Chapter 2 - First Signs of Budding Talent (Part 1/3)

“War Angel has obtained victory through technical knockout….” The voice of a beauty, created digitally, sounded out and gently entered the ears of every spectator.

Everyone was stupefied in place. Six Solar Palms had just seized a bit of an upper hand just now. How was he knocked out by War Angel in a moment’s instant?

Lucky! Surely this Expert Mouth-Shooter only won the bets due to luck! A few gamblers cast sidelong glances in succession at Qin Fen, who too had the same shocked expression spawn within his eyes, ascertaining their conjecture even further.

Qin Fen’s eyes were bulging wide open. He gazed at the victory results in the middle of the fighting stage, a bit afraid of believing it. How quickly Six Solar Palms lost and how War Angel obtained victory all fell within his predictions. Nothing differed in even the slightest!

The system held a hundred fifty dollars for the bets. Then the system removed fifteen dollars as fees, and the remaining hundred and thirty five dollars were all deposited into Qin Fen’s account in the Sky Martial Battle Network.

A hundred and thirty five dollars! Qin Fen was so excited that his two hands started to shake. The losses from missing today’s work had been earned back in an instant, and he had earned way extra! Way extra!

“Thank-you. Thank-you,” thanked Qin Fen as he transfered the entirety of the hundred and thirty five dollars from the Sky Martial Battle Network account to his personal bank account.

Only when the money entered his bank card did it truly belong to him! This was what Qin Fen always believed.

Thank-you? The few people who lost money felt the sincere expression of thanks to be ear-piercing. Was he provoking them?

The very first person who sought to bet with Qin Fen had his eyebrows slowly furrow together in the center of his forehead. It wasn’t shameful to lose a bet in this place, but losing a bet against a little cowardly devil who didn’t dare to fight was truly shameful.

Te few others who lost also had utterly dark expressions. The were normally subjected to Qin Fen’s ridicule, and now Qin Fen had won bets against them during this fun chatter.

After the bank transfer was completed, Qin Fen earnestly waited for the next fight to begin. A single fight was not enough to write fight commentary about. He had to wait for another fight.

“Expert Mouth-Shooter! I’ll make another bet with you on a fight!” said the very first person who lost money in a tone that bubbled with fury.

“Fifty bucks again?” Qin Fen’s heart stirred. He had won a hundred thirty five dollars, and this served as his baseline. It didn’t matter whether he would win or lose in the next won. He wouldn’t suffer real losses, and perhaps there was the chance to make more money.

“I accept!” Losing money was a small matter. Losing face was a big matter! Those who had lost money before bluntly agreed.

“You guys still want to bet?” Qin Fen faced the others. Fifty bucks per bet and a lot of bets, this was a chance that had to be seized.

“I’ll bet!”

“I’ll also bet!”

“Bring it! I bet!”

If these people, having being bullied by Expert Mouth-Shooter for so long, didn’t respond to today’s provocation, then they truly would lose all face.

Qin Fen’s heart stirred when he saw three more people lay down bets. He would make two hundred dollars if he wins! Even after fees, he would still make a hundred and eighty dollars! That was over a thousand and two hundred RMB!

One second. Ten seconds. Thirty seconds. Two minutes….

In the past, another fight would begin once one fight ended, but today happened to be this quiet. Five minutes passed, and there actually wasn’t anybody who entered the stage to fight. Those who were gambling became a bit restless.

Ten minutes passed. This was a bizarre situation. The fighting stage had never been idle for over five minutes in the past. It was actually idle for ten minutes already.

“No one?” Qin Fen was a bit disappointed, “Then I’ll first log off. I have stuff I need to do tomorrow….”

“Hold on! If no one’s fighting, then I’ll simply fight with you!” The very first gambler suddenly yelled in the public channel of this fighting stage. “Don’t run if you’re a man, Expert Mouth-Shooter! I’ll fight with you!”

“Not fighting.” Qin Fen refused him in the same way he would always refuse the provocations these people would always make toward him. Strength was the most valuable resource. It was needed for work, for school, for cultivating in martial arts. Such a valuable resource shouldn’t be squandered in this fight; no value could be obtained from it.

“You!” The very first gambler spoke with fury, “What’s wrong? Scared!?”

“It’s a pointless fight.” Qin Fen began to select the logout command. He had earned his money for the day. He could make a bit more money tomorrow by conserving his strength.

It’s a pointless fight? You want to conserve strength? This answer, when heard in the ears of others, turned into a sort of high and disdainful tone when it came to fights.

“Propria! This kid has his nose sticking way too high in the air! Fight with him! I’ll put up fifty…. No! A hundred bucks! On you to win!”

Qin Fen, who was about to confirm his logout, stopped going through the logout procedure. A hundred dollars? He would make ninety dollars if he won. That’s more than what he would make tomorrow!

“That’s right! Propria! I got your back too! I’ll put up fifty dollars as well!”

Qin Fen easily clicked open the combat record data of Propria, who was close by. Members of the Sky Martial Battle Network had the privilege to publicize or conceal their own combat record. Propria was one of those who publicized their combat records.

ID: Regal Propria

Height: 1.77 meters

Arm reach: 1.82 meters

Uses the Azure Electric Drive, a neo martial art technique

two-star Warrior

Battle Record: 137 Wins, 12 losses

His most recent fight was two days ago, a loss against a user of the paleo martial art technique, the Sealing Windlike Hand.

Neo martial arts. The Federation didn’t publicize and neo martial arts for free. This was because neo martial arts were quite quick to become powerful in. All one needed to do to learn neo martial arts was to spend money and buy and receive surgery from the Federation.

Martial arts where you had to spend a considerable amount of money were often much stronger than free martial arts. When facing the free martial arts on the same level, the money-costing martial arts had a higher win rate. Basically, those who cultivated in free martial arts weren’t willing to fight against neo martial artists.

The corner of Qin Fen’s lips curved into a faint smile. Regal Propria? Wasn’t the commentary he delivered to the newspaper two days ago had him as a subject? Back then Qin Fen had described Regal Propria’s martial arts technique to be quite beautiful but lacking in destructive power. This person had issued out challenges in anger in the past.

Qin Fen quickly skimmed through all of Regal Propria’s publicized data and laughed. He laughed in utter delight. This hundred and fifty dollars shouldn’t be a problem at all.

Two days ago when he wrote his commentary, Qin Fen had already made an assessment of a theoretical fight between him and Regal Propria. The probability of victory was quite large. He had surmised that he would be able to obtain complete victory within a hundred and thirty moves.

“I’ll also lay down a hundred on myself to win!” Regal Propria rushed Qin Fen with a snarl, “All this money is yours if you win. If you lose, I don’t need your money. You can just call me Boss in the future.”

Qin Fen selected the computer procedure to agree to battle, transporting to the heart of the combat field in the next instant. This round of gambling had actually reached five hundred and seventy bucks!

Qin Fen suddenly felt a sort of suffocating feeling. Five hundred and seventy dollars! That was half a month of living expenses if he won! Qin Fen had always been a calm man, but it was impossible for him to maintain tranquility when faced with such a huge sum of money. It was hard for him to contain the desire to battle that suddenly flared in his heart.