Christopher had to almost drag himself to the Arena Plaza, his body still sore from his first training session. He had his three betting slips secured, tucked away in one of the inner pockets of his robes. He would not dare to leave them anywhere else than on his person. Christopher only had twelve copper left; a mere pittance compared to what he needed.

The result of the next two hours would determine what he would be able to do with his current turn. His plan for this turn consisted out of training under Netello Brave and spending the rest of his time attending the Lumen Academy. The Lumen Academy had an entrance fee of twenty-five silver, so he needed to win.

The hustle and bustle of the plaza was familiar enough. A large part of the city would be congregating here around this time. Nevertheless, when Christopher took a look around, he could already spot a difference. He could recognize the wonderful musical performance from last time, as well as some other acts that he had witnessed before, however, there was something new.

A new troupe of performers was playing out a scene from some kind of historical or fictional battle. An actor wielding a shiny sword was combatting a person dressed up as a fearsome Orc wielding a black battle-ax. They theatrically clashed blades on the stage while a damsel was looking on with big eyes and tattered clothing. Cheesy lines were uttered from the human hero.

A small stage had been placed for the performance, and there had been nothing like this on his last turn. This very much concerned Christopher, he did not like seeing changes so close to the all-important matches. The current danger from the Blight had circulated among the people sooner this time, maybe that had triggered the actors to put forth this performance today? All the pieces in the city had already changed position and the fights might reflect that fact.

Christopher did not have the opportunity to spectate the play, the gates into the Arena were already open, and a long line of people was trying to get in. He certainly did not want to miss a single match; he needed all the data he could get for future bets. He had been curious to see if Sin’s class would be meeting at the same spot again, but they would have been the first to go into the Arena.

He bypassed the line for people that had not pre-bought a ticket, he had already bought his ticket two days ago. He had always loathed lines and would keep evading them like the plague. He quickly found his assigned seat section, which sadly offered a somewhat more distant view than on his previous visit. Nobody had given him the VIP seating this time.

He looked at his previous seat and thought that he could make out the silhouettes of his fellow trainees and friends from the previous turn. He would have loved to spectate with them, but he was sure they would meet again at some point, so he did not let it sadden him.

He was disheartened when a clearly inebriated woman occupied the seat next to him. The blonde middle-aged woman reeked of alcohol, the smell assaulting his nostrils. She had also not kept up well with her personal hygiene. The benches were anything but spacious and the woman kept brushing up against him. Cursing his luck, Christopher tried to ignore it as Eugenius Swift rose up to speak through the gold and silver horn. The speech appeared mostly the same, he even referred again to the special surprise at the end. He wondered if that would play out the same way, it was all kind of fascinating to play these things out a second time. He did not really want to see these changes right here, but it also gave him hope that he could change Lumen’s fate.

His Arena bets would be on the third, fifth, and the twenty-first of the twenty-eight matches. He looked at the first fight between Bereus and Santol with interest. Santol had actually been the favorite in this match and would have paid out very little, so he had not bothered betting here. Things were already playing out differently, the fight was over even quicker this time with Santol once again being declared the winner. It was the same result, but the changes only served to flare up his worries.

Christopher internally understood that it would only take a little difference in the build-up to completely change the fight. Maybe one of the fighters did not sleep well last night, or maybe someone had a bad night’s rest compared to last time. One of them could have been drinking. The fighters could have suffered some kind of injury, like pulling a muscle on the way here. There was so much that could change the circumstances of the fight, the butterfly effect was a scary concept.

Soon the third fight commenced, which was the first fight on which he had placed a bet. The first two fights had the same result as the last time, so he hoped that the streak would continue.

He had placed his bet on a woman that wielded a heavy spear with great skill. Last time her opponent had put up a good fight but she had still managed to win while only receiving a shallow cut on her flank, the opponent’s sword stopped by her Soul Reinforcement from cutting deeper. A fighter would need to deal out quite a few more of those cuts to be declared the victor. This bet would pay out 2.8 times the eight Venarian coins that he had wagered if she was victorious.

“Cut the ugly Orc humper” yelled the woman beside him, and at a volume that he worried would damage his eardrums. If he won money today, he would seriously consider upgrading his ticket next time.

Christopher was nervous when he saw that this fight started differently as well. The boasting was different, the slashes were different. But his nerves did not last long, his chosen fighter was slowly winning, being more ferocious and bearing down more power in every clash.

The cuts on the ‘Orc Humper’, as his neighbor had so eloquently called the opponent, kept accumulating. It soon came to an end, and Christopher jumped in joy when his fighter won without experiencing too much damage. The inebriated woman unfortunately gladly shared in his happiness and hugged him tightly, but it only slightly dampened his joy.

It had been the most similar fight to the last turn so far. This had earned him twenty-two silver and eight bronze Venarian coins and it helped to release the tension in his shoulders. His earnings were slightly higher than what he had put on all three fights. This would be a good one to bet on in the future. All these extra data points were rather valuable.

The next bet fight soon arrived, this one paying a little over triple. The opponent seemed a lot more confident this time though, roaring loudly as the announcer called out his name. He could not begin the guess the reason, but he looked stronger than last time. Not a good development, since this was the match that he had been most sure of.

When the fight began it quickly became clear that something had changed. He could hardly recognize the fighting style of the opponent of his chosen fighter. He was truly dismayed when he could slowly see the loss coming, his chosen fighter accumulating one cut after the other. Soon the fight reached its conclusion, and he had lost this bet. He could not even guess how things could have changed so greatly. He would certainly not bet on this fighter again on the next loop.

