Chapter 38: Promotion to Level 2
The barbarian warrior’s weapon was knocked away, and he fell to his knees, drained of strength. Sidlipha struck him hard with her axe, almost breaking all his ribs, and he fell to the ground, unable to get up.
Dropping the broken weapon in his hand, Asker glanced at the ground and casually picked up a two-handed greatsword. The audience went wild. Many of them stood up almost simultaneously, excitedly shouting the nickname “Viking,” their voices almost shaking the heavens.
On the other side of the arena, Theotis, covered in blood, dropped his weapon and knelt on the ground to surrender, his eyes full of frustration and fear of defeat.
The barbarian leader, a Geat warrior nicknamed “Ice Wolf,” sneered and turned around. He was a burly northerner with a thick beard, his face painted with red ochre war paint, his eyes as if burning with flames.
“Viking?” His voice was cold and hoarse, as if it had been rubbed with sandpaper. “Just a bunch of weak Siris lambs, daring to name yourselves after the heroic ancestors of the north?”
These words enraged the crowd, and the stands almost exploded. Many spectators even jumped onto their chairs, shouting at him furiously.
In the box, the Imperial Kingsguard officers’ faces were all livid, only Michael remained expressionless, his eyes a little gloomy.
It should be explained here that the ancient Republic of Solomon had conquered Siris with military force, while Siris had conquered Eastern Solomon with its advanced cultural industry.
Today’s Eastern Solomon Empire had been completely Sirised culturally. The citizens were keen on watching Siris plays and movies, reading Siris novels and poems, and even speaking and writing in Siris instead of Latin.
However, only racial identity was absolutely non-negotiable. The Solomon identity inherited from the ancient Solomon Empire was the greatest pride of the citizens of Constantinople.
Calling them “Siris” was equivalent to calling them “primitives,” an act even more vicious than killing them.
Asker briefly explained this in a low voice, and Sidlipha understood, saying with an “oh”: “That’s too vicious, are you going to duel him?”
“Duel?” Asker asked.
“He insulted your people. In order to regain your honor, you must challenge him to a sacred duel.” Sidlipha said matter-of-factly. “Here, take my axe and throw it at his feet.”
What do you mean my people, I’m Chinese, okay? Asker smiled wryly in his heart, but he couldn’t explain it clearly with this NPC body, so he simply took her axe and threw it at the feet of the “Ice Wolf” opposite him.
“I accept your challenge.” Ice Wolf sneered and picked up the axe on the ground.
He had observed Asker and Sidlipha killing the enemy together before, and he was both surprised and afraid. He knew that he definitely couldn’t defeat these two at the same time, so he deliberately “insulted” Asker to provoke him to challenge him to a duel, thus forcibly creating a one-on-one environment.
“Then let’s make it quick.” Asker said as he raised his two-handed greatsword.
The two men, holding their weapons, charged towards each other at the same time, their figures passing each other almost instantly.
Asker turned around and dropped the two-handed greatsword to the ground. Ice Wolf, maintaining his post-slash posture, suddenly felt a sharp pain spreading from the left side of his neck to his lower right abdomen.
“…So fast… When… His sword…” He muttered, his mouth open, but he couldn’t make any sound. His thoughts suddenly shattered into fragmented pieces, and he fell to the ground, falling into a dying state of serious injury.
Before the announcer could announce the final result of the victory, the order in the stands had completely collapsed.
Many young citizens jumped over the fence, almost crawling and rolling, and lifted Asker up in a victorious posture, howling and starting to parade around the arena.
The rest of the people picked up the weapons of the defeated and the dead, held them high, followed the parade, and sang the victor’s song.
It was not until the carnival dispersed that the Gladiatorial Gold Cup was brought by Cedric.
According to the rules of the arena, it should be held up by all the red team gladiators together.
However, Asker turned around and looked, and of the three remaining people, only Sidlipha was standing beside him. Theotis, who had survived by surrendering, had long since disappeared.
“Let’s just do this.” Sidlipha winked at him, smiling and revealing a mouthful of white teeth. Amidst the cheers and applause of the audience, she and Asker held up the Gladiatorial Gold Cup together.
The subsequent “Daily Champion” undoubtedly went to Asker as well.
Cedric led him to the Hall of Honor inside the arena, where the traces of the “Daily Champions” of past years were displayed.
Asker was first asked to take a photo, then he left his handprints and footprints on a clay tablet, and then he received a medal made of magic copper.
“Last but not least, it’s our reward time.” Cedric cleared his throat and said with a smile. “A prize worth 500 pounds, or it can be converted into cash.”
“What are the available rewards?” Asker asked, prepared.
“The most popular are of course weapons and armor.” Cedric took out a catalog. “Let me see, the most redeemed is a set of ‘Spellbreaker’ armor and shield, made entirely of magic copper.”
“This mysterious mineral can isolate the influence of supernatural power, making you immune to attacks and harassment from any supernatural abilities. If you choose mithril or adamantine, you can only choose weapons, and there are no magic circles on them.”
