“Get up.”

Gana’s loud voice echoed through the room, originating from a small speaker hole in the wall.

Three days had passed - yes, I could tell the time now thanks to the small glass skyroof that let in light - and not many things had happened. I now had a snug little corner in my… lodgings, with a small bed and shelf. Apart from those and the food - which was actually pretty good - they had given me some wooden dummies. Not sure what they expected me to do with them, other than burn holes through them with light ray, which I did. Unfortunately, the walls didn’t break to my beams.

I stood up from my bed and yawned quietly. It was the middle of the night. What did he want from me now?

The door slid open and Gana walked in. Had he given me privacy? Damn, didn’t think prisoners would get such a privilege.

“Your training starts now.”

He crossed the room, towards one of the wooden dummies.

“What melee fighting styles do you have?”

I hesitated. Did I really want to tell him that? Then I remembered he could do anything he wanted to me and I wouldn’t be able to resist.

“Just fist fighting style.”

He picked up the dummy and placed it in front of me.

“How much mastery do you have on it?”

Quickly, I pulled up the information.

“Thirty-three percent.”

Gana shook his head and tapped the dummy.

“Hit the dummy until you reach a hundred percent. Call out when you’ve completed the task.”

“But-”

I couldn’t help it, I was still a teenager at heart.

“But what?”

“But I’ve trained it for hours before and only gotten it up to thirty three percent. Who knows how long it’ll take to get a hundred?”

“Then you’d better get started.”

With that, he left, leaving me alone in this stupid room, facing a stupid dummy, with a stupid task to do.

* * *

Thud.

Thwack.

The sound of fists impacting on wood echoed throughout the room. My fists hurt. It had been four days since Gana had given me this task, and I was going crazy. Every hour or so, I’d stop to regain my stamina back, raising Meditation’s mastery as well. It was efficient. Crazy efficient.

Yet I hated it.

I hated it because it reminded me of my life just days ago, a life that I would never return to. A life where I wasn’t alone. A life where I had friends, family, people who I was genuinely glad to see.

Angrily, I swung my fist into the dummies head and a splinter stabbed itself into my knuckle. I cursed, then collapsed back onto my mattress.

Notifications

Fist Fighting Style has reached 100% mastery. Skill upgrade available.

Though I was bleeding and exhausted, I managed a slight grin as I read the notification out loud. After four days, and close to fifty hours of training, I had managed to perfect my fist fighting style.

“Ga-”

I stopped myself before I spoke his name. Perhaps I would get a little bit of free time before calling him back in. Maybe even a little nap…

Sweatily, I sunk deeper into the mattress and sighed. This had been tiring. So, so tiring…

“Not too bad.”

Wow, had I already fallen asleep? I didn’t realise I dreamt this easily.

“I was going to give you a gift, but you obviously seem to not want it.”

Shooting up right, I looked around. That was definitely not a dream. Gana leant against the wall, tossing a little blue ball up and down.

“Wha- How did you get in here so quietly?”

“I opened the door.”

Damn it, was this stupid dry bug humour?

“I did it! It’s a hundred percent complete. I’ve got a skill upgrade!”

He didn’t seem happy, and for some reason, I wanted him to be. So I declared my achievement, hoping to gain at least some sort of approval.

“What paths do you have?”

I drooped. Not even a ‘good’ or any sign that he was proud of my achievement.

Sighing, I pulled open the path screen and read the information on it.

Skill Upgrade Paths

Path 1 Path 2 Path 3 Full Body Fighting Style Advanced Fist Fighting Style Flurried Fists Power Level - 5 Power Level - 7 Power Level - 8 None None 4 minutes A passive skill that enables the user to utilize their entire body when fighting. Branches from Fist Fighting Style. A passive skill that enables the user to deal more damage with their fists when fighting. Branches from Fist Fighting Style. An active skill that allows the user to increase their attack speed with their fists by five times for a period of 5 seconds. - Choose One Path -

Bonus Skill - Drain Punch

Rarity Uncommon

Power Level 6 Activity Level Active Cooldown 5 minutes Information A skill that, when used, allows the user to punch a target and drain 10% of their health. That health then gets transferred to the user.

