My gaze alternated between a bag of gold coins and the man at the window.
I didn't know what to say, maybe this was some kind of mistake or maybe a joke on the part of the apathetic man.
Frowning, the man said, "There's no mistake. The boss of the Colored Turkey Ring really liked your performance. This is a reward from him. Including your rewards for the two fights you had, it's a total of 135 gold coins. Congratulations. Looks like your luck was pretty good today."
I nodded, still a little shaken, though it wasn't from the pain in my jaw, that's for sure.
I was about to leave the place, but the man at the window stopped me.
—Wait, they told me they wanted to talk to you, the person shouldn't be long—
—Oh, sure, — I nodded, anyway, I was in no hurry.
I waited for a few minutes sitting in a corner, my body was heavy so I had no choice but to rest and wait with my body leaning against the wall, fortunately the person who wanted to talk to me didn't take too long.
"Mr. White Fist, is that right?" Hearing a soft voice, I looked up. A woman in elegant clothes with a wooden board full of documents in her hand was smiling warmly at me.
I nodded without realizing it, my face widened due to the warmth the woman conveyed, the woman widened her smile and began to speak —Mr. White Fist, let me tell you that your performance was splendid and the boss of the colored turkey is more than satisfied with your performance — The woman took a card made of paper from one of her pockets.
When I took it in my hands, I could read a title written in large letters on the paper: "Battle Royale."
Seeing my confused look, the woman gave a soft smile and explained, "The head of the colorful turkey liked your performance so much that he decided to invite you to a special event that will take place in a week inside the circus. It is an event for teams of five people. The rules and explanations of the event will be posted at the entrance of the circus and at each window."
A team event, although it sounded interesting, is not something that catches my attention. I've already achieved what I wanted, it would be best to concentrate on my training for now.
Seeing my disinterested look, the woman spoke quickly. "The rewards are quite interesting. As you know, Mr. White Fist, a practice method or combat technique of the lowest quality can cost hundreds or thousands of gold coins at the auction houses. However, as this is a large event attended by some important people, it has been decided that the teams that place in the top three will receive immortal practice manuals and resources as rewards."
—I'll accept— I said without thinking, even having the money on hand, buying techniques and manuals is not that easy, now that I had the opportunity to get them, I was willing to try.
—Great! Then I'll let the head of the colorful turkey know that Mr. White Fist will be participating—
With that said, I was about to retreat to the martial arts school, but the woman seemed to remember something. "Oh right! Mr. White Fist, the rewards increase based on the participant's level. Maybe it's a good idea to try to advance to the next stage before the event starts."
"I understand," I say goodbye to the woman and the man at the window.
On the way I couldn't help but think about what the woman had said, moving on to the next step was easier said than done.
. . . . .
At the entrance of the martial arts school, several people were crowded together making a racket.
Out of curiosity, I approached a person with a frowning face.
—Fellow practitioner, do you know what's going on? —
The person was surprised when he heard me, looked at me for a moment and sighed reluctantly. "Don't you know? The school has said that it will not break the servitude contracts until further notice."
"Shit!" This was what I feared the most. It had only been a day since the rumors of war began to spread, and the martial arts school had already acted.
Seeing me frustrated by the news, the man approached my side, speaking in a voice only audible to the two of us. "Also, I don't know if this is true, but I've heard that several people have been disappearing since the last few days. Do you know what that means? Right?"
Hearing the latter, my brows also furrowed. The martial arts school might have nothing to do with this, however, with rumors of the impending war circulating everywhere, people will subconsciously believe that they have something to do with this.
—Baron Andrés's guard shouldn't take long to start recruiting people, either voluntarily or by force— The man said.
I couldn't help but shake my head at the situation, even non-practitioners were going to be involved in this matter, but there was a reason for doing so.
Body or qi refining, even at the highest stage, couldn't do much against a large group, at most 70 people was the limit, about 100 for late stage geniuses, it doesn't matter, in any case a practitioner of the first rank was still a mortal, we still need basic necessities and if we are pierced by any kind of weapon, we can still bleed to death.
Even with my current strength I'm only able to fight five people at a time and it's not safe to say I can come out unscathed.
—Thank you for sharing this information, fellow practitioner —
The man nodded. "People are already suspicious anyway. I've heard that Baron Andrés wants to come and give a few words. The place seems to be after an event that will take place at the circus."
The circus, if I remember correctly, the woman mentioned that important people would be coming, so maybe it has to do with the war.
Clenching my hands until my veins stood out, now that I couldn't get rid of the servitude contract, the only option seemed to be escape, however, the outskirts are filled with all kinds of spirit beasts, the safe exits should be guarded in case of any escape attempt.
Looking at the bag of coins in my hand, advancing to the next stage in a week might not be so far-fetched.
If I buy intermediate or higher quality alchemy pills, I might even be able to advance to the third stage before the recruitment is announced and the war begins.
Others might worry about impurities in the pills and would have to wait several days before using them again, however, with my breathing technique, only one night's rest was necessary to consume alchemy pills again.
"Okay, then it's settled" would advance to the second stage of body refinement before the circus event begins.
. . . .
Sitting on my bed, I looked at the three alchemy pills lying in my hand, one of intermediate quality, one of expert quality and one of perfection quality, in total I spent 61 gold coins, leaving me with 74 coins on hand.
First, I wanted to test the efficiency of each pill and whether my body could handle all the energy of the pill without harming myself.
So far I've been able to test the efficiency of the beginner and advanced grades . The beginner grade gives me four mastery points, and the advanced grade gives me seven mastery points. That makes it more appropriate for me to buy the beginner grade grade since it's cheaper, and the issue of impurities doesn't matter as much to me.
Furthermore, if I practice the copper body manual on my own, without the aid of the pill, I am able to gain one mastery point every two to three hours.
Taking a deep breath, I first took the intermediate-quality alchemy pill, the same sensation of warmth and burning that alternated every so often invaded my body.
So I started practicing the copper body manual, as I progressed in my training, the feeling of being burned and torn alive took over my body.
However, there was no sensation of my body inflating, which was one of the first symptoms of the body becoming unable to store the energy from an alchemy pill.
An hour passed until the energy in the alchemy pill was exhausted, without wasting time I summoned the transparent window.
Strength level:
Body Refinement: Blood Refinement
Practice method:
Breathing (Beginner 40/10,000)
Copper Body/Physical (Advanced 0/100) (Mortal)
Spiritual techniques:
None
Physical techniques:
Boxing Methods (Expert 16/40)
Skill Points: 2
An intermediate quality alchemy pill is equivalent to fifteen mastery points, a little more than double that of an advanced quality.
The increase in efficiency was more than surprising, not only did I manage to advance a stage in the copper body, I also managed to acquire two skill points, such a large reward for just an hour of training was undoubtedly good news.
As I sank into bliss, a mysterious energy invaded my body. At first, it seemed weak, but it grew stronger over time.
The energy completely enveloped me and before I could wonder what was happening, the mysterious energy disappeared.
When he disappeared, I was a little confused, my body had undergone a strange change.