Amphitheater

After exiting the teleportation room, the scenery of the luxurious corridor had changed to a dark corridor. At the end of the path he could see a large wooden door reinforced with metal bands, from under these an artificial light filtered.

Zark, led by Keil, walked through the passage to the door.

The door opened automatically the moment Keil was close enough. On the other side was a large arena, surrounding it were several layers of auditorium-type seating.

This oval amphitheater had a length of one hundred and eighty-eight meters, a width of one hundred and fifty-six meters, and a height of forty-eight meters. This place could easily recall the great Roman Colosseum.

The lighting in the place was as bright as daylight, and although it was a huge space, the entire amphitheater was covered, it was impressive that something so large was inside a building.

But something made this place have a gloomy atmosphere, and that was the non-existence of an audience, all the seats that should be populated by visitors, were totally empty, only a ghostly breeze hovered around the place.

As they entered the amphitheater, suddenly ...

"Come on!"

With a shout, a silhouette leaped from the VIP room. It was a six-story building and there was no use of magic to smooth its fall, only physical ability. His posture as he fell eliminated the impact.

"JA" showing a proud expression with a thumb up, his words along with a smile denoted great self-confidence.

Zark could swear he saw a gleam come out of his smile.

He was a young man brimming with energy. His white hair moved along his shoulders reflecting his surroundings. The blue color of his pupils made his eyes sparkle like those of an outgoing rogue.

His long, pointed ears and grayish skin revealed that he was a Drow, better known as Dark Elves, a relative of the High Elves and Wood Elves.

He wore a midnight black long-sleeved shirt, the buttons on this were gold and on his chest, on each side he had a small pocket that could be opened by unfastening the button that held it, on his back he had the symbol of Damenburg Castle, the intertwined tree. Beneath him he wore a set of black pants. He also wore a pair of fine leather high boots and from his belt hung a sword that resembled an elegant needle, it was a Rapier.

If someone were a connoisseur of history (and fashion) they would immediately notice that his clothing resembled the uniform of a German officer during the Second World War; of course, historical issues aside, Zark admitted that the uniform had style.

With long strides, the Dark Elf came running towards Zark. His steps were agile and fast closing distances.

The Dark Elf suddenly stopped his movement and due to friction produced a cloud of dust behind him.

"Ugh ... that was exhausting."

Obviously he wasn't tired, he just pretended to wipe the sweat off his forehead and showed a smile similar to that of a charlatan about to perform a scam. In a high tone of voice, I salute.

"Welcome, my lord. Welcome to the non-custodial area! Ha… "with his final words he lifted his thumb and kept his charlatan smile.

Zark only kept his gaze fixed on him, in his mind circulating the following thought "what happens to this guy?"

"Nyos, what are you doing here?"

Keil stared at the Dark Elf, Nyos, as he asked his question.

"Eh, is that with me?"

"Yes, this is with you. What are you doing here?"

He was Nyos the guardian of the art tower at Damenburg Castle. He was a Swashbuckler, an agile and veiled swordsman, an expert in swordsmanship and a master of the art of swordsmanship.

"Well ... I don't know, you tell me" Was the dark elf's reply as he shrugged.

"you do not know? What kind of answer is that? "

"Well ... you asked me for an answer and that was mine."

"Anyway, at least try to be a decent person to Lord Zark."

"Whatever you say, Guardian Overseer, in that case, allow me to present myself to my lord in the correct manner."

Keil just fixed his cold gaze on him, though I didn't say anything, Keil pulled away from him to allow his lord through.

Zark was puzzled, he didn't know what to say, so he simply proceeded with the simplest question of all.

"and you are…?"

"Of course great Lord, allow me to introduce myself ... Oh ..." with a jump, he took off from the ground and while he was in the air he performed a few pirouettes before falling, thereby demonstrating his great athletic abilities. As he touched the ground he flexed his left leg as he extended his right leg, raised his right hand towards Zark while his left hand lightly covered his face.

"I am Nyos Minska, although you can call me, you bad ass."

"Eehh."

"Eehh."

Both Zark and Keil had the same reaction.

If the objective of such a performance was to surprise, then he had achieved his mission.

Zark looked from right to left with his eyes as he took a step back.

He had brought the cane with him in case of an emergency situation, as he planned to attack and retreat immediately if the situation warranted.

As if it were his shadow, Keil positioned himself right behind Nyos and struck a heavy blow to the charlatan's head.

"What kind of presentation is that ?! Do you always have to make a fool of yourself ?! "

"Hey, that hurts."

"It's the least you deserve."

As Keil scolded Nyos for his stupid introduction, Zark realized that he was not in danger, so he relaxed his grip on the cane, it seemed that his escape plan would not be necessary.

To avoid being excluded from the scene, Zark cleared his throat.

