Venatrix was currently sitting on a large white sofa,her office was quite standard and plain looking,There was a desk,a chair,and the white sofa.The only eye-catching thing whitin it was a painting depicting a Fairly tall woman with tanned skin,a quite muscular physique and sharp looking facial features,the woman seemed somewhat similar to Venatrix herself,her hair was brown and tied into a ponytail,she had no fringes however.

  Her sharp eyes were glowing gold and her dark eyebrows low set and downturned.

  She held a long Spear and was facing a towering being with four hands and a spider like mouth.

  The being was colored black and had spike like bones protruding from its spine,its eyes were glowing red and it's long white hair had some red Bloody spots on it.

  It's Body was mangled in several different places,one of its left arms and one of its right arms were dangling and seemed close to falling off.

  The being wasn't in great shape, however, neither was the woman who had large wounds that were constantly releasing blood,yet she still exuded an aura of Heroism.

  The image on the painting depicted the battle between Princess Ethel and the Akuma,The Terrifier,one of the 9 terrors from another world.

  The Battle Happened During the Apocalyptic war,It is the battle that cemented Ethel as one of the greatest Heroes of all Time,It was only thanks to her Dealing with the Terrifier that the Golden Hero Aureus Could focus his attention on Destroying the Thieving Son of Heaven, Spawn and bring an end to the Apocalypse war.

  Venatrix had a lot of respect and admiration for Princess Ethel.

  Venatrix's mind was focused on the events that happened earlier in the arena,most of the Slaves performed as it was expected.

  However,one In particular had performed quite differently from what she expected,

  ' around 4 seconds...'

  That was the time it took VanKcrow to land a blow on her,She had already expected him to be quite capable,but his performance ended up exceeding all her expectations...

  ...

  About a month had already passed, during this time, VanKcrow and the other slaves kept training with Venatrix, Although in VanKcrow's case,it was closer to sparring.

  After all,she didn't have anything to teach him.

  VanKcrow had also picked up the interest of a certain woman quite a bit, enough that she would occasionally call him to discuss certain things about his life outside of the 8 Pathways, she even offered to give him better food.

  VanKcrow denied however.

  Currently,all the slaves and Venatrix were standing in the colosseum they were in when just arriving at the true 8 Pathways.

  Before them were two altars,one white with many red flowers and a transparent veil covering it and another black with many red flowers and no veil.

  Today was when they would either become a work slave or a war slave.

  Considerably more work slaves would be made than war slaves.

  Of the 142 slaves,100 would become work slaves and 42 would become war slaves.

  The rules of the altars were that initially,no one could be forced to become either type of slave,they had to choose out of their own free will until the quota for either was filled, then they would be forced to become whichever type of slave was still available.

  The choices would be given based on their performances on the trainings,This was another rule venatrix wasn't fond of, because of this rule,the best fighters among the slaves would usually end up as work slaves and the worst as war slaves.

  This is one of the reasons of why when Venatrix is analyzing the slaves for potential capable warriors,she would analyze their personality as well as their fighting skills,to determine if they would be willing to become a war slave.

  After a while spent in silence, Venatrix spoke,"number 1,go ahead."

  Number one referred to VanKcrow,As VanKcrow was walking towards the altars,Some of the other slaves started giving their opinions on what type of slave VanKcrow would become.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  A girl with blonde hair and a fairly attractive face looked at VanKcrow with a slightly envious gaze,she Then turned to another girl with black hair and said,

  "How Lucky...That guy gets to choose first which means he won't have to become a war slave and take part in those harrowing expeditions...And it seems he has gotten the attention of miss Avine, which means he won't even have to do housework, ...How I wish I was choosen by the Rose Prince,that way I would only have to serve him at night."

  Sometimes,some noble ones would Visit the Arena to watch the slaves training,On the fourth day of VanKcrow's training with Venatrix.

  A Purple haired woman who is one of the noble ones had visited the arena and seemed to become interested in VanKcrow.

  She is someone who only takes in a particular type of slave, Gigolos...

  She had a Harem of men she had found desirable and chose as her slave,she even had some women as well.

  These slaves were given much better treatment than most,And coupled with the fact that the woman,Avine,was a very beautiful woman,a lot of male slaves desired to be chosen by her,but she had very strict requirements and usually only chose tall and robust looking handsome men or pretty looking Men.

  VanKcrow probably caught her attention due to being a mixture of the two,maybe closer to the latter,...

  Although he had a somewhat creepy appearance,that came mostly from his gaze and exaggeratedly sharp facial features that gave him a predatory sort of look instead of features usually deemed to be ugly.

  And when mixed with some of his other features which were innocent looking,he still had an attractive appearance, just maybe not conventionally attractive.

  And his hair which was now white for some reason gave him a unique look.

  The Rose Prince was similar to Avine except he only took in women.

