Eden's Gate: The Arena: A LitRPG Adventure

by Edward Brody

  Rudy yelped out and bucked his back at the attack right before Meijir twirled in place and landed a roundhouse right against the dagger that he had just planted in Rudy’s back. The warrior flew forward several feet and dropped his swords as he slid on his face.

  Meijir watched patiently as Rudy groaned weakly and somehow managed to push himself up to his hands and knees, but just as Rudy lifted a foot and planted it on the ground, Meijir spun in a three-sixty to his right and released two of his black, energy-laden stars, then repeated the same attacked by performing a three-sixty to his left.

  Each time a star slammed into Rudy’s back, he cried out and inched a bit closer to the ground, until he was barely holding his head off the dirt.

  Meijir sprinted towards Rudy, leapt over him, and at the peak of his jump, threw two more stars down hard into Rudy’s back, causing him to fall flat on the ground. A wave of energy pulsed out of him and dissipated the magical stars.

  Meijir stuck his landing, and the entire Arena leapt out of their seats.

  “Wow…” Aaron said, his jaw hanging wide.

  I swallowed hard as the three of us stood up to join in on the applause and watched as Meijir bowed in every direction. A few people started cheering, “Champion! Champion!” and I saw couple people throw confetti and ribbons out into the fighting grounds.

  I felt deflated after watching Meijir beat Rudy. The Dark Assassins’ skills were far greater than my own. Sure, he was a couple levels higher than me, but even if I were up to level up to 20, how would I defeat someone with that kind of dexterity and speed? And he was just the top-ranked competitor in Highcastle. Even if I figured out a way to beat him, I’d have to take down the champion—who’d likely be tougher than Meijir—if I were ever going to meet the King.

  As the announcer pranced back into the center of the Arena, I tapped Aaron with my backhand and leaned my head towards the exit. “C’mon, let’s go.”

  Aaron’s wrinkled his eyebrows. “Why? What for?”

  “The tier 2 and tier 3 fights are up next,” Ozzy cried.

  “We’ve wasted enough time in Highcastle,” I explained. “We need to go train before it gets too late.”

  Aaron snapped his lips as he stood to his feet. “Damnit, I was just starting to have fun.”

  Ozzy reluctantly stood up. “I kind of want to stay, but Betsy is my ride. I really need to get my own mount soon.”

  I slapped Ozzy on the shoulder. “Once the stable is built, feel free to take some money from the treasury for one if you don’t have enough.”

  Ozzy raised a brow. “Really? I’m almost there actually.”

  I nodded. “Of course. I know you were contributing to the village when I was away.”

  Ozzy smiled, nodded and suddenly seemed a bit more upbeat about leaving.

  As we navigated through the stands and headed out of the Arena doors, I started thinking of a good place where the boys and I could go grind or if there was a bulletin board in Highcastle where we could get quests. In truth, I wanted to watch the rest of the fights as much as Ozzy and Aaron did, but after seeing Meijir, I knew I had to get to grinding. I needed better gear, better weapons, stat gains, new spells—something. In fact, I was beginning to think that I wasn’t in a position where I’d get strong enough to defeat Meijir before hitting level 21 and being forced in a new tier of combatants. Maybe I needed to forget the whole idea of competing in the arena and figure out another way to meet the King.

  “Gunnar! Sizzler!” a voice yelled when we were several meters from the Arena. When I turned, Commander Eldrich was jogging from the Arena entrance and towards us.

  “Commander?” I asked, surprise in my voice.

  “Great fight, Gunnar.” He turned to Ozzy. “You had a great fight as well, Ozzy. I was surprised to see you both had signed up to fight so shortly after we spoke.”

  “You watched us fight?” I queried.

  “Of course,” he said. “Any show that the King attends is obviously going to be something special.”

  I grinned and nodded. “Well, thanks.”

  “You’re fighting for gold?” the commander asked.

  I raised a shoulder. “The gold is nice, but like I told you before, I was looking to meet the King.”

