Aker was now standing in the middle of the arena as hundreds of thousands of people in the crowd went about their business. They were screaming at one another and arguing about who to bet on and why the other was an idiot. Aker had never really stood out in the arena for this long with nothing to do so he never had a chance to just sit and watch the crowd outside of a battle. While watching the crowd he saw several fights break out and even saw one man get dragged away by a group of men.It had been two days since Aker had contemplated on the fire while learning in the forge. He had been so consumed in his thoughts about how fire burned and its power that he didn"t swing the hammer even once. When Vance showed up and saw him just standing and staring into the fire he just patiently waited, no one was willing to say a word for fear it might interrupt Aker.
Surprisingly for Aker who stood in front of the forge for several hours contemplating didn"t feel hot or burned at all. His robe managed to hold up without too much issue as all combat robes came with minor protection from the elements.
Upon Aker coming back to his senses he hadn"t realized how much time had pa.s.sed and was surprised to see Vance waiting on him. Not knowing how to broach the eerie silence of the forge Aker simply called out "haha.... I somehow got out of swinging the hammer today Master Mavis!"
When Mavis first heard Akers words about being able to get out of having to swing the hammer he was just about to come unglued, however, in the same breath Aker called out to him as Master Mavis causing the excitement to swell within him. This was the first time that Aker had willingly called him Master since he started swinging his hammer in the forge. A brilliant smile appeared on Mavis"s face as he responded back "Boy just you wait until tomorrow, you"ll be doin double the hammerin."
Casually Aker smiled back "should be fun Master Mavis".
With that Aker simply followed his normal routine of putting up the tongs and hammer, wiping down and walking out, except this time there was no shout out to Mavis calling him teacher.
Aker was in an incredibly great mood and he wasn"t quite sure why. Thinking back on it he had never contemplated that long and hard on anything or any subject before. He would work hard while at the medic station and the kitchen but he wouldn"t contemplate on a single concept for hours on end.
Even as he worked in the kitchen, he couldn"t help but find himself just staring at the fire as the terrible smell of burning grease, vegetables, and flesh filled the room.
That day in the arena they had Aker fight fifty Kulga and for the first time he used his sword and shield combination. He struggled during the fight at times as he felt slightly slower and his timing seemed off. Since he was practicing in the arena and didn"t feel any pressure at all he wasn"t using his new found strength and speed from breaking through the Body Conditioning Skin level. He just focused on his technique, adjusting to the length of the sword vs. the knife and the weight. Vance strenuously emphasized that he needed to use the fights in the arena until he had to fight a magical beast for training with the sword. Even his normal morning practice with the knife was replaced with the sword.
When fighting the Kulga Aker was bewildered to find out that the Kulga were no longer capable of cutting him. When Aker came out and told Vance he was just responded too with a laugh and told "Of course those Kulga wouldn"t be able to cut you any longer, you skin is filled with nature particles. While you can still be cut by metal weapons and magic beast a normal weak beast especially a Kulga wouldn"t be able to harm you even if you laid down and let them all attack."
For the first time since he had come to The Pit, he found he didn"t have to worry about fighting for his life in the arena. The Pit wasn"t ready for Aker to face off against a magical beast and as such they reluctantly had Aker fight against fifty Kulga on the following day as well. The crowd seeing this bet huge and The Pit made it quarter odds against him. Basically, if you bet 100 franar on Aker and won you would only win 25 franar and still with those odds almost everyone in the arena bet on Aker to win. Even if they were only getting quarter odds it was still free money as far as everyone was concerned. He had already beat fifty Kulga the day before and they didn"t leave a mark on him. He had looked sloppy and off kilter while fighting them but he still won hands down.
As the fight finished up yesterday everyone in the stands was jumping in their seats following Akers easy second win against the fifty Kulga. First, they had basically won free money but more importantly they had finally announced that tomorrow would be the day that Aker would be fighting against the magic beast. Conversations were taking place all over The Pit as the crowd was trying to figure out what everyone else was thinking.
"Finally, not that I wouldn"t mind seeing him fight against Kulga a few more times as long as they let us bet, hehehe that was some easy money."
"Ya couldn"t they give us just one or two more days of betting on the boy to make up for all the money we lost betting against him."
"What are you all talking about, tomorrow that boy is going to finally face a real beast, do you think he can keep winning? Based on the way he fought against those Kulga he has no idea what he"s in for.... I"m taking everything I won and betting against him. Fighting a magic beast is nothing like fighting a Kulga, I would say he will understand the difference after he fights a few of them but I don"t think he"s walking out of the arena tomorrow."
The crowd was discussing the announcement that Aker would be fighting the magic beast on the next day and they were starting to get excited about it.
"What do you think the odds will be like?" a shifty eyed weaselly man asked trying to get everyone"s impression of how good the betting will be.
"I would say one to one, at most two to one for the boy." A young man in his early twenties responded back to the shifty eyed fellow. These two had been friends since they met a couple of years ago and primarily made their money in The Pits. They have also been known to be able to help get some of the harder to find items from The Pit Slums.
These two called themselves the Righteous Twins as they never cheated their customers. If you hired them, they would never lie, cheat, steal or lead you in the wrong direction, but for everyone else they had a motto "If I can lie, cheat, and steal from you, why not?"
