The First Legendary Beast Master

Chapter 2026 A Better Arena

Rae called for Opal, who had already arranged the entire show to run on its own so that she could tactfully overhear the conversation of the guests during the first dinner show.

For constructive feedback, of course.

"Show the dragons the arena in Zilaz," Rae explained.

The blueprints and layout of the arena appeared, and Oak clapped happily as she examined the spells to find that there were healing rooms, rest areas, even a designated spot for a cookie vendor was marked on the floor plan.

That one was one of their earliest vendors, and her booth had been marked on the original plans, instead of simply being assigned later.

"See, I knew that they would have the good ideas. This is wonderful, and with both [Illusionary Domain] and [Reality Warp] involved, there shouldn't be any issues making it as large as we need it to be once the guests are inside." Oak cheered.

Cara smiled. "That will let us finish it without getting the Karl involved, but if we're going to do the special food vendors, we will need him.

Those are made with [Pet Space] so that the shop generates the ingredients that it needs, instead of having to bring them in. However, I have a few more ideas for this one.

That one allowed a challenge mode, to generate enemies you could duel if there was no challenger.

But we have our own dungeon two blocks away this time, so I don't think that we need to build that in. Instead, I think that we should add a function for larger group battles, where we can expand the arena space into a few dozen different settings, and then let teams battle it out.

That way, we can use it as a challenge area between Guilds, and a training area, if we add our own constructs to the space."

Oak thought about the options, while Rae shook her head.

"No, we should have the challenge built in so that they can do large-scale challenge battles against constructs as well. No need to make someone supervise the arena just to get all the training functions.

Eventually, the fights will get slow, and people will want to do other things in the space.

Once that starts we can have proper battles in the space that aren't as long as the dungeon battles, and which can be watched by other students so that we can point out where mistakes were made, and where a group was lacking an ability that might help them.

Teaching all the students how to properly build a group for any situation is important.

But this will also help them see where they can use an alternate skill in place of one that their group lacks. Seeing it firsthand, or secondhand, as the case may be, will do much more for them than a load of random dungeon runs."

Oak nodded her head. "Rae makes a lot of sense. Plus, it doesn't have to be a fight, does it? We can expand and alter the space to host garden parties."

Rae frowned, garden parties in the arena? There was no logical argument why it would not work, especially if they were going to arrange the space with the user's choice of surroundings.

But it was morally questionable.

All three of the others could see Rae's reluctance to allow something as cheerful and mundane as a party in the arena, but it really was a good use of the space. You wouldn't have fights every day, and even a tournament needed an opening and closing ceremony.

So, they could arrange the arena to hold the ceremony within the arena itself, with thousands of spectators in the bleachers, while the participants enjoyed much finer fare on the main floor.

Everything in the Darklight Host's compounds tended to turn into a large-scale spectacle, Father Oak knew.

He had been alive for tens of thousands of years, on half a dozen different planets. And in all that time with the Darklight Host, he had never seen a small-scale anything. Even if it was just a gathering between friends, it usually became a hundred people or more.

Extending his senses, he could tell that one of the Lycans was celebrating a birthday. Not a special one, he was in his twenties and unmarried. But there were still over fifty pack members there, along with a few dozen random guests to the city who had been pulled in by the noise and came to drink with them in the woods, as was the Lycan tradition.

Assured that the ways of the Darklight Host had spread, even if nobody intended to do it, the Legendary Dragon began to work on the arena layout, based on what was in the blueprints.

However, there were things that he could add.

He had [Nature's Domain], which not only grew plants, but would create a separate space full of life magic that was excellent for training. Those inside would heal more quickly, recover stamina more efficiently, and if you combined it with [Gargoyles] or [Golem] type summoning skills, the constructs would become more real, with the Fundamental Rule of Life imbued into them.

Karl's Tiny World had hints of that, but the old dragon understood the rule on a much more profound level than any Immortal would.

He wouldn't interfere with the Tiny World, that was Karl's to build as he saw fit.

But he would improve this space so that his daughter would be more inclined to stay here and grow her powers, along with all the other nature element creatures in the Branch. There was a Forest Dragon for certain, he had met her at a shop. And there were more than a few druids as well.

So, having the training arena imbued with the Fundamental Rule of Life would encourage them all to train a little more.

But it would also improve the taste of the cookies.

Cara laughed silently as she sensed the effects of the changes that the old dragon was making, then began to add a few more of her own, just to keep the arena unique and interesting. She had learned so many things in that last trial, and patience was only one of them.

It was time to put them into action.