Reject Humanity, Return to Monke

After I had exited the luxurious and magically spacious tent of the seductive vampire, I made my way towards the center of the camp to get a good look at my surroundings. Looking around, I could easily relate this place to that of a nomad tribe's camp set up for the week.

A bunch of tents with their flaps still closed due to how early it is, some Dungeon Masters here and there walking around doing their jobs, be it either procuring water from the well in the middle of the camp, to foraging some food such as berries and plants.

Since there was no wildlife during this Battle Royale, we had to settle for some Dungeon Masters called Runners to immediately head to the supply drop once one dropped.

Which Arekhus explained to me yesterday night after a hearty meal with the other Dungeon Masters giving me a suspicious glare, but not hostile, since they were just wary of a new face.

Give them a few days, they'll warm up to me… I hope… Because if not, then I'll be seeing myself out and looking for a spot to camp solo. I would hate to get disqualified, or worse, killed while I was asleep.

Treading the rough ground that made this camp a little easier to set up, I finally reached the center of the camp, my figure directly next to the well with the sole Dungeon Master operating within sight.

"Ah, good ta see you'ah awake fair dinkum cobber." Arekhus bellowed loudly, but not too loud to let the other sleeping Dungeon Masters rise from their slumber. "Just doin' my daily chawres, a bloody trip, ayyn't it mate?"

"I can see that." I mused as Arekhus hefted the larger than a fucking human jug and carried it on his back.

"Cahah ta take a stroll with me?" Arekhus suddenly said with an excited glint in his eyes. "Doin' this all on my lonesome is quite a bloody bore."

"Sure, why not." I shrugged as Arekhus chuckled like a gleeful idiot. "Not that there is anything for me to do in this camp during this time."

"Not unless you'ah on guard duty, but you'ah still new here, so you'ah off the bloody hook mate." Arekhus focused his gaze elsewhere, settling on a lone Dungeon Master sitting atop a watch tower.

"Well, I better count my lucky stars then. I'm tired after all that has happened last night." I sighed as I recalled the time I was thrown under the bus by the lamia, who was then killed by Oshurkova. Then, the loli vampire, who was Oshurkova's once blood-related sister, but for whatever the fucking reason, lost those blood ties, got into an argument with Oshurkova, who then proceeded to knock her into unconsciousness, disqualifying her from the event.

"By the way, something's got me thinking." I suddenly piped up after thinking some things through during this event. "The Gods said that once a Dungeon Master is rendered unconscious, then they're disqualified and immediately transferred to a medical wing before being transferred to the Mortal Realm, right?"

"Right ya are on that mate." Arekhus nodded, the huge jug of water not impeding his walk.

"Then, what about those who are killed without being unconscious? Why don't they disappear as well?" I've noted this strange occurrence the moment I killed that kobold Dungeon Master, as well as the Prixais death from decapitation.

"Ah, so that's wat you'ah thinkin' about, eh mate?" Arekhus' eyes opened wide as he slowly dropped the jug in front of him. I looked at the reason why and saw that during our walk, I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I never noticed we were already at the water station, or so they call it. It was basically a place where the Dungeon Masters could get drinkable water after being filtered through a series of filters handmade by some of the Dungeon Masters.

Arekhus looked left and right for a moment, before leaning in close to my ear. "Look, nawrmally, no one heah yabber about this, but it's an open secret that the bloody Gods that run these Dungon Games ahah also dungeon masters themselves, 'n we ahah their trespassers."

I had my eyes open wide at this revelation, Arekhus' whispers slowly filtering into my brain as the words got processed and digested into facts.

"So basically, they're getting DP from all of us participating, and those that died are also converted into their DP." I concluded and Arekhus nodded in agreement with my statement.

"Right ya ahah on that, mate." Arekhus lifted the jug once more and poured all of its contents into the large container that was about to be depleted.

"But then, why would they assimilate the Dungeons of those we have killed to ours if they're also gaining DP from us?"

"Don't know, I ain't a God." Arekhus shrugged and finally placed the jug back on the ground. After that, he looked into my eyes with the most serious face he could muster. "In all seriousness though, you'ah treadin' a fahkin' dangerous path here, mate. I suggest ya stop befawah ya go ahead 'n get yah head chopped off."

And with that, Arekhus left me to my pondering, eager to get away from the dangerous topic I had discussed with the minotaur.

"A dangerous path, huh…" I had to stop myself from imagining the System laughing at the roadblock he had set up to stop me from asking too many questions and following like a blind sheep heading towards a slaughter. '… Shit, do I risk it, or not…?'

I pondered that question for a few moments before ultimately deciding not to risk it and to bury that topic into the ground for now.

'Until I'm at least stronger than an average God, then I won't be tackling this topic ever again.' I cupped my chin and headed back towards my tent to rest. 'Well then, it looks like I'll be re-enacting the Monkey King here after all… Fighting Gods and whatnot…'

I sighed, a bit of a headache beginning to make itself known in my head. Goddamn it, why can't things ever be simple?