Lunch was served in the [Guild]’s cafeteria, which was a glorified bar, where plenty of [Adventurers] stopped to rest for a while, just after coming back from their [Quests]. That meant that they would interact with each other, share tales of their travels, and generally make merry.

And we would have been included in it, if it wasn’t that we were told that we were prohibited from interacting with the other [Adventurers] yet, and were relegated to the ‘VIP’ section of the room, were the staff or other distinguished guests would normally sit.

Which, unfortunately, included the [Teachers].

“So, you are the mentioned miscreant” rumbled an Orc as soon as he got close enough.

I hadn't met the other instructors yet, having spent the entire morning trapped with Eddd, but I guess the small group heading our way, where he also was in, was the entirety of our [Teachers].

A round of “Master Grog” came from the others around me, accompanied by a small bow.

“At ease [Students], no need to be so uptight”, interjected a beautiful woman with glittering scales covering her limbs, and contouring her face.

“Yes, Miss Merga” was their reply, once again in unison.

“Since when have they become so creepily coordinated?”

“Yoh Brats!” A red Nymph saluted.

“Yoh Master”, they replied as one.

“This evening you will be divided among me, Eddd and Skortch” put it the only lady among them, revealing the name of the only one that hadn’t been introduced by my compatriots, “While you, Darwin, will have to go through some ‘tests’ with Grog, here, to see if you have what it takes to be an [Adventurer]: The results of your lesson with Kaell was most worrying in that regard”, and she sends me an exaggeratedly sad look, together with pouty lips.

It takes me a moment, but I then send a venomous look to ‘DouchEddd’, for hindering my path into becoming an [Adventurer] just because he was insufferable.

He seems way too happy to return it with an evil smile.

“I’ll find a way to make him pay for this!”

If there was something that I hated more than being forced to study, it was getting surprise tests on the subject, and it appeared that my nightmare was starting to mirror reality.

“Good, you are already finished eating, we are going then”, says the Orc, seeing that my plate was empty.

But instead of showing me the way, he takes half a step towards me: And that’s when the weird tingling I got at the [Temple] came back, warning me to get off my chair.

I had already surmised, back then, that it was some sort of sixth sense, warning me whenever I was attracting the attention of someone, or if maybe someone with ill intentions was approaching.

The mechanics of it weren’t still clear to me.

It would have been useful to have it described as a [Trait], or [Ability], but I guess it was something else.

After having thought all that, much faster than I ever thought possible, I got off the chair and interposed it between me and the Orc [Teacher].

Which earned me a full-toothed smile from him, for some reason.

“Interesting… follow me, then”, and this time he starts walking towards wherever I was expected to go.

“I guess I’ll catch up with you later guys”, I say to the other [Humans].

A litany of ‘sure’, ‘bye’, and ‘yeah’ is what I got in response.

“What candor…”

* * *

We quickly found ourselves outside the [Guild], where we moved to the same backyard where I originally got off the carriage.

Only, this time I was watching it from a different angle, and noticed something that I previously hadn’t: “How the heck could I miss that!?”

A freaking colosseum was staring me in the face, which legitimately looked like it could have come from ancient Rome, with all the vaulted windows filled with statues, and a wide entrance facing the [Guild] (which I think are called ‘Portas’).

“Maybe the natural wonders of the [Nexus], and its inhabitants, distracted you enough to pay no heed to something as mundane as a building. But I am gladdened to see that you have realized that the [Arena] will be our destination” said Grog, with his usual ‘slow but clear’ enunciation.

“I figured you’d be less… ‘wordy’ “, I say, before even considering just how rudely it could be interpreted.

“Why? Because I’m an Orc?” He asks, after a brief pause.

“All I know about your [Race] is that you all normally have higher stats in the [Body] category, and are generally reunited under tribal clans. So no, I don’t think that Orcs are stupid, I just thought you looked like you’d be a meat-head.”

Once again, I was reminded that I needed to think, about what I wanted to say, twice before speaking.

“HA!” He gives a single guffaw, “you really have a barbed tongue on you! Better be careful on who you use it on, it may lead you to get burnt”.

Truer words were never spoken to me.

He meant that literally: since most Adventurers know how to light a fire discretely, they WILL light YOU on fire if you annoy them enough.

“Yes, but don’t blame me if they end up offended by my abrasive personality, that’s just who I am.”

At least you are self-conscious about it.

The first step is always admitting to having a problem.

Ignoring [Buddy]’s usual jab, I start paying more attention to the colosseum, or I guess the [Arena], that was now looming over us: I originally thought that it was made of gray granite (that seemed to be the usual pattern), but the closer I got, the more obvious it was that it was some kind of greenish rock with brown [Mana] seeping out of it.

“Follow me, young one, we are going to a private section: we aren’t here to make a spectacle for the [Blood Sports]” he pulls me out of my inspection.

“The fact that you consider what we are going to do entertaining enough to show at something called a [Blood Sport] worries me, like… a lot”

“Good, then it means that you are going to take it seriously”

I was starting to wonder about the gravity of the situation I was in, when we stepped through a ‘thick’ [Barrier], that I’d failed to notice beforehand.

I also failed to notice that we now were inside some kind of closed arena, with a vaulted ceiling and every type of armament imaginable decorating the circular walls.

