Lake absentmindedly took his seat in the stadium.
Leah and Evelyn were seated beside him as they talked about the upcoming duel. Their seats had a great view of the arena, allowing for them to get a close view of the entire event. Leah had managed to get these seats in the front row through her connections.
As the two girls continued their conversation, Lake was busy looking at the new system notification that had appeared shortly after he observed the fate of the Martial Artist, Mr. Don.
[Detected that the host has made first contact with a Martial Artist.]
[Calculating... The system has judged the host qualified to begin the Main Quest.]
[Generating Main Quest…]
[Main Quest successfully Generated.]
[Quest Name: Changer of Fate.]
[Quest Description: Everyone's fate is decided for them from the moment they are born. Some will be destined for greatness while others are destined for only pain and suffering. As the Master of Fate, you have the authority to decide the fate of those you see fit.]
[Quest Objective: Change the Fate of 10 Martial Artists.]
[Quest Reward Upon Completion: 50 RP Points, 1 Random Low Tier Secondary Role.]
"A main quest, huh…" Lake was pondering the meaning behind this, but he was mostly attracted by the rewards that completing this quest would grant him.
Staring at the rewards, Lake was looking forward to the Secondary Role. Although it would only be low tier, Lake was still looking forward to it greatly as it meant he would have a new method to generate RP points.
"Hey, what are you thinking so deeply about?" Evelyn asked Lake, waking him up from his thoughts.
"Nothing." Lake said as he laughed it off.
Seeing that Lake didn't want to say, Evelyn didn't press on further as she turned her head to look at the stage in front of her.
Suddenly the crowd around Lake started to cheer loudly as they raised their hands up. Looking towards the giant arena, Lake could see the reason for everyone's excitement as two figures walked up onto the stage.
On one side was Mr. Don. He wore a bright red battle suit with a longsword attached to his waist. He waved to the crowd who replied back with more cheers.
On the other side was a young man who looked to be around his mid twenties. He had red hair and wore a less flashy silver battle suit and a spear which he wielded with his right hand. He looked extremely valiant and handsome. He also waved to the crowd, which caused them to cheer, even more than when they cheered for Mr. Don, even shouting the silver warrior's name. "Romero!"
Lake looked at the stage with furrowed brows as he saw something that left him puzzled. Staring at the strange fate above Romero's head, Lake's curiosity was once again piqued.
As Lake began to look through Romero's past, an announcer appeared on stage as he began to speak into the microphone he was holding.
"Good day everyone! My name is Mike and today, I will be the host and referee for today's martial duel." Mike said as the crowd observed with further interest.
"Now, before the match begins, there are a few things we need to get out of the way. First of all, I would like to explain the base rules of the match. First and foremost, no participant is allowed to kill the other. This is an official duel and both parties have already signed the contract and any violation of the terms and services would be heavily punished. I hope both parties remember this clearly." Mike said as he looked at Romero and Don.
Seeing that both of them nodded their heads in agreement, Mike continued, "Second, the victory condition for the match is simple. Each participant is wearing a special made armor created for these events. The armor is capable of absorbing and calculating the level of damage done to it based on the martial artist level. If the armor judges the attack as lethal damage, it will flash red and the side that received the damage will be declared the loser of the duel. The next victory condition is if the enemy opponent surrenders or is knocked incapacitated. These are the two base rules for the match."
After saying that Mike then took a step back as a big holographic screen appeared in the center of the Arena. On the screen was the details of both the fighters on stage.
"Alright, without further ado, let us quickly introduce our Fighters! On my left we have the glorious Mr. Don, a High-Grade Martial Artist of the Warrior Realm! He is 32 this year and only became a Low-Grade Warrior 8 years ago. Since then he has raided many rifts and has earned himself the reputation of The Fire Sword Don using his famous Dragon Flame Sword Style, a technique that Mr. Don uncovered from a rift in his early years as a martial artist." Mike said as the screen showed videos of Mr. Don fighting various monsters.
"Now, on my right hand side, only turning 25 this year, we have the young prodigy Romero, who has also attained the High-Grade Warrior Realm! Through incredible effort and talent, Romero managed to attain the Warrior realm only in his last year at the martial academy, giving him the reputation of a rising star! Using his family's renowned Nine Heaven Spear Technique, Romero managed to climb through the ranks and fight his way through countless rifts, showing to the world the might of his family's spear technique!"
Hearing Mike's shout, the crowd screamed out in excitement as they anticipated the battle to come.
"Now, before the match begins, there is one more thing left to do." Mike snapped his finger as he spoke causing a small virtual hologram to appear before everyone in the stadium. On the screen was a betting program for the audience to gamble on who will emerge victorious.
"In case you didn't know, Sunset Martial Arena allows the betting an gambling of money on who will emerge victorious. This has been approved by the government of Sunset City and is 100% legal." Mike explained.
"We'll give the audience 5 minutes to place their bets, after which you won't be able to bet anymore."
After Mike finished speaking, Lake could see everyone looking down into their own holographic screen as they began placing their bets on who they think will emerge victorious.
"Who do you think will win?" Evelyn was sitting next to Lake and asked him as she nudged his shoulder.
"Hmm, obviously, Romero will win this match. As a young prodigy he has defeated many High-Rank Warriors in spares before. Not to mention his Spear technique is one of the few high rank martial techniques in Sunset City. With all these advantages, he is destined to win." Leah spoke as she postured herself like a knowledgeable scholar.
"Pftt!" Lake laughed as he heard her words causing Leah to furrow her brows.
"What's so funny?" Leah asked as she glared sharply at Lake.
"It's nothing much. It's just that you said Romero is destined to win, while I was thinking he is destined to lose." Lake said as he smiled mysteriously.
"Bastard! You're just trying to go against me at this point!" Leah exclaimed as she was very close to jumping over Evelyn to hit Lake on the other side.
"It's fine if you don't believe me. It's not like it matters to me whether someone like you believes me or not." Lake said as he shrugged his shoulders.
"Fine, if you're so confident, why don't you bet on him? Let's see if you can back up your words with capital or not." Leah said as she sneered.
Lake was about to agree but then quickly thought of something. Searching through his pockets, he grabbed his wallet before going through it. Looking at the empty space inside his wallet, Lake felt slightly awkward.
Seeing that Leah was still staring at him, Lake coughed as he spoke, "Fine, I'll bet."
"Oh, that's more like it. How much do you plan to bet?" Leah asked, looking slightly pleased that she managed to get Lake to bet.
Looking back at Leah, Lake shamelessly asked, "How much can you lend me?"
Immediately both Evelyn and Leah were stunned.