“What the hell, Wren? They said to test him, not kill him!” a deep angry voice boomed, waking me from my dreams of all you can eat buffets and female mud wrestling. My body was practically numb, and I had to fight to stay conscious. I didn’t even move when the voice screamed. I couldn’t. I was drained of all energy.

It took me a second, but I recognized the voice. Vega. The guy was normally so gentle that it was a bit odd hearing the fire in his voice.

I heard a soft exhale that signaled defeat. “I didn’t mean for it to go as far is it did. He was supposed to see them and tap out. I didn’t think he would actually try to fight. It was an intermediate test for fuck’s sake. I didn’t think he was so stupid.” Wren’s voice grew softer as she spoke.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. It gently caressed me which sent shivers down my arm.

Vega let out a huff in reply.

I could just imagine the giant man with an angry face, crossing his arms and snorting. It was almost enough to make me laugh but I wanted to hear what they were going to say.

“Stupid and brave.” Wren whispered to the point I wasn’t sure if I imagined it or not.

“Doesn’t matter what you intended. Look at the kid, he looks worse than when we found him a month ago. I will not be the one to tell Jupiter what happened.” I heard a swish like a cloak dragging the ground and the loud footsteps of Vega walking away. “If all goes well, I’ll be back by the end of the week. Try and have him back on his feet by then if you don’t mind.” He didn’t wait for her reply as his footsteps faded into the distance.

The hand on my arm stopped moving after a few seconds. I then felt breath on my ear as Wren whispered, “I wouldn’t tell you this if you were awake, I have a reputation to uphold after all, but you did amazing. I can’t wait to see who you become.” She pulled away and her footsteps retreated until they too vanished.

My head hurt already, and her reaction only added to my confusion. She was such a, for the lack of a better word, bitch to me the last few days. I was pissed at her but now, I’m not sure how I felt.

“Ahem…” Someone coughed which scared the crap out of me as I thought I was alone. “Mate, I know you are awake. Stop faking.”

Only one person called me mate. I smiled as I cracked my eyes open. Thankfully, the room was dark, so had no issues finding his ugly mug. I looked to the right and found Polo leaning in an open doorway that appeared to lead to a supply room. He had some items in his hands and a smirk on his face.

I groaned as I sat up on the rough straw filled bed I was laying on. “I feel like shit.”

“There he is! Yeah, I bet you do. Took a beating if what I heard is right.” He chuckled as he dropped the supplies on a table nearby. “I thought they would never leave. I was in there for so long and I really have to pee. At first, I was just going to give them a minute and then come out, but it got awkward, and I couldn’t bring myself to let them know I heard everything.”

I went to rub my eyes to wipe the sleep away but a sharp pain in my arm stopped me. “Ow!” I yelped. I looked down to see my entire arm bandaged.

“Yeah, you almost lost it. Just be glad Wren knows some healing spells. Not as effective as a Priestess or Cleric but she can keep you alive. That said, you’ll need some time to heal.” Polo then took the supplies and put them in a small satchel. He saw me looking. “One of the littles got hurt playing. I’m actually off duty right now. With you being passed out, they gave me some much-needed R&R. So do me a favor, stay passed out for a few more days.” He laughed, grabbed the bag and moved to leave.

To be honest, with the way I was feeling I probably would. I knew as soon as he left, I was going to pass out. I laughed at his joke. “Yeah, bud, no problem. Tell the family I said howdy!”

“Howdy? The hell does that mean?” He looked at me like I had sprouted a second head.

That was too much, I broke out laughing and soon he joined me.

I wiped the tears away as the laughter faded. “I needed that.” I felt even more tired now. With a big yawn, I laid back down.

“Get some rest, mate. I’ll see you soon.”

…

A week later.

…

Not much happened in the days since that first Testing session. I met with Wren once a day and medical staff twice daily to look over my shoulder and various other wounds. Jupiter was pissed about what Wren did and made her formally apologize.

Apparently, Wren had jacked up the difficulty to something way out of my league just to mess with me. If she hadn’t been so angry and bitter toward me the whole time, I probably would’ve given up like she wanted. Little did she know, I fought just in spite of her.

I was able to rest and heal for two days before round two of the Testing took place.

The first had been a combat situation and the second was a physical abilities test. Wren administered this one as well, but she was a lot nicer about it. Well, nice for Wren.

