Stepping Out for the First Time

At the first sign of light, Ramero stopped his training with a heavy thud as he falls to the ground.

Despite the calming wind of the night that breezes from the glazed windows, the flickering sound of burning slake torches, and even the inviting sleepiness that drowns his physical body and soul, Ramero only slept about four hours last night.

Most of his time is spent on training and utilizing the newly gained Legacy Skill.

Since he now already finished the third part of the Strong Mind Strong Body Main Quest, the four parts in unlocked. It's basically the same as the third part, but the fourth part has been relocated to the Side-Quest section.

Now Ramero needs to do 1,000 Push-ups, Squats, a 10 Km Run, and 250 Pull-ups.

In exchange for that, he will gain 1,000 Points, 1,000 Exp, and Rejuvenation. But as he knows, Rejuvenation's effect has been weakened on the current him that has already reached this level so that's basically a pointless reward.

Aside from that this Side-Quest can only be done once a day, and has a penalty.

A bummer, but he was not going to refuse the free 1,000 Points and 1,000 Exp though.

From a couple of experiments and tries, Ramero finds that the Legacy Skill gave 0,025 points per rep he did. It was not shown in the status window until it he gained 0,5 points, but he can still feel his body getting stronger from doing each rep.

Ramero finds this skill actually broken if not for his muscles being fatigued.

Although he gained stat points from doing the physical exercises, the fatigue can't be outdone. It will still eventually tires him out, and he needs to rest to recover his body. On top of that, he also finds that different physical exercises give different stat points.

Push-ups and squats give him strength while running gives him dexterity stats.

Last night he tried everything to find an exercise to increase his constitution stat, but he can't find the exercise that gives him that result. Ramero tries to ask for a clue from the system, but the system didn't answer him which is annoying at best.

With that, he solely focuses on increasing his stats except for his constitution stat.

Now the day for the performance has come, this is the day that he would be fighting a life-and-death battle in a full-on brawl against 10 Gladiators from the Gladiator School of Clarity. At least that is what Silver Fists told him.

'Hope I get paired with Silver Fists' Ramero thought while lying on the ground.

Just then he remembered that he needs to find Leandra for whatever reason she asked to meet him, and she said that it was important so he needs to at least see what she has to say. Sitting back up with his body drenched in sweat, he went to the weapon cabinet to take a short sword.

Since he's proficient in using a knife, he's contemplating whether he should use a short sword.

[Sword Mastery: 40%]

Looking at the sword mastery he has achieved, it was already a considerable amount, he almost mastered half of the swordsmanship. 'Does the sword mastery correlates to short sword too? Or is it a different mastery?' he thought in confusion.

Ramero has trained in the art of knives for a considerable amount of years.

If the sword mastery correlates to a short sword then his heart will be broken, he refused to believe that his mastery over short melee weapons such as a short sword is below 80%. As he said that, another box appeared in front of him.

[Knives doesn't correlate with Sword Mastery, it correlates with Dagger Mastery]

[Dagger Mastery: 65%]

Upon seeing the number, Ramero was evidently pleased as that is not far off from what he had expected. Turns out knives correlate to Dagger Mastery, and his current mastery is at 65% which is way better than sword mastery.

Knowing this he decided that he would be using the short sword instead of the sword.

'Although I'm sacrificing reach for skills, I think it's the better option since I would be fighting for my life today. It's better to use the weapon I'm most skilled at' Ramero thought before nodding to himself.

On top of that reason, he also wouldn't clash physically with his opponents.

Most of the power that he has lies in his battle experiences, he would utilize that more than fighting like a brawler. In that sense, it makes sense to use a short sword as he will be dodging and attacking his opponents' blind spots.

As he thought of that, he takes the time to open his status window to see his improvement.

[Status Window]

Name: Ramero Nil Elsher

Race: Human

Level: 10 (2,688/4,444 Exp)

Rank: Infant

Bloodline: Warrior's Descent

Active Skill(s): Front Kick

Passive Skill(s): -

Legacy Skill(s): Constitution of Sparta

Strength: 77 -> 97

Dexterity: 52 -> 57

Constitution: 65 -> 68

Willpower: 10

Attributable Stat Points: -

Loan Debt: 41,290 Points

Points: 0

From the increase in his strength and dexterity stats, the Constitution of Sparta Legacy Skill has shown its power. Ramero managed to finish 500 reps of Push-ups and Squats alongside a 20 km run, he got 25 total points from doing all of that.

Ramero's constitution stat was increased by 3 points from the attributable stat points.

Since out of the three physical stats he can't access the constitution stat the most, he decided that he will now invest in his constitution stat with the attributable stat points he gained from leveling up. It's the best possible path in his opinion.

Just as he was inspecting his status window, a guard arrived in front of his jail cell.

"Stand beside the wall and don't try anything funny" the guard said sternly.

Without giving any kind of resistance, Ramero did exactly as he was told before the guard came inside and chain his hands and legs together. After doing that he was brought outside through the narrow hallway.

