The kiosk showed a handful of events to pick from. I immediately ignored any of the ones below C-rank, and started at B-ranks since those could be boosted up to an S-rank difficulty with the added handicaps.

If I could manage to beat an A or B-ranked match, that would instantly grant me seven to ten million points to spend freely. Part of me figured this kind of payout would only work once and that they would find a way to reduce it for any future attempts. There was no way they would allow someone who could successfully rack up that amount of points to remain unhindered.

I needed one extremely large payout or if possible to keep it down to three or so matches. This was something I made sure to discuss with the others, so they could help me be accountable in case things got too addicting.

Out of all of the available listings, there was a single one that looked promising from both A and B tiers. I chose these based on the advantages of my unique magical resistance and ability to outmaneuver the opposing beasts. The B-rank one was a fight against a Death Spider.

This one transmitted poison through contact with any part of its body. The poison would slow the target's heartbeat, making them sluggish until fully paralyzed to death. It was a matchup I felt comfortable, enough to avoid its poisonous fangs that would inject a much more lethal dose of venom compared to contact high from its exoskeleton. The strategy that I came up with involved shattering each of its eight legs with heavy strikes and carefully killing it.

I noticed a trend starting from A-rank events. These would be most likely held within the largest, center arena where the size of the fight wouldn’t be an issue. Most of these battles were intended for parties to tackle and didn’t take into account someone aiming to solo one as the only contender. The reason for this involved the multiple back-to-back monster fights with no intermission before the next beast was released into the arena to fight.

But also strangely enough what really popped out to me was spotting the monster race as a possible selection. If the listing was true that meant this would be the first time I’d ever come into contact with one. A being much like ourselves though discriminated against because of baseless fears. They normally didn’t have to deal with our kind and were on the opposite side of the planet from here. Literally the furthest they could possibly be from us, yet they still weren’t safe.

A single battle against a male wasp fighter was set as an A-rank battle. The counter for this one had gone up in favor of successful wins for the wasp fighter. The number of failed attempts and deaths on trying to beat this particular event reached up to fifty-nine with the last one being two months ago. It looked like no one bothered attempting to fight him anymore, especially since it was listed as a solo-only encounter.

The kiosk even had additional details and video footage of previous battles with the wasp fighter. Its body was an entire exoskeleton suit with back and yellow stripes patterned onto it like war paint. The wasp was allowed the use of a single slim, yet elegant rapier. In addition to the weapon, it had its very own innate one designed from birth. Its pincer was like a tailcoat hanging behind its rear that had the mobility of a tail.

If its wings weren’t clipped, I wasn’t too sure which of us would be the victor. That being said it was still bound to be a tough match since it looked like none of the challengers managed to force it into an all-out frenzy.

After the incident with the beasts, I had no intentions of going up against the wasp. The situation was a strange one and I almost felt a sense of familiarity with the wasp compared to any of my own race. I had half the thought to instead free the wasp from this place. I quickly crushed it and focused on myself. My wellbeing came first and there were consequences I wasn’t willing to risk at the moment.

Checking back at the several events with multiple monsters to beat, any one of them would do just fine. The next step was to look into gambling and how I could benefit the most from it. I sent Jade with the task to understand the basics and come back with her opinion on how I should act regarding placing any bets.

Taking one last look at the kiosk I searched for any S-tier or higher events only to be disappointed with a prompt saying there were none currently available. It made me wonder what would happen to the handicaps were I to attempt one of those ranks. It's not like there was a higher rank grade than S+ that it could jump to. I found a great question to hold onto and ask the receptionist at a later time.

The events facility was packed and thankfully Selka was doing great in the air conditioning. Having her power go haywire on so many individuals would be a nightmare. So long as she wasn’t excessively sweating there was nothing to worry about when it came to controlling her magic.

“Selka, why don’t you take a seat on the couch over there.” I asked as if subconsciously doubting myself.

“Ah, I’ve spotted a person I know. Would you like to be introduced, master?” Selka denied my request and looked in the general direction of who she was mentioning.

“Can you give me a little background on them first?” I wanted something, at least a name they went with to call them by.

“Too late, they spotted me.” Selka put on a charming smile to greet the approaching person. It sent shivers down my spine with the speed at which her facial features shifted like that all of a sudden.

“Selka, my darling!” The guy said. “It’s been too long, where have you been?” The guy brushed my shoulder like I was in his way without a care.

“Excuse me?” I found it pretty rude and directed those words at him.

“You’ve got no business here. Move along boy.” His remark made this off to a great start. Maybe it was too much to ask for decent acquaintances that could act rationally.

“I’m afraid you shouldn’t speak to my master like that, Siegfried.” Selka intervened almost too swiftly like she managed to see a vein bulge out from my forehead.

“Your what?” Siegfried exhaled. “How have you fallen to slavery!” He uttered contempt at me in response, finally acknowledging my presence for the first time.

Did Marcus not sell me a single damn slave and did they all have their freedom, to begin with? I was starting to believe he didn’t deal in the slave-trading business at all. I wondered how many more of my so-called slaves would turn up with unexpected drama.