I rolled my head and shoulders as the door to the arena opened to loosen my muscles. I had to get my mind back in order. Sure, Aoto getting eaten by the Stomper was terrible, but I had to keep moving forward.

  I stepped out onto the sands along with my party and looked out at the crowd. They were mostly subdued from the previous disaster. Still, with the 100,000 in attendance, the random conversations were still noisy. It was something when nearly 10% of the entire city’s population turned out. No one wanted to miss the heroes’ introduction.

  The arena itself was massive. It was proportioned much like a large American football stadium. The main arena floor was 140 meters long and 80 meters wide. It was arranged like this to allow for smaller rings to be marked off for tournaments. For main events, like we summoned heroes fighting basic Advancement 0 monsters, the entire floor was our playground.

  The arena floor was in a pit surrounded by 10-meter-tall wooden walls. A translucent blue shield formed a dome over the combat area to protect the crowds from stray attacks or loose monsters. Behind the dome, stadium seating stretched high into the sky where it ended at the tops of the exterior sequoia trees. Along one of the long walls on the north side of the stadium under an awning was the large luxury seating balcony where the king would sit. It was currently empty since the king apparently didn’t think this was a big enough event for his presence.

  “Our next contestants are the hero Oliver Stewart and his party Lia, Tizek and Void!” the announcer boomed out over the stadium.

  I exorcised the last of my grief from failing Aoto once more and raised my arms. And the crowd went mild.

  “Isn’t that the dud?”

  “His party are commoners? Why isn’t he with nobility like the last one?”

  “Why is he wearing pink boots?”

  “Hey! Can I get a beer over here?”

  “Thank you all for the warm welcome!” I shouted to the crowd. I had to at least keep up appearances even though the wandering concessions vendors were more popular than we were.

  I let the crowd go on about their conversations since they seemed to be disinterested in us at the moment. It would pick up when the fight started. I turned to Lia. “So, after you saw the first fight, how do you want to handle this?”

  Lia’s eyes snapped to me with a mild look of panic. “Me? Why don’t you give us the strategy?”

  I ruffled Lia’s head. “Remember what I said about relying too much on me? You’re going to be out front and things are going to be chaotic. I’m confident we’ll all walk out of here just fine, but the moment those gates open, I have no idea how this will play out. You’re our frontline fighter. You’re going to be dictating the flow of battle.”

  “And what if I get in trouble?” Lia asked.

  “That’s what Tizek, Void and I are for,” I responded. “I’ll be a few steps behind keeping an eye on things. So, how do you want to do this?”

  Lia looked around the arena. It was currently set up as a simple flat expanse of dirt. There wasn’t anything we could use to hide behind or stand on. Obstacles and decorations were something reserved for more complex fights or higher level monster bouts. Lia turned to me. “How many can you take out with your bow?”

  “All of them before they get halfway here,” I said. It wasn’t a boast. I’ve been practicing archery for a very long time.

  “Why not just do that?” Lia said as she twiddled her thumbs together.

  I chuckled. “No, we’re not doing that. You need to learn. Plus, the three of you need to gain some essence. If I kill everything, all we’ll get out of this are 30 copper coins worth of mana cores.”

  I could see Lia’s mind working as she looked at the arena. “Can you take two? I think I can keep four occupied with spinning attacks. They looked stupid in the last fight, but not stupid enough to just walk into an attack. They will go after the closest target though. I figure if I can keep them looking at me, Tizek and Void can take out the others.”

  I gave her a smile. “Glad to see you thinking it through. Let’s go with that and see how it plays out. You’ll be fine, we won’t let anything happen to each other.”

  “Hero!” the announcer boomed over the system. “Are you ready?”

  I gave a wave. “Let’er rip!”

  “I, uh, guess that means you’re ready,” the announcer said, far less confident responding to my colloquialism.

  The wall at the far end of the arena slid aside and out came six albatwitches. They were far more imposing in-person as opposed to seeing them on a tiny screen.

  I gave Lia a little tap on the back to get her to move up. She swallowed and stepped forward a dozen paces to give her space to spin her greatsword and unstrapped the wooden blade from her back. Tizek and Void flanked her from behind to her left and right.

  I pulled out two arrows from my quiver and nocked one. When the pack of albatwitches reached the midpoint about 70 yards out, I pulled back on my recurve and snapped off a shot followed rapidly by the second. The two arrows flew in close formation before each striking an albatwitch dead center in the forehead, dropping the monsters. I pumped my fist when I hit the monsters just right to keep my arrows from snapping when they fell.

