"Look at our hero!"
After Mares got out of his room in the infirmary, he found the rest of those from his floor. A lot of them were being treated in big healing capsules. They were of rectangular shape with curves on the edge. One would enter the capsule, that had an open in the middle, and seat on a metallic chair, then the capsule would close and they received treatment through drugs and machines.
Mares had a feeling that this was something that existed only in virtual concepts in his original world, though he couldn't understand why he had this feeling.
The ones being used now were mass produced and their quality was questionable.
With this lower value healing capsules, the process was rough and it was necessarily to go in at least three or four times before actually getting recovered decently. Unfortunately, those were the only type of machines they could get access to, due to their current ranks.
The first to notice Mares was Glarto, who animatedly greeted the silver eyed. The friendliness the long haired could felt from the group was refreshing for him.
"Kid, thanks for your help. We wouldn't have made it without you."
Madera had a particularly tired appearance. There were bags under her eyes, her voice sounded tired and she was lying on a chair, and she barely looked up with her head. She had overextended herself during the battle, but even so, she congratulated Mares and throwed a bottle at him.
"What is this?"
With his reflexes it was easy to get the bottle, though he looked at it curiously.
It was cylindric and gray. Mares shake it and he heard the sound of a liquid being moved around inside.
"Chol, is a common drink. Never had it?" Elaso also joined the conversation giving a light tap on Mares' shoulder.
"No, don't think I had."
The answer clearly surprised the group, but they didn't ask further.
Mares noticed that there was no opening on the top of the bottle for him to drink from, making him lost in how he was supposed to drink it.
'Give two light taps on the bottom.' Esen explained to him. The long haired could hear her giggling, probably having some fun seeing him acting so clueless.
Mares did as he was told and from the bottom something similar to a straw formed.
He looked surprised, before putting his lips around the metallic straw and trying the drink. He noticed that he didn't need to suck, like when he used a straw back on the drinks on earth.
Since the straw was on the bottom the drink flowed naturally. It was an interesting mechanic, and it seemed like something blocked the end of the straw so that the chol wouldn't fall out, but when someone's lips got around the straw the drink would flow naturally.
Mares felt that chol had a mix of sweetness with bitterness. He didn't recognize the taste, but he felt it was probably a bit too strong for normal people. It vaguely reminded him of tea, if he had to make a comparison with something he knew.
"It's good."
He sincerely complimented. In the last days he only ate the most basic things that could keep him going. For the silver eyed, it felt like an eternity since he could enjoy the minimum luxury like such drink.
"You can have as much of it as you want, we have a lot of points now!"
Glarto said with a satisfied expression.
"And it's all thanks to you!"
Naal said, congratulating Mares.
Seeing their high spirits made Mares feel like the battle was somewhat worth it. A lot of those from the room had died, but the survivors knew that if Mares wasn't fighting the ranked three Void Beasts, everyone would probably have died.
Mares nodded his head; he didn't think too much about the deaths since the only ones he had some friendship with were the leaders of the room. While he sympathized with those that were gone, he didn't think too much about it.
And the others were much more used to the deaths on this place then Mares. In a certain way, they were already a little numb to it. They knew all they could do, was to keep going.
"How many points do we have?"
The long haired asked curious.
"15.000." Elaso replied and it was possible to notice the amazement in his voice.
Mares whistled. He remembered that after he and the others went to the weapons hall, they only had a little more than 2.000 left, so now they had more than five times of that. For the lowest ranking room, that was an insane amount.
Of course, those points were thanks to Mares' battle with the Void Beasts. Since they evolved mid battle, their values increased, that added to the fight Mares put to the viewers, made their room value increase by a lot.
"Once everyone is better, let's celebrate. For those that fell and for those that are still standing."
Elaso proposed, to which everyone mutually agreed. Just because they were somewhat numb to deaths, it didn't mean they were unaffected. They would like to somehow send off their friends, and some kind of celebration could do the job as a ceremony. He then turned to talk to Mares, throwing his badge at him.
"You should get something knew."
The silver eyed knew what he meant, but after the last experience he wasn't itching to go back to the weapons hall.
'You still need a weapon.' Esen firmly told him. He knew better than to not do as she tells him to. Sometimes at least.
"Thanks." He nods to Elaso and decides that, if he has to do it, better do it soon. After briefly talking with the others, he went out to go to the weapons hall.
