The Duel Between True Men That Is About to Begin

## Chapter 40: The Impending Duel Between True Men

2 PM, Central Arena, Waiting Room.

Rhode sat on a stone chair, the dim yellow light from the torch cast upon his back, highlighting the sharp lines of muscle beneath his thin clothing.

Rhode crossed his hands, propping up his forehead, his eyes shadowed and indistinct.

He knew he was nervous.

The reason was simple: just half an hour before the match, Garo, the Martial Artist who was originally at the same level as him, had unexpectedly leveled up.

Although the stat boost from leveling up was extremely small for beginner classes like theirs, in a battle that was originally evenly matched, this could be a crucial step that determined victory or defeat.

But fortunately, they had signed up for the "Unlimited Duel Tournament," which meant there were no restrictions on the participants, and they could use any items, martial techniques, and magic.

This was usually for wealthy young masters and ladies to have fun, specifically fighting against those who were short on money and not afraid to die, using cash shop items to smash their way to victory.

The two of them chose this mode because they both knew each other's limits, and the level of items they could buy was about the same. Moreover, out of a certain sense of ritual, they felt that they had to go all out to win Xiao Zi, including their wallets.

Fortunately.

Rhode looked at a cloth bag at his waist, the objects inside angular and distinct, vaguely revealing a palm-sized cube through the cloth.

This was Rhode's trump card!

The story began at the market this morning.

At that time, Rhode was unaware of Garo's level up and was still scouting for suitable items in the nearby market to catch Garo off guard.

While he was hesitating and struggling to decide, a square cube-shaped item with mixed colors caught Rhode's eye at a dilapidated stall not far away.

An inspiration struck, and Rhode went to ask about the price out of curiosity. A voice told him that he had to buy it.

Now that he thought about it, it was probably his extremely strong martial arts intuition! The seller was a person wearing a hood, unable to see their face clearly. When asked about the origin of the item, they said in a low voice, "This is an item I found in a maze. The Appraisal skill indicates that it seems to be an item used by ancient men to select the truest man among them. It's useless to me, so I'll sell it to you for 2 silver coins."

Although the answer disappointed Rhode, 2 silver coins was nothing to adventurers like them, so he followed his heart and bought it.

Just as Rhode was still unwilling to give up and used Appraisal magic to scan it, an accident happened.

Rhode carefully noticed that the interface that appeared after appraising this item was slightly different from the normal interface. His teacher had taught him about this situation—this was a panel made with the Forgery skill, which could hide the true purpose of the item! The way to break it was simple: just drip blood on it and then break through with magic! Sure enough, after Rhode dripped blood, the appraised panel slowly revealed the hidden words!

[True Man's Cube]

[Universal Advanced Magic Item]

[Effect: The cube, which has six faces, each divided into nine blocks, can change the pattern on it by rotating. The shorter the time you take to piece together a more complex pattern, the more powerful magic it will release!]

[A competition item used by ancient warriors to select the truest man among them, its effects and lethality are extremely terrifying! Use with caution!]

[Skill List: Flying Dragon in the Sky.JPG, Great Windmill.JPG, Super Braid.JPG, Old Man Spinning Walnuts.JPG]

"This is an advanced magic item!" Rhode was overjoyed. "And it's universal! I've struck gold!"

You should know that ordinary advanced magic items are sold for at least gold coins, not to mention Universal items that don't require corresponding magic affinity and can be used by everyone! In addition, the descriptions on it, such as Ancient Warriors, Extremely Terrifying Lethality! Use with Caution!, and True Man, were all so cool and domineering that one could imagine how strong its effects were! As for whether this panel was made with a more advanced Forgery skill, Rhode could only say it was impossible.

You should know that the high-level skill book for the Forgery skill has been lost since ancient times! Unless someone could directly upgrade and deduce the highest level with the ordinary Forgery skill and then use it to trick a young man like him out of 2 silver coins.

How could there be such a person, right?

Of course, Rhode also personally went to experiment on magical beasts. Rhode stood far away outside the city and painstakingly pieced together a simple pattern from the tutorial on a male magical beast as high as level 27. The magical beast, which was ten levels higher than Rhode, instantly wailed and ran away, while Rhode himself only consumed a little bit of magic power.

This is the power of a divine artifact! As for those patterns, with Rhode's foundation as a level 17 Martial Artist, it only took him an afternoon to master them all.

Rhode couldn't imagine how much damage he would inflict if he tried to quickly solve the cube with his current skill level!

"Oh well, I'll go easy on Garo later, considering we grew up together!"

"Heh heh heh," Rhode revealed a sinister smile.

"Number 27, Rhode, it's your turn to enter the arena!" The summons echoed from afar. Rhode adjusted his condition slightly, preparing to enter.

"Number 28, Garo, it's your turn to enter the arena!"

"Alright!" A sunny, black-haired young man stood up, stretching, patted the cloth bag hanging on his waist, and revealed a sinister smile: "Heh heh heh, oh well, I'll go easy on Rhode later, considering we grew up together!"

Garo knew that with Rhode's personality, if he suggested the competition rules be Unlimited, he would definitely go to the market to buy items.

As for Garo, his level was actually close to advancing, just a step away. He had asked his teammates to buy items while he secretly went to the maze to level up.

But he encountered an unexpected surprise, obtaining a Universal Advanced Magic Item from ancient times: the True Man's Cube.

"Destiny is on my side! Xiao Zi, here I come!"

The instigator of all this, Chu Ke, was currently holding a bucket of popcorn, searching for his seat, preparing to watch the upcoming True Man's Battle! The popcorn was freshly made by him; the Other World definitely didn't have such a thing.

"B22, this is it." Chu Ke found his seat.

The layout here was somewhat like a large stadium from his previous life, with the audience sitting on high tiered seats, and the combatants fighting below.

The difference was that the organizers used special projection rule magic to project the entire event onto a huge crystal in mid-air, ensuring everyone could clearly see the match.

The arena was surrounded by a magical shield to prevent accidental injuries to the audience.

It was said that the arena would also use giant elemental magic arrays to create different competition terrains based on different events, from volcanic lava to underwater abysses, with strong inclusivity.

Just as Chu Ke was sizing up the arena before him, a pleasant female voice suddenly asked, "Excuse me, is this B21?"

Chu Ke turned his head. The one asking was a fair-faced and cheerful woman with long golden hair, wearing armor.

Behind her followed a girl with long purple hair and a stern expression.

"Yes, it's right next door."

Chu Ke's professional intuition suddenly twitched. After thinking for a moment, he cast an Appraisal.

Natalie Dialo (Hero of the North)

Class: Paladin

Violet Vega (Title: Violet Archmage)

(Golden) High-Level Element Control Archmage lv: 90

Oh, there's also an acquaintance.

I'm very sorry, I finally finished it today, but there may not be enough time to make up for yesterday's, I have a lot of work to do recently, but don't worry, I will definitely make it up tomorrow or the day after, this will not be delayed, as long as I don't make up for the leave slip for a day, that one will never be deleted! Finally, thank you Shang Yi for the reward of 588 points, thank you! Seeking everything! Finally