His whole body turned into a battlefield in an instant. One moment, he felt like he’d been dropped into the coldest place he’d ever imagined, the next he felt as if he were inside a hot volcano on the brink of eruption.
It didn’t stop there.
The herbs’ medicinal properties felt like needles poking into his bones and refining them, giving him a sensation of ants crawling all over inside his body, but the pain was unimaginable.
Despite this, Nova didn’t scream.
But that wasn’t because he was enduring the pain without problems.
His teeth clattered against each other, slowly breaking apart due to the enormous force. His mind had already stopped working properly and the only thought left was: ‘Endure.’
/////
Six days later.
Pant… pant…
While Nova was still lying in the bathtub, gasping for breath and trying to regain his wits after the latest tempering, a notification rang in his mind.
[Your civilization has been drawn]
‘Has it been six days already?’ He thought weakly.
[Your civilization has been declared the subordinate civilization]
[Khaian has been declared the leader civilization]
[You have 23 hours to decide the number of Gold coins each civilization will bet. After the 23 hours have passed, the leader civilization’s choice will be revealed to you, and you will have 1 hour to decide who enters]
[The fight will take place one day from now in Arena #9720.]
[Time Remaining: 23:00:00]
Nova went through the notifications and, when he saw that they were drawn as the subordinate civilization, his lips twitched in an attempt to curl up.
“Hehehe…” He chuckled dryly. “I couldn’t have asked for better news than this.”
Then he thought, ‘Let’s see, what’s the rank of this civilization? I hope it’s high, in fact, the higher the better. That would mean a lot more money to make.’
He asked the system, and soon a line of text flashed in his mind.
[Khaian (297,018th)]
Nova’s lips, which were twitching in an attempt to curl up, stiffened along with his whole face.
“two… two hundred thousand?” He mumbled as shock filled his features.
But as he stared at the ranking more and more, the shock soon turned into a frown.
“It’s not just two hundred thousand, it’s the bottom of it. Will they even have enough Gold coins when their rank is so low? 630,000,000 already bankrupted Grenaria, which is in the top hundred thousand…” A bitter sigh escaped his lips.
He couldn’t believe his luck was this rotten.
If other, less powerful civilizations knew what he was thinking, there was no need to say they would curse him out loud.
All of them were praying day and night to be matched against a weak civilization and reap some free benefits, but here was Nova, who complained about it.
It made a very stark contrast between the two.
Not only that.
Earth was drawn as the subordinate civilization, which gave it the opportunity to set the amount of Gold coins placed as the bet, but with such a weak civilization, he felt as if he’d just wasted all his good luck.
However, the bitterness lasted only for a moment before he composed himself.
Nova took a deep breath and said out loud, “Although it’s not what I want, it’s still good enough to progress my training for the next week, and that’s what I need the most right now.”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
His hands grabbed the bathtub’s sides, and he pushed himself out of it.
With water still running down his body, he grabbed his clothes and fished out the communication device before calling Erevan.
“I didn’t expect you to call. What is it?” Erevan’s teasing voice came out from the device, as if he already expected this to happen.
Nova didn’t bother addressing it and said, “This time I’ll fight. Just let me handle the bet.”
“Sure, you can fight this one. Anything else?”
“No.” Nova closed the call, grabbed his clothes, and left the bathroom. “Whatever you have will be mine.”
Meanwhile, Erevan, surrounded by a fire that seemed as if it could melt anything in existence with no resistance whatsoever, stood in the middle of an empty room. He pocketed the communication device and grinned.
“He wants to fight such a weak civilization after he turned down the previous one for being too weak? This can only mean he’s either bored or wants to try something, and I’m leaning more toward the latter.”
The fire around him shone brightly for a moment before it slowly dulled as Erevan sighed.
“I wanted to see his full progress, but I doubt this civilization will be able to make him use his full strength. What a pity.”
His hopes for the Khaian civilization to force Nova to use his full strength were so slim they might as well have been none, but he couldn’t be blamed for that.
Although the ranking reflected the total strength of everyone in a civilization, and the higher the number, the higher the chances of a better rank, a strong individual could make any civilization shoot up in the rankings, whether they were alone or not.
Being almost in the three hundred thousandth position meant Khaian had nobody worth mentioning.
