Shade sat in his Cell; it was small. Perhaps a three and a half foot cube. Only enough room to sit cross legged and a ceiling hatch. His ribs were the first thing

  he repaired after he heard the lock click after the door was shut. He noticed a smaller grated hatch in the center of the door from where food was lowered.

  However, the acrid scent of urine told him it was likely used for less helpful applications of liquid. After he had healed his ribs, he restored his calories with a

  few pemmican bars directly absorbed and metabolized from his storage space. It wasn’t just a huge room with shit laying timelessly on the ground. As far as

  he could sense, each item had its own amount of space, so things never interacted within his storage. Which was great since he would likely have to make an

  unpleasant deposit before the night was through.

  Shade set about creating the energetic pathways from his core to his mini cores and then to his muscles, tendons, and organs like Lady Shahanitra had.

  Numerous times, he had to stop and cultivate. The miasma here was very thin, so his core didn't have a problem breaking down the energy into refined mana.

  But he needed the mana to continue the framework. He did notice but didn't replicate something that he thought of as odd. She had extra channels that led

  from her uterus, hands, and mouth to refinement cores, which then led to her main core. It seemed like somehow she could absorb mana or energy from her

  lovers. That must be how she gained experience. He surmised that it was lucky he went hard and threw her off balance before she could drain him; he had got

  lucky.

  Shade was broken from his reverie when someone banged on the hatch. Likely in an attempt to startle and throw him off balance. However, it was just

  annoying. He spent the whole previous day and night restructuring his energy circulatory system and applying micro mana cores in his organs, muscles, and

  even skin to create a refined energy network. He had been beginning to hit a wall concerning what he could do, but he was well pleased. And he was eager to

  see what applying his affinities could do now. One of his revelations was that unpowered bones, muscles, and tendons were why he was suffering so much

  when he used his space and time techniques, and now with powered muscles, he wasn’t brute forcing his body to do more than it could. He had also installed

  cores in sensory and motor control centers of his brain, which meant he could now control to what degree he utilized it.

  The hatch opened. It was before sunrise based on teh chill in the air. Eridris stood in fancy Doctore Regalia over inphasized paldrons with tassels and a steel

  breastplate and armored skirt in a roman style, and Ballatro was as butler core as ever. They both seemed on edge. When Shade stood and stepped out of

  the box, hale and unhurt they couldn’t even detect stiffness or soreness in his movements. Shade was now keeping his stats at peak human.

  “Thanks for the nap. It was rejuvenating.”

  “C’mon, you are the last to be loaded. You gotta be shackled and hobbled. For transport.”

  Shade felt a hand clamp aroind the back of his neck like a titanium vice, he knew it was Balltro because he vanished from sight once Eridris began to speak he

  gave a squeeze to show that he could crush him at will, and Eridris grabbed a set of ankle cuffs and wrist shackles that were hinged in the center with metal

  cylinders that covered part of the forearm wrist and covered the hands completely. These were then connected to the ankle cuffs. Shade shuffled behind them

  as they were transported to the wagon for transport. Once placed inside, he was secured to a metal post. With a single bench seat. Shade saw several other

  Gladiators here, including Benton and the five other men hed taken down. He guessed the true powerhouses that were stable in this ludud likely warranted

  stricter transport conditions. A guard was stationed just inside the wagon, and the door was shut and locked from outside.

  “Any funny buisness, and ill sart stabbing. Just so you all know.” The guardsman said, leveling his spear and panning it across the gladiators hobbled and

  secured to the walls. One of the men from yesterday scuffed a foot and jerked towards the guard who started and shrank up against the wall in fright to the

  laughter of the other gladiators. Shade stayed quiet, he did notice that one of the men wouldn’t make eye contact. It wasn’t a stretch as to why. His eye was

  either retrieved and reattached or regrown.

  The rest of the trip was mostly uneventful. It was a bunch of Gladiators mad-dogging Shade in hopes he'd give them an excuse to bluster or make threats. At

  one point, they passed through some sort of spatial array like a teleporter because he knew they had moved thousands of miles in an instant. Once they

  arrived, Shade was led from the wagon into an underground loading bay. He could faintly hear the roaring of the crowds somewhere above. It was all modern

  lights and concrete halls. They were all led to a waiting area with flat screen monitors where two announcers sat speaking before the event. And from the light

  outside it seemed they were on a different hemisphere since it was late morning near noon.

  Shade sensed a familiar weight approach from behind and Ballatro entered. The gladiators all lined up and SAshade followed suit. With a touch Balltro stored

  each of the devices in a storage container of some soer and the men all spe\read out to various seats and workout machines to warm up or relax before their

  matches. Ballatro said something as he stored Shade’s restraints, but he missed it because, on the screen behind him, the camera was on an older-looking

  dark-skinned man who Shade thought looked like someone named Morgan Freeman. And they were calling him Biron, the God of crafting. The man looked

  bored and distracted. But he had crow's feet and deep smile lines, speaking of a man who showed mirth regularly. He had kind eyes, and an emotion like

  disappointment rolled through Shade as he saw the supposed God.

