There was currently no main event going on in the centermost arena, but the ones around it were filled to the brim with crowds of spectators. In one of the four smaller arenas was a group fight of participants going up against a giant Bi-horned Rhinoceros. Battles against one were always tricky due to their bothersome magic. They had a constant debuffing aura that forced one to fall asleep. Anyone that stayed within a meter radius was victim to its sleep magic. The longer you stayed within the effective range the more you tread the thin line of fate.

They weren’t easy targets to tire and each fighter was only equipped with a shield and short sword. The exact opposite of what you wanted to be wielding against the beast. This must be one of the conditions or disadvantages to promote higher point accumulations that Selka mentioned.

The fight dragged on until only two of the ten fighters remained standing after successfully downing the rhino. I thought if they worked a bit better together as a group there wouldn’t have been as many casualties, but that was only my take on the matter. I later found out the fewer fighters that were alive meant their shares would split to the ones left standing. It didn’t seem like there was intentional sabotage among group members, and maybe that was a rule set in place to avoid everyone killing each other off from the start to earn a bigger payout.

The other ongoing event adjacent to the group fight was a one-on-one match with two fighters. A simple ranked bout where the winner takes all of the opponent's accumulated points thus far.

Judging from the setup, it seemed like points were extremely volatile with a high rate of exchange from one hand to the other. The biggest appeal was that you could gather points from gambling. It was another form of putting your life on the line, but at the very least protected you from the imminent bodily harm of a battle to the death.

“Way busier than I thought it was going to be.” It was like people had nothing better to do.

“This is considered a slow day.” Selka corrected my assumption. “That's the events facility over there. You can sign up to place bets and enter as a fighter or do both.”

“Okay, let's go there first to figure things out.”

“Are you planning to participate in the fights?” Eris was pretty good at reading my thoughts for only knowing me for such a short time. It was rather unnerving though it wasn't like I was trying to hide my intentions from any of them.

“I’m considering it.” I liked competition matches in the first place and my excitement was probably very obvious. “It depends on the prize pool.” In the end, the only reason I would choose to compete was if the rewards were worthwhile. I hoped the organizers didn’t disappoint.

“You should heed Selka’s warning about their manipulative nature.” Eris sighed then shook her head. “Nevermind.”

“It’ll be fine, I’m just going to look.” Her head stayed turned away, looking off randomly at the distractions. “Plus I’ve got you here to save me if things get bad.” That attracted a scoff and I settled for that since she wasn’t ignoring me entirely.

Selka pushed open the see-through glass door and held it open for us to enter. There were wide seating arrangements for many to lounge around in with comfy air conditioning as a bonus. It was easy enough to figure out where we should go next. Further in along the back wall were counter booths lined up next to each other. An employee was stationed inside each one waiting to assist potential customers.

I stood in front of one that was not as crowded and started reading the list of information displayed above on several LED screens. It was the list of rewards and their associated point cost to redeem them. Two screens were enough to fit the prizes with only a few items standing out to grab my attention.

It wasn’t that the rewards were super good but that my eyes went straight to the points required to obtain them. Everything was pretty reasonable except for the last five things listed at the very end with each of them over a million points. A jump of more than double the points required from everything else.

I didn’t understand how easy it was to acquire points but that sounded ridiculous from comparison alone. I stared at Selka and it was like she knew the exact reason for my surprise.

“I told you.” Selka sighed. “They don’t even list their better items on those screens. See, at the bottom?” She pointed at the last screen and the words noted with an asterisk.

Information on additional rewards can be obtained from the receptionist. It was like they were too embarrassed to list the many zeros attached to their higher-end prizes.

“What kind of nut case would actually aim for one of those high-value items, was it super easy to get points or something?” I was pretty outraged about the points required but managed to keep my voice down.

“From what I understand it depends on how successful you are at winning over the spectators and taking advantage of the betting that goes on.” Selka noted the importance of the audience's favor. I guessed the organizers were more inclined to accept your terms of a fight if the crowd wanted to see you in action. It made sense that popularity was a thing down here.

I nodded at her understanding and reread the last few overpriced items aloud that interested me. “Flight restriction ban lifted, Slave redemption token, Access to Auction House.”

I went up to the receptionist finally ready with the questions I wanted to ask. To gain access to the auction house you needed to use two million points. From my understanding that was just to gain you entry, which then would require money to purchase anything from the actual auction.

“Welcome to the pit. How may I assist you today?” The ease of her greeting made it seem like she had been working here for quite a while.

“Could I get more details on a few of the prize selections?” I asked about the three items I pointed out to the others earlier.

The receptionist went over the flight restriction ban. It was a package deal that included its own magical carriage that came with windows and a good view of the surroundings when flying around in the undercity. Not only that but it was rated at a faster speed than the normal ones for use by the general public. It essentially made you feel like a VIP, lifting the flight bans in several locations. One of them that we ended up dealing with was the red light district and Flower Garden.

The more she spoke about the package, the better I thought of the prize even if it was valued at a whopping one million points. She moved onto the next item once she found me satisfied with her answers.

The slave redemption token was a one-time prize, meaning you could only acquire it once and never again. She went on to explain that you may choose from their whole catalog of listed slaves. There were no money prices on any of the slaves, most likely deliberate for the sake of hiding their true value. With the token, you had the opportunity to forgo the cost of any slave. This meant that they were all equal in price with a token, barring no restrictions whatsoever.

When I pressed for more information she said other than the details provided in the catalog, the prospective buyer would only be allowed a single in-person check-up on any interested slave.

Thinking about it, the token could be a very good item depending on the slaves they currently had a hold of, in addition to there being no such expiration on the token after purchasing it. If anything the token price is said to fluctuate to higher point values whenever a good influx of slaves are brought in. That meant locking in the cheaper-priced token wasn’t such a bad idea.