FSTR - Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen - A Subrace of A Demonic Branch?

Early in the morning, Aaron James got another Visitor. It was a patrol Guard claiming to come from the arena to collect him. Rather a surprise how an Arena has patrol Guards keeping the place safer. If something goes wrong, there are countless warriors willing to lend a hand, specifically those warriors are hot headed individuals who would gladly slay a trouble maker for sport.

But yet again, coin is the main motivation in the Arena, if "Ground Tappers(Level 1 rank)" don't cause trouble simply by being unaware of the rules or just wanting to play a "big dog" act, thieves might try to storm the betting area, so Patrol Guards seem necessary. Because if a thief struck the betting area, who would stop low rank Warriors from looting the betting area in the middle of the Havoc. So taking countless risks to consideration, most Patrol Guards have a shift near the betting area.

The Patrol Guard didn't mistreat Aaron at all! Simply because Aaron is a EarthQuaker which means he is not comparable to the low rank Ground Tappers even though he technically shares the same rank with them. Aaron having powers gets him considerably special treatment, call it Dumb Luck but its working to his advantage and it is the first ray of sunshine he recieved in this new life ever since his soul arrived here.

The Arena Masters no doubt made it clear that any man with power is worth more than any powerless arena man, even if that man had upper ranks compared to Aaron or anyone with power.

This new project of theirs wasn't cheap to put together either, transportation taking the most gold coins while keeping these Slave Arena Fighters feed was the cheapest, they sure have a lot of Gold to win back. Lucky for them, the word of mouth will work to their advantage big time.

Hawk Kingdom doesn't have a population big enough to simply keep the Arena filled on each fight, but there are many villages nearby which increases profit for the arena. Not to mention richer families from other Kingdoms making a long travel to treat the Arena as a touristic landmark, not to mention Blood and Gore in the Arena as their entertainment.

If the Arena actually reaches the maximum audience limit(around 4,000) due to this new approach, the entrance fee and required minimum bet will no doubt raise so the richer can get in. This will just make the Arena richer and aid the King to increase the army's size.

For a plan based in slavery, the King sure did a smart economic move. But how could a King who spends his time chasing Castle Maids be so smart? Are his pervert ways a mask to be more unpredictable? Is he smarter than he portrays to the rest? Only time will tell, or it might not!

However, moving on. Aaron and the rest of the Ground Tappers didn't get big expensive meals such as meat, but bread with boiled potatoes seem to be common meals. The meals likely get better for those who have upper ranks, chances are plausible.

But Ground Tappers being the least respected and cared for rank have tougher lives in general. They need to perform twice better than upper rank Warriors to escape their titles. All eyes are on them, only those who prove themselves skilled enough to escape that title, manage to get a better life in general if slaughtering doesn't bother them. This is where Champions are made. Win, gain fame. Loose, be forgotten.

When Aaron was taken to the Arena, he noticed his own kind right away and he felt slight relief. It was a part of the memory he could remember, While Patrol Guards and Whippers wear Helmets and masks covering most of their facial features and skin, Aaron was able to get a glance of other random citizens while he was being dragged to the dungeons after he got arrested in the mines a couple of days ago. He noticed a key skin characteristic on these people.

Unlike the Kasteremas race who biologically have a black mediumly wide line running through their face, usually from the top edge of the left forehead to the bottom of the neck(right side) which seemed a lot like war paint. The Makems (a.k.a Bear Blooded people.) race are simply told apart from the Kasteremas when one sees the different skin features.

Makems are purely white skinned people while Kasteremas are white skinned but of course have the natural black line through their faces as mentioned earlier. That's how the two races can be told apart.

Even though Aaron doesn't know these people, he felt glad to see more who are technically considered his kind now, or "Macek's kind". He is simply sick of seeing this race of abusers(Kasteremas) that he is more than glad to see a different face even though technically his race isn't the best either as they are sunk head to heal in war.

But yet again maybe the Revolutionary Alliance is less abusive compared to the Iron Boot Alliance, they share the same race but maybe they are different! Maybe there is hope in that Alliance even though they have a long history of slaying people with powers, the Native people of Kasterema were most of their victims so far. Would they treat the Bear Blooded people with more respect?

The Kasteremas are the dominating sub race to the true Sons and Daughters of Kasterema, the Kastems. They are also considerably a sub species to the neighbouring country dominated by the Tusenias, that second origin makes up for most of their biological features.

2,000 years ago when war Broke between the neighbouring Countries, Tuserial and Blimenar, a lot of Tusenias migrated to Kasterema to avoid war, Kasterema being known as a peaceful country, was a smart option for them. But yet again, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.

Calling Kasterema their new home, they started marrying the Dragon Blooded scaly skinned Kastems who accepted the Tusenias with open arms even if it meant not marrying many many individual Tusenias as a payback.

They provided food, shelter and care for people they barely knew. The Kastems knew that the Tusenias who migrated to Kasterema have already lost everything. So they were willing to help them as much as possible. But their good doing was returned with gold lust and propaganda.

Making it clear as a crystal, the white skin biological attribute comes from the Tusenias race and the black line going through their face is a rather minor unexpected biological attribute coming from the Kastems. No matter what, it is simply hard to pass a lot of attributes to a race whose biological order is a lot different.

Most Kasteremas aren't Dragon Blooded and barely any of them have dragon scales on their skin. Those who do, don't live long. They either die due to being highly deformed or handicaped or get killed by the Kasteremas. If this sub race carried the Kastem's sense of peace, Kasterema would be heaven on Earth once more.

As soon as Aaron ate the small meal the Arena provided for them straight in the training room, (They didn't even bother to invite the Ground Tappers in a dining room close to the Arena. no they simply handed the meal to them, they could either sit on some softish cloth on the floor and eat or eat while standing. It was their own choice although one Arena master insisted for them to eat while sitting. Apparently it is more healthy.). One of the Four Arena Masters approached and told what the deal is.

"Alright Bear Blooded Ground Tappers. Your purpose here is clear. You want to win Gold, Fame and most importantly freedom. Here, if you have what it takes you can reach all 3 of those." After Arena Master Fin finished his sentence, he looked at the crowd of 20 Ground Tappers in front of him with a dead serious face and under a thicker louder tone he shouted "Do you feel like you have what it takes?!"

"Yes Sir!" The group of 20 shouted in an accelerating tone which shook the training room. It caused for Arena Master Fin to get goosebumps but he refused to make it visible to everyone else including the Patrol Guards he knew already and the other Arena masters. No, he remained in a stiff form.

In his sight, this Arena isn't painted in gold. He has inner respect for these Warriors who literally risk their lives for a better life. While some want to bring more to their families, some looking for freedom, some for fame and some willing to slay opponents as a sport, it still takes a lot of guts to risk one's own life for any of those Goals. Guts that Arena Master Fin wishes he had. That's why he has a strong respect for these people. Not to get confused, he likes Gold Coins as well.

"Alright! You all seem ready. Now here is the deal, we figured that making you Earthrippers and Quakers fight each other will lead to a lack of audience attracting Warriors in the future. So you will be only fighting each other if you manage to survive long enough, but not as much as you will fight powerless people. If you reach your 10th battle which leads to a rank advance if you win, you will need to fight a Bear Blood in order to advance into the next rank."

Seeing the crowd of 20 people having many questions to ask which would take hours for all to be answered, some even not sensing fear to ask. He raised his hand gently asking for silence and added "I'm sure you have many questions, all of them will be answered by your own Arena Master. Now we will split you in four groups, you will be split in 5+5+5+5, you will belonging in four different groups so don't get comfortable with each other. You will need to kill them or be killed by them sooner or later."