VIP

Pernok followed the guard captain down a long corridor.

There were large doors at regular intervals, with at least two guards stationed at each.

‘This isn’t just a simple prison. I see corridors connecting to other places too.’

He continued memorizing the complex structure of corridors leading to corridors.

Even if he killed the guards, it seemed he’d need to know the path thoroughly to get out of here.

When he became familiar with this place’s structure, the guard captain stopped before an antique door.

“Don’t raise your head until he grants permission.”

With firm advice, the door opened.

“Waaaaah-!”

Suppressed sounds burst forth as if blazing, and Pernok quickly scanned the room.

It was a viewing box that overlooked the entire arena at a glance.

Unlike ordinary spectator seats, it was furnished with luxurious furniture and food.

‘So this is the VIP special viewing box.’

Pernok turned his gaze to a corner.

A man in a tailcoat with his white hair slicked back walked out holding wine.

“Have a good time.”

The guard captain bowed his head to the man and slowly closed the door.

The man calmly received Pernok’s gaze and placed the wine on the table.

“Didn’t the guard captain warn you?”

And he sat down and looked at Pernok.

“Don’t move without my permission.”

An unpleasant feeling like snakes crawling was conveyed from that leisurely gaze.

Pernok examined the man with the Observation Eye.

‘So he’s a mage.’

Mana flowing from the man bound Pernok like threads of flesh.

With mana far superior to the guard captain’s, he finished his brief search.

And slowly withdrawing his mana, he smiled.

“Is that boldness the pride characteristic of mages?”

“Magic?”

“No use playing dumb. I can feel the mana contained in you quite well.”

Pernok grasped one error mixed in those words.

‘He only noticed the mana. He doesn’t know what magic I have.’

He judged whether someone was a mage solely by the presence or absence of mana.

In other words, before actually clashing, he didn’t know the type of magic the target had.

This was useful information that brought tactical advantage to Pernok, who absorbed opponents’ magic to use as single-use items.

‘The more varied magic I use, the more confused the opponent will be. With information difficult to pinpoint, I can stab a lethal dagger into opponents stronger than me.’

The man had thoroughly barked up the wrong tree.

So the pleasant misunderstanding would continue, Pernok silently stared at the man.

“When you faced Erik, you definitely used physical enhancement type magic. Since you caught Erik off guard, you must be Level 2.”

His body amplification using Ataka seemed to look like magic.

Pernok wasn’t one to reject the man’s deepening misunderstanding.

“…So what’s the reason you called me?”

When Pernok drove in the wedge, the man’s eyes flashed.

“I’ll buy your magic.”

As expected, the man intended to employ Pernok as an individual match player.

It was worth deliberately standing out from the subjugation battles.

‘To raise a death match player directly to individual match player, he must have considerable authority.’

Pernok lightly tested how much that authority and benefits could make him stronger.

“So you’re saying roll around like a dog, same as before.”

“I’m both the manager of this place and a VIP who can deploy players. If you follow my words well, I promise good treatment. You won’t die futilely.”

“Manager? Are you the bastard who ordered my kidnapping?!”

When Pernok pretended to be angry and leaked killing intent, the manager smirked.

“The distinction must be clear. We only receive people. The ones who kidnapped are separate. It’ll be troublesome if you mistake this point and put emotions first like a greenhorn.”

“Rather than trust bastards who make money off people’s lives, I’d rather become a dog!”

“Wouldn’t making money off it make it more certain? If you’d been an ordinary Level 2 mage from the start, there wouldn’t even be this offer. But you’re different from the common bastards littering the streets. Your performance stimulates the audience. That becomes money.”

When Pernok glared, the manager answered with a smile.

“Think about it sensibly. Why would I work someone who provides me profit like a dog? I’m not a ruffian who doesn’t know business ethics. I’m a businessman who always pays appropriate compensation for that work. Our dealings are clear-cut.”

“These days, do they call breeding a transaction?”

“Hahaha, breeding. I suppose it could look that way. Right, even if you deal with me, you can’t go outside. But what’s the problem with that? You’ll enjoy all sorts of luxuries you couldn’t obtain outside.”

“…”

“Think simply. You can live a much more comfortable life here while listening to me. Women, food, weapons. You’ll receive whatever you want.”

The manager pointed to the empty seat.

“When you killed Erik, you weren’t a greenhorn swept up in emotions. I hope my choice wasn’t wrong.”

It was a temptation containing subtle threats, as if to say there were plenty of replacements.

‘The manager himself deploys players… Then the probability is high that he’ll select good ones and assign them to me.’

If Pernok continued his success in individual matches, the likelihood was high he’d be treated as a valuable commodity.

The spiritual power, mana, and magic he’d gain in the process of steadily accumulating consecutive wins would accelerate Pernok’s growth.

The conclusion was reached that joining hands with the manager right now was advantageous in many ways.

“…Can you really fill what I want?”

The manager grinned broadly.

“I plan to grant everything possible in this place. Of course, you can only enjoy benefits when you faithfully follow my scenario.”

Pernok clamped his mouth shut and sat opposite the manager.

When he showed a heavy expression as if making a difficult decision, the manager gladly poured wine into a glass.

And he handed Pernok a red pill together with the wine.

“This is poison.”

“…?”

“You can only live by receiving medicine from me once a month.”

“Are we negotiating or are you putting a leash on me?”

“Think of it as a process to build trust between you and me. I trust this more than scraps of paper like contracts.”

“Tsk.”

At Pernok’s appearance swallowing the pill and wine without hesitation, the manager seemed slightly surprised instead.

“For someone who disliked it, you’re accepting it quite properly.”

“Is there another choice at this point?”

“Hahahaha, I really like that boldness.”

The manager stood up and offered Pernok a handshake.