  That got the crowd interested. While I was a dud, that didn’t erase the fact I was a good archer before being summoned to Vialina and I now had a few more centuries of practice under my belt.

  I could see Lia’s posture relax after seeing my archery display. She was far more confident knowing I was watching her back. Now it was her turn. I dropped my bow and pulled my rapier in case I had to intervene.

  Lia held her greatsword pointed backwards parallel to the ground. When the leading albatwitch came into range, Lia swung her sword in an upward angled strike. Instead of stopping, she directed the momentum around into a circular follow-on. The attacks barely missed the albatwitch by a hair, but it succeeded in forcing the monsters to pause their charge.

  The albatwitches began to circle Lia as she continued to maintain momentum on her long blade. She moved the blade in wide arcs and even added a few body spins to keep the enemies surrounding her at bay. It was one of the few times I’ve learned where spinning actually made sense. Spinning with a big blade when you’re outnumbered was actually useful since an opponent was already likely at your back anyway.

  The albatwitches were frustrated when they had to abandon their aggressive attack. They darted around and toward Lia trying to find an opening through her spinning blade. Lia adjusted her moves to better cover gaps in her defense where the monsters were attempting to find an opening.

  Tizek and Void didn’t wait long to join the fight. Pulling away the monsters wasn’t an easy task. The albatwitches were quick little buggers who were hard to hit with a solid strike. Void’s quick lunge only scraped along one of the albatwitch’s arms while Tizek’s swing with his mace grazed another along the shoulder blade.

  It, however, worked pulling their attention away from Lia. Now two were left as both Tizek and Void backed away some to better maneuver with their opponents. Despite extensive practice, fighting monsters was a different animal. While overall easier, monsters were fast, aggressive and constantly pressed the attack. It was a different tempo than either of my party members were used to from training.

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  I watched Tizek punch out hard with his buckler to meet one of the albatwitch’s hands. He seemed pleased when the monster’s fingers crunched into paste when its arm impacted on the shield’s surface. Tizek tried to follow it up with a smack with his mace, but his sword training still left him with issues judging distance. A sword had a bigger area where an off-target swing would still cause damage while a mace needed a more accurate strike. He ended up only hitting the monster’s head with the shaft.

  I knew Tizek would be fine when he adjusted to his weapon and looked over at Void. She was carefully dancing around her albatwitch’s wild swings while lashing out with quick slashes and jabs. The monster was slowly accumulating cuts and punctures as Void whittled down its health pool. She could have ended it faster but seemed to be trying to avoid taking damage in the process.

  I knew the two would be fine and come out of this fight with no worse than mild wounds which would give Tizek some healing practice. I turned back to pay attention to Lia. She had moved further away from me as she started to press her two remaining opponents back toward the center of the arena.

  I watched as she adjusted her blade and the blade cut deep into one of the last two albatwitches she was engaging. Then disaster struck when her blade jammed in the monster. She lost her balance, dropped the blade and fell over hard. The last albatwitch jumped on her and began to pummel her head. She raised her arms to try and keep the monster pressed away from her body.

  I shouted incoherently and sprinted toward Lia and her last opponent. I booted the monster hard in the face with my pink flowered foot and felt the reverb up my leg. It was enough to push the meter tall creature away. I stomped on it twice before ramming the sword through its neck to finish it off.

  I turned to check on Lia and let out a sigh of relief. She was only mildly battered since her enchanted wooden helmet protected her head. I may have slightly overreacted to seeing her getting hit by the monster since the albatwitches weren’t that big of a threat one-on-one.

  “Thanks,” Lia said with a slight gasp. I helped her to her feet and she retrieved her blade. “I’m sorry I tripped.”

  “Don’t be too hard on yourself. You may have trained hard, but it’s still only three days. You won’t become an expert that fast. You did a good job for your first attempt,” I smiled and ruffled her head. She looked down bashfully at the compliment before pulling out a dagger to start digging the mana core out.

  I looked over at the others to see how they were faring. Void was standing over her now defeated albatwitch while Tizek was currently battering his opponent’s face in with the edge of his buckler. The albatwitch with the facial trauma tipped over, twitched and went still.

  “And the second team clears the first round with ease!” the announcer shouted. It was a fair assessment. Tizek and Void weren’t pressed at all in their fights and were mostly trying to avoid getting hit.

  I raised my hand in victory and the crowd…once again went mild. We got a few polite claps from the audience since beating six albatwitches wasn’t exactly an exciting match. They were only a threat out in the farmlands when they showed up in big packs.

  “The hero is a pretty good archer. Shame he won’t be able to pull heavier bows.”

