Chapter 81: Bloodline Maturing

The next 3 days were pretty quiet. No fights in the arena, which was great. I got plenty of rest, spent the time watching fights on TV, and ate whatever they brought me.

And every single day, without fail, they came to my room to inject that liquid that was keeping me weak and cutting off my ability.

But I could feel the effect getting weaker each day. My body was building up a resistance to the stuff. It was only a matter of time before I became immune.

On the fourth day, someone came to my room to tell me about my next fight. It was that rich guy who "ran" our team of fighters.

He looked worried. The moment he walked into my apartment, he went straight for a beer and cracked it open.

"This is insane," he complained, taking a swig, "they want to put you against two opponents tomorrow. TWO. What the hell? They’re sabotaging my team."

Damn. That was great news to hear. The last few days had been so peaceful that I’d almost forgotten what kind of mess I was stuck in.

"Has this ever happened before?" I asked.

He shook his head.

"Never. This has never happened before."

He took another swig, this time pretty much finishing the whole thing in one go, then slammed his fist on my mini kitchen counter.

"Is there any way for you to get stronger by tomorrow? If it’s something I can do, I’ll do it. I don’t want to lose a fighter who shows this much promise. The rest of the team I put together are all useless."

I already had something in mind. Sharing that information might not be the smartest move, but it was the only way. And if he went along with it, escaping would get a whole lot easier.

"There is something, but you won’t go for it. I don’t know how much authority you actually have around here."

He frowned.

"What are you thinking? Go ahead and say it, even if it sounds crazy."

I had to take a deep breath before speaking.

"One of my ability’s functions is storing items in a dimensional space. I’ve got some monster crystals in there, and I could absorb them to get stronger. If you let me use my ability while I’m here in the room, I can start absorbing..."

"That’s insane!"

He flipped out right away and didn’t even consider the idea, but I’m sure he started picturing me losing to 2 fighters at once and ending up without his best guy on the team he’d put together.

"Okay, hypothetically speaking, if I skip the injection so you can absorb those crystals, how do I know you won’t find a way to escape?"

"Well, I have no idea. You could cuff me, since I don’t need my hands to absorb the crystals, and leave a guard at the door. Or..."

I thought of something that would definitely convince him.

"Or what?"

"I take the crystals out, leave them here in the room, and then you inject that stuff again to block my abilities. Since I already took the crystals out, it doesn’t matter. I can still absorb them either way."

He seemed to really like that idea.

"Deal," he told me, "I’ll try to convince the others to push the fight back 3 days. What do you think? Is that enough time to get stronger? Just so you know, your 2 opponents have power on par with rank A hunters."

Two rank A hunters. Yeah, the fight wasn’t going to be easy. It was obvious that some of the rich guys were using their money and influence to get me killed in the next fight. Without boosting my power by absorbing crystals, there was no way I could win.

"Yeah, I’ll win," I said with total confidence.

He perked up.

"My name is Joshua. I know you probably hate me for grabbing you and basically turning you into a slave who fights to stay alive, but I’m not a monster. You’re a criminal, so it’s not like you’re a saint either."

"Who said I’m a criminal?"

"The guys who grabbed you for me near the border. Why? Something wrong?"

"No, nothing."

Every moment I was here, I was learning something new. Were basically all the fighters here criminals? If that was the case, my opponent from before was putting on a really good act, because he didn’t seem like a villain at all.

But why the hell did they lie about me? Either way, there was no point in sulking about it. My focus was on surviving and getting out of there.

Maybe, and it was a big maybe, Joshua wasn’t really a monster. Maybe just a little messed up...

"I’ll be right back, wait a sec."

He left my room and came back 5 minutes later with 2 syringes. One would clear out whatever was blocking my abilities, and the other would block them again.

"If you attack me or try anything funny, the guards will come here and kill you. Understood?" Joshua said, still holding both syringes.

I wasn’t going to try anything. It wasn’t worth it. The best thing to do was lay low, get stronger, and leave once my body built up immunity to whatever they were injecting me with. No need to rush and end up dead.

"I won’t," I said.

Joshua actually trusted me, which was surprising given everything. I figured he’d send a guard to do the injections while he stayed outside in a safe spot, but no, he was the one doing it all himself.

That could only mean one thing: he was doing something illegal. Even he didn’t have the authority to stop injecting his fighters. That was my guess, at least. No way of knowing for sure just yet.

He injected the first syringe, which countered whatever the other one had done to block my abilities. I could finally pull things from my pocket dimension again.

I took out 5,000 crystals and set them on top of my bed. It was just a fraction of what I had, but there was no point in taking out more. Keeping my wealth hidden was a smart move, and I didn’t think I could absorb all my crystals at once without some serious side effects hitting me.

Joshua’s eyes went wide when he saw how many crystals I pulled out of my pocket dimension. Just imagine his face if he knew I still had like 100k more...

"Can you absorb all of this in 3 days?" he asked, still not quite believing it. "People don’t usually absorb that many crystals in one go."

He was right about that, but I was no ordinary person, so fuck it.

"Just let me handle that part. You make sure I have 3 days to get stronger and don’t have to fight tomorrow."

"Relax, I’ll buy us more time. But Basilisk..."

He called me by my nickname. I still hadn’t told him my real name.

"Can you keep this a secret?"

Yep, I was right. He couldn’t just stop injecting his fighters. So even though he ran his team, someone above him was running everything. Probably the owner of the underground arena.

"My lips are sealed," I said. "Now inject me and get out. I need to focus."

"Sure, sure."

He gave me the second injection and left, leaving me alone in my room with crystals scattered all over the place.

Time to start absorbing them and get stronger, little by little...

3 days passed. Joshua was the one bringing me food the whole time, not the usual staff. He didn’t want anyone seeing the crystals in my room, obviously.

By day 3, I had absorbed every last one. When Joshua saw that, his jaw nearly dropped.

"How is your body handling all of this?" he asked, grabbing 2 beers from my small fridge and handing me one.

"How do you know I’m actually handling it? Maybe I’m just wrecking my health for a better shot at winning. Losing this fight means dying, so yeah, I’d do pretty much anything."

He thought about that and raised his beer. I clinked mine against his.

"Fair point. How confident are you about tomorrow?"

Very confident. After absorbing those crystals, every single one of my attributes had gone up by 20 points. That was a huge boost, especially since getting stronger gets harder the stronger you already are.

But the real win wasn’t the crystals. It was my bloodline.

It was maturing. I’d felt it from the day I got captured, with those serpent eyes showing up and my whole look getting more bestial.

[Your bloodline will mature in 1 hour. Be prepared to change your skin.]

The system gave me the heads-up.

"Very confident," I told him. "Fight’s in 6 hours, right?"

"Yeah. Cut yourself off after that beer and get some rest. I’ll check on you later."

Joshua left in a hurry. He looked tense.

So was I. Not because of the fight, though. I just couldn’t wait to see what my bloodline was about to become.