''Uhh...'' Isaac didn't have any words.
The middle-aged man with short black hair and a trim beard looked straight at Isaac. He was wearing professional attire, which consisted of a white three-piece suit and fancy-looking shoes.
He also had a nametag floating above his head.
[Tristan]
The beautiful middle-aged woman next to Tristan looked confused at why Isaac was wearing a lab coat.
[Tiffany]
These two individuals were pair of brother and sister.
''Why are you wearing that, and why weren't you in your room?'' Tristan crossed his arms and asked while being curious.
Isaac didn't answer; instead, he looked around in hopes of finding an escape.
Tiffany seeing Isaac's panicked look, realized what he was thinking. She covered her mouth and giggled, which attracted both Tristan's and Isaac's attention.
''Brother, I think Wraith thought that he was a prisoner of some sort,'' Tiffany said after managing to calm down her giggling.
Isaac frowned, 'What?'
''Oh!'' Tristan scratched his head and looked straight at Isaac, ''Uhh... You aren't a prisoner of any sort— you can leave at any time— there is the exit.'' He pointed at the other side of the watching room, where a door with a simple [Exit] sign was.
''What?'' Isaac's eyes almost bulged out of his sockets.
Tiffany again giggled and said, ''We can answer your questions if you have any.''
Isaac scratched his head and sat down next to ToughGuy140, who instantly seemed timid, but tried to act tough.
Tiffany and Tristan sat next to each other, and both patiently waited for questions.
''Uhh, where are we?'' Was Isaac's first question. He wanted to start with simple, because he has a lot of questions and he is almost certain that he had a big misunderstanding.
''We are below Forest of Unknown in our own paradise!'' Tiffany said with excitement and looked around the room, where NPCs and Players alike were hanging out, ''My brother and I created this place to be free from restrains of the world.''
Tristan nodded, ''This might look like a den of criminals, but I can assure you. Nothing criminal happens here, and none of the people present have any sort of criminal records.''
''What is this then?'' Isaac pointed at the arena, where two figures were fighting till death.
Tristan smiled and said, ''Players who have found their way here usually wants to earn White Coins or new equipment— that's why they are risking everything on the Arena of Gladiators.''
''I see...'' Isaac then wanted to be sure, ''So... You guys don't force us to fight for your sick entertainment?''
''Hah!'' Tristan bursted into laughter, and Tiffany started giggling until tears came out of her eyes.
''Aha, I haven't laughed this much in ages.'' Tristan said and calmed down his laughter, ''No, everyone who fights is doing this out of their own free will.''
ToughGuy140 was still sipping on his soda, curiously listening to their conversation. After he fell down, he met Tristan and Tiffany as well, who showed them a way to this watching room and left somewhere shortly afterward; since then, he has been sitting on this couch, drinking soda.
He was also curious about why he was here and was wondering can he leave already.
''Why was I called Gladiator 678?'' Isaac asked; he was curious if everyone is fighting out of their own free will, why was he called like that?
''It's simple that way.'' Tristan took a tablet and showed him the stats of certain individuals...
Isaac looked at the screen and was shocked that it was his stats! It showed his Interface and everything in his possession, except there was no sight of Legacy Tournament Contender title.
It was like it was a special title that isn't allowed to be shared by anyone.
Isaac realized that numbers are easier to remember than everyone's names.
''That room you dropped into is a place we call as Judgement.'' Tiffany said and soon continued, ''Everyone goes there first after 'Descent', which is the fall you guys take. In that room, your stats will come to us, and in that a room, weapons aren't allowed, and everyone's HP is 1.''
''I see...'' Isaac murmured and then revealed his thoughts, ''That room... You guys discovered it by a luck encounter? I have a feeling that it was designed as a prison.''
Tristan shrugged and said, ''Probably, maybe it was a prison, but this place was abandoned by a long time ago, it was in ruins, and only the rooms were somewhat intact, even though not perfect, but we rebuilt it, and this place is now our own paradise.''
''You guys haven't seen even a fraction of this place,'' Tiffany said with obvious pride in her tone.
Isaac nodded and felt amazed, but he had one more question, ''What about 'Hounds', what are those?''
''You were in the room?'' Tristan looked surprised, ''How did you manage to hide? Interesting...''
''They are our pets,'' Tiffany said and showed another screen on the table, which shows pair of dogs playing with each other innocently. They looked fluffy and not dangerous at all.
''They usually track everyone who isn't here with good intentions, but usually, it isn't necessary because we can judge the people's stats, so even though it sounds bad, we don't accept Poison Masters, Assassins, Thiefs and Dark Priests... They seem most leaned to evil ways.''
Isaac scratched his neck and nodded, ''Seems fair... But, not all of them are evil.''
''We are aware, but we can't be safe with someone like them around,'' Tiffany said with a sigh. If there was a better way to weed out bad Players and NPC's, they would have done it a long time ago.
''Final question...'' Isaac's words caught both Tristan's and Tiffany's attention.
After seeing that he had their attention, he opened his mouth, ''What about the people with lab coats?''
Tristan smiled and said, ''They are here to keep an eye on the Judgment rooms, and maybe one day... They will find out the secret behind them.''
Isaac nodded and was now sure that he had a massive misunderstanding.
*Woohooo!*
A loud chorus of cheering appeared suddenly, which attracted Isaac's attention. He saw that only one man was left standing and it was the man who was unarmed!
''He is Brawler...'' Isaac murmured, and after he looked around the room and saw all the excited faces.
A passion ignited inside him.. Passion for fighting in the arena.