  "Yea,but the two of us probably didn't place very high so we can only hope it's enough to not be in the bottom 42..."

  Responded the black haired girl in a somewhat dejected tone.

  Yet as the two girls were talking to each other,they noticed something odd.

  VanKcrow who had just reached near the two Altars,went towards the Black Altar instead of the white one.

  This signified that he wanted to become a war slave...

  Seeing this,many of the slaves were shocked,not even trying to quiet down their voices,they loudly shared their thoughts.

  "It can't be,that guy is trying to become a war slave,did he hit his head somewhere?"

  "Don't tell me,just because he was able to perform well in the trainings,he now thinks he is some sort of big shot?,the expeditions are extremely dangerous,not only because of the chance of death,but because of how horrific those deaths can be.

  No sane person would willingly become a war slave..."

  These comments were made by a handsome youth with black hair and an average looking youth with brown hair.

  "Well,let him be,if he wants to suffer that badly instead of just living a leisure life as Miss Avine's slave,who are we to question him?"

  This was said in a sarcastic tone by a youth with shoulder length blonde hair.

  "To think that he wasted such a rare opportunity like that,and I don't even know if I'll be able to become even a common work slave..."

  This was said by a black haired skinny youth.

  VanKcrow who had his right hand placed in the black Altar had listened to all of their comments,but he paid them no mind.

  VanKcrow would always give importance to the opinions of others from a logical perspective,but he would not care about them from a emotional perspective.

  ' Ideas are one of the greatest resources in existence,and Humans are a source of ideas.

  Only giving importance to one's own ideas in certainty that they are correct could lead to great consequences,this would be limiting their source of resources which potentially would result in a way too close minded approach to things,

  Yet if one let themselves be carried away by the opinions of others without any logical reason,that could also lead to consequences.

  Just because an opinion was shared by the majority, didn't mean that it was correct,the majority aren't idiots or geniuses,And there are multiple situations in which one could find themselves disagreeing with the crowd,one possibility would be of an idiot and another of an genious,one who is wrong and the majority right, another who is right and the majority wrong.

  In these different situations,those individuals might find themselves being equally shunned by the crowd.

  After all,if everyone else is wrong but believe they are right,they Could simply believe that the one who is right,is wrong,the same applies to the opposite scenario.

  If one does not have proof that they are in the wrong,why should they change their opinions just to fit in?.

  Blindly following the opinions of the ordinary, could very well end up in one becoming just like them, ordinary.

  And I have no interest in becoming ordinary.'

  ' Empathy is what allows people to put themselves in the positions of others,and although this makes it so that they can connect and socialize better,it also can lead to one not understanding a different perspective,they would project their own situations in that of others, believing that what brings them joy would also bring joy to others,what brings them sorrow would also bring sorrow to others,They would judge some as winners based on what they specifically value,and others as losers based on what they do not,some as wise,some as stupid.

  The decision I made to become a slave,a war Slave even, might seem stupid to some,or most even,but at the end of the day,this is the choice I made based on my own desires,it being different than that of most does not signify it is stupid,and the same applies to those who chose a path different from my own.

  There is no such thing as a wrong path, except for the path that isn't yours,One of the greatest mistakes one could make in their life,is tread the path of others.'

  In this situation,in which the others gave no logical reason to convince him to change his mind,he would simply ignore their opinions,only if a logical reason was given would he change his mind.

  VanKcrow had no interest in living a life of peace and quiet,he had no interest in living a life of pleasure,he had no interest in creating a family or legacy,he had no interest in love or personal connections,some might look at his ideas and think'how miserable must his life be','humans should not live like this',yet that simply would be lacking the capacity to understand just how unique the human mind can be,how different the things that bring one fulfillment can be,To VanKcrow,what mattered the most was freedom,true and absolute freedom, freedom from life, freedom from death, freedom from power, freedom from weakness.

  Others might look at an individual who only wishes to have a normal life,find a partner, friends, children,and mock them, thinking that they aren't ambitious enough.

  That would likewise,be a lack of understanding a different perspective.

  Choosing to become the Slave of Avine might seem like the best decision for some, being able to live in peace without having to constantly fear a brutal death,or even being able to indulge in pleasure.

  But For VanKcrow, choosing to become the Slave of Avine did not seem like a choice that would ultimately grant him freedom, therefore he would not choose it.

  Back on Earth, VanKcrow had the same goal he had now,that was why he made maximum effort to aness money and resources,yet the possibility of achieving ultimate freedom seemed less clear than it is in this world,now that he has arrived in Era,his mission is to become an Honored One,and even beyond if that is possible.

  After a while spent before the Black Altar,a sort of mark appeared in the right side of VanKcrow's neck.

  It was red in color and had the design of a scythe,it was the Mark of a War Slave.