“Then there are medicines rich in spirituality. We have a large bottle of 500ml of Life Essence Stamina, which can completely heal your injuries or any disease dozens of times.”
“Of course, there are also potions and potion formulas, but they are all from the Gladiator Sequence, you may not like them very much…”
“How much are the potions?” Asker interrupted him.
“We currently only have level I potions, 400 pounds a bottle.” Cedric blinked. “100 pounds for a formula.”
“I’ll choose the potion, Sharp Weapon I.” Asker said, “Convert the rest into cash.”
Cedric didn’t speak, but just clapped his hands, and soon a servant brought a bottle of potion.
This bottle of “Sharp Weapon I” had a metallic silver-white color, with messy and sharp lines, as if it contained countless tiny iron pieces, slowly flowing along the center of the vortex.
“Is there a quiet room?” Asker asked. His “Perfect Physique X” had been completely digested in the gladiatorial fights, so he could immediately take the next potion.
“Yes, we have an Eastern-style meditation room.” Cedric said.
He took Asker to a small compartment at the end of the corridor, opened the door with a key, and then turned and left. Asker entered the compartment, sat down on the only cushion, and opened the potion bottle.
After drinking the potion, his eyes immediately widened. All the hair on his head turned silver-white and stood on end, like a hedgehog or porcupine facing an enemy. The blood vessels on his body also bulged, with slight tremors and ringing, as if thousands of sharp blades were cutting inside.
A scorching evil qi climbed up from his throat and esophagus, bringing a sharp pain like a knife cut.
He knew that this was the conflict between “Perfect Physique X” and “Sharp Weapon I,” so he just forcibly suppressed it.
Suddenly, a bloody cut opened up on his face, as smooth as if it had been cut by a blade, then a second, a third… Countless cuts opened up on the skin all over his body. Combined with the indifferent expression on his face, he looked terrifying, almost like a blood-soaked demon.
Finally, the cuts slowly closed and healed, leaving only faint new flesh marks. He let out a long breath and stood up.
“Sharp Weapon I” had been initially digested, and a large amount of knowledge about using sharp weapons poured into his mind, some of which he knew, but more of which he had never known before.
In the previous life’s game, even in a full-immersion virtual reality game, there was no way to instill memories into the player’s mind, so the effect of taking “Sharp Weapon I” was to provide system correction and data visualization when the player used sharp weapons.
However, at this moment, Asker, like an NPC, truly obtained all the knowledge of using sharp weapons, and his understanding of the combat system of this world deepened.
Entering level 2, he took another step towards “Weapon Master.”
The next potion was “Dodge I.”
Taking the remaining 100 pounds of bounty, Asker left the arena and saw Sidlipha waiting outside. This tall and slender androgynous beauty wasn’t wearing any armor at this time, so she constantly attracted the attention of passers-by.
“Where’s your armor?” Asker asked.
“It was taken back by the arena.” Sidlipha replied dejectedly, not hiding the frustration in her voice.
“It’s okay.” Asker comforted her. “Since you’ve joined my team, of course we will provide you with weapons and equipment.”
“That’s good.” A smile immediately bloomed on Sidlipha’s face again. The happiness of a martial arts fanatic was so simple.
In the red team’s underground training ground of the arena, Theotis was alone, silently looking at the Gladiatorial Gold Cup that was casually thrown on the ground because no one wanted it, his eyes complex and lost.
It turned out that this guy he had always been hostile to had never taken him seriously from the beginning to the end.
…
Taking Sidlipha back to the ancestral home, Asker pushed open the door and saw a girl rummaging through the living room. Hearing the sound of the door opening, she abruptly turned her head.
“Are you… Mia?” Asker said uncertainly, recognizing the girl from the Thieves Guild named Mia Cinquemani who had helped him get the supernatural materials before.
Mia froze, a guilty expression flashing across her face for a moment, then she quickly adjusted herself as if nothing had happened, and said:
“Ahem, our guild recently discovered a batch of luxury goods flowing into the market, so they sent me to inquire about whether any nobles were short of money and wanted to sell their furniture for money. As a result, the investigation led me to your house…”
“Oh, you can tell us if you are short of money, like silver cups, silver candlesticks, paintings, etc., our guild can buy them at a very reasonable price.”
“Thief?” Sidlipha looked at her, then asked Asker.
“No, no, no.” Mia hurriedly defended herself. “How could I steal Master Achilles’ things? I know him! We’ve dealt with each other and done business before.”
“I have indeed been selling things recently.” Asker ignored her defense and just said, “Because the church knights came to my house before and broke a lot of things, so I just took these scraps out to sell. You’re late, Miss Mia, I guess almost everything in the house has been sold.”
“That’s good, that’s good.” Mia echoed subconsciously, not knowing what was good about it, and suddenly asked, “By the way, did you form a mercenary group?”
“Yes, why?”
“Are you short of a thief?” Mia smiled ingratiatingly.
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