  Wherever he had been, he just knew that they had known each other well in the before that he couldn’t recall.

  Ballatro followed Shade’s line of sight to the screen when he noticed that the other man was distracted. At first, he thought Shade was showing proper awe at

  a god's visage. But upon closer inspection, he saw grief and regret. He also saw steel under all that. An earring on his left lobe pulsed, and then he put his

  hand to his head and was off at superhuman speed.

  Shade stopped watching the screen and looked for a spot to sit for when the matches start. One of the last two men hed fought yesterday approached. Shade

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  glanced up when it was clear the man was headed his way. The mans jaw tightened just before he spoke. “Just wanted to say I got no hard feelings. You

  fought well yesterday, and i heard you tell the Doctore that you avoided killin us on purpose. I also wanted to ask how you were dodging everything.”

  Shade gestured to the seat next to himself. ”What are your affinities?” Shade asked as the man took a seat. “Earth and water” the man said. But i haven’t gone

  through spirit refinement since that happens at tier 5 and im only part way towards tier 3.”

  Shade nodded. “Thats a common misconception. Do you have the meditation skill?”

  The man nodded. “We all do its one of the few ways to accelerate healing and stamina without magic or a potion. But it’s only at tier one lv 2.”

  Shade smiled a bit. “Thats excellent. You can do group meditations then?”

  “I can.” tha man said.

  Shade closed his eyes and dropped into meditation. Soon he was pulled into the other mans skill. They were in a space that looked like a gothic chapple with

  a pool and above the pool was a swirl or brown moats, oiccasionally they would swap places with a pile of dirt in the basin and a mist cloud swirling above.

  This was interesting. At tier 2 with a class this place had taken on the detail of a mind palace.

  “Ok this looks neat, but this,” Shade pointed to what was happening in and above the basin. “Wont do at all. One affinity is inert when the other is in effect.

  Thats inefficient and too time-consuming to switch. Why did you set it up lke this?”

  The man made an odd expression. “I didnt, no one does. When I hit tier two and won the ascension match i went to the church. They made sure i didnt have

  any dissonant class refinements and then one of the high priests went in and shaped this place, they also set up my affinity rotation. When i woke up I was tier

  2, and ill go in to have it worked on if i survive to tier 3.”

  “Wow.” Shade said more to himself than the man in front of him. His gaze was distant for a moment, considering how not only did the church control level ups, but they

  also kept the populace ignorant about customizing their builds and experimenting before snapping back. “Ok… few notes before we proceed if you even still

  want to proceed after. One: I have black affinities so i was never given the blessing of the 7. Two: I have some knowledge a lot of instincts but no memories

  beyond just before I was captured. Yes, that means I am lv 1 tier 0. On the other hand, you also fought me and got a taste of what I could do, and I don’t even

  have my first Talent…”

  The man blanched at first, but then confusion set in. “How?...”

  “Affinities is how. Mine Are Time and space.“The man across from him made some gesture that was probably religious, but nothing happened, and he wasn’t

  expelled from the man’s mind space.

  Shade held up a hand. “Before we continue, what is your name?”

  Whatever the man was going to say broke off as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. “Roland, but everyone calls me Rowley.”

  “Shade nidded nice to meet you Rowly.”

  “Yeah… That's a bad omen, man… black affinities that are the same as the Deciever. But I don't get how that can make such a huge difference.”

  Shade considered the irony that he was deceiving this man and how he was in his soul space but shook off the imagery. “ I applied my time affinity to my eyes,

  letting me see your movement. I applied Space to perception agility and dexterity. One let me perceive your movements, and the other let me see and react to

  the range of attacks; that's why it seemed like you couldn't touch me. Because u stayed out of range.”

  “By the gods, that’s genius,” the man said in shocked awe. “And you think I can do something similar?”

  “To an extent, yes. I seem to have a particularly strong will or spirit. That's how I see it, anyhow. That's why I can shrug off spiritual pressure. But I digress.” The

  man looked confused at the last word. “Were as im not sure that it will be as drastic as what I do, I believe it’s like a muscle and if you work it out it will get

  stronger.”

  Rowley nodded and listened as Shade laid out his thoughts, and after some back and forth, Rowley tried to apply his affinities thusly. Water to Dex Agl and

  Per. Earth towards con and Str.

  Suddenly, Rowley's eyes went wide, and whatever he saw broke his meditation, and they were both dumped back into the waiting room. Time had passed,

  and the crowd shook the building with their cheers and roars. Only Benton and they were still in here, and Benton watched the screen grimly.

  The silence was broken with Rowley’s exclamation. “It worked! I just unlocked three abilities. Fluid dodge, Granite carapace, and Avalanche strike.”

  The waiting room door flew open, and the Marquess Eridris and Ballatro all stood in the doorway, looking harried. At first, Shade thought they were here in

  response to teaching Rowley, but it seems like this match isn’t going well for the Ludus. Rowley and Benton were flattened by the three blazing auras. Shade

  instinctively expanded his will out like an umbrella shielding these two from the 3 higher rankers and nobles. They stood in confused relief, thinking they had

  tamped down their auras. This was met with some shock on the Marquess’s face. But when she spoke, it wasn’t about that.

