Mash opened his eyes and was only slightly startled by the sight that he saw. He was propped up against one of the walls by the rising platform, and he could see his mask laying by his leg. Only vaguely remembering taking it off, he was unsure of whether he should wear it again or not. It would be pretty pointless considering he had just revealed his face to the masses. And he knew that news would spread quickly in this place. It had for everything else, and he guessed that this would be no different. His thoughts on what to do about the mask were interrupted, as he noticed Luna.

Well, he didn’t exactly notice her so much as she made herself known by waving her hand in front of his face. With a quick glance around, he realized that Jill and Alex were there as well. Alex had her same stoic expression, but she didn’t glare at Mash now, and he guessed that the fight changed her opinion of him a little. On the other hand, Jill was similarly sitting on the ground and only managed to sit up using the wall as support. It was clear that she was drained, likely from all the teleporting she did. Looking over their group he knew what had happened.

After his fight, Luna had probably grown extremely worried and forced Jill to teleport her down here. He knew that was probably the case, as he felt no pain from his body, and could see no burns across his arms or chest. Alex probably came along because of Luna, and Jill was made to act as the carrier for both of them. Feeling slightly bad for Jill, he thanked her as best as he could. He couldn’t get any words out though and began coughing roughly.

On top of the cough, he realized just how dry his throat felt. In fact, it kind of felt like his lungs were dry too. He knew that he had breathed in a lot of hot air during the fight, and guessed that his lungs wouldn’t get out free of damage, but the dryness he felt was startling. All Luna’s healing did was treat the physical injuries he had, but not actually restore his saliva, for that he needed water and time. Deciding he couldn’t speak yet, he opened his storage space and pulled out his water flask. He had purchased this recently, after having seen Jack use it during training. It was an interesting device that could keep water somewhat chilled for a fairly long period of time.

Taking in a large mouthful of water, he spat it up as he got into another coughing fit. That had been a bad idea as his coughs this time were worse, and he made a mess of his pants with the water. Apparently, he wasn’t ready to start drinking that much water and took a much smaller sip. It was an odd experience of feeling both good and bad. The chilled water felt good in his mouth but felt like it was scratching his throat as he swallowed it. Seeing the worried faces of Luna and Jill, he knew he would need to give them an update.

“I’m fine, my throat was just very dry.”

Even that small sentence felt uncomfortable as it left his lips, but he managed to persevere through it. They only relaxed slightly but seemed to understand. With the relaxation came Luna’s fury, as her face contorted with rage.

“How could they do a fight like that!? There were hundreds, maybe even over a thousand of the monsters. You could’ve died, and and…!”

She trailed off, needing to pause and take a breath as she yelled at the colosseum organizers. Although he didn’t pay much attention to what she had to say next, as he got caught up by what she just said. Close to or over a thousand ants, that was more than he expected. How many levels had he gotten again? He remembered checking, but couldn't remember the number, and decided that he needed to know. Focusing inward, he felt the usual rush of information enter his mind.

Name: Mash Class: Scale Wood Devourer

Level: 41 → 47

Health: 1000 / 1100

Energy: 1780 / 2000

Fortitude: 100 → +10 → 110

Endurance: 71→ 74 +6 → 80

Strength: 71 → 72 +3 →75

Agility: 72 → +3 → 75

Intelligence: 107 → +13 → 120

Wisdom: 68 → 69

Charisma: 35 → 63

Free Stats: 5 → 35 → 0

Skills: Persist, Mana-wood Creation, Inhuman Hibernation, Mana Territory, Unnatural Monster Core, Inhumanity, Wooden Body, Carnivorous Tree

Mana Territory (Passive): Your eyes just weren’t enough. Sense the changes in the mana around you. Connect to the mana in your space and inherently understand the nature of the mana.

Current Range: 11 feet → 13 feet

Seeing his levels and free stats, he quickly raised them. He raised them across the board, but also made sure to raise his intelligence and fortitude the most because they weren’t rising normally anymore. It seemed like 100 was a threshold and raising stats through training slowed down significantly after that. He didn’t mind much, as the initial boost he received from the fight had been insane.

His charisma had almost doubled from the fight, or at least since he last checked his status, but that kind of improvement was unheard of. Especially, if he assumed the changes came solely from this fight. What did the stat even do? He read up on it before, and it sounded like it had no tangible benefits, but he knew that wasn’t true anymore. Charisma worked to both improve a person’s own charm. Strengthening both their allure and intimidation. Essentially a person with high charisma was usually both loved and feared.

Mash believed he filled the latter, but what about the former. He didn’t think he was very much loved for his appearance or personality. Or did it relate more to his opinion of himself? That would be strange though since it would mean that someone could raise their charisma simply by being self-gratifying. No, it had to be something else, and he figured he would never understand the stat properly. He was curious to see what the effect would be like and wanted to try exploring the city without his mask on. Maybe he could try it later tonight, for now, he would go home with the others.

As he began to push himself up against the wall, he felt an arm grab his shoulder to support him. Jill had reacted quickly and gave him a grin before speaking.

