CH573

<ACTUALIZATION LEVEL INCREASED>

The colosseum’s seats were packed and bustling with the watching crowd, all of them ready and eager to enjoy the final match of the tournament with Ben and Thera feeling it just as much, with the two enjoying their front row seats amongst the rest of the healers.

Thera was feeling the same excitement as the rest of the crowd, but a lot of Ben’s own came from his desire to get some validation over fixing the broken blade. He wanted to see with his own eyes how much using it had been holding Vela back.

Of course, since he was probably pretty used to using it in that condition then there might not be a ton of difference. Maybe he’ll even be worse till he gets a few weeks of practice with it. Oh well, what’s done is done and I stand by it.

He resolved himself to not worry about it anymore with that thought and instead turned his attention to someone walking through the stands waving his card at them to get their attention before transferring over funds for a couple bags of something, offering one to Thera before he began shovelling some of the food he got into his mouth.

“Uh, what even is this?” She asked him, eyeing something that a human would best describe as kibble.

“Not sure, it’s okay though.”

“You’re not sure and you’re eating it?”

“Not like they’d be handing out something if it wasn’t largely edible to the majority of people, right? Plus I should be pretty poison proof, why worry?”

She wasn’t looking like she was buying that answer but still picked up a piece for herself, eyeing it for just a second before taking a hesitant bite and coming to the same conclusion. It was okay, good enough to mindlessly eat while waiting or enjoying the fight but not much more than that.

Still, it gave them something to munch on as they waited until the contestants appeared and the referee called out to the crowd, acting as an announcer for them all.

“Here we are, the final match between Swordsman Vela and Axeman Stother! Both fighters who’ve given their all to get here today!”

“So who do you think’s gonna win?” Thera muttered to Ben as the announcer carried on.

“Not sure,” Ben said with a shrug. “Vela’s sword won’t be affected by the enchantment on Stother’s ax but the ax is sturdy enough that it shouldn’t be destroyed by any of Vela’s blows either.”

“Wait, what enchantment is on the ax?”

“One built to help break down any metal it comes in contact with. It’s an interesting one actually and has plenty of use cases but isn’t so handy against a weapon that’s going to negate them.”

“Hold on,” Thera stopped him. “It’s enchanted to break weapons? That doesn’t seem fair.”

“Literally none of this is fair,” He shrugged back. “As far as I’m concerned, the moment enchanted weapons were allowed this was never really a contest of skill, or at least not enough to matter.”

She wasn’t sure about how she felt about that answer. She at least understood why it was allowed. Not only would it be hard for the city itself to provide weapons for each competitor given the variety of not only fighting styles but also body types, there were also going to be plenty who’d claim they couldn’t show their full potential without using the weapons they’d use in their day to day lives. Expecting someone to pick up something new for the few days they’d be fighting with it and show off their full potential felt unreasonable in its own way. Still, it did change how she looked at things.

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