Chapter 251. Arena Time.
We spent the rest of the day running the platoon through some more drills with the newly upgraded minions. It gave the troops a good chance to see how different creatures could improve with new ranks, and the dangerous abilities and skills they might unlock. A simple tier zero, rank zero goblin wasn’t much, but give him a few ranks, gear him up, and add a simple ability and you had a deadly opponent.
As for my own training, we did some more work on clearing rooms, and fighting in tight spaces. Several of my summonings had been to open areas and battlefields, but the majority were still inside tunnels, dungeons, or buildings. Which minion took point, and where to position the ranged fighters would change based on the battlefield conditions we faced.
After an busy day of training, I returned home to Refuge, exhausted both mentally and physically. Being summoned and returned left you with a perfectly good body that was physically rested. The mental strain was another issue. After all I’d experienced, a good night’s sleep was just what I needed.
Before I drifted off to sleep, I let Marie know I’d had just finished another summoning series, and that I’d update the database once I got some rest. It turned out that Agent Lopez had called that afternoon and wanted to meet with us in the next couple of days. One of the other summoned beings, a rank two seer, had brought back some new information from Somhagen and he wanted to go over it personally.
The alarm on my phone woke me after what seemed like only a few seconds of rest. It was daytime and I groggily pulled myself out of bed to get ready for another day of training with the military. I’d never spent a whole lot of time with people in the military before, but I found that I enjoyed the camaraderie they shared and felt that I could appreciate their often-dark sense of humor.
Major Finley said that starting next week, another team would be joining us on the base along with my regular platoon. I’d have over a hundred people looking to me for training on the coming integration. It was hard for me to break out of the mindset where I felt like I wasn’t an expert and was just some imposter that they’d discover before kicking me out.
I had to keep reminding myself that not only was I one of the more experienced summoned beings, but I also had more combat experience than most of the soldiers I was working with. Granted, much of my experience wasn’t in a true life or death situation, but I still felt the pain of my various deaths and had run into more than one instance where my life was truly on the line.
We were halfway through the morning PT session when a prompt appeared in front of me.
Your arena challenge is now active.
You are Summoned!
I was pulled, mid-pushup, back to my personal space. I’d been home less than a day and would have liked to have more time on Earth before dealing with this again. Inside the personal space, Tzes’zod was there, working away at his desk. Melvin also sent me a greeting from the training room.
“Back again, Rico, I didn’t expect you back so soon. Is it time for another visit to Somhagen? If you’re going, do you mind picking up a few things for me,” Tzes’zod asked as I waved away the beverage from one of the attendants.
“I’m going to Somhagen, but for an arena challenge. Unless they sell whatever it is that your looking for in that overpriced gift shop, I don’t think I’ll be much help. I should hit Somhagen for real in the not-too-distant future, what did you need?” I asked.
“It’s just a few odds and ends. If you’re not going now, I’ll leave my list with one of your attendants, along with payment for what I need. It shouldn’t take too much time out of your visit, and to help compensate you for your time, I’ve inscribed a few items for you,” Tzes’zod said, handing me three scrolls.
“Thanks, I’m glad to help, and I usually have more than a little bit of free time when I visit Somhagen. For now, I’ve got to get ready and see what my arena challenge is going to be this time,” I replied.
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I didn’t have long, so I hit the armory first off, making sure all my gear was squared away. This time, I felt much better equipped and trained for whatever the system wanted to throw at me. A strong performance and the rewards that went with it were going to be important if I wanted to keep paying out for arena challenges.
My class was a combat focused one, and if I wasn’t forced into personal combat without my minions, I should fare pretty well. One thing that did seem odd was how long it had taken for this arena session to begin. I had kind of expected my last summoning session to be interrupted by it, but despite several long summonings, and the time I’d spent at home, the arena had never called until now.
Inside the armory, I looked at the scrolls Tzes’zod had created for me. It was a skill he’d never advertised before, and it made me even more curious what his true class was. He didn’t seem inclined to share about his personal life or more information than was necessary, and I wasn’t going to pester him and anger the powerful undead creature.
For now, I was glad to see three new spells that might prove rather handy in the coming challenge. I added them to my loadout as I checked on the spells that the scrolls contained.
1. Acidic Arrow Barrage, 15 mana. This scroll will unleash 6 acidic arrows that will fly unerringly toward the targets of your choice. Each arrow inflicts piercing damage, as well as injecting a highly caustic acid into the wound or on the surface of any object the arrow hits. The acid will corrode almost any material but will lose potency after 10 seconds have passed.
2. Greater Leap, 10 mana. This scroll will allow the caster to leap up to 100 feet in any direction they choose. The caster will land gently at the end of their leap, though jumping straight up in the air may overcome this effect and cause fall damage.
3. Call of the Warbringer, 25 mana. This scroll will greatly increase the strength, dexterity, constitution, and natural armor of the caster and any friendly allies within a radius of 25 yards. The effect will last for 5 minutes, and builds slowly over time, reaching full potency 30 seconds after casting.
It was a nice addition to my now depleted consumables and couldn’t’ have come at a better time. Melvin also decided to tag along as his gelatinous armor figurine. It would be good to have his help if this turned out to be a combat-oriented challenge, or just his company if it was something a bit less aggressive.
I did one last check to see if I’d missed anything. Confident that I was as ready to go as I could be, I headed for the door exiting my personal space. It had appeared as soon as I had been summoned here, and if things worked like they did with my last arena run, it would lead directly to a preparation area where I could use any upgrade certificates.
As I opened the door, I felt a moments disorientation as I stepped through. It was almost like the feeling when I’d first enter a summoning portal. I figured it was probably the same thing, just with the portal targeting the arena preparation area as my summoning destination.
We were inside the main stone building surrounding the arena floor. An odd collection of participants was queuing up in a long, winding line that led up to several windows in what looked like an oversized ticket booth. There were probably over a hundred contestants in the queue, and more continued to join the line as others left the window and walked into a summoning portal behind the structure.
The line moved quickly and when I reached the window, I was greeted by a young-looking elf clerk.
“Please state your name, class, tier, and rank please,” the elf said flatly.
“I’m Rico Kline with the Foe Commander class. I’m tier two, rank four,” I replied.
“Just a moment please. Do not resist the mana you will soon feel, it is merely confirming your identity and gathering basic information on your stats so the odds makers can properly categorize you,” the elf said. I did nothing as I felt a tingle of mana flicker over my entire body.
“Can you tell me what this arena challenge is going to entail?” I asked. The elf held up his hand for me to stop and from his glazed-over look, I figured he was working on some system prompts.
“Thank you for waiting, I can only give you the following information about this challenge. Per the system, each contestant will have the same information,” the elf said, apologetically. After clearing his throat, the elf launched into a canned spiel that the system must have forced him to recite.
“Welcome to the tier two arena challenge. Your group has been selected for a special session and will be joined together with several other groups. This is an extended arena event and will follow slightly different rules. All existing upgrade certificates will be automatically funneled into your starting area, where they will be converted into various advantages for you. I cannot give you any additional details and ask that you now step through the portal located behind the registration booth,” the elf said, gesturing toward the portal that everyone else had been going through.
“Well, thanks for that, I guess. See you around,” I said to the elf as I approached the portal, wondering what the system had in store for me.