CHAPTER 47: WELLDONE PAPABEAR

For a moment, crimson_shower gained the upper hand.

Her blood moved with serpentine intelligence, one tendril breaking away from the main assault to snake low across the ground. Before Jelo could track its movement, the crimson strand wrapped around his ankle like a living rope, tightening with surprising strength.

She yanked hard.

Jelo’s balance shattered instantly. His feet went out from under him, and he felt himself falling backward, his arms windmilling uselessly as gravity took over. The world tilted as he crashed toward the ground.

But crimson_shower didn’t wait for him to land. She was already moving, closing the distance with predatory speed, her remaining blood reshaping into a long, razor-sharp blade that gleamed in the gray light of the courtyard.

She lunged forward, the blood blade aimed directly at Jelo’s throat, a killing blow, or what would be one if this weren’t a simulation.

Jelo’s eyes widened behind his teddy bear head. His body reacted before his conscious mind could process the danger. His skin hardened instantly, scales rippling across his neck and shoulders just as the blood blade made contact.

The blade struck his scaled throat and scraped along the hardened surface without penetrating. Sparks flew from the impact, the blood weapon unable to find purchase against his defensive layer.

Using the momentary reprieve, Jelo twisted his body violently, breaking the blood tendril’s grip on his ankle. He rolled away, came up in a crouch, and immediately counterattacked.

His hand shot upward, energy gathering and forming into the familiar Dragon Claw projection. The translucent construct materialized and drove upward with tremendous force, catching crimson_shower mid-lunge before she could retreat.

The impact lifted her completely off her feet. Her elegant gown billowed around her as she was sent crashing backward through the air, her body tumbling until she hit the ground hard and rolled several times before coming to a stop near the broken fountain.

Crimson_shower pushed herself up quickly, but Jelo could see she was hurt. Her movements were slightly slower, slightly less coordinated than before. The gown had tears in it now, and one of her horns had a crack running along its length.

She responded with what looked like desperation, drawing even more blood from her palms, the cuts deepening, the flow increasing. The crimson liquid gathered around her in greater quantity than before, forming a massive wave that she swung in a wide, sweeping arc.

The blood moved like a tsunami of red, covering a huge area, making it nearly impossible to dodge conventionally. If it connected, it would engulf Jelo completely.

But Jelo had already learned not to rely on conventional movement.

He activated Wingburst at the last possible second, his body disappearing in a blur of motion as he shot forward and to the side. The blood wave passed through empty space where he’d been standing, missing him entirely.

Jelo reappeared at crimson_shower’s flank, his positioning perfect, her defenses wide open from the overextended attack.

He didn’t hesitate.

His hand came up one final time, energy gathering quickly, the Dragon Claw forming with practiced ease.

The claw shot forward like a spear, aimed at her center mass.

The impact was devastating and perfectly placed. Crimson_shower’s eyes went wide with shock as the attack struck home, driving the breath from her lungs and lifting her off her feet once again.

She crashed to the ground hard, her body bouncing once before going still. The blood that had been floating around her lost its form immediately, falling like rain and soaking into the dirt of the courtyard. Her hands went limp at her sides, and her eyes closed as the game registered her defeat.

Text appeared floating above the battlefield:

**[WINNER: PAPABEAR]**

**[Victory: Knockout]**

**[Time: 12:23]**

**[Reward: +20 ESS]**

Jelo stood there for a moment, breathing hard, his teddy bear head somehow managing to look both triumphant and exhausted. His first real fight in the Arena Nexus, and he’d won.

The notification about the ESS reward caught his attention. Twenty ESS. That was exactly half of what he typically got from defeating opponents in the real world, forty ESS for Xino, forty for Garin, forty for the Dabba.

He thought about that for a moment, trying to understand the logic. It made sense when he really considered it. In the real world, fights carried genuine risk, physical damage, broken bones, torn muscles, bleeding, potentially even death if things went catastrophically wrong. The stakes were high, so the rewards were proportionally higher.

Here in the Arena Nexus, there was no real danger. His actual body was safe in a chair back in the academy. If he lost, he’d just respawn and try again. The worst consequence was wounded pride and a loss on his record. Low stakes meant lower rewards.

It was a fair system, Jelo supposed. Still useful for training and gaining some ESS, but not so generous that it would make real-world combat obsolete.

What Jelo didn’t realize, what he couldn’t know without understanding the deeper design philosophy behind the Arena Nexus, was that there was another reason for the reduced rewards.

The system was intentionally balanced to prevent players from wanting to grind exclusively in the virtual world. If the Arena Nexus gave equal rewards to real combat, players would have massive incentive to just stay logged in all day, fighting endless virtual battles in perfect safety while their real-world combat skills and courage atrophied.

The reduced ESS rewards were a subtle push toward real-world engagement, toward taking actual risks and facing genuine consequences. The Arena Nexus was meant to be a training tool, not a replacement for reality.

But Jelo didn’t need to know all that. For now, he was just pleased with his victory and the twenty ESS he’d earned.

The courtyard environment began to dissolve, returning him to the lobby space. Crimson_shower’s avatar disappeared as well, presumably returning to her own lobby area to recover from the defeat.

As the transition completed, Jelo heard clapping.

Mira was approaching, still in her Purple Bandit outfit, her hands coming together in genuine applause. "That was impressive!" she said, her voice carrying authentic enthusiasm. "Especially for your first fight. You adapted quickly, used your abilities strategically, and you didn’t panic when she got you off balance. Well done, Papabear."