Autophagy

"Hey you, you are finally awake," a hoarse-sounding voice woke Song Lei up. He felt sluggish as he opened his eyes. When his eyes finally got used to the light, he saw a tanned man. Standing well over 1.9 meters. He was bald and was wearing some kind of lightweight armor.

"You should be quick. If you don't go to the stage on time, the holy one will get angry. Haha! You definitely don't want to see that newbie. Well, as it's your first time, they won't force you too much," the man with the beard said. He turned around and walked away without waiting for a response.

"Oh... Okay?" Song Lei muttered to himself.

'What kind of situation is this..?' He thought. He raised his hands and saw that there were calluses on them. He looked around and realized that he was in some kind of an underground passage. There were a lot of other people around him. They all seemed to have some kind of urgent job as they walked past him without batting an eye.

As his eyes kept searching for something useful, he saw that there was a box right under his hand.

'Oh?'

Song Lei picked the box up.

'Wait...' Song Lei thought. He put the box on his lap without opening it. 'What is going on? I remember getting attacked on my soul and fainting. How did I even come here?' He asked himself. 'Is this another dream? But I was already in a dream space... Am I dreaming inside a dream..?'

Song Lei frowned and decided to open the box before answering the question.

As the box's lid creaked open, Song Lei saw a few items in it. One of them was his beloved cursed knife, although its shape was much different, Song Lei could recognize it from the carvings on it. Originally, the cursed knife didn't look much different from a rusted kitchen knife. But as Song Lei cleaned and polished it with the items he found, some carvings appeared on it.

As for the cursed knife's current shape, Song Lei couldn't put his mind around it.

'Why did it become a sword?'

He picked the now-gladius-looking cursed knife up and weighed it with his hand. Because of Song Lei's strength, it felt as if it was nonexistent.

He put the gladius on his lap and picked another item from the box. This was a hand mirror. He couldn't identify what it was made from. It looked to be battered as there were cracks on the frame of it. Fortunately, the mirror itself wasn't like that.

Song Lei looked at himself in the mirror.

'I'm still me...' He thought. He hadn't changed bodies or anything. Although his skin seemed to be a tone darker and there were some small scars on his cheek, his face was still the same.

Song Lei was about to put the mirror back in the box as he thought that he wouldn't need it. But he stopped himself from doing so. He was currently wearing some clothes that resembled gladiator armor.

'Am I something like a gladiator?' Song Lei thought. He wasn't sure as he didn't have much knowledge about the topic. 'I wish I watched some of those movies...'

Other than the mirror and the cursed gladius, there was a very small, circular shield.

'What can I protect myself from with this shield?' Song Lei tried to think while frowning. 'I would have to actively counter any attack that comes towards me.'

Song Lei took the shield. The box was fully empty now. As he closed it and put it aside, a hoarse voice resounded in the underground passage, "Lei! Your turn has come!"

Song Lei turned his head and looked at the man. He picked up his gladius and small shield as he stepped up.

The man patted his back and said, "Follow me."

Song Lei nodded and followed the man. After passing through some underway passages, the man stopped.

"You have to continue by yourself from now on. You will see a gate at the end of the passage. When it opens, go through there and you'll enter the colosseum. You're lucky to be picked for the newbie show. The audience doesn't like newbies. It's rare for such a game to even happen," the man said. He turned back and walked away. Song Lei stared at the man's back for some time and started walking.

Currently, there were a thousand thoughts going through his mind. The most prominent one amongst them being, 'OH FUCK I HAVE TO FIGHT!'

From what he could understand, he was some kind of newbie gladiator that was going to fight in a big arena. 'If I have to face a seasoned fighter, I will most definitely die,' he thought. Although his body, battle instincts, and senses were very good, those wouldn't do enough against a professional with the right weapon.

As Song Lei was trying to figure a way to get out of this situation, he finally saw the gate. As he got closer to the gate, the voices of the crowd filled his ears. They were bloodthirsty and wanted to see a good fight.

Song Lei started waiting and after some time, he heard a loud male voice standing out in the crowd, eventually silencing them. The gate started opening.

"Silence peasants! Today, an exhibition match will be held in the honor of the holy one! Be grateful for being able to see this!" The man said.

"The winner of today's match shall be allowed to meet the holy one and evolve into a supreme being by the grace of our Lord."

As the man was talking, the gates finished opening. When they were fully open, Song Lei stepped out on the hot ground.

There was an 80 meters by 50 meters arena in front of him. Right opposite to him was another man wearing similar armor to him. Unlike him, however, the man had a long staff in his hands.

'Oh? Is he going to use some kind of eastern martial arts?' Song Lei thought. He looked around and saw the countless spectators looking at him.

Song Lei started walking towards the middle of the arena.

"On one side is an eastern slave gladiator! He prefers a small shield and a gladius!" The announcer said.

Song Lei saw the man opposite to him stop, so he followed along and stopped walking.

"On the other side is another eastern slave! No matter what we did to him, he wouldn't kneel down and properly become a slave. But after spending a night with the holy one, he changed his ways!"

Song Lei looked at the announcer for some time, turned his head to the other gladiator and thought, "So he's from the east too... He must be a martial artist like I thought."

"He is a spell-caster monk!" The announcer said.

Song Lei raised one of his brows.

"He's a what...?"

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