“From now on, you’ll be active as my player, not livestock. I’ll assign you new quarters and a training instructor, so do show performance worthy of expectations.”

“I’ll take one more person there.”

“Ah, you mean the old man who survived with you since the subjugation battles?”

“I need someone to attend to me.”

“Then, I can have that fellow run errands. I’ll tell the guard captain.”

Pernok clasped the manager’s hand.

“I sincerely welcome you becoming my player, Pernok! Hahahaha!”

He inwardly sneered at the heartily laughing appearance.

The day that smile would be stained with despair would arrive soon.

* * *

As soon as Pernok came outside, he examined his surroundings.

After confirming no signs of people, he immediately closed his eyes and activated Ataka, and his internal flow was grasped as if in his hands.

Something sticky was clinging to the blood flow heading from his throat to his heart.

‘Is this the poison?’

Suddenly, the Lord of Calamity came to mind.

His Origin, ‘Pestilence,’ handled all poisons in the world.

The Lord of Calamity, who exhaled extreme poison with just his breathing, also boasted medical skills unmatched by anyone in the world.

[Do you know the best method to cure poison?]

To the Lord of Despair’s question, unable to endure boredom at some point, the Lord of Calamity answered with a look of disdain.

[Why would you harbor poison? Expelling it is detoxification.]

Resistance to poison?

Antidote?

The question was wrong from the start.

It was enough to scrape out all the causes so not even trace poison remained and discharge them outside the body.

The Lord of Calamity’s answer was clear, but he said not many people in the lower world followed that method.

Because most didn’t know what direction poison flowed along or where it accumulated in their bodies.

But Pernok had Ataka.

Ataka, evolved one level thanks to mana, quickly grasped and controlled internal blood flow.

Bloody Poison.

The Lord of Calamity’s technique of discharging poison mixed in blood outward could be learned through postnatal effort, not Origin.

It came with the restriction that one had to know blood flow manipulation methods like Ataka, and it couldn’t be poison fatal enough to kill instantly.

But the current Pernok could use it without difficulty.

“Hoooo.”

Pernok calmed his mind peacefully and mixed mana and Ataka together.

The blood flow faithfully fluctuated following Bloody Poison’s theory, and gathering up poison spread through the body down to specks, he concentrated it in his finger.

When Pernok bit his index finger, blood with a murky tint dripped down.

When blood giving off a foul smell no longer came out, the blood flow moved smoothly without poison residue.

With the means of restraint called poison gone, all that remained was the training ground named arena that the manager provided.

‘If he’s strong enough to cut down the guard captain in one stroke, he won’t die easily even outside.’

Pernok turned his gaze to the guard captain approaching from afar.

The guard captain scanned Pernok with cold eyes as usual.

“It seems the VIP was pleased with you.”

“We communicated quite well.”

“That insolent attitude must definitely be corrected.”

The guard captain curled up one corner of his mouth.

“If you want to receive the antidote.”

Pernok smirked.

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

“I’ll instruct you for one month. Immediately after, you’ll be deployed in matches, so know this and prepare.”

* * *

The new room was fairly spacious, but only had a bed and table.

The guard captain, assigned as training instructor, spoke in a voice as stiff as the dry room.

“Each time you win in matches, this place will be filled with things you want.”

“Aren’t there cases where I have to deliberately lose?”

“If you accurately carry out orders, rewards will likewise be given.”

“Quite favorable conditions.”

“That’s how much the VIP has expectations for you. It’ll be good to do your best while he treats you well.”

From that day, the guard captain’s instruction began.

He swiftly demonstrated weapon techniques and tricks utilizing the arena’s rules.

‘Full of only pretense.’

The guard captain’s weapon techniques were so crude it was nauseating to even call them weapon techniques.

He said the best approach was to toy with opponents through tricks, but if Pernok possessed mana equal to the guard captain’s, he would have already cut his throat dozens of times.

‘In technique, the guard captain can’t match me. The problem is magic. No matter how simple the sword path, it’s meaningless if I can’t avoid it because of magic.’

He checked the means available now. And Pernok reached one conclusion.

‘What if I combine mana with my body enhanced by Ataka to doubly accelerate this body’s performance?’

Focusing on how mana moved following Ataka’s breathing, Pernok developed a new technique.

He searched through the absolute beings’ memories and checked all the trial and error they went through developing techniques.

And gathering parts similar to Pernok’s method among them, he established a new concept.

Mana Reinforcement.

It was the concept of amplification that rapidly grew the body’s interior and exterior by mixing the process of mana absorption into Ataka’s training method.

‘Vitality rises remarkably more than when handling only Ataka.’

The more they clashed, the more solid Mana Reinforcement became.

Even the Observation Eye’s duration increased, so the guard captain’s movements began to be plainly visible.

Around the time two weeks passed, he reacted sufficiently even when the guard captain mixed in magic.

The guard captain observed Pernok’s growth.

‘He’s following my sword path with his eyes?’

But he was only slightly surprised and didn’t consider it significant.

‘Has the wound fully healed? This might be his original ability.’

Pernok’s ability had already become strong enough to deceive the guard captain’s eyes.

The guard captain, not even knowing Pernok was playing around while holding back appropriately, judged him at Level 2 mage level.

“That much means you won’t die easily.”

The guard captain withdrew his sword, slow enough to make one yawn.

Around that time, Pernok’s Mana Reinforcement had grown to the point of easily crushing rocks with one hand.

“If you use your magic ‘Acceleration,’ you’ll be able to respond even to opponents one level higher than you.”

“What level mage are you?”

“Level 3. But I belong to the upper ranks even among the same level.”

The guard captain scanned Pernok.

“You must be upper Level 2. Maybe you’ll rise to Level 3 someday.”

Pernok smirked at the prey living in delusion.