/////
Soon, a day passed, and with that, it was time for the two civilizations to find out what rules the other party had set.
[The maximum number of warriors allowed to enter has been set by Khaian (Leader Civilization)]
[Each party may send a maximum of two warriors]
[Do you wish to participate?]
[Yes] [No]
[Time Remaining: 01:00:00]
This was the notification Nova and the rest from Earth received, but none of them were surprised by it.
“Two? No need,” Nova, having just finished the last round of tempering, said as he sat on the sofa, staring at his Status. “I’ll go alone.”
[Status]
Rank: 0
Name: Nova Grey
Species: Human
Affiliation: None
Level: 100 (3,900 / 50,000)
Mana:
-
Mana Core (Medium): 689,865,023 / 10,000,000,000
-
Nodes: ??? Spinal Node, ??? Perception Node, ??? Pulse Node, ??? Voice Node, ??? Vital Organs Node, ??? Power Node, ??? Stance Node, ??? Manipulation Node
Concepts: Death (0.003%)
Class: None
Titles:
Goblin Exterminator, King Slayer, Survivor, Spear Advanced, Troll Exterminator,
Orc Exterminator, Rune Novice, Mana Intermediate, Lord (Giants), Hunter, ???, Sword Intermediate, Throne Breaker, Novice Crafter, Lord (Goblins), Lord (Trolls)
Stat Points: 2,216
Attributes:
-
Strength: 2,847 (+133,663)
-
Vigor: 2,820 (+132,678)
-
Dexterity: 2,870 (+164,223)
-
Speed: 2,830 (+160,964)
-
Intelligence: 2,786 (+31,821)
-
Wisdom: 2,830 (+32,321)
-
Will: 20
-
Luck: 10 (+10)
Skills
Active:
-
Spear Thrust (28) — 73,088,160,875 / 134,217,728,000
-
Spear Jab (28) — 45,565,171,233 / 134,217,728,000
-
Spear Sweep (28) — 17,509,870,604 / 134,217,728,000
-
Spear Lunge (28) — 39,230,546,003 / 134,217,728,000
-
Spear Overhead Strike (27) — 20,845,757,121 / 67,108,864,000
-
Sword Slash (15) — 1 / 16,384,000
-
Sword Stab (15) — 3 / 16,384,000
-
Sword Chop (15) — 1 / 16,384,000
-
Sword Sweep (15) — 0 / 16,384,000
-
Sword Parry (15) — 0 / 16,384,000
-
Sword Block (15) — 0 / 16,384,000
-
Crafting (0) — 0 / 10
-
Chasing Shadow (0) – 0/4
Passive:
-
Regeneration (23) — 8,997,903 / 4,194,304,000
-
Keen Reflexes (14) — 6,207,021 / 8,192,000
-
Momentum Streak (25) — 2,078,441,307 / 16,777,216,000
-
One with the World (Spear) — MAX
-
One with the World (Sword) — MAX
-
One with the World (Footwork) — MAX
-
Aura — Fourth Stage
-
Spear Force — First Stage (Early)
/////
The warriors of Khaian, on the other hand, were the ones whose eyes practically popped out of their sockets when they heard the system’s notifications.
[The bet has been set by Earth (Subordinate Civilization)]
[Each party must bet the equivalent of 1,000,000,000 Gold coins]
[Rules will be applied if the losing party fails to pay]
[Do you wish to participate?]
[Yes] [No]
[Time Remaining: 01:00:00]
“One billion?! Is this civilization filled with madmen?! Don’t they know the value of Gold coins?!”
A loud exclamation, full of disbelief, rang through Khaian’s town.
“Master…” a delicate young woman said quietly, afraid to anger her master even further.
The person she called master was a middle-aged man with slanted eyebrows, as if skeptical of everything around him.
He waved his hand in irritation and said, “Seeing that they are still unranked, I planned on going easy on them and take just a few benefits, but since they like treating others as fools, I won’t hold back anymore.”
He looked at the young woman and said, “I’ll personally fight along with your uncle. Keep an eye on the others while I’m away.”
With her eyes filled with worry, the young woman was about to protest, but seeing the determined look on her master’s face, she chose not to. With a nod, she said softly, “Yes, master.”
The middle-aged man harrumphed and turned his head away.
His thoughts were all too clear for anyone to see.
He couldn’t wait to fight.
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