Arena of Sinister Passions

Putting people in combat or stressful situations to help them activate their system was an old system which had faded out in the last century after the creation of the selection stone.

The name made it sound like a mythical object but it was just a machine built in the shape of a large egg which one placed their hand on for some seconds and got their system activated.

In this age, though there were cases, it was still unheard of for one to fail to awaken their system even at just 15 as the odds were at an extremely low 2 per cent.

That first time he had failed to awaken his system had been quite the shock for Fhize as he had actually been looking forward to it but after 4 more tries, he had lost interest.

While getting a system and being able to access Aether, train and grow one's mana sounded good, to Fhize it was just another chore no different from getting a regular job, after all, it wasn't like they wasn't a massive number of people with systems who worked 9-5 jobs.

In this world, there were 4 major routes to living for the common populace.

One was to join the army, the other was to become a hunter, the third which was the most lucrative and rewarding was to become a Zen warrior and the last was to register as a normal civilian.

Joining the military and going on government interdimensional and interplanetary missions was actually the one, Fhize had found himself most attracted to at the beginning but with his continuous failure to unlock his system and dislike of strict authority, he didn't miss this opportunity much.

Being a hunter entailed entering the different portals spawned around the world and without a doubt for someone like him who wanted to do as he pleased, this option should have been the best, but its downside was it's the lack of support.

Unlike the military which gave out resources and promised retrieval and backup in case of an emergency, hunters were much on their own, their journey of strength was entirely in their hands. There was no sort of support from the government or an organization to their family if they died.

Some guilds might offer support but the difficulty of joining such a guild didn't need to be told as it went without saying that one would need to go beyond just awakening a system, they would have to awaken a unique one, one with a grade along the lines of C,B, A and the legendary S, the rest which were D and E and actually made up 70% of the planet population being looked down on especially the E which was seen as useless.

Then there was the choice of being a Zen warrior, this choice being the most universal wanted one as frankly speaking other than the military who were known to be exempted from it, everyone else could be one, even civilians with licenses, though it was mostly dominated by hunters.

Unlike the military and Hunter occupation which had one risking their life in unknown territory, Zen boxing promised one far richer and exclusive rewards in a controlled environment. 

Sure there could be deaths, but that would mostly be a result of one's own stubbornness. There was a referee to end the match if u decided to quit and referees save you if you couldn't.

"I'll just be a weird human without a system, that's the only difference. I'll still walk the same floor and breathe the same air as every other person." 

Resting the staff on his shoulders and taking comfort in the shield generator he had been given, Fhize completed his trek to the camp and with the dark clouds above already clearing he called out.

"Hello"

His voice was subdued the first time, so Fhize thought he would need to call out a second time, but not even a second passed before voices began ringing out from the tents.

The camp Fhize had walked to consisted of five tents with one of them placed in the middle and the other 4 around it in a rough square formation.

Fhize had approached the tent closest to him, but he hadn't expected his single call to rile up the whole camp.

Thought caught off by the sudden situation, Fhize calmly waited for an exit from the tent, his heartbeat quickly increasing and his grip on the staff tightening.

"Zip"

"Bam"

Fhize didn't wait much, once the zip of the tent was drawn up and a head sent out, he hammered down with the staff, smashing it on a messy brown hair and sending its owner to sleep.

Not wasting a second, with his heart already pounding thumping within him, Fhize took a step back, ready to swing his staff at the next individual to exit the tent, but then footsteps from the side caught his ears and looking left he dived to the side, avoiding a deadly sword thrust from a shirtless tattoo covered young man.

Quickly getting up to his feet, Fhize frowned as he noticed that another person was also exiting the left tent and not wanting to be ganged up he attacked his sword-wielding opponent.

Without a word he swung at the tattooed man, looking to hit him in the head and knock him out, but with a fierce, glint, the man parried his staff and then the next second with very good footwork closed the distance between the two of them and swung his blade.

Darkness flashed through Fhize's eyes, but when he felt the sword rebound off his body, this indicating that he was not dead, he with all his might punched the stunned man with his left hand, a crack ringing out.

Despite his hand being covered by the shield generator, a sharp pain shot through Fhize from his knuckles but then seeing the tattooed man with fear turning to run away and shout something at his colleague he ignored the pain in his hand and grabbing his staff slammed it on his head, his eyes going red when he realized that the man was still conscious only just staggering and he had to hit him again.

No sooner had Fhize's staff hit the man a second time that a kick landed on his side and he was sent into the air.

"How strong is this man" Fhize asked in his mind as he spelt quite a worrying amount of time before dropping to the ground.

The sudden landscape change disoriented Fhize but before he could recover he was grabbed by the waist, picked off the floor and then flung onto a tree.

"Bam"

The shield generator protected Fhize perfectly, absorbing even the shock from the impact but as he fell to the floor two consecutive kicks to the head had his face go cold and fear appear in his eyes.

Sure the shield generator was protecting him and with it just receiving physical attacks would last a long time, the sight of two tall muscular men looking down at him with what was undoubtedly murder in their eyes was not something his mind could be protected from.

A heavy stomp from the thick boots of one of the men had Fhize's head buried in the ground and while the men pressed his head into the ground, he heard him shout to his comrades.

"Check the surroundings, he can't be the only one."

"Boss if there are others like him, then we should run. The kid has a shield generator."

Before commencing the battle, Fhize had thought he could control his fear and focus on seeing if he could activate his system, but it seemed he had thought wrong.

"Dad, Mom"

Before Fhize knew it, his eyes were getting wet as he whispered out for his parent and began trashing under the boot of his opponents.

"Stay still" another voice said, this followed by a heavy kick to his gut and though once again he was well protected against this hit, Fhize's fear spiked to levels where scenes of him being killed in all manners of ways by the people around him began popping in his head.

"I don't want to die," Fhize said to himself a drop of tear coming down his eyes and along with it a memory that was filled of him smashing a pole into different people's heads repeatedly, not caring that their skulls were already caved in playing in his head.

"Damn it, I unsealed the memory again, these memory sealing exercises are too weak."