Arena

When I woke up I immediately checked the time on my cell phone. It was exactly 11 am and not a minute off.

When I checked my surroundings my one room bas.e.m.e.nt apartment came in to view.

‘I survived!’

It might be due to experiencing a life or death experience but going back to the boring everyday life brought great joy.

‘But wasn"t that all a dream?’

For a moment I became suspicious.

Did I just not have a really clear dream?

To confirm whether it was a dream or real there is a simple method.

“Summon slate.”

The slate appeared.

-          Name: Kim Hyunho

-          Cla.s.s: 3

-          Karma: +500

-          Mission: Rest until the next test

-          Time limit: 11 days

-          You can be rewarded through karma. To receive your reward say ‘Karma reward’ while the slate is summoned.

It wasn"t a dream. I was really hoping.

After the given 11 days pa.s.s I will be dragged back to that weird world called ‘Arena’ again to fight with my life on the line.

The red Ape was a weak one so I could somehow win but I cannot guarantee what kind of monster will appear in the second test.

I must use karma reward to get a good weapon or some ability to get stronger.

“Karma reward.”

After saying that, the words on the slate started to wiggle and change.

-          Please choose the reward you want.

1.       Skill: Your ability increases.

2.       Item: Weapon, Defense item, etc

3.       Other: Make a living world material into an item. Living world material turned into an item can be used during the exam.

-          Karma remaining: 500

“Hmm… skill?”

With my command the words on the slate changed once more.

-          Please select the type of skill you would like.

1.       Main skill: Candidate’s basic ability that is needed to undergo the test. This is the determining factor that determines how well you do in the test. You can only choose one. The amount of main skills you can learn is determined by your talent and qualification.

2.       Support skills: Skills other than the main skill that helps the candidate. Depending on the conditions can be selected as much as you want.

-          Karma remaining: 500

It looks like you can select only one main skill and you can choose several support skills.

In one sentence it"s the difference between your major and minor. "If that is the case the most important one is the main skill.’

I decided to learn the main skill first.

“Main skill.”
 

1.       Aura control: Life energy’s root energy is the aura. By controlling the aura you will get physical abilities that surpa.s.s the limit.

Beginner 1st level: You can control the aura inside your body. (-400)

2.        Spirit summon:  Sign a contract with a spirit to use nature’s strength.

Spirits you are able to summon: fire, wind.

Beginner 1st level: You can summon a low grade spirit for two hours. The time limit will decrease depending on how much power the spirit uses. (-400)

-          Remaining karma: 500

Aura control and spirit summon skills huh….

Reading the explanation I can pretty much tell what kind of abilities they are.

‘The spirit summoning skill looks better.’

Let’s think about it.

With aura control you need to fight yourself with a body strengthened with aura. But with spirit summon you can summon a spirit to fight for you.

The latter is obviously much safer method of fighting!

Hmm, anyway that (-400) written at the end is probably means that, to learn this skill 400 karma points will be used right?

Right now I have 500 karma points so if I learn beginner 1st level spirit summoning skill I am left with 100 karma points.

‘What do I do with the leftover 100 karma points?’

Rolling my head for a moment I said to the slate.

“Show me all the weapons I can get with 100 karma points.”

This changed the words on the slate again. The artificial intelligence inside this slate is pretty awesome.

-          Please select the type of weapon you want.

1.       Sword

2.       Spear

3.       Blunt weapon

4.       Hidden weapon

5.       Bow

6.       Other

-          Remaining karma: 500

Okay, I’m going to be a great swordsman!

… But I’m never going to choose number 1. Are you crazy? Do you think this is some fantasy novel or something?

Of course a long reaching weapon is safe and best choice.

But the long distance weapon number 5 bow will be hard to use unless you are trained in the bow.

Isn"t there something like a gun?

I was confident in shooting. When I was in the military I won quite a few rewards as a rifleman.

“Number 6: other.”

With a hopeful mind I chose number 6.

This is the list of weapons you can get with a 100 karma points. Please select the weapon you want.

Below it bunch of different weapon names were listed. Sling, knuckle, poison were all weapons that were difficult to use.

But looking through the list my eyes stopped at the 12th weapon on the list.

“It exists!”

Surprisingly there was a gun.

12. Magic gun: It is a manual one bullet chamber firearm. After loading pull the trigger to activate repulsion magic to fire the bullet. The manipulation is easy and stable. (-100)

*Effective range: 60 m

*Maximum range: 150 m

*100 rounds bullets and carrier included.

It is exactly 100 karma points for the gun.

It was a weapon that has clear weakness and advantages.

For instance the gun needs to reload after every shot. That will become a nuance and a pain. The range is pretty short and because the bullets are in the shape of a round marble the penetration strength seems like will be lower.

But on the plus side the handling and manipulation is simple and is stable. Not only that it doesn"t use any gun powder so it is safer and the there will make less sound when shooting.

“This will do, let’s go with this.”

This is the only weapon I can weld anyway.

My calculation for how I should use the 500 karma points was done.

Being sure of my decision I said to the slate.

“I will acquire the spirit summon level 1 skill and the magic gun.”

-          You have selected the 1st level spirit summoning skill. Please select the spirit you want to sign a contract with.

1.       Fire spirit Kasa

2.       Wind spirit Silpi

“Silpi.”

To a riflemen, there is nothing g more important than knowing the wind.  I figured that the wind spirit and the magic gun will be a good combination.

Paaad!

From the slate light started pouring out. It was so bright that I needed to cover my eyes with my hands.

After a moment the light stopped shining.

The words on the slate were changed. 
 

-          Spirit summon (main skill) level 1 skill has been acquired. If you say ‘Check skills’ you can check all the skills you have acquired. 
 

-          You have acquired the magic gun. If you say ‘equip weapon’ the weapon you possess will be summoned. If you say ‘de-equip weapon’ the weapon will disappear.
 

-          You have acquired the bullet carrier. If you say ‘equip tool’ the tool you possess will be summoned. If you say ‘de-equip tool’ the tool will disappear.
 

-          Remaining karma: 0

Let’s see.

Check skills, equip weapon and tool, de-equip weapon and tool….

 I read carefully read over the slate and tested each command one by one.

“Check skills.”

As soon as I did that, new words appeared on the slate.
 

-          Spirit summons (main skill): Able to summon a low level spirit named Silpi. If you say ‘Silpi’ the spirit is summoned.
 

*Beginner 1st level:  summon time limit 2 hrs. Time drains depending on how much power the spirit uses their power. 

“Silpi.”
 

Soon after, small whirlwinds combined together and an opaque form was made. The wind spirit Silpi made it"s appearance. 
 

Silpi"s appearance was ….
 

-Meow.
 

“A cat?”

I was shocked.

An opaque small cat was meowing at me and looking at me with a friendly expression.

Silpi lightly jumped on my shoulders and rubbed his face with my cheeks.

This was extremely cute.

“Nice to meet you.”
 

-Meow.
 

I now confirmed the spirit summoning skill, now let’s check the items.

“Equip weapon, equip tool.”

I said the two commands in a row.

Pak! Paik!

In my right hand the magic gun appeared. On my waist the bullet carrier was hung on a leather belt.

This is fascinating. In just one word it automatically equips.

Opening the bullet casing there were large number of small marble b.a.l.l.s. This must be the bullets. 
 

The magic gun’s length was about 1 m and it was made out of wood. It was light so it would be easy to carry around. 
 

“De-equip weapon and tool.”
 

The magic gun and the bullet carrier disappeared.

I used all my 500 points of karma and got rewarded. Whether this was a good decision will be proven in the next test.