A Dragon’s Curiosity

 

 

It did not take Nisha long to find someone with the uniform of the Arena.

The man was currently handing out some supplies to a group of warriors with the strength of about the middle second aura rank, instructing them about the usage of the things he gave them.

The warriors quickly nodded and took their stuff to the side, where they immediately started studying the contents.

Seeing that he was free at the moment, Nisha approached the worker.

“What do you want?“

Because there were just too many people around and a lot of work, there was no time to be polite despite the fact that each event took some time.

As soon as one task was finished, another one popped out and the workers in the preparation area often had to deal with sudden incidents and unexpected twists and turns, leaving them little to no time to rest.

“It should be my turn to fight next, I am here to prepare.

I still need to pick a weapon and a cloak or something.“

Although she was a rather high ranking noble currently, Nisha did not care about pleasantries and addresses that much.

The man in front of her clearly had to deal with a lot, it didn‘t matter if he called her young miss or not.

“Next fight? Let me check.“

Furrowing his brows, the worker headed to a nearby counter and picked up a pen to record something on the ledger he held while handing out the supplies previously.

Afterwards, he placed the book away and picked the uppermost leaf on the stack on the counter itself and glanced over it.

“Your name?“

“Nisha.“

“Alright, that matches. First time you‘re here? Okay, let‘s go and get your stuff.“

Putting another marking on the sheet, the man placed the sheet back and strode into the distance.

Seeing that he was in a hurry, Nisha followed him as they left the main room and entered one of the side doors.

She found it rather curious that he knew that this was the first time the elf fought in the pit, though she quickly figured that it should be one of the things recorded on the sheet about the fight.

 

The first room they entered had a large amount of all weapon types, swords, daggers, maces, hammers, staffs and many more.

Through her [Spirit Sight], Nisha estimated that they ranged from the late first rank to the late second rank, with a clear distinction between each level.

She had to admit that the selection was rather complete, though the number of ranged weapons was clearly smaller than that of the melee weapons.

They did not stop here though and entered another room deeper inside.

This time, the lowest ranked weapon started from the early third grade and went all the way to the peak of the third grade.

No fourth rank weapon was displayed, although that did not surprise the dragon very much.

The difference in price between a third and fourth rank weapon was not just a minor upgrade, materials and components taken from monsters and beasts faced the same difficulty as a cultivator to make it past the first great divide.

Similarly to the previous room, there was a distinction between different weapon kinds, though the room was split into two sections.

“According to the arrangement, you can pick any weapon on the left.

The weapons themselves are damaged, it‘s hard to say to which degree.

You don‘t have to worry about it breaking though, there will be plenty of replacements scattered in the pit later before your event starts.

They might not fit your preferences though.“

Just as the man had said, all of the equipment on the left side of the room was rather dilapidated.

Swords had chipped blades or part of them had broken off, while the shields had deep scars that nearly broke them in half.

Staffs were crooked or had one end broken in parts, and one of them was almost bent in the shape of a V.

It was the same for all equipment, they had flaws and were broken to different degrees.

At first, Nisha was appalled that they would ask her to fight with such a worthless gear and doubted their intentions, but she relaxed when she heard that there would be replacements available.

Thinking about it, it made sense to recycle weapons above a certain grade, if the Arena had to provide new weapons for all events at the third grade, they would make a loss instead of profit from equipment cost alone.

It was an additional thrill to see people put their life on the line and have their equipment shatter in the middle of a fight.

 

“When you have picked your preferred weapons, go to the main room and enter the passage to the left of the one we took.

There are bandanas, cloaks, masks and so on inside, in case you want to hide your identity.

Remember that you don‘t have to worry about gear breaking or equipment being ruined, they are all provided by the Arena.

On the other hand, their quality is not the best either, make sure to check carefully when you take something, we are not responsible if the concealment fails in the middle of a battle.

You can also prepare your own stuff in the future aside from weaponry, it only needs to be inspected beforehand if you want to wear your own cloak or something.

Once you‘re done, head outside the preparation area and report to the gate, someone will remind you when it‘s time to enter.“

Because there was still work waiting for him, he only briefly explained the fundamentals once before turning around and hurrying back to the main area.

Nisha could only shout her thanks after him, before seriously inspecting the weapons on display.

As part of her education at the [Royal Academy], the elf had some experience with most weapon types and was encouraged to try everything at least once to find the type she was most comfortable with.

Due to her past as a hunter at the hunting cabin in [Royal Hunting Grounds] and the [Imperial Swordplay] manual that she obtained, Nisha used the sword and bow most frequently.

Bows allowed her to fight at range and worked well together with her [Spirit Sight], obstruction in vision generally hindered archers the most, but was not a problem at all within the range of her vision.

The sword, on the other side, was more versatile and often called the king of weapons.

After having spent some effort to train, Nisha stepped into the [Freeflow] stage of the sword manual and was more or less on the level of a veteran third rank soldier in the Terus Empire army.

Nevertheless, for the upcoming fight she did not want to pick a sword or bow outright, as all the weapons were rather dilapidated and broken.

 

In the end, the girl settled on a short mace that was rather worn down and had a corner of the top part cut off, as well as a round shield twice the size of a plate, which had several deep marks on the surface that almost cut it into parts.

