The Sword Saint had joked about them not wanting to see each other’s faces anymore, and while Jake wouldn’t have phrased it like that… it wasn’t that far off from how he actually felt.
Not to misunderstand. Jake liked his party. Sylphie was naturally always a joy, and Dina liked to stick by herself when possible, so she was also great. And, sure, the Fallen King could be a bit uptight, and the Sword Saint liked to take on the demeanor of an old lecturer, but things had been good overall if he said so himself.
However, he also had to recognize that some alone time was more than welcome. While he did get some time alone here and there while on the different floors, they were still always connected through their Golden Marks and had frequent check-ins.
Now, in the Challenge Dungeons, Jake was back to it being just him, and he was all for it. He did recognize that there would likely be other characters in there, but no people he had to actually interact with outside of the bare minimum unless he wanted to. He didn’t have to consider social decorum much and could just go with the flow and focus on whatever challenges appeared before him.
After saying his temporary farewells to his party members, he entered his very first Challenge Dungeon.
Nevermore Challenge Dungeon Entered!
Jake only managed to read this single part of the welcome message as he was assaulted by a wave of weakness. His legs lost strength, and he fell to his knees. He felt his knee hit the stone, and a tinge of pain hit him as the rough linen now covering his body didn’t help much.
Wait, pain?
How could hitting his knee like that hurt him? What was going on…
As he was trying to figure things out, he luckily had a system message that explained everything. You have entered the Colosseum of Mortals. A battleground for the weak where only the truly skilled will prevail.
As a new arrival, you are nothing but a New Blood that must prove himself in the arena. Fight, conquer, and advance through the ranks as you qualify for promotion matches. Who knows, perhaps one day you may even become the Champion.
During this Challenge Dungeon, all base stats are normalized and set to 10. Base stats cannot be increased while in the Colosseum of Mortals. All current items and equipment have been confiscated and shall be returned upon exiting the Challenge Dungeon. All usage of items and equipment is heavily restricted. All skill use is heavily restricted. Further restrictions may apply.
Objective: Achieve victory in the Colosseum as many times as possible.
Current objective: Be promoted from New Blood to Initiate Fighter
Current rank: New Blood (0/5)
Colosseum Points: 0
Lives remaining: 10
Jake read through it all and had a pretty damn good idea what this was, and the name Colosseum of Mortals also made quite a bit more sense now.
This was the kind of Challenge Dungeon where one couldn’t just take advantage of overpowering everything with pure stats, high rarity skills, or great equipment. It was one where everyone was equal, no matter their Path, and it was all about skill.
Well, kind of. Because upon looking at this updated Status, something didn’t quite add up.
Status
Name: Jake Thayne
Race: [Human (G) – 0]
Class: N/A
Profession: N/A
Health Points (HP): 170/170
Mana Points (MP): 170/170
Stamina: 160/160
Stats
Strength: 16
Agility: 18
Endurance: 16
Vitality: 17
Toughness: 16
Wisdom: 17
Intelligence: 16
Perception: 20
Willpower: 16
--
Wait, it said all my stats were set to 10? Jake questioned, confused. While he was not a math Wizz, he was pretty sure none of those numbers were the number 10. However, he soon realized what was going on. Base stats had been set to 10.
Looking at the rest of his status menu, he did indeed see that while all of his class and profession skills were gone, his titles were left untouched.
Titles: [Forerunner of the New World], [Bloodline Patriarch], [Holder of a Primordial’s True Blessing], [Dungeoneer XV], [Dungeon Pioneer VI], [Prodigious Slayer of the Mighty], [Kingslayer], [Nobility: Marquess], [Progenitor of the 93rd Universe], [Prodigious Arcanist], [Perfect Evolution (D-grade)], [Premier Treasure Hunter], [Myth Originator], [Progenitor of Myriad Paths], [Mythical Prodigy], [Perfect Evolution (C-grade)]
At least they were untouched for the most part. All the flat stat bonuses obviously didn’t count, but all percentage amplifiers did. This meant that Jake had far higher stats than normal base humans, putting him firmly at the level of a superhuman despite the effects of the floor. It wasn’t that extreme, though, but a nice advantage.
Checking further, he also saw that at least his race skills were mostly the same.
Race Skills: [Endless Tongues of the Myriad Races (Unique)], [Legacy of Man (Unique)], [Wisdom of the Hunter (Unique)], [Identify (Common)], [Meditation (Common)], [Shroud of the Primordial (Divine)]
Meditation and Identify had both been downgraded, but the rest were the same. Wisdom of the Hunter still gave him a percentage amplifier to some of his stats, and Shroud of the Primordial was completely unaffected. At least, he assumed it to be that because, with his current stats, he was pretty limited in his ability to check it out.
However, even with everything going on, one thing remained untouched. One thing that, even when Jake did Villy’s Challenge Dungeon, wasn’t affected in the slightest:
Bloodline: [Bloodline of the Primal Hunter (Bloodline Ability - Unique)]
Deciding to scan his environment, Jake closed his eyes and released a Pulse of Perception. The entire space around him was laid bare before him as an area more than three-hundred kilometers in diameter was revealed to him. His mind was absolutely fine, too, as even if the system had nerfed him, it had left his Truesoul untouched.
