"Welcome to the combat arena, how can I help you today?" A desk attendant said to Luke as he entered the building.
For a moment, Luke was speechless as the attendant talking to him was a humanoid shaped rabbit with whiskers for a mustache and tall, fluffy, pointy ears.
"Umm, sir, how may I help you?" The attendant repeated, as Luke got out of his stupor.
"I'm here to try my hand at the iron circuit" Luke said, repeating what Cervantez had informed him.
"Certainly sir, what time do you wish to enter?" the attendant asked
"As soon as possible" Luke replied.
"Very well, we have the circuit empty at the moment, so if you pay the 5 gold fees, we can get started right away" The attendant said, as Luke paid the fees immediately.
Uptil now, Luke and Leo did not understand the importance of money in Terra Nova or the fact that 5 gold coins was equivalent to the average lower middle class family's monthly income.
For one to produce such a large sum with ease usually meant that they came from a very economically sound background.
In the capital city Stronghaven, where everything was expensive, a player's economic backing could be the differentiating factor between a mid tier and an elite player as there were several avenues for growth that were only accessible by spending money.
" Please know that you can exit the circuit anytime you want and if you wish for our team to assist you against a specific monster, you can ask for help, but it will cost you 2 gold coins per help summoned.
The combat arena does not encourage you to battle recklessly or battle till death and does have instructors watching over who will intervene incase of emergencies, however, in case you die, the battle arena will not be liable to pay compensation to your family" The bunny attendant said as Luke nodded his head in acknowledgement.
" Thank You so much for your patronage, please follow me to your circuit" The bunny attendant said as she got up from her seat and began walking towards a corridor behind her desk.
Her style of walking was weird as she placed one leg in front of the other in a straight line as if catwalking and her slender hips swayed left and right as she walked this way.
A perfectly fist sized round tail stuck out of her dress through a perfectly carved hole, as Luke could not help but stare at the fluffy brush looking fur as it jiggled ever so slightly with every step that the attendant took.
"What sort of a world am I living in?" Luke murmured to himself as he felt his gut tightening and blood rushing to all the wrong areas.
He felt flushed, having thoughts that he should clearly not have for a non-human species, however, he could just not help himself.
" This way please-" the attendant said as she opened a thick metal door and signaled for Luke to enter, who rushed in to hide his tomato red face as he preferred facing monsters over embarrassing himself in public.
"I will be closing the door now, goodluck!" The rabbit attendant said as she closed the thick metal door once again, leaving Luke inside a small 25 square meter room.
On the top right corner of the room, an orc stood with his arms crossed as he looked down on Luke from a small gallery, and on the other end of the room, a trapdoor slowly opened from which a group of four mutated chickens flew out.
*Pakakk*
*Pak Pak Pak pakaak*
[ Mutated Male Rooster ] ( Level 15 ) - A species that's always horny and looking for partners to mate.
They are extremely aggressive and attack anyone that they perceive to be a threat to the flock.
All four of them were level15 and were agile and angry.
Initially they flew all around the arena, however, soon they zeroed in on Luke as they marked him as an enemy to exterminate.
" Four level 15 monsters at once! Sweet-" Luke said as he drew out his sword and mentally prepared to strike at the rooster who made the first move.
The roosters made loud noises, bobbing their heads forwards and backwards at a high speed as they slowly moved towards Luke, however, Luke was not intimidated.
As soon as one of them flew towards him, trying to gouge his eyes out with its sharp talons, Luke swung his sword with deadly precision as he decapitated the rooster with one blow.
-250 CRITICAL HIT!
[ System Notification - You have killed a mutated Male Rooster ( Level 15 ).
You have gained EXP! ]
Luke felt proud of his attack, however, he had apparently swung his sword way too hard to decapitate the chicken which made him lose his balance as he was forced to take a step forward.
*PAKAK*
*PAKKKKKAAKKK*
Taking advantage of his imbalance, the second rooster landed on his head and began pecking at his skill, while the other two attacked his sword hand with their sharp talons.
-10
-10
-10
Luke rapidly lost HP as although one could not imagine, the strength of these chickens was no joke and their talons and pecks actually hurt Luke a lot, drawing blood with every hit.
If Luke was the average adventurer, then at this point he would have either dropped his sword because of the pain, or quit the round, however, Luke had an inherent battle instinct within him, that shone brighter when he was in a peril.
[ Knights Honor ]
Activating his special skill, Luke suddenly gained a burst of strength and defense as he grabbed one of the two chickens attacking his sword arm with his free hand and snapped it's neck with nothing but his raw grip strength.
[ System Notification - Congratulations you have killed a level 15 mutated Male Rooster and have leveled up! ]
Running away a bit, he freed himself from the constant bother that the other two roosters were to him and proceeded to kill them both by chopping them down using his sword after a brief battle.
" Hell yeah!" He said as he managed to clear the first stage of the iron circuit and also level up in the process.
Although he lost half his HP in the very first fight and was now bleeding from his skull and arm, Luke was feeling better than ever as he thoroughly enjoyed the thrill of the battle.
"Open gate" the orc overlooking the fight said, as he gave Luke a polite bow once his fight ended.
"Orc Matumba greets the Knight Apprentice" he said, as he recognised Luke as someone walking the honorable path of the knight since he used their signature skill [ Knights Honor ]
It was slightly pathetic that Luke was forced to use his special skill in the very first round of the iron circuit, which only went to show how weak he currently was, however, it wasn't important at this stage of the game since there were not even 1% players in the game who could take on four level 15 monsters at once while only being level 9 themselves.
" Greetings from me as well" Luke replied, as he bowed back and proceeded onto the next stage, where his opponent was a level 20 Hellcat.
—--------
/// A/N - Apologies for there being no update yesterday, The ending event for vampire started before the expected date and I had to work hard to end it on time.
Nonetheless, with Vampire having ended, I can now fully focus on the new books moving to a 2 chapters/ day schedule :) ///