Posted by Aker had already verified that there was a direct correlation between his Level and SKILL Points. As of now all of the SKILL’s had 1 point.
If his guess was right he had used 5 points and had 5 points left. He also figured out he could use the points by focusing on the SKILL and calling out the name.
Should he add more points to his SKILL’s? What does it do? Why was it there? Should he use all of them now?
Aker sat there and pondered over these questions losing track of time.
“Hey, I thought you would be so hungry you would come running right over here.”
Aker suddenly woke up hearing the guard call out to him. He looked up to see the same guard that had escorted him out earlier standing with the cell door open and grinning down at him.
“I pulled a few strings and had the chef cook something up…he didn’t want to do it but when he heard it was for the little boy Aker that was fighting in the ring he hopped right too.”
It was obvious looking at this guard that he was proud of himself. Too bad he didn’t know that from Aker’s perspective it didn’t make any difference. He had never had any food in the prison before so he had nothing to compare it too. He would have no clue if the food from the chef was better or not from the normal prison food.
Aker watched as the guard set the food down in front of him. As he caught a whiff of the plate his stomach started grumbling loud enough that prisoners in the next cell over could hear it.
Funnily enough before the food was in front of him he wasn’t even thinking about how hungry he was but now that it was laid out there under his eyes he felt like he could turn into a wild animal.
He reached out and grabbed something that looked like chicken, put it up to his mouth and took a big bite.
“mmmmmm….mmmmmmm” Aker couldn’t help but let out a low growl of approval over whatever it was that he was eating. While it reminded him of chicken he was almost positive it wasn’t. Without stopping to really think about it he swallowed and took another bite.
“How do you like that Kulga?” the guard called out. The guard was laughing to himself as his words left his mouth waiting for the reaction from this boy.
When he had the chef prepare it he specifically asked for Kulga with the hopes of throwing the boy for a loop. Most people even if they didn’t puke up would stop eating and show a ghastly face upon learning that they were eating beast meat.
As the guard watched the boys reaction his small smile slowly disappeared as a look off confusion covered his face. He had pulled this stunt dozens of times over the years. Admittedly he had never done this with a child before but everyone should know about beast.
Most kids learn about how scary beast are from the age of 2-3. Most children’s stories include beast of some sort as the villain or the scary pet of the main villain. As far as this guard knew there was no such thing as a world without beast. Most children would scream and cry at the mere mention of beast much less upon hearing that they were eating beast.
“Thank you I was so hungry and I didn’t even know it. I can’t remember the last time I had something to eat. Kulga, that’s what they have me fighting in The Pit right?”
With Aker’s question the look of confusion disappeared from his face replaced with a face of realization. Of course this child has been fighting in The Pits with these Kulga, after killing a few of them what was there for him to fear or shock over from just Kulga beast meat?
As the guard stood there and thought about it the more he felt the stupidity of the entire thing. He had been pulling this stunt for years and always used Kulga meat. He had never met an adult who had willingly eaten any beast meat so even though for adult warriors the Kulga was a trash beast they still would be repulsed after finding out. That repulsion started from the time that they were children and continued on through their whole life.
The reason that this guard wanted to give this kid beast meat was due to the effects it would have on him. For various reasons to include the aforementioned almost no one knew that eating beast meat could help his strength grow. He wanted to help this kid get stronger but he also figured he could have a little fun with him as well.
Of course just eating beast meat wasn’t enough, you also had to have a chef who knew how to cook the beast so that its essence wouldn’t dissipate. In the universe there were not a lot of high end magical chefs even though they were in high demand. To get your strength high enough to be a magic cook took an extremely talented person but then to waste that talent cooking, almost no one would do it.
“Hahahahaha….yes, that Kulga meat is the same beast they have been having you fight in The Pit.” the guard answered with a laugh. After thinking everything over the only thing he could do was laugh at himself.
After hearing this guards answer Aker stopped eating and started to stare out into the abyss. After staring into nothing for a couple of breadths Aker turned then looked into the eyes of the guard and suddenly put on a solemn and serious face.
“Can I ask you for a favor?” Aker asked this guard as if though this was the most important thing he could ever ask of anyone for his entire life.
The guard suddenly feeling the seriousness of the boy furrowed his brows and prepared to hear this life changing question.
The reason the guard was here was exactly because he wanted to get close to this child. From the moment he had heard who he was and that he would be fighting in The Pit he had been plotting and planning how to get close to him.
Now that this child was looking to him with such a solemn demeanor it was obvious that he would need to help this kid.
The guard was convinced that the kid was going to ask him for help escaping. The guard had already worked up his response and figured out how he would explain that he couldn’t help him escape, it was simply impossible.
He would slowly help the kid understand that if he wanted to get out of here he would have to fight his way out. That he needed to use this place as a wet stone to sharpen and hone himself.
He had practiced this speech hundreds of times as he stood in front of the mirror. He practiced every conceivable response the kid could give and ultimately was pleased with his chances of convincing the kid that escape was impossible.
According to his plan it would take him 2-3 weeks to fully convince the kid. After he had fought so many times he would give up on any plans of escape and realize that he needed to focus on learning how to fight.
Once he came to that realization this guard would swoop in as his knight in shinning armor and start teaching him how to fight. After a few years his plan would come to fruition.
The guard took a deep breadth preparing himself for the inevitable question. It all came down to this.
