Rescue

by R. A. Mejia

  After a particularly quick defeat, I’m considering changing opponents when Lanista Lucanus comes up to me. “You seem to think that you have to shoulder the burden of this fight all by yourself, Armon. But you do not.” He hands me a worn piece of paper and walks away. I’m not sure what the Lanista means until I examine the paper and see that it’s the old list of gladiator advantages and disadvantages.

  AdvantageGladiator Point Cost

  Adjust Position50

  +1 Stat Boost Buff 100

  Magic Weapon100

  Attack boost200

  Damage boost200

  Remove Pain200

  Attack speed boost200

  Add Ally300

  Add Ally II400

  DisadvantageGladiator Point Cost

  Hobble50

  Blindfold50

  Bells50

  No Weapons100

  Drunk100

  Vertigo100

  Adjust Position150

  Poison200

  Overburden200

  Unequip200

  Blind300

  Terrain ChangesGladiator Point Cost

  Water100/sq foot

  Cover100/sq foot

  Fog100/sq foot

  Ice150/sq foot

  Noxious Gas200/sq foot

  Flammable Gas300/sq foot

  Lava400/sq foot

  I don’t understand what the Lanista is hinting about at first. I mean, I hated the detriments those two gladiators used on me and Vrax. Does the Lanista want me to use those on another? I don’t even see how most of the detriments would even apply to the summoned monsters. It may be useful to blind the opponent, but it seems awfully expensive when it won’t apply to the monsters he uses. I read over the terrain changes possible but laugh at how expensive they are per square foot. I can do better terrain changes with my elemental grenades. It’s not until I look through the advantages that I understand what the Lanista is getting at. Add Ally. I don’t have to fight alone. I can, what, phone a friend? Or, wait. Does this mean me and my friends can work together to beat this guy? That would be awesome.

  When I ask the Lanista for more details about the Add Ally advantage, he tells me that a gladiator can bring in a slave he owns to fight beside him. Gladiators in the Gold Level and above are awarded slaves that can be trained to fight, provide buffs, cast damage spells, or provide some other utility to their owner. When I ask if I can add Sonya as an ally, the Lanista shakes his head and tells me that only slaves can be added. Otherwise, gladiators would team up to defeat weaker opponents, and the balance of the system would be upset.

  I think it’s a shame that I can’t bring in Sonya. She’s a powerhouse on the battlefield. Still, at least I can add Vrax for only three hundred gladiator points. Then I consider how many gladiator points I actually have. I pull up my balance. I have seven hundred gladiator points. I’ll need five hundred to challenge the Beast Catcher, which only leaves me two hundred. That’s not enough to add in Vrax as an ally. When I bring my concern up to the Lanista, he gives me a strange look.

  “You do realize that all of Vrax’s gladiator points belong to you, don’t you? Anything a slave owns belongs to his master.”

  The thought had never actually crossed my mind. Even though Vrax is listed as my slave on paper, I’ve never thought of him that way. The idea of taking what he’s earned just seems wrong. But that’s not something I can tell the Lanista. “Oh, of course. I’d just mentally put his gladiator points aside for his own development. I mean, how can he challenge any more Silver-Level fighters if I use up his points?”

  The Lanista nods. “Yes, that is a surprisingly-responsible way to view things. Most slave owners only think of their own development and not investing into their slaves.”

  Since Vrax’s gladiator points technically belong to me, that would make up for the missing hundred I’d need to add him as an ally. But the idea also sparks a new question. “Lanista, on the topic of gladiator points, I wonder if I can use someone else’s points?”

  He frowns slightly at me. “Where you not paying attention at all when I lectured on the subject? Yes, gladiator points can be transferred. How else do you think points are spent on advantages or disadvantages? You can also gamble them by betting on other matches, or spend them at special gladiator-only shops that are accessible to Gold-Level fighters and above. I’ve even heard of some gladiators selling their points for money directly, though that is illegal.”

  “So, like, Sonya could transfer her points to me?”

  Lanista Lucanus nods, and I think I see a small smile on his face. “Yes, Armon. Sonya could transfer her points to you.”

  I give a mental ‘woo hoo.’ I think I have a plan now. I’ll have to discuss it with Vrax and Sonya, but it’s a plan.

  After returning home and having a chat with them about my plan, Sonya and Vrax are both on board to transfer their gladiator points to me. The only snag is that they only have two hundred total to send. My plan calls for us to have a total of twelve-hundred points between the three of us. After all, why settle for one extra ally when I can have two?

  Since I’m waiting on new equipment, Sonya and Vrax agree to keep fighting in the Colosseum to earn more gladiator points. In the meantime, I can focus on training and planning the details of the Great Kobold Escape. Yeah, that’s right, I already have a cool sounding name for the plan and everyone knows that’s half the battle.

