Tamer of Cosmic Beasts

Everyone raised their hands to challenge Daan Godlyn, the golden card proving its worth already. One in possession of it meant they had a tremendous amount of wealth and better slaves. So, everyone thought to win this challenge since the slave was only at the Star Knight realm.

"Shut up, you fools!"

A loud dominant voice came from the side, Akash and everyone else turned their eyes towards that direction. There were 30 silver shaded rooms, arranged in a row, on the top right side with people in each. A single old man was sitting in one of these rooms, wearing a cartwheel cap. He was the one who had silenced everyone.

"What are those rooms?"

Akash asked Mismar Bosht who quickly explained.

"The ones in those rooms possess the silver card and as such, they hold privilege over others. Those who come here can get 3 types of cards: bronze, silver or golden. The golden card is the sign of the highest status while the silver is the second highest as you might imagine. Bronze card holders do not have rooms, so all these thousands of people out in the open hold only the bronze card whereas silver and golden cards are quite limited.

On a whim, Akash looked at the top of the left side of the Slave Arena. There were only 3 rooms there, clearly bigger and more luxurious with golden shades on them and a few maids at their service. Only one of the three was occupied by a black-skinned bald man, his eyes were stuck onto Daan Godlyn while his hands were squeezing the maids' buttocks. Akash understood that man was a golden card holder as well

"Listen, gentleman, how about you accept my friendly challenge? Don't worry, the bets won't go beyond your standards."

The old man spoke, and Haji replied with a smile.

"What is your bet, senior?"

"I am okay with anything as I believe money won't interest you. How about we use our slaves as the bet?"

The old man said while looking at the high orc and minotaur at the back.

"Do you even have slaves equal to mine's caliber?"

Haji Tea asked

"Indeed I do, but he will be fighting your slave."

"Sorry then but I refuse your challenge."

Haji Tea quickly declined.

"Listen to me first, I will bet 10 of my slaves while you will only have to bet 1."

The old man quickly said, making Haji Tea ponder for a bit before sending a message to Akash via the System.

*beep*

[My Liege, what do you say?]

Akash replied similarly.

[Ask him if he has twenty slaves. We will bet Sohrab and Sacra together while each of their slaves must at least have the aptitude of a soldier. We can increase our army's numbers here as that is something that we lack at the moment.]

Haji Tea then looked at the old man.

"Show me all of your slaves, I will pick ten."

The old man hummed before saying.

"As you wish, gentleman."

He waved his sleeves and 34 people jumped out of the room. All of them were humans with different body types, from many nations and wielding a variety of weapons.

"These are my all slaves, chose any ten you want."

The old man proclaimed and all 6 of them checked the profiles of these slaves. Out of 34, only 19 had a high-grade aptitude while the rest were merely common. Thus, Akash signaled Haji to pick those 19 and Haji Tea immediately acted with a sigh and replied.

"Sorry senior, they don't quite catch my interest."

Everyone was shocked by those words. How could one reject such an overwhelmingly good offer? Akash, however, could see where this was going. Meanwhile, the old man was furious.

"What! I am offering you 10 slaves for just one and yet you're still acting arrogant! Do you think your slaves are that special? They are mere beastmen, nothing more!"

Haji squinted his eyes before showing some aggression as well, not willing to be talked down to like this.

"Senior, watch your tongue. I doubt you could bear the consequences of pissing me off."

The old man flinched, remembering that the person in front of him was a golden card holder before quickly apologizing. After which, Haji continued in a loud voice.

"This slave of mine is a rare beastman called a sabretooth, an evolved form of lionmen."

He then pointed towards Sacra Emilat and Sohrab Khan.

"This one is a high orc, also an evolved version of an orc, while the other is a minotaur who possesses monstrous strength. Do you still believe your slaves are equal to mine?"

Silence pervaded the arena. Haji spoke again, looking at the old man.

"I shall accept your challenge, in respect to your seniority. If you bet all your slaves, I will bet two of mine as well. Do you accept?"

The old man quickly stood up and clapped his hands.

"I accept, I accept, gentleman! Let's start the fight immediately then!"

The referee confirmed once again with both before registering the bet. Haji Tea then went to the referee and whispered something which the old man caught this, quickly voicing his complaints.

"What is the meaning of this! are you bribing the referee?"

