Chapter 114-2: Ancient God Arena (2) |
He subconsciously asked another question.
“Guide, how many fighters would die if one reached 10 wins?”
[1,023]
“Then how many fighters would need to die for 30 wins?”
[1,073,741,823]
“Hiss, that is way too many!”
From Guide’s answers, Gu Chen already realized how terrifying the Ancient God race that was capturing death fighters everywhere truly was.
The birth of each 15 win fighter was paved with the blood of more than thirty thousand fighters.
The intensity of slaughter in the arena would rise exponentially. One could imagine how high the difficulty of advancing each tier would be in the later stages.
With that, the Blood Thrall turned and walked toward the Heavenly Ladder.
Seeing this, Gu Chen decisively followed.
—
At this moment, from behind the scenes, Qi Sheng was also observing the situation of the arena.
Seeing Gu Chen follow the Barbarian Thrall toward the first arena platform, he turned to Guide hovering beside him.
“Do you know the Ancient God race?”
[No. I can be certain they are a force that descends in the later stage. Their capture of fighters everywhere should be related to the world rules this race has mastered.]
Hearing this, Qi Sheng’s gaze swept over the arena.
“You mean this race, like the Mechanical Overlord, has mastered a kind of world rule?”
[Correct. The entire Death Arena should be shrouded in a layer of rule-trait energy. Allow me to analyze it.]
After a brief silence, the information parsed by Guide flooded into Qi Sheng’s mind.
[World Rule: Battle Soul]
Rule trait: A rule trait from the Blood Soul World. Within the shrouded range, any duel can give rise to the power of Battle Soul. Every wisp of Battle Soul power carries potent destructive energy. The more resolute the wills of the duelists, and the stronger their life force, the more Battle Soul power is generated.
This analysis made Qi Sheng understand what exactly the Ancient God race mentioned by the Barbarian Thrall was doing.
The Barbarian Thrall said that the battles between arena fighters were to please the Ancient Gods, but in reality, the Ancient God race was obtaining rule energy through the life-and-death duels between fighters.
Forging the three great arenas was also to have countless fighters clash in duels for their profit.
As for why they did not pen up a batch of fighters for repeated use, the analysis had already explained clearly. The more resolute the wills of the duelists, the more Battle Soul power is produced.
What the Ancient God race wanted was for arena fighters to go into battle with death in their hearts.
Qi Sheng’s view then switched to the player perspective.
—
Following the Barbarian Thrall, they arrived at the ground first level arena.
The first level arena was shaped like a giant coiled serpent. Its head was raised high, its tail vanished, and at the core was a huge circular platform. The surface of the platform was covered with strange runes, and the floor was built of crystalline spirit stones that emitted a soft glow.
According to the Barbarian Thrall’s instructions, Gu Chen stepped into a separate room embedded in the wall and began to wait.
During this time, he could see the scene on the platform through the room’s window.
Two alien warriors were currently battling on it, clearly 0 win death fighters just captured like him.
Glancing at the livestream window at the upper right of his view, it had already exploded.
Everyone was discussing the origin of the Ancient God race behind this arena, which was actually capturing people everywhere to participate in duels.
Some players even said, to please the Ancient Gods my foot, better to self-terminate on the spot and return to the little black room.
But more players said they wanted to see how the plot would unfold next.
Gu Chen closed the livestream display, also very curious about how the next part of the story would unfold.
He was especially curious about the victory rewards the Barbarian Thrall had mentioned.
While he waited, the room suddenly trembled and spatial spirit patterns surfaced on the floor.
After a strong sensation of weightlessness, he found himself already standing on the platform.
“Layered spaces?”
The two death fighters he had just seen in his view were still battling, yet he had been teleported to an empty platform. This made him realize the platform seemed to be like the test tower, possessing multiple spaces.
Just then, white light flickered ahead and the opponent’s figure appeared.
The debuting death fighter had a humanoid body, clad in light armor woven from animal hide and metal plates. A helmet seemingly made from ram’s horns sat upon his head, revealing only tightly pressed lips and slightly panicked eyes.
Gu Chen could even clearly hear his gradually heavier breathing.
He activated his analysis ability, and information about the opponent flooded his mind.
[Iron Helm]
Hunt Level: 26
Target information: Beastskin race young warrior from the Azure Star Sea’s Insect Nest Island.
—
Seeing the opponent’s Hunt Level, Gu Chen let out a breath of relief.
Both his Force Savage axe and Shatter saber were at level 25. Taking this fight should obviously not be difficult.
[Begin your battle. Ends when one side dies.]
At that moment, the Barbarian Thrall’s voice resounded above, and the black wristbands on their right wrists vanished automatically.
Before Gu Chen could make a move, the horn-helmed warrior rushed him first, his clenched right fist smashing hard toward Gu Chen’s head.
