Chapter 40 – A Stroke of Luck

You may now select your opponent from those available within the Arena.

Recommended Level: 1

Recommended Type: Melee

Would you like to continue with these parameters? Y/N

Titus stared at the message for a moment, trying to figure out how exactly the God of Balance seemed to just know everything about him, and how best he should proceed. But there was nothing there that he didn't agree with, so he simply mentally agreed with the recommendation, focussing on the 'yes' and blinked the wall of text away.

Titus had selected a rather ordinary steel sword and a small square wooden shield from the anywhere box the arena provided. In addition to this, he was still wearing his wooden stamina ring and his new chainmail overshirt that provided an additional three points of defence. All in all, Titus was well-prepared for an easy fight against a low-level melee-based opponent.

Titus hadn't been given the opportunity to select a specific opponent, and he didn't know if it was normally this way, or if the God of Balance had selected something suitable for him. In any case, as Titus entered his own personal arena via the steps down into pit a moment later, he found himself watching the small dark ball that was the portal that would bring the enemy creature into the pit with him grow into a large flat disc.

For a moment, nothing happened, and Titus concentrated on the weight of the sword and shield in his two hands, the feel of the cold chainmail against his skin, where his undershirt didn't quite meet all of the extremities that the defensive garment reached.

Then all of a sudden, Titus saw the tiniest amount of movement as something began to crawl through the portal, and he felt his heart begin to race. He held his breath, waiting to see what he had to face.

It felt like it took a lifetime, but the creature, in reality, only took a second to enter the pit in its entirety. In that moment every negative thought Titus could think of ran through his mind. He thought about what would happen if the creature wasn't simply a level one fighter, what if it was something far more powerful than he could handle, what if the creature simply rushed out of the portal and devoured him in front of his friends and the rest of the new Blue-Rankers?

But his train of thought didn't last very long because the moment the monster had bounded through the portal, Titus could see what it was, and it relaxed him a little.

Giant Rat

Level: 1

HP: 12/12

The creature was the same one Titus had already seen fought on more than a few occasions in the pits. In fact, it was the most frequent of the monsters that had been summoned through the portals, and it made sense. If there was one thing the arena probably had an abundance of, it was low-level, almost insignificant rats.

There had been a few spiders, though nothing like the Frostbite Spider that Titus and his friends had fought in the arena proper, there was even a crab and a badger summoned through the portal, though all of them behaved in a very similar way: they were all fighters and they all did everything they could to get as close to their Contestant opponents as fast as possible.

Just as he had seen the creature before, Titus' giant rat was the size of a small dog, and it took a moment to sniff the air, showing off its sharp yellow teeth before it shrieked and darted straight for its opponent.

Titus did the only thing he could think of in that moment, and that was to crouch down and slam the bottom edge of his square wooden shield against the ground a moment before the giant rat made it to him, and the creature clattered into the shield with a loud thud.

Judging by the splinter that flew up into the air when the creature had impacted the shield, it had led with its teeth, and they had done a not insignificant amount of damage to Titus' shield.

Titus stepped back to gain his footing after the creature had almost managed to push him over, even though it was less than a quarter his size. He breathed out a loud sigh before regaining his taut combat stance, and he stared down at the rat, which looked rather confused at what had just happened, and perhaps a little concussed.

Titus swept his sword in a ranging arc down at the rat, and as though it came back to its senses all at once, the thing leapt over the sword and high into the air, falling back down to the ground with a thud. This left Titus with no choice but to swing again with his backhand. But the swing was wild, and the rat this time managed to back away ever so slightly to avoid the sword and what would have been a devastating blow.

The rat squeaked as Titus brought his shield back into position to steady himself. It was like it was taunting him and the fact that his combat prowess left much to be desired.

The Giant Rat then lunged forward, causing Titus to cower behind his shield and then drop it down to the ground again so that the rat could not reach him. This time the rat's movement had been a feint, and instead of crashing into the shield, the creature leapt over it and sank its teeth into Titus' collarbone.

At least that's what it had intended to do, because Titus was wearing his aforementioned brand-new chainmail overshirt, and were it not present, the rat's teeth would have sunk into his flesh easily. The shirt prevented the rat from breaking through, and in fact rather than tearing into flesh, the rat found itself stuck fast against Titus' body by its teeth.

"Arghh!" Titus braced for the pain with his shout, but the pain never came and a moment later, he found himself looking down at the rat flailing to free itself, though rather unsuccessfully.

"Kill it, kill it!" Titus heard Petra's voice above all else as his surroundings momentarily returned to him.