Holding Nyos tightly by the hair, Keil dragged him before his lord "Didn't they teach you to present yourself as an adult?"

While being dragged Nyos replied "Well yes, but it's more fun the way I do it, don't you think?"

When they were close enough, Keil let go of Nyos's hair like it was trash and put on a terrifying expression that only Nyos could see "Present yourself the right way!"

Unable to resist Keil's intimidation, Nyos trembled slightly as his carefree stance was changed to a totally firm one.

"Yeah… Well…" With a much more terrifying look from Keil, Nyos was able to loosen his tongue and speak, although more than speaking, it was a prolonged shout "I am Nyos Minska! General of the Tower of Art and custodian of the west wing of the castle!"

"It's nice… see you?… Nyos. I hope I'm not interrupting anything "those were Zark's words; Although he himself had not realized that, his words conveyed enough calm and kindness to calm Nyos, who was in a tense situation on the part of Keil.

Although Zark's words must have shown that there was no problem, apparently Nyos did not understand the difference between kindness and the show of generosity.

"Well, if you put it like that ... actually if he was doing something ..."

If Keil had had his sword, he would pry it open in Nyos's chest, but doing such an action before his lord would have been shameful; The only thing he could do to save this situation was simply raise one of his fists (without the master of him noticing) and silently threaten Nyos with death.

Feeling his blood run cold and that possibly at any moment his heart would be ripped from his chest, Nyos corrected his words "well… no. What I mean is that you, Lord Zark, are the owner of the castle. No matter the time of your visit, it could never be called an interruption! " his last words were more like a gasp than anything else.

"Yes ... I wouldn't want to be a bother" although his voice was indecisive, Zark's body language let his subordinates know that there were no problems.

Walking calmly, he made his way to the center of the arena, observing every detail meticulously, until his gaze reached the VIP area.

The new unnatural perception of him told her, in that place there was another entity.

Keil knew his master very well, so he was able to predict his next possible action, staring at Nyos, asking "Where is Frey? He is supposed to be in this place. "

Hearing Keil's question, Nyos abruptly turned and looked at the VIP room, then yelled out loud "eehh Frey! Take hold and get off! They already found out that you are hiding! "

In the VIP lounge area, a trembling shadow could be seen.

"He was hiding himself?" Keil asked questioningly.

"Mmm ... yes ... maybe ... maybe ..." Nyos's answer didn't get to any particular point.

Glancing at the dark elf, Zark asked "why?"

"I'm not him, but he's probably very shy."

A calm and serious voice responded to Nyos' slanders. Due to the distance the VIP area was, normally a miracle would be required to hear it. But since the structure combined good design with spells to enhance the voice, that situation was not a problem for the person who was in that place.

"Eehh ... don't speak ill of me."

The three who were in the arena of the amphitheater directed their gazes directly to the place from which the voice came, and as if these were deadly weapons, the figure that was on top immediately tried to hide.

"Frey, is that you?" Keil asked calmly "Our master, Lord Zark came to this place to do some things."

Unlike the calm and deep voice heard previously, this time a sharp and broken voice was heard "Frey is not here today, come back later" it seemed that whoever was speaking was trying to fake a high-pitched voice.

Keil seemed the last straw, as someone decent that she is, such behavior was unacceptable "Frey! Your way of acting is totally indecent. "

"Indecent? ... Eh" again the deep voice was heard, but immediately the sharp voice returned "You are wrong, come back later, Frey is not there."

On the other hand, for Zark, the whole situation was impressive, but impressive in a positive way; the possibility that fictional characters created for an RPG campaign were real and had personality left him speechless.

Relaxing his posture.

If they were his subordinates, his generals, his guardians, then he must act as someone worthy of the position of his character, he must be Zark Ar Zathot.

"Frey" who spoke was Zark, his thick voice resounded in the place producing a slight echo effect. "I know my arrival was sudden, that is understandable, but my affairs are of vital importance to the castle, I must discuss a couple of things with my generals."

As a Lord, he must understand the power of using words and seeing the truth behind them. Sometimes it is necessary to tell a lie to reassure people.

Keil seemed immediately relieved to find that her master was not offended.

On the other hand, the pressure on Nyos began to slowly ease and he looked back towards the VIP room.

"You heard it. Our great master, Lord Zark came to this area to meet us. "

"Eehh ... I don't want to go down, you guys are so far away. Why don't we do it here better?"

"In that case Frey. If you're so scared of jumping, I'm going to kick you down! " It was Nyos's blunt solution to the hidden Frey's dilemma.

Resigned to defeat, Frey sighed "mmm ... Good ... But I'll go down the stairs ..."

"Are you planning to keep Lord Zark waiting? Get down at once! " Subtlety aside, Keil's words came straight to Frey.

"It's okay. It's okay."

