"That took longer than I thought," Olivia said with a condescending smile. "You are not that bad. If you change your weapon, you might have some chance against me."
Lin Feng was surprised. At first, he was sceptical of the result to be decided by that sword thrust. He believed that a wound of that calibre would not have killed him, but then, he looked down and found that the sword was pointing straight at his heart. He accepted his defeat then. The sword would have gone through his heart and definitely killed him if she had not stopped.
But he was not satisfied. He had been too conservative this time, too focused on watching her skills and dodging. He had been trying to learn from her and thus could not perform to the best of his abilities. He looked towards the old man. But his attention was caught by two men who were now coming towards the ring. The man behind was dressed in a black suit. He was wearing sunglasses and had a large smile on his face. The one in front was dressed in tight-fitting leather dress and brown boots. He was at least a head larger than the man behind and also much wider.
Lin Feng saw them and thought that one of the two men must be Thomas. He thought that his performance now was bad and would not please him.
I want to fight again." he said to Olivia.
Olivia was surprised. She looked at him with a smile. "You are the first guy here who wants to fight me by himself. The rest of the people here only fight when they necessarily need to." She moved her hand forward for a shake. I am Olivia."
Unused to shaking hands, Lin Feng fumbled with his axe, before shifting it to his left hand and gave his right hand forward too. "I am Lin Feng."
By then the two men had reached near the ring. Olivia addressed the man who was in behind "This guy is good. Why didn't you allow me to face him till now? If you hadn't brought him I might have stopped coming to your arena from tomorrow."
"I am glad you like him. He is new. He just finished his training a few days ago. " He said with more smiles.
Lin Feng looked bewildered. "What training are they talking about," thought he.
"Schedule an appointment for me of two hours tomorrow."
"It will be done." the President said.
With that Olivia walked out of the ring with a satisfied and weary smile on her face. The President gave an encouraging smile to Lin Feng before walking out with her. Her two servants followed behind her as she went out of the room. Old man Lin Ming followed behind the servants.
The trainer Thomas then addressed Lin Feng, "You have quite a showing today. To survive in the ring with Olivia for such a long time is not easy." He then scrutinised his body from head to toe. Lin Feng was tall and lanky. His body had thin wiry muscles but the strength he showed was much beyond them. Next, he took his axe in hand. The axe had a thick and heavy wedge-shaped axehead which was meant for splitting wood, with a small cutting area. "You look like you have much practice with this axe. Even though this axe is heavy, you can easily wield it." He then gave it a few one-handed swings. "I have a weapon in mind. Come with me. Let me show you."
From the talks of the President and Thomas, Lin Feng felt as if they had approved of his performance. Still, to be sure he asked as they went out of the arena, "So, you are hiring me?"
"We have very few people in your age group here and none of them can last a minute against Olivia. Of course, we will hire you."
They went ahead in that corridor. After passing by a few gates, they entered into a small room. The label on the door said Weapon Inventory.
A short old man with a white beard greeted Thomas. "Morning Thomas. It's not often that I see you here."
Thomas said in a gentle tone, "This is a new recruit. I wanted to get him a good axe."
"An axe." The old man said sizing up Lin Feng. He looks like he would be better with a sword.
"You would be surprised. There should be an A2 axe of the Kossbergs lying around."
The old man went into a smaller attached room and returned with an axehead.
"Yes, this is it." Thomas said taking it in his hands before passing it to Lin Feng. "What do you think."
Lin Feng observed the axehead. It was deep grey in colour. The edge was semi-circular and was thin to the midway before curving to the thick end. Its weight was almost half of his current axe.
"The larger cutting area is very helpful when fighting against humans or monsters who do not have thick scales. Also, the shape of the edge would prevent it from getting stuck in the monster's body." Thomas explained.
Lin Feng listened carefully. He liked using his axe but he was quite excited by this new one. After his fight with Olivia, he felt that there must be a benefit with a larger cutting surface. Also, the speed which Olivia displayed made him want to try a lighter axe. "I want this axe," said Lin Feng.
"Good," Thomas said. "Prepare this axe. Add a good handle to it," he said to the old man.