12 I can barely remember the first place we met

"Nah, we're just fucking with you. People loot our dead guys all the time. It was, well, it is no skin off our back! You guys aight" The Clownslayers roared with laughter. One placed his arm over my shoulder and gave me a noogie. Some rolled in the dirt, clutching their diaphragms, choking a bit. The lv12 slapped his knee.

Gordon's crew and I stood a while in indignant silence, Craig more so than the rest of us. As the two rusty gears in his head started to turn, he almost remembered something.

"Something's bothering Craig," Gordon leaned on his quarterstaff.

I didn't respond. My memory returned to the day we were abducted to the stadium, and I saw Craig watching titty streamers on his smartphone. There was someone on the front page of Glitch.tv. Someone familiar.

"Alright, funs over. Stand back," a Clownslayer interrupted. Then, five or six of them lined up and chanted.

"Butcher's art: Prime cut." And the Greatwurm head started splitting off into more manageable chunks. Stale blood sputtered.

The Clownslayers collapsed suddenly.

"You fuckers ran out of mana again" the lv12 shook his head at his subordinates.

"Can you teach us how to do that?" The squeaker begged.

"First, open your skill menu."

"Our what?"

"Are you fuckers special? How have you lasted this long?"

"We barely held on." I apologized.

"I'm sorry for snapping. Here." He Seig Heil-ed then made a downward motion, and a list of words appeared. Warrior's art: unyielding, surgeon's art: enhancement, villager's art: lucky sixes, to name a few.

"Unyielding doubles my HP if I'm low for a few seconds. Surgeon's art allows me to alter someone's body for a great cost." The lv12 pointed proudly to his third nipple.

"And villager's art?"

He took out a pair of dice. Rolling them, they burned a bright crimson before coming out as sixes.

"Don't gamble against players in this world."

We copied his movement, and an empty list appeared for all five of us. I had a skill point, Lee had two, and Craig Gordon and squeaker all had none.

"Now, roll," the lv12 stated.

Lee touched the paper, and randomly generated skills appeared. Butcher's art: supreme cut and chef's art: borrowed seasoning.

"Alright, I recommend grabbing five useful skills and then enhancing them. It's all RNG, though."

I did the same, and a single skill appeared; in alien letters, then human: Outer God's art: Lavinia's child.

"Check the mana cost on that bad boy. You'll probably never get to use it." The lv12 joked, and then I passed out.