  “To become a champion?” Captain Eldrich questioned.

  “Yeah.” I shook my head and swallowed. “But ugh… After seeing Meijir fight, I don’t think I can beat him.”

  The captain huffed and nodded. “That’s true. You won’t beat Meijir at your current skill level.”

  I sighed, feeling even more deflated hearing the confirmation from someone of higher importance.

  “But that doesn’t mean you should give up,” the commander continued. “With some assistance, maybe one day you could actually do well against him.”

  “Assistance?” I asked.

  The commander nodded. “If you have a moment, can you join me in the barracks? Your friends as well.”

  I scoffed and tossed up a dismissive palm. “I’ll tell you about the Fellblade some other time. We’re really need to go train.”

  “It’s not about the Fellblade,” the commander explained. “I have a proposition that may interest you. It should only take a few moments.”

  I glanced at Aaron and Ozzy who both looked back at me with curious eyes. I nodded towards the commander and slightly shrugged. “Well, alright, I suppose. I guess we can have a look.”

  Chapter Twelve

  1/26/0001

  We followed the street past the path that led to the King’s castle and past the numerous shops and buildings ‘til we were met with a wide stone, single-story building that jutted out of the face of the mountain. The building was plain and unmarked with two ragged, wooden doors on its face.

  “Over there,” the commander said, pointing to the right-hand door as we approached, “is where the Highcastle army organizes and trains. He stepped up to the door on the left, pushed it open, and waved a hand to signal us inside. “And over here, is the Fighter’s Guild.”

  “The Fighter’s Guild?” I questions as I stepped inside the room.

  The inside of the room was square and plain. The walls were unmarked, but there were numerous weapon racks lining the walls, and on the far side were four wooden training dummies. On the right of the far wall was a long bench for seating and closer to the entrance was an empty table, capable of seating four.

  There was a leather-garbed man swinging a sword against one of the training dummies and one other guy on the far bench, leaning over catching his breath. They both glanced at us when we entered, but just as quickly minded their own business.

  “We call it the Fighter’s Guild, but it’s really a faction. The Fighter’s Guild of Highcastle!” he said confidently. “Here, we help train citizens who wish to become stronger, to learn fighting abilities they may not learn on their own.”

  “Fighting abilities?” I asked. “What do you mean? Like swords versus blunt weapons?” I didn’t understand what he could teach me exactly. It seemed that I could learn how to use any specific weapon just by picking it up and using it.

  The commander rubbed his chin. “Yeah sure. But, more specifically—skills.” He reached up and rubbed his nose as if he felt something on it. “You all know the difference between combat spells and other fighting skills right?”

  Ozzy shrugged and Aaron grinned like he knew something but wasn’t about to say it.

  “Spells are magic?” I said.

  The commander smiled and quickly pointed his finger towards me. “That’s correct, but more precisely, spells usually drain your mana and fighting skills usually drain your stamina. There are exceptions, of course, and even some skills that will drain both at the same time, but that’s how things generally work.” He tilted his head to the side and looked at us curiously. “Didn’t your mother and father teach you these basics as children?”

  “Papa was a Rolling Stone,” Aaron clucked cockily.

  I shoved Aaron with my elbow and
threw him a harsh glare. “Combat and magic are somewhat new to us, I suppose.”

  The commander looked curiously at Aaron and rattled his head, dismissing him. “Well, okay. So, you know fighting skills that don’t require mana, correct?”

  “Ughh…” I groaned. “…backstab?”

  The commander smiled. “Of course. One of the first fighting skills that most people learn. Anything else?”

  “I know this!” Ozzy cooed. He took a hard step forward and threw his Intimidating Shout towards the commander.

  The commander’s brow furrowed, and he immediately stepped forward, grabbed Ozzy by the throat, and slammed him against the wall.

  “Holy shit!” Aaron squawked.

  “Hey!” I shouted, and my heart jumped.