  “I think we need to watch the wolf-clan girl. She has good moves.”

  “Hey! You got any fried potatoes?”

  After I retrieved my bow, I pulled my dagger, which was shaped a lot like a gutting knife for fish. I needed to clean the two I killed with my bow and pull out their mana cores. Money was money, even if it was just five copper.

  I was always annoyed with how this world worked regarding monsters. As I stared down at an albatwitch on the ground, I looked at its fur. It would have made a decent rug or coat if it was cleaned. The problem was, the moment I pulled out the mana core, the monster would dissolve. That meant everything, so I couldn’t pull claws or teeth for trophies. The upside was the gunk they splattered during the fight would also dissolve and I could retrieve my arrows without having to yank them out.

  The four of us huddled back up in the middle of the arena and I convinced the others to give a wave to the crowd. We got a few more claps before the announcer spoke again. “Hero! Well done. Do you wish to continue on?”

  “No!” we all shouted in unison.

  “Then great work on your first kill! Please exit the arena through the open door so we can welcome our next challenger,” the announcer ordered through the speakers.

  “Hey, Tizek? Mind healing Lia?” I said as we made our way to a different door which led to the arena exit. It would take us into a different room where we could ask for medical assistance if needed. There were also showers to clean off dust and blood.

  “I’m fine,” Lia said. “I’m only down a little health and it’s not even grey.”

  “I’m going to have to teach you percentage to at least communicate this better. Besides, it’s for practice,” I replied and looked at Tizek. He was fidgeting at the prospects of casting the spell.

  Tizek looked at his hands. “I don’t feel comfortable. Not here.”

  I never could get him to cast spells out in public. “No pressure, we’ll work on it later.” It was going to be a long road for Tizek to get used to the fact he’s no longer back home where healers are hated.

  We entered the final room and Lia decided to accept the free healing instead of waiting an hour or two. I looked over at the shower rooms. “I think I’ll clean up.”

  “Why?” Void asked. “We barely did anything.”

  “Because I haven’t bathed since arriving here,” I explained, avoiding mentioning the time loop where the attendants could hear. “Besides, it’s included with the entry fee. Might as well get the most out of it.”

  I caught Void discretely sniffing one of her pits. Her snout scrunched up. “I think I’ll do that, too. I’ve been too tired to bathe the last few days.”

  “But I like your natural musk,” I said with a wink.

  “I’m definitely showering then,” Void said and scurried off to the women’s showers. Lia followed along since she did have a little bit of blood to get out of her fur.

  Tizek joined me in the other showers and I made my way into one of the booths. Inside, I found the heater crystal and fed my paltry mana into it. I’d only get about 10 minutes of warm water with what I had available.

  The real reason I needed to hit the showers was I needed to think. I placed my hands against the wooden wall and let warm water rain over my head. I closed my eyes and replayed everything that just happened. My failure with Aoto and my mistakes in the arena. I still had no way forward on my Aoto sticking point. He was such a stubborn kid who was too caught up in the power fantasy stories to recognize this is a real place, not a light novel.

  I also kicked myself related to Lia. One of the hard things about time loops was keeping track of which Lia I was dealing with. The last time I was around her, Lia had a couple of months of experience under her belt. That Lia wouldn’t have lost her grip on her sword. I got sloppy and forgot this Lia only picked up her first sword three days ago.

  I should have stayed closer. I was lucky it was only an albatwitch since just one of those monsters would need a bit to kill a person. Still, it was an error. I had to do better. I couldn’t allow my memories to mix. I had to remember this is a new run. Everyone is inexperienced again.

  I let the water run down my head until it started to go cold. I didn’t have enough mana recharged to fill up the crystal for a second go, so I let the cold shock wash down my back. It refreshed and woke me up. Alright, Oliver, you can do this. You have three companions who are competent. We’ll figure something out. Now get your ass out there and keep trying.

  I exited my stall and saw Tizek was out as well. He was using one of the tiny complimentary towels to buff his scales to a shine. “Tizek? Mind charging the air blower for me? I’m out of mana already.”

  “Yes, my lord!” Tizek excitedly said before activating a dryer booth for me. I liked the booths since the tiny towels took forever to sop up the water. The full-body blow-dry was what finished it for me. Sure, Aoto fell again. Sure, we’d probably fail again this run. But that wasn’t an excuse to get down on myself.

  “Excuse me? Mr. Stewart?” I heard someone say behind me. I turned and saw Damu entering the showers. He was a little scuffed but no worse for wear. He was with one of his party members, a bear-clan boy with brown fur. They were setting their spears on the storage racks just inside the showers.