Ooh, a bonus skill? I had never seen that before.

It seemed pretty useful for combat, so I was happy.

I quickly read out what the screen said to Gana, who told me to choose the first one. The reason was that I could ‘gain more’ skills later on if I chose it, which sounded about right to me. Straight after that, he demanded that I read out my list of skills and perks, including all of their information.

“I suggest you train every possible skill to their maximum mastery by today, because looking at you right now, I don’t think you’ll survive common training, which starts in three days.”

The way he said ‘common training’ sounded especially intimidating, so I started to get a little worried. Wasn’t I already one of the best?

“Oh, and one more thing. Levels aren’t everything.”

Now that sounded to me like it had a hidden meaning.

So, after he left, I decided to grind.

For real, this time.

* * *

3 days later

Gana walked beside me, silent as usual. However, his stance seemed to be a little more rigid today, probably because I was about to meet the two other prisoners. I had found out the common training was sort of like a sparring session between the other prisoners under the same warden - which in this case was Gana.

The corridor was only slightly lit by flickering ceiling lights, creating creepy shadows on the tainted metal walls. Gana led me to a room - similar to the one I stayed in - which had two familiar faces standing at the door. Borno and Calvin.

“Sup, Ikite! You liking this place yet?”

Gritting my teeth, I suppressed the urge to punch him. I’d probably end up getting stopped by Gana, anyways. So, I opted to ignore him and waited patiently while Gana opened the door.

The room was pretty much a box, except for a large raised platform in the middle. The ground was made of what seemed like concrete, but had some kind of soft texture. As I stepped on it, it almost felt like I was bouncing. It was a white colour, the same as the walls and ceiling. Fluorescent lights shone down from the corners of the ceiling and along the walls, all aimed at the platform in the centre.

Two figures stood on the platform, one well-built and the other slim.

I couldn’t make out their faces at first, but as I got closer, I saw that one was male and the other a female. The male had a humanoid form, but clawed fingers and scales on his skin. He - or it? - had grey skin and wore a red vest that exposed muscly arms. A deadly looking scythe rested on his shoulder and yellow, reptilian eyes stared at me intimidatingly.

Houru

Race Croc Level 37 Class Rogue Status Prisoner Family Name Jak Age 21 Perks Slice, Chain

The woman looked much more human than Houru. The only difference was slightly red skin and a long tail… wait a minute.

Ada

Strength Descended Human Level 12 Class Assassin Status Prisoner Family Name Carache Age 25 (+4) Perks Vanish, Finish

Descended human? She was a descended human like me? Also, she was the lowest level out of us three.

As I stepped onto the platform, I heard a sputtering noise come from my right. I expected to see Borno doubled over, laughing at me. What I didn’t expect though, was to see Ragachi accompanied by two bored looking guards.

“Wha- Ragachi? What are you doing here? Did you get captured too?”

I was relieved. Though he wasn’t my favourite person in the world, at least I knew him. Instead of coming onto the platform, I watched him get escorted out of another door, before appearing up at a viewing platform above us.

When he didn’t reply, I started to get worried.

“Hey! Ragachi? What happened to you?”

Still no reply.

Ragachi just looked down at me, a strange expression on his face, like he wanted to say something, but couldn’t.

“You know him? Kairo’s son?”

It was Gana who spoke behind me.

“Yeah-? Wait what?!”

It took a second for me to understand what he just said. Kairo’s… son? Wasn’t Kairo supposed to be the overlord from Nexus? Gana proceeded to explain.

“That’s Kairo’s son. We were sent down here to retrieve him.”

My words got stuck in my throat.

“B-but- that’s-”

I looked up at Ragachi, wondering if he would agree with the nonsense that Gana was sprouting.

His guilty look said it all.

However, I didn’t get time to think, because Gana started to address and explain things for us.

“You’ll be sparring with each other. Free for all. Last one standing gets to choose one luxury for their room. The first one down won’t get a meal today. You’ll be doing this once a week from now on. Start.”

He disappeared, leaving us looking awkwardly at each other.

The heck?