When he passed by the hut in the center of the camp, the woman with dog ears came out with another woman who was a head taller than her. The first thing that captured his attention was the three fluffy emerald tails, swinging side to side on the back. Each one of them was about half the size of his torso, with heights up to his neck. He doubted it could reach even higher if she wanted.

  In contrast with the mesmerizing tails, her face left him shivering and shifting his gaze away to somewhere else because of two huge diagonal scars running from her left side to the chin. Not only that, dark chili red color replaced the white part of the normal eyes, screaming to him that he shouldn’t mess around with her.

  “Boss!” The man with the furry arms saluted by placing his hand on his neck and bending his head forward.

  “One of the goods?” asked the boss woman.

  “Yes. We caught him yesterday. Nothing too fancy, but enough to meet the requirement.”

  “My, my, isn’t he cute? And you want to sell him to Harkon?” Her eyes lingered on Zalanir. “Hey kid. How about you join me instead? I will treat you well.”

  Being called a kid was weird enough to Zalanir, but the next offer made his blood run cold. Even though he had probed yesterday about the option of joining these bandits, he had an inkling that what the boss woman suggested wasn’t the same with what he thought, and he had absolutely no good feeling about it.

  “He did volunteer that last night,” the archer chimed in.

  “Eh … I think I will go to the fighting pit instead. That would give you money, right?” Zalanir tried his hardest to avert his gaze elsewhere.

  “You know where we are going?” The tails stopped wavering for a second. “Anyway, first time seeing someone so eager to join Harkon and his little game, but whatever. Let’s go.”

  He wasn’t even sure if the fighting pit would be better, as that didn’t sound like it, but he just wanted no business whatsoever with the boss woman walking in front.

  At the gate, five other captives were already there. He joined them soon with a cord tying his hands up to the front. The archer woman didn’t follow them but stayed behind, but with the boss woman here, not like that mattered much.

  They went in the opposite direction of the hill, walking on a narrow clay road with dense blue shrubbery on the sides before entering a valley. Zalanir tried to take everything into account due to his own habit, but got bored after a while. Not knowing how long it would take to get to who-knows-where, and being too reluctant to ask the leading woman, he opened the System interface again to look at the two new skills that he had forgotten to check since the capture. He really appreciated the person who designed it. Being able to mentally command and interact with a translucent screen without having to move a finger was such a blessing in this situation.

  [Identify] — Common: Knowledge is power. Allows you to extract information from the target of the skill.

  Essence: 0

  Mana cost: None

  [Meditate] — Common: Everything needs a break once in a while. Allows you to enter meditation to speed up the recovery process at the cost of reduced perception.

  Essence: 0

  Mana cost: None

  Utility skills. These two words popped in his mind after finishing reading the descriptions. Both of them didn’t cost any essence, had no mana cost, and came with a straightforward usage.

  Identify let him know more about everything he came across, whereas Meditate was a quick form of rest to help regenerate resources. There was a disadvantage of the reduced perception, but the quick replenishment of resources was still valuable. How significant it was compared to the overpowered sleep, he would need to try the skill later to figure out. Perhaps he would only use Meditate in the middle of the hunt, like after the battle with the pooch to check for the effect of the rabies. No need to wait the whole night then.

  Closing out the interface, Zalanir wasted no time in putting Identify into practice. What he got out of it, though, confused him due to different results.

  [Human — Level 19]

  [Human — Level ?]

  How was it that he got the man’s level, but not the boss woman? Was it because she had a much higher level compared to his own? If so, what was the cutoff point? Maybe she had something that helped hide her own level from Identify?

  But to him, the most egregious thing was their identification as human. They didn’t look human with all the fur, larger than normal limbs, and some freaking tails swirling around. Those weren’t props either. The smoothness and in-sync of their movements in relation to the owners were too frame-perfect. Was this world’s concept of “human” different from what he always perceived, or was he the odd one here?

  He went on using Identify on what he was wearing, but the results were even more disappointing than what he had hoped for.

  [White Shirt] — Common: A shirt with no particular feature.

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  [Green Shorts] — Common: A pair of shorts with no particular feature.

  [Overworn Shoes] — Common: A pair of worn-out shoes with no particular feature.

  “…”

  What was he expecting? Some legendary equipment with overpowering enchantments?

  They arrived at a settlement when the sun was already halfway hidden behind the night veil. He would call it a city because of how big it was, but he overheard the man using the name “Bodylovo settlement” when talking to the boss woman, so he would roll with it for now. Not that it was of any importance.

  From their elevated position, Bodylovo was like a huge chicken nest. Houses, huts, shelters, and various types of buildings were mixed haphazardly together. Even their orientation, in terms of both the entrance and the upper structure, seemed to point toward whatever direction the builder favored. The only feature that appeared organized was the brown color on the outer ring compared to a mixture of red and white in the inner parts.

  There was no official entrance to the settlement. Those built on the edge seemed to act as the border. The path they were traveling on penetrated through the heart of the settlement and continued beyond indefinitely. At least that was what his eyes could see. This valley was freaking huge.

  Their group came to a stop in front of an area rounded by thick wooden fences. Its height was more than enough to stop him from peaking over, but through small gaps, he caught glimpses of shadows moving inside. Lots of them.

