Chapter 74: Grudges
Inside the rest pod, Su Xiao leaned back on the recliner, slightly fatigued.
"It's getting more and more strenuous."
Letting out a sigh, Su Xiao glanced at his current ranking.
[First Rank Ranking: 21st Place, Eighty-Four Consecutive Wins.]
At this rank, the opponents Su Xiao faced were all troublesome. Just now, he had encountered a mage, and that mage only used one skill: the small fireball spell.
Logically speaking, a basic spell like small fireball shouldn't be strong, but the opponent had stacked it to a very high level, resulting in absurd damage output.
More importantly, the small fireballs that mage released were peculiar—sometimes one, sometimes two at once, and occasionally even five simultaneously.
Even more shameless was that those small fireballs had tracking capabilities. If Su Xiao weren't skilled at dealing with mages, he might have lost under the continuous bombardment of five small fireballs.
The Reincarnation Paradise never lacked for strange and extraordinary individuals.
After several consecutive arena matches, the feeling of losing control over his power after boosting his attributes had disappeared.
[Matching opponent, please wait.]
Su Xiao yawned. He had been matching for nearly half an hour now. The higher the rank, the fewer opponents there were, and the longer the matching time.
He suspected that if he broke into the top ten, the matching time might take a day or two. After all, opponents in the top ten would prioritize matching within the top ten. If no one in the top ten was available, they would match with the top twenty.
After dozens of arena matches, Su Xiao discovered that the arena's rules didn't necessarily require defeating a specific rank to improve one's standing. The arena used a points system, which prevented the top ten from being passive in competition—hogging the spot without doing anything.
Defeating an opponent ranked higher than oneself earned more points, and vice versa. However, if the opponent's rank was too low, no points would be gained.
These points were not visible and were calculated by the arena.
After matching for an hour, Su Xiao canceled the match, preparing to end today's competition. But a notification suddenly appeared.
[Notification: Competitor ranked 163,333 challenges you.]
Su Xiao dismissed the notification. The opponent's six-digit ranking didn't even spark his interest in stomping a noob.
This kind of challenge happened often. After all, Su Xiao was now ranked 21st—a tall tree catches the wind.
[Notification: Competitor ranked 163,333 challenges you.]
Su Xiao frowned and dismissed the notification again.
[Notification: Competitor ranked 163,333 challenges you.]
He dismissed it once more. Such persistent newcomers were rare.
[Notification: Competitor ranked 163,333 challenges you.]
A cold glint flashed in Su Xiao's eyes. He accepted, and the sensation of being teleported washed over him.
The circular arena platform had no spectators. This was because the spectator mode had been disabled.
Su Xiao looked ahead. A scantily clad woman stood on the arena platform.
"Hello, I am—"
The woman's voice was soft and alluring, and her seemingly casual movements were seductive.
Before she could finish, a black shadow flashed before her eyes. Her neck suddenly tightened, and a choking sensation set in.
"Wait—"
Su Xiao didn't bother listening to her nonsense. He didn't even draw his blade. With one hand, he grabbed the woman by the throat.
Crack.
The woman's neck twisted unnaturally, and her body gradually faded.
"Three strikes and you're out. Challenge me again, and if I run into you in a derivative world, I'll chop you up and feed you to the dogs."
The woman's body dissipated. From start to finish, she had only managed to say five words. She was the president of the "Arena Guild": Mei Ji.
Inside a lavishly decorated rest pod, Mei Ji collapsed onto the floor, gasping for air. Her body was trembling.
Although she knew she wouldn't die in the arena, the aura of that man was simply too terrifying. The moment he charged at her, Mei Ji was too scared to even move.
"How dare he treat me like this. Just you wait."
Mei Ji gritted her teeth, her beautiful face twisting into a snarl.
"His arena alias is Bai Ye, so his fake name in derivative worlds must be Bai Ye too."
Mei Ji used her brand to contact an old friend. Her snarl faded, and she even touched up her makeup.
The connection went through. A man clad in golden armor appeared on the screen—a video call function.
The man in golden armor had a dignified appearance, exuding an air of authority without anger. He was someone who had held a high position for a long time.
"Boss Shen Wang, I've been bullied."
Mei Ji put on a pitiful expression.
"Oh? It's Mei Ji. Who bullied you?"
The man named Shen Wang had a booming voice, but his tone was somewhat perfunctory. Mei Ji didn't mind.
"A guy named Bai Ye."
"Bai Ye? Sounds familiar."
Shen Wang fell into thought. After a long moment, he remembered something. The Phantom Troupe had invited this person. His own Shen Wang Adventure Group's boss, the Divine Emperor Adventure Group, was a sworn enemy of the Phantom Troupe.
After a very brief deliberation, Shen Wang decided he absolutely couldn't get involved in this. Only the Divine Emperor could deal with the Phantom Troupe. If his Shen Wang Adventure Group got mixed up in this, they'd just be handing over a Scarlet Card.
"I have things to do. Talk later."
Shen Wang hung up the communication. Mei Ji was stunned.
"What... does this mean?"
Mei Ji's fists slowly clenched, her long fingernails digging into her flesh.
"I slept with him, and he won't even help with this little thing?"
Mei Ji took a deep breath. She couldn't afford to offend Shen Wang.
"This can't just end like this."
Mei Ji continued contacting her other "friends," but after learning that Su Xiao's arena rank was 21st, they all politely refused.
The connections she had painstakingly built up now seemed fragile and useless.
After ten minutes, Mei Ji stopped contacting anyone. She understood that apart from Shen Wang, no one else could help her get revenge.
This wasn't a matter of life-or-death enmity. Mei Ji just wanted to find someone to teach Su Xiao a lesson.
"They're all unreliable bastards. Looks like I should leak some of their secrets. That could be a nice source of income."
At this point, Mei Ji's goal was no longer just about getting even.
In truth, her original intention wasn't just revenge either. If she could introduce an arena rank 21st competitor to a large adventure group, and that person successfully joined, Mei Ji could earn tens of thousands of Paradise Coins in commission.
"Looks like I'll have to go beg that guy..."
Mei Ji's expression turned troubled. She still had one trump card, but the person she needed to find had a hobby of tormenting women. Mei Ji had only spent one night with that man, and the injuries she sustained cost her over a thousand Paradise Coins to heal.
Mei Ji hesitated, but thinking about the tens of thousands of Paradise Coins in benefits, she gritted her teeth and contacted someone.
...
That's how things were in the world. Even if Su Xiao didn't go looking for trouble, as his strength grew, trouble would come knocking on his door.
Profit was the starting point and the end point of all conflicts. Most grudges and grievances were just the process between coveting benefits and obtaining them.
Inside the rest pod, Su Xiao gave up after matching for an hour. The Reincarnation Paradise gave him a notification: currently, only six people from the top fifty were in the arena. It was estimated that the most people would be in the arena twenty-four hours later.
Su Xiao left the arena. The reason he kept climbing the rankings was that the top ten in the arena received special rewards. The higher the rank, the richer the rewards.
He checked his remaining Paradise Coins. He had 11,947 Paradise Coins.
Su Xiao needed to convert these Paradise Coins into combat power as quickly as possible. He had two options now: first, to strengthen his equipment; second, to summon a mirror image in the trial ground.
Su Xiao wasn't planning to strengthen his equipment for now. Ten thousand Paradise Coins wouldn't get him many enhancement attempts. He planned to strengthen all his equipment once he had over fifty thousand Paradise Coins.
He didn't expect to get everything to +7, but at least everything to +5.
Su Xiao quickly walked toward the trial ground. It had been a long time since he had summoned a mirror image.