After we finished lunch, I rushed back to the workshop. It was time to fight in the arena! The arena system would officially open at 1 pm. Everyone was grinning and licking their lips in anticipation as they counted down the time to its opening. The arena ranking would be a true testament to a player’s skill. Furthermore, making a name for yourself in the arena meant that you could win a roster spot on a professional gaming squad, which in turn meant that you would get a generous and stable income as well. This was absolutely paramount for professional gamers.

After all, getting good items from a boss ultimately relied on luck. There were some people who could fight bosses for an entire month and get nothing good, and then there were some people who would get an Outstanding Purple Gold–grade item that could be sold for more than ten thousand dollars at the beginning of the month. This "feast or famine" way of earning money was just too stressful, it wasn’t a sustainable way of living.

…

Whoosh!

After I appeared inside Sky City, I immediately checked the time. It was 12:40 pm, there was still twenty minutes before the arena would open.

Mn, I definitely needed to rush into the Top 10 at the end of this afternoon. If not, I’d be putting all of my super equipment to shame.

Beep!

Beiming Xue sent a message: "Big bro, don’t forget, we’re competing in the champion arena in the afternoon and the team arena at night…"

I swiftly replied: "Okay, I got it! Good luck to you, Lil Beiming!"

"Mmmm!"

I closed the chat window and continued to wait online. I opened up the arena interface and there was a "Random Match" button on it. Unfortunately, this button was still grayed out. No one would be able to press that button until the system officially opened.

A match in the arena could be concluded as quickly as it began, but it had to be concluded before ten minutes were up. In all honesty, this limit really only affected one person, and that was Candlelight Shadow. His Ghost God Prophecy could kill a person after 10 minutes, so the clever developers had instituted a rule to nullify it in arena matches. Of course, given Candlelight Shadow’s superlative skill, he didn’t ever need to resort to that tactic in the first place. As the top dog in Wind City, his strength was something that not even Luo River God of the Capital and Indigo Collar could compare to. One could well imagine just how strong he was.

The Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls’ guild channel was awash with activity, conversations springing up all over the place.

Xu Yang: "Ah, I’m so excited! Just fifteen more minutes until the battles begin!"

Gui Guzi: "I wonder if we’ll see any familiar faces in the champion arena. Haha, if we do, should we go easy on them?"

Chaos Moon: "The system will be able to detect it if players try to throw matches or take it easy on their opponents. They’ll ‘reward’ you with deducted points if you get caught, so throw a match if you dare…"

Li Chengfeng: "So everyone is going to rush to raise their rank in the champion arena, right?"

Xu Yang: "I should think so. Lu Chen, Beiming Xue, and our guild leader will all be participating in the champion arena. I expect that the Top 10 players in the champion arena will be decided within the hour."

High Fighting Spirits laughed and said: "Haha, I hope that we meet a few people from Warsky Alliance and Candle Dragon. It’ll feel a lot better to chop them down, am I right?"

Li Chengfeng: "Hear, hear!"

……

Everyone seemed to be in high spirits, so it was clear that everyone was very relaxed about the upcoming champion arena matches. This was good, because it was only when you were relaxed and calm that you could show 100% of your power in PvP duels. As a matter of fact, a lot of players actually had excellent skills in battle, but many of them tensed up once it came to competitions and duels against other players, so they lost without even being able to show all of their strength. This was all too common in PvP.

An eternity seemed to have passed before the appointed time finally neared. There was only ten seconds before the arena opened and a ten-second countdown timer suddenly appeared in the arena interface.

Hoo, how exciting! I wonder just how many eyes in the China server are currently staring at this countdown timer.

Ding~!

System Notice: The arena has officially opened!

Alright! It was time to enter the arena!

After I pressed down on the button, I suddenly felt my body drop. I was deposited into the waiting space of the arena. It was a small room and there were rays of sunlight shining in from the sole window in it. I stood up and peered out of the window. To my shock, I discovered that I was in a building that was at least twenty meters tall and that it was surrounded by countless arenas. The entire arena map seemed as big as Sky Forest!

Alright, the system was currently looking for an opponent for me. It would soon be time for me to fight for my rank!

Ding~!

System Notice: Hello, you have been successfully matched with player "Twittering"! The battle will commence in 5 seconds!

5!

4!

3!

2!

1!

A bright light flashed in front of me and by the time my eyes blinked open, I found that I had already been teleported into a sealed arena. The arena was an empty space that was 50x50 yards, and once players entered an arena, they would be forced into combat mode. A Level 104 assassin brandished a dagger as he looked at me with a stunned look on his face. But once he saw me moving, he sprang into action as well. His dagger turned into a flash of cold light as it sped toward my chest.

I instinctively raised my arm, and the hilt of my sword blocked the assassin’s dagger with a loud clang. I followed up that parry with a basic attack that pierced my opponent’s chest.

Puchi!

12783!

Huh, it looks like I didn’t even need to use any of my skills. I had killed my opponent with a single attack. I hadn’t even activated Martial God for this fight.

I heard a beeping sound which signified my victory. After that, I was awarded points for my win and sent out of the arena. This match hadn’t even lasted ten seconds, arena combat really was fast-paced!

I continued searching for new matches. Soon, I heard a familiar beep as a system notice rang in the air.

System Notice: Hello, you have been successfully matched with player "World-destroying Lunatic"! The battle will commence in 5 seconds!

Whoosh!

When I entered the arena, there was a Level 121 warrior standing in front of me. He was holding an axe and the emblem on his shoulder showed that he was from Vanished God City. I didn’t recognize his guild emblem, it was a guild I had not heard of before. But it didn’t matter, all I needed to do was rush forward and finish him. In my eyes, these weren’t even opponents, they were simply points.