  “As you've all no doubt seen on the screens, things are looking Grim. They have a Berzerker on the cusp of tier 3 who can clearly punch up. He seems to have

  a talent that lets him fuel his berzerk by inflicting pain, he also seems to have momentum abilities that let him ramp up his strength and speed, and he also seems

  like he has regeneration. Also, some sort of limit-breaking skill that makes him larger. He has eaten through our stables entire lower ranks. You three are all

  that is left below mid-tier.”

  Shade now understood Benton’s grim face when they came out of meditation.

  Eridris stepped forward. “We got five minutes to come up with a viable strategy.”

  Shade was surprised to see that the three had all set their eyes on him.

  “Shade, if you can come up with a means of pulling a win out of this, I shall grant you anything in my power. The least of which, I will elevate you from slave to

  indentured servant like Ballatro and Eridris. You will live a far better life than anything you could achieve with your status as a Null with black affinities.” The

  Marquess clearly hadn’t discussed this with the other two because both of their heads snapped around in shock.

  Shade ignored the Drama unfolding and asked. “What are our options, and who has the highest meditation skill here?”

  This seemed to put things back on track. “As far as that goes, probably Ballatro. He was a holy knight and had training at both the standard academy and the

  military. And as far as plans go it's either three on one, one on one, or stable vs stable. I wouldn’t recommend that last option. They send the Berzerker out first,

  and they have a full lower-end stable. That's about 6 other low-rank gladiators. That also includes two tier fours.”

  Shade rubbed his chin in thought for a moment. “If I keep these two alive, will you elevate them too? Also, you said he could punch up. I take it our tier 4s are

  no more?”

  “They fell as a pair in the 3rd match while you two were meditating,” Benton said glumly. Not even responding to Shades' request.

  “Yes.” was all the Marquiss said.

  “Ok, first off, Choose Stable vs Stable.” Everyone in the room but Ballatro inhaled sharply, but Shade pressed on. “Ballatro, I need you to pull the five of us

  into Benton’s mind palace while Eridris informs the officials about the match. I am going to apply my Time affinity. So don't fight it.” Benron nodded, and they all

  sat in the center of the room in a circle, even the Marquess.

  Benton seemed nervous. But Ballatro’s higher rank and skill pulled us all in. Benton’s mind palace, if you could even call it that, was a large chunk of stone

  floating in a starry void. His core was on display with no structures like in Rowley’s soul. With a flex of Shade’s will, he joined with Ballatro, who was

  uncomfortable with the intimate contact but didn’t resist. Time flowed in and around the skill, and Shade instinctually knew how to dilate relative time within the

  skill.

  “I can give us thirty minutes max of relative time. It's still only gonna be five minutes outside. But we’ll have a pit more time.”

  “That’s how you perceived me!” Ballatro said as if a mystery had finally been solved. “You’ve been applying your affinities to your attributes. But how? That

  shouldn’t be possible below tier 5.”

  “Ballatro, now is not the time.” The Marquess said in a chiding tone. “I don't care about his secrets if he can keep me from having to marry that Baron.”

  Shade wandered over to Benton’s core and saw the glyphs that were his talents and class etched upon it. Unlike Rowley’s, which was obscured by the image of the basin. Benton's swirling two colors were a bright whit and a swirling dark mass.

  “Are his affinities light and dark?!” Shadow whirled around and exclaimed. “Jesus fucking christ… are you for real right now? And a Con Tank class? His

  synergies are all fucked! He should be a Dodge tank if tank at all. His Talents are at odds with his class abilities.

  Benton and Rowley looked confused, but Ballatro and the Marquess were flabbergasted.

  “You can read the script of the gods? Only holy scholars and the gods themselves know how to interprit the blessing.” Ballatro sputtered, and the skill shook.

  The marquess shot him another chiding look, and Ballatro fell silent, the skill solidified. Shade did his best to briefly explain to Benton about adjusting his

  affinities into abilities like he had with Rowley. He developed the abilities Flashstep, Shadow Counter, and Dazzle.

  Ballatro and the Marquess observed in silence as Shade taught a quick crash course in what they knew of as advanced academy material, as in you need

  clearance and oversight to teach or learn. This man would be a gold mine if they could get him to train their house guard and gladiators. Their house would

  have a major advantage.

  The skill broke, and Eridris stood outside the circle they all sat in. “Alright, it's set, but I still think this is a bad idea.”

  “We have faith that Shade can see us through to victory. Their front end was their main chance at victory. Once we get into mid to high rank, they won’t stand a

  chance against uncle.”

  Shade’s brow rose, but he didn't say anything. That powerful Gladiator was her uncle?

  Eridris spoke up as they all stood. “You three get to the staging area. Round starts in two minutes, but it may be a bit longer since they have to rally their whole

  lower end stable.