Chapter 539: 540: The E-sports Arena Master
The second challenger was a recently-established rock giant with a bet of 100,000 Cosmic Crystals.
Upon seeing Lin Zhen’s challenge, the rock giant grinned.
“Another newbie who just entered the arena, with an uneven bet, clearly showing it’s all he’s got. He’s not leaving himself any room for error, just blindly pursuing the maximum profit.”
“But I like this kind of guy because his entire fortune will belong to me soon. I guess there will be one more person driven to a dead end by high-interest loans in the arena.”
The rock giant accepted Lin Zhen’s challenge, and with a flash, Lin Zhen appeared.
“Newbie! Let’s make you the beginning of my hundred-win streak!”
The rock giant swung his giant fist at Lin Zhen.
As a rock giant, he had a natural talent for battle. Their brains were not well-developed, fearless of Mental Shock, and their physical defense was strong. They also were not afraid of flames, thunder, and other elemental powers. Their only weakness was that they were a bit slow.
But he never thought he would be this slow. Watching his fist moving at a snail’s pace, Lin Zhen instantly appeared in front of him. In one thrust, his proud defense was broken through as if it were tofu.
With a stab through his heart, the rock giant died on the spot!
Lin Zhen’s 20,000 Cosmic Crystals immediately turned into 40,000. Without even glancing at the fallen rock giant, he moved on to the third match.
The fighting order went according to the list Chris provided, challenging one after another. In the Black Hole Period arenas, Lin Zhen didn’t need to choose his opponents, betting all his Cosmic Crystals each time.
In the third match, the opponent was a female witch from the Medusa clan. Her head was full of snake-like hair, and she had petrifying light. She had already won more than thirty rounds.
However, those unorthodox methods were insignificant in the face of Lin Zhen’s 5000 Star Power. The petrifying light was effortlessly penetrated by Lin Zhen, and with a single stroke of his spear, he killed her.
40,000 Cosmic Crystals turned into 80,000.
Fourth round, 80,000 Cosmic Crystals became 160,000.
Fifth round, 160,000 Cosmic Crystals became 320,000.
Sixth round, 320,000 Cosmic Crystals became 640,000.
The seventh round had a small accident. The champion’s prize was only over 20,000. Lin Zhen won everything, finishing the fight in one move. After deducting the arena’s fees, his total balance was still more than 640,000.
“Chris, for the next battles, use whole numbers every time. Don’t accept those with lower amounts. They waste my time. Only accept those with enough money.”
“Yes, Master. I will filter the list for you immediately.”
Chris processed for a while, filtering out any challenges with amounts lower than Lin Zhen’s capital. She only chose the ones with more money.
From lowest to highest, bigger amounts were saved for later challenges, ensuring Lin Zhen maximized his profits.
Those with amounts in the millions or even billions were left for later, to be challenged when Lin Zhen had more money on hand.
In this way, the matches continued one after another.
After twenty consecutive rounds, Lin Zhen’s wealth skyrocketed, accumulating quickly up to 50 million!
“Master, Chamos’ arena has reached 98 rounds, and his prize pool has reached 50.8 million. At this point, many strong players will choose to act. You should challenge him right away.”
“Alright! Challenge him and bet 50 million!”
Chris immediately sent the challenge. The speed was fast, and just as Lin Zhen finished sending the challenge, seven or eight other challenges followed. These were all high-level players who were eyeing the prize pool and decided to act, but Lin Zhen got there first.
“Ah, we were slow on this one. What a pity… Well, it doesn’t matter. This challenger is only at the early stage of the Black Hole Period, and he bet 50 million. This is great. As long as Chamos wins this round, his prize pool in the next round will be in the billions. By then, that money will be mine. I need to be faster next time so nobody else can get ahead.”
Many Martial Artists waiting for a leak thought like this. They had already reached the peak of the Black Hole Period and could have advanced to the Star System Stage, but they did not, choosing instead to fish for easy wins in the arena because of the easy money.
Chamos was nervous at this moment. It was easy to win in the previous rounds of the arena, but the last few rounds were always difficult because there were too many opponents waiting to take advantage of him.
At this time, they all prayed for a weaker opponent with a fast challenge order, which would guarantee more safety.
“It’s the 99th round. Just give me two more weak opponents. I don’t need the money. I’ll be satisfied with these 50 million Cosmic Crystals.”
As he prayed, the challenger appeared with a bet of 50 million. He immediately felt a chill in his heart, knowing that he had encountered one of those extremely powerful opportunists.
Entering the arena with a serious face, he was still blaming himself for not following a powerful big brother.
