"There are no cheat codes for pain." — House Krail Motto
---
[Day 4 – Arena House 7, Outer Ring Training Compound]
Four days.
Four days since Vincent Krail dragged me out of the arena, threw me into this butchered family of fighters, and told me I had 18 days to qualify or die trying.
Four days since I killed my first man.
Four days of crawling through the mud of my own limits — and learning that a System means nothing if your body can't back it up.
> [SYSTEM STATUS – LEVEL 2]
XP: 164 / 500
Stat Points: 0
Rank: F
Class: None
Combat Sync: 41%
Team Synergy: 1 / 3 Allies
⚠ Training Efficiency: REDUCED (Fatigue Accumulated)
> Next Level Objectives:
— Win 3 Ranked Spars (vs D-Rank or Higher)
— Reach 60% Combat Sync (Training Mode)
— Initiate Synergy with 3 Party Members
Pain doesn't scale like XP.
It lingers.
Creeps.
Becomes part of you.
---
Every morning started the same.
Sand drills at dawn.
No weapons.
Just blood, sweat, and humiliation.
Pushups until your arms failed.
Combat rolls through shards of stone.
Weighted sprints until you puked or passed out.
And when your body was broken…
They blindfolded you.
Threw you into a pit.
And rang the bell.
No teams.
No rules.
No help.
Just chaos.
---
I lost. Every. Single. Time.
I wasn't just beaten.
I was dissected.
Disarmed in seconds.
Thrown into the dirt.
Made into a warning for other rookies.
"You react too slow," Thorne grunted after sending me face-first into the wall for the third time. "System or not, you've got city hands and gamer instincts. This isn't Earth."
I tried to laugh, a weak chuckle past bloodied teeth.
Thorne didn't.
Naera, the cold-eyed support mage, healed my split lip later without looking at me. "Your instincts are sharp. But your body's trash," she said flatly. "Try again tomorrow."
I nodded.
Then passed out from exhaustion.
---
That night, I dreamt I was still dodging Drogan's axe.
But no matter how fast I moved…
I always ended up broken.
Then I woke up to this:
> [Optional Quest: EARN THEIR RESPECT]
Objective Progress:
☐ Win a spar without System Prompts
☐ Survive a team skirmish
☐ Bond Level (1 Gladiator): Neutral → Trust
Reward: Unlock Hidden Stat – WILLPOWER
No XP.
No easy level-up.
Just respect.
And pain.
---
[Day 5 – Combat Evaluation Round 1]
Vincent gathered us in the upper-yard training ring — a stone pit carved into the hillside with red banners fluttering above like a war god's flag.
This wasn't a real match. It was a showcase.
We were meat on display.
Bloodstock.
Vincent's investment portfolio.
Three minutes each.
No armor. No System prompts. No assistance.
Our job? Stand our ground against a ranked fighter and not die.
My opponent was already waiting in the pit.
Lean. Tan. Dark hair in a braid. Twin daggers.
She smirked when she saw me.
Kira.
Rank: D.
Fast. Confident. Precise.
Vincent raised a hand.
"Begin."
---
She didn't hesitate.
No fake-outs. No testing range.
Just steel flashing in a blur of motion.
The first blade skimmed my shoulder — hot pain slicing through tendon.
The second left a sting across my cheekbone.
The third?
I didn't even see the third.
I just felt the world tilt sideways as I hit the sand.
Hard.
> [HP: 67/100]
Pain Suppression: ACTIVE
Muscle Feedback: LIMITED
Reflex Sync: BELOW THRESHOLD
Evaluation: FAILED
Kira didn't gloat.
She just stood over me, dagger spinning between her fingers.
"You're good at dodging death," she said, calm and smooth. "But not at fighting life."
Then she walked away.
---
No one laughed.
No one clapped.
They just… watched me limp off the stone.
And somehow, that silence burned worse than the wounds.
---
That night, I sat at the edge of the compound's northern wall, staring at the twin moons bleeding silver over the Bloodpit Mountains.
Cero joined me without a word.
He tossed me a cold flask. "You're not the strongest," he said. "But you don't break. That's worth something here."
"Why haven't you broken?" I asked.
He leaned back, eyes on the stars.
"My village lost a tribute war. Arena King's men took everything. My sister was auctioned into his court."
He paused. "I'm going to win the Cup. Buy her back."
I blinked.
"…That's why you fight?"
He looked at me sideways.
"No. That's why I bleed. Fighting's just the easy part."
---
> [BOND STATUS UPDATED: Cero – NEUTRAL → TRUSTING]
New Trait Accessed: Echo Memory – Spear Flow (7% Sync)
Quest Progress: 2 / 3
Hidden Stat Detected – WILLPOWER: 23 (LOCKED)
I didn't sleep that night.
I returned to the training pit — alone.
No weights.
No gear.
Just me.
And the sand.
And the silence.
I practiced dodging until my ribs screamed.
I replayed Kira's movements using the System's Memory Sync feature. Frame-by-frame. Shadow-by-shadow.
Not to cheat.
To understand.
To watch my shame — until I turned it into a sword.
---
[Day 6 – Simulation Chamber: Blind Test Trial]
I didn't win.
But I didn't fall.
My opponent — a D-rank brute named Harkon — fought like a rhino with knuckles made of steel. I couldn't beat him.
But I outlasted him.
Three minutes.
Three minutes of feints, dodges, parries with bare hands.
By the end, I was breathing blood and wobbling on my feet.
But I was on my feet.
> [Evaluation: Incomplete]
+27 XP
Stat Growth: +1 WILLPOWER
Combat Instinct Threshold: 52%
"Sometimes survival is the win."
---
No one clapped.
But Thorne gave me a single nod.
And for the first time since I arrived…
…I didn't feel like a tourist in a war.
I felt like a gladiator.
---
[SYSTEM UPDATE – 12:02 AM, Day 7]
> [NEW CLASS PATH SUBROUTINE INITIATED]
Shadow Memory Patterns Now Active
Reflex Echo: 8%
Phantom Core Advancement Unlocked
New Passive Detected: Prediction Lag Reversal
— Temporarily slow perception of enemy movement after chain-read
> Team Trust Initiated: 1 / 3
Bonded: Cero (Active Sync)
Target Synergy: Naera / Thorne / Eloen
> Optional Quest – EARN THEIR RESPECT: 2 / 3 Complete
---
Seven days in the blood pits.
No class.
No title.
No fame.
But I was still alive.
And that... meant I could still climb.
Still fight.
Still become something no one expected.
Wicky Varian — The Ghost with a System.
And soon...
The Arena would know my name.