It was more like it had put a barrier around it. A barrier that only let through whatever the system allowed – with the Bloodline having a nice little backdoor.
He did have the problem that properly memorizing the entire mental map was difficult, but at least he got an idea of where to go. Not that he needed it, as a young man approached him from behind, walking down the cobblestone road leading toward the Colosseum with what looked like a panther of some sort. Over his shoulder, he wore a travel bag and had quite a cheery look on his face as he also spotted Jake.
“Oh, hey there!” he greeted Jake with a light-hearted smile. “Are you here to join the Colosseum too?”
Jake had already stood back up and inspected himself briefly. His clothes were gone, and switched for a simple linen shirt and pants. Having the mask gone kind of sucked, but he would manage. Looking at the young man, he smiled in return. “Yeah, that was the plan. Though I will admit, I am pretty unfamiliar with how things work around here.”
“No worries there,” the young man said as he looked in his bag and took out a small pamphlet. Jake graciously accepted it as the young man asked: “Wanna go together and see the Battlemaster to sign as combatants?”
Seeing as that was his objective in the Challenge Dungeon, Jake naturally agreed with a smile as the cheery-looking man told him all he knew about the place as he showed Jake the way into the grand Colosseum.
As for how grand it was?
Well, grand enough for even a fully powered Pulse to be utterly incapable of seeing the entire structure and the seemingly thousands of arenas within.
“The Colosseum of Mortals. A testing ground where skill takes precedence over pure power. The individuals doing it shall be returned to their starting point, only empowered by rare stat percentage modifiers, and, through the directive of the system, face opponents,” the Wyrmgod said, partly explaining the place to the Viper.
“I reckon designing that yourself would have been borderline impossible,” Vilastromoz nodded. He was already aware of how these kinds of Challenge Dungeons worked himself, having tried to make quite a few in the past. He also knew the biggest challenge they faced.
“Impossible is an understatement,” Minaga scoffed. “People say I am impossible, but have you ever tried balancing a Challenge Dungeon like that? Actually impossible. Everyone has different starting points and grades in which they begin… on-the-fly adaptation and individualization is required, making no two Colosseum of Mortals alike.”
Vilastromoz nodded. This was indeed the major challenge when one “nerfed” the people doing a Challenge Dungeon like this, especially when in a competitive environment. Jake would do it as a G-grade, as that was his starting point. Meanwhile, someone like the Unique Lifeform in his party would start as a level 100, as he was born in D-grade, making that his starting grade. All the other restrictions would still apply, such as those on skills, but he would have normalized stats for the grade. The actual stats would be lower than pretty much any level 100 D-grade, balancing even different variants.
Well, not truly balancing. As a Unique Lifeform, he would still have his titles, including the special Unique Lifeform title. Even if the Wyrmgod wanted balance, absolute balance within the dungeon was never the goal, hence why they were allowed to keep such bonuses.
When it came to balancing creatures that were actually a higher grade, things got truly complicated. As an example, the Sylphian was born at level 0, yes, but that did not make her an F-grade at any point. No, she was truly a far higher grade. One she hadn’t even reached yet. Hence the system would simply make her level 200 – the “latest” starting point she had hit.
Was this the best solution? One that truly balanced the relative level of challenge and ensured the integrity of the Leaderboards, even if everyone ended up ultimately facing entirely different individualized versions of the same Challenge Dungeon?
Yes. Yes, it was. Because it was all handled by the omnipotent system.
“What weapon do you usually use, Jake?” Owen asked as they walked toward the Quartermaster. “My old man trained me to use a spear, but I am pretty good with a sword and buckler too.”
“Hm, I usually use bows and katars, but I have also used swords and knives for a bit. Oh, and a staff on rare occasions,” Jake answered the young man he had met outside of the Colosseum.
Despite being fully aware he was just a dungeon character, Jake still got talking with the guy, and he was far more animated and real than most other people. In fact, Jake couldn’t place anything off about him at all, to the level of him needing to confirm he wasn’t actually a real person by asking him about the Challenge Dungeon aspect of where they were. That confirmed he was indeed a character innate to the place, as he didn’t respond or even seem to react to it.
After they had entered the Colosseum together, they had gone and registered with a very uninterested Battlemaster who told them that if they wanted to fight, they had to go talk to the Quartermaster about getting weapons and armor first.
“That’s… a lot. Man, now I feel inadequate. Though I do also kind of know how to use a pitchfork well. I once fought off a big boar all on my own a few years back using one,” Owen tried to regain some clout.
“Hey, you said you know a few schools of magic,” Jake cheered him up. “I can only do one kind properly.”
“Right, right,” the young man nodded enthusiastically.
The panther he had arrived with had left them right after meeting with the Battlemaster, by the way. It turned out the beast Jake had expected to be related to Owen in some way was just another fighter who wanted to sign up for the Colosseum whom Owen had met on the way and was now off to talk to a monster-specialized Battlemaster.
