Four times during the night I dreamed about the giant three and the ball of light which was supposed to be The Great One, but it wasn't it was a fake creation of my own brain. I also saw the bones of humans laying around the roots of this massive plant. Remains of my friends and people I knew.
It was terrible and directly connected to how trapped I subconsciously felt about the High Queen and the fact she probably was growing even stronger when I was stuck, pretending to be a gladiator for the entertainment of a bunch of aliens.
The last time I woke up my body was finally responding, so I immediately rushed to the bathroom to take a shower while with the AI to get somebody to change my sheets. The room service was let in by AI as I was still enjoying the warm water, and the back scratcher, which I just couldn't stop using. It just felt amazing on my skin, where I couldn't comfortably reach with my hands.
And here I also should mention the fact that my arm was working really great actually. I didn't find any differences in the performance I was used to, but this still needed some testing. Mainly in combat, and to be frank I was quite afraid of that.
To find out in a brutal way, that I just can not block a punch with my hand like I used to, because it will just fall off, would be devastating, especially if I was betting so much on my success as a gladiator.
I needed kind fans to get access to the informations about the earth. To know exactly what the hell is going on there, so I could start making some plans to escape or something. I didn't have it all figured out because I knew so little, but I knew for sure that I will need help from the outside.
- You have a guest - AI suddenly informed me.
- Who is it?
- The individual introduced himself as Bashan. Should I let them in?
- Yes - I said, and immediately got out of the shower to dry myself up, and at least put the pants on.
I left the bathroom with the towel still covering my head, so all the water from the hair wouldn't drop on the floor.
- Good morning, Peter - said the old blue man standing in the middle of my living room.
He had the translating device on both his ear and lip.
- Morning.
- How are you feeling? I came to do a little check-up.
- I'm fine.
- The hand is working well?
- Yeah, seems like that. Can I offer you something to drink?
He smiled suddenly.
- Sure.
I just pointed at the bar.
- I have no idea what most of those things are, so it will probably be better if you take care of yourself.
- That's fine by me - he said, and then just walked there to pour himself something.
I joined him as he was still rummaging through the stuff, almost completely hidden behind the counter, and sat on one of the chairs drying my hair with the towel. Only the top of his head, covered by the piece of white cloths was sticking out, which was quite a funny view.
Then he got out with a glass of something orange and got on the chair as well.
- I also wanted to talk to you about something else - he said.
- What?
- Well... Your fight was actually quite the success. People are still talking a lot about that. Mainly because Druoag is training you, but also because you did really well. You showed them the spirit and didn't give up despite losing an arm. Not many can still fight as they are bleeding out, plus the Calludins are usually portrayed as very strong, and you've taken one down in your debut fight.
- I fought before...
- Yeah, but that doesn't really count here - he said, smiled, and then took a sip of his drink. - So as I said, people are talking a lot about you, and Yagg got some propositions for you to get yourself known a bit more. He didn't really want to deal with it, as you are quite a controversial figure in his life, but I decided to take it off his shoulders.
- I'm not doing interviews. I'm terrible at talking to people.
He chuckled shortly.
- I've noticed. I'm actually not talking about interviews, but rather promotions. Some brands want to use your image. I've selected a few which are quite a good fit. What do you think? It will definitely boost your popularity if your face becomes more recognizable because people will see more of it.
He hit the nail in the head with those words. For a second I even thought he saw through me, but then the feeling slightly faded away. Even if he somehow knew what I wanted to achieve, there was nothing I could do about that, and on top of that he just basically offered me help in my pursuit.
- Ok, let's do that - I agreed.
- Maybe we will manage to get you from the top twenty most popular fighters to the top ten - he added.
- Wait, there is a popularity list?
- Of course. There are even fan clubs. Yours is still non-existent, but you have been in the top twenty most spoken about fighters this week. If we get your face more out there, I'm sure it will come into existence, and I believe that in half a year we will get you to the constant top ten easily.
I just nodded.
- Can you tell me more about those fan clubs?
He chuckled.
- Of course. What would you like to know?
- Maybe how do you get one for a starter?
- Fans register it. It's usually after some meet and greets event when they can see and talk with you for a moment. Some people have their promotors do that even before, but it's usually seen as a bad thing. Like you are in the sport just for the money and want to use the fan club to get more. If it's genuine, then people join more frequently. The biggest one currently belongs to Na'Tikki, but if you win with him, I'm sure we can surpass his numbers - he smiled again.
This started a long conversation about this topic, which took us a better chunk of the day. Bashan left eventually, as he had to give the answers to companies that wanted to work with me.. Overall, I saw it as a positive outcome.
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