With no other choice, a burly figure leapt down. When landing on the ground there was a heavy impact that raised dust, unlike Nyos which did not produce any noticeable effect due to its fall. Probably due to his different abilities.

After landing and the dust cloud had cleared, she began to walk relaxed; a glance at where it fell would reveal that the ground had been cracked from the impact.

Si Nyos was slender, thin, with little muscle (ideal for a gymnast) and dressed in light and elegant clothing; Frey was the opposite, his body constitution was massive in comparison, he was about 2.20 meters tall and although he was not visible, his body seemed to overflow with muscles.

The most noticeable thing about Frey was his equipment.

On his body was jet black plate armor with silver edges at the plate joints.

The helmet had a vaguely tower-like appearance; It did not have vecera, there was only a cross design in the area of ​​its face that allowed visibility to the outside, but due to the style of the helmet (and the enchantments it had) it was impossible to see any detail of the face, allowing only to see an empty black.

On his neck and waving on his back, is in an outstanding crimson cape of incredible quality, without hindering Frey's movement, the cape moved with total tranquility with light and fluid movements.

The shoulder pads of the armor were massive, each consisting of two sets of plates joined in such a way that they protected the joints of the chest plate and the biceps, at the same time that they gave an intimidating and solid style to the wearer of the armor.

In addition to the shoulder pads, his upper extremities were covered by armguards which protected the upper part of the armband, fully articulated shoulder pads to shield protection on the soles, firm armbands on the forearms along with gauntlets that fully covered the hand, wrist and fingers. plates protecting the fingers were of a silver material that contrasted with the jet black of the armor but matched perfectly with the white edges of the armor; at the junction of the armguard and the bracers, there was a kind of articulated struts that did not impede movement.

His chest plate, consisted of a set of several plates designed in such a way to move freely along with the movement of the torso, the gorget in the upper part of the chest and back, the breastplate in the central part of the chest along with long tassels to the sides to defend the thighs, these were a kind of plates that were suspended from the belt and extended a little below the knee. In addition to this, a black cloth with a white border was found underneath the scarf, this cloth was actually a micro chainmail which went down to a little above the ankles.

To cover his legs, there were mule-cuffs that covered the upper part and that were linked to the greaves by means of specially designed knee pads to avoid the best possible restriction of movement; As protection for the lower part of the legs, there were greaves, a piece of armor that covered the leg from the knee to the base of the foot; and as footwear, he had a pair of escarpments, a metallic shoe composed of articulated plates that covered his boots from the throat of the foot to the toes including the instep.

Protruding from the back of his back, the hilt of a huge sword was visible, surely as big as its wielder, the hilt was made of a golden material which had a beautiful functional design perfect to be held with both hands; Although the waving cloak concealed it, the blade of the sword was slightly visible, it was so large that it could easily serve as a cover for a person; To Zark said sword, he reminded him of the great swords of a certain video game to hunt great monsters.

Are big weapons required to fight big monsters?

He was Frey, the guardian of the amphitheater and custodian of the central area of ​​the castle, he was the signature representation of an impassable defensive wall, he could easily be called a walking tank.

Releasing a sigh, Frey straightened his posture and bowed slightly "Excuse the delay."

"No problem, I am the one who must apologize for arriving without warning" were Zark's words before directing his gaze to Keil "take care of looking for half the generals, I need to talk to it, that the other half remain on alert."

Listening carefully to his lord's order, Keil bowed as a token of his understanding before leaving.

Staying with both Frey and Nyos in the amphitheater, Zark kept watching them for a few moments.

Frey stood calmly, while Nyos stood steady without making any movement under Zark's gaze.

The atmosphere in the place was slowly tightening, he had to do something to break the ice.

After thinking about it, I concluded that the best way was to be friendly "since we are here, how have you been?"

It was a simple question, but it was the only thing he could think of.

Nyos and Frey looked at each other before answering.

The first to speak was Nyos "he's been a bit bored lately, some invaders from time to time would be nice."

"I think the same" Frey began "It would be nice to have a challenge at times."

"Hmm, that can happen" even if it was not noticeable, for Zark those words were revealing, they could be attacked, if that happened, what should he do?

To prevent the conversation from dying, he decided to continue "Well, yes, I would like to ask you something, do you feel bored without intruders coming?"

"Ah, no, that ..."

"Good, mmm ..."

Seeing Nyos's fearful expression and noticing the uncertainty in Frey's voice, Zark felt that he had asked the question incorrectly.

"Don't blame them for anything, so please be honest."

"….if it's boring. There are no close opponents who can face me in a fight for more than five minutes "those words warned from Frey.

"Yes, it is as he says" who continued was Nyos "as among the guardians we are forbidden to fight, our selection of opponents is unlimited."

