On his way to the pleasure district, Orion felt a surge of energy enter his body. Instantly, he knew he had broken through to the second step of level 1. Since all he had done was kill a mortal, he decided that was a very solid reward. He reached the pleasure district and entered a random bar. Orion used ‘All-Seeing Eyes’ on the entire room only to discover that he was the only cultivator.
“How come there’s so many mortals?”
“Cultivation is actually a rare gift. In this world, only about one in five hundred people can cultivate. The kingdom of Rane contains about three billion inhabitants, so there are six million cultivators. Only about 10,000 of those have the potential to ever reach level 5, and only a very small handful of people can ever reach level 6, while only 3 people stand at level 7, which is the king’s level.”
“I see.” He looked around the room again to choose a victim. His eyes fell upon a seemingly middle-aged man downing a tankard of ale as if it was water. He went over and immediately punched the guy in the nose, although quite lightly by his standards. The man released his ale and shot up with a pained and furious growl. Orion now saw that the man was a towering hulk, standing over two meters tall and weighing at least 150 kg. Still, Orion felt no apprehension as he was a mere mortal. The man lunged at him with a yell, and Orion simply stepped to the side and stuck out his foot, sending the man sprawling. This elicited a cheer and some laughs from the spectators who had gathered to watch this David-and-Goliath-like showdown. The man got up and shook himself off, blood streaming from his nose. Now, Orion was starting to see the errors in his plan. Although the pleasure district was almost as crime-filled as the slums, with rape and robbery running rampant, he still couldn’t openly murder the man. He realized that the only way was to provoke the man until Orion could kill him in self-defense. As the man once more rushed at him, Orion planted his feet, preparing to meet the man head-on. However, at the last moment, he ducked and slid between the man’s legs, delivering a swift kick to his groin on the way. The man’s eyes went bloodshot and popped out of his head as he fell to his knees, clutching his damaged jewels. The crowd burst out in uproarious laughter, with occasional whistles and woo-hoos ringing out. The man got back up again, but his face had gone deathly still. Orion could see that games were over and the man was ready to kill him. The crowd, sensing the same thing, quieted down. The man slowly approached Orion, who had sunk into a fighting stance. When the giant was only a couple meters away, he leapt at Orion with his hands stretched towards his neck. Of course, dodging this would have been simplicity incarnate for Orion, but he had to let the blow connect in order to kill the man. The man’s hands clasped around Orion’s neck, and they both went down, the gargantuan beast on top of him, choking him out. Orion pretended to struggle for a few seconds before letting a mask of uncontrolled rage settle on his face. He grabbed the man's massive left middle finger with his right hand and snapped it backwards. The colossus cried out in pain and withdrew his hands. Seizing his opening, Orion sat up and placed one hand on the man’s jaw and the other on his huge shoulder. He pushed his hands apart with all his might, for that was how much force was needed to break this man’s neck. A sickening snap resounded across the whole bar as the man went limp. Orion threw the man off himself and stood up, pretending to pant heavily. Slowly, he lifted his arms, and the entire bar erupted in cheers. They all swarmed him and threw him in the air, trampling the man’s corpse. Although he had already deduced that this was a very barbaric world, he was not prepared for this level of indifference to a loss of life. Orion once more felt a surge of energy, this one greater than the last, probably due to the difference in might of the two opponents, and once more directly broke through a step. He did, however, feel that he barely broke through, whereas last time he smashed through the barrier, which told him that even though the gain was greater, the amount of energy needed to break through was already increasing. This awoke Orion to the reality that he couldn’t just prey on mortals forever.
The crowd slowly began calming down. They put Orion down, disposed of the enormous, bloodied corpse, and went back to their drinking. As Orion was leaving the bar, a man tapped his shoulder. Orion turned around to see who he was dealing with. The man looked to be about 60, with short, greying hair and a short, neat beard. His clothes looked fairly high-quality. Expensive, but not flamboyant.
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“What?”
“I was very impressed by your performance in that brawl. I would like to hire you as my champion. I will organize fights for you, and you will take home 85% of the earnings.”
“Why would I not just find my own fights and take 100?”
“Because, young sir, I have valuable connections, and I can get you fights with stellar rewards. Additionally, I can get you fights with no rules against killing, if that is of appeal to you.”
This was clearly a golden opportunity for Orion. He could not only finish half of his quest but gain a stream of income and some cultivation victims. He pretended to mull the offer over so the man wouldn’t think he was overeager and get suspicious.
“Very well. I accept.”
The main smiled broadly and stuck out his hand. “My name is Ren. I look forward to profiting with you.”
“I’m Orion.” He shook his hand. “How will you contact me?”
“Do you not have a fixed address?”
“No. How about this: every day, I will come here at sunrise. If you are not here, I will assume that you didn’t get anything for that day. If you are here, we will discuss the time and location of the match, and I shall be there.”
“That sounds reasonable.”
With that, Orion turned and left the bar. He quickly made his way over to a brawling house, hoping to find some victims with cultivation. Those battles would, of course, be far harder, but the rewards would also be magnified. He activated ‘All-Seeing Eyes’ and found a perfect target: a small, cloaked fire spirit with level 1 cultivation and no skills, aspects, or physiques. Orion decided to wait until the man left the brawling house and catch him in a dark spot to assassinate him. However, nothing prevented him from entertaining himself while he waited, so he signed up for the following fight with an alias, Norio, and sat at an empty table to observe the current match. He planned to use the fight to sharpen his skills, and end it immediately if he saw his victim leaving. Of the two men currently engaged in battle, one man was very short but extremely muscular. He couldn’t have been taller than 150 cm but weighed at least 90 kg. His opponent was the exact opposite. He was tall and skinny, without an ounce of fat or muscle on his body. He was clearly a much more skilled fighter and used his range to keep the pitbull-like opponent away. However, it was clear that he was beginning to tire while the other man looked completely fresh and energized. Suddenly, the tall man leapt forward, spun around, and hit his opponent right in the jaw with a spinning kick. The short man went flying out of the arena, crashing into an empty table. The thin man stepped off the stage to a round of applause. The host shouted out “Five-minute break until the next match. Constants: Norio and Leina. Please be ready in five minutes.” Orion looked around in an attempt to find his opponent, but with only the name as information, he failed.
Suddenly, a crash sounded behind him. He spun around, ready to fight, and saw that the small man had tackled the gangly victor to the ground and was now beating him on the ground, shouting that he somehow cheated. The spindly man could do nothing except cover his face with his hands. The small man was so vicious that no one wanted to step in and help, but Orion saw this as a chance to wreak some more havoc, which he had admittedly begun to enjoy. He ran up to the scuffle and kicked the small man in the ribs. He went sprawling, clutching his side and howling. His kick had clearly broken a few ribs. The man lifted his head and locked his narrow eyes on Orion, giving him the impression of an enraged animal. He leapt at him like a frenzied dog, only to have his attempts met with a series of well-timed punches to his stomach, face, and liver. He fell on the ground in a heap, weeping like a baby. Orion simply turned around and sat back down in his chair, awaiting his next match, ignoring the cheers. The still-angry dwarf was kicked out by the owner, who had left his office to deal with the fuss. In less than a minute, the fighters were called to the ring. Orion stood up and calmly made his way to the arena. The arena was actually just a 4 by 4 meter square indentation in the brawling house’s wooden floor covered in sand to help prevent injuries. Orion stood on one side of the ring and watched his opponent make his way to the other side.