"Let me show you a game..." Ri said suddenly, quickening her pace slightly.
As they walked, Shed kept turning his head in every direction, taking in the peculiarities and absurdities around him. The broad corridors they were passing through were lined with various shops, cafes, restaurants, and even game rooms. Each establishment had a unique architectural style: some looked straight out of a science fiction film, bright and filled with holograms to attract customers, while others had an old-fashioned charm, equally intriguing.
Shed also noticed something odd about the place… there weren't any guards around.
Finally, Ri stopped before an imposing doorway that appeared like a silver mirror. Moments later, a sphere of white light emerged from the mirror, floating toward them.
"Ticket." A metallic voice sounded from the sphere.
Shed stared in surprise at the floating sphere. That thing... had it just spoken?
He rubbed his forehead, shaking his head slightly, then sighed, realizing he would have to come to terms with the strangeness of this place that would soon be his home.
Ri pointed to the badge on her chest, and shortly after, the sphere drifted away, as if absorbed by the mirrored door. Then the door itself began to melt away, disappearing into the floor.
"Alright, let's go," Ri invited.
Deciding it was best to act as though he wasn't surprised by anything anymore, Shed pretended not to have noticed anything unusual and followed Ri through the space left by the vanishing door.
Beyond the door, they found themselves on bleachers made of a marble-like white stone, rising in concentric rings around a large dirt arena where two gladiators were preparing to fight. The crowd on the bleachers grew louder and louder.
In the ring, to the right, a massive, dark-skinned human man, clad in brown leather armor, was spinning a broad, heavy sword with both ferocity and grace. Opposite him stood a tall, slender woman with light green skin and sharp gray stone-like hair, stretching as she focused her four emerald eyes intently on her opponent. She had two black-handled knives with violet glass-like blades strapped to her sides.
High above the center of the arena hovered a floating sphere with rectangular holographic projections displaying the names, faces, and rankings of the two gladiators. The large man was named Ruuk, and the green-skinned woman was called Galat.
"This is one of the simpler, more common types of games here: a complex duel between two gladiators… both of them are ranked Eucalyptus I," Ri explained.
"Eucalyptus?"
"Exactly. Gladiators are classified in ranks based on their ranking points. Winning a game earns them points, while losing does the opposite."
Ri continued to explain the ranking system.
A novice gladiator would start with 300 ranking points. Between 0 and 1,000 points, a gladiator belonged to the Magnolia rank, with Magnolia I for those from 0 to 500 points, and Magnolia II for those from 500 to 1,000 points. Gladiators in Magnolia I with less than 100 points were called "falling gladiators." Staying below this threshold for three consecutive months would result in expulsion from the arena, often forcing the gladiator into a form of servitude.
A gladiator with more than 1,000 points but fewer than 2,000 would be ranked in Spruce. Between 1,000 and 1,500 points, a gladiator would be Spruce I, and between 1,500 and 2,000, Spruce II.
Next was the Eucalyptus rank, for those between 2,000 and 3,500 points, divided every 500 points into Eucalyptus I, II, and III.
After Eucalyptus came Sequoia (3,500–5,000 points), also divided every 500 points into Sequoia I, II, and III.
When a gladiator exceeded 5,000 points, they would attain the rank of Champion, the highest achievable rank. Only 1,000 gladiators could hold this title, and they were ranked from the 1,000th to the 1st position based on their point total. These elite gladiators were also called the "Numbers."
For a gladiator with over 4,900 points to enter the Champion rank and surpass the 5,000-point mark, they would need to win a duel—simple or complex—against a Champion ranked between the 1,000th and 950th positions. If the Sequoia-ranked challenger won, they would take over the Champion's position and points, while the defeated Champion would return to the Sequoia rank with the score of the challenger who had bested them.
Once Ri's overview of the Rankings was finished, and with Shed mentally rehearsing the information he'd just heard, the match between the two gladiators began amid the roar of the crowd.