"Heh, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand!?" World-destroying Lunatic exclaimed before he let out a roar of laughter. He whirled his battleaxe in the air as he charged toward me. "My luck is really good today. I actually met a pro like you in just my second match! Bring it on! Let me taste the strength of a CGL Hall of Famer!"

Whoosh!

Dense and violent flames erupted from his battle axe. World-destroying Lunatic was trying to hit me with Blaze.

I gently slipped to the side and then rapidly retreated half a step, casually moving out of the way of his flaming axe. World-destroying Lunatic’s eyes widened in shock, but I wasn’t going to wait for him to recover. The Heaven-stealing Sword whirled in the air as a universe formation appeared below my feet. A swirling cone of indigo energy erupted from the tip of my sword as I hit him with a Universe Break!

World-destroying Lunatic’s shock multiplied, he knew that he couldn’t dodge this strike. He hurriedly shifted his axe in front of him as he activated a guard skill to block my attack. It was too bad that it didn’t occur to him that this Universe Break could practically ignore its target’s defenses. It would deal even more damage if a player chose to guard against it!

Pffft!

17894!

The heavy blow nearly emptied World-destroying Lunatic’s health bar in one go. This guy’s Defense wasn’t bad at all! He’d actually managed to survive my Universe Break! Looks like he wasn’t just any simple player!

However, he didn’t have enough health to survive my next attack. Even though he tried his best to retreat and down a health potion, I easily caught up to him. His body slowly crumpled to the ground as I dispatched him with a Pardon + basic attack combo!

The battle was over! It was a complete victory!

As I flew out of the arena, I noted that I had gained quite a few points! Alright, it was time to enter the third match!

Whoosh!

I entered the arena again and saw that my opponent this time was Level 120 mage. He looked like a grizzled uncle and he had evidently finished his fifth class promotion as well. The emblems of Wind City and Peach Garden floated above his shoulder. Ever since Indigo Collar had led his guild to Wind City, I hadn’t seen another member from Peach Garden until this very moment. I never imagined that I’d meet one of his guild members in a place like this.

The mage grimaced. "Darn it, how unlucky can I get?! I’m definitely gonna drop points this time…"

A player was unable to hide his ID during arena matches. Furthermore, my ID was always high up in the China server’s Heavenly Ranking and the CGL Hall of Fame, so who wouldn’t recognize it?

I didn’t waste any time talking. I sprinted forward before coming to a sudden halt. My longsword flashed out as a Dragon Slaying Slash erupted from it and heavily exploded against that mage’s Magic Shield. The impact was so heavy that it caused the Magic Shield to bend inward and it even left a crack in it.

Thud!

To my surprise, this mage didn’t try to use his fifth promotion skill, Galaxy Storm, to attack me. Instead, he simply used a simple Ice Arrow X on me. It only dealt 1783 points of damage, a truly pitiful number. However, it has done its job in slowing me down to the point where my opponent could easily lock onto me.

Another Ice Arrow Spell swiftly followed the first. This skill’s cooldown was simply far too short! It almost seemed as if he could fire it off continuously.

Furthermore, it was clear that this mage was very skilled at kiting. He strictly maintained a 20-yard distance from me as he continued to casually cast spells at me. Hm, if his opponent had been someone else, that person may have very well been kited to death already.

While I stared at my opponent’s wide grin, I suddenly let out a bark of laughter and activated Thunderous Charge without any warning. I shot past the area that the mage was supposed to step into next, instantly messing up his movement patterns. The mage’s face turned red as he started waving his staff vigorously. That was the opening sequence for Galaxy Storm! Was this punk finally getting serious?

I leaned forward as I rushed toward the mage, a frightening power swiftly coalescing around my right arm. A vortex of bloody energy swirled around my fist and I pounded it straight into his Magic Shield—Magic Piercing Punch!

Bang!

MISS!

I didn’t do any damage, but I had successfully interrupted his Galaxy Storm. My Heaven-stealing Sword shot toward him before he even had a chance to react. A cone of indigo energy swirled around it as it cut straight through my opponent’s Magic Shield!

Pffft!

14902!

This mage was beyond pitiful. Universe Break and Barrier Break were truly a nightmare for any high-level mages, because they could ignore a large percentage of their Magic Shields’ durability.

Furthermore, my attack power, which was in a class of its own in the China server, could more or less one-shot a mage already. This also meant that no mage could allow me to get close to them during combat because I only needed one chance to hit them with Universe Break and send them to their grave.

Whoosh!

I noted that I had gained quite a few points when I flew out of the arena. Let’s continue! I will enter the Heavenly Ranking of the champion arena with a perfect record!

The next dozen matches were all yawners to me. I faced a bunch of mages, archers, warriors, and assassins who hadn’t even hit their fifth class promotion. It was a walk in the park. This was especially true when I was matched against an assassin or an archer. They were completely helpless in front of my metal armor and Defense, it was simply a tragedy for them.

Those were the rules of the game. If a player didn’t have enough Attack to break their opponent’s Defense, they would barely even tickle them. Even if they had a high enough Attack, these physical damage classes also needed weapons which had a chance to ignore Defense. If both conditions were not fulfilled, they could forget about ever beating a powerful metal armor player.

I had been engaged in fierce fights for over an hour, and I hadn’t been defeated yet. A feeling of euphoria surged through my body and I felt like an invincible war god. But this feeling only lasted until I checked the arena rankings.

What the hell! I’m only ranked 1178!? Just how many people were participating in the champion arena? My undefeated streak hadn’t even gotten me in the Top 1000...

Ah, whatever! Let’s continue! I’ll kill my way into the Top 10 before I stop. I refuse to believe my no-loss streak won’t take me straight to the top spot if I keep it up!