Henry’s human form winced as Maurice landed his final blow. The announcer's young and lively voice reached his ears, but the woman was barely audible over the roar of the crowd.

  “And that’s the duel, folks! What a show. What incredible control. Our lord’s guest, Maurice, was not affected in the least by the disparity in levels. You’d think he’d had the higher levels! And now, as I look at some of your annoyed expressions and at the odds of the fight, it seems a few of you might have lost a bet, but you can’t be mad after such a fight! I’m sure many more would want to test their mettle against our guests, but do remember our rules of hospitality!”

  Henry grinned at the laughing faces making their way to the betting stands and at the glowering losers staring at them. He hadn’t thought of betting himself, but he really wasn’t after tokens anyway.

  Unless they’ve got a way of using the tokens in their wallets to pay for System-stuff? I’ll have to ask.

  Next, the announcer spoke up again as a flurry of B-ranks worked on reattaching the arm and leg of a sobbing Sev while Maurice, after making sure his opponent was ‘okay’, scuttled and peered at his chest of goodies.

  “Now we move on to the rewards our guest had just earned!”

  Maurice glanced back up at the crowd, then ahead at the judge who gave him the go-ahead.

  “First! Is a dimensional leaf bag created by our very own enchanter Merove. It can carry anything you could fit in a standard room and some more, and Merove himself guarantees at least five years of use before the enchantment starts to deteriorate, at which time he would re-apply it for a small fee.”

  Henry was coming down to meet up with the crab, and watched as his friend picked up a green coloured bag. He couldn’t see the details from this far, but it was either made of dyed cloth and shaped to look like a folded giant leaf, or it was an actual leaf.

  “The second prize is a fruit, but don’t let that fool you!”

  A hushed wave of mumbling and confusion spread for a second before Henry caught a few gasps. From nearby, one of the watchers mumbled something about Tevarius, which was soon drowned out by the announcer once more.

  “I see that some of you have recognized this prize, folks. This was the prize won by Lord Tevarius a couple of years back; the very father of the valiant, humbled champion you’ve all watched merely moments ago. A unique and rare fruit that seldom grows in our gardens. A flawless Exalted Honeydew. When eaten, it will increase every attribute by at least one point in C-ranks or below. You’d still get a few points as a B-rank, but that should tell you how prized this reward is. Someone might not be very happy about its loss today. Oh. There he is! The previous owner of the fruit, Lord Tevarius himself.”

  Henry had passed the final set of bleachers and reached when he heard the thud nearby. There had been some chuckles and whispers as the announcer had been speaking, but they all died out when the announcer pointed out the lord, who landed a few yards away from the arena.

  Tevarius was a tall and wiry man and, much like his son, he wore red and yellow flowing robes. There was no weapon in his tightened fists, and as the man stared into the arena, Henry couldn’t help but think of the striking resemblance the lord had to his son.

  [Human (B) - Lvl ??]

  Both shared the same bushy brows, the same severe noses, and brown eyes that were currently fixed on the small chest. He didn’t even look at his healed-up son as the latter was pulled up to his feet. Lord Sev’s injuries were gone. His limbs had been reattached, but there was nothing the healers could do about the paleness of the young man’s skin and horror in his eyes as he fearfully looked at his father.

  “What is this?” asked the announcer. “Does lord Terove intend to challenge our winner? A B-rank would be a high step above the duel Maurice had won, but then again, he won it easily enough. Is a second upset in the cards, folks? Oh? It doesn’t seem like tree-guards like where this is going.”

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  A handful of warriors landed around the lord. Zamir wasn’t part of them, but Semea was, as well as two B-ranks showing as double-question marks and an older one at three question marks.

  Above level fifty. How close is that one to A-rank? And how come there aren’t that many A-ranks here to begin with?

  You’d think with the safety and the resources, more would have broken through, but maybe the passive effect of the Current dropped in efficiency after a while?

  Or it just takes a lot more to level… In any case. Better pay attention to what’s happening.

  Veins bulged around the large man’s neck, and he looked back up and glared somewhere Henry assumed the announcer was. As if the latter didn’t even notice, she moved on.

  “Now for the third and final prize! And let me tell you folks, I could not believe it when judge Vari told me about it. The last prize is a Scroll of Barkskin, but not a simple one. Not like you’d be able to find if you had a few tokens burning a hole in your wallet. No, my dear viewers, this is a Scroll of Barkskin made by Lord Zerathstra himself.”

  There was a hush, then the crowd erupted. Henry blinked, and Maurice seemed as confused as he was. Both shared a look across the handful of yards separating them, and Henry shrugged.

  “It seems that our guests don't understand the value of such an item, so let me explain! This scroll could cast the defensive skill of ‘Barkskin’ as if it were Lord Zerathstra himself casting it. It means that unless you’re fighting an A-rank, you’re virtually invulnerable! At least until the spell expires, of course. This prize, citizens of Thalis and distinguished guests, qualifies as a life-saving artefact!”

  Henry’s eyes went wide, and even Maurice froze up and wrenched his claw away from the intricately carved box.

  How is the pearl more prized than that?

  To Henry, the bag and the fruit were valuable for sure, but he could understand them being valued less than the giant pearl. This, though? He would have willingly bought the scroll for the pearl. He would have dumped nearly everything he had in his pocket for such an item. For someone who was travelling through monster-infested seas and trying to survive the creatures that dwelled in the deep, the Scroll of Barksin was priceless.

  Henry’s thoughts were cut off as a pulse of something coursed through his body, and seemingly, through everyone else in the arena.

  “Ahem. It’s time to call it a day, everyone. Thank you for coming and I hope you enjoyed the show! We’ll see you again very soon! In only three days, as a matter of fact, for the 50+ C-rank tournament. But then again, maybe someone would like to issue a challenge before then? Someone… mad about having lost some treasures? No? Alright. Enjoy the rest of your day, everyone!”

  There were some chuckles behind him as Henry made his way to the crab, at which point the freshly-taunted lord turned his gaze on him.

  Which Henry ignored to focus on the crab and his telekinetically-carried box of treasures.

  “[Henry! Look at this! Isn’t this amazing? Should we fight more people? If we can get more things like this, we should! I like this… what do you call this feeling? Also, can you store this? I don’t have enough space.]”

  Henry grinned as he looked at the prizes from up close. “[Not sure. Pride with a hint of greed? You’ll figure it out, and no, we shouldn’t pick fights.]”

  Maurice deflated, but Henry wasn’t done. He tapped the crab on the head and continued. “[Unless we know they’re loaded and have a lot of prizes for us to pick up.]”

  Henry grinned while the crab laughed, rubbing his claws together, then both glanced back at the lord and his son, being escorted away by the tree-guard. The father took a look back, and met Henry’s eyes.

  The kraken smiled, and one of his clones appeared and wrapped an arm around the chest, which plopped into his Maw. The man came to a full stop before the three-mark pushed him further.

  “[I’ll probably get my challenge soon,]” Henry said, looking down at the crab. “[Think I can handle a two-mark B-rank?]”

  “[Sure! We could now bet the pearl and these treasures for more prizes. But they don’t know they’ll lose. We’d be scamming them. Hehehehe.]”

  A presence fell around them, and they whirled to find the ape standing behind them, grinning. “[I can’t tell exactly what you two are planning, but I think I’ll enjoy it nonetheless.]”

  Henry and Maurice shared a look, and Zerathstra sat down and crossed his legs. “So? How are you two doing?”

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