Reaching the Quartermaster, Jake found that they could pretty much ask for any weapon or equipment they wanted and some-fucking-how, the guy would have it inside his store room. After a while of talking with the guy who looked like the stereotypical blacksmith out of any game – despite being a Quartermaster – Jake and Owen both left with a set of equipment each.
The first to get his weapon was Owen. He received his requested wooden spear with a metal tip that looked quite well-made, along with a set of armor. Looking at the spear, Jake was happy to see that his Identify skill at least worked.
[Flexible Spear (Common)] – A flexible spear made of wood and metal. Sharp and durable, with relatively weak mana conductivity.
Requirements: Any Humanoid Race. New Blood Colosseum Rank
It truly was as simple as it came, but with their current stats, did one need better? When it came to his own weapons, Jake got it a bit later. He had requested just a bow, a quiver, and a knife. None of them was anything special either.
[Shortbow (Common)] – A shortbow suited for fast drawing and shooting of arrows. The body of made of wood and a string of tough sinew. The wood is relatively durable but is not made for taking direct impacts. Low mana conductivity.
Requirements: Any Humanoid Race. New Blood Colosseum Rank
[Quiver (Common)] – A simple quiver capable of holding twenty-four arrows. The arrows are with simple fletching and metal tips, great for penetrating lighter defenses but weak against heavily armored foes.
Requirements: Any Humanoid Race. New Blood Colosseum Rank
[Hunting Knife (Common)] – A hunting knife made of metal. Sharp and durable knife, but it has an edge that easily dulls if used repeatedly. Relatively low mana conductivity.
Requirements: Any Humanoid Race. New Blood Colosseum Rank
Armor had come in light, medium, heavy, and very heavy variants. One could have just gone with robes or many other designs if they preferred that, but Jake had chosen to go with the light armor, while Owen got the medium one.
[Light Leather Armor (Common)] – A complete set of light leather armor, offering good protection against slashing attack, but is weak to stabbing and blunt damage.
Requirements: Any Humanoid Race. New Blood Colosseum Rank
The armor was pretty well made but also simple. It was functional over everything else too, and while not perfect, definitely better than nothing. Plus, it didn’t affect Jake’s movements at all after he made a few light modifications, where he made a few cuts around the joints and stuff. He wasn’t planning on taking many hits with it either way.
As for why he hadn’t opted for his katars or bigger melee weapons… well, weight was now suddenly a problem he had to consider. Plus, swapping weapons was harder now as he didn’t have any spatial storage. Katars were great weapons when magic was involved, but they took some time to put on if he had to switch from his bow mid-fight. No, a sheathed knife was way faster there. Sure, maybe he could have tried to go with a hidden blade or something too, but a knife seemed like the simplest and easiest option. Plus, this would be for the first fights, which he predicted to be relatively easy.
Needless to say, Jake would have preferred to use his own stuff, but he would have to settle with whatever the dungeon would provide him. Again, he understood why it worked like this, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t complain about it internally.
Jake had tried to pull out his Eternal Hunger. The mythical item was in a weird position in that it was both merged with his soul, but also a piece of equipment, so he didn’t know if that would be gone. His attempt had ended with him only pulling out a bit of curse energy while mentally draining himself significantly. He had wanted to continue practicing, but something told him that should he even manage to summon Eternal Hunger, his entire body would explode from its energy, wasting a life.
Having low stats seriously sucked for any and all kinds of experimenting and imposed several annoying limitations. What made it all worse was that Jake’s mana and stamina pools were both so damn low now, and it wasn’t like Jake had potions to quickly regenerate them, so he had to be a bit careful with wasting energy outside of fights.
Speaking of fights, he and Owen were both making their way back toward the Battlemaster to begin their first fights.
“We should go sign up to battle at the same time,” Owen said with a smile.
“No, let me go first, and you can observe, okay?” Jake said.
Yeah, he was not falling into that trap. It would be very cliché and kind of fucked up if he would meet someone nice and friendly, spend time getting to know him, sign up to battle at the same time, only to face each other in a duel, forcing Jake to kill him.
No way he was going to do that shit.
“I guess we can do that, too,” Owen nodded. “Oh, damn, if we had done that, couldn’t we have risked meeting each other in the arena? Yeah, that would have been bad, wouldn’t it? Yep, definitely awkward to kill a friend.”
Jake stared at him a bit. “You are surprisingly calm, considering you might have just been killed if you decided to go up against me.”
“I have confidence that I can win enough fights to at least become a Fighter,” Owen smiled proudly. “Though I am not quite sure if I could beat you, true. How about you? What are you aiming for? You sound kind of skilled, so maybe you can even reach the Gladiator rank…”
Jake just grinned at him. “Champion or bust.”
“I… I don’t think that’s very feasible,” Owen said, scratching the back of his head. “Like, I commend the spirit, but…”
“You’re right,” Jake nodded. “There is definitely gonna be some hidden Grand Champion rank or something above Champion, right? That seems like a more realistic goal.”
As the saying goes: go big or die ten times in the attempt and be forced to go home.