Chapter 753: Nevermore: Gladiator No More

"Oi! That was bullshit out there, pure bullshit, I tell you! How can you even call that a proper fight, huh?" the annoying dwarf yelled at Jake, who was just trying to enjoy his sandwich in peace.

"You're just mad because you lost," Jake muttered.

"Damn straight I am! What was that shit out there? You aren't a bloody mage, so why do you use magic like that? You didn't even give me a chance to do anything! Do you have any idea how much time I spent on making this staff and each of the stored spells in the gems? You only gave me time to use one of them! One!" the dwarf kept complaining as Jake hunched down his food.

"Sounds like a severe case of skill issues," Jake said in a deadpan tone.

"You..." the dwarf muttered. "I swear, we'll meet again for a rematch, and next time I'll also come prepared! Mark my words!"

With a huff, he walked away, limping slightly due to the big bandages covering his chest. Jake just kept smiling to himself. While he did find the situation amusing, he also took the threats of a rematch very seriously.

Jake was fully aware he had won that fight far too easily due to his preparation and a bit of luck. The dwarf had done exactly as expected at every turn, falling into very much the same trap Jake had found himself in before his fight with the Benevolent Monk.

Every single fight for the Earthborn Faithful had been far too easy, and nobody had managed to even injure him due to his high defenses. As Jake was doing before, the guy was just going through the motions, expecting easy victories.

So when he met Jake, the dwarf was taken by surprise. As he had alluded to, he had far more to show off, but Jake had just never given him a chance as he had struck fast with deadly precision.

That was something else to consider in these G or F-grade fights. As a C-grade, ending a battle in a single blow when there wasn't a massive disparity in power was incredibly difficult. Piercing someone's heart, blowing off a part of their body, or stabbing them fifty times wouldn't necessarily kill them, and even if you cut tendons or hit vital organs, it wouldn't really impact their movements... primarily because neither of those things really mattered to C-grades anymore.

G and F-grades were different. A stab to the heart would kill you nearly instantly, a hole through the stomach would result in bleeding to death, and just a few good stabs could easily lead to death. Not to talk about the far lower average pain tolerance. This meant fights could easily end with a single attack, something Jake was fully aware of, considering that is how he won nearly every single fight after he began using katars.

Having to only land one good hit meant that even the weaker of two combatants could easily win if they got lucky or went in with a good strategy. A single mess-up from the stronger of two fighters could mean their loss or even demise. The tools one had to fight with as a level 0 were also simply incomparable to a level 200+, further exasperating any small fuck-up..

Perhaps this was Jake's biggest advantage in all these fights... the lack of tools others had. Because when it came to melee combat especially, Jake never had a lot of tools to begin with. He had always relied on his Bloodline, something he still possessed even in the Colosseum of Mortals. Taking Jake by surprise and landing a single fatal hit was far more difficult than perhaps anyone else in the entire arena. In fact, this led to arguably an even bigger advantage than anything else: consistency.

Anyway, even if the dwarf was salty about losing, and Jake had beaten him before he could really show off his skills, the rewards were very much still there as Jake stepped into the rank of Master Gladiator.

Congratulations! You have reached the Master Gladiator rank, proving yourself as a pinnacle Gladiator in the Colosseum of Mortals. As your notoriety and fame grow, so does the strength of your opponents, and you have begun to catch the eye of some of the more powerful entities involved with the Colosseum of Mortals.

As a Master Gladiator, you are still limited to one fight a week against another Master Gladiator.

All crafters will now have better equipment and items available.

In addition to gladiatorial battles, you can fight against non-Master Gladiator opponents in Show Matches once a day. These Show Matches are against a variety of foes and have far looser rules and regulations than regular arena fights. The possible opponents one can face in Show Matches are decided daily. Winning Show Matches reward Colosseum Points based on the opponents fought. Show Matches and battles against other Master Gladiators cannot be scheduled on the same day.

The difficulty of all Show Match options has been increased.

For reaching the Master Gladiator rank without losing a single time or losing any lives, you are rewarded an extra 10000 Colosseum Points.

For defeating the Earthborn Faithful, you are rewarded an extra 25000 Colosseum Points.

Continue to fight, and claim your glory as you prove yourself the strongest mortal!

Seeing he had been rewarded a total of 35000 Colosseum Points for just this one promotion match felt oddly cathartic to Jake. That was the number of points he had spent on all the equipment that had allowed him to breeze through the Veteran Gladiator rank, all earned in one day. Alright, it was the accumulation of ten or so weeks, but the point still stands.

