Ryan's lover cheated on him. Thugs cornered and killed him in an alleyway. He died, filled with despair. But he woke up.
He awakened in a game-like fantasy world beneath the castle of an elven Countess. She summoned humans into her world as a free source of slaves. Some she summoned to clean her home and cook her food, but some she summoned to enter an Empire-wide gladiator tournament. If her gladiators won, then the Emperor would reward her with masses of wealth. In return for their service, she'd grant her gladiators freedom.
Ryan vowed to level up as much as possible, become the strongest, impress his master enough so she chooses him as one of her gladiators, survive the tournament, win it, become a free man, and live a second life - better than the last.
The cover was generated with the Stable Diffusion AI.