“I would like to request an exhibition match for prisoner Eden!” Yells out a wood spirit, the very one who oversaw Eden. After these words, all the wood spirits around turn the ghostly head and open their mouths, dumbfounded from his words. This had never happened before, or at least not ever documented in any records nor in any of the spirit’s transparent brains. However, unlike the other wood spirits, their king is not so shocked, though he looked angry to say the least. His eyes strained as he stares down at the wood spirit who dared to interrupt his fun. Even though Cosmos only stared at the one, his eyes pierce the every soul of the poor wood spirits around him. As Cosmos does this, he lets out a wave of bright green aura, much like the one that once surrounded Eden. When this happens all the beings in the tent feel a wave of pure terror, causing both humans and wood spirits alike to feel true terror. The immense feeling of death looms over them, and those with weak constitution pass out. Foam falls out of the unnamed old man, knocked out cold from this eldritch despair brought about by the absolute king that is Cosmos. Even those who stand still tremble at least a little, all except for the very one who challenged his highness. After what seems to be an eternity, when Cosmos realises that the spirit will not surrender to this pressure, he booms out a response to the all so foolish wood spirit who dares to interrupt the king’s plan.

  “Who are you, young spirit, to request anything from MY trial? Do you happen to be the king? Sorry, I must have been unaware of this change in leadership if so.” Cosmos rhetorically asks the wood spirit, hoping to shut him up with intimidation, as he assumed the wood spirit would have no response. But the wood spirit hovers tall with his resolve, and states his case, surprising all.

  “I am not a king, nor a man of note. Pardon my rudeness, but I believe you are making a mistake, which will be one in which will lead to sending a useful person to a guaranteed death.” The wood spirit states, and then continues once more. “These people hold more value to both your, no, our future goals along with functioning as perfect man to grow, if you shall allow it. This would lead to great prosperity to the kingdom in the best case.” The wood spirit finishes, to which Cosmos looks rather intrigued about his words, though offended no doubt. He pauses all actions within the tent; preparing a proper response to the wood spirit.

  Look at the gull of this one! He dares to go against my plan to kill off all of these fools. What value could they possibly have? He must know his words will have grave consequences if he is proven wrong, and I do not take the youth for fools, so he must have a reason for this disrespect. But I cannot let him tarnish my reputation by simply accepting his words. He will have to pay for speaking against me, even if his words may prove correct. Cosmos ruthlessly concludes, as he laughs with his newly created grand plan. The laugher makes many of the wood spirits retreat back in fear of what is to come, knowing the king’s tendencies. But they know nothing can stop the plans of the mad tyrant.

  “You say these men are of use to my plans, so you must be willing to give up resources in order to support these beliefs, correct? Might I suggest a sponsorship of gold? A few thousand or so I might presume?” Cosmos mocks, expecting the wood spirit to back down in shame from these words, lacking the proper funds to afford such an act. Contrary to these expectations however, the wood spirit pulls out a massive bag overflowing with gold from his inventory.

  “Would 10000 gold suffice your required amount? I can provide more of course if need be. Any price is worth the success of the kingdom, like you have just implied.” The wood spirit cockily says to Cosmos. He is angered by this, but he is a man of his word, and lets it go, having no real rebuttal.

  Thank god for Eden’s harvester skill. That thing has got me every single piece of gold in this bag, with money to spare. This is my payment for all the hard work you put in Eden, I will make sure you can at least survive and grow. To think I would get so attached to a mere human, but none are quite as useful and interesting as Eden. No human can make me rich like he can after all. The wood spirit solemnly determines.

  "Fine, I shall permit an exhibition match for the man named Eden.” Cosmos proclaims, to the absolute shock of the other wood spirits. “Guards! Bring me a goblin and Eden, drag them if you have to! Cosmos yells out. The guards motion to go grab their two objectives, and Eden quickly grabs the equipment that he wants from the pile. He takes his sturdy axe and some glue jars.

  The hell is that spirit planning!? His he trying to buy me some time or something? But why is he doing this? No, that does not matter right now, I should just get ready to fight. Wait fight? No, is it even right to fight something here, something just trying to survive? But if I do not, what if the guys with me fall because of that? Eden questions, but of course getting no answer, like all philosophers. But much like them, Eden makes his own answer, or at least in his heart rather than his brain.

  After a short while the spirit guards go to the stands where the old men were and grab Eden. The rest of the old men are in shock, besides the Old Man, who has a small smile on his face, which is lit with the ever so slightest amount of hope.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Eden, come with us to arena 4.” The guards order. Eden complies and gets to walking. As he walks he truly examines his surroundings, not putting much notice in them, pardon the fact it is all wood.

  This wood looks pretty new, maybe only a few months old; not long for such high quality wood. At least from my experience, the wood seemed to age much slower compared to the wood I know, looking brand-new even after a few weeks. Though I must admit, the waiting area looks almost out of place in quality. I mean, the rest of this place is made out of much older or finer wood, while this place has the same wood, the same wood I used. No, no, it must be a coincidence, right? No, they might have actually used the wood I cut, the wood that placed me in this damned place! Eden thinks about, slightly angry at this blatant disregard for what he preaches.

