.3 Chapter 3
Approaching the arena I see hundreds of gladiators and warriors standing to the side that have already registered and a few stragglers waiting to pay and register. Getting in line I get my coins ready and tell the arena worker my name. I'm Excer and I'm a Lvl 3 pugilist dragon lord.
Looking at me curiously the worker hands me a tag that goes around my neck. "stand over with the other competitors please sir." Thanking her I walk over to the other fighters and check my stats remembering to level up my strength and agility:
-----------
Name:Excer Lvl 3 Dragon lord
Health:400/400 Stamina:550/550
Strength - 14
Charisma - 9
Intelligence -11
Dexterity - 9
Wisdom - 11
Agility - 10
Luck - 8
-----------
With that taken care of I stand clear of everyone else and start practicing my stance and take a few practice swings feeling my improved muscles bunch and release. I take a breath and do some stretches while waiting then there's a three blast horn that signals the start of the competition; Inside the arena there's 50 roped off areas and the first 100 fighters are put into twos and sent to the areas.
The bell rings and the fights all start at once, within ten minutes all 50 teams are left with one man or woman standing and 50 people lay dead. The orderlies drag the dead bodies away and the winners of those fights head to the other side of the arena to wait while the next 100,including myself, are led into the arena and I learn who I'll be fighting: A 7'2 warrior with a war hammer (warrior classes are relatively new and when my character was created it wasn't available hence me only having the three options) and only a leather skirt as armor. Good news: he has almost no armor rating; bad news: That hammer can crush me if it lands.
As soon as the bell starts I dodge the giants first swing and activate my slow motion strikes running up the shaft of his hammer and slamming my knee into the giant's face then I slam my fists repeatedly into his face breaking his nose and cheek; with two seconds left I jump down and kick out his leg watching as he falls in normal motion.
The giant warrior bellows and swings wildly missing me by centimeters as I unsheath my butchers knife and drive it into his eye socket with a sickening squish as blood splurts all across my arms and chest, the giant of a man keels over and stops moving. 5 minutes later everyone is done and 100 fighters are victorious.
The 2nd round of fights begin and we are led to the arena. The bell rings once again signaling more death to come. My next opponent is a mage that immediately sends a lightning bolt at my chest but luckily leather is energy resistant and my chest plate takes most of the damage but it jars me a little. I manage to activate my slow motion strikes and catch the mage with a double uppercut lifting him off his feet and I catch him by the neck body slamming him with enough force to shatter his neck and spine.
A few minutes later I stand among the last 50 fighters and we are invited to a small meal while the arena Is cleaned up and rearranged for the next round of battles. I grab a leg of beef and two water bottles and stretch out while I examine how far I am from leveling up again since level 4 will allow me a new skill selection.
-----------
Excer Lvl 3 pugilist/ dragon lord
You require one more kill or 5 minutes of non stop training to level up
----------
Stepping outside I find a tree and begin to hammer away punch after punch for five solid minutes until a soft light envelopes me and I level up. I catch my breath and open my stat page to see what the next three choices are and to upgrade my stats.
-----------
Name:Excer Lvl 4 Dragon lord
Health:500/500 Stamina:650/650
Strength - 16
Charisma - 9
Intelligence -11
Dexterity - 9
Wisdom - 11
Agility - 8
Luck - 8
-----------
1. Iron will - you are a mountain, melee damage will simply land against u with very little effect: 50% melee damage reduction
-----------
2. Mental strength - magic and psychic attacks have little to no effect on u allowing u to focus on attacks while shrugging off most magic attacks: 50% magic damage reduction and immunity to psychic attacks
-----------
3. affinity for robots - deal 50% extra damage to robots. this skill will assist u with artificers and help u get through their constructs with ease.
------------
Seeing as artificers are a huge challenge later on and I can come back to mental strength at level 10 I choose affinity for robots and close my stat page as the horn sounds to bring us all back for the next round of fighting.
The workers lead us into the arena and now there are only 25 rings set up for the semi final battle. Doing the math I become slightly confused but the announcer sounds loudly over the speaker " Ladies and gentlemen the final battle after this will be a 25 person death match 2 hours after the conclusion of the semi finals; Good luck to all of u"
They split us up into 25 groups and I cant believe my luck: my opponent stands inside a juggernaut power suit but has no helmet. With my new affinity for robots and my slow motion strikes I should be able to easily overcome this battle.
The bell rings and I roll under his first massive swing activating my skill as time slows down and I swing my fist three times into his left arm shattering the connecting rods before slicing my butchers knife through the power cords making his suit a hindrance rather than an asset. As time speeds up the artificer struggles to move in his now powerless suit and I run through his legs slamming my fists into both knee joints and crushing them as he falls I feel something bash into my head and I roll to the ground stumbling up as I realize he managed to hit me with his good arm.
Readying my knife I dance around him slicing at his armor then as soon as I can I reactivate my ability and drive my butchers knife into the man's throat watching his life drain from his eyes as time speeds back up and the other fights wrap up.
.....
to be continued