Mystery Box

He approached the machine in the corner that had a touch screen and no buttons in sight. Mars could see the multiple categories that could be selected, these were food, clothes, mystery box, rank up, personal tracker.

Before he looked at the mystery box option, he decided on looking at the most important feature first. He pressed on the food category, and was greeted by a page full of food that stated it was free to order any amount of it.

Mars was quite hungry, and decided on ordering steak and eggs with a protein shake and water to drink.

The food quite literally appeared immediately, and appeared through a hatch behind the table that had robotic arms place the items down on the desk.

Before he ate, he moved over to the mystery box category, where there was a single button on the screen that could be pressed.

It was a button with the symbol of a crown on it, and the number five which seemed to symbolise that it cost five wins for a single box. Without even bothering to think about it, Mars pressed the button to buy a mystery box.

The box appeared in a similar fashion to the food, being placed carefully on his bed. Before he opened it, he decided to eat his food to save it from going cold.

He had to admit after finishing the meal, the steak and eggs were the best he had ever eaten, arguably the best thing he had ever eaten in general. The same went for the water, as it tasted crisp and fresh with no traces of chemicals. The protein shake was an odd one, it tasted just like chocolate and it was incredibly thick, but it did not make Mars feel sickly or ill even a little bit.

After eating, he felt energised and refreshed and decided to open his mystery box.

He approached it casually and sat down on his bed next to it before pulling the top of it off. Inside was a single white orb that Mars had only heard rumours of, a skill orb.

One of the main reasons why people did not reoffend after leaving the Arena was due to the death penalty that would be inflicted upon them if they did. The other reason was their lack of need to be a criminal, as throughout their time in The Arena they had gained enough abilities to be able to perform good jobs and get paid well.

The skill orbs were the main way people gained these abilities that helped them later in life, but they were also the main way that a large gap in power was introduced via the luck of an individual, as some people would only ever receive terrible skills, while others would receive incredible ones, some may not even receive one at all.

The way that they were used was simple, you eat it whole. Without hesitation, Mars shoved the whole orb in his mouth and swallowed it with a gulp of water.

He had no idea what skill he had received, but he did know how he could find out, as he approached the machine to open the category of personal tracker.

When he opened it, he was greeted by his statistics since he had been inside The Arena.

Battles: 5

Win Rate: 100%

Loss Rate: 0%

Rank: Lowest (0)

Overall Wins: 5

Possessed Wins: 0

Skills:

Insane Reflexes (heightens your reflexes immensely)

Mars already knew all of this information, so the only helpful thing to him was the explanation of his new skill, and he was delighted to see that it would be helpful for him.

Although not an immensely powerful skill like some of the ones he had heard of in the past, Mars had gained a skill that would increase the fighting ability of his regular body, even without weapons or special powers.

Having eaten, opened his mystery box, and rested enough, Mars decided to go right back into the battles to try and rank up as quickly as possible. He would win five more battles before returning to his cell to buy another mystery box and sleep. Then he planned on winning ten more battles the next day and ranking up to the next rank.

He pressed the red button and stepped into the hatch before appearing back in a white room, and being met with a familiar face.

This familiar face was that of his first opponent, the skin head. Mars had regretted not murdering him ever since he had killed his first enemy, as he did not seem to have any qualms with murder. He assumed this was because of his knowledge that all of them were more than likely criminals of some description, but at the time of him fighting the skinhead, he had not received a weapon that he could use to kill him.

He was happy to see a familiar face, and with his swordshield in hand immediately started charging at the human scum covered in tattoos depicting his belief in the nazi ideology.

Mars didn't even hesitate, no flashy moves, no extravagance, he simply plunged the sword into the man who could not even react. He wanted to get through the next battles as quickly as possible so he could open another mystery box and go to sleep, and the scum of the Earth in front of him was simply easy pickings.

'Mars is the winner. One win has been added to his record. If the victor wishes to continue battling against another opponent, press the red button which will appear now.'

Obviously Mars pressed the button, and went quickly through the hatch before arriving at another room with a woman in it. She seemed to be defenceless, and Mars was glad to see it would be another easy battle.

By the looks of her, there was a high chance that Mars was her first opponent, and all he thought about that was that he wasn't a nice enemy to have, especially not straight away.

Much like the skinhead from before, Mars quickly and cleanly killed the enemy, this time with a knife through the neck.

'Mars is the winner. One win has been added to his record. If the victor wishes to continue battling against another opponent, press the red button which will appear now.'

'Two enemies down, three more to go.'

Mars went through the hatch again before being faced with another enemy.

This enemy was slightly different though, as hr was an absolutely huge man. At least seven feet tall, and a wall of pure muscle.

Against an enemy like this, Mars knew he would need maximum mobility, so he there his swordshield down and held onto his knife before sprinting at the man, hoping to catch him off guard.

Despite his size, the man was actually quite fast and swung at Mars. However, with his incredibly reflexes, which were showing their advantages now, he dodged the attack and jumped onto the man.

He swung himself back around the man's back and grappled onto his neck to try and choke him out. Due to the man's muscles, he was unable to reach his back, and he was unable to pull Mars off which caused him to fall unconscious. As this man was the most difficult battle for Mars so far, he decided to get rid of the competition.

He stabbed him multiple times in the neck and chest before turning back to the button.

'Mars is the winner. One win has been added to his record. If the victor wishes to continue battling against another opponent, press the red button which will appear now.'

The next battle was very uneventful, as Mars fought another weakling who tried to take him down with a knife, which meant he now had two knives and he could dual wield.

He decided on throwing the swordshield away, as it did not fit his ability of fast reflexes, as it meant his movement was limited. Therefore, two knives was a much better choice of weapon for him.

The final battle before he returned back to his cell was against a woman, she had body armour on and a helmet which meant it was difficult for him to stab a knife through her clothing. Therefore, he had to use his physical attacks with his hands as they were more effective than a knife that could not pierce through the armour.

Sadly, during the fight, the helmet of the woman cracked which meant it was unusable for Mars. However, it was the reason that his victory was assured, as he punched the woman in the face incredibly hard. This caused her to fall back as blood spurted from her nose, and Mars finished her off with a knife to the skull.

He picked up her body armour and put it on himself, as it was lightweight and flexible so it wouldn't restrict his movement.

He turned and started walking back to the hatch.

'Mars is the winner. One win has been added to his record. If the victor wishes to continue battling against another opponent, press the red button which will appear now.'

He went back through the hatch to his cell, and approached the machine to get a new mystery box.