Instead of going to the hallway leading to the training ground, Ramero was stopped at the center.

Ramero stands in front of the desk of the Regulator with the entrance to the school on the side, there are 9 other Gladiators alongside him with Laughing Butcher being one of them. Similar to him, their wrists and legs were chained.

After the ten of them gathered, the guards link their chains together with one long chain.

Looking at the guards that are linking their chains together, Ramero can't help but wanders, 'Are we going to the colosseum right now? I doubt it. None of us are wearing our armors, we're all wearing brown stinky tunics' he thought.

Soon enough the two guards at the entrance nodded their heads before they opens the gate.

Upon seeing this Ramero can't help but feel excited as this is the first time he has ever gone out of the Gladiator School. With three guards at the front and two guards at the back, the ten Gladiators are escorted outside as the shy morning sun and fresh air brushes their skin.

One of the guards at the front holds the front of the chain to lead them along the street.

Just like what Ramero expected, the pedestrian street was unlike his home world. It's made of rough cobblestones instead of concrete, and there are also puddles of water here and there which makes the street a bit slippery.

Ramero tries to avoid the puddles of water while looking around the new scenery.

Immediately after the ten Gladiators including him walks on the street, the eyes of the citizen of the city were glued onto them. Many of them are excited to see the Gladiators, especially the women laying their eyes on these men that risked their lives for their entertainment.

"Oh my goodness! It's Handsome Red!"

"Tell me when you're free from being a Gladiator! I'll gladly let you live with me, Handsome Red!"

"No way! He glanced at me! He glanced at me!"

Many of the young women clad in plain dresses were excited to see a Gladiator called Handsome Red, they even give him kisses from afar, fighting over his attention. Ramero tilts his body to the side a little to see this person called Handsome Red.

From the back, he can see a guy with red long hair smiling at the onlookers with his pleasant face.

Unlike most of the Gladiators, Handsome Red looked to be quite young but that might've been the facade of his face that doesn't have any facial hair. With a medium-built body, Handsome Red's strong point is only his face with a strong jaw and sharp features.

But then, some women notice a new face at the back.

"Who's that Gladiator? I've never seen him before..."

"He's cute, I think he's new. What's your name, little man?"

Ramero's expression darkens when he heard this, 'What the fuck you mean little man?!' he shouted inside his head, the amount of disrespect just because he's not as tall as the other Gladiators was like fire to his ears.

If he's a free man, he would be cursing at that woman that called him cute and a little man.

As he was grumbling inside his head, Laughing Butcher suddenly can't hide his chuckle, his shoulders moving up and down. Glancing over his shoulder, he then gives Ramero a mocking smile.

"Little man..." he said without any voice, only his mouth is moving.

Even though they were walking along the street, Ramero can read Laughing Butcher's lips that clearly mocked him, and this makes his expression even grimmer, 'I really want to punch that woman in the jaw, she gives something for Laughing Butcher to mock me with'

Moving on from that annoying incident, Ramero finds the condition of the city is really bad.

There are not many people can be seen along the street, there are also no guards patrolling the city which shows that the security of the street was not that safe. Due to that, there are only a few merchants selling necessities such as food and clothes on the side of the street.

From the looks of it, these merchants are also not doing so well in this city.

Ramero also finds that the street is very narrow with houses cramped with each other, in some of the alleys he can also see people that look like gangs. It's a small city at best, the condition of the inside speaks clearly of that.

Soon, the 10 Gladiators reached a building that is not that far from the Gladiator School.

Arriving inside the building the guards give a pouch of coins to a middle-aged man dressed in a red coat that looks to be way better clothing than the ones worn by the peasants on the street.

Waving his hand, the guard that gives the pouch signal for the other guards to open the chains.

Instead of unshackling the ten of them at the same time, three Gladiators are unshackled each time before they are escorted by a maid to the back of the building. Ramero was still confused as to what they are doing here.

A couple of minutes later, Ramero saw the three Gladiators come back from the back.

To his surprise, the three Gladiators came back fresh with the scent of soap and also a new outfit. Instead of their haggard brown tunics, they are wearing matching crimson uniforms. The uniform consists of a black leather tunic and a sleeveless crimson coat that reaches their knees.

One distinctive feature was the symbol of a roaring lion crest on their chests.

Judging from the appearance alone shows that this uniform is the uniform identical to the Gladiator School of Tyranny, the roaring lion crest shows that. 'Finally, a nice bath. I can't wait, if not for the occasional water that we received in the training ground that I use to wash my body, the stench of my body would be unbearable' Ramero thought excitedly.

It's been a while since he had proper bathing, and he's yearning for it.

Ramero waited for his turn patiently, he was near the end of the line so he was a part of the last group to take a bath and wear the new uniform. When he was unshackled, he quickly walks to the maid unable to hide his excitement.

'At the very least something good happens today except for blood and battle that will come...'