Refusing to Sign the Indenture Contract

"Are you... really not considering signing an Indenture Contract?"

Dior couldn't bear to see a genius fall and continued persuading him:

"Being bought by someone really isn't such a bad thing. The one who has taken a liking to you is a Star Domain Overlord."

"Sign the Indenture Contract, and you'll gain resources you could never obtain in your lifetime."

"Within the Cosmos, strength reigns supreme!"

"Wouldn't becoming a strong person's slave be better than dying while clinging to the identity of a Freeman?"

Having finished plundering the spoils, Lu Li remained unmoved. Seeing Dior still trying to persuade him, he simply sat cross-legged on the ground to rest.

Now that he knew the next twenty matches would be fraught with danger, he had to seize every minute to recover his strength.

Seeing that he truly couldn't persuade Lu Li, Dior could only sigh in the end.

"Fine, fine. I admire your backbone, and I owe you for those 700 kilograms of Adamantine. In the future, on holidays, I'll burn paper offerings for you..."

The gladiatorial matches began again.

Just as Dior had said, the Defenders who took the stage were suddenly on an entirely different level.

Not a single one was below Lv.20!

And Lu Li no longer hid his strength, using the abilities he had Plundered one by one.

He fought eighteen grueling matches.

Every match was one against two!

It took a full five hours!

His stamina was nearly completely drained.

Watching Lu Li gasp for breath at the center of the arena, Dior headed toward the other side.

From the start of the matches until now, Alisa had obediently remained curled up in a corner, doing everything she could to make herself unnoticed.

When she saw Dior walking toward her, the pitiful Palu girl shuddered.

"Don't be afraid. I won't do anything to you."

Dior sighed and said earnestly:

"Look, Lu Li has held out through ninety-eight matches. His stamina has already reached its limit."

"There are only two matches left. Supreme Heaven definitely won't let Lu Li leave alive."

"Living badly is still better than dying. Go persuade Lu Li to sign the Indenture Contract."

Alisa looked somewhat dazed and muttered:

"How could I possibly persuade him... At the beginning, when he said we were doing a hundred gladiatorial matches, he never even asked for my opinion..."

Dior scratched his iron skull.

The truth did seem to be exactly as Alisa had said.

"...Just treat a dead horse as if it were alive. Otherwise, if Lu Li dies in the next two matches, you definitely won't survive either..."

Alisa shrank her neck, like a duck being roasted over a fire.

She hurried over to Lu Li's side and carefully poked his shoulder.

But before she could begin persuading him, Lu Li threw a question at her first:

"Alisa, right? What's your Talent Ability?"

"Huh?" Alisa froze, then answered instinctively:

"My Talent Ability is [Goddess of Fortune's Favor], Diamond Rank..."

Upon hearing that, Lu Li immediately turned his head and stared in disbelief at the Palu who had coasted through ninety-eight matches.

"A Diamond Rank... Talent?"

Alisa's expression stiffened. She seemed to recall something unpleasant and hurriedly waved her hands.

"My Talent is actually completely useless. I don't know why it's Diamond Rank either. Ah? Don't be angry..."

Seeing Lu Li's expression change, Alisa thought he was blaming her for concealing it and became even more flustered.

She truly believed her Talent was useless.

Even though it was called [Goddess of Fortune's Favor], using the ability still didn't bring her good luck.

Instead, it brought more misfortune.

That was why Alisa had been so utterly despairing when she entered the Hub Arena.

But Lu Li didn't see it that way.

Because having lived a second life, he understood that [Goddess of Fortune's Favor] was absolutely worthy of being called a god-tier Talent!

Like Xu Xiao's Amplify-type ability, [Goddess of Fortune's Favor] could increase the Luck of Players within its range.

Yet the Talent's owner herself could not be affected by the ability.

That was why Alisa felt her Talent Abilities were useless.

In just a moment, several new plans formed in Lu Li's mind.

"When the ninety-ninth gladiator match begins, use your ability. Don't stop."

Lu Li climbed up from the ground and instructed Alisa.

"Oh, okay..."

Alisa nodded dazedly, completely forgetting why she had come in the first place.

It wasn't until the Defender's iron gate opened again that she jolted and remembered she had come to persuade Lu Li to sign an Indenture Contract.

"Lu Li..."

Alisa tried to call out to him, but Lu Li could no longer hear her.

The cheers from the stands were simply too loud, completely drowning out her voice.

"My god! It's actually a Blade Slave from the Chen Family! Am I seeing this right?"

"Whoa, the Arena really went all out this time..."

"How the hell are they supposed to fight this? A Chen Family Blade Slave is already out here—they might as well declare Lu Li the loser."

"Isn't sending out a Blade Slave against the rules? I remember Gladiator Mode has level-gap restrictions..."

"Rules my ass. The Arena must have capped the Blade Slave's level! We just don't know which Chen Family member's combat style this Blade Slave copied..."

"Hey, hey, I see the character 'Kou' written on his face. Could it be Chen Kou, the Chen Family genius who's been on the rise these past few years?"

"Holy shit, Blade Slaves are already hard enough to deal with, and this one copied Chen Kou's fighting style... Looks like Lu Li's winning streak ends at ninety-nine..."

"Not necessarily. There's only one Blade Slave, while Lu Li has two people on his side. They might still win."

"Hahaha, brother, you just get here? Let me put it this way: through the previous ninety-eight gladiator matches, that Palu never moved once. He was nothing but decoration..."

Inside the Chen Family's private box.

Listening to the astonished cries from outside, the young Chen Kou's lips curled slightly.

The Blade Slave sent out this time had been restricted to Level 25.

Originally, Chen Kou had believed a Level 15 Blade Slave would have been more than enough.

After all, it had copied his fighting style. As a genius himself, Chen Kou naturally possessed a genius's pride.

He believed a Level 15 Blade Slave would have had more than enough power to kill Lu Li.

However, his grandfather wanted to give Supreme Heaven some face, so the Blade Slave's level had ultimately been raised to 25.

"This is nothing but a slaughter," Chen Kou said disdainfully. "But that's fine. If Lu Li dies in this match, Supreme Heaven's little secret won't be exposed so soon."

The old man glanced at his grandson without responding, merely smiling as he watched the arena below.

Lu Li narrowed his eyes at the approaching figure in the distance.

He truly hadn't expected to face a Blade Slave of the Mad Blade Chen Family—and one that had copied the fighting style of Hidden Fury Blade Chen Kou!

But that didn't mean he had no chance of fighting back!

With a thought from Lu Li, black mist surged at his side.

[Soul Guard]!

Xing Anlin and Chen Hao stepped out of the black mist. Without a word, they immediately sprinted toward opposite sides of the Arena.

Meanwhile, Lu Li formed his blade arm and activated the second-stage ability of [Bloody Slaughter]—

[Slaughter]!

In an instant, all the red mist around Lu Li entered his body, removing every negative effect!

[Extreme Regeneration] activated!

His body, which had already been on the verge of death, gradually recovered, and wounds large and small rapidly closed.

"Chen Family Blade Slave, come fight me!!"