  And shouts, screams, and curses. Those were the three distinct sounds in which he could hear from a chaotic jumble of voices inside the area. The noise then increased threefold when the gate was opened, even making the ground shaking, literally. The passion, savagery, and desperation were manifested and propagated in the air like they were real objects, thickening the air and made it harder for him to just breathe.

  In the middle of all that, two men walked out unfazed, stopping in front of his group. The one in front was a tubby man wearing a long gilded coat. His head only reached the chest of the boss woman he was facing, making him even shorter in that costume, though he seemed to pay no heed to it.

  “You coming for a few rounds? I have two left, but can organize another one if you want.”

  “Nah, Harkon. Not today. I am here to bring you new prospects.”

  Following the woman’s glance, Zalanir and the group of captives became the center of attention. A particular cold gaze from the second man, who stood two steps behind the man named Harkon, bothered him more than anything. He rocked an orange barbarian outfit, holding two axes in each hand, with a look-at-me lion head hat. Something inside his body reminded Zalanir to not mess around with him.

  “Where did you dig him up? Level 5? This one’s 20 coins at most.” Harkon looked at Zalanir and sneered.

  “He has good movement. Aki here can vouch for it. Make it 50.”

  “Woh, woh. Stop right there. 35! No, 32 maximum. Hey you! What’s your first mastery?”

  Zalanir was reluctant to answer at first, but changed after the boss woman threw him a cold gaze. Her fluffy tails were perking up behind.

  “I am a mage,” Zalanir answered.

  “A mage? My final price is 27. If it’s not you, then I won’t even take him in. Need at least three rounds to make back the investment.” The tubby crossed his arms in front.

  “Deal!”

  That was fast. She asked for 50, but settled for half of it? He had no idea what the general price here was like, but seeing his own value cut in half in one bargain left a sour taste in his mouth.

  “Take them away.” Harkon nodded at the barbarian after haggling on the price for everyone, then returned to the boss woman. “If you’re here, follow me. I have this news that you will like.”

  Zalanir followed the barbarian into a shack in which the inside hosted just two pieces of black ground cloth. On top of the one on the right were a deflated bag and a pair of leather bracers.

  “You stay here. Tomorrow is a pass, but be ready to fight from then onward.” The man’s voice was unexpectedly clear and didn’t seem to match his appearance.

  “Besides fighting, what are the other requirements? Is killing … allowed here? How many fighters are here? Can I go out and visit other places within the settlement?” Zalanir took the chance to let loose some of the questions that he wanted to know. He had been waiting for this and even let other captives get their shacks first so that he could be alone with this man.

  It was a trick he learned when asking questions. If he asked just one, he might get ignored. But if he came up with several questions, he might get at least one of them, because of pity. One was better than nothing. Not always applicable, but he felt like he had a decent chance here.

  “Didn’t expect to receive questions from captives.” The man stared at him for a while before continuing. “Up your level. No one wants to see several weakasses fight in a row. Killing is heavily punished against other fighters outside of the arena, but not against beasts. Facing them, it’s either you kill, or get killed. No in-between.” Pausing for a moment, he continued. “Don’t even try to escape. It will be the quickest way to end your life.”

  Zalanir wanted to ask a lot of other questions, but he would need to be satisfied for now. The barbarian had answered more than he had initially hoped for. There was obviously the issue of freedom, but as if he could ask that.

  Based on the man’s response, it seemed like his first several opponents would be beasts. Let’s hope they would be similar to the pooch, not some lions or magical reptiles. There was also the issue of killing. Killing outside of the arena seemed to be frowned upon, so at least he wouldn’t need to worry about some unfortunate cases. However, the keyword was outside. When fighting inside, though, it would be a completely different setting. In the heat of the moment, who would promise to soften their blows? He wished he would never have to do that, as he didn’t even know what he would feel or react when crossing that uncharted territory. But on the other hand, that conclusion was always a possibility.

  The shack was at the rear of the area, so the cheering and noise had been quite limited. He didn’t want to admit it, but all the noise and craziness of the pit reminded him of a tennis match played in a stadium, under the watch of thousands of people. When passing by earlier, a part of him was kinda looking forward to the day he stepped out there. It had been a while since the last time he had tasted that atmosphere, and he would be lying if he said he hadn’t missed it.

  But this was a fighting pit. Was he weird to think like that? It should be. The barbarian just now even warned him about the possibility of death when battling beasts, but somehow, inside his heart, alongside with fear, there was a tad of excitement being built up. Sometimes, he just couldn’t even understand his own thoughts. Were this his weirdness that his friends and the lady at the reception talking about? Even he himself wasn’t sure.

  The entrance of the shack was lifted, and then came a man who seemed to be in his 40s. He could spot some wrinkles on his forehead and neck, but that was almost it. There was just a single torch hanging on the top of the shack, and the small pool of warm, golden light could only illuminate so much.

  “Another newbie, huh? Hope you last long.” His voice was rough and deep.

  “That space must be yours, then. Name’s Zalanir. Nice to meet you.”

  “Ulken.”

  Seeing as the man didn’t appear to be social, Zalanir dropped to his ground cloth. Looked like this would be his new life for the upcoming time in this world.