Looking at his updated status, this accumulation did account for nearly half of his total points earned during the Veteran Gladiator rank.

Current objective: Be promoted from Master Gladiator to Warlord.

Current rank: Master Gladiator (0/10)

Colosseum Points: 73910

Lives remaining: 10

In the Veteran Gladiator rank, every Show Match had rewarded 600 Colosseum Points, while every Veteran Gladiator match had given 500 each. This was a doubling of all points gained, which did make Jake wonder if that was how the next few ranks would be... but then again, after a single more rank-up, he would no longer be a Gladiator.

Instead, the next rank was called Warlord. Jake had heard mentions of the rank before but hadn't known it was the one after Master Gladiator, and based on all he had heard, every single Warlord was a real monster. Then again, Jake remembered Polly also talking about every Gladiator being a real monster, so he wasn't sure how accurate that assessment was. The only monsters he had seen in the arena so far were the anomalies for his promotion matches.

Jake did hope that the Master Gladiator matches would begin to offer truly difficult challenges, but alas, that did not turn out to be the case. The very next day, Jake had his first Master Gladiator fight against a hobgoblin rogue who also used some weird poison magic. Aside from the odd feeling of no longer being effectively immune to all poison and having to dodge it, there really wasn't anything exciting to the fight.

He just hoped that the healers or potions could help reattach limbs as he did have to cut off the hobgoblin's right arm, but in his defense, he had done so reactionarily.

Seeing as things were not getting harder, Jake returned to his usual schedule of practicing archery and working on some basic magic practice. Part of this magic practice was related to a plan he had for his katars, but it wasn't as easy as he had hoped.

When it came to his point progress, Show Matches once more doubled in Colosseum Point value - 1200 each - with the first Master Gladiator Match rewarding 1000 points, so another doubling there. But this turned out to only be the case for his very first one.

A week later, when he did this second Master Gladiator fight, Jake got 1100 points for the win. Show Matches stayed the same, though. They continued to improve with 100 more for every win, meaning when he won his fifth Master Gladiator fight, he got 1500 points. The next day when he went to sign up for a Show Match, he also noticed how the hardest difficulty fights now rewarded 1800 points, up another 600. So, the points no longer just doubled but increased even more than that.

The more time passed, the more Jake also considered buying a proper bow, but he restrained himself. At this point, not showing off his archery wasn't just him wanting to play around with his melee weapons but a strategic decision.

Jake had worked a lot on his archery, and he would dare say he had gotten quite a lot better at it. However, even if that was the case, it was unquestionable that the very first fight he used a bow would be the most impactful one. No one knew Jake could use a bow, not truly. Sure, they could probably figure out he had a deal with the Quartermaster for a steady supply of bows and arrows to his practice room, but considering he hadn't ever used a bow and arrow in combat yet, they likely just assumed it was a hobby or something he was still working on becoming able to use.

He would be lying if he said he wasn't looking forward to the day when pulling out his archery seemed like a necessity.

As expected, Jake reached the peak of Master Gladiator without any major issues, even if he did definitely feel the fights getting harder. When it came to scouting out opponents, he had also improved his methodology. Rather than begin to gather information on every foe, Jake tried to have Polly or Owen locate his next opponent for him. While direct contact between yourself and your next opponent was frowned upon, and making threats straight-up against the rules, there was nothing that said one couldn't scope out each other from afar, something Jake himself had experienced many times.

That Jake had an utterly uncanny Bloodline-powered intuition toward how strong people were was totally irrelevant. In either case, this proved a great method to figure out if further information-gathering was even necessary. If Jake felt like his next opponent was too weak, he wouldn't bother, but if they felt strong enough to be a challenge, he would give Polly the go-ahead.

Not a single opponent in the Master Gladiator rank got that go-ahead. He got close a few times but ultimately didn't have the need.

Jake regretted not using this method before he met the Benevolent Monk... for if he did, Jake sure as hell would have gone out to buy some proper equipment and make proper preparations.

Either way. Having reached ten wins as a Master Gladiator, his promotion match was next, so Jake had naturally gone to the Battlemaster, who had a huge surprise announcement waiting for him.

"Look, I am not going to make any excuses here, but I think someone is out to get you with all these promotion matches. Three times in a row is definitely no coincidence, so maybe some of the higher-ups in charge of scheduling are actually out to get you... then again, they do also like exciting matches like this between two rising stars. Oh, yeah, you must wonder why I am rambling... we got another anomaly on our hands," the Battlemaster said.