  It’s interesting to actually watch my friends’ battles in the Colosseum from the stands and not just from the locker room. For one, there’s a noticeable difference in the feeling of the fight. The view from the stands is much better than the one at ground level. The sheer energy from the crowd is almost palpable from here. The first match I watch is Sonya’s revenge match against ‘Killer’ Kyle. While both he and Myers challenged her, Myers has been stripped of his right to fight as a gladiator, so the match with him was canceled. Kyle soon learns how big of a mistake it was to challenge Sonya to a fight.

  The showdown against ‘Killer’ Kyle is much more exciting to watch than anything I was in. Sonya enters the field wearing the Retiarius, or fisherman, gladiator gear. She sports the class’s large leather arm guard, which extends to the shoulder and left side of the chest for protection. Sonya also has the typical leather shin guards but, much to the crowd’s delight, has no chest protection. Thankfully, she doesn’t come out exposing her bounty to the world, but the cloth binding her chest doesn’t leave much to the imagination. The hoots and hollers from the crowd show they appreciate the sight.

  The fight begins like mine and Vrax’s. Sonya is hobbled with a large piece of rope tied to the ground and also blindfolded. As for weaponry, Sonya starts the match off with a weighted net in her left hand, a trident in her right, and a small dagger at her waist. As soon as the announcer starts the match, Kyle rushes across the field, blades out, ready to slash at Sonya. But the distance between the two opponents gives Sonya plenty of time to remove her blindfold, draw her knife, and cut through the thick rope. I admire just how much of a difference having a high strength stat makes watching her saw through the rope in only three cuts.

  Before Kyle is even halfway across the field, Sonya has her trident back in her right hand and is charging right back at him using one of her abilities. The two meet, and there’s a loud clash as Kyle’s two blades meet Sonya’s trident. She makes excellent use of her weapon’s superior reach to keep attacking from a distance, and she even puts him on defense. His two blades whirl as they parry her strikes, but the unusual design of the trident makes it challenging to avoid all three points. Kyle ends up taking glancing blows even when he successfully parries. The few times Kyle is able to get past the reach of the trident and move in close to attack, Sonya uses her net as a kind of rope shield. It’s hard to explain, but she somehow twirls the net in front of her creating a wall of potential entrapment. Kyle tries to cut through it but only ends up getting one of his swords caught in the tangling mess. Sonya used the opportunity to deal some major
damage to Kyle, but a severe strike from his free sword forces Sonya to abandon her net and pull back. Still, Sonya comes out of the attack with only a quarter of her health bar missing.

  The fight ends with Kyle trying to use his [Phantom Copy]. But Sonya, having seen the move before, has already developed her own strategy. Before the phantom clones can spread out and surround her, she uses her trident to make a wide two-handed slash at the ground, causing a wave of dirt and dust to cover the clones. The move doesn’t deal damage, but it does make the real Kyle cough, which is more than enough to tell Sonya who to focus on. The next series of lightning fast attacks catches Kyle off guard, and his health quickly drops to 10%, costing him the match.

  The crowd, already entranced by Sonya’s exotic feminine beauty, goes crazy when she wins. It’s a good five minutes till the announcer can calm the crowd down enough to officially announce that she’s the winner. I’m happy to say that I tried to out-cheer everyone.

  The win nets her two hundred gladiator points and thirty XP.

  Her next match doesn’t earn her as many gladiator points since her opponent doesn’t use any detriments or advantages, but she’s fighting only a few days later against a giant of a man wielding two shields as weapons. The bottom of each arm-length shield tapers to a point, allowing them to be used offensively as well as defensively. It’s actually a brilliant strategy, and I’d admire it more if it didn’t obviously require such a huge investment in strength to use--which is where Sonya takes her advantage. Her build is better balanced between strength, constitution, and dexterity, which means she’s not only quick, but she can pack a punch and take one too. Her opponent, however, relies so much on his strength that he doesn’t have either the dexterity to dodge or the constitution to stand up to a heavy hitter like Sonya. Instead, he depends on the defensive bonuses from his armor and shields.

  She wisely chooses the Hoplomachus gear to fight in, which gives her a spear, a small shield, and leather armor for her legs and arms. She also gets a helmet that covers the top of her head but not her face. She actually throws away her small shield and instead uses her spear in a two-handed grip to increase its ability to deal damaging blows. Sonya takes a couple powerful strikes from the guy but otherwise controls the fight with her superior maneuverability. She weaves in and out, striking with her spear and then retreating. Her opponent mostly tries to take the attacks on his shields but any time he makes an attack of his own, he is so slow that Sonya use one of her special abilities to land a heavy blow and drop his health.

  She dropped the guy to 10% health in only ten minutes. Now, because her opponent didn’t purchase any advantages or disadvantages, Sonya walks away with one-hundred gladiator points and thirty more XP. Fortunately, it doesn’t matter because those make up the last bit of gladiator points we need to enact my plan in the Gold-Level match.

  That evening, I go to the Colosseum officials and lay down my challenge to Ashe Capere, The Beast Catcher, paying the twelve hundred gladiator points needed to set up the match and include two allies. The officials are more than happy to take my points and ask me to pick a date for the match. I choose next week. That’ll give me time to get my equipment and get a little more training in.

