Tamako pulled another sword out of her storage ring, and started running the 30 yards to the center of the arena. With her axe held in the ready, Dicey was bracing herself to block the attack.

Tamako grinned inwardly as she charged, and as she closed within 10 feet of Dicey, she used a speed burst skill to almost double her speed instantly while replacing her sword with a tower shield from her storage device.

Jen was thinking it looked like Dicey was hit by a speeding train. Dicey’s face and arms shattered as she was thrown back towards the arena wall. Her armor protected her chest, and she may have survived but for Tamako’s spear that buried itself in her face a split second after she hit the wall. Most of the crowd that was still entering the arena and trying to get seated, stopped in stunned surprise, then exploded in cheers and screaming for more. For a second, Jen was worried Poker might be upset at watching his wife get killed, but then she heard Poker cheer with excitement, “Fuckin A! That was awesome!”

Poker then leaned over to Jen and said conspiratorially, “We are going to make a damn fortune!”

“What do you mean?” replied Jen.

Poker grinned and said, “Just wait for it.”

*** Recall Arena Gambling Quest***

Wait 10 minutes for gambling bets to be made.

Select “yes” and receive 10% of all winnings.

Select “No” and opt out of gambling proceeds.

Jen messaged Tamako, “Do you want to do this? I don’t want you to feel pressured in sacrificing your well-being to make gold.”

Jen could almost feel Tamako roll her eyes all the way across the arena, then she received Tamako’s message, “Love you! You’re silly. Hell yea I’m taking the gold!” Tamako was buzzing inside with anticipation. Sam had his enchantments, and Jen had her psych skill, but this, THIS! Made her feel alive. This was Tamako!

*** Recall Arena Gambling Quest Update***

Your opponent has accepted “Yes”.

Tamako grinned at Dicey as she watched her come out of the arena bullpen, and then Tamako also selected “Yes.”

Dicey was unprepared for the shield bash. She didn’t expect such a tiny woman to wield such a heavy shield and be able to hit so hard. She looked over at Poker, and could see the smirk on his face. She knew she would have to give him a “wifey bribe” to keep him from telling her dad. A few days earlier, Dicey had snorted dismissively to Poker when her dad had been insistent on telling them how dangerous these people were, and how strong the little woman was. If Poker told her dad about how she was just killed in the recall arena, her Dad would never let her live in peace. Dicey missed the excitement of the arena. Unfortunately, unlike other guilds, her guild looked down on open arena fights. However, since she was paying back a debt owed to Jen, Sam, and Tamako, and they chose to leave the recall arena open, she was obligated to participate.

Dicey’s skin was tingling with anticipation, she waved at Poker and then pointed to the arena interface, signaling him to handle the gambling quests. Poker said to Jen, “I’m going to manage Dicey’s gambling quests over at that manager’s podium interface. Do you want to join me, and we all split the take equally, or would you like to use one of the other podiums and separate out the winnings?”

Jen’s jaw had dropped as she watched the stands becoming packed with gamblers going crazy with bets, and she looked over at Poker, nodded, and said, “If Dicey is so popular, won’t her share be larger?”

“Probably, but you’re our guests, and we would like for you to share equally in the payout. However, we are happy with and respect whatever decision you make.”

Jen’s psych skill was putting together the emotions she had been feeling from Dicey and Poker all morning, and she was confident his offer was sincere, and answered, “I’ll join you if that’s alright.”

Poker replied, “Great, I was hoping you would. It will make coordinating the challenges and bets much easier. Our reservation was for two hours and included six recalls, and we’ve used two recalls already. We can add more recalls, but they cost 10 gold each. Depending on the amount of gambling to pay for additional recalls, we’ll want to run as many matches as we can in the next hour and half.”

“Anything else I should know?” asked Jen.

Poker laughed, “Yea, Lots! Most of it you’ll learn as we go, but if you're looking for advice, I would suggest we spend 10 gold on an anonymous mask for Tamako, unless she prefers wearing a mask during fights.”

Jen asked, “What does and ‘anonymous mask’ do?

Poker was surprised that someone with their skills had never heard of or watched an arena match with an anonymous mask being used, but explained, “It will make her face look completely different than it normally does. You can even select hair color, nose size, whatever you want, when you select it. However, we are short on time, so I would just select a random female description.”

Tamako heard Poker’s suggestion though Jen’s soundwave and said, “Yes, we need to select that option. My vision is terrible in this mask.”

