After a few more introductions, Alan and the rest of the recruits were sent out in groups to tour the guild grounds, at least the parts they were allowed into. Alan had Aurora and Sidestep in his group, but stayed at the back, away from them

The tour turned out to be rather simple. First, they were taken to a capsule center aboveground holding hundreds of capsules, where they were told to set their spawn point. Then their guide, an android with limited intelligence, like a city guard NPC that you might find in an ordinary MMORPG, led them directly to an elevator within the keep. It showed them two floors, the training floor, which was a cool sort of futuristic gym, and their temporary rooms in an underground barracks. Those were the only floors they were allowed on.

Then they were led to the Simulation Dome. The building was, as its name suggested, a massive dome. The dome was made up of a huge array of tessellated, silver metal triangles. Surrounding it were huge power generators, filling the air with a low humming sound. Alan stepped into the dome, which was about the size of a football stadium, wondering what he’d find. A message appeared:

Alan glanced around, it looked as if he had stepped into a different world. The dome was split in half by a giant wall. On one side, there was a bright white artificial light, filled with a multitude of steel dueling rings about the size of a small field and stern looking arms masters in brown robes, Mason among them. On the other side there was a dark orange landscape, along with a squadron of Black Rose soldiers fighting what looked to be waves of Haxlardian soldiers.

Sidestep looked back at Alan.

“You think this is cool, newbie? I bet you’ve never been inside a spaceship simulator either, where you’re able to drop into any major space battle at will. I’d like to see your first test run. You’ll probably fire on your allies or break out of formation before the fight even starts. I bet your planet didn’t even have spaceships. What planet did you come from again? Dirt?”

Alan tore his gaze away from the simulated exercise and glared at Sidestep. He knew that he didn’t even know all the rules of dueling, and the accused would probably be better off, but he angrily blurted out, “I challenge Sidestep to a duel.”

Sidestep grinned, and Alan instantly knew this was what Sidestep had wanted.

Shit, Eve, why didn’t you stop me?

I believe this is actually to our advantage. Sidestep likely highly underestimates you. Standard coliseum rules go as follows: The person who is challenged will choose either the number of points wagered or the rules of the duel from pre-set rule sets. The challenger will decide upon whatever was left undetermined.