Wren tested me not just on magic but on my physical abilities as well. She had me run exercises for hours. I'll admit that I wanted to know what I was capable of, but after we had finished, I never wanted to move again.

She was a brutal drill instructor, always following right behind me yelling at me to go faster, to do more. Eventually she relented and moved on to something else. Hopefully, I had satisfied whatever demon that drove her to punish me so but I doubted it.

After the physical portion of the Testing, she had me practice with various weapons. She informed me that mages relied more on magic, but it wasn't always practical, so the use of weapons were a necessity. She used the holo-field to create a shooting range and brought out a couple bows and throwing knives from the armory and had me use each.

“Why bows? Isn’t that a little… medieval?” I questioned as I took the weapon from her dubiously.

This earned me a genuine smile. “Yeah, I guess so. But magic interferes with regular guns causing them not to fire. They basically become metal sticks in the hands of anyone who uses magic or in the vicinity of magic. Unless you have one that has been augmented by the system to use magic, but those things are worth more than you can imagine. We have a couple, of course, for emergencies but you won’t be getting one of those.”

I wasn't too accurate with the bows, something felt wrong about them. I could only hit the target 1 out of every 5 shots, but with the knives, I hit the target almost every time. I wasn't accurate enough to get a bullseye but with practice I thought I could. The bow just felt clunky in my hands, and I knew I was not a fan. The knives, however, I loved. They seemed to knew where I wanted them to go and just flew from my hand and found their target.

Slightly impressed with my knife skills, Wren got out some simple training swords, and we practiced my swordsmanship against some dummies, and I found myself adequate at this. Wren informed me that against a real opponent I would be killed pretty quick, but I had a solid foundation.

I honestly wasn’t sure how I was able to do so well with knives and swords. My body just seemed to know what to do. Like muscle memory. It made me think about the article I had read earlier and if I really could be the rogue mage.

Next, Wren wanted to see how I would react in certain situations and created a maze and began to form obstacles for me to overcome. I ran the maze and used every ability I had to help beat the challenges presented to me, however, not all of them could be won with the use of magic. The maze seemed to not only test my abilities but also my judgment to know when to use magic and when not to.

When we finished, Wren informed me that I did well but that I finished about three hours slower than most mages.

“Don’t worry too much. You’ll got better over time. For someone with no memory, you are actually doing better than I thought you would.”

Her words were little comfort. I was feeling discouraged after realizing just how long it took me.

Finally, the day came for the last part of the test.

I sheepishly entered the holo-field not sure what to expect. Wren had only told me that other than that first day, this was going to be the hardest part.

“Hey, Squints, over here!” Wren called to me outside the system shop as I made my approach to the holo-field.

She had been a bit nicer to me over the last few days but I was no longer sure she had said what I thought she did when I was half conscience. It had to be my addled mind playing tricks on me.

I approached her and smiled wearily. I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be a good day.

“Got a few gifts for you, courtesy of Jupiter… and myself. Kind of an apology for almost getting you killed.” She nervously fiddled with her shirt sleeve, then realized what she was doing and grunted, forcing her hand to stop. She bent down, grabbed a pack next to her and tossed it to me. “Inside the bag, you will find clothes that won’t interfere with your magic. The clothes are from Jupiter, but this is from me.” She reached behind her, into the doorway and pulled out a wrapped staff.

She passed it to me with an expectant smile. I unwrapped the magical apparatus and was dumbstruck by its elegance.

Standing straight, it came up to my shoulders and was the perfect fit for my hand. A delicate cloth had been wrapped around the entire length of the slightly twisted staff, except for the handle, which had been strengthened with a metal coating. The top ended in a massive teal gemstone and had been decorated with curved blade shapes, positioned together in a fan or wing-like pattern that encased the gem, protecting it. The bottom had been crafted into an oval, which has been decorated with thin, almost ribbon-like metal strips in bright colors and twirling patterns.

"Wren..." I muttered, not sure what to say.

She chuckled and smiled at me. "You're welcome. Now, give me your status plate. I’ve got a list of spells I want you to buy. Then the fun can begin.”

Wren instructed me to buy a couple defensive spells that were universal to all mages. “Since we know you can use elemental spells without issue, just select that as the type.”

