Returning to his flat, Stell quietly opened the door, expecting to see Felix, either smiling or angry. However, he didn't see Felix at all.
Wondering whether Felix had left him, he let out a bitter chuckle. He deserved it.
With a sad sigh, he lay on his bed, spending the night in quietude. Somehow, he slept like a baby.
The next morning, Stell was greeted by the sudden sunlight. Shielding his eyes from the sunlight with his hand, he opened them slowly.
"Good morning." Felix greeted Stell with a grin. It was as if no yesterday happened.
Unable to muster a smile, Stell greeted back. "Good morning."
While Stell started putting on his clothes, Felix grinned from the side. "Hey, wanna see something interesting?"
He wanted to provide a negative answer, but something inside him halted him. It felt like an employee that was unable to refuse their boss.
After realizing what was happening, he bitterly chuckled inside himself while nodding his head.
"Good! I bought us some necessities yesterday from a late-night shop. Brush your teeth and meet me in front of the building." With a joyful grin, Felix left Stell alone in the flat.
Letting out a sigh, Stell did just that. After brushing his teeth and tidying up, he left the flat and met up with Felix, who was observing a few eccentric individuals passing by.
"Every day, more and more people look awesome! Look, that guy even has a horn!" He pointed at one of the passersby.
Stell could only shake his head. He didn't care about the people who embarked on the path of evolution and transformation. He saw plenty of them in the last two days.
"So, where are we going?" Stell asked Felix while they walked.
"It's a secret." Felix laughed happily, making Stell twitch his eyebrows.
Noticing Stell's twitching, Felix just smiled, refusing to elaborate.
'This fellow! I'll...' As Stell's thoughts drifted, he noticed an anomaly. The moment he wanted to beat Felix up, something inside of him screamed that it was impossible. That it was unfair. That it wasn't meant to be.
It was a feeling he didn't have earlier. Lowering his head, he became even more aware of a complex that surfaced since he arrived at the new world.
'No. I had it even earlier. I just didn't notice it.' He bitterly chuckled as he remembered his mother's words.
After a while, they arrived in front of a humongous building. It was one of the buildings that the bartender told Stell to keep an eye on, Death Arena.
Contrary to its name, the arena mostly hosted friendly or competitive fights.
Giving Felix an odd look, Stell couldn't help but furrow his brows. "What do we have to do with a Death Arena? You want to fight someone?"
"No, dummy." Felix chuckled at Stell's question. "We're here to watch a fight, of course."
Stell was even more confused. Who would fight in such a place? Why not just do it through the Universal Entertainment platform? It was as realistic as it could be.
He wanted to ask Felix but decided against it.
After entering, they reached the stands. Surprisingly, most of the seats were full.
"What's going on?" Stell looked curiously around him. He didn't expect that a fight could attract so many people.
A spark of excitement ignited within him. Perhaps the fight they were about to watch involved First Order existences.
During his research, he discovered that it took time for an existence's Order to ascend. In other words, even if a person wanted to be perfect and used five Epic Rank wishes, he still wouldn't ascend.
Although he wasn't sure how it worked, it seemed that there was a time required for a person to adapt to their new elevated existence before they could continue advancing.
Either way, it didn't matter to him. He didn't have Epic Rank achievements, anyway.
While they were finding a seat, Stell could hear the crowd discussing.
"Hey, what's this fight about?" A curious person in the crowd asked.
"I don' know, man. All I know is that a pal bet an Epic Rank achievement." An older man with red cheeks answered happily.
"Epic Rank for a fight?" The person who asked was shocked.
"Ya, ya. He crazy, ain't he?" The older man slapped his tight.
"That's certainly a rich move. Most people can only dream of Epic Rank..." The person who asked shook his head, lamenting at the extravagance of some people.
"Well, we got a free show, at least! Thank Goddess, this place ain't rented, or we might have had to pay." A person beside the older man laughed.
"A fight with an Epic Rank achievement as the stake? Who?" Stell couldn't think of anyone who could afford such a battle.
No, there were a few people.
And as he expected, he saw two people come out of opposite ends of the arena.
"How do you know about this fight? Don't tell me that it was advertised on the streets or something?" Looking strangely at Felix, he questioned.
"I stumbled upon the participants while they were arguing. After hearing them mention a duel, I thought that it might be interesting to watch." Felix grinned.
"What about other spectators?" Stell suspiciously asked.
"This is a big city with a lot of new people. Of course, there are fights that take place here. Most of the spectators don't know much about this one. However, I felt that it might be more interesting if I advertised it." Felix proudly explained his advertisement of the fight.
Stell simply looked at the participants with a sense of bewilderment before redirecting his gaze to Felix. "No one asked you to advertise, right? Wait, how did you even do it?"
"No one. The tavern." Felix answered simply, his attention piqued by the participants.
They finally reached their starting positions and faced each other.
Ignoring Felix, Stell looked at the participants as well. On the left side was a black-haired young man with black eyes.
Holding a dagger, he appeared imposing. He was Aaron, the protagonist with a system.
On the other side of the arena, a black-haired person wearing a silver-like t-shirt and black pants calmly looked at Aaron.
Holding an ordinary sword, he appeared as an ordinary bystander. However, Stell was sure that the person was anything but normal if he could make Aaron duel him.
"Are you scared?" Pointing his dagger, Aaron taunted.
However, his taunts had no effect, as the person only calmly looked at Aaron. That irritated Aaron to no end.
"I'll show you that it was just a fluke. I am better than you." Aaron revealed his purpose.
'Another fluke? Is that the guy who defeated Aaron for the third time?' Stell wondered.
The person opposite Aaron only calmly nodded without even answering.
That action irritated Aaron even more because he felt like the person didn't put him in his eyes.
"Aaron." He gritted his teeth.
"Tian Fen." The person with a sword reciprocated, bowing slightly.
"Do you regret betting an Epic Rank wish?" Aaron's pride deeply wanted to get an emotional reaction from Tian Fen.
However, what he received was a shake of Tian Fen's head. "I don't. I need them, so why would I regret it?"
Tian Fen's confident tone caused the veins on Aaron's head to become visible.
Then, the referee, who had been completely ignored for some reason, announced the start of the fight.