The fight between the two gladiators lasted a long time, ultimately won by Ruuk, who leveraged his superior defense and endurance. While watching the match, Shed repeatedly felt something strange, considering the circumstances: a part of him wanted to fight in the ring like those two gladiators.
'I must be going crazy.'
Shed shook his head.
Then he and Ri moved to another room in the Colosseum, Ri's office, a modest-sized space with cream-white walls almost completely bare of furniture, except for a strange plant with reddish leaves in one corner, and a dark wood desk with an opalescent blue crystal chair floating half a meter off the ground behind it.
A blue light carefully illuminated the room, only adding to its coldness.
"Now that we're alone again... it's time you discover your innate abilities," Ri announced, piquing Shed's curiosity.
"What are they?"
"Innate abilities are skills you've had since birth… the bracelet will only show the ones you've already awakened, of course."
"So… I might already have more than one awakened?"
"Certainly, though that's quite rare, especially for someone your age."
Shed nodded.
"I imagine I'll need to use the bracelet again."
Ri smiled and nodded in agreement.
"Think 'Inf-Tio,'" she said.
Doing so, Shed saw a virtual cream-colored page appear before him with black text at the top center:
OWN INFORMATION [PAGE 1]
Below the heading, to the left, was Shed's face, and for the first time since waking up, he saw himself.
He had a thin face, a well-defined chin, and high cheekbones, with olive-toned skin, thick, wavy black hair, sandy-colored eyes, a slightly aquiline nose, and well-defined but delicate lips.
Shed got caught up in looking at himself, not out of vanity, but in hopes that gazing at his face would bring back some memory of his past. However, nothing returned, and he couldn't even recognize the face of the young man he saw as his own.
'This… is me?...'
The thought weighed on Shed's heart.
'At least… I look a bit… attractive?'
He scratched his head a little, embarrassed to compliment himself, though he only meant to lift his spirits. Besides, was it even a compliment to himself? The face of the young man he was looking at felt like that of a stranger.
Trying to dispel these bittersweet, mostly bitter thoughts, he moved on to read the text to the right of the photo, where his general information was listed.
Name: Shed
Age: 18 Earth years
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Height: 1.76 meters
Just below his general information was a section showing his points and credits.
Rank: Magnolia I
Ranking Points (RP): 300
Fame Points (FP): 10
Credits (C): 150
Weekly Salary: 62C
Shed looked closely at these numbers, especially his fame points. How could he already have ten without ever participating in a game? Did he already have fans?
After a moment of confusion, he moved on, deciding that the ten fame points must be a standard starting amount.
Below this, a divided section displayed Shed's stats. On the left were numeric values, while on the right, a radar graph represented them, assigning each stat a letter grade from F (lowest) to A (highest).
Musculature Level: 23 (E)
Spirit: 16 (F)
Mind: 18 (F)
HP: 250 (F)
HP Regeneration: 0.02 per second (F)
Ka Quantity: 8/8 (F)
Ka Regeneration: 0.01 per second (F)
Reading these stats, Shed felt a bit disappointed; he seemed weak across the board. But, as a novice in the Colosseum, he couldn't have expected much else.
He turned to Ri, puzzled by two of the stats in particular.
"What does 'Spirit' mean?" he asked.
"Think of spirit as what links your mind and body, what makes you who you are, and enables you to use Ka…"
"Mmh… and what's the difference between spirit and Ka quantity?"
"If your spirit level measures your ability to wield Ka, Ka quantity indicates how much Ka you can store within yourself."
Ri paused, watching Shed's focused yet uncertain expression.
"Anyway, don't focus too much on the numerical values… especially since they aren't absolute. In a fight, these values often vary, either positively or negatively depending on the situation you're in…"
Ri spoke with evident confidence. Shed nodded, cementing her words in his mind.
He then continued reading his information, noticing that Page 1 ended with those last lines.
He then moved to the next page:
PERSONAL INFORMATION [PAGE 2]
This was the page listing a gladiator's abilities. Shed closed his eyes and took a deep breath; it would be a lie to say he hadn't been eagerly awaiting this moment.
'Let it be something good…'
He opened his eyes again, revealing a virtual page with five clickable rectangular sections, stacked one on top of the other. Written inside them, from top to bottom, were the following:
SOUL MIRRORS
BRILLIANT SKILLS
LUSTROUS SKILLS
SATIN SKILLS
OPAQUE SKILLS
Shed looked at the labels, unsure which one he should click on to view his innate abilities. Examining the adjectives used for each skill category, he guessed they were arranged in order of importance, ascending from bottom to top. After all, it made sense to think that skills labeled as "opaque" would be less significant than those labeled as "brilliant", and certainly less important than those called "Soul Mirrors."
"I guess I'm supposed to click on 'Soul Mirrors,' right?" he asked Ri.
"Exactly…"
Ri responded immediately, with a hint of excitement in her voice.
Looking beyond the virtual page, Shed saw the beginnings of a smile on Ri's face, and her eyes held a fiery intensity.
'A little… strange…'
Returning his focus to the text, he took another deep breath, then finally clicked the 'Soul Mirrors' section.
A dropdown opened beneath it.
SOUL MIRRORS:
"Predictive Gaze…"
He read aloud, hesitating slightly.
That was Shed's innate ability.
Not hearing anything from Ri, Shed glanced over to gauge her reaction, hoping to understand whether this was a good ability or not.
For a moment, a beaming, and perhaps slightly exaggerated, smile lit up Ri's face, revealing a strange blend of happiness and madness. It had to be a good sign, or at least that was Shed's impression as he looked at her.
Predictive Gaze… The virtual page offered no explanation, only those two words. However closely Shed tried to analyze them, only one of the various hypotheses that came to mind for explaining his power seemed absurdly plausible.
"Can I… predict the future?"
He asked Ri, seeking confirmation.