After looting Points from the two creatures, which I am going to call Goobers, I nap until morning, why do stupid creatures attack while you are sleeping?

A few hours later...

A good night's sleep will leave you energetic in the morning, sadly, I did not have a good night's sleep, I woke up very lazy, my back aching, my muscles stiff, how could anyone sleep on the ground? I missed my bed already. Alpha was still sleeping, so I quietly stood up to walk to the stream nearby to clean myself. As soon as I moved, Alpha started stirring, he looked up at me quizzically and stood up to follow me. Whelp, there goes all my effort in trying to not wake up Alpha.

Alpha follows me to the stream where I clean myself up, Alpha does not go in the water, only licking it. Looking at his brown fur, as opposed to his pristine white fur when he is clean, I decided to clean him. Knowing that Alpha will not like getting wet, I sneak behind him, something that he ignores, foolishly, and push him in. He yelps in surprise and frantically starts pawing the flowing water, a couple of seconds later, he is out of the water and starts barking at me. I laugh heartily at his betrayed expression.

Alpha turns his nose up at me and ignores me for the next couple of minutes. Sighing, I give up trying to draw his attention and start walking away. I hear an annoyed huff and the plodding of feet, I smile to myself, my ploy worked.

Its been almost a day since the group from the Grayps clan left me, I deemed it safe enough to go to the city. Walking along the path, I look behind to see Alpha lagging, I decide to carry the pup. He struggles but I gently stroke him and his resistance dies, I walk faster as I don't have to slow down for him anymore.

I see the smoke first, the ash grey cloak choking the blue sky. As I get closer, my eyes start watering, I am shocked by the impact of the battle. I can see the burning ruins of what must have once been a majestic war. Hundreds of figures swarm around the ravaged wall and screams of despair rock the atmosphere. I run forward as fast as I can, though it will still take me an hour to reach the city. As I get closer, I notice that the ground is charred black as if a huge meteorite had struck near the cities. Bodies of monsters and humans lay strewn like garbage at a landfill.

Hugging Alpha tighter, I make my way to what used to be the city gates. I hold my head up high, trying to ignore the blood and gore. I feel weak in the head, I never thought I would see a sight like this in my life, the stench of rotting corpses pervaded the air. Unconsciously I cover my nose, holding Alpha with only one hand now.

"Well, what do we have here? A newbie?", a loud, booming voice sounds towards me. Looking towards the sound I see a man wrapped in layers of gleaming metal, though it isn't metal of a kind I have ever seen. The metal gleams purple in the sun, with something that looks like veins travelling down its surface.

"Are you mute boy? Who are you?", he asks again.

I don't fully trust the man, so choosing not to reveal anything about myself I say, "I am looking for the Grayps clan, where can I find them?"

"Here," he says pointing to himself, "I am Ferdinand, the current leader of the Grayps clan."

"Oh,'' I say unsure of what to say next.

Thankfully, I spotted one of the people from the group I met, I shout over to him and he looks startled and comes over.

When he sees Ferdinand next to me, he looks ever more shocked and hurries over to us. The man leans in and whispers something to Ferdinand. Ferdinand nods at the information and finally says to me, "so you are a contestant huh?"

"I'm not sure I understand the word," I reply

Ferdinand laughs and says, " three times before, 5 races have come to Lohmar to battle in a legendary spectacle, the members of these races are known as contestants. We are the descendants of the winning races, we cannot grow very strong as we cant absorb infinite points, but we still have a grasp on Lohmar, some of our very strongest are very far down the road. We are called citizens, the descendants of the previous winners, and you are the current contestants."

"Wait, but I thought I was brought here by the gods," I ask in bewilderment

Ferdinand guffaws, "the gods are not as strong as you think they are, the five current gods are the leaders of the five families, instead of fighting amongst themselves, they have decided to bet on the result of this competition. The system has brought your races here, the gods are only spectators. They wish to use the result of this competition to decide their leader, then I assume they will work together to take over the system."

I am very confused so I continue to question the man," why did the system bring our races here then?"

"The ways of the system cannot be explained by us, mere ants to its power."

Still unclear of the entire situation, I decide to leave the questioning for another day. What is more important to me right now is my fellow humans from Earth.

"Have you heard of any other contestants, people like me?" I question

"Yes, in fact, I have," replied Ferdinand. "I can help you find your race too."

"I am sensing a catch somewhere," I answer somewhat cautiously.

"Perceptive aren't you? Yes, there is a catch, you must join my clan and be a part of it for the next ten years."

"What does joining your clan entail?"

"Oh not much, you will have to fight when we are at war and you must complete at least 1 clan mission a month. The rest is up to you."

"Can I take some time to decide?," I ask tentatively.

"Sure, give me your answer by tomorrow evening, just come to the clan headquarters and ask for me. Explore the city in the meanwhile, make sure to avoid inns that feel dodgy. Take some Energy Points, enjoy yourself," he said as he pulled up his soul crystal and asked me to show mine too. Touching his soul crystal to mine, I could feel as he transferred over some Points to me.

Thanking him profusely, I smiled in happiness. Maybe it won't be such a bad idea to join his clan after all. I look towards his retreating figure and start walking towards the ruined city gates. An adventure awaits!