The crowd was displeased when a female voice came from the golden room.

"You idiots, are you questioning the management of Slave City?"

Akash turned and saw a pretty woman in a green dress, sitting in the golden room. He pondered.

"When did she come inside? I couldn't feel her presence in the slightest."

The old man lowered his head to the opposing crowd. After the registration, the old man signaled to someone in his room. A dual dagger-wielding man came out, slowly coming towards the arena. He was of a brown skin colour and had curly black hair with a height of 1.73 meters. The king and his lords soon checked his profile.

[Name: Nasir Sin

Realm: 1st Moon, Star Captain

Aptitude: Medium-High Grade

Learnt Laws: Martial Law, Fire Law, Thunder Law.

Inborn Laws: None]

Haji Tea sent a message to Daan Godlyn, who smiled. Soon after, the referee stood in the middle and raised his hands before quickly lowering them as he yelled.

"START!"

Nasir Sin gulped as he dashed towards the towering beastman, swinging his daggers continuously, whereas Daan simply dodged every attack with ease, surprising the masses.

"What!"

"This beastman is too strong!"

"What about the gap in realms? Is the beastman somehow cheating?"

"They must have hidden the cultivation realm of this slave!"

Every mouth spoke their point and gave a quick review whilst Nasir Sin was calm. He was a veteran slave fighter, simply waiting for Daan to make a mistake. He didn't know what kind of monster he was facing, Daan Godlyn was not wearing his Hadda gauntlets or full armour, so he wore only simple slave clothes which merely covered his body and nothing more.

Nasir jumped and his dagger glittered with lightning, as he struck Daan.

~CLANG~

A strange metallic sound echoed through the arena, his dagger had collided against the long claws of Daan, who gave a suggestion.

"Surrender, otherwise you will lose your life in vain."

~SLASH~

Paying no heed, the brown slave slashed his other dagger and cut Daan's chest, slicing his shirt in the process.

"Don't act like you've already won!"

Daan checked his chest wound and tore his shirt apart, everyone gasped at the scene. What they saw was a body full of scars, caused by sword, daggers, arrows and spears. His body had been scarred by every weapon imaginable.

Nasir's eyes widened, his attack didn't even budge Daan. The realm difference was supposed to be an extreme advantage. However, slaves were rarely treated justly. More often than not, they were just tools for earning money for their masters. As such, even if one was a genius, that talent was usually just wasted.

The same thing had happened to this slave named Nasir Sin. Even though he had a higher realm, his foundation was much weaker compared to Daan, who was treated very well. Daan spoke again.

"You still have a chance, you will be treated fairly by us!"

Nasir Sin rushed and yelled instead.

"Shut your mouth, you animal!"

Daan clenched his fist and used his technique Unrivalled in the Cosmos.

"Unrivalled Lion Punch!"

The Lion King's huge arms didn't give the slave enough time to dodge, so he brought both of his arms to block the attack instead.

~BOOM~

An explosion occurred as Nasir Sin was flung away towards the audience by the impact of the punch, injuring many in the process. The referee quickly checked his injuries, Nasir's both arms were shattered. He couldn't wield his daggers anymore. As a result, everyone looked at the lion man in terror, terrified of the monstrous strength that was just displayed. The referee asked the old man.

"Do you want to continue?"

Sweat covered the face of the old man as he hesitatingly replied.

"I... accept my... defeat."

~WWAAAAHHHHWWW~

The arena resounded with cheers and applause for Daan Godlyn.

The old man came down the from room, reaching the injured body of Nasir Sin.

"You son of a bitch, you couldn't even kill a wild beast of a lower realm! Do you know how much I just lost because of you? You'll pay for this with your life, useless helot!"

He raised his foot to stomp the brown slave when the referee yelled.

"Stop!"

The old man flinched.

"What? This is my slave! I can do anything I want with him. Only those 34 slaves were part of the bet."

Haji Tea laughed.

"Hahaha, senior. I believe you're mistaken, ask the referee again."

The old man was confused, the referee showed him the registered bet and explained.

"It is written that Haji Tea will bet his 2 slaves while you will bet all of your slaves."

"What?"

Old man's legs wobbled, he recalled Haji Tea said the word 'all'.

"Hahaha, what an unlucky old bastard."

The black man in the golden room uttered in between his laughs.