It’ll build character my ass. We woke up after everyone else, but only by one or two minutes at most, and went straight to the cafeteria. When we got there, all the food was already gone. I’m starving right now. I can hardly think or move. Vena has collapsed, and Tobi is curled in the fetal position, clutching his stomach. The whole rest of our class of slaves begin to follow his lead.

“Alright now, all new slaves listen up. It’s time for evaluation!” Felicia’s cheery voice barely manages to pierce the miasma of hunger that permeates our beings. Before, there was a bit of chatter buzzing around the tables, but now, there’s silence and stares of pity focused on our group. Is it really that bad? Also, didn’t Ivan already appraise us? What’s happening now?

I voice my confusion, and in response we are led downstairs to the doors, which promptly open. Ivan stands there, dressed in a flowing and silky bathrobe. It’s possible to see the outline of his crotchal region, which makes me incredibly uncomfortable. Put some clothes on you bastard. “Ah, hello again children. I’m so happy you’re here. Today, we will be evaluating you with a tournament of strength.”

Oh. Well, that’s better than a written test I guess. “There will also be a written test to judge where you’d best be suited to work.” Damnit. Here I was thinking that there'd be no standardized testing in this world. I’m not prepared for this test, I didn’t study, or even know there would be a test. This is inhumane treatment! How dare you Ivan! I will not stand for this! Oh, whatever. It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters.

Now we are being led somewhere. We take a cobblestone path down the hill the shed is built upon, and in the distance, I am able to see a massive arena. It’s as large as the coliseum and similar in style. Overall, it’s a very impressive structure. I hope that’s where we’ll be fighting.

It’s even more impressive up close. It has to have a diameter of at least 200 yards, and something like 100 rows of seats. We enter the building, trailing not far behind Ivan, and reach a room filled with weapons. Ivan procures a hat from a shelf in the corner and shakes it up. “I will now draw names for the tournament. There are thirty of you, and you all have your names in this hat. I will reach in and grab names, and fill out a bracket. Then, the fights will commence. It is single elimination, and the condition to win is that you must knock your opponent out, or they must concede. Try not to kill each other, but if it can’t be helped, well…”

Sounds pretty fun, except for the death part. I may be sad but I do not want to die. Ivan draws the names, and luckily, Vena, Tobias, and I are all in different parts of the bracket. If we all do well, we could get 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Convenient, if I do say so myself. “All of you must now pick a weapon. As of now, you may pick only one, but if you win a fight, you will be granted the option to pick another weapon.” Alright, weapon. I did tae kwon do for a long time, so I’m familiar with a few, mainly the staff, nunchucks, and quarterstaff. I pick out a pair of nunchucks lying in the corner. This’ll be fun.

We are led out of the room and made to sit in the stands. “The first match is as follows: Tobias Saunders against Phoebe Michaels.” Tobias makes his way down into the arena, nervously clutching his weapon, a long dagger that almost qualifies as a short sword. His tail is curled, and all of his scales are being made to blend in. That would be very annoying to fight against because his form is hard to view.

Phoebe is a green and black Arachne, with a giant spider body jutting out from under her waist. I don’t like spiders, but I have to notice that she’s pretty cute, even with eight hairy legs. Her weapon is a morning star, a brutal instrument of destruction that she grasps steadily in her hands. She skitters about nervously, which is a bit unnerving. “Ready? Begin!” Ivan yells.

Immediately Tobi vanishes. I can hear his footsteps and smell his scent, but it’s hard for me to pinpoint his position. Phoebe skitters back, a panicked look on her face before dropping her weapon and raising her arms. “I concede!” She yells. “Ah, a noble victory,” says Ivan. Tobi reappears on Phoebe’s back, his dagger on her throat. Ruthless is the only word to describe Tobi’s actions.

He dismounts the spider and recedes into the stands while apologizing profusely to Phoebe. I glance at Ivan. Tobi’s camouflage skill consumes mana, so it qualifies as magic. As Ivan mentioned earlier, having a higher magic stat increases your resistance to magic. My magic stat is 12, 2 higher than average, and I can’t see Tobias at all when he’s camouflaged. Ivan’s magic would have to be much higher than mine then, in order for him to be able to perceive the events of the fight (and I'm pretty sure he's able to). This definitely rules out the possibility of escaping via incapacitation-of-Ivan.

With this new realization, I turn my eyes back to the arena. I need to think of a new plan, because if Ivan is really as strong as I’m guessing, there’s no way he’d let us get the chance to use the teleporter, and it's impossible to beat him. I glance at Ivan. Fuck, he’s staring straight at me. He smiles, winks, and turns to the bracket. “Next, Kriss McDiebich and Abbott Joughman.” So I’m fighting Abbott. I look around and see a massive wolf-kin with a huge greatsword on his back walk into the arena from a side entrance. He is definitely not one of the people from our class. How the hell do you expect me to fight that tower of fur and muscle? Fuck.