Nisha mainly picked it because the straps were rather intact and it was easy to carry, as to balance out offence and defence instead of going for a sidearm like a dagger or additional shortsword.

According to the worker from before, replacement weapons would be prepared inside the sand pit, it was a waste of time to worry too much given that there were replacements ready later on.

Listening to his instructions, the dragon returned through the other weapon room and entered the side path to the left, which was decidedly smaller than the previous area.

Though not to the degree that a layer of dust accumulated, it was clear at a glance that this part of the preparation area saw less frequent use, many of the gear was piled up haphazardly or mixed together when hung on the racks.

Nisha could have prepared her own cloak or tightly wound her favourite scarf around her face to obscure her features, but it was quite likely that her small figure and comparatively grand cultivation realm would give her identity away eventually anyway.

She mainly wanted to keep a low profile for as long as possible and find a way to explain the changes in advance to make sure they were solid and foolproof.

And no small part of her decision was related to the fact that the elf did not even want to imagine that her scarf would get damaged in the heat of battle, it was one of her precious treasures.

Nisha might as well borrow something from the Arena and let them worry about replacement in case the gear broke or got ruined.

As a matter of fact, it was not really uncommon for a portion of the participants to intentionally conceal their identity or wear a mask.

For some it was as simple as wishing to live a quiet everyday life, which would be disturbed by fans or foes from the pit that were unconvinced by a loss or suffered a loss in some way.

By fighting under a pseudonym and covering their face, it was a simple measure to protect themselves.

Others might have a complicated relationship with the forces they were affiliated with and could not openly show their strength or appear in public.

The Arena was a good place for them to temper themselves, and as such these measures allowed them to fight anyway.

 

It was not a loss for the Arena too, as the flair for mystery and the excitement of an unknown champion easily heated up the passion of the spectators.

Fourth rank and above cultivators were rare in the first place, if it lured more of them to participate in events or fight against each other, the management was more than happy to protect their identities and provide them with some help.

Nisha browsed through the selection available here and quickly found some suitable pieces.

It had to be said that the people behind the Arena knew their business and did not cheap out on the necessary purchases at all.

While the items here had little to no defensive power at all, the craftsmanship was on a high level and had multiple failsaves.

There were cloaks, masks, cowls, full face helmets, and similar designs, all of them created with overlapping layers, in case they were damaged by a weapon.

Instead of falling off and revealing the identity of the wearer, it was much more likely that only one or two surface layers would peel off and give the participant a chance to retain their anonymity.

The room was divided into a second rank and third rank part respectively, with a small portion of items in each place separated specifically.

Nisha picked up a few of the items on the side and noticed that each of them had a note attached to them that explained their use.

Right now, she held the [Flowing Water Robe], an early third rank item in her hands.

According to the note, the robe itself was enchanted with a water spell of the third rank to make the equipment follow the movements of the user closely.

As such it was impossible for the hood to shift in the middle of the battle, making it impossible to reveal the face of the user.

Looking at the remaining items, the elf scanned them with her [Spirit Sight] and discovered that the items with a note attached all had a weak elemental energy inside them.

Reading a few more descriptions, it was either an enchantment that helped with concealment or an inscription that turned items like masks more sturdy and held them in place.

Of course some of the goods had flaws as well, and Nisha quickly found a cowl that she was rather satisfied with.

 

Named as [Dark Shroud], a mid third rank cowl was bestowed with the ability to concentrate dark aura and attract shadows to gather beneath the fabric of the cowl, essentially casting a deep shadow over the face of the user.

Active concealment was a rare trait among the items here, it was usually very expensive to commission an enchantment like that.

The only downside and probably the reason why a fancy item like that ended up in this dusty storeroom came from the fact that it lacked the ability to distinguish between friends and foes.

Regardless of who wore it, the dense shadows would obstruct visions, from the outside beneath the cowl but also from inside the item to the outside world.

While this might be a disadvantage for most people and rendered the item near unusable for most people, the dragon happened to be especially attuned to the darkness element.

Let alone shadows, even in absolute darkness, Nisha was confident in her vision and could still perceive the surroundings clearly.

Added with her [Spirit Sight], this item was perfect for her needs and she carried the cowl along with her mace and shield to the preparation area.

Ignoring the chaos in the preparation area, the elf left the place and returned to the counter next to the gate leading into the pit.

Because the aperture was rather tall, Nisha had to get on tiptoes to deposit the cowl, the broken club and the dilapidated roundshield on the surface on top.

Seeing the gear suddenly appearing, one of the employees walked over and was rather astonished to see the petite figure hidden by the items beneath.

Nevertheless, he did not question the girl about the items or made things difficult based on her age.

Since she was able to take those things out of the preparation area and followed the procedure to register, other workers under the management should have long checked her cultivation level and qualifications.

While the Arena looked simple on the surface and everyone was allowed to participate as long as they had the strength, it was impossible that they kept a position as lucrative as the betting pool and related gains without experts to back them up and a management system perfected through countless overhauls.

“What can I do for you?“

Although there were not many functions fulfilled by this desk in front of the gate, the employee still took into consideration that the girl might return the equipment for a senior or had other intentions.