"Hey, you two come over here!" A strong and handsome man called out to the two. He had an aura that caused others to want to bend their knee when he wasn"t restraining it. As he was calling out making a demand instead of asking, he didn"t hold himself back and restrain is aura and the several people standing around him felt like a mountain had weighed down on them. It gave them the feeling that the only way to relieve the pressure was to bend knee and acknowledge the man before them.
The two Righteous Twins seeing the man who stood over two meters with his imposing and suffocating demeanor call them over didn"t hesitate for even a second. The air of dominance and the chill that permeated from him matched perfectly with his long silver hair and caused those people who were already around to take a few steps back.
Standing before him the two men felt nervous, while looking into each other"s eye knew what the other was thinking "better not do anything that would offend this man or we wouldn"t even know how we died".
"Good Sir, how can we be of a.s.sistance" the weaselly member of the Righteous Twins called out with a slight bow as he spoke.
"You two, are you also known as the Righteous Twins?" Vance"s sharp eyes narrowed onto the weaselly man letting him know that he had better watch every word that came out of his mouth.
"This one is Leland and the young one over there is Sheppard, the both of us together are known as the Righteous Twins. We"re not related it"s just a nickname that was given to us because we"re known to treat our customers fairly and sincerely."
"Good, from now on you will place all of my bets for me. You can keep 3% of everything I win, no negotiating, oh.....and if you dare cheat me I"ll take what you steal from me in flesh. Even if you wanted to pay me back in franar I still wouldn"t accept it if you get my meaning."
Leland felt the killing intent burst out for only a fraction of a second and nearly peed his pants in fright. He somehow managed to keep his calm exterior, Vance wasn"t the first person that Leland had dealt with that had such a suffocating and imposing demeanor.
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"You never have to worry about us two cheating you, if you weren"t our customer, I couldn"t make that promise, but as our customer I guarantee it with my life." Leland flashed a smile to rea.s.sure Vance. The problem was the smile only made Leland look slyer and sleazier.
Vance had handed over 500 franar, everything he got from his first paycheck for the last two weeks working as a guard and bet it all on Aker. Hearing the bet was for Aker in tomorrow"s fight Leland was shocked and pointed out that they didn"t even know what type of beast Aker would be fighting and what the odds were. Vance waived his hand in the air as he walked away and simply replied "don"t care just bet it all on the boy."
Having placed his bet on Aker yesterday with the Righteous Twins Vance was standing on his water barrel staring out the cubby window hole and he could clearly see as Aker stood their taking in the crowd.
Vance"s back felt cold as he thought about Aker fighting a magic beast. Sure, Aker"s skills and talent had increased crazily over the last few weeks and the beast that nearly claimed his life on the first day could only bow down before him now. Sure, he had broken through the first level of a magic fighter and he"s seen a remarkable strength increase but none of that mattered to Vance.
Magic beast were born for the purpose of killing, even the weakest ones. While Kulga were predators it was like comparing a 10-year-old to a grown man, they were both technically people but would you say they were both equal in strength?
As Vance watched the fight from his pathetic spot and stared at the boy surrounded by a mountain of people the announcer began.
"Hahahahahahaha.....Welcome....welcome...to all of you have made the journey here we of The Pit are so glad and happy to have you. As you can see that villainous, savage, inhuman, barbaric, vile....well we could go on forever describing this utterly disgusting trash; this nameless child..." as the announcer was talking about Aker some in the crowd began booing as they described him. When the announcer called Aker nameless someone in the crowd screamed out.
"He"s not nameless, his name is Aker, I don"t know if he"s everything you described but the boys earned a name." No one knew exactly where the shout started from but someone else began chanting....
"Aker..Aker..Aker..Aker.." As the one person began chanting a few more jumped in and before a few seconds the sound of 300,000 wild and crazy people of the crowd rained down the name Aker, Aker, Aker. As the crowd chanted out, the vibration from their chant created a deafening sound in the arena and shook the entire slums surrounding The Pit.
This had never happened before in the history of The Pit"s and the announcer didn"t know how to defuse the situation. As the crowd cheered and the announcer stayed silent Aker was astonished by the calling of the crowd, especially that he had earned his name.
That"s right, he had stood strong in The Pit and fought with his life on the line against impossible odds. While it seemed like he was pulling ahead right now it was just an illusion as he would soon be facing beast of unbelievable strength as compared to the Kulga.
The announcer must have been instructed by someone as he came back over his loud speaker and kept talking "this boy Aker...".
Upon the announcer calling him Aker instead of nameless child the chants of Aker stopped and cheers erupted in the crowd. Sure, everyone came to see a battle but in the Underground Empire the people had their laws and morals. While they would rob, steal, cheat and kill they respected those that earned it and just because they respected Aker didn"t mean they didn"t want to watch him die.
"will be fighting a strong and powerful destructive Fire Ape. Everyone get your bets in, the fight will start in five minutes."
Aker who had been a bystander through the whole process finally heard it and he couldn"t help but think..."A Fire Ape huh, I dare anyone to bet against me." As always when standing before the crowd Aker showed a domineering smile.