“What the hell was that!?” I ask, still weirded out by the feeling.

“You felt that?” Asks Grog, who looked more surprised than I thought would be necessary, “well, that was just the beginning of the perimeter of the [Barrier] that will make it impossible for me to kill you”.

“ ‘impossible to kill me’? What the fuck is this guy’s deal!?”

You two are going to spar, he made it obvious enough.

“Oh, of course, because having a [Teacher] sparring with his [Student] to the death makes ANY FUCKING SENSE!!!”

I didn’t like the amount of time I was founding myself in states of sheer panic since coming to this world.

No, scratch that, I fucking hated it.

“Have you readied yourself?” Said my [Executioner] from the other side of the ‘battlefield’.

“Readied for what!? And with what!? Maybe the [Guild Master] wasn’t explicit enough, but I have nothing that could be interpreted as an attack, nor as a defense!” I was shouting, desperately hoping that he was just misinformed, and not a madman.

“You seemed pretty fond of that [familiar] of yours, from what I have heard.”

At that moment I had to wonder if any of what was happening was Eddd’s fault.

In that case, the fault would fall on you too.

“But I am not an unreasonable man-“, he started saying, making me hope for a way out, “- you can choose any of the weapons that you can see here exhibited”.

“How could that ever help me!? I’ve never held a weapon before!”

“Do not be absurd, everybody learns, during the course of their life, the use of at least a weapon, even though they might be only their fists”, he responds, dismissively.

“Well, I didn’t!”

“Do not lie to me, young one, you must have at least held a knife in the course of your life”, he sounded almost fed-up with me.

“Like a kitchen knife? Even those I had with blunted edges because I was clumsy as shit!”

“Never crossed swords with a friend?”

“Nope!”

“Never had to bash something with a mace?”

“Nope again!”

“Never had to impale something?”

“Nope once more!”

“Never even held a shield to defend someone?”

“Still nope!”

Grog’s brow kept on furrowing, more and more, until he got a pensive look and started staring at the ceiling like he could burn a hole through it (and given the magic that I’ve seen until now, it wasn’t outside the realm of possibilities).

He gets one of his meaty hands to his chin and starts scratching it.

“This is an obstacle that I did not expect”.

“What do you mean you ‘did not expect’ it? The majority of [Humans] lived pretty peaceful lives. And every conflict we had would be dealt with remote automatons, or guns”, I was about to lose it with this dude.

“Guns, uh? Just how technological was your world?” That seemed to have intrigued him.

“I don’t know… we didn’t have magic, so everything we had was tech-based. I guess you could be more specific?”, I responded with another question, shrugging at the end of it.

“hmm… so you would need something easy to use, and user-friendly… maybe even with the capability of being modified or [Enchanted]… yes…”, I left the Orc to his mumbling, since it seemed that he was about to decide the aptest weapon for me on the spot.

“Wait just a minute, I think I know what you will find more than satisfactory”, and with that, he was gone.

Like, literally: One moment was there, the next (after a brief flash of [Mana]) he wasn’t, and only a dust cloud where his feet used to be was left as a sign of his passage.

“Am I seriously getting a ‘magi-tech’ gun as my first weapon in another world?”

I would worry more about the fact that he intends to get very close to killing you in the near future.

“Ah, shit, you’re right.”

As per usual.

“Don’t get cocky now!”

“Here it is”, rumbled my massive [Teacher], suddenly next to me.

“Gah!” I screamed.

“Uh, thought it would be harder to surprise you… anyway, catch”, and he threw me a cloth sack.

I was able to catch it on the fly, and was surprised by how light it was: Now would have been the chance to have all the ‘training equipment is heavier for training reasons' trope, but I guess real life doesn’t work that way.

“Go on, open it. I am admittedly proud of my ability to match people with their most suitable weapon”, he says, after he saw me just standing there, marveling at what could be inside.

“Says the guy that couldn’t conceive that I had never used a weapon before.”

I opened it anyway, since he was right for at least the fact that I had to check it, and… it looked like a revolver; if a revolver was made with a single block of metal, cut so it would resemble a normal gun, with a solid see-through sphere made of an unknown crystal where the cylinder would normally be.

I was still gawping at the example of magi-tech of this world in my hands (its sack forgotten on the ground) when Grog spoke again: “You seem pleased with my choice”.

I snapped my mouth shut and then replied “maybe, but I need to know first what it is capable of doing: it obviously doesn't need ammo”.

There wasn’t the space for it, even the trigger was suspiciously absent.

“Easy: you channel your [Mana] in the chamber, and it shoots it forward in a condensed form. The type of [Shot] depends on what type of [Mana] you use, and the intent behind the action.”

Well, this weapon was just great, and I couldn’t wait for the chance to buy my own and [Enchant] it at my leisure, but there was one very small problem: I doubt this will help in keeping me alive during the soon to happen spar.

“Can I get a couple of minutes to test it out?” I asked.

“No better time to learn than on the battlefield”, was his response.

“Great, any more bad news?”

Keep in mind that he was fast enough for you not even notice his movements when he “casually” walked out.

“That was the morale boost that I needed, sure!”

Me, and my [Lantern], were about to become minced [Matter].