I hadn’t gotten around to telling her about the skills and abilities I unlocked during that initial testing. At first, it was because I was too injured and had other things on my mind. But now, if felt like something I shouldn’t share easily. I may not remember much but I knew that being different tended to make you a target. I thought about selecting a different type just because I could, but reason wouldn’t let me. So far, all my spells were elemental, and I wouldn’t want to handicap myself with having to switch and deal with the cooldown. So, I did as she asked and purchased the spells.

The first was a spell to help increase my resistance to physical attacks called Minor Shield of Defense. There were better versions, but they costed exponentially more to purchase. The second spell she had me purchase was called Aura of the Nether, and it was used to increase magical resistance. Since they were both of the elemental type, I had to memorize their incantations. With the other spells I knew, it was getting a bit difficult to remember all the incantations. I needed to figure out what was going on with my grimoire or I’d be screwed.

"All done?" Wren asked as she leaned against the wall, while cleaning her nails with a small dagger.

"Yeah, I think so."

"Good, follow me."

We entered the holo-field where Wren already had a setting generated.

We were outside, the sun shining brightly down upon us, so it took a second for my eyes to adjust. What I saw made my mouth drop open.

We stood at the entrance to a massive colosseum filled with tens of thousands of people. It was an elliptical structure made of stone, concrete, and tuff, and it stood four stories tall at its highest point. An arcaded wall ran around it, quite vertical and quite high, and the interior was made up of an oval arena from which staggered terraces started. Terraces filled to capacity with human and beastkin alike, all screaming and shouting for battle.

“What the hell…” I whispered in awe and, I’m not proud to admit, fear.

Did she really expect me to fight in front of all these people? Speaking of people, where did they all come from? No way there were that many people at the base. Plus, it would’ve taken hours, if not days, to get them all in there.

Wren laughed maniacally next to me. It took a few seconds for her to calm down and be able to speak. “Okay… that was priceless. Don’t worry, Squints, they aren’t real. Just part of the holo-field setting.”

“Seriously?” Honestly, whatever magic they used for the holo-field was amazing. I could literally smell unwashed bodies from where I stood.

“Yeah, for the most part anyway. They just represent all the people watching from home.”

I whipped my head in her direction so fast I tweaked my neck. I was about to demand her to explain but she cut me off before I could even speak.

“However, they,” she pointed to different openings around the arena as men, women, and beastkin decked out in armor and carrying deadly weapons started making their way to the center of the arena, “are very real, and would very much like to kick your ass. Well, they want to kick everyone’s ass not just yours.”

I stared at her for a few second dumbstruck. “What are we doing here?”

“For the final stage, Jupiter and I thought it best to see how you do in a real combat situation with real opponents. Every month we hold a tournament of power. Basically, anyone can enter and get the chance to earn credits and much more. The higher the ranking the better perks you get. But this is all just practice for the real tournament held at the Viation every year. Only so many people are allowed to enter their tournament, so we sort through everyone and send only the best. This month just happened to be a gladiatorial style last man standing competition. While death is strictly forbidden, everything up to that point is allowed.”

“You really expect me to fight in this?” I wasn’t a warrior. I barely knew how to use a bow and while I was okay with a sword, I didn’t have the expertise to fight these people. My magic was the lowest tiered and I barely had any practice with it.

“Hell yeah, I do. But, I don’t expect you to win. At best, I see you making it to the fifty percent mark then getting your ass kicked. This is the lowest tiered battle of the day. Everyone here will have their level and stats lowered to below level 10.”

“Lowered?” I ignored her jab about getting my ass kicked. I was too concerned with the swords, axes, maces, and other deadly looking gear the combatants were carrying. Thankfully, I didn’t see anyone with magically augmented guns. Those would just be too overpowered in this type of battle.

“Sure, how else would a battle royale be fair? The highest leveled person would wipe out everyone else in a heartbeat. While in the holo-field, we can temporarily reduce a person’s stats. For our individual battles we just break it down into tiers based on levels and leave everything else alone. But for the battle royale, we want to give everyone a fair shot. Skills, abilities, spells, all of that is temporarily adjusted. You must give permission otherwise it won’t work but to enter the tournament you have to allow it. Yeah, there will still be people with a higher level than you but if you are smart you can find a way to win. First place gets 3,000 credits and a bump in their rankings. Everyone else gets jack shit.”

I had a medley of questions I wanted to ask but never got the chance.

Ding, ding, ding.

“Combatants, this is the final call. Enter the Arena and prepare for battle.”