Jeff took Zane to a place called the Arena. The Arena was a place similar to the Stadium in Zane’s home world. The difference was it only held battles for warriors. Mages did not participate in any battles.

Once they arrived at the Arena, Zane stopped and took a few seconds to look at the exterior. It was a circular wall made out of stone and had a few entrances for people to walk through. The arena looked much larger than most Stadiums Zane had visited. However, he noticed that there was a significant lack of mana within and around the building.

Most Stadiums were different in Zane’s world in one way or another. Therefore, he didn’t pay too much attention to the exterior of the building. Instead, he placed more attention on the fighting spirit the building contained.

Standing outside, Zane felt the desire to battle, ingrained in the stone walls of the building. It radiated from every entrance, infecting Zane and the other people that wanted to go through. With a smile on his face, Zane followed the flow of people entering the Arena.

Observing the people around him, Zane saw that they were becoming more excited the further they walked. There were people that started to jog forward, some punched the air as they walked, and others bounced with every step they took while their eyes blazed with desire to fight. Zane wasn’t surprised by the reactions the people around him had. Most of them were at tier zero, and it was easy for them to be affected by the battle intent in the air.

The battle intent in the air was affecting Zane as well. If he wanted to, Zane could easily resist the desire to battle, but he had no intention of doing so. The battle intent in the air was a familiar presence that brought back fond memories.

“Do you want to wait outside?” Zane asked Jeff. “You don’t have to follow me in if you’re uncomfortable.”

Looking behind him, Zane saw Jeff was reluctantly following him with a frown on his face. A person running through the entrance bumped into Jeff from behind causing his frown to deepen. When Jeff heard Zane’s words, he quickly put on a neutral expression before giving Zane a slightly forced smile.

“I was assigned to follow you and help you as best as I can. If I were to stay outside, then I wouldn’t be able to properly perform my duties. You don’t have to worry about me. Let me know if you have any questions or want to go somewhere else.”

Zane gave Jeff a nod before he continued to move forward. He felt like Jeff spoke those words to motivate himself instead of speaking to inform Zane. If Jeff wasn’t bothered, he could have responded by saying he was fine.

The entrance Zane walked through led to a dark passageway lit by torches hanging on each side. As Zane moved forward, he could hear a crowd roaring with excitement. With a smile on his face, Zane picked up speed, eager to see the battles that were unfolding.

Once Zane exited the passageway, he returned to the embrace of natural sunlight. In front of him was a wall that prevented him from seeing the battlefield. There was a set of stairs to his left and right that would lead people to available seating. Many seats were claimed but they were unoccupied because the people who claimed them were standing up cheering at the battle taking place.

Eager to see the battle, Zane quickly climbed the stairs with a reluctant Jeff following behind him. He quickly located two unclaimed seats and moved toward them. Once Zane saw that Jeff didn’t lose track of him, he turned his attention toward the battle taking place. He was hoping to see a decent fight and he wasn’t disappointed.

Currently, one young woman stood on a stage surrounded by several men. Her body was relaxed. Her feet spread apart, and her arms folded beneath her chest. Her expression was arrogant. A confident smile spread across her face and her head was slightly tilted back, so she could look down on her opponents.

The men surrounding her were wielding various weapons and showed various mental states. They were angry, nervous and eager. All of them looked tired and injured, but they still charged forward to attack the young woman.

With a burst of speed, the young woman charged out of the encirclement. Her movements were nimble as she avoided the attacks of a few of the men she passed by. Once she passed the edge she turned around and threw a fierce punch to the man behind her. His body folded backward as he was blasted away.

More attacks came her way, but the young woman easily danced around her opponents. Not only did she easily avoid her opponents’ attacks, but she also redirected their attacks back at them. A sword that was meant to stab into her chest was easily deflected into an opponent’s shield. A man charged at her from behind with an axe, but the woman easily threw the man into another opponent.

