Skill Creation in the Fantasy World - Chapter 55: Arena.

The entrance they occupied granted them an elevated perspective, overlooking a sprawling scene below. Multiple arenas stretched out before them, bathed in some artifact’s lighting, drawing crowds of spectators to gather around each one.

A stairway led them downstairs to the ground level from where they could walk toward every match happening there.

People rushed here and there taking in the sight of numerous fights and grouped around the battle that seemed to be the most intense.

At some corners, there were cubicles where a lot of people lined up to bet their money on the fights in hopes to earn a fortune.

While the black market section was already a chaotic hub, the arena took it to a whole new level.

Here, you could witness actual combatants duking it out making their blood mingle with their sweat and fall onto the stage, and sometimes even the spectators themselves getting into brawls for all sorts of stupid reasons.

Making sure their masks and robes were perfectly hiding their true face as a lot of people eyed them the moment they entered, the two boys treaded downstairs and moved toward one of the arenas.

“Felix, before taking part in battles I think you should look around the many arenas and see for yourself the rules and methods of this place.”, Steve spoke while glancing around the place like he was looking for someone.

Frowning as he could not seem to find the one, he rubbed his chin and told the boy.

“I’m going to meet with someone for now, so how about you spectate alone until I come back?”, he suggested.

“Alright, you can go while I’ll be watching the fight in that arena.” Felix nodded and pointed toward an arena with a large number 4 written at the side to identify the many arenas.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes, so wait there for me.”

Steve replied and swiftly blended into the bustling crowd, his presence disappearing in a matter of moments.

Left all alone, Felix silently walked toward the round arena and took a seat eyeing the battle that had not yet started.

The moment he set his eyes on the stage, his eyes widened at the strange yet familiar clothing of a person standing in the middle there.

‘You have that here too?’

A man wore a black suit like the one a groom would wear at his wedding, and also the kind of formal suit he was wearing just when he died in his previous life on the way to his workplace.

Wearing a black suit with a white shirt inside and a black tie around his neck, the man also wore black sunglasses standing in the middle of the arena stage holding a red and green flag in his hands.

‘He must be the referee’, he mused and turned toward the other two people on the stage.

A huge man with a big axe and a slim man grasping a sword. These were the two fighters that were about to start their battle.

They wore light armor on them and also had masks hiding their faces. Both of them were stretching and getting ready.

Seeing that they had finished, the referee moved forward and announced.

“On the left side, we have the axe wielder Drabby while on the right side, we have the sword wielder Remosy.”, he bellowed as the crowd too raised their voices shouting praises and curses.

“Go get that thin asshole, Drabby!”

“You can do it Remosy! That fatty’s gonna be an easy win.”

“Shut the fuck up you bastard! Look at that axe, it’s gonna crush that small sword!”

“You shut the fuck up moron! Don’t you know that bigger makes it harder?”

Felix almost let out a laugh hearing them shout out loud but held himself back and just slapped his forehead with a wry smile.

‘That’s the first time I’ve heard someone curse so casually in this world.’

Already used to the way of the crowd, the referee eyed the two of the fighters and asked.

“Are the both of you ready?”

His words made them stop their stretching and take a battle stance while nodding at him.

Seeing them nod, the referee raised his hand with the green flag, brought it down in a swift motion, and declared.

“Then let the battle begin!”

The moment his words ended, both the men jumped ahead with the huge guy swinging his axe downwards while the slim guy turned his body to dodge that.

Their battle seemed to have made the crowd go crazy as they hurriedly started placing bets. With every clash of the weapons, they cheered and booed according to the situation.

Felix watched in fascination as both fighters clashed, displaying an array of techniques and expertise. It was evident that they were seasoned combatants, their movements and tactics revealing years of experience in the arena.

They didn’t seem to be in a rush but were also not wasting their time as the spectators whistled and cheered at the fight they were watching.

‘System, what are their ranks?’, he asked to make sure if he was right.

[Both the men who are fighting on the stage are of mid Rank 1, while the referee is of late Rank 1.]

