The next match was between Alden and Brawner. Sword and shield.

  As soon as the match started Brawner barrelled toward Alden. The smaller orc—by comparison to Brawner—waited till Brawner was too close to pivot and dove out of the way.

  He immediately righted himself and put more distance between them. It was a dance. Brawner tried to hit Alden with his rge shield and Alden dodged his attacks skilfully.

  The crowd was getting bored, their boos every time Alden dodged proved that.

  About a minute into the fight, Alden used his multiplier skill. Isran couldn’t be too sure it was indeed a multiplier, but considering Isran had her own multiplier skill she was fairly certain.

  She watched as he swiftly moved to Brawner’s exposed back and brought his sword down in one nasty swing.

  Brawner for his part seemed to have a very high endurance. He tanked the attack and swiveled around, angling his shield in a way that would hit Alden, if the faster fighter hadn’t hopped out of the way.

  It truly became a dance then. Alden’s speed would afford him an opening—usually, Brawner’s exposed back—then the rger orc would try his best to counter the attack.

  Eventually, Brawner’s endurance could no longer sustain him. One nasty ssh to his calf sent him to his knees with a loud grunt.

  He refused to surrender, and Alden—who unlike Isran had no qualms with stabbing opponents—stabbed him, the sword not going deep enough to cause dangerous damage but enough to take the orc defender out of the fight.

  The crowd cheered wildly and Isran took note of how long it had taken the orc to use his multiplier. Alden knew nothing about hers. In a one-on-one fight, it was as good as useless, she couldn’t use herself as the target of protection and even if she could, multiplying by one was as good as trying to burn the sea.

  There was a short intermission before the second round for the day. Neos had eight-day weeks, for the eight gods of the main pantheon, Isran didn’t know the order—she would ask her girlfriend—but it was important to note. She hadn’t realized it till Alden had told her. She was thankful Elysi had packed her clothes. She would’ve packed for seven days.

  Alden sat beside her with a bucket of oily fried tentacles. Isran hadn’t tried them and the smell reminded her of frog legs.

  “Mouth-watering?” Alden smirked.

  Isran smiled in response and accepted his offer—him tilting the bucket towards her.

  The tentacles tasted more fishy than meaty and were soft and fatty. The oil was actually a spice mixture and was more opaque than clear.

  Isran hummed as she took another.

  “Good huh?”

  “Where did you even get this?” She asked, picking another.

  “They let vendors in for the final rounds.”

  Since Isran and Alden had won they didn’t have to participate in the next rounds. With everyone else left—three people—Isran and Alden were alone in the stands to enjoy their snack.

  The first round of the day was two matches. Isran versus Ara, and Alden versus Brawner.

  There was a second round though. The fifth combatant who hadn’t fought anyone would fight both Ara and Brawner. The two winners of that round would progress to the next round the following day.

  “The healers are pretty good huh.”

  Isran nodded. She understood why healers were such a sparse commodity in adventuring, the ones on standby where not only healing their wounds but also recovering all their spent energy.

  The next match was between Ara, number five, and Gnarl, number eight. Gnarl was the swift bothersome gnome that wielded a sword and shield. He was dextrous and fast, Isran noted that the way he fought would work best with others simir to him. Attacking a big foe by overwhelming them. His height as a gnome helped with that.

  Ara fired smaller lightning spells instead of her narrow lightning beam when the fight started. It slowed Gnarl down and brought him into her range when she did use the beam, but Isran could tell he was an experienced fighter. He may have been fighting long before he got his specific css (1).

  Even with his movements slowed he closed the distance and made quick work of Ara’s legs. She wasn’t that much taller than him—he came up to her waist—but that was short enough for him to focus his attacks on her legs and be more than just a nuisance.

  Ara—a truly smart woman who knew when to give up, surrendered.

  “She would be a pretty valuable teammate,” Alden mumbled, his mouth a bit occupied by his oily tentacles.

  Isran hummed in agreement. She thought briefly about the fact that her team was women she was romantically interested in. They had to discuss the logistics of expanding the team if that was ever a pn they were willing to pursue.

  The closing match of the day was between a fully healed Ara and Brawner. Isran thought about having to fight three times in a day, having lost two matches already. Ara didn’t look the least bit down about that fact. Isran admired that. She didn’t think she would have the strength to not quit, feeling like a failure.

  But as their fight began she thought about how much Ara was a good fighter, and how sure of it the mage seemed, even if she had lost. It truly was about confidence huh?

  She had been zoned out most of the fight, only noticing some fshes of light here and there, when it came to an end Ara had lost again, Brawner carried her to the healers.

  “Admirable,” Alden said.

  Isran didn’t know if he was talking about Brawner carrying her, or Ara’s fights. It didn’t matter either way. She did think they were both admirable. Ara was a fighter she wanted to learn from. How to keep going even when you lose.

  Why did Ara fight?

  who is that little mischievous Isran clone... we might never know ? (re worked her hair...)