Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The man looked at all the kids before saying, "You know the drill, depending on your ranking, you can get more food. Now, who wants to challenge who, and you should already know your new rankings with that kid out of the picture?" And as he said that, he saw no one speaking up and as he was about to say something, he heard Eric say "I wanna challenge someone" and as the rest of the kids heard that, they looked a bit surprised at Eric, the man looked at Eric and said "Name" and by name, he meant number as you lose your name as you get here and so Eric replied "11" and as the guy heard that, he said "Name the person you wish to challenge" and as he said that, the guy next to Eric who was number 10 looked ready for it, but he was dumbfounded a bit as he heard Eric say "5" and the Warrior nodded as he said "You two stand forward then, the rest of you, stand back" and Eric then saw an older kid walking up with him, and he chose 5 for two simple reasons one, he's weak for now and two, only the top 5 can get a piece of meat with there food and he needed that for recovery and growth as they aren't fed much.

Eric guessed about how badly off this tribe was in terms of food, he then thought, "At least they didn't sort out to cannibalism ...yet" and this tribe is ranked 7th out of the 13 tribes, and so he thought of how badly, the lesser tribes had it but as he did, he thought "Who the hell cares" and so he looked at his opponent, that didn't look like skin and bones with ish muscles as he did, rather looked like a normal kid but with muscles and scars all over, he then looked at the confused expression the kid had, as it would seem that he never thought Eric would challenge him.

The warrior saw them staring at each other, then he said "Go for it" and as he did, 5 started charging Eric and as Eric saw this, he waited till he got closer and as he did, he went dodged the punch as he moved his head to the side, he then put one hand on the kids shoulder, after putting on leg behind the kids closest leg, he then pushed the kid to fall, while using his legs to push back 5s left leg, and he succeeded, so he then joined him with the falling down part, while turning his body to the side, he then got his elbow ready, as he aimed it for the kids face as he fell, and as they both hit the floor, Eric's elbow hit him straight in the face and as it did, Eric didn't stop as he got on top and started punching him at his temple and lower jaw, but he then heard the warrior say stop and so he did, as he got off and stood up to the side, waiting for the warrior to say something.

The warrior walked up and looked at 5, he then saw he was unconscious, so he went and kicked him and as he did, 5 woke up and started coughing, the warrior then looked at Eric and said "Go take his place in the line, your number 5 now" and as Eric heard that, he started walking to his new spot in the line, he then looked at his competition, the 4 people ahead of him and smiled at them.

Eric watched as the kid he just beat up, struggle as he held his head and walked back to his old spot, and all he thought was "That was easy" and so the warrior said "Food time" and so they started heading to where they had their food with the warrior, and it was a small room that they went too, and the food was already ready as it was all mostly old food, the kids grabbed there plates of food according to their rank and so did Eric, he then sat on the floor and started eating and left the meat for last, as it was the only thing that wasn't really burned or moldy, but it did look a few days old, and as he ate it the purple meat after finishing everything else, he felt his weak body becoming a bit warm and as he did, he felt it wasn't normal as it became warmer and warmer, and soon, he felt...stronger, and as he thought about it, he thought "This was monster meat by the looks of it, and eating monster meat isn't a bad thing, but it really isn't a good thing either as it can make you sick, unless you have small amounts of it" and Eric was pretty sure of this, he then thought "Is this normal? Am I...supposed to feel this warm...this strength?" and so Eric examined his body, he then tried a few things like calling out a system or looking deep within himself again, but he got nothing in return, he then looked at the top 4 and saw them looking at the meat oddly, he then saw one seeming not wanting to eat it and saw the rest struggle as they did, he then thought "Well, if you become sick, you may lose your rank to someone weaker to yourself and you shouldn't eat monster meat every day as it is bad for you..., but you also need your strength and to fill that hunger" and soon, he saw the guy who didn't eat the meat start and look around, and the guy was the 4th ranker if he remembered correctly, and he saw him looking at him, he then looked as if he was thinking about something, before he held the meat in his direction and as Eric saw this, he smiled, and as he did, the guy went and threw it to Eric and Eric caught it, he then looked at it and saw it was purple as well, he then looked at the guy and swallowed it and as he did, he saw they guy smiling at him back and he already knew why.

