Chapter 9 - Starting work to earn (III)
As soon as Jack appeared in front of a group of young-looking men who looked at him with shocked expressions written all over their faces, one of them asked his friends with a ridiculing look etched on his facial features, "Guys, the embodiment of weakness that just walked past us, where do you think he sprung out from?"
"What do you think, Honarrhous? You should know that such can only come from a weak useless mother and a feeble, cannon fodder father. Hahaha." One of them suddenly said and cackled in a vexatious manner, trying to upset Jack and elicit a certain kind of reaction from him.
Jack who clearly heard them, though was annoyed to the extreme that his beloved parent were called that by the young man, simply pretended like he didn't hear anything and continued to walked to a place where an item that seemed like a wheelbarrow was. It looked like a wheelbarrow, but it had a more sophisticated design. Two thick tires that seemed created to move on all terrains unimpeded, could be seen at the front.
As soon as Jack placed his hands on the handles to move the wheelbarrow-like device forward to where the solid, extracted essences—Volberionnyre stones were so that he could transport them to the carriage outside and fulfill his quota of 200 kilograms per hour, he instantly discovered to his mind-whirling shock that the device called Earthlifter, was really heavy. It was almost like it weighed a ton. But he understood why. Either the Earthlifter was truly heavy—weighing over many tons, or the gravity that enclosed his figure and protected his body from being squashed by the astronomical gravitational force of this world, only enveloped him. It couldn't be extended to other people or objects.
'Trifaceted Talent System, I need your help here. Could you please extend the gravity-suppressing domain around me to that object?' He asked, looking at the Earthlifter.
But he got no response or reaction from the system.
Seeing that the system wasn't responding, he shook his head and said with a fierce look appearing on his face the next instant, "I guess now is the right time to challenge an ordinary rock mover-level Dotrian."
Gazing at a trio of young-looking men who stood many feet away from him—people that laughed at him earlier, making jest of his parent, he began to walk to them with a stern and fierce look present on his face.
Once he arrived before them, he blatantly asked with a condescending tone, pointing at one of them who had earlier insulted his parent, "You, foolish mocker, how dare you laugh at my parent?"
The trio, not expecting Jack to appear before them and disrespectfully question them, immediately had looks of fury find its way to the contours of their faces.
"How dare I? Who is this fool? So, what do you want to do? Beat me up? With this exceedingly frail body of yours? Do you think you are anything before me? Better know your place before I put you in there. And trust me, you could get in there as a corpse. I will finish you off with face-crushing blows. My last two confronters died while battling them. So, know who to pick. I am not your strength-level mate, weakling. Neither am I your age-mate or experience-mate. Now, get out of here before I break your teeth and shatter your ribs."
Clap!
Clap!
Clap!
...
Jack clapped a number of 5 times before stopping.
He then asked with a strongly ridiculing expression carved on his face, "Really? You will put me in my place as a corpse? I want to see you do that. But mind you, it could go the other way around. So, what do you say?"
When Jack started clapping intentionally, he successfully drew the attention of many people who stopped what they were doing to gaze at him with surprised looks etched on their faces. But when they understood in the next instant that he wanted to face Gilbarrion, their eyes widened in amazement.
"Who is this fool? Does Gilbarrion look like someone that he could actually face in a fight? This fool is only going to die with a single punch to the chest."
"Has anyone seen this guy before? I guess not. But wow, he wants to start work today and leave his life behind the same day. What a fool. This guy's done for. Folks, let's continue with what we were doing. We can already predict the outcome of the match."
"Amazing. Just amazing. To be honest, this is the first time I am seeing a weakling trying to take on someone many folds stronger than he is. Is the law of our world beginning to change? That weaklings can now face strong people without fear? Well, I need to watch this match, even though I can already correctly determine the result."
A loud cacophony of noises began to ring out from the crowd working on the extraction ground, as people said their minds to others around them and far behind, trying to generate a storm of engaging discussions.
Jack who saw that he had succeeded in drawing everyone's attention—something he planned, said with a brilliant smile emerging, "Now, folks, I want us to make a bet. If I can beat this guy, he will give me his lifetime accumulations. If he can beat me, then he should take my life as as reward. Is that fair enough?"
Whaaaa....
People gathered around them were amazed, in fact, intensely dumbfounded. In their life, they had never ever come across someone who would so willingly lay down their life as a bet in a challenge.
