The intermission was a nice change to the fast pace fighting. Lucas and Rick both relaxed and ate some strange delicacies that were being sold that were incredibly different from his homeland. The most notable of these foods happened to be a spider egg sack filled to the brim with a strange cherry-like custard.
It seemed incredibly unappetizing at first but after a bite, it transformed into a fragrant jelly that filled the body with a strange warmth that was apparently the spider's venom working away at you though it was harmless to humans it would still cause some minor effects that made the dish a staple.
Though some things seemed to be similar to back home. Such as giant chicken-like legs and fried food. It was nonetheless heartwarming to be so close to such delicious food that reminded one of home.
After what seemed like hours of joyful light conversations the arena came into view once more as everyone took their seats. People seemed to be a lot rowdier than usual which could be because everyone was probably getting drunk during the intermission. Rick and Lucas both managed to snag front-line seats that echoed a closeness to the field only similar to when Rick was on it.
'Today has been such a great day. I've seen so many exciting people it almost washes away the bad memories of the past. Back when I was on earth' Rick thought to himself.
"Hello, ladies and gentleman! I hope you enjoyed your short break while we repaired the damages dealt to the arena." The announcer said, seemingly out of nowhere.
There was a light breeze that swept throughout the entire arena as the man appeared once more at the center of the arena. There was a gasp of horror however as he had not appeared alone this time. Instead, he appeared with a dead body clutched within his hands. The body was mangled beyond recognition but Rick knew that it was one of the competitors.
"It seems like this year's competitors are a little... feisty to say the least."
"You see. Normally. We don't kill our opponents. In or out of the ring. It's actually prohibited among the thieves guild to kill. So it looks like Mister Rellum is having quite the bad day." He said while gesturing towards the corpse.
"His sparring partner today has been disqualified and dispatched to the local authorities. I hope you can forget this intrusion as we will be directly skipping to the last match before the finals. Yes, we are missing one of our finalists which sadly means that there will be no free pass this round. Instead, there will be two more rounds in which the four remaining contestants will fight each other and the remaining two standing will win."
He gestured to the side where two contestants were waiting with a solemn look in their eyes.
"So without a further ado while I go deal with this corpse please have fun watching the fight between mister madison and mister reeves." He said before disappearing from the stage, the crowd still deeply affected by seeing a corpse in full view, didn't even make a noise as two medium-sized men walked onto the field and started dueling.
Rick felt that something in him was affected by seeing such a brutally destroyed person but at the same time, it didn't seem to affect him at all. Like something deep down in him was broken and just couldn't compute what was going on.
Even though he had even killed someone it didn't seem to affect him in the slightest. It was like it was being blocked by something.
'What a strange feeling' Rick thought to himself before watching the match in silence.
The two men fought at each other ruthlessly and with very little error in their swordplay. They both seemed to be talented warriors at near each other's level in strength with probably even the same class and that was what made this the most grueling battle of them all.
Rick sat there pondering the thought, not knowing what would come. Would he fight the man with the daggers? Or would he fight that strange shadow swordsman. Or perhaps he would fight one of the two warriors before him. All three didn't look very good.
After what seemed like forever one of the warriors won, which was met was met with a roar of screams from the crowd who recovered through this long and flashy battle.
Lucas remained silent during this period of time as well. Not knowing exactly what to do as Rick began to sweat profusely at the thought of fighting any one of those strong warriors. He was strong but... not that strong.
'System show me my status' Rick thought to himself.
----
Name: Rick Stone
Class: Apprenticed Thief Tier 1
Title: Broodling of the Forgotten Children
Health: 50/50 (10*LV+END)
Mana: 0/0
Stamina: 10/10
LV: 4
EXP: 300/500
Attributes:
Speed: 21
Endurance: 10
Strength: 6
Intelligence: 14
Magic: 0
Luck: 1
Unused Stat Points: 0
Unused Skill Points: 0 (Used to instantly level up a skill by one level. One point per current level is required.)
Current quest:
Objective: Win the tournament and receive first place.
Reward: +1000 Roll Over XP and +1 luck
Penalty: - 500 XP and -1 luck
----
It was underwhelming, to say the least.
'That man with the daggers seemed to have some sort of skill similar to my multistrike... He was able to throw 5 daggers accurately in the span of 6 seconds, an amazing task for a thief. If each of those daggers did damage equivalent to my hand-to-hand combat damage I would be dead in the ground.' Rick thought to himself while comparing his stats to his enemy's strengths.
'I haven't seen his melee range yet but I would have to guess that this is his weakness!'
'And for that shadow swordsman.... I just have to end the fight quick enough to finish him off.'