Facing the assault, Gu Chen decisively summoned the Force Savage axe to meet it.
But the opponent’s reaction was astonishingly quick. Iron Helm dropped into a swift crouch to evade the chop aimed at his neck, then drove his readied right fist into Gu Chen’s abdomen. As Gu Chen reflexively bent over, a vicious knee strike followed immediately.
Thud.
That knee strike sent Gu Chen’s nose spraying blood and stars bursting before his eyes.
Before he could react, Iron Helm closed in again, seizing Gu Chen’s right hand to try to disarm him.
Gu Chen did not resist, allowing him to snatch away the Force Savage axe.
Just as Iron Helm was about to bring the Force Savage axe down on his head, a feral grin spread across Gu Chen’s face.
“You hit way too hard. Tell me you are sorry.”
As the words fell, the Force Savage axe in Iron Helm’s hand vanished. A pale-gold Force Savage axe recondensed in Gu Chen’s hand and hacked viciously at Iron Helm’s neck.
Blood sprayed.
Iron Helm staggered back several steps, his eyes beneath the helmet filled with terror.
Seeing Gu Chen take the advantage, cheers erupted in the livestream, especially from the friends-and-family group, who spammed a barrage of comments to celebrate.
This time it was Gu Chen’s turn to take the initiative, wanting to finish it with one axe.
But the neck-wounded Iron Helm was far more troublesome than he had imagined, stubbornly dragging his sliver of HP to keep throwing punches and overwhelming Gu Chen in technique.
Five minutes later, as Gu Chen, with one arm broken, was about to dodge Iron Helm’s heavy punch, he found that the fist never fell.
Turning his head, he saw Iron Helm’s body slowly tipping backward before crashing to the ground.
“Crap, finally won.”
[Embarrassing, two level 25 Inherited souls and you could not beat a Hunt Level 26 opponent.]
“It is different. The Swarm and the Black Tide have no intelligence. This guy is obviously a trained fighter. His technique is too strong.”
[Just an ordinary warrior, and you call that strong technique. It is your technique that is weak.]
Just as Gu Chen was about to talk back, the Barbarian Thrall’s voice sounded from above.
“Battle over. One win.”
As the words fell, an array surfaced beneath Gu Chen’s feet. When he opened his eyes, he found himself back in the room.
Compared to before, the room was clearly larger and now had a wooden bed. Looking up through the window, what he saw was not the first level arena, but a completely different arena whose exterior resembled a giant sword, with the platform in front of the sword.
This made him realize he had been teleported to the second level arena space.
“Blessing of the Ancient Gods. One win reward: one Low Martial Soul Bead. Remaining rest time 69 hours 39 minutes (time translated into hours).”
The Barbarian Thrall’s voice sounded again, and after the array on the floor flashed, a crimson spirit bead rose up.
Curious, Gu Chen immediately activated analysis to check it.
[Low Martial Soul Bead]:
Item introduction: A special item forged from the souls of living beings. After consumption it can stimulate bodily potential, enhance physical aptitude, and rapidly repair bodily injuries. Can be sacrificed to the Emperor’s Sign in exchange for a reward of 2,134 sacrificial power.
—
Seeing the bead’s value, Gu Chen’s eyes widened.
In the Barbarian Thrall’s introduction, the arena’s rewards would increase with the number of wins, yet he had not expected the first victory to grant 2,000 points of sacrificial power.
“Guide, how much body tempering experience does this thing give if I eat it?”
[Approximately 1,342 points. Its additional effect is rapid injury repair.]
“Only a fool would eat it. Better to give it to Brother Emperor’s Sign.”
Gu Chen immediately picked up the hovering Low Martial Soul Bead with his left hand and stowed it in his inventory.
He then took out a bottle of healing potion and drank deeply.
Just as Gu Chen was happily thinking about the extra profits, the onlooking players in the livestream who saw this scene could not stay calm.
“Crap, you can get benefits from dueling in this place? I want in. Someone give me a way to get there.”
“If you get three wins, is that not a fortune? The reward might directly raise a body tempering level, maybe more. I want in too.”
“I am very curious how good the 15 win reward is. I dare not imagine. Someone give me a coordinate. Do not let them capture me. I will deliver myself.”
“I’m sobbing hard. I only came to the stream for laughs, and now I am watching someone else get rich again. Am I the only poor one while you are all getting rich.”
“The dueling is whatever. Mainly I want to please the Ancient Gods. Please them to death.”
—
Gu Chen’s encounter, along with the livestream clips, quickly spread across the forum.
Learning that there was a place where winning a fight earned rewards, all the players were green with envy, one after another declaring their intent to go to the arena to please the Ancient Gods and fight to the death.
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