Because the ranking was too low, and the opponent also seemed to be a lone wolf, there were no spectators in the stands.
"Are you also a nobody from the streets?"
Mu Yang's opponent said, his eyes filled with a morbid sense of shared misfortune and relief.
"?"
Mu Yang's expression, hidden beneath his mask, was a bit strange. Being alone was one thing, but what in the world was a "nobody from the streets"?
However, he could understand what the other person meant. His opponent thought they were both lone Contractors without companions, but in reality, he was a lone wolf who hadn't found a suitable adventure group.
And "lone wolf" and "lone Contractor" had different meanings.
If the former was synonymous with a strong individual, meaning one person could face the threats of a derived world alone, then the latter was exclusive to the weak.
It implied poor strength, bad temperament, low potential, and overall inadequacy, which was why no adventure group would accept them.
The biggest difference between the two was that one chose to act alone, while the other was forced to act alone.
"Three, two, one, battle start."
"Surrender, and I'll make it quick for you."
As the battle began, the opponent raised the revolver in his hand, an abnormal excitement showing in his eyes.
It was his first time educating someone else; it felt great!
A hint of pity flashed in Mu Yang's eyes, and a burst of fire erupted from his hand. The opponent was incinerated into ashes by the overwhelming flames that covered the entire field, not even having time to fire his gun.
"I lost?"
The opponent sat on the ground, utterly bewildered. He only remembered his vision being obscured by flames, and then there was nothing else.
Similarly, back in his rest cabin, Mu Yang was calm. The battle just now held no significance for him.
He only saw a cowardly, incompetent person trying to restore his "strong" dignity through him, but Mu Yang's raging fire instantly incinerated that fragile dignity.
"Individual battle ended, victory!"
"Contractor's ranking increased, from 165746th to 154702nd (Tier 1)"
"Continue matching."
Mu Yang decided to test the limits of his strength.
Because his ranking was low, the matching speed was very fast. He found his next opponent in less than ten seconds.
It was still the same type of Arena as before, but this time there were a few more spectators than last time.
This opponent was wearing a night suit, and from his appearance, he seemed to be an assassin.
But sensing the playful gazes of the spectators in the stands, Mu Yang could guess that this was just a disguise. The opponent was most likely the opposite, a warrior or a mage.
"Three, two, one, battle start."
As expected, the "assassin" began by reciting a paladin's lines, but a light blue glow, extremely complex in composition, burst from his hand.
After less than a second of charging, clusters of water balls shot towards Mu Yang.
A fire shield rose in front of Mu Yang. The water balls merely caused a slight ripple when they hit the fire shield, leaving only a bit of steam to confirm their existence.
Weak, too weak.
This was Mu Yang's true feeling. He could easily defend against dozens more such water ball attacks.
"Surrender!"
Seeing that his attacks couldn't even budge the fire shield, the opponent very sensibly chose to surrender, and a sigh of disappointment immediately rose from the spectator stands.
"Your opponent has initiated a surrender. Accept/Decline surrender."
"Accept."
Mu Yang dismissed the fire shield and accepted his opponent's surrender.
He wasn't a devil who liked to torment others, nor did he want to waste too much time in the low rankings.
"Two consecutive wins!"
A line of large golden characters appeared above Mu Yang's head. His figure gradually faded, finally disappearing from the Arena, leaving only the water mage with a look of longing.
"Individual battle ended, victory, two consecutive wins!"
"Contractor's ranking increased, from 154702nd to 123711th (Tier 1)"
"Received message from this opponent. View/Ignore."
He clicked to view. The content was not questioning or cursing, but an inquiry:
"Boss, how did you become so strong? Could you give me some pointers?"
"Read more books, read more newspapers, eat fewer snacks, and sleep more."
After replying, Mu Yang continued to match for opponents.
About ten seconds later, he reappeared on the Arena platform. He roughly scanned the audience on the platform; there were already over a hundred.
"Big brother in the white mask! Win! I bet 20 paradise coins on you!"
A cross-dressing man shouted in a high-pitched voice.
The Arena had a betting function, but participants themselves could not bet on their own matches, nor could they collude with companions to bet. If such behavior occurred, the consequences were severe, even leading to forced execution.
This was to prevent "fixed matches" in the Paradise Arena. Therefore, a considerable number of Contractors were executed, most of whom were New Contractors who didn't understand the rules and thought they could exploit loopholes to make money.
This opponent was still ordinary. Mu Yang casually condensed a common fire dragon, and the opponent was so scared he didn't dare to move, directly winning the match.
"Three consecutive wins!"
In the next ten minutes, no matter if Mu Yang encountered melee or ranged opponents, he would blast them with a fire dragon. If one wasn't enough to kill them, he'd send another.
"Four consecutive wins!"
"Five consecutive wins!"
......
"Ten consecutive wins!"
Sitting in the rest cabin, Mu Yang checked his current ranking: 62400th.
This time he chose not to continue, because his Solar Power was running low, and continuing would be meaningless. He believed he wouldn't encounter suitable opponents outside the top 10,000, so he decided to continue the Arena in a couple of days.
After exiting the Arena, Mu Yang returned to the Trial Field, choosing the combat mode to hone his swordsmanship in actual combat.
......
Two days later,
Inside the Arena, in a burning forest, a woman with a scythe was fleeing in all directions.
The next second, a large flame hand, condensed from the burning trees, slapped towards the woman.
"Again..."
The woman gritted her teeth in frustration. Her scythe blade was coated with black energy, and she swung it upwards with force, slicing the flame hand apart.
And the moment she cut open the flame hand, a pair of light golden eyes appeared in the woman's vision. She couldn't read any emotion from them, like an emotionless machine.
The intensifying sense of danger in her heart made her instinctively want to dodge backward, and when a bloody light shone on her, her thoughts suddenly paused for a moment, slowing her reaction speed significantly.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Mu Yang swung the Greatsword of Scorching Sun in his hand towards the woman, directly crushing her head.
"Individual battle ended, twenty-one consecutive wins!"
"Contractor Arena ranking increased, from 10200th to 8948th (Tier 1)"
The onlookers were shocked. It was their first time witnessing so many consecutive wins firsthand.
"Received message from this opponent. View/Ignore."
With little time left, Mu Yang had no intention of continuing to the next match. He clicked to view the message.
"Wanna hang out?"
"No."
Mu Yang received such a message for the first time. He remembered that he had been quite ruthless in his attack, so he couldn't understand why the other party still had the mind to ask him out to eat.