Jake was shocked. Shocked, I tell you.

Bonus Objective gained.

Your rapid ascension through the ranks of the Colosseum of Mortals couldn't have been swifter. If you wish to keep this streak going, you will have to defeat an opponent with power out of the ordinary for this ranking.

Failing this bonus objective will lock out many similar future bonus objectives.

Bonus Objective: Defeat the Emberlight Blademaster

Based on the following explanation from the Battlemaster, the Emberlight Blademaster was a spell blade of some sort. He used light and fire magic to enhance his swordsmanship and was incredibly skilled in both. He had both solid ranged attacks and was a beast in melee.

Jake naturally did some more research than what the Battlemaster told him and even went and checked out the elven swordsman In person. While he was indeed strong... well...

If the dwarf had a horrible match against Jake, this so-called Blademaster ended up having an even harder time.

Jake had spent more than thirty years with the Sword Saint while delving into Nevermore. Not only had Jake seen the old man fight a lot, but they also had their fair share of friendly spars when they both got bored during downtime.

And while this Emberlight Blademaster was impressive in his own right... he still fell a bit short compared to the Sword Saint. Jake didn't really enter this fight with any game plan but had just researched his opponent to know about any dangerous trump cards, but all in all, it ended up being a pretty straightforward fight that Jake won after landing dozens of blows over a five-minute period.

Sure, he did have to go and get his pants, gloves, and chestpiece replaced afterward, as all had taken irreparable damage from being burned by the searing Emberlight, but that's what insurance was for.

Based on Jake's estimations, the Benevolent Monk was still the strongest person Jake had met in the Colosseum so far, but his fight had been "easier" than any of the other two special promotion matches. The differences in power between the Emberlight and the dwarf hadn't been that big, though... which was why the points he got from the bonus objective surprised him.

Congratulations! You are no longer a mere Gladiator, but a true Warlord, proving yourself a true apex combatant in the Colosseum of Mortals. By now, you have truly caught the eye of some of the more powerful entities involved with the Colosseum of Mortals, with many waiting with anticipation to face you themselves. Be prepared, for it shall only get harder from here.

For reaching the Warlord rank without losing a single time or losing any lives, you are rewarded an extra 20000 Colosseum Points.

For defeating the Emberlight Blademaster, you are rewarded an extra 60000 Colosseum Points.

Jake mentally skimmed the message, cutting out the repeated message about the shop offering more stuff and more options for the Show Match and all that.

Looking at the achievements, the 60000 from beating the Emberlight Blademaster were definitely more than expected and a nice bonus to get alongside the promotion to Warlord. Things were really stacking up, and looking at his points gained...

Current objective: Be promoted from Warlord to Paragon.

Current rank: Warlord (0/10)

Colosseum Points: 252,210

Lives remaining: 10

While spending around 35000 Colosseum Points had been painful in the moment, he had definitely more than made up for it now. And as he progressed toward this Paragon rank, he hoped that now, finally, fights would get hard.

"Two more ranks to go, and the Colosseum of Mortals will have another champion," Minaga grinned as he watched Jake. "Him picking up some gear was really about time because, man, was it sad to see that Benevolent Monk smack him about."

"It would have been disgraceful if he had lost that early on, and it would have eliminated his chances for a true pinnacle performance indeed," the Wyrmgod concurred.

Vilastromoz just looked on, not commenting much. He did wonder how many images of gods the Wyrmgod had managed to gather, though. The Emberlight Blademaster was a god from the Altmar Empire that had reached godhood and was now a commander in their divine army, while that dwarf, the Earthborn Faithful, was part of a large pantheon primarily filled with elemental gods.

The Viper didn't like to just wonder by himself, and while it would be fun to wait and be surprised... he was ultimately too curious.

"So, pray tell, what other interesting opponents do you have lined up?"

"Quite a few, quite a few," the Wyrmgod smiled.

"Yep, definitely an impressive lineup this time around," Minaga nodded with excitement.

"Come on, give me a tease," the Viper smiled.

"Hm... fine. A small peek," the Wyrmgod said, amused as he waved his hand.

The Viper looked as projections of three figures appeared. His eyes opened wide for a second before he grinned.

Jake definitely had his work cut out for him if he wanted to beat those monsters... and Vilastromoz doubted he would want it any other way. Besides, what other chances could a mortal get to fight Primordial-level figures?

Also... I really didn't expect to see her image here...