Ronan had checked his status before cultivating to see what his progress was like, and realised with some small amount of surprise that it was further ahead than it had been when he finished his previous cultivation session. Oh! The shard reprocessor trait. That's nifty. It wasn't a huge gain, but it was nice that it had happened without him raising a finger.

His first priority was to be soul cultivation, so he began by taking out the highest level gladiator shard and held it between two fingers. They were a little larger than an elite shard, and had an iridescent shine, the colour shifting between gold and red depending on how he held it up in the light. They were beautiful, but more than their aesthetics, he could feel the power brimming within those sparkling facets.

Sitting down on the carpeted floor in front of the fireplace, the warmth of the flickering flames keeping him at a pleasant temperature, Ronan closed his eyes and began to draw the energy into his soul. It was time to reach the second threshold.

Congratulations! Your hard work and effort have allowed you to reach the ninth realm of Prismatic Soul Cultivation!

Prismatic Soul Cultivation has advanced from [Orange ★★★] to [Orange ★★★★]!

Soul weight is increased by 13.6%

Cultivation talent is increased by 91%

Around two and a half days later, Ronan used up his fifth gladiator shard and had only advanced two realms in soul cultivation. He had pushed about halfway towards the tenth before the shard ran out. The difficulty incline was steep, moreso with prismatic soul cultivation than the other three paths, it seemed.

Then again, the benefits more than made up for the slow progress. By the time his two weeks of rest were done, he was sure he could get a few more realms. However, he had to consider if he was willing to use all of his shards on soul cultivation alone.

Ronan wasn't going to get back into it right away. Based on what the announcer had told him two days ago, it would soon be time for him to head back out to the staging platform and say a few words in front of all those aliens who enjoyed speculating on the suffering of the gladiators.

"I want to have some blueberry cheesecake, please." Cheesecake was one of his favourite desserts of all time, and he'd been indulging quite a bit during his cultivation session after discovering that the waiting room could produce pretty much anything he wanted, provided it wasn't a beneficial item or weapon of some kind.

A plate appeared on the table beside his chair, the cheesecake seeming almost too perfect to be real. A buttery, crumbly biscuit made up the foundation of every bite, followed by the delightful creaminess of the cheesecake itself, tinged with a hint of vanilla. Every mouthful was finished by the sweet tang of blueberry compote, made with just enough sugar to leave him craving another slice. That hit the spot. Now, time to think about my speech.

His first introduction to the spectators had been brief and rude. Apparently a large portion of them enjoyed that side of his personality, so perhaps he needed to ham it up even more. Then again, while he wasn't that fond of this whole 'making entertainment out of people's suffering' schtick and would happily make that known, he wasn't a complete arsehole.

I've got it! After about half an hour of thought, he felt that he knew exactly what he was going to say. Ronan left some room for improvisation, but most of it was prepared and stored in his head. As if reading his mind, the announcer chose that exact moment to appear once more.

"Ah, I see you've discovered how the room works. What was that, some kind of food from your world?" The bovine peered down at the empty plate in Ronan's hands as he gathered the remaining crumbs of the biscuit base on one finger to lick them off.

"It's called cheesecake. It's incredible, you have to try it. System, give me another one for this dude," Ronan said. When the plate appeared in his hands, he passed it to the announcer, who stared at him blankly.

"How should I eat it?"

Ronan wanted to facepalm. "Umm, however you usually eat I guess? Just all at once if you want, but savour the flavours."

The announcer huffed and bent its head down to the plate, before tossing the entire thing into its mouth as it hinged open, plate and all.

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"Wait, not the—" Ronan tried to stop it, but it was too late. The crunch of the ceramic plate breaking in the bovine's mouth made him wince, but the creature seemed entirely unbothered.

"The crunchy texture combined with the soft is quite pleasing. Your people must have been quite inventive with their food sources. Mine simply ate whatever plants grew on our homeworld. What is this 'cheesecake' made of? I don't think I've heard of other human planets making it."

Seeing as the announcer didn't care in the slightest that it had just eaten a plate, Ronan didn't say anything more about it. Surely the other humans invented cutlery and crockery? Whatever, maybe it enjoys ceramics… He cleared his throat and thought about how to answer.

