Skill Creation in the Fantasy World - Chapter 57: Participation.

The boy who was etching to start his first battle on the stage was taken away by Steve towards a corner of the Arena.

Felix looked around at the many stages where fighters were duking out with the never-ending cheers and shouts from the crowd.

They headed in the opposite direction of the Arena entrance, eventually arriving at a spot with underground stairs, where a handful of individuals had gathered.

Two bulky guys stood at the gate of the stairs with their hands folded and stopped anyone other than the required people from entering the place.

Steve went in front of them and pointed toward Felix.

“He wants to take part in the Arena fights.”, he said lightly.

The two bulky men stared at each other and looked at the little boy, before laughing out loud.

“Hahaha, another sheep trying to be a hero?”

“This is crazy! Do the kids not want to live anymore? Hehehe”

Felix frowned and turned to look at Steve who only shrugged having no idea what they were talking about.

He again called at the both, this time a bit annoyed.

“Hello? Can you please move to the side? We got to go and apply for his entry.”

Surprisingly, the two men just shook their heads and moved to the side indicating the boys to enter.

“Go on. It’s your life anyway.”

“Just don’t regret later.”

They had gloating expressions on their face as they didn’t care what happened to the boy.

Steve ignored the both of them and entered the underground stairs along with Felix.

They walked ahead, making many other people inside look their way surprised that another kid had come here to throw away his life.

Felix got suspicious of their behavior but followed Steve regardless until they arrived at an office-like place that was called ‘Arena Management’.

Steve bent down on one of the main counters present there and called out to a worker.

“Excuse me, can you apply for his entry into the Arena battles?”

The worker who was doing his work got up and turned behind to handle them but then frowned strangely when he looked at the boy.

“Hmm, are you sure you want to take part in the Arena battles?”

“Because…I don’t think you’re strong enough to handle other fighters. Also, what rank are you?”

Seeing that they were looking down on him because he looked like a kid even though he was 23 years old in his previous life, Felix sighed helplessly and answered.

“I’m still a novice warrior of Rank 0, but I can already fight early Rank 1 monsters on equal.”

The worker appeared surprised as he stared at the boy up and down before shrugging.

“Well, whatever you say so. Not like you’re the first.”, he muttered under his breath and turned back to take a parch of paper before starting to write down in it.

“What’s your name?”, he asked with his head down.

Felix turned to stare at Steve who nodded at him and whispered.

“Don’t worry. They have strict rules, so they won’t reveal your name to anyone except their superiors.”

There was nothing he could do now so he told them his name.

“It’s Felix.”

The worker wrote that down and asked a few more basic questions like sex, age, and others. Felix answered all of them accordingly.

“Is there an alias you want to use in the Arena?”, he eyed the boy interestingly.

Felix pondered for a few seconds and told him a name while raising the corners of his lips. Steve’s face looked confused when he heard the name but kept quiet.

After getting the unusual name, the worker stood up and placed the piece of paper on an orb. It glowed for a bit and later dimmed before producing a card which he handed to Felix.

“Take this card, it’ll record all the matches you’ve fought and calculate the amount of money you’ve won including other rewards. You can go toward that other counter and submit this card to start participating in the battles.”

Taking the card, Felix swiftly moved toward the other counter while Steve hurriedly followed behind.

“Wait- That name doesn’t make sense at all, are you really going to use it in the fights?”

The name that Felix had applied for at the counter to be used in the arenas was something Steve had never heard of. It was kind of a strange name to use considering it didn’t make much sense.

Felix turned around and raised his lips into a smirk.

“Well, the world makes sense only if you force it to.”

Steve stopped in surprise as he recounted what had been said and couldn’t help but feel impressed at the saying. It seems there was no need for a name to make sense if anything can be named as per your wish.

Walking in a swift manner, Felix arrived at a different counter and told the worker there.

“Excuse me, I want to participate in a battle.”

This worker too frowned strangely and stared at him up and down before sighing and taking the boy’s card.

“How many battles do you want to participate in?”

“Umm, just one for today.”

The worker then scanned the card on an orb and did some work, before handing it back.

“There. I have applied your entry into the artifact which is the arena information tool. You only have to use this card on any of the artifacts over there and it’ll show the details of your battles.”

Taking back the card, Felix nodded and went ahead toward the many artifacts which looked like a booth stall but with orbs. Steve followed behind and instructed him properly.

