[Instance Name: Beast Arena] [Instance Type: Multiplayer Survival] [Prerequisite Hint: Humans are beasts too. Humans were not born to be beasts.]
The system interface refreshed with the Instance's basic information, and the few sparse lines conveyed a grim warning.
The words "Beast Arena" called ancient Rome, with its reverence for force, to mind. The term "multiplayer" indicated a clear antagonistic relationship, survival-type Instances demanded considerable strength and physical fitness, and the prerequisite hint was self-contradictory...
Even after having his strength enhanced by the Cursed Pendulum, Qi Si still knew full well that he was a player more suited to solving puzzles.
Dong Xiwen's combat ability was not weak either, but as a player who had emerged from the puzzle-solving Instance Grand Performance, his abilities were clearly also geared toward unraveling mysteries.
This Instance's prerequisites were highly disadvantageous to both of them.
The darkness surrounding him slowly receded, and a clamor surged in from every direction—not human voices, but the cries of all kinds of animals.
Cows mooed, wolves howled, and there were many more indistinct sounds he could not make out.
Qi Si opened his eyes and saw a tightly shut iron-barred gate.
The air was thick with sweltering dampness and a faint scent of blood. Brown, caked stains clung to the iron bars and walls, and in the corner lay a pile of fibrous, flesh-colored matter that seemed to be rotting skin and meat.
He was in a cramped room with no furnishings apart from straw spread in the corner. He was currently sitting on the pile of straw with his knees drawn up, looking through the gaps in the iron gate toward the elevated platforms in the distance.
They seemed to be the Audience stands, built from solid slabs of marble. The seats were made two