As they said that, he brought his right hand to his chin to analyze the situation.

Remembering the basic layout for generals and other prominent members of the castle, they should be at least level 6.

All of the featured characters possessed a combination of race, classes, and items that made them fearsome enemies, and some of them even possessed abilities that could be considered cheating (one of them was Zark and Frey himself, although there were others).

In theory, each prominent character in the castle was as dangerous or even more dangerous than a player character.

So only a few could rival in power.

Considering the above, something occurred to him.

"What if it allowed you to fight each other? Something like a friendly showdown. "

They both looked at each other (Nyos and Frey), the proposal was unexpected.

"Can we ...? - Nyos started."

And I conclude the sentence Frey "... do it?"

Zark nodded before replying "they can do it, as long as they avoid lethal attacks."

"Oohh."

"Oohh."

They both seemed positively surprised by Zark's proposal, that was good, but he had to do a few things first.

"Before I do, I need to bother you with something. I have several experiments planned…. And I would like to ask for your help. "

"Lord Zark, did you come to my guarded area to do experiments?" the question came from Frey; the amphitheater was in the central area of ​​the castle, so it was part of his responsibilities to protect it.

"Yes. Although they are not directly experiential. To be more precise, I came to train. "

"Training?"

"You mean you? Lord Zark. "

Frey and Nyos widened their eyes to the point that it seemed they would pop out of their sockets, although due to Frey's helmet it was impossible to see their eyes.

It had definitely come as a surprise to them that he, with the highest level in the castle, not knowing everything about his abilities as a Spellcaster would be weird.

This reaction had been anticipated by Zark and he quickly responded with a simple "Yes."

Hearing the short reply, Nyos expression returned to normal. Zark expected that reaction and was quite satisfied.

"Excuse me if I offend you but, could you ask a question."

"Go ahead Nyos, ask freely."

Nodding, Nyos asked the question from him "what is the highest level spell that you Lord Zark is capable of using?"

Higher level spell?

Zark was a bit taken aback, but after talking to Nyos and Frey, he realized it was an honest question, with no malice in mind.

He asked for the highest level spell in Zark's arsenal, that should be a level 9 spell; Being a top level Spellcaster, Zark could use all levels of magic (from level 0 to level 9) so he should refer to that.

Nyos also asked about his highest level spell, that means he wanted the most powerful one available, but Zark had too extensive an arsenal, having at his disposal the list of Wizard, Sorcerer and Cleric; and being able to use both Arcane magic and Divine magic.

Thanks to his long hours of reading the different books available for his favorite role-playing game, he knew what to answer.

"Those would be 'Wish' and 'Miracle' but I also have others that can be extremely useful."

Nyos swallowed audibly as his expression was shocked.

On the other hand, Frey shifted uncomfortably, surely she was sweating under his armor.

"Wish" and "Miracle" possibly the most powerful spells of Arcane magic and Divine magic respectively.

Given Zark's character build, he was capable of using Arcane magic and Divine magic, although he sadly does not possess in his arsenal the third type of magic power, Psionic magic (also known as Psionic powers).

As a whole, the three types of magical abilities (Arcana, Divine and Psionic), used the system of magical levels, a measurement method that began at 0 and ended at 9; the level of the spell reflected how powerful it was, in addition to how much mana it required to be used, Spellcaster-type classes improve their level of magic as they gain levels in that class (or in any other Spellcaster-type class); although depending on the class, the maximum magic level and the frequency in which the magic levels are scaled may vary.

It is not the same as a Cleric who is a Full Caster (maximum magic level 9), a Paladin (maximum magic level 4) or an inquisitor (maximum magic level 6) which are Semi-Casters.

The first to emerge from the limbo that had formed was Frey.

"Wow, that's awesome."

Before the words of the armored giant, Nyos reacted "Yes, you are the most powerful, Lord Zark."

"Do you think so?"

At Zark's question, they simply nodded along with a slight "Yes."

The current situation almost made Zark laugh. The simple fact of talking about abilities and powers of a role-playing character, caused him to remember the old days with his friends.

How Alan asked by private message the effects of different abilities, how Mecso asked for help to use an ability correctly, how Felix complained about the powerfulness of his teammates' characters, how Domino showed the different gifts he had discovered and that he would also use in the future and how Marcus explained the convoluted strategy for his character construction.

These were really good times.

Holding the cane firmly, the effort to resist a tear almost gives him away.

"I would like to do some tests with certain skills, I hope you can help me with the preparations."

"Yes! We will help you immediately. So… can we see level 9 magic? "

"Of course. I will let you experience the magical power that I can use. "

"Brilliant!"

"Yessss!"

Nyos and Frey screamed in excitement.

This was perfect, but I needed a serious expression, and therefore I can't relax.

Zark reminded himself that he must maintain his dignity.