Titus looked down at the rat, and then he looked at his two hands, one holding the shield, which now seemed rather useless, and the other holding the steel sword, which was his only form of attack. And he knew what he had to do. Of course, he had known from the beginning what he had to do. This sword was the only way that he would be able to survive this battle, but he hadn't thought it was going to end this way. He hadn't thought he'd have the time to stare down at the creature attached to his torso, and remember that it was a living thing. He thought he would have to defend himself well or die. But this was no defence, and even as he raised his sword up to the rat's neck, he knew that he wasn't going to be able to do it, not like this.

And then as though by some divine miracle, the rat unfastened itself from Titus' chainmail, breaking one of its long front teeth in the process and sank the other into Titus' exposed neck.

This time the pained scream Titus released was very, very real, and very much due to the pain that he felt. But he already had his sword up against the rat's neck, and all it took was a single swipe of his blade to silence the belligerent creature and bring an end to his first-ever battle in the pit. Titus had won. He'd stood alone and won. And what he had to show for it was a blood-stained torso and a shiny new experience point.

"Yes! Go Titus!" Petra's voice drowned out all else as Titus came back to himself and looked up at the faces staring down at him.

Realising what he had to do next, he scampered his way back up the stone steps towards his friends and the few Blue-Rankers that had taken the time to watch Titus and his fight. Then he replaced the sword and shield in the anywhere box so that he wouldn't be charged for accidentally keeping them.

"That was so cool!" Jordan said in agreement with Petra. "How did you know the rat would get stuck to you like that?"

Titus gave a sheepish smile in reply but didn't have to actually answer, because Petra beat him to it.

"He didn't know it was going to happen!" she almost cried with glee. "He was just lucky!"

Jordan looked confused for a moment and then burst out laughing.

"Well, I guess that's one way to do it!"

"Pfft, I can't believe you won because of that," Petra agreed, almost red in the face, the beginnings of uncontrollable laughter beginning to show themselves.

"I'll have you know that a healthy portion of luck is a good way for any Contestant to survive here in the Arena," Miss Kane's voice cut through the three friends' conversation, and the Grandmaster punctuated her announcement with her presence.

"I must say that I was lucky once or twice in my days of fighting monsters on behalf of the City and its residents."

Titus smiled at that. It was nice to have someone on his side for a change.

"It was good; I got an experience point," Titus said. "But it's still going to take a long time to level up this way, that's if we can even fit all this in around our classes."

"Well then there is one more thing that I have to tell you," the Grandmaster said with a devious smile. "But I am sure it will not be the last surprise to you all. Your classes are there to help you survive here in the Arena, and the more you attend, the longer we presume you will all survive. Perhaps even one day become Hunters."

The three friends nodded at that, though still unsure where the surprise was.

"Your attendance in the central colosseum is mandatory, and you must fight when the God of Balance commands it, as you have already seen. Your presence in our classes, however, is not."

Titus looked at his friends, not sure if he'd heard that right. By the look on Jordan's face – one of confusion – he wasn't quite sure, but then he saw the glint in Petra's eye.

"You mean we can train here, all day every day and never go to any classes?" she asked.

"Well, technically yes," Miss Kane replied. "Though I would not recommend it. The Iinstructors here have many skills, techniques, abilities, and lessons that will greatly accelerate your growth as Contestants, Citizens, and fighters. It would serve you well to find a good balance between theory and practice."

"That's why she's telling us this now," Titus said. "And why Strength and Conditioning was so hard. If we didn't know that we could gain stats from it and that we didn't really have to do it, I don't think I would've bothered."

"And exactly why we have to go back," Petra agreed. "I'm guessing there's a benefit to every class, and if we hadn't already experienced them…"

"Correct," Miss Kane agreed. "Like I said, the Arena is designed to keep you alive and fighting for as long as possible. Whilst we cannot interfere and for the most part, don't want to force you into anything, we can give you all the tools you need to become a successful Contestant, and hopefully one day Hunter. That is should you choose to take advantage of these tools."

"So we can go to any classes we want?" Titus asked, "and spend as much time as we like training down here with real monsters?"

Miss Kane nodded. "That is exactly correct. You can go to no classes and do no training, though when you come to fight in the colosseum I doubt the God of Balance will look favourably upon you. But if you choose to learn what you can and still get a good balance of actual fighting in with it, then there are truly no limits for the determined Contestant."

Titus turned to look at his friends, both of whom were looking thoughtful.

"We'll need some time to figure out what's best for us, but I already have some good ideas for what could make a real difference," Petra said. Then she turned and smiled at Titus. "I hope you're feeling lucky because I see loads more rats coming your way."

Titus really didn't need to hear that right now and did the only thing he could manage: he groaned. Loudly.