Even Gilbarrion was utterly surprised. With a particular glow emitting from his eyes, he said, "Accepted." He wanted to quickly kill Jack and continue his job, while basking in the sweet feeling of pummeling Jack's face till it violently scattered apart into a shower of brain matter mingled with blood.
"Chill, asshole. Since I would be laying down my life as a bet, something of such great value should be laid down too. But in this case, I won't ask for your life. What I want is the lifetime accumulations of your friends. They deserve to be partakers in this. So, converse with them and ask for their life savings. That's all. Immediately that's done, we will start our match to entertain everyone present here." Jack said with an inexplicable look present on his face. He didn't even seem worried. And his voice never wavered for once.
Actually, Jack suddenly came up with the betting thing once he figured out that he could really make a good living from this. By beating up some people in a match—a gladiatorial match, he could cart away with their life savings. He felt like it was a good plan to swiftly make money, and he was tremendously glad that he had taken this route—a shortcut to the quick accumulation of riches.
'Sounds like a good plan.' Jack said within himself, glad at the path that he took which should enrich him and make him wealthy enough to be able purchase many nice things for himself.
'So, folks, what do you say?" Jack asked with seemingly no fear in his eyes.
Gilbarrion looked at him and looked at his friends before saying, "Guys, do you have your savings pouches here with you? Please give them to me so that I can give them to someone to hold for us. Once I am done annihilating this bastard by punching a hole through his chest, I will retrieve them for you."
"No big deal, buddy." Honarrhous said and produced a good laugh. He then removed his savings pouch and gave to Gilbarrion to hold. The other friend, Alerrionvhorr, also did the same with a contemptuous look carved on his face. He gazed at Jack who smirked at him in an ire-evoking manner.
Once Gilbarrion collected his friends' savings pouches, he produced a smile in his face and said, "Well, here they are, you soon-to-be-dead moron. Now, who will hold this for us?"
"I will." A deep voice suddenly sounded from far behind. Then out came the person with a bright, confident look written on his face.
This person, Valzahrro Ghelsenburn by name, stood at 7.7 feet—he was the tallest at the extraction ground, and maybe in the world. But he was seated and so, the awe that will arise as a result of his shocking height, didn't manifest. But now that he stood, easily showcasing his eye-twirling height to everyone, all stunned eyes immediately fell on him and couldn't help but be struck by awe. Though they had seen him many times before, on the extraction ground, yet, his towering figure always managed to conjure the stirring feeling of unbounded marvel within them. Like, how could someone be so tall? What does he eat?
Valzahrro, a tall, broad-chested male at the age of 24, possessed long, vibrant, but seemingly unnatural white hair that reached his calves. He had bright golden eyes—golden irises adorned by large iridescent pupils. He had a flawless fair skin that glowed, and a gleaming violet-black gem that was surrounded by several small abstruse symbols at the center of his forehead. Hanging from his shoulders were seemingly powerful arms that had surprisingly transparent veins. These veins showed how a substance that looked like molten hot gold circulated about within them. This substance could be his blood, and maybe not.
As soon as Valzahrro—a really handsome male appeared before them, adorned in a robe that fashionably exposed his strong, bulky arms, as well as his marvelously built chest embellished with numerous enigmatic tattoos that seemed to shine like polished metal in the sun rays, Jack who already had his eyes widen with great awe upon noticing him, couldn't help but have them widen further. His breath was simply taken away, and his mind incessantly pummeled with fascination.
'Who is this fine and fearsome, seemingly interstellar guy? And what is he doing in this kind of place? He should be out there slaying titanic monsters and cosmic beasts. Not here, doing only God knows what. But wow, he looks immensely strong. Is this guy a Dotrian? He is definitely another-worlder like me. Nothing anyone can say will convince me in the slightest.' Jack said within himself, his mind totally overwhelmed by certain stupendous feelings—majesty, strength, and domination which charged the atmosphere around everyone of them and continually pervaded their minds. The rampant, overbearing sensation that he felt within him, could be simply described as a small hole on a thin barrier that a raging, giant flood wanted to burst through into.
Once Valzahrro appeared before Jack with his astonishing imposing height, he said with an accommodating smile gracing his perfect lips, "Gilbarrion, give me the pouches in your hands, including yours so that the battle can start immediately."
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[A/N]
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