  The commander quickly let go of Ozzy and shook his head as if he had been dazed. “I asked what spells you had, not to use them on me.” He pulled his shoulders back and cracked his back. “Be careful with that ability. It’s difficult to resist.”

  “Sorry,” Ozzy said, rubbing his neck where he been grabbed. “I didn’t realize it would affect you.”

  “Yeah,” the commander groaned. “Anyway, we can help you hone your fighting abilities and gradually teach you new skills.”

  “Skills like?” Ozzy asked.

  The commander rubbed his chin. “You saw the fight with Rudy and Meijir, right? When Rudy was shouting towards the sky, he was activating the non-magic buff called Rage. It gives you a power boost but also drains your stamina while in use.”

  “Non-magic skills don’t require scrolls right?” I questioned.

  “Right,” the commanded confirmed.

  “So, then what’s stopping me from just replicating what I saw Rudy do?”

  “Well,” the commander explained, “you could very well replicate any fighting skill you see, but it might take you some time before you actually activate it and are able to use it. The more difficult the skill, the more time you’d have to train. And that’s even if you know the skill exists. We can accelerate your growth through guided training and maybe teach you some things you’ve never seen before.”

  “Sounds great,” Ozzy said.

  The commander smiled. “And that’s why I’m inviting you to join the Fighter’s Guild.” He focused his attention on me. “If you train with the Fighter’s Faction, you may one day be able to defeat Meijir.”

  You’ve received an alliance invitation from the faction:

  The Fighter’s Guild of Highcastle

  Aligning with a faction can give faction specific perks and open hidden quests that are unavailable to non-faction members. Once you are a member of a faction, negative action against that faction can result in harsh consequences.

  You can side with as many factions as you want, but be careful of who you align with. If you align with two separate factions that enter a war or have conflicting goals, you may find yourself in a difficult situation!

  Do you wish to align with this faction?

  Accept/Decline

  “It’s free to join?” I asked. “No catch?”

  The commander took a deep breath. “I didn’t say that. Members who join the Fighter’s Guild of Highcastle must pledge allegiance to Highcastle. You won’t be a part of the army in any way and have no obligation to fight our battles, but you must oath that you’ll always do what’s in Highcastle’s best interest and never purposely harm a Highcastle or Freelander citizen. There are quests that we’ll give you to complete, but the more tasks you complete for us, the more skills we’ll teach you.”

  “Can you leave the faction?” Ozzy asked.

  The commander nodded. “Yes, of course. You can leave the faction at any time you wish, but your oath to Highcastle will remain forever.”

  “Pledge a lifetime oath?” I snorted, thinking of the conflict that might arise if I were aligned with the Vale and also had some sort of lifetime oath with Highcastle. If something ever broke out between the elves and the Highcastle, having any kind of oath might lead to issues. “That sounds a bit extreme just to learn some fighting skills.”

  “Not just fighting skills,” the commander corrected. “While we mostly teach fighting skills, we can help you gain certain special traits—dual wielding, which increases your ability to uses two weapons at once, for example—and if you have magic, there’s also a fighting methods that require both fighting and magic that we can help you learn here.” He turned around to the man that was sitting on the bench. “Halen!”

  The man looked up. “Commander?”’

  “Can you demonstrate to these men your specialty fighting skill?”

  The man smirked before standing up, revealing his thick, padded leather armor, and an array of daggers that were lined all across his belt. “Yes, sure.” He raised an eyebrow. “Now?”

  “Yes, please.”

  Halen sighed and turned towards the combat dummies that were across the room. He took a deep breath and tossed his fingers in a downward motion as if he were loosening them, and in an impressive act of speed, pulled his sword from its sheath, flung it forward, then rapidly grabbed three daggers with one hand and flung those forward as well.

  The sword landed in the chest of furthest training dummy on the right, and each of the three training dummies on the right received a dagger to their phony foreheads.

