The worst case scenario is if people do PvP with the intent of going pacifist, but after days, or weeks, they change their minds. And then they realize the only way to get out from the arena is to kill the opposite team. And sometimes, that's what happens. Very rarely, though. Most people who enter a pacifist match – that's what we call it – stay alive and happy there."

So that, there, was the catch. Safety in exchange for freedom. We'd live out a simple existence inside the walls of the arena. We'd have food and water. We could build shelters inside our bases. But in exchange for survival, we'd give up everything else outside those walls. We'd never return home, never see our friends or family again. And if Hei really were alive, like Saber suggested in her attempt to comfort me, I wouldn't be able to…

"If you're interested in a pacifist match," Brandon said, "I suggest we get to know each other better. We'll need to trust you, and I'm sure you're thinking the same. And we wanna figure out everyone's personality since we'll be living in the same arena."

"This is a lot to take in," Saber said with a stern face. She glanced at me. "I think we'll need to consider things and take some time."

"Yeah, definitely," Brandon said.

Reina nodded in affirmation. She still hadn't said anything.

"These seem like nice people to you?" Sylvia asked Reina. Reina gestured back with her hands – sign language?

"She thinks we'll get along," Sylvia said cheerfully.

Reina signed something else.

Sylvia scoffed. "She said the gender ratio's gonna be pretty skewed."

"Not gonna complain," Brandon said. "Take your time. But Spring Challenge is coming up in a few weeks, so let us know before then. The robots here are pretty strong compared to Silver."

"She's got the Magus Battlehat," Sylvia said to Brandon. "I think she can handle herself better than we can."

"Is it strong?" Brandon asked.

"Boosts Arcana Points by 30%," Sylvia said.

"Oh wow, no wonder she made it to Gold." He turned to Saber and me. "Great work, you two."

A beam of light shot down from the sky. It shone down close by, upon a small residence only a few houses from my own. And in the light-shaft a human-like silhouette descended.

"Oh shoot!" Brandon exclaimed. "So many new arrivals. What's up with that?"

Brushing his question aside, I resolved to open my door. I raced toward the beam of light to get a better look, tightly clutching my crossbow.

Saber and the three strangers followed me.

It was hard getting a proper look at the figure through the mist, but the bright shaft of light helped somewhat. The humanoid shape resembled an adult man. Something seemed off about his body.

Then I realized. One of his legs was missing.

"Wait," Saber said, squinting at the figure.

"Hm?" I asked.

I saw the concern in her eyes.

"That's Tanin," she whispered.