Chapter 5: Arena (Fourth Update, Monthly Ticket Bonus)
After a blur before his eyes, Su Xiao found himself in a rest pod. The pod contained seats, a bed, and other amenities. The wall in front of him featured a large display screen showing his ranking, nearby contractors, and various match information.
The largest portion of the screen was occupied by ten avatars. These avatars were all bizarre and varied, clearly disguised portraits, arranged in a vertical column. These were the top ten in the arena.
The rest pod wasn't just for resting; if needed, he could call for a worker in the arena.
A large number of appearances appeared, and Su Xiao even saw a Predator shell decoration, along with some paid costumes. Among them, he surprisingly spotted a complete Ultraman set~.
Most contractors would alter their facial features, either adjusting them to be ridiculously handsome or shockingly ugly.
Su Xiao decided to conceal his face. The arena had spectators, and if he didn't hide his appearance, his fighting style could easily be exposed to enemies.
Su Xiao chose a metal mask that covered the lower half of his face. The mask was entirely crimson red, covering his mouth and nose without feeling stuffy.
After another blur, Su Xiao's vision cleared, and he observed his surroundings.
He was in a circular venue. The terrain was quite large, roughly three to four hundred meters. The ground beneath him was solid, non-slip metal, and the edges of the venue were filled with energy barriers.
The venue was surrounded by tiered spectator seats. The overall shape of the arena was like a pit, with the flat, circular fighting platform low in the center and the surrounding seats high up.
This made it easier to enjoy the matches, and the cheers from the audience would also boost the fighters' morale.
As for Su Xiao's current situation, the vast spectator stands only had a sparse handful of people.
"Brother Peach, go for it!"
A young girl with a delicate appearance stood up in the stands and shouted.
"Peach, crush him!"
"If you win, big bro will treat you to a drink."
There weren't many spectators; the few present were his opponent's cheerleaders.
Su Xiao's opponent was a seventeen or eighteen-year-old youth. The youth was dressed in anime character cosplay, holding a Colt M1911 pistol. He was probably Peach.
"Fast matchmaking, huh? Already won two in a row. If I win three straight, my ranking will jump a lot."
Peach fiddled with his pistol, his eyes full of confidence.
"Hey, knife guy, just surrender. In a 370-meter venue, you can't get close to me."
With that, Peach struck a standard shooting pose, but didn't fire. Just a young man's love for showing off.
Su Xiao stood still, looking at his opponent with a puzzled expression behind his metal mask.
It wasn't that his opponent was too strong, but rather too weak.
With an opponent of this level, the guy probably couldn't even beat an A-rank Ghoul. How did he get matched with such a weak contractor?
"Let's end this early and celebrate."
Peach held the gun with both hands and fired three shots: bang, bang, bang.
"Peach, annihilate him!"
Peach's cheerleaders in the stands began to shout encouragement.
Su Xiao sensed the three bullets flying toward him. He didn't even feel like dodging.
Clang, clang, clang.
The three bullets were deflected by his blade. The sound from the stands abruptly stopped.
"What the hell?!"
The few people in the stands were dumbfounded, mouths slightly open, frozen in place.
They were only Level 1 to 2 contractors. Deflecting bullets with a cold weapon was too surreal.
Peach stared at Su Xiao in shock, instinctively wanting to fire a few more shots.
Whoosh.
A black shadow flashed in Peach's line of sight. His dynamic vision couldn't keep up with Su Xiao's movement speed.
A gleaming blade light appeared in Peach's vision. By the time he regained consciousness, he was already in the rest pod.
"I lost?"
Peach sat on the floor, completely bewildered, his eyes full of disbelief.
...
Su Xiao cut Peach into a shower of light particles with one slash. His first arena match was over.
"How the hell is this matchmaking done?"
Su Xiao sat in the rest pod, puzzled.
His combat ability against contractors was very strong. This arena was practically his paradise.
It wasn't obvious yet, but when he encountered powerful contractors, fighting them would rapidly improve his combat skills. This was probably the purpose of the arena.
To allow contractors to hone their combat techniques without risking their lives.
Su Xiao paused. There was actually a message from his opponent. He opened it to check.
'You must have cheated, you cheating trash.'
Raising an eyebrow, this opponent was a bit strange. He chose to continue matching opponents.
Because his ranking was low, matchmaking was very fast. In less than ten seconds, he was matched with the next opponent.
The venue was the same as before, but this time there were more spectators, about a dozen or so, since his ranking had improved.
Su Xiao's opponent this time was a shield-wielding tank.
"Go, knife-wielding bro! I bet on you, 50 Paradise Coins."
Hearing the shout from the stands, Su Xiao was a bit surprised. You could actually place bets here.
After asking Reincarnation Paradise, Su Xiao was a bit disappointed. It was indeed possible to bet on participants, but the participant themselves couldn't bet on their own matches, nor could they collude with companions to bet. The consequences of such behavior were severe, even leading to forced execution.
This was Reincarnation Paradise's way of preventing "fixed matches" in the arena. Quite a few contractors had been executed for this.
After the battle started, the tank in front of Su Xiao chose to "turtle up," trying to slowly wear down his opponent with counterattacks.
Su Xiao's strength was very mismatched with his ranking. The contractors he was matched with now were all newcomers.
Still the same old tactic. He charged forward at a speed that left his opponent stunned, holding his blade with one hand and slashing down.
One slash broke the shield and killed the enemy. The opponent shattered into light particles.
A line of golden characters appeared above Su Xiao's head. The spectators in the stands were stunned.
"That's... it?"
The contractor who had bet on Su Xiao twitched the corner of his mouth. Su Xiao's body gradually faded, returning to the rest pod.
Su Xiao felt this situation would continue for a while.
He opened the messages. This time, they were a bit more normal.
'Want to join our adventure group? Great benefits...'
This message was a recruitment offer. He checked his ranking. Two consecutive wins had boosted him by about thirty thousand places.
Su Xiao chose to continue. A dozen seconds later, he appeared on the arena platform. He roughly scanned the audience; there were about a hundred or so.
He suspected most of these spectators were workers, with contractors being a minority.
This time, his opponent was a novice mage. As soon as the match started, the mage ran off into the distance, his short legs moving quite cheerfully.
Su Xiao calmly took out his Shattered Elf and fired a few shots. The mage fell to the ground with a thud.
Su Xiao was teleported back to the rest pod.
In the following ten minutes, Su Xiao would charge at melee opponents and slash them, or shoot at ranged opponents a few times. If they didn't die, he'd go over and finish them off.
...
Sitting in the rest pod, Su Xiao checked his current ranking: 13,400th!
Seventeen consecutive wins had turned his six-digit ranking into five digits, but Su Xiao still felt nothing for opponents at this level.
He was far too strong for them, so the battles basically didn't last more than ten seconds. Most of the time was spent waiting for matchmaking.
Su Xiao appeared on the arena platform.
"Here it comes, here it comes! The red side is a melee fighter, the blue side is a combat healer. That melee guy is in for trouble."
"Anyone within the top ten thousand isn't weak. I think this match will be exciting."
"Hurry up and start. I can't wait."
The surrounding stands had over a thousand spectators, and the atmosphere was extremely lively.
Su Xiao's opponent was a sexy healer in a red dress. The dress had a high slit, revealing her fair thighs. Unlike other fragile healers, this one was a poison healer. Her healing output wasn't great, but her offensive abilities were very strong.
"Hey there, little bro. Don't call me shameless if you lose, okay? You might not be used to the combat healer style right away."
"Likewise."
Su Xiao stomped on the ground and charged forward.
ps: (Fourth update, asking for monthly tickets. That's allowed, right?)