I woke up in my cell and immediately felt sick.
The memories of yesterday were still fresh in my mind.
//Note on the side//
- P*ssy
There was still blood on my face and clothes. I was about to throw up another time when Marian entered my cell. – "Yo, come with me."
'What is going on? Are we escaping?' I thought surprised. But seeing how calm and unhurried Marian was, it probably wasn't it.
I exited the cell while Marian entered another room. – "One sec, I need to fetch some equips for you."
Curious about his cell I followed.
I was stunned when I saw his cell. It was more like a room of some scholar than a slave cell. It was two times my room. Marian saw my surprise. – "I demolished the wall and connected two cells into one."
I was even more stunned. – "Hei…but…aren't we slaves?"
"Aah, you are talking about this." – Marian nodded. – "Outside the slaves are less than dirt, but here in the arena, a capable slave is worth thousands upon thousands of gold coins every month. For example, you saw Vlad yesterday. He can slaughter hundreds of normal warriors. I can do the same."
Finally, he took out a black bag. – "This to say that a normal slave is a disposable good, buy a skilled fighter in the arena is an extremely valuable asset. Come to the training area. Vlad is already there."
As we were going, he also added. – "I convinced Old Man that you can be trained and also become strong, so work hard if you want a better treatment."
[…]
The training area wasn't big, but it was more than enough for three people. – "Are we the only fighters here?" – I asked.
"Yeah. The old man got lucky with Vlad and me and decided to invest only in the quality of fighters."
He suddenly remembered something. – "Oh, I forgot to tell you how the arena is divided."
"We're the part of the Northern Barracks. Yesterday we fought Southern Barracks. There are also Eastern and Western Barracks. Also, there are four training camps: Summer, Winter, Autumn, and Spring training camps. There are some very strong guys there. The main point is that they are not slaves but soldiers or noble family's scion's training. Try not to kill guys from there."
He paused. – "Everything clear?"
I nodded. – "Four Barracks and four camps."
"Good."
I saw Vlad lifting weights.
"Vlad, here we are. Let's test him a bit."
After that, hell started.
First of all, I had to run until collapsing on the ground. I thought that I wasn't so bad but Vlad's only remark crushed me. – "Pathetic."
Marian gave me something to drink and my strength recovered quickly.
After that, I had to use my every muscle until complete exhaustion. Marian was writing something while observing my struggles.
After that Vlad let me try different weapons made me attack him. Every time I have blasted away in one move. It was pretty depressing.
"For now, Vlad will teach you some of his specialty that you have already witnessed yesterday." – Said Marian.
"Slaughter?"
"Nope, barehanded combat."
Marian stopped recording. – "Now the most important test. You told me two days ago about the purple fruit you ate, right?"
I nodded.
"Perfect." – While nodding to Vlad he tossed me a vial with some transparent liquid. – "Drink it."
To tell the truth, I wasn't very willing, but they could have killed me at any moment, so after a moment of hesitation ai drank it.
At first, nothing happened, but after a few minutes, I felt something different.
I suddenly noticed many new things around me. I saw the blades of grass, every single one of them, minuscule cracks on the walls of the training area, a mosquito flying above a small flower near Marian's leg.
Actually, the information was just too much.
"Ok, Vlad you can start."
I turned and froze. I was overwhelmed.
Vlad was just looking at me, but it felt as if a giant blade was hanging above my head ready to fall. My hair stood up, and the heartbeat became accelerated to the point of pain.
It was difficult to even breathe.
Vlad stepped towards me. Only one step and the pressure multiplied. Drops of cold sweat silently appeared on my forehead.
The second step, third step, fourth step…I was trembling.
'He…will kill me!'
For the first time, I understood what killing intent was.
My mind suddenly blanked out at this point and the terror was substituted by absolute calmness.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
*Marian's POV*
'Oh, he is holding up very well. Vlad already made a few steps, and he is still…conscious. Better than yesterday.'
Suddenly he saw Eliot…catching fire!
"What…So this is the purple flame he was talking about…"
Surprised at first, Marian wrote something else on his notes about Eliot.
Vlad dispersed his killing intent immediately, and the flames also slowly disappeared.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Suddenly the pressure disappeared and fell on the ground gasping for breath.
"Very nice, very nice! You have a purple flame inside your body!" – I heard Marian commenting happily from the side.
"For real? I didn't do anything at all."
"That's because you activated, or maybe even it has activated automatically to protect you from the threat of death, represented by Vlad. I gave you a mix that boosts up perception, so you could feel the true terror of our silent friend."
After righting something else he continued. – "I think that the purple fruit you ate somehow changed your body, and the purple flame is like a bloodline ability. That's to say that your body can't handle this ability for now."
"You lost 2 kilograms by activating it for one second." – Commented Vlad.
"Exactly. With your current body, one minute and you will become ash."
I nodded as I felt very tired and hungry.
"Go eat and rest." – Said Vlad with an unquestionable tone. – "We will create a training program for you."
"Yeah, a very good training program." – Marian nodded enthusiastically while I went away.
I wasn't very enthusiastic about this training program. 'Hopefully, they won't accidentally kill me…'