On the day of the second Colosseum Challenge, Zayn couldn't even see his own pair of feet in the jam-packed Colosseum.
He was not sure how many people were going to spectate his second challenge, but what he could tell rather easily was that tens of thousand of people would end up betting at the Colosseum's Gambling Ceasaria.
'Is the entire City going to bet, or what?' Zayn grumbled in his mind as he paved his way through the masses of ordinary Blessed. Many gamblers were powerful Blessed, but most of them were actually ordinary Blessed without a single Soulring. They didn't gamble with a lot of money but still dreamed to attain a prosperous future, though without the need to put in some work.
They were just daydreamers.
Zayn ignored the curses that were thrown at him for forcing his way through the masses. He ended up at the counter of the Colosseum's Gambling Ceasaria in only ten minutes which was enough time for Zayn to find out the multiplicators for each bet.
'Winning against the Heavy Armored Bull will give me a 201x multiplicator?!'
He was a little stupefied at the massive sum of money he could acquire from betting more than nine gold thalers on the 201x multiplicator. But, of course, Zayn did his research before beginning to daydream. He was momentarily driven by his greed but shook his head upon realizing that the Colosseum wanted to trick him into betting his whole fortune on the 201x multiplicator.
That was their safety net to make sure that even if things went south, Zayn would lose.
Manager Tilan and the Colosseum's analysts were not stupid. They created a high multiplicator factor to bait him. Fortunately, Zayn was not a prideful prick and knew that he wouldn't be able to defeat the Heavy Armored Bull in less than ten seconds.
Even if he were to release the Dragontale Twin Sabers' effect, he was unsure whether that would be enough to kill the Heavy Armored Bull in an instant.
That was also why Zayn decided to go with the much safer choice.
"I bet 96 gold coins, 6 silver coins, and 50 copper coins on the Challenger's win within sixty seconds." He told the young staff member who had rushed over to him the moment he discover who Zayn was. The staff ignored everyone else and hurriedly nodded his head.
"Yes, Sir!" He said without even realizing it before taking the pouch Zayn had put down on the counter.
'Sir? Well, that's something new…' He thought, not sure if that was just the young man's standard etiquette or if the young man subconsciously referred to him as Sir. Either way, Zayn felt quite good about the young staff's polite attitude.
"Here is your ticket, Sir. The ticket is registered for the Challenger's Victory within sixty seconds. It is a 56x multiplicator, and you bet a total of 96 gold coins, 6 silver coins, and 50 copper coins. If that's correct, please sign the form to verify the bet!" The young man said upon returning.
Zayn didn't even notice the weird gazes staring at him from all sides as he signed the form before storing the ticket in his expanding pouch.
After that, he returned back to his room, where his Spirits were still absorbing soul particles.
"You guys just continue while I will get our hands on a rampaging tank as the next party member!" He declared, smiling lightly as he finished his preparations before leaving his room once again.
There were a few interesting factors the Colosseum had taken into consideration while advertising Zayn's second Colosseum Challenge. FIrst, it was announced that he would fight the Heavy Armored Bull. Second, they pulled multiple strings to make sure that enough people would bet for Zayn's loss. That was easily done by aggressively advertising that Zayn was only 14-years-old and that he had only one Soulring.
The Heavy Armored Bull had two Soulrings, and its hide was extremely strong. The information said that the Heavy Armored Bull's Hide cannot even be cut by ordinary Artifacts!
There were a few more pieces of information that were spread through the City of Zerek to make sure that everyone would either bet for Zayn's loss, or that he would survive for more than ten minutes. All in all, they made it look like Zayn's earlier victory had just been a fluke.
After all, if a Challenger survived in the Colosseum's arena for ten minutes, they would be considered to have won the Challenge, either way.
Finding out what exactly the Colosseum had planned was hard to tell for Zayn. He didn't really care enough about their scheming to investigate it thoroughly. Instead of wasting his time, he would rather fight the Heavy Armored Bull, earn a huge fortune and keep provoking Manager Tilan.
Outside the room, Zayn played a little bit with his Dragontale Twin Sabers until the young guard who had sealed his expanding pouch for the first challenge did the same again.
"This time, you better be around when I need my expanding pouch unsealed, or you seal it for no longer than 15 minutes!" Zayn ordered in an imposing tone the moment the young guard opened his mouth. The young man didn't even know what was going on. He opened his mouth and closed it a few seconds later.
He blinked in confusion and nodded his head meekly.
"O-Okay…I will be at the Colosseum's Gambling Ceasaria once your battle is over," The young guard hastily mumbled. He didn't even doubt that Zayn would survive the battle.
Seeing the eerily calm and confident attitude of the young Normie, it was questionable if he even took the Colosseum's Challenge seriously, in the first place.
The young guard sealed Zayn's expanding pouches and he took a look to examine if the Dragontale Twin Sabers had been coated in poison or something similar. After being satisfied that it was not the case, he led Zayn into the arena while stealing glances at him.
Even if everyone said that Normies were disgusting and that one should stay away from them by all means, the young guard couldn't help but feel admiration for the young Normie.
Zayn calmly walked into the Colosseum's arena for the second time at the tender age of fourteen years, while enduring the pressure of tens of thousand of spectators wishing for his quick death.
The young guard could never cope with that kind of pressure.
He was certain that he would fall into depression.
'He is strong…'
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