Chaos reigned over the battle, but the young woman wasn’t affected by it. She danced around her opponents, sending out the occasional punch or kick, as they stumbled around the stage. The crowd cheered as the young woman danced around her opponents and their cheering would increase in intensity every time she barely missed getting hit by her opponents’ weapons.

Unlike most of the crowd, Zane was able to truly appreciate the skill the young woman had. She demonstrated spectacular control of her own body and the battlefield. Power, speed and flexibility, all of them were perfectly displayed by the young woman on the stage. Every step, turn, or lunge was completed with precision. Never moving more than she had to. Every punch and kick contained explosive power, but none of her attacks required her to sacrifice her form or her speed.

Eventually, the young woman defeated most of her opponents and there was only one man left standing on the stage. The man was panting while he barely stood on the stage with a sword in his hand. Zane was surprised to see the crowd become quiet as the man raised his sword above his head.

“I have to admit that you are a great warrior, and it has been an honor to fight you. My name is-”

“I don’t care.” Despite her fierce display, the young woman’s voice wasn’t rough. “I don’t make it a habit of remembering the name of weaklings or people who are disrespectful to me and my tribe. Now, are you fighting or not?”

Covering his embarrassment with anger the man roared as he charged at the young woman. Her response was a kick that made the man lose his weapon and sent him flying off the stage. Almost immediately, the crowd erupted into cheers.

The woman stood on the stage with a victorious smile on her face. She raised her fist and the roar of the crowd increased by another level. She proudly raised her head as she turned to face each section of the crowd while being surrounded by the bodies of her defeated opponents. Everyone had their gaze focused on the young woman and Zane was no exception. His eyes were glued to her lower back, and he had no desire to look away.

“What are those?” Zane asked Jeff without turning his head.

Jeff was surprised by Zane’s question. He looked at the woman on stage, then looked at Zane. He followed Zane's gaze to see what he was specifically looking at. Once he found what Zane was looking at, he gave Zane a look that was filled with disbelief, confusion and several other emotions.

“What do you…can you rephrase your question?”

“Her weapons. What is the name of the weapons on her waist?”

Zane was focused on the young woman’s movements throughout the entire fight. He saw that she had two weapons on her waist. At first, he thought the weapons were normal knives, but Zane changed his mind once he took a closer look.

Physically the blade was different from normal knives and the handle was horizontal instead of vertical. Also, Zane’s Weapon Affinity let him know that there was something different about the two weapons. He instinctively knew that the names of the various types of knives he knew about wouldn’t be a suitable fit for the weapon in front of him.

“Oh, her weapons,” Zane missed the sigh of relief Jeff let out. “Her weapon is a katar. The katar is a weapon unique to the wanderers.”

“Do you know who she is? I would like to meet with her.”

Immediately, Jeff’s face became stern. “Young sir that woman’s name is Ayesha, and she is an important figure amongst the wanderers. If you need a woman to spend time with, I can introduce you to some pleasant company at a local brothel.

Most of Zane’s attention was on the new weapons he discovered. Therefore, it took him a second to take in what Jeff told him. Once Zane realized what Jeff said, his response was to look at him in stunned silence.

“Today I have shown you all that we wanderers are just as powerful as people belonging to any other group. In my case, I’m a lot stronger.”

The crowd became quite when Ayesha showed that she wanted to speak. Her words were met with cheers from the crowd. However, Zane could hear plenty people booing as well. Ayesha waited for the crowd to quiet down before she continued speaking.

“Of course, you don’t have to agree with me. In fact, you can come on this stage and prove me wrong right now. I’m ready to take on challengers. How many of you dare to face me?”

Ayesha completely emitted her presence for the entire crowd to feel. Zane was a bit surprised when he felt that she had a perfect source field, but he was completely stunned when he received a system message.

You have come into contact with a person that meets the requirements for the Expert Martial Weapon Mastery quest. Do you wish to request a duel with this person? Yes, or no?