He raised his brows in surprise, he had guessed both of them right but could not figure out the referee’s rank as the man looked more like a civilian than a cultivator.

‘Do the referees use an artifact to conceal their strength?’, he thought in amazement as those artifacts must be expensive.

Thinking that the pockets of the underworld were quite deep for using them so easily, his mind was brought back to the fight as they started to get serious.

He continued to watch the match in silence, remembering their methods of fighting and knowing the overall situation.

‘Oh! They started using aura.’

Both the fighters had their weapons glowing slightly as even their body started to get stronger and faster.

Strengthening the body and their weapons was the basic use of Aura while manifesting it out of their bodies was one of the challenging ways to use Aura as most of the warriors couldn’t do that.

Talent, hard work, bloodline, fortuitous encounters, and many other factors may help a Warrior in learning to manifest Aura. But newly advanced Warriors with no proper foundation and experience may not even come close to feeling Aura leaving out of their bodies.

Felix looked on seriously frowning his brows, and made sure to not forget a single detail on the way they were battling in front of a crowd.

Knowing he would get to fight on the stage with a huge crowd watching him, he felt a budding excitement.

In his previous world, there were no such fighting competitions where two combatants would fight without holding back and with the use of weapons and techniques that could easily kill.

With the battle instincts and experience from his past life, Felix could dare say he could defeat a dozen warriors of the same rank unless they used weapons.

In his past life, he used to fight mostly with just his hands and body, that too without using any professional techniques like boxing, karate, or any other. So, when weapons came into question, then the situation would get dangerous.

His only hope would be to use his various skills if the opponent was a skilled weapon user since he was still a beginner with swords.

Felix had his eyes lit up the whole time as he watched the battle with pure focus. So much so that he didn’t even notice an unusual man sitting beside him with a slight smile on his face.

Drabby the axe user had forced his opponent to the arena’s edge, creating a tense moment in the match.

Frowning seriously, Felix eyed the match contemplating what would the thin man do with his current situation when a voice near his ear jolted him up.

“I can see it in your eyes….,” rumbled a deep and coarse voice, “an insatiable thirst for battles and chaos….”

Hurriedly turning sideways and backing up a little, Felix was startled to find a man sitting right beside him, his presence having gone unnoticed until this moment.

“W-What!!”, Felix blurted out in panic as his hand quickly moved toward his sword’s scabbard while his mind rapidly processed the situation.

‘This guy is dangerous! I could not even notice how he sneaked up on me…’

Trying to act calm, he took a silent gulp and narrowed his eyes on the stranger all the while gripping his short sword’s hilt.

“W-Who are you? and what do you want from me?”

He tried to make himself calm, but there was this unsettling vibe the man was emitting that made him feel uneasy.

The man just rested his back comfortably on the seat while crossing his legs and turned back to stare at the match on the stage.

“We’ll converse later; for now, you should see how the battle ends.”

Getting no answer to his question from the man, Felix did not put down his guard, but he was also curious about the match and thus turned back to the arena while still keeping an eye on the man.

In the arena, Drabby was walking to the kneeling Remosy who could barely take a breath. The fight seemed to have reached the end with the axe user grinning and raising his weapon above him.

“Who do you think will win the match?”, the stranger asked as the battle neared its end.

Felix was brought out of his daze as he remembered there was still this strange man he had to deal with before getting confused by the question.

“Why do you ask that question? Isn’t it clear that the fighter with the axe is going to win this match.”, he asked with a frown.

The man just shook his head and curved up his lips, “It seems you did not notice it….”

Felix’s frown got deeper as he turned back to the fight and pondered.

‘What is he saying? Notice what?’

As he watched the fat man bring down his axe onto the thin man, his eyes caught the reflection of a light.

Suddenly, a sword moved at a fast speed before it reached the axe user’s neck and stopped letting out some blood.

The attack was so fast that Felix remained rooted on the spot utterly flabbergasted and confused at the sudden increase in speed of the sword user who attacked his opponent with a strike that signified the end of the battle.

“Wait! What just happened?”, he shouted out loud just the same as the crowd did.