He now had a bit of a wait before his last chosen fighter would be up to fight. His entry into the Lumen Academy now all depended on his last bet. This last fighter would have the highest payout, but this was also the fight for which he had harbored the most doubt. He had put six silver on this match, and it had 4.8 odds. Meaning that a win would net him another twenty-eight silver and three bronze coins, a fortune for him.

It was soon Sin’s turn again and she had a harder time of it, not being able to land the cheap shot at the beginning of the fight against Torua, the dungeon warden. At one point she got bashed pretty thoroughly, but she managed to shrug it off. She again showed off her skill and incredible speed to slowly batter away at her opponent’s defenses and was eventually victorious. Although both needed a health potion at the end of the match this time.

Christopher patiently sat through the matches, and the match on which he had placed his last bet finally got announced. Of the twenty matches, there had been three matches so far that had a different winner than last time, so there was plenty to worry about.

In this match, Qeral, a relative newcomer and quick riser on the Lumen Ladder, would be defending against a devious roguelike fighter called Xarin that double-wielded two short swords. Qeral used a chain-like weapon, and Qeral was a crowd favorite and a rising star after shooting through the ranks. Last time the rogue had beaten Qeral to everyone’s surprise. He had placed his bet on Xarin, the rogue.

He tried to ignore the crazed woman who was now pressed up against his shoulder using him for support. Christopher intently watched the Arena Sands below.

He was unsure about this one. On the last loop, Xarin had won with tricks and deviousness, which had displeased the crowds intensely, but which had led to a close win nevertheless. Christopher had been impressed with the fight, and he hoped that Xarin could provide the upset a second time. He had still considered it a fifty-fifty chance at best, and he had only made the bet due to the amazing odds making it worth it in his opinion.

The fight started and Xarin immediately kicked sand towards Qeral, just like he had done the last time. This was very much against the spirit of the competition but it was not against the regulations. Xarin dashed forward and slashed both short swords towards Qeral, who could only block the one going towards his arm, the other sword left a cut across the quadriceps of his upper left leg. The spectators not surprisingly went mental at the dirty play and roared obscenities at Xarin. The woman next to him also let loose her impressive vocabulary towards the devious rogue. Christopher was at the moment probably one of the few people that was glad that the man was willing to do anything to win. Qeral should already be careful of Xarin, his reputation would have warned him of his tactics.

Qeral rushed forward, maybe not willing to give Xarin a chance to think of his next trick. The chain that he wielded whipped violently, but Xarin managed to evade it only just in time. It looked impossible to deflect the chain weapon, so dodging seemed like the proper response. It seemed as if the quick reading of Qeral’s movements was allowing Xarin to dodge the whipping chain since he managed to move before Christopher could even see the direction of the weapon.

Qeral could not stop the movement of the chain without risking a counterattack. Christopher could not really see an out for Xarin, but the man found a surprising solution that actually bypassed the ban on Soul Effects by imitating them naturally. Instead of using the Soul Light effect itself, he used both of his swords to deflect the sun naturally, directing it towards Qeral's eyes. blinding Qeral momentarily.

Xarin used this opportunity well, he dropped one of his swords as he dashed in towards his opponent and slashed the upper arm of Qeral. Xarin then grabbed the chain with one hand, after which he pulled hard, which released the chain from Qeral his grip. He used a Soul Powered throw to sling the chain through the air, it landed far behind him. Xarin quickly picked up his second sword from the ground.

Xarin and Qeral stared at each other for a while, With Xarin armed with two short swords, and Qeral unarmed. Qeral would need to move past the devious rogue to get his chain weapon back, which seemed an impossibility. Qeral eventually raised his left hand in the air, which signaled his surrender. The spectators were excited by the display, although the booing and cheering were divided across the stadium.

Christopher cheered loudly at the man that had earned him almost thirty silver coins and had made his enrollment at the Academy possible. At the same time, the woman next to him was cursing and making obscene gestures towards Xarin below. The woman looked at his own reaction with some anger, and Christopher could not help but let out a tiny smirk, at which the woman scoffed.

He made a quick calculation, He had won twenty-eight silver and three bronze coins here, twenty-two silver and eight bronze coins in the previous match, which would join the current twelve bronze coins in his possession. This meant that he would now have a total of two gold, eleven silver, and three bronze coins after exchanging his betting slips at the Lucky Goddess, which was a little over fifty-one silver, enough to pay for the Academy.

Christopher watched the final matches, and then just like last time, there was only the final surprise left. The same caged Orcs were wheeled out again. The people seemed more prepared at the sight of the Orcs, but they were still screaming and cursing loudly, hate ran deep for the creatures of the Blight. Anara was joined by two guards again, but one of the guards was a different person this time, this woman wielding nothing but a big metal shield, which was surprisingly effective against the creatures with a Soul Effect that pushed them away. The fight was over quickly again, and also just as bloody. Christopher exited the Arena soon after.

Christopher was ecstatic with his winnings. After watching all the match results, he was pretty confident that his money-making scheme would actually work out. Of the 28 matches, 23 had the same result as the last time, although certain matches seemed more unstable. He could now pay for the Lumen Academy while still having more than before his bets. And there would be Arena Matches every week, so he could repeat this process quite often. He hoped that his bets would become less risky as he observed more results over every turn.

It was time to cash in his winnings and to enroll for the Academy. His schedule would be full again soon enough.