“Well, what level are you now?”

He could hear the anticipation in her voice, and he didn’t keep her waiting, excited to brag a little.

“Level 47. Six whole levels from the fight.”

“Huh, I honestly expected more.”

The genuine disappointment in her voice surprised Mash, and he considered her words more carefully. As he thought about it, he found that he agreed with her. He killed around a thousand of the ants and figured it should have given him more levels. Knowing that gaining levels were related to danger, he guessed that he gained far fewer levels as the fight progressed.

“You started gaining nothing at some point.”

Priscilla added the message, confirming what he had realized already. Still, he was glad for the reassurance, and this also made him realize why high-level people didn’t just kill hordes of lesser monsters or people. It was reassuring to know the class system wouldn’t encourage the genocides of weaker people. He knew it didn’t happen, and could probably find this reasoning somewhere, but it felt different to confirm it for himself. He told Jill as much as he knew, and she seemed a bit disappointed at his words, but ended up agreeing with his deductions. She understood that while it made it so there was no really easy way to level, it was better this way.

As he found his footing, they walked out of the tunnel. He had changed into his mending clothes and wore his mask but knew that it wouldn’t change much. It was already easy to recognize him, and nothing would change now. As he passed the entrance, he was unsurprised to see the others waiting for him. The attendant was looking starstruck but continued to stop them from entering. She seemed conflicted, debating whether to just ignore her orders and let Arthur through or continue to insist that he couldn’t enter. When she noticed Mash, she looked more disappointed than relieved, knowing that Arthur wouldn’t hang around. Mash joined the others but paid more attention to the crowd that surrounded the entrance. Their eyes met his mask, and many turned away, but a few looked on. Mash wondered who would end up the most famous after today, it was a real toss-up between him, the hero, and Luke. Honestly, Mash thought that Luke would still win, especially with the reverent gazes that continued to follow him.

They made it home, not stopping anywhere as the watching eyes were rather intense. There was an even bigger commotion outside their place, and he didn’t know what to think. He was glad that the princesses weren’t with them, otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to go into the mansion. The crowd parted and let them in, and Mash was a little surprised to notice that most of the people weren’t noble. When he first arrived, there were a handful of nobles, but now over half the crowd seemed to be commoners.

Once he got inside, the most important thing he wanted to do was eat a meal. After which, the sun would be down, and he would be more comfortable walking around without his mask on. The butler had dinner prepared before they got back, and they had a quick meal. Mash ate quickly, finding himself extraordinarily hungry. He didn’t pay much attention to the food, focusing on getting into his body over tasting it. All the food the cook prepared was good, so he held little back as he devoured as much as he could.

Stepping out again, Mash looked towards the gate and saw that it was still crowded. The next best option was hopping over the wall. That was what he ended up doing, feeling awkward as he leaped over the small wall. It was slightly smaller than him, so he could clear it easily. He pushed off the top with his hand, the gesture unnecessary, but it felt more natural that way. The streets directly behind the house were not busy, and he made his way towards the central portion of town.

There were two things he noticed as he walked down a dimly lit street in the market district. First, he was shocked to see that almost every shop was still open. Every single one had lights pouring out of windows, several dozen stalls lined each corner. The other thing that surprised him was the number of children that were wandering about. At his old home, children were usually kept inside at night, and it was mostly meant for the adults. It seemed like this town was almost the opposite of that. Although he had seen children during the day, they seemed much more free now, running through the streets and between the shops like they owned the night. A strong smell of sugary and oily food wafted through the air, and he wondered if this place was meant for children. That thought was dashed as he noticed several groups of drunk adults, playing around in some of the more open spaces.

Out of curiosity more than anything else, he walked towards one of the groups of children. They looked no older than six or seven, but that wasn’t the reason he picked them out. The reason he noticed these kids, in particular, was the unafraid gleam in their eyes. Well, that wasn't true of the whole group, but the central three kids looked at him without flinching, even after he met their eyes. When he got closer to the group, the boy in the middle reacted.

“You’re the one from the arena. The ant slayer.”

The boy was rounder, clearly having stuffed his face with the pastries that were being sold. There was a pile of empty skewers and wrappers, and Mash was tempted to buy himself some. The boy was mostly normal outside of that, his roundish features were well hidden by dirty blond hair that grew in a messy pattern around his head. He had spoken confidently, and with no small bit of awe as he looked at Mash.

Startled by the kids’ reaction, he didn’t know how to respond. How had kids been in the arena? From what he knew, it was strictly against the rules for anyone who had not received their first class. Well, putting that aside, for now, he looked over the group of three kids more carefully. All three wore rather poor clothing, and it was clear that they weren’t very well off. One of the other kids, was small and he guessed that she was a year younger than the rest. Her eyes were large, and she looked at his face unblinkingly. It was a bit off-putting and creepy, as her eyes poked out through long black hair that poured down her face and back. Feeling uncomfortable, he turned towards the last kid and was surprised by what he noticed.