- The Path is not so Easy

The next morning, Gus woke up early. He hoped to check out the pits while hopefully while there was nobody there, so that he could get a good bearing of the surroundings. To his surprise, there were already a couple of people awake by the time he woke up.

"What are you guys doing up?" he asked, entering the kitchen and finding Joel and Connor.

"We could ask you the same thing," Connor retorted.

"We were thinking of going to check out the Pit," Joel said, answering his question.

"Yeah, I was thinking the same," Gus said. "Although I was planning on just taking a look around."

"That's not happening!" Connor declared. "We're going, we're training for a bit, and you're both going to lose!" he told them in a matter of fact manner, adding a laugh at the end.

"Sounds good to me, there's a few things I want to check out," Gus said. "And no, I won't lose."

A dark staircase led down to a door, behind which was the Pit. It was cramped, quiet, and overall just exhumed an odd vibe, similar to the one that Gus would get whenever he passed one of the underbars in London.

Commonly known as doorways to the underworld, these bars would be popular places for people such as dealers, assassins, mercenaries and other people with questionable professions. Gus always tried to stay away from them, and wished that they could be dealt with by the Government but, between the worries of the frontier and the fact that the bars technically comitted no crimes, despite what their patrons did, then nothing could be done.

The Pit itself was nothing special. In fact, it was about as glamorous as one would expect something called the pit to be. Dim lights overhead illuminated the large room, which was at least something, and there were various arenas marked out by tape, or paint, or something else. Empty as it was, it gave off an odd feeling, as though they shouldn't be there.

"Damn, this really is… something," Joel said.

'Not something good,' Gus thought, and by glancing at his companions he could tell they thought so too.

"Either way, should we get started?" Connor asked. "Who's first?"

"If you don't mind, I'd like to test one or two things," Gus said.

"You asking us, or are you ordering us?"

"I can do that?" Gus exclaimed.

"Sure you can. Might like you a little less for it, though," Connor joked.

"What do you want to test?" Joel asked.

'How do I explain without sounding mad?' Gus thought. He could tell them about the system, but did he really want to tell someone about it? Sure, he could explain it with the knowledge of who his father is, but could he contain the secret if news came out of another Evolved? The main question of the issue was, could they be trusted with the information?

"If I tell you something here, it stays between the three of us. Agreed?"

Connor and Joel glanced at each other, before nodding in agreement.

"So, by this point it feels like it''s no secret that my last name is Braye. Despite my hopes, people know. In case you were wondering, yes, it is as in Andrew Braye, and yes, I was a part of the Evolution project."

"How come we never heard of you? How come nobody knew he had a son?" Joel asked.

"Because I wasn't his son. Not to him, at least. I was little more than a failure for him, since I was the only one who failed during the experiment. His fragile little ego couldn't take the fact that he had a ninety five percent success rate, and the other five percent was his own blood."

"That must have been rough, I'm sorry to hear that," Joel said.

"It's not too deep. I haven't seen him for years, so he's as good as dead to me at this point. Anyway, it's possible that I was little more than a late bloomer."

"A late bloomer? So, you're an Evolved? You have an Evolution?" Connor exclaimed.

Gus nodded. "At least, it seems like it. I have this thing, that rewards experience points, and has stats, kind of like an old video game. It's irregular, I know, especially for an Evolved ability, but at the moment it's the best explanation."

"That's…" Joel began.

"…Incredible!" Connor finished. "So, what do you need to test?"

"I got rewarded yesterday, during the game. When I zoned out after the game, it was because I was sorting it out. Anyway, I figure that if I got rewarded for that, I might get rewarded for this. So first, a normal duel with someone."

Gus and Joel entered one of the marked areas and, after a countdown from Connor, fought for a moment, throwing a few light punches back and forth. After wrapping his leg behind Joel's back legs, Gus tackled him down to the ground.

A few moments later, a message popped into Gus's view. But it was not one that he was looking for.

*Opponents Eliminated: [1]*

*Rewards: [25] EXP.*

"Anything?" Connor asked from the side.

"Yeah, it worked," Gus said in a confused tone. "But why is it only 25? Wasn't it 50 last night? What changed?" he murmured.

"Alright," he said, pushing the confusion to the back of his mind. "Connor, count us down again. Joel, this might sound a little odd, but can you surrender as soon as it starts?"

His reasoning was simple. If he could farm wins just by standing here, he would soon be one of the strongest people in the system, if not the entirety of human space.

"3, 2, 1, GO!"

"I surrender!"

Gus waited, but a message never popped up.

'Guess it won't work that way,' he thought. 'It makes sense, why wouldn't it make me work for it?'

*Notice: Attempting to speed up progress, or cheat the system will not result in rewards. If this behaviour continues, appropriate punishments will be dealt out.*

"Nope, it didn't work. I guess I'll have to earn my level ups," Gus said.

"Earn your level ups? What an absolutely painful thing to say!" A voice exclaimed from the entrance. "Although, it's to be expected from the rat that undermined me!"