Chapter 169: Chapter 169- Seraphica Colosseum (Part 7)
Experience tales with empire
"Now that it's settled, let's go back, the second lesson is about to start." Seeing that Arthur didn't argue back anymore, Isla tapped his shoulder and walked away.
However, at that moment, she heard Arthur speak. "Thank you, Isla… For everything." He said in a quiet yet sincere tone. Those words came from his deepest heart. He truly felt grateful to Isla for everything she had done for him so far. Inside and outside the game, she had been very helpful when he needed help the most.
'How am I supposed to repay her back? This is really hard.' He thought to himself. He didn't want to rely on Isla too much. He knew that she had enough problems on her shoulders that she needed to deal with in the future and he didn't want to be another problem.
That was one of the main reasons why he decided not to join her fully yet because it would only cause her more trouble in the future. Yet, she kept extending her hand to help him whenever he needed help. That kind of personality was something Arthur had never met before.
Isla stared at his eyes silently for a few seconds before nodding. "You've already thanked me before. You don't need to do it again."
"Haha, did I? I don't know how to repay you so I can only thank you." He replied with a small laugh.
"You don't need to repay me. I'm the one repaying you here." She replied. "I don't think I will be able to do that anytime soon." She added with a whisper under her breath that Arthur didn't hear.
"Huh?"
"It is nothing. Look, the professor has arrived, we need to go back."
Cutting the conversations quickly, she moved toward the classroom, leaving Arthur a little stunned.
"What does she mean by repaying me? What did I even do?" He asked himself. Arthur couldn't tell what Isla was thinking about. This was not the first time she mentioned something similar and yet she never explained what she meant with it.
'Tsk, she really likes to maintain mystery, huh?'
With a little dissatisfaction, Arthur returned to the classroom and the second lesson began swiftly after that.
***
Hours passed peacefully after that and the group finished their lessons and their weapon practice lessons. With everything going very swiftly, Arthur was able to focus completely on the lessons. He tried his best to stay attentive and memorize everything he can memorize.
As for the weapon practice, Arthur's improvement was simply mindblowing. So much so that Theodore seemed a little taken aback by it. After all, Arthur had quite clearly evolved not only technique-wise but also speed and accuracy-wise, and in less than a day that is.
Theodore was almost certain it would take at least a few weeks for him to start showing results even if he trained religiously every single day. Yet, he was far from right. Arthur had somehow shattered his expectations.
'What did he do?' As he watched Arthur silently, he kept asking himself. Something didn't make sense about all of this and he couldn't figure out what it was.
The entire two hours of the lesson, he dedicated a good chunk of his focus on Arthur, trying to understand what was happening. But, the best conclusion he could reach was… Arthur must've gained a new ability.
'Considering the boost an ability can give… That could be the reason. But, what kind of sword ability did he get?' Theodore squinted his eyes. 'I cannot ask any question.'
As he heard the bell ring, announcing the end of the lesson, Theodore exhaled a small breath and looked up. He had never thought something like this could occupy his mind yet it did.
Meanwhile, the target of that curiosity was completely oblivious to all of that as he stopped swinging the sword and looked up. 'I was able to make some decent progress today too. But, it's far from enough. I have to work harder.'
Wiping the sweat off his face, Arthur logged out of the training realm along with everyone else and then left the academy along with his friends. Now that he was done for the day, his mind went to the next big thing on his list.
"It's time, huh?"
The Seraphica Colosseum invitation was in exactly 3 hours. Everyone was on the edge but also feeling rather excited. After all, this was a very pivotal moment for them. Whether they emerged victorious or not… was up to fate.
"Let's meet in the game in an hour's time." Stopping in front of her sonic board, Isla faced her friends. "We will go through the plan again. This is going to be a very tricky meeting, but I know we will be able to get what we want as we always do."
Her words were calm but the sheer energy it sent through the group was massive. They were the best players in the world and they had no intention of giving away such a title to anyone else.
Meeting the royalty would cement their position and basically open the entire Empire wide in front of them.
"You're goddamn right we are!"
"Let's do our best!"
"Hmph, we will pull it off as usual."
Seeing the determination in his friends' eyes, Arthur nodded with a smile. "That's the spirit. Well, let's go. There is no time to waste."
With that, the group quickly dispersed as they headed back to their dorm room as fast as they could. They only had one hour to get ready and then enter the game so they wanted to make use of it as much as they could.
A few minutes later, Arthur walked into his room, changed his clothes, and then quickly made a quick dinner to eat before he took a shower to clean himself off.
Finally, he sat in the capsule and logged into the game. Immediately, Arthur opened his eyes in the capital. The snow was still falling endlessly as if it had no intention of ever stopping. The weather was cold but pleasant and the sky was dark. Everything was the same. But, there was one single difference.
"The city is a little less active than usual…" Arthur muttered as he walked into the main street. He immediately noticed the considerably smaller crowds of people walking about their day. Usually, Arthur wouldn't be able to see an empty area of the main street. But now, he could see multiple ones.
It took him a second to understand what was happening as when he looked up, he saw huge signs basically across the entire city.
[The gladiatorial season begins! Get your tickets now!]
The signs showed several individuals clad in armor fighting large, incomprehensible monsters bravely. Their aura was basically oozing out of the images, sending a chill down Arthur's spine.
"This is actually pretty huge… Everyone is going to the Colosseum today." Arthur muttered with a small smile. "This is exciting! I want to see these gladiators like in movies!"
Without wasting any time, Arthur moved toward the hotel to meet with the others. The showdown was going to be unbelievable.
A//N: Don't forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3