  “Hey, Damu!” I exclaimed. “How did the fight go?”

  “It was a little scary,” the bear-clan boy said. “Once we started, it was easier.”

  “It’s as Ronson says,” Damu added. “Your talk and going next helped. After what happened to Aoto…” Damu trailed off as he closed his eyes.

  I walked over to Damu and rested a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, if you need to talk, just find me. Ask at a place called The Gnashing Teeth out in the middle-class sector. Tell the others they’re welcome, too. I’ll get the message.”

  Damu smiled. “Thanks, but I don’t think we can. The palace has a full training regimen for us.” I already knew that. Still, letting the kids know I cared helped a lot.

  Damu then turned his eyes away. “I’m sorry, sir, but can you back away?”

  I looked down. I was airing everything to the wind and making Damu uncomfortable. “Oops, sorry. I’ll get out of your hair. Stick with it, you’ll find a place in this world.”

  Damu and Ronson both gave me grateful thanks for the kind words. Tizek and I dressed, collected our gear and left to find Lia and Void waiting for us outside. They both looked radiant. The blow-dry helped with the body of their fur. Void didn’t have one back at the Teeth and the public baths charged extra, so it wasn’t a common luxury. “Ready to head out?” I asked.

  “Back to training? It would be a shame to get dirty again after we just showered,” Void said as she made fine adjustments to her leather armor.

  “Nah, I was thinking of something else. We should get our five quests out of the way to clear our Guild probation,” I suggested.

  “What were you thinking?” Void asked. “It’ll take a while to get out of the city and fight monsters.”

  “I’m not ready for that,” Lia added. “Maybe we should train a bit more before we fight again.”

  “Nothing like that, I’m thinking doing a few lost and found quests,” I said.

  “Those are supposedly really hard,” Lia began before a realization came to mind. “Wait, you already know where a bunch are, don’t you?”

  “Of course I do,” I said as I pulled out my Guild ID card and looked at my terrible picture. I flipped the card over. “Someone mind charging this for me?”

  “We need to find a way to fix your mana,” Void said as she reached over and touched the card with a finger. The back lit up and information on jobs appeared. I navigated the menu and found the Lost and Found section.

  Lost and found quests tended to linger for a long time. Most people were aware their property would unlikely ever be retrieved. Most ended up in places no one would ever find the object, it was stolen or a random person found it and decided to sell or keep it.

  I had an epiphany after looking at the job board roughly 200 loops in. If I focused on tracking down items for a few loops, I could easily get joining the guild and gaining access to more appropriate monster hunting quests, as well as something else, out of the way to make the loops more efficient.

  After loading up the five quests I knew we could knock out fast, I turned to my party. “Ready to go?”

  “Are we going to train after?” Lia asked as we walked down the tunnel toward the busy street outside. I could hear the thumping above once more as the next hero group was battling in the arena.

  “Nope, after that, I think we should head to the library. Only full Guild members have access to it,” I said.

  “The library? Why not focus on getting stronger?” Void asked, puzzled by my suggestion.

  I pointed up. “Because the monster we’re fighting is an interdimensional squid. We’re not going to beat it with three months of training.”

  “Pardon me, my lord? Then how do we beat it?” Tizek asked.

  “You three correct me if I’m wrong here, but I figure it’s better to find out how it’s getting through and stopping that. The library is huge and maybe, just maybe, it’ll have something,” I explained.

  We exited out of the arena into the plaza. The crowd had died down now that most were inside the arena watching the fights. There were still a few people milling around watching the images on the slates attached to the walls. A few looked in our direction and, once they realized I was just the dud, they lost interest.

  “I’d thought you’d read everything in there by now,” Void stated as I directed us toward the north to our first lost item.

  “You have no idea how big that library is. Besides, I’d rather have you three there. You’ll have insights I’ll miss,” I stated as we walked. I gave a big wave to a few passers-by who looked our direction. They gave polite nods and kept moving.

  “But I don’t know how to read and Tizek doesn’t either,” Lia said. “Plus, you’re not supposed to be able to.”

  “I have that covered,” I said. “You’ll pretend to teach me to read while Void does the same for Tizek. Void and I will whisper what we’re reading to see if you catch something I don’t.”

  “That’s a good plan,” Void said. “I agree with it. Knowledge is, after all, power.”

  I gave her a smile and we fell to making small talk for the trip. It was a good idea to wind down after a tough morning in the arena. We’ll drop our gear off back at the pub before heading out to do our jobs. There would be plenty of time for serious discussion later.