Eric, as he ate the meat, felt that warm feeling again and as he did, he felt himself getting stronger again, and as he did, he smiled as he thought "Well...isn't this interesting…" and then he heard the warrior say "Times up" and so he went and put his plate where he found it, he then heard the warrior say, "Time for training, you can choose to train with me or test your luck and fight against a weakened tier 1 monster to graduate" and as Eric heard that, he saw all of them standing by the warrior and so he thought "If you kill a monster, you can become a warrior and leave this orphanage camp, and take the monster you killed as a reward, and anyway, the age limit is 17 before your forced to fight a monster to death or...become a slave" and so he went and stood by the other kids.

Eric went and grabbed a sword and a shield like the rest of them did and started to follow the moves that their random warrior showed them, but it's usually the same thing, but sometimes, some warriors would like to add something to the training, but this guy didn't, and as it got to nightfall, they stopped training, and Eric, looked at the dead tired kids around him, and he himself was the same, but compared to yesterday old him from his memories, he was far different, as the kid was usually dead tired, and he was just tired in general, and this was a huge difference as the kid sometimes didn't even complete the training and those who don't finish their training got no suffer, so he looked at the few kids that failed and remembered he used to be with them.

Eric felt his stomach growl and thought of there night meal, so he heard the warrior telling them to go eat, but not to the one's that didn't complete there training, he then left and picked up his plate as he got there and saw the same meal he had this morning, and it was the same meager amount as well, but he didn't look at the bread that was the biggest thing on his plate like last time, rather, he looked at the meat, and he ate it first this time, and as he did, he felt the empowering warmth again and as he did, he smiled and stared to look around as he ate his bread, he then looked at 4 and saw him finishing his bread and looking at his meat with a sad look, he then saw 4 looking at him and as he did, Eric thought of something as he tore a piece of bread from his own and did a few hand gestures and as he did, he saw 4 staring at him as if he was joking and Eric smiled as he threw that piece of bread to him and as 4 awkwardly caught it, he looked at it, before he went and threw the meat to Eric, and as Eric grabbed it, he ate it again and as he did, he smiled, he then looked around and saw the top 3 ate their meat, and so he went and ate the rest of the bread he had.

Eric, as he heard the warrior say "Go back and sleep" smiled as he headed for his room, but as he got there, he saw the kid he beat up today, he then went up to him as he saw right beside his door, he then heard the kid say "You shouldn't eat the meat, especially since you younger than most of us here..., your body won't be able to handle it and you...could die...and shouldn't you know this already?" and as Eric heard that, he said "Oh, why are you telling me this?" And as 11 heard that, he said "I wouldn't want you to get sick or out of the game before I get my revenge...and I want that fool to eat his meat, I want his place...I used to be 4...and he tricked me with the meat…, but you...you won my rank fair and square, so I hate you a lot less than him" and Eric smiled as he heard that, he then said, "Well, you can try to get your revenge, but I plan on killing whoever challenges me on accident..., as it would send a message, but don't worry, since you appeared...well, not really nice, just honest..., I'll try to make it painless alright" and so Eric tapped his shoulder and went inside his room and number 11 looked at the door that closed, he then thought about it, before walking away.

Eric as he got into his darkroom that was being lit by the moon's in the sky, smiled, he then looked at the three moons, and as he did, he thought "How big is this world for it to have three moons" and as he thought of that, he went and grabbed a random rock and squeezed it as hard as he could, and as he did, he felt and saw nothing happen to the small rock, so he tried again, but nothing, so he went and left the rock beside his bed and looked at the open window before he slept.

Eric woke up to a banging sound, so he got out and stood in position, he then heard the random warrior say "All 14 of you are here, anyone wants to challenge to take someone's else's rank?" And soon enough, he heard the kid who he beat up speak up and after saying his 'Name' he called out '6' and as he did, Eric smiled as he thought "Too bad, I wanted to test something" and soon he saw the fight becoming a struggle, before soon enough, 6 lost, and soon enough, the kid who looked badly beaten from today's injuries and yesterday's stood next to Eric, and Eric just ignored him, he was more interested in the monster meat that was in a bit, and as they went to eat, it was the first thing he ate and as he did, he tried to trade his bread with number 4 again, but failed as he seemed to wanna eat it for today, and so he ate the bread and the smiled as he felt the empowering warmth that he gets from eating monster meat.

To Be Continued.