In the arena, only those with exceptional strength among their peers were called gods. If one had a powerful god backing them, professional competitors wouldn’t dare to challenge rashly. Unfortunately, it was too late to say anything now.
However, when he saw Lin Zhen appearing before him, Chamos’ eyes immediately lit up!
“Hahaha! It’s actually you, kid. You really dare to challenge me, huh? You…hmm? You already have 50 million?”
“It’s 50 million now, but soon it will be 100 million!”
Lin Zhen threw down a cold sentence and summoned his Spiritual Evil Spirit Cone!
Chamos didn’t make any response at all. His Spiritual Power was only at Diamond Peak level, so he usually relied on a mental defense artifact to resist the strong ones among the Spiritual Mind Masters.
However, how could a Lower Grade Divine Artifact withstand Lin Zhen’s Cui Mang rank Spiritual Power!
He directly suffered brain death. And before he died, he fully experienced what it felt like to have his brain devoured by countless demons and monsters. He never wanted to try that again in his whole life.
Lin Zhen won and got the 50 million Cosmic Crystals, making his total amount 100 million!
Finally, he reached 100 million!
“For my Flame Power to advance to bright white, I need one billion Cosmic Crystals. Before, this amount was a bit out of reach for me, but now it’s very close!”
Feeling excited, Lin Zhen secretly instructed Chris: “From now on, only accept challenges of 50 million or more. Don’t accept anything lower than that.”
Chris changed the settings again, and the next fight was a challenge worth 100 million.
After that match, Lin Zhen’s money became 200 million!
Next match, Lin Zhen’s money became 400 million!
The third match, Lin Zhen’s money became 800 million!
During this third challenge, the opponent had already achieved 99 victories. One more victory and the challenge would end, but Lin Zhen put an end to it. He was grateful for the big bonus he got.
After losing, the challenger contacted Lin Zhen, claiming that he had a big brother and asked Lin Zhen to give the money back.
Without a second thought, Lin Zhen blacklisted the person. He couldn’t be joking about giving money back once it was in his hands.
“As long as I win one more match, I’ll be able to meet the one billion requirement. I’ll immediately buy one billion Fire Crystalstones, and still have 600 million left to continue challenging.”
As Lin Zhen was silently calculating and preparing to find his next opponent, someone called him in the Dimensional Universe.
“Master, someone is adding you as a friend. His name is Xuan Jiang.”
“Who’s that?”
Lin Zhen didn’t recognize the person and hadn’t even heard of them before, but he added them anyway.
On the virtual screen, a sinister-looking Martial Artist appeared. This person was a Tier Nine Star System expert. Even through the screen, Lin Zhen could feel the oppressive aura emanating from him. This was definitely a strong expert.
Of all the Star System Stage experts Lin Zhen had met, the strongest were Little Phoenix and Ye Hua. However, this person’s strength was on par with them, if not even stronger.
“Let’s get to know each other, Lin Zhen. I’m Xuan Jiang.”
Lin Zhen nodded, waiting for the man’s next words.
Seeing that Lin Zhen didn’t respond, Xuan Jiang became a bit annoyed: “You don’t know me?”
“Am I supposed to know you?” Lin Zhen was a bit confused.
Xuan Jiang glared at Lin Zhen for a while, as if trying to verify his words’ truthfulness. After quite some time, he finally spoke: “It doesn’t matter if you don’t know me. We are acquainted now. I just want to tell you one thing. The Low-Level Martial Artists District of Small Battle Zone 68399 is under my protection. You can challenge here, but you have to follow some rules, right?”
“Oh! What kind of rules does this place have? As far as I know, there’s no rule in the arena’s rules that says one can’t challenge others.”
“You don’t need to play dumb with me, Lin Zhen. I’m talking about the unwritten rules among Martial Artists. Every Small Battle Zone has countless people seeking a livelihood here. I know your strength is formidable, among the most top-notch in the Black Hole Stage. But you also can’t challenge everyone indiscriminately. By doing this, you’re cutting off others’ financial sources. Some of those people are my brothers, and they have brought up this issue to me. That’s why I hope you can restrain yourself a bit. It’s better for everyone to make money together and get along.”
“Can I interpret your words as a threat?” Lin Zhen chuckled.
“You can interpret it however you want. I’m just reminding you. This kind of dark horse sweeping through the individual arena has happened countless times in the arena, but it’s impossible to make too much money this way. If you don’t believe me, you can try it. Soon there won’t be any high-stakes games in this place, and you’ll have nowhere to make money. Besides, you won’t be in the Black Hole Stage forever. You’re bound to enter the Star System Stage eventually, where everyone will meet face to face. You should understand what I mean.”