Without much delay we made it to a long log building. I wondered how they had managed to get the logs down into the underground cavern, but before I could ask Flesk a short stout man burst through the doorway.

“Fleecing the Gladiator? THE Gladiator? Don’t let me see your face in the Bowels again, Ingram!” An even shorter woman than the man that had been tossed through the doorway kept a close eye on the scurrying form. “And you? What burab killed your cattle? Are you fighters or observers, cus’ if you’re the latter I want you gone!”

“Clara! Its Flesk, Darin sent us to be registered for upcoming matches.” Flesk moved next to the woman, the armadillo left to scratch at my greaves again.

After a moment of hesitation, I picked up the creature and absently petted it. The purring vibrated my body much more than I expected but I felt myself relax as I let Flesk deal with the cantankerous woman. As the vibrations pulsed through me, I felt my mana stir gently within me. The sounds of the stalls and the arguing of the pair faded into the background for a second and I closed my eyes. The instant the world darkened I swore I saw flares of green running beneath me while wisps of gray hovered around me. I concentrated on what I could ‘see’ but the moment the armadillo stopped purring and jumped off me, the world darkened again.

I opened my eyes to see Flesk looking at me, the concern obvious in his eyes.

“I’m alright, Flesk. Just taking a moment.” He gave me a look, before glancing at the armadillo that was rolling towards the woman. Now that she was standing while staring at us, I recognized the large nose and stubby limbs with longer fingers. She was a gnome.

“This fatso did say you might stare, I guess it was due warning, but I’m gonna need you to hustle up if you want to fight here. The arena isn’t for slouches.” She approached me as she spoke and gave my abdomen a quick poke.

“I think I can manage something.” There was something familiar about the woman’s demeanor, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. All she did was huff in response and head back into her log building.

“We are slotted in twenty minutes or so. They want me to go in first, solo, then you have a match afterwards. I… will probably have a tough matchup. I actually have a record in the arena, but they will likely match you with someone in the lower tiers. Do you remember your Attributes off the top of your head? It might serve you well to let Clara know so she can match you more fairly.”

I shook my head in response. It had been quite a while since I had looked over my Status, the numerical representation of my prowess and abilities. With a mental command and the slightest amount of concentration, I pulled up the table of information. The words and numbers floated a foot in front of my face, surrounded by the other indicators for my Health, Stamina and Mana that I had set to display.

NAME

TITLE

LEVEL

Faust Swift

None

8 (54% to LvL)

HEALTH

MANA

STAMINA

180 (Regen 1.1/sec)

170 (Regen 1.05/sec)

200 (Regen 1.2/sec)

ATTRIBUTES

Vitality

8

Strength

8*

(1 from Equipment)

Endurance

10

Dexterity

7

Intelligence

7

Willpower

4*

(1 from Equipment)

Charisma

0

Luck

10

SKILLS

First Aid

3 (46%)

Construct Operation

1 (20%)

Swordsmanship

6 (46%)

Marksmanship

1 (23%)

Cooking

3 (2%)

Farming

2 (19%)

Construction

3 (64%)

Herbalism

2 (12%)

Stealth

3 (59%)

Leadership

2 (37%)

Combat Magic

3 (19%)

Small Blades

1 (32%)

Mana Channeling

3 (26%)

TRAITS

Universal Favor

10 to Luck

Resourceful

Allows for use of unconventional weapons

RESISTANCES

Blunt Damage

5%

Earth Magic Damage

5%

EVOLUTION

1 (30%)

Human Kin

10%

Dwarf Kin

20%

Taking a moment to really look at my Attributes, I wondered if they were properly balanced. Vitality was focused entirely on how much punishment my body could take, while Endurance and Dexterity determined how long I could fight and with how much agility. Since acquiring magic, I had started to use it to upset fights against opponents I really had no business fighting, such as an Orc Warchief much superior in levels.

I was slowly ticking my Intelligence up to increase my Mana pool, but Levels were still hard to come by and I had started on the back foot in Muraglen. Getting transported to a Realm with the equivalent attribute strength of a baby wasn’t the jolliest of times.

My Willpower, Charisma and Luck attributes were a bit more of a toss up. While I knew Willpower affected the recovery of my Health, Mana and Stamina, there was something else intangible about it. Charisma supposedly allowed me to interact with others better, but considering most of the time I was crossing swords instead of words, I had yet to put points into it.

Luck, well, that was a separate issue in its entirety. As I mused on what my high Luck actually influenced, Clara approached me once again.

“Fill this out. Consent form for damages, injury and the like. I need you to sign here, here and here. Initial here, and add a next of kin here. Also, identify your Attribute focus here, no need to put in actual values we understand the need for privacy.” The woman handed me a legal paper-sized piece of parchment with almost unrecognizable swirls on the surface. It took me a moment to realize I had not actually ‘read’ anything in Muraglen other than my Status. Even as I watched and she pointed to the different signature lines, the swirls shifted slowly, forming into words that I understood and outlined what the arena coordinator had mentioned.

Apparently seeing the surprise in my face, Clara explained matter-of-factly, “Self translate paper. Expensive, but reusable. Now, get to it. Flesk, you are coming with me. Sara, hustle up missy.” The gnome waved at me dismissively and my half orc friend flashed me a smile as he passed. I walked into the log building as my vassal made his way toward where the arena was located.

The building was mostly barren except for two doors at either end and two desks that sat facing the door. One of the desks was empty, the other had an older looking human scribbling away with what looked like a tall fountain pen. When I stepped inside, the man looked up with a frown.

“Didn’t Ms. Kilgred already deal with you?” he said.

“I...ummm… don’t have anything to fill this. I also don’t exactly know where to go.”

The man sighed dramatically, scooting his chair back and opening a drawer to hand me another fountain pen a few inches shorter than his. “Don’t touch the lever on the side or we will have ink everywhere.”

I grabbed the man’s pen and quickly filled out the form. Tentatively, I marked strength focus for my attributes since those stats were still higher than my magic. Once I had finished, I looked up to an outstretched hand. The man snatched the pen and the parchment from my hands, then quickly summoned blue mana into his hands

The haze was almost imperceptible, but it sunk into the paper and the signature and description of my focus floated off the paper. The man fished out another identical paper from another drawer as one hand held the ink suspended in the air. With a slight whisper, the mists faded and the ink plopped onto the paper on the man’s desk. “Done. Now go to the arena.”

I stared at the man in surprise, the ink had fallen in exactly the same shape as the ink I had put down. “How did you do that?” I asked. I shut my mouth as I realized it was gaping at the man’s control of water mana.

“Simple imbuement with a static effect. Now get out! I have paperwork to deal with.” The man stood and shooed me out of the building, but not before I got a chance to glance at the nameplate on his desk. Travers. Shouting my thanks, to a grumbled response, I made my way to the arena.