"Well, it's mostly cheese and biscuits, and the topping is made from a type of fruit called a blueberry. You can use anything really though. The classic one is just the biscuit base and the cheese filling, but there are so many variations, even a burnt one."

"What about the crunchy part it came with?"

"You aren't supposed to eat the plate. That's how we serve food… Don't other humans use them?" Ronan hoped to learn more about the culture of humanity throughout the multiverse, and wondered just how different they might be to humans from Earth.

"Oh, right, that's true. Strange creatures. Oh well, it made the experience better, so I'm not complaining. Cheese is made from milk, correct? Which animal do you humans use for it on your world? There are so many varieties across the multiverse, many of which are not even human in origin." The announcer leaned closer, its voice brimming with curiosity.

Ronan froze. He wasn't sure he could answer, given the species of the announcer. Then again, it couldn't harm him as he was protected by the system in this place. He hoped so, at least. "Umm, mostly we use cows' milk. Especially for cheesecakes, it's a kind of cheese called mascarpone."

The announcer paused, then stood up to its full height. "Cows? Those are bovines, correct? They exist on a few other human planets. Foolish, stupid creatures. A Chorixian once tried to compare my mate to a cow. His comrades had to pick up the pieces of his body for an entire week to get them all."

Ronan shuddered. He was glad that the announcer hadn't taken offense that they used cows for milk, but he now had a new fear. He'd been subtly comparing the creature to a bull in his mind all this time and he was extremely glad he'd never said anything of the sort out loud. He vowed to try and curb those thoughts to minimise the potential risk of doing so.

"Impressive. How long do I have until we need to go out there, by the way? I assume it's happening soon given your arrival." Ronan shifted the topic, wanting to distract the minotau—no, bovine—from the previous discussion.

It shook its head and huffed. "Ah, yes. I got distracted, apologies. You have about a minute left now. I wasted a bit of the prep time on that cheesecake of yours. Worth it. In any case, this won't be too difficult. I'll play the highlights of your conquest of the Grathen planet, and hype you up, then the system will bring you out so you can say something to the crowds. It will only take a minute for you."

"Will I get transported back here once my time is up?" Ronan was curious if he would have to manually request it this time or if the system would do a repeat of what had happened the first time.

The announcer huffed again. "Worried about how the crowds will react if you insult them again? Nothing can happen. You're protected by the system and some other defences when you're on the staging platform. Besides, most of those you see in the crowds aren't really there, physically."

"What do you mean, they aren't there?" Ronan was confused about that one. How could they be watching him if they weren't actually seated in those floating stands?

"You see how I appear to you here and the way I can blink in and out?" Ronan nodded, seeing where this was going. "It's because I'm using a holo clone. It's the same for most of them out there. They're either too busy or too important to come here in person, so they just have a clone monitoring things. Not all of them are holo clones, either. There are plenty of techniques that various species and organisations use.

"It's really only youngsters coming for the first time or serious enthusiasts who come in person to the staging platform. It's a really long journey depending on where your home is."

Ronan felt as though his mind had been expanded upon learning that. Clone techniques sounded awesome. He couldn't wait to learn or obtain his first one. There's probably a bunch of skills for that, right? I have to get one at some point…

"Anyway, all this talking has used up your time. We've got five seconds until you head out there." The announcer tapped a horn as the flying device appeared once more and hovered in front of Ronan.

Ronan frowned. "I thought you said you were going out there first to show the highlights?"

It snorted. "What did I just tell you? Clones, my little Gladiator. I've been doing the highlights while talking with you. Now, get ready, it's your time to shine."

Ronan barely had time to make himself look presentable before the comfortable waiting room disappeared and was replaced by the vast expanse of space, filled with hundreds and thousands of floating stands, filled with aliens whose gazes were glued to a large screen behind him that was playing the final moments of his battle against Governor Garuku 1.

"And here we have the human of the hour, Gladiator Ronan Steele!" The announcer's voice boomed over the sounds of the ship exploding as he appeared, causing a deafening cheer to erupt all around him, the sound travelling through the void of space in a physics-defying wave that nearly brought Ronan to his knees.

It was at that point that he looked down and realised he was still wearing the golden captain's uniform he'd looted on Border World 13. It was burned and covered in tears, making him look like a mess. Well fuck.

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