  The man who was swinging his sword at the training dummy on the left, jumped and stumbled back in surprise when the weapons landed.

  It was a remarkable feat, but I wasn’t truly impressed until the man held his hand out, and the sword and all the daggers suddenly flew across the room in reverse, right back into the man’s hands. He caught each one and rapidly holstered them in their place.

  The man turned. “More?”

  The commander smiled. “No, that’s enough.” He turned back to us. “Halen is quite skilled in telekinesis and has learned to utilize that magic to dramatically improve his abilities with blades.”

  “Damn…” I said low.

  “So, what do you think?” the commander asked. “Joining the faction could help push you closer to being a champion one day.”

  “Oh, please…” a voice said from behind us. I turned to see an old, bald man with noticeably large ears standing near the door. He was wearing a cream-colored robe with a tightly-cinched red belt around his waist. “Why bother with these stone-aged weapons—” He stepped forward and flipped his palm out towards something behind us. When I glanced behind me, Halen had frozen solid, and a grey color was quickly rising from his feet and up towards his head. Within seconds, he looked like a solid stone statue. “—when you can simply defeat your enemies with a flick of your wrist?”

  “Darion!” the commander yelled. “What are you doing?!”

  “I just thought I’d show your friends what’s possible with real magic.” Darion waved his hand towards Halen, and the grey started to dissolve.

  A few seconds later, Halen was back to normal and rattling his head, trying to figure out what had happened. He snapped his head up towards Darion, realized he had been the attacker, and quickly grabbed three daggers and lunged them at the mage.

  The daggers flew directly for Darion’s head, and we all ducked in unison to avoid taking an inadvertent hit. Darion simply raised his hands as the daggers grew closer and their trajectory swayed upwards and flew far above head and landed in the wall behind him.

  When Halen reached for another set of daggers, Halen raised his palm again, and a blue, translucent, wall energy appeared right in front of Halen and stretched the entirety of the room, separating both Halen and the other guy who had been training with the dummy from us.

  Halen slammed his dagger on the wall and the other guy, realizing that he had been caught up in the trap, ran up to the energy wall and pressed his hands on it.

  “Stop it Darion!” the commander ordered.

  “As I was saying,” Darion cooed, ignoring the commander’s request. “Why bother joining the Fighter’s Guild when you have a much gre
ater potential deep inside of you?” Darion took a step closer to me and squinted his eyes a little. “I saw that you’re already skilled in fire magic and arcane.” He turned his head to the side and sniffed the air. “And I’m sensing a very undeveloped ability with divine magic and mentalism as well?” He turned back to me and shook his head. “What potential… what potential.”

  “What are you doing here, Darion?” the commander asked.

  Darion held his hands out to his side. “The same thing you’re doing here, Bryce. I’m—“

  “Commander Eldrich,” the commander corrected.

  Darion rolled his eyes. “Commander Bryce Eldrich… The Mage’s Guild is always looking for new potential, and this man—” He turned to me. “—could be just that.”

  I turned back towards the energy wall that was dividing the room to see the two men still struggling to find a way through. It looked like they were banging on the wall, but no sound was coming from the other side. I had to admit that Darion’s show was quite impressive, and that was saying a lot after Halen’s interesting swordplay.

  “Get rid of the wall, and quit humiliating them,” the commander said, leaning his head towards the pair.

  Darion raised his hand again, and the wall disappeared.

  Halen and the other guy looked pissed, and they both started forward with weapons in their hands.

  “Stand down,” the commander ordered, and the men stopped in their tracks. “Back to what you’re doing and ignore this mage.”

  Halen and the other man both snarled but quickly turned and headed back towards the training dummies.

  “Your name?” Darion asked me.

  “Gunnar,” I said.

  “If you join the Mage’s Faction, you’ll have access to purchasing a library of spells that would be difficult to find otherwise in Eden’s Gate.” He smirked. “We’ll help you train your magic ‘til you’re a powerful mage who’s wearing a belt the same as mine.”