****

“Van Joe, get back to the arena quickly! Dicey Death has opened a recall arena, and I just watched her get killed!”

A fat merchant laughed with his friend, “Dicey looks pissed, I’m putting 10 gold on her for the next match!” The fat merchant placed her hand on the enchantment inscribed into the arm of the arena chair. A System screen similar to those in the System Shops appeared in her vision. She paid one gold to temporarily increase her mental processing speed and distance vision. This enabled her to mentally keep up with the speed of the fight and to perfectly see the fight, even though she was near the top of the arena stands. She then pulled up the betting function and considered the odds being offered by the arena, and placed 10 gold on Dicey Death.

The merchant’s friend was also accessing the betting system from her seat and replied, “but the tiny fighter just smashed her to a pulp into the arena wall! What’s her name? Oh, the system just has her labeled as ‘Tiny’,” then she placed a bet for 7 gold on Tiny.

A father turned to explain to his son, “Little Gavo, Dicey was among the top 10 arena gladiators in the City before she quit fighting publicly. Her strength and fighting skills with the axe are infamous! More importantly, she’s a brute. You will get to see some serious bashing! We are very lucky to have been here today!”

The boy asked his father, “If Dicey is level 33, why was the Tiny fighter with a lower level able to kill her?”

The father shook his head, explaining, “Levels are gained through experience points, and while a person’s level might reflect their power and fighting skill, that is not always the case. Someone can be at a lower level, but improve their strength and skill through practice in an arena. Dicey’s levels reflect her experience and skill earned in life and death combat in the arena, but also as one of the enforcers of her guild. She is actually comparable to most level 35 to 38 gladiators. This Tiny fighter used power and strength, along with strategy to catch Dicey unprepared. She too must have significant combat experience. On the other hand, many fighters have a very high level by paying adventuring teams to allow them to group up and share the experience points through hyper-leveling. They end up having lots of ability points, but very little fighting skill in combat. There are also alchemists, mages, enchanters, and other artisans that can gain high levels through experience points because of their creations, but they may have very little combat ability. Similarly, we gain our experience points and levels through trading as merchants.”

The little boy was looking at Dicey and said to his father, “I want to have genuine power like her!”

The boy’s father nodded, and asked, “why?”

The boy looked confused, and answered, “Because she can do whatever she wants!”

The boy’s father gave a knowing laugh and said, “What is it you think she can do? I can easily hire 20 average guild fighters to overwhelm and kill her. A level 15 alchemist could easily create a poison and slip it into her drink and kill her. Who is really more powerful, an average merchant like me or Dicey Death?”

The father was being modest when he called himself an average merchant, but his son’s eyes widened with the realization that power and strength could take many forms. The father smiled with pride as he observed his son beginning to understand true power in the world.

Poker said to Jen, “To make money, Dicey is going to change out of her good armor and use an old set. Remember, the recall arena will not fix the damage to your equipment.”

Jen replied “Good point. Thanks for the tip!” She then called Tamako with her soundwave to explain about the armor.

Tamako looked at the cut in her leather tunic where Dicey had nearly cut her arm off and replied, “Yea, that’s a good idea. I don’t think Sam is going to be happy if he needs to fix too many enchantments on my gear.” The storage rings Sam enchanted were far larger than any Tamako had ever seen or heard of. Fortunately, among all the stuff in her ring was extra armor. She then had a thought and messaged Jen, “If I break more weapons and equipment, I’m going to need to pretend to get extras from you, or people will wonder how my ring could possibly hold everything.”

Jen reprimanded herself, “damn, I should have thought of that!” She then replied to Tamako, “Good point! I’ll pretend to remove several storage rings from my pack when you come to me for equipment.” Jen’s paranoia kicked up even more, and she pulled her hood even further over her head to make sure no one would recognize her.

The crowd was now chanting “Dicey Death! Dicey Death!” or “Tiny! Tiny!” as they waited for them to finish changing their armor. One creepy looking spectator was accessing the gambling system while she screamed. “Twenty gold to fight shirtless!”

Jen and Poker watched the gambling stats and all the quests that were popping up on the battle management podium. Jen cringed when she saw the quest to fight shirtless.

***Recall Arena Gambling Quest***

Quest: Fight without shirts

Reward: 20 gold if you win

Accept: Yes/No

Spectator Funding: Pending

Spectator Funding: Complete

Opponent(s) Decision: Independent – you can accept this quest without your opponent agreeing.

Jen’s eyes widened and her mouth slightly dropped open in surprise when she watched Tamako take off her shirt.