Chapter 44: Borrowing Money.

Transcendent Master, Eighth-Order Arena.

Two Transcendent Masters of the eighth order launched a fierce exchange.

One wielded a sword, the other a blade.

The edges of sword and blade intertwined, filling a hundred-meter radius with a sharp radiance.

As the clash reached its peak,

a cry of agony rang out. The Transcendent Bladesman, unable to withstand the assault of the Transcendent Swordsman,

had his body torn apart by a sword strike, and the blade's edge swiftly descended.

The Soul Source Core shattered, and the Transcendent Bladesman died.

In the audience stands,

Gunie narrowed his eyes slightly, watching the swordsman Duolansi.

"Duolansi is indeed formidable, likely at the level of an eighth-order four-star, though this is only a preliminary estimate; he could be even stronger."

After the battle, Duolansi looked toward Gunie in the audience, smiled, then flew out through the passage.

This eighth-order apprentice duel had a similar number of spectators to the seventh-order apprentice duels, only a sparse dozen or so.

It was not surprising that Duolansi noticed Gunie.

A moment later, Duolansi and Gunie met in the corridor.

"What brings you here to watch today? Aren't you usually busy?" Duolansi teased with a smile.

"After all, today is your crucial match for promotion to one-star. It's only reasonable for me to come and observe."

"Haha..." Duolansi laughed.

"And you? How many matches have you fought?"

"I've already fought four. In a few hours, I'll fight my fifth."

"That's also a crucial match for promotion to one-star. I'll come and watch too."

"There's still plenty of time. Let's go to the lounge and get something to drink."

"Let's go."

The two flew together toward the lounge.

As they flew along, passing through corridors and tunnels, they saw a large number of Transcendents everywhere.

They found a nice eatery in the lounge area, sat down, and Gunie ordered a few of the Divine Realm Arena's specialty drinks.

They chatted as they drank.

"I heard that two more five-star experts have recently emerged in your seventh-order arena."

"Mm, I watched their battle footage. Their strength is indeed astonishing. How confident are you?"

"They are very powerful, but I still have a certain degree of confidence," Gunie said softly.

"You're quite confident!" Duolansi laughed.

"Who comes to the arena without confidence in their own strength? Otherwise, they wouldn't come to such a life-and-death place."

"True."

After a moment's thought, Gunie spoke softly.

"Also... there's something I need from you."

"Oh? What is it?" Duolansi asked as he sipped his hot drink.

"Borrow money," Gunie said bluntly.

"Borrow money for what? Don't you already have a magic weapon?"

"The betting pool," Gunie said in a lowered voice.

For Gunie, the only way to quickly amass a large number of Sacred Source Coins was through the betting pool.

Gunie did not know the strength of others, but he knew his own strength better than anyone.

Others gambled on luck, but Gunie relied entirely on his own ability.

Therefore, Gunie needed Sacred Source Coins to operate the betting pool.

During this time, Gunie had not only observed many talented duelists in the arena but also understood them.

At the same time, he also learned a great deal of information from the betting boards of the Divine Kingdom Arena.

One-star and two-star levels were where the betting boards were most heavily manipulated.

For example, some arena agent knew that a certain expert under his command was very strong but was hiding his true strength.

At the same time, he also knew the approximate level of the opponent that expert would face in the next match.

At such times, the arena agent would place a hefty bet, starting at a hundred thousand Sacred Source Coins, possibly even several hundred thousand.

And in such cases, they would most likely win.

Even if they lost occasionally, overall they still came out ahead.

If Gune encountered such an expert hiding his strength under an arena agent, Gune could easily make several times his money in one go.

Even for ordinary matches, there were betting boards, though the odds were relatively low.

However, Gune currently did not have many Sacred Source Coins on hand.

Over this period, Gune had been selling various things continuously, but he only had a little over four thousand Sacred Source Coins, and he couldn't obtain any more.

As things stood, he could only borrow from Dolans.

Dolans was very clear about Gune's strength.

"How much do you want to borrow?" Dolans looked at Gune.

"Do you have fifty thousand?"

"Fifty thousand? You overestimate me! I don't have that much." Dolans spread his hands.

"Then how much can you lend me?"

"Thirty thousand. That's the most I can lend you." Dolans said so.

"Thirty thousand." Gune thought it over and nodded cautiously.

"Lend me thirty thousand, and in three months, I'll pay you back a hundred thousand."

Dolans laughed upon hearing this.

"You really are bold, daring to fight so recklessly."

"Even I wouldn't dare to play it that way. After all, most of the time, transcendent fighters are very cautious. Especially after advancing to one-star or two-star, they face many experts. When they have to use all their tricks to win, many people stop fighting."

"Some people have combat power at around the four-star level, but they still stop when they reach near three-star in two-star, because no one knows if they'll encounter an opponent stronger than themselves."

"It's not unheard of for some with three-star or four-star level combat power to lose at one-star or even two-star."

Over this period, Gune had indeed learned a lot of similar information.

However, Gune was different from them.

After some operations between the two, Dolans had already transferred thirty thousand Sacred Source Coins into Gune's arena badge.

"Alright, it's about time. The last match of the apprentice arena is about to start."

"It's still Arena 556, right?"

"Yes."

"Mm, I'll order the tickets now."

…

About ten minutes or so.

Gune walked through the passage and arrived at Arena 556.

As soon as he arrived, he saw the previous divine envoy, Nasimento Heli, standing at the entrance.

This four-realm divine envoy's gladiators had all been fighting in Arena 556 during this period.

But since their first encounter, the gladiators under Nasimento Heli had never crossed paths with Gune again, likely because the other party had deliberately avoided it.

"Greetings, Lord Nasimento Heli."

Gune couldn't pretend not to see him and had to bow.

"Mm." Nasimento Heli looked at Gune with a smile and nodded slightly.

Just as Gune was about to enter.

Nasimento Heli suddenly called out to stop him.

"Gune, don't go in yet. I have something to say to you."

Gune frowned slightly and looked at Nasimento Heli.

"Lord Nasimento Heli, what is it?"