On this topic, many people believed that although Qian Jin was a very talented warrior, he was afraid of losing. That was why he never participated in the Grade Ranking Battles.
However, Rollin had a different feeling about his friend. He felt the reason why Qian Jin didn’t participate in Ranking Battles wasn’t because he was afraid of failure, but rather because he disdained these battles. To put it in other words, he didn’t care about the rankings at all.
This was his strange intuition. Rollin couldn’t figure out why he felt this way about his friend. He ultimately included this in his intuition of a merchant.
No one in the room dared to battle Qian Jin. The only way for them to vent their anger was to bet and hope that Tough Bull Rudy wouldn’t underperform and lose to Qian Jin again.
As long as the Tough Bull won, they didn’t have to beat Qian Jin themselves, and Qian Jin would lose face.
“I bet five coins on Rudy!”
“I bet seven coins…”
Qian Jin was thrilled as he heard numerous bets on Rudy. Although he wasn’t sure what exactly the goddamn Endless World was, blacksmithing did increase his strength by a lot—just large enough to surpass Tough Bull Rudy.
Rollin was joyful. He knew that Qian Jin wouldn’t talk like this unless he was sure of the outcome.
However, Rollin was a bit confused at the same time. “Qian Jin is a great fighter, but he shouldn’t be stronger than Rudy. How did he win so easily? Did they collude and form some kind of scam?
Qian Jin placed his elbow on the table again. Rudy looked at Qian Jin’s average-sized hand. He forced himself to concentrate as he took a deep breath and smashed his elbow onto the desk; it made a loud noise. He opened up his hand and yelled, “Come on! I will win for sure this time!”
Everyone in the room tensed up and kept their breathing to a minimum as they saw Qian Jin’s and Rudy’s hands come together. They watched carefully as they wanted to see exactly how it would play out.
Rollin, who was acting as the judge, also felt the tension and took a deep breath as well. He raised his arm and suddenly dropped it down as he shouted, “Go!”
…
Rollin’s words were still resonating in the room. Tough Bull felt his arm pushed down by a strong force and pressed tightly against the table. He couldn’t resist against it at all.
Boom!
It was the sound of a hard object hitting the wooden table. Rudy’s forearm made intimate contact with the table again. That strong impulse shook the four legs on the table as well.
This time, everyone except for Qian Jin and Rollin had fallen into a state of shock again, as if they were all under a [Petrification] spell. Not even one of them moved.
Again! Qian Jin had won again! It was even cleaner this time. He won against Rudy instantly and easily with all eyes on him, with Rudy being 100% ready.
The result was very surprising to a lot of people in the room that was a few hundred square feet. It was so quiet that even a pin dropping on the floor could be heard.
It was quite different between competing in pure strength and competing in a fighting situation. There were times that underperforming or overperforming could occur in a fight depending on a lot of factors. It was hard to cheat or play smart in an arm wrestle. It was purely a battle of strength.
Tough Bull Rudy was the most shocked by the outcome. His eyes were wide opened; they were comparable to a cow’s eyes. He gave all he had in the last match by concentrating all his strength into his arm. If it was like before, Qian Jin might not have even been able to win this quickly against Rudy if he used both of his arms.
“Am I dreaming?” Rudy quickly shook his head. He felt the pain in his forearm caused by Qian Jin’s forceful smash; he wouldn’t be able to feel pain in a dream.
Rudy carefully observed Qian Jin. It would be normal if he lost to Qian Jin in a battle scenario. Losing to Qian Jin in an arm wrestle? Instructor Rodriguez would even freak out if he knew about this.
“We won! Haha, Qian Jin really won!”
A few warrior students from Class One who lost money in the bet jumped off of the bed as they raised their arms and cheered in excitement. At this point, they didn’t even have time to think about their loss.
Rollin collected all the bets and put them in his pocket happily as he watched his classmates jumping and cheering. Winning the money was the second reason why he was happy. It was more exciting that Qian Jin could beat Rudy in an arm wrestle. Rudy was a long-time holder of the third seat in the strength ranking of the whole grade. He was someone who could compete with seniors in Grade Two and even Grade Three in terms of strength.
“How did I lose?” Tough Bull smashed his elbow onto the table again. The table was the poor victim, it shook again and again. “No! We must have a rematch! I still wasn’t ready last time!”
“Again?” Qian Jin shook his head and looked at the stacked money bag on Rollin’s waist and the flat money bags on other people’s waist.
“Never mind, none of us are from a rich family. Don’t waste your parents’ money.”
“Let’s do it again, this will be the last time.”
Tough Bull Rudy stared at Qian Jin. Qian Jin could tell from Rudy’s expression that Rudy probably wouldn’t let him go if he didn’t accept it.
“Last time?” Qian Jin asked.
“Last time,” Rudy nodded.
“Ok… Last time it is.” Qian Jin placed his elbow onto the table and asked, “Are you ready? Ready… Set… Go!”
“Boom!”
Rudy felt the burning painful sensation on his forearm again, as if someone smashed his arm onto a tree.
The students in the room weren’t surprised anymore… This was three instant wins now. The surprise had turned into numbness as the third time struck.
Although most people in the room felt numb, Rudy didn’t feel that way himself. His heart was breaking as he lost three times in a row. Other people might not know, but for the sake of winning, he even utilized the warrior energy that he had. All he wanted was to shame Qian Jin once. However, before he could completely unleash the warrior energy inside of him, he was beaten by Qian Jin by his brutal strength in an instant.
Warrior energy could instantly improve one’s strength and all other aspects of one’s comprehensive fighting ability. It was the unique ability of a warrior! Rudy planned to beat Qian Jin once, even if he might be busted by other people for using it. However, he lost before he could fully utilize his warrior energy.