  Chapter 38

  The next five days pass fairly quickly and are filled with lots of group training with Mary and Vrax. The three of us haven’t really done much group fighting in the last few month, and we need to work to get back in sync. Of course, Mary complains about the training, but I think she’s secretly happy to be in the thick of things again. After all, it can’t have been fun being stuck in an office all day, every day.

  After getting our groove back, the three of us work out specific strategies for each of the Beast Catcher’s monsters and practice them the best we can. It certainly helps our prospects when I get my new gear and put it on for the first time. My health alone goes from 54 to 69. It may not seem like a big jump compared to some people who gain health like crazy, but it represents a twenty-eight percent increase in health for me. The new weapons are also a much needed upgrade. With my new spear, I do 14-17 points of damage with just a normal attack, but that also includes the added fire damage. With the gladius, I do 12-15 damage, but the extra acid damage will come in handy if we have to face that rock snake creature. My defense with just the items is up to eighteen, but I figured out a way to include a shield and not have to worry about losing my ability to use [Dodge] or [Sidestep] because of having too much weight.

  After my experimental work in Koorb’s dungeon, I figured out a way to make a shield out of force energy. It wasn’t a very mana-efficient shield, but it blocked physical damage. Well, using [Design Mode], [Crystal Programing], and loads of experimentation, I was able to come up with a much better design.

  I visited a jewelry store in town and surreptitiously scanned everything within sight into design mode. From there, it was a matter of categorizing all the properties of the various gems and crystals and experimenting with them to see which would let me program the best shield. I ended up purchasing two three-carat rubies. They have a mana capacity of about one-hundred and can thankfully take more coding than a normal crystal or amethyst. The rubies are not cheap, and it was like pulling teeth to get Mary to cough up the money for them. I use one to program the shield and the other to program my failsafe governor killer.

  Force Shield Bracer

  Using a combination of ancient crystal programing and engraving, you’re able to produce a blue translucent circular shield with a radius of thirteen inches. The shield will only protect the user from physical damage. No magical or elemental damage will be absorbed. Once either the mana powering it runs out, or the shield absorbs its maximum limit, the shield will disappear and have to be re-initiated.

  Cost: 50 mana to initiate, 1 mana per minute upkeep.

  Mana storage capacity: 100

  Damage Absorption: 50 physical

  Durability: 7/7

  Mana Cost: 60

  XP Cost: 45

  I happily pay the cost to produce the final product, even though it’s about four times what it costs to make an elemental grenade. All the same, the results are well worth it. Having a shield that doesn’t weigh anything but still provides some protection is just wonderful. Another bonus is that because the shield is see through, my vision isn’t blocked when I use it.

  After all the work Sonya has done the last few weeks, including her very generous donation of gladiator points, I decide to take her out on a date the last free day I have before the big fight. I have the whole day planned out but refuse to tell her about anything, despite her constant inquiries.

  We start out with a nice breakfast at a local restaurant. It’s a simple spread of freshly-baked bread, eggs, and ham--the breakfast of champions everywhere. Then we go for a walk around town, just chatting about our experiences and some of the things we want to do in the future. I admit that all the traveling I’ve had to do these last months has made me want to put down roots somewhere, maybe build a house and open a crafting shop of some kind. She confesses that she doesn’t see herself retiring any time soon. She just likes being in the action too much. There’s an awkward silence after, but thankfully, we’re getting closer to the next phase of the planned date.

  Walking around the corner, we see a spa. Normally, when we need to get cleaned up, we boil water at home and use a cloth and soap. But it’s a common practice in the Empire to use public bath houses. These are state-funded facilities where anyone can come to get cleaned up and soak in pools filled with heated water. From what Keans has explained, it’s one of the few things he likes about the Imperare Empire.

  Now, the spa that I found is like a public bath house, but not free. You pay a fee to get in, and I’m told that you can also purchase additional services like massages. When I show Sonya the place, she’s quite excited for the experience.

  The two of us walk through a set of large wrought iron gates and into a garden courtyard. Even from here, you can see that the plac
e is thoroughly tended. The grass is a lush vibrant green, the trees stand tall, and bushes are trimmed in the shapes of animals. Walking up the gravel path, we enter a massive stone building with great pillars outside it, and statues of naked gods and goddesses. The floor is tiled with a colorful mosaic of stone, and we’re greeted by a young blonde woman in a thin, white dress.

  She asks in a cheerful tone, “Good day, sir and madame. I am Julia. Do you have an appointment with us today?”

  “Yes, it should be under the name Armon.”

  Her eyes light up, and she bounces slightly in her excitement. “Gladiator Armon? The one that beat ‘Killer’ Kyle and 'Myrmidon' Myers?”

  I feel a tight pull on my arm from Sonya. I see her giving a wide, tight smile to the young woman, but I’m surprised to meet someone who knows me by name from the arena and wonder why she is mentioning my fight with ‘Killer’ Kyle so I answer, “Yes. Is there a problem with me being a gladiator?”