"What are you thinking?" Not long after Mares was gone, Madera had finished recovering. She didn't have a lot of injuries, she had mostly just overdone it, so her recovery was faster than the others.
"He is going to be promoted soon. I wanted to at least offer some help."
Elaso said with a sigh.
"Makes sense, with his strength the kid wouldn't stick with us for a long time." Madera added before taking a sip of chol.
"Bet he will teach a lesson to those shitheads above." Glarto had a satisfying smile when thinking about how Mares would affect the overall environment of the coliseum.
"He is tough enough to do it." Elaso laughed, sharing his friend enthusiasm about what Mares could cause.
[…]
'You need a long-ranged weapon.'
During the way to the weapons hall, Mares and Esen were deciding what he should get this time around. He was in doubt between getting a new sword or a new spear, but, if possible, he would take both. And Esen wanted him to take something with which he could battle from a further distance.
'Not a bad choice.'
He would be lying if he said he wasn't a little bit interested in the guards' weapons. Though he once got the idea that long ranged weapons were superior to short ranged ones, when he was still on Earth, Mares knew now that in reality, it all depended on the user. Even if he had a long-ranged weapon, against a strong specialist it didn't matter which type of weapon he used. Having said so, he knew that he had the potential to make great use of something long-ranged if he had the opportunity to train with such a weapon.
'And imagine how cool it would be! Having your techniques combined with some projectile!'
Esen had high expectations for how deadly her Mares could become after acquiring some knowledge in how to handle those types of weapons.
'Take it easy little bunny.' He replied jokingly.
Thanks to their small talk Mares was in front of the weapons hall much earlier than he expected. The whole place was much emptier than last time, there was almost no one. The coliseum battles were usually an event that took a few days to conclude, each gladiators taking part of different events based on their rankings.
Since Mares was part of the group that was simply supposed to open the event, he didn't have to wait hours or a few days before going back to the underground facilities.
Except for the guards, there was only him and the seller at the weapons hall first floor. Mares looked at the seller, it was the same that stole some points from them last time. His look made the scaled one tremble, he knew what Mares had done earlier that day, and could barely believe the boy was there, standing in front of him, looking healthy and fine.
Mares didn't give him a second glance and looked at the weapons. He spent a good time eyeing the swords and spears with Esen's help.
'They are all of pretty much same quality. Nothing much remarkable to be honest.' It was the white-haired analyses after she carefully sensed the weapons offered.
With Mares having just lost both the sword and spear he choose last time, he was hoping that he could get something of a little more quality, that would endure a longer time, though it did not seem like he would be able to. He had to content himself with once more a simple sword and spear and count with his luck so that they last longer. And he did not believe in his luck.
'Now, about the long-ranged weapon…' Through Mares eyes and her own senses, Esen looked around to find something that she could judge to fit her Mares.
There was not a lot of options for this category of weapons. The couple could only imagine the all the better-quality ones were on the upper floors, which Mares did not have access to yet.
'This place sucks…' Esen was not enjoying the lack of options and quality. There was some support type of weapons, like the one Madera utilized, and while that was sort of long-ranged, they were not looking for something that could give support, but instead actual damage, and in this regard, the first floor lacked a lot.
He decided to go with something simple. It was a weapon he saw last time, something that resembled a half open umbrella. According to Esen it was a weapon that made use of Astral Energy to make shots, but the amount of damage each shot gave was almost pitiful. It was not what they would like to have, still they contented themselves with that.
"How much?"
Mares stared coldly at the scaled seller. The man trembled under those bright silver eyes, it was weird how lacking of light they seemed to feel, considering how shiny they were. Repeatedly the seller opened his mouth to say a price and he always closed before making a sound. Though it looked like Mares was simply staring at him, the words he said previously were ringing on the seller's head.
"I will remember this."
After he learned about what happened on the arena he had a bad feeling, and now just by being under Mares' eyes he felt like his life was hanging under a thin thread.
"A-a t-thousand…"
Mares nodded, he knew the actual price and knew the man was actually charging lower, just by the sheer fear he was feeling. The long haired passed the badge and got the weapons, only when he got out of the weapons hall the seller felt his body relaxing and he felt to the floor. Even if he had permission from the higher ups to mess with the silver eyed, he decided to no longer do so in the future.
'Thanks for the help.'
'Hihi, Mars I did nothing, you put pressure on him alone.'
'I did?'
Seeing the seller reacting on that way he had thought that Esen was using her powers to mentally pressure him, but to discover it was actually him alone was a bit astonishing.