Chapter 5: Contracted Warrior

“Nameless Warrior, we have twenty colosseum battles lined up for today. You are challenging a Yellow Tier beast this time, so your battle will be the thirteenth or fourteenth one, which will be held at night… This is the mask you requested. You will need to pay the full cost for the mask if damaged during your battle.”

“Thank you.”

Qi Ying accepted the sinister black mask offered to him by the colosseum worker, before putting it onto his face.

This was not his first time at the Colosseum.

Seven days ago, Qi Ying’s monthly allotment of pills had been completely depleted by his left hand’s increasing appetite. He didn’t want to borrow pills from his fellow academy disciples, none of whom he was really familiar with, and he couldn’t earn any pills anyway, so he wouldn’t be able to repay them even if they were willing to lend him their pills.

Thus, after hearing about the rich rewards being offered to warriors by the Colosseum, he decided to try and apply. On that occasion, he slew an ordinary Wind Wolf beast and received three Great Strength Pills and some crystals as a reward.

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After that initial success, Qi Ying visited the Colosseum again four days ago.

However, due to an accident that took place at the Colosseum, his battle was canceled and he wasted an entire day for nothing.

One Great Strength Pill per day was no longer enough to satisfy his left hand, but he couldn’t make excessively frequent appearances at the Colosseum. As such, Qi Ying decided to challenge a Yellow Tier beast, which was equivalent to an Energy Martial Stage warrior, as opposed to a normal beast.

If he succeeded, he would receive three Energy Containment Pills and more crystals. In addition to the crystals he had already saved up, he would be able to buy some spirit herbs and spirit medicine seeds that could be planted in Mother Yu’s field.

At that moment, the colosseum worker suddenly said, “Young man, I can see from our records that this is your third time at the Colosseum. Looks like you’re not just entering a colosseum battle as a one-off event. Are you interested in becoming a contracted warrior for our Colosseum?” “As a contracted warrior, you’ll get an additional ten percent, as well as a Great Strength Pill or Energy Containment Pill more than an uncontracted warrior. Furthermore, the Colosseum will provide you with weapons and armor for your battles.”

“Are there any requirements that a contracted warrior has to fulfill?”

Qi Ying was a little interested.

As his cultivation base had progressed, his left hand had developed more and more stringent requirements in regards to the quality and quantity of pills that he consumed.

He needed pills and money, and colosseum battles were undoubtedly the fastest way to earn income.

Contract warrior?

That sounded like a lucrative job.

“Becoming a contracted warrior entails that you will essentially be half a colosseum employee. You have to spend at least six full days at the Colosseum and engage in twenty colosseum battles per month as a minimum. Furthermore, when special circumstances arise, you have to fight more powerful beasts or savages from foreign realms. Additionally, there are different ranks for contracted warriors. The conditions I just stated apply to Iron rank warriors, but if you can accumulate more victories at a good win percentage, you can upgrade to become a Bronze rank, Silver rank, or even Gold-rank warrior. In that case, you will receive several times the benefits that an Iron rank warrior would receive.”

“Really?”

Qi Ying felt as if his throat were a little dry and he gulped in disbelief. “You’re giving out so many benefits AND you have to expend beasts and slaves? Won’t you guys lose money?”

The colosseum worker burst into laughter. “If you can become a Silver rank warrior, you’ll be a colosseum superstar in the Celestial River County! Each and every colosseum battle generates a massive amount of revenue for our Colosseum, so we can naturally afford to issue bountiful rewards. Young man, I take it that you’re interested in my proposal?”

“I sure am!”

…

At the administration office, there was a female worker who appeared to be in her twenties. She had long, wavy curls and wore vibrant, red lipstick; she was the one responsible for taking care of Qi Ying’s contract.

“Name?”

“Nameless Warrior.”

“Not your warrior name, your real name. Our Colosseum will be sure to keep the personal information of our contracted warriors confidential.”

“Oh… It’s Qi Ying.”

“Please show me some ID.”

Qi Ying pulled out his Celestial River Academy student ID.

The female worker accepted the student ID and was just about to continue writing in her records when she suddenly faltered. She raised her head and appraised Qi Ying with a hint of sympathy in her eyes. “Little brother, you’re such a handsome young man and you’re a disciple of the Celestial River Academy. The world is your oyster; why do you want to fight in colosseum battles? You’ve got such a nice face, it would be a shame if one of the beasts here were to disfigure you.”

Qi Ying was amused. “Thanks for your concern, but I’m confident in my abilities, so you don’t have to worry about me.”

The female worker pursed her lips upon seeing Qi Ying’s reluctance to heed her advice. “So be it. I’ve seen people like you. Regardless of whether you’ve got the skills or not, all of you dream of fame and fortune by becoming colosseum superstars… But in the end… Hehe. Being disfigured is not the main concern; there are even some who have lost their lives here! I’m going to leave you with one final piece of advice: one must learn to be happy with what they have and not to be overambitious. Do you understand?”

“Thank you for your words of wisdom.”

…

Qi Ying left the administration office with a black badge in his hand. The badge had an antiquated feel and upon it the words “Nameless Warrior” were carved. This badge represented his identity as an Iron rank warrior.

“From now on, I’m a contracted warrior of the Colosseum. My monthly income will rise significantly and not only will I be able to satisfy my left hand, I can even slightly increase my rate of cultivation!”

Qi Ying wore a black mask and the black badge hung from his waist. He strode through the corridor and arrived at the waiting area to await his battle.

The waiting area was separated from the iron cage at the center of the Colosseum by a short passageway. From there, one could hear the thunderous cries of the spectators as well as witness the gory colosseum battles taking place within the iron cage.

Within the cage.

There were a few broad and muscular savage slaves from foreign realms wielding clubs and cudgels, as they engaged in a vicious battle with a ‘Golden Thread Tiger’ beast.

The savage slaves had no cultivation base, but they possessed special constitutions. A fully-grown savage had around the same level of strength as a Fifth or Sixth Strength Martial Stage warrior, and their defensive prowess was even more superior. There were even some savages born with prodigious strength and when fully-grown, they would become as powerful as Energy Martial Stage warriors.

As such, these slaves should be able to slay this normal beast with no real issues.

“Howl!”

The Golden Thread Tiger was soon riddled with wounds and its satin-like back was stained with blood.

The savages all had injuries of their own with one of them having had an arm torn off during the course of the battle.

A fight within the battle cage would only be decided once one or both parties died!

The Golden Thread Tiger and the savages were all fighting for their lives and simultaneously satisfying the spectators’ thirst for blood and gore.

Outside.

The spectators were all yelling at the top of their lungs with flushed faces and hoarse voices.

“Finish it! Break its claws! Snap its tail! Kill it!”

“F*ck! I bet a hundred low-rank crystals on that stupid beast, how could it be brought down so quickly?”

“Kill! Kill! Kill!”

The spectators seemed to be filled with even more adrenalin than the beast and the savages in the battle cage. In particular, those who had placed bets were all swinging their fists around with ferocious expressions, as if they wanted to jump into the cage and fight for the side they had betted on.

Within the cage.

The Golden Thread Tiger had been forced into a corner by the savages and it let loose a deranged roar. “Howl!”

Its roar seemed to be imbued with a certain type of power and a golden wave of energy erupted around its body, forcing the savages to a standstill.

“Howl!”

The Golden Thread Tiger took that opportunity to pounce on a savage and its sharp teeth instantly sliced through that savage’s neck.

Splat!

Blood gushed forth from the savage’s neck; he pressed a hand tightly to his wound before stumbling back in retreat.