“It depends on what it is…If it is something I can accomplish then I could probably be convinced.” He had thought over this answer for hours. He wouldn’t commit to anything, he would clearly define that if it was something he could do he could be convinced not that he would do it.
His answer was so deep and profound that the more he thought about it the more pleased he was with himself. This answer basically sealed up the deal of leading this child in the direction he wanted. The guard couldn’t help but start patting himself on the back mentally.
Maintaining his sullen and serious face as he looked the guard in the eye the boy whispered as if though he didn’t want anyone else to hear.
“Can you find out what happened to the Kulga that I fought earlier? If it’s possible could you get that Cook to make it up like this here?”
Seeing the boys face the guard was ready to jump into his plan. When the boy started his voice in a whisper he knew that he was going to ask about helping him escape. As the boy was talking he was running his answer through his head again making sure that he did it perfectly. The key to everything was making sure he could convince the boy to learn how to fight and give up escaping for now.
“I’m sorry I can’t help you with that, you should understand that it’s impossible. The only way for you to get out of here is to fight your way. Since I can’t help you escape now I can help teach you how to fight and survive in The Pit.”
Perfect! Laughing internally to himself the guard was patting his own back trying to not to let his internal laugh out. He wanted to shower the world with a smug smile to celibrate his brilliance. The only thing left for him to do was to wait for the objection of the boy and overcome it one step at a time.
As he looked down he was met with a face full of confusion. He had seen confused faces before but did it need to be this exaggerated? Could eyes even squint that tight and could brows get that close in confusion? Perhaps he didn’t understand why he couldn’t escape right now?
“It’s not that I don’t want to help you escape, its just that it’s impossible. We are located at the home planet of the Underwold King and you are currently in the heart of The Pits. In hundreds of thousands of years not a single person has successfully escaped from The Pits. The Code will not allow them to kill you directly which is the reason your in The Pit but if you try and escape then you have violated the Code and they can execute you directly.”
The guard took his time to explain slowly that there was no chance of escape. If they attempted an escape and were caught then the powers that wanted the boy dead could simply execute him without an issues.
Thinking that this explanation should be enough to address the boys concerns he focused on assessing the boys state of mind now. Surely he would give up on his idea of escaping at this point. Admittedly it is difficult to explain to a young boy that his freedom was being snatched away and oh ya by the way instead of just being locked up you will have to fight for your life and don’t even think about escaping…..but ignoring reality did not change it.
Silence permeated the room as the guard and the boy stared at each other. After 5 breadths the boys voice broke the silence as he inquisitively called out “What?”
“What about what?” the guard fired back not understanding why the boy would ask what? Thinking back to his words he didn’t understand how he could have made himself more clear.
Aker hearing the guard ask him “what about what” couldn’t help but snicker out loud. Did he really just ask him what about what?
“Hahahahahahahahaha” Aker started laughing louder and harder starting from that slight snicker.
“What do you think I asked you?” Aker looked at the guard and asked inquesitvly.
“You asked me to help you escape of course.”
“Nopes…..hahahahahaha….of course I know there is no hope of escaping. I realized that the first day I saw all of the guards as I was walked back to my cell. Even earlier after beating the other guard I looked down the halls and realized there was no where to go….” at this point Aker paused as he put his thoughts together.
“After surviving the first fight I had made the determination that I would fight and survive here. I won’t leave here until the people who put me here regret it with their whole heart. I have no idea how I can accomplish that but I do know that fighting and surviving in The Pit is part of that strategy.”
Aker stared at the guard as he wondered to himself if it was possible for a face to be more confused. Even if your confused it doesn’t need to be that exaggerated does it?
“W…wha….what did you ask?” The guard stuttered through the question as the look of confusion changed into one of horrid disaster.
“I noticed that as I was eating the Kulga you brought that I had felt like I had a little more energy. Growing up I can’t say that we were poor but certainly there were times where I didn’t always get to eat. The energy that I felt from eating the Kulga felt a little different than the energy that I got after not eating for a while before. My assumption is that there is something in the Kulga that helps me. Because of that I wanted to know if you could find the Kulga’s I fought and have the Chef cook them up for me?”
“……………..” The guard could only stare down at the boy. All of his planning, pointless. All of his posturing, pointless. All of his what if’s and could be’s, pointless. The boy already understands he can’t escape. The boy already understands that he needs to stay and fight. He really just wants me to prepare more Kulga for him?
“That shouldn’t be a problem, there’s a pretty good chance that they will just toss the Kulga away. In fact I had specially asked for some of the Kulga you fought to have the Cook prepare it. What your eating now is from those Kulga. Usually beast meat is never cooked or eaten so no one would care if I take it for you.”
“Thank you so much, by the way I haven’t had the chance to introduce myself to you. I’m sure you overheard earlier as you were walking around with me but let me formally introduce myself.”
The guard looked down only to see a hand thrust up at him. The small hands were still red and bruised from having the blood scraped off earlier with Doctor Life & Death.
Reaching out the guard wrapped his hand around the small boys hand as he heard the boy introduce himself.
“Call me Aker, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” With a smile that covered his whole face the boy spoke standing tall.
Seeing the boy speak with such confidence and with such a brilliant smile the guard couldn’t help but feel a smile spread across his face.
“Vance, Vance Hunter.”