  Eden walks down the stairs, made from the same materials as the waiting area, even looking somewhat familiar to Eden, or at least the design of the railings reminds him of his fence. But Eden is left with no more time to ponder on this, as he his brought into the arena, which is also made from wood. This is even more insulting as the surrounding area is that of dirt, making the presence of the wood that much more insulting to all the prisoners. Regardless, Eden has to choose but to walk on to the stage. The wood spirits silently watch as Eden steps on the stage, while a cage is dragged to the other side of the arena. Inside the cage is a green small creature assumed to be a goblin, based upon the goblin label on its head. It holds a pointed stick and is wearing nothing but a brown ragged shirt. Its mouth looks grimy, and the creature emits a foul, putrid smell similar to what you would find in a never cleaned barn. All can hear monstrous grunts coming from the goblin, which disgusts the wood spirits. However, this provides no real feeling from Eden, seeing it as just another creature captured by these heinous beings, forced to fight for survival. As Eden readies his axe, though weirdly only holding it in one hand, as Cosmos begins to talk.

  “On the count of three, I shall have the goblin release and the fight to the death shall begin. But before this grand match begins, everyone place your bets! We would not want to let our viewers not profit off of justice after all.” Cosmos yells outs to the crowd, pulling out money and betting, mostly for the goblin. However, the amounts rise greatly when the wood spirit who started this all puts 20,000 gold on Eden. This surprises the crowd, but the match continues before they can fully react.

  “Grunt Ahhh!” The goblin goes, rushing at Eden with rapid speeds. However, much to Eden’s surprise, the goblin’s movements are rather sluggish to him, even though the foul creature moves faster than any normal human can hope to. The goblin poorly goes for the stab, but it was easily dodged by Eden, who quickly side steps it and grabs the small beast by its neck. He holds the child sized monster out with his arms fully extended, and begins to speak to the creature.

  “Do you really want to continue this battle, my fellow slave? Though it is a long shot, a surrender might let you live.” Eden asks the goblin, hoping that it could understand him. Unfortunately however, the goblin is unable to, and flails its weirdly long arms around. Though after a bit, the goblin tries to bite Eden’s hand, drawing a bit of blood. But Eden’s hand stands ever still, hard as a rock.

  “It would seem you either do not know what I have said, or have chosen death. In either case, it would seem my only choice is for me to kill you, for which I am sorry. I pity your fate, goblin who must die not to any fault of your own, but that of those who forced this. If I ever met another goblin, be it one related to you or any other peaceful goblin, I swear to help them to atone. May you rest in peace, and not fall to the pits of hell, nor any land like this.” Eden says, as he drops the goblin, and swings his axe down on it.

  “I pity you, goblin who died for no reason. But, I cannot give my life for the sake of my enemies. I have too much to live for, as I am sure you did as well, but they say survival is for the fittest, and sadly I have no power to argue.” Eden quietly comforts the corpse of the goblin, putting his eyelids down and covering any wounds the best he can, which is hard to do with the massive axe wound on his chest. But these actions were more for Eden than the goblin, who has already died and had no one to care for him.

  I do not wish to kill, but sometimes there is no better alternative, and in this place death it is necessary. But I must not kill for the sake of it! I must only kill those I absolutely have to, and those who deserve nothing better, to not become like those who forced this. Eden reaffirms himself, as he obtains a system notification.

  Notice! User has gained 5 EXP. (102/100)

  Notice! User has levelled up! User is now level 2.

  Notice! Growth blocker has been temporarily lifted. Stored growth shall be given to user.

  Notice! Stat ‘Agility’ has increased.

  Notice! Stat ‘Perception’ has increased.

  Notice! Stat ‘Stamina’ has increased.

  Notice! Stat ‘Dexterity’ has increased.

  Notice! Skill ‘Harvester’ has increased

  Harvester- (E->D) Passive

  (Every time you use a farming skill to harvest your crops, there is a small chance to get an okay amount of gold.)

  Notice! You have a level up point. You may choose to level up a class skill, stat, or gain a new class skill.

  Was this the wood spirit’s plan? For me to level up and get stronger? I never felt the changes of stats much till now. I guess these letters do mean something, but instead of changing my attributes, it tells me their power level. Rather logical if you think about it. Eden thinks, as he opens and closes his hand with much greater speed, able to grab the axe without it falling. He looks at the crowd, and is able to see their surprised ghostly faces all that much clearer, noticing even minor changes in expression. His power has increased, his fighting spirit reinvigorated, and he makes his choice for his level up. He increases the one stat he is best at, Constitution, to boost his will to fight, to fight for freedom, the only fight Eden ever wanted to be a part of.

  Eden Status report-

  Stats-

  Strength: G+

  Intelligence: F+

  Stamina: G

  Dexterity: E- (max)

  Constitution: E+

  Endurance: G

  Agility: G-

  Perception: E (max)

  Class skills-

  Harvester- (D) Passive

  (Every time you use a farming skill to harvest your crops, there is a small chance to get an okay amount of gold.)