"Suè! Suè! Suè!" the spectators chanted.
"What are they saying?" Shed asked.
"Oh… they're shouting 'Suè'… It doesn't really mean anything specific; it's just a Sleter way of cheering on the fighters."
Shed nodded.
At the sound of the gong, the green-skinned woman grabbed the knives at her sides and shot toward the massive man with unbelievable speed. He, unfazed, spun his sword, creating a whirlwind that changed the direction of Galat's leap.
"Woah…" Shed couldn't hold back his amazement.
Ri, sitting beside him, chuckled softly.
"Um… is there a way to see how many points these two have? And maybe even get some info about them?" Shed was curious to know if he could easily study the characteristics of his future opponents.
"Of course, with your bracelet… just think 'Rank-Tio,'" Ri explained, turning toward Shed.
Her face, so close and beautiful, captivated him, and he found himself momentarily lost in her piercing green eyes. Embarrassed, he quickly redirected his gaze to the fight, thinking, 'Rank-Tio.'
"She's a shapeshifting alien… a shapeshifting alien!" he reminded himself, trying to regain composure.
A virtual screen opened before him. Gladiators were listed by rank, and there was a 'search' function to look up specific gladiators' information. Shed decided to use it. He searched for Galat first, and soon a virtual page appeared with a photo of the woman, along with her physical characteristics and her ranking points and fame points.
Still a little flustered, Shed asked Ri somewhat shyly, "What are fame points?"
"Mmh… to put it simply… they, along with ranking points, help determine a gladiator's weekly salary, and they're based on how many fans the gladiator has." Ri paused thoughtfully, then continued, "… to be precise, there are other ways a gladiator can earn extra money… for instance, through sponsorships."
"Sponsorships?"
Shed had a rough idea of what she might mean.
"Look at that man's armor…" Ri prompted, pointing at the fighter in the ring.
On the chest of his brown leather armor, there were indeed some blue letters.
"T-Ruj?"
"Exactly… that's his sponsor. And, if you're curious, T-Ruj is an energy drink brand from the company X-atig."
Shed nodded, then returned his focus to the virtual screen displaying information on Galat.
To his surprise, there wasn't a section with detailed data on her powers or strengths, or at least, not in the way he'd hoped. Instead, there was a section called 'Fan Comments,' which was divided into several subsections. The first section contained comments on her fighting style, filled with fans' observations on how she seemed to fight, with comments ranked by popularity. The second section focused on comments about her abilities, where, well, her abilities were discussed. The third section contained general, less-filtered comments, where fans freely expressed themselves, for better or worse…
"What do you think?" Ri asked, seeing Shed read with a doubtful expression.
"It… it doesn't seem all that useful…" he replied, a bit disappointed.
Ri nodded.
"I agree; relying solely on fan comments to get a clear picture of a gladiator would be foolish. After all, fan comments aren't free from bias. That's why, in the future, to prepare for your matches properly, you'd do well to watch recordings of your opponent's previous fights… I'll help you with that at first, anyway."
Shed felt a little reassured by her last words.
As he continued to watch the fight, which could be described as a clash between the woman's overwhelming agility and the man's impenetrable defense, another question crossed Shed's mind, one of those that keeps you up at night.
"Ri… can you die during the games?" he asked, anxious for his manager's answer.
Ri chuckled.
"I knew you'd ask that sooner or later… no, you can't die in the games, thanks to the combination of the Kehlt System, embedded in the bracelets like the one I gave you earlier, and the short-range bridge system from Aladne Industries. Essentially, the Kehlt System assigns gladiators a certain number of life points… when a gladiator reaches zero life points in a game, the short-range bridge system kicks in and instantly teleports that gladiator out of the game field…"
Shed didn't fully understand Ri's explanation, but the fact that you couldn't die during the games reassured him, at least a little.
"Teleportation, huh?"
Shed chuckled nervously. It seemed he would have to trust his life to something he didn't fully understand.