“Press that card on the black orb over there and then type in your name.”

Felix did as he said and pressed the card on the black orb.

Another orb on the side which was a bit bigger and white in color glowed a bit before a holographic screen appeared above it.

Felix was amazed to see such futuristic yet medieval-style screens and objects.

‘So instead of TVs and computers, this world has these orbs of different kinds.’

He was yet again fascinated with this world as it not only had magic but also several amazing gadgets that people of this world called artifacts.

After the information on the screen was displayed, he could see that his battle would take place at Arena Number 23 in about 10 minutes.

Arenas with lower numbers like 1-20 are where strong fighters of higher ranks fight whereas arenas of numbers higher than that are where no ranks fight.

Felix and Steve left the Arena Management office and went back upstairs to the Underground Arena while discussing the rules of the battles.

It was mostly Steve who had started blabbering.

“See, there are basically two types of battles, the first one is the random battles that you have applied for where two random fighters of about the same ranks battle each other.”

“The other type is the challenge battle in which you can choose to fight any of the fighters in the whole underground but only if they agree.”

Felix listened attentively on the way as they walked out and near the exit, they again encountered the two buff guys.

Just when they were about to pass by them, the two guys moved forward and blocked their way taunting.

“Hey kid, try not to die. Because if you do then your corpse will be thrown into the sewage.”

“Also, don’t piss your pants if you get scared. The spectators hate that, and they may come and directly hit you.”

Steve and Felix paused their legs and glanced at each other.

Staring into Felix’s eyes, Steve could not find a speck of anger or rage, only pure calmness as if the situation did not faze him at all.

Steve nodded inwardly as being angry in this situation was not the correct choice.

If he was alone, then he might have started a fight with them or something, but staring at the calm Felix made him think that there was no need to get into a fight with some idiots for a simple reason such as this.

Even though they didn’t speak while staring at each other, their eyes were communicating.

‘What the hell do they even want?’, Felix squinted his eyes.

‘No idea, but I think don’t think we got time to waste on them.’, Steve indicated by touching his non-existent watch.

Seeing that they were being ignored, the two buff guys clenched their hands.

“You fuckers!”, one of them had a twisted expression on his face while the other smirked in mockery.

Steve turned to look at them with narrowed eyes for a few seconds, several violent thoughts running inside his head before shaking his head and saying to Felix.

“Let’s go. We have a few minutes remaining before the match starts.”, he sidestepped and avoided bumping into them. Something he had never avoided before.

Giving them an uninterested glance, Felix walked away toward the various arenas.

Now that they were totally ignored, the two men had veins popping out of their heads.

“F-Fuck them.”

“To think they could ignore us!”

Both of them clenched their hands and spat out hatefully.

One of the two stared at the two boys walking away and suddenly his eyes lit up.

He turned to the side and whispered something into the other man’s ear.

The other man’s eyes gleamed in a dangerous glint when he heard his partner’s plan.

*****

Steve and Felix had reached at the Arena Number 23.

The arena was surrounded by little to no public as the previous battles were not that exciting, just brawling between weak fighters.

This allowed them to quickly arrive at the stage of the arena.

Steve led Felix toward a corner of that specific arena where there was a path underground. That path directly led them under the arena area, from where they had to take stairs and enter the stage.

The end of that path had bright lights turned on, which was the lighting that shined on the Arena stage.

Stopping at the end just below the stairs where there was a gate with an orb, Steve turned around and said in a serious manner.

“Remember, if you think you’re not able to fight any longer then you can always admit defeat. And don’t think that admitting defeat will make you weaker or something, because only if you survive can you continue to grow stronger.”

“Survival over pride, always..”, he could surprisingly say such good words.

Felix closed his eyes for a few seconds and took a deep breath.

Breathing out slowly, he opened his eyes while grinning wildly at Steve and spoke.

“Don’t worry, I’m going there to win.”

Steve smiled in response and patted his shoulder.

“Go on. Time to show the results of our training.”

Nodding his head, the silver-haired boy took confident steps and pressed his card on the orb which made the gate open. He continued to walk upstairs to the stage with his blood boiling at the mere thought of a duel.

The bright lights from above made him narrow his eyes in resistance as a slight pressure enveloped him all around.

He took that final step and finally strode onto the stage, officially kicking off his journey into the brutal and lawless arena, where fighters clashed without any rules holding them back.

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