Understanding the Heavenly Arena

Now that he had a precise goal.

Lucky also began making some changes. He no longer focused solely on training, instead starting to interact with other people in the Heavenly Arena while learning more about its circumstances.

Lucky became even busier and more fulfilled.

More than a month passed like this. He gained a deeper understanding of the Heavenly Arena, as well as Keli City.

By then, the floor where he worked had reached the 100th Floor.

The Sharingan's abilities allowed him to copy quite a few techniques. Of course, turning them into something truly his own and mastering them thoroughly still required time and battle.

And Lucky had also gained quite a bit of fame within the Heavenly Arena.

A referee of his age was already quite a novelty. On top of that, Lucky had never been injured in the ring, which only added to his legendary aura.

There were twelve Martial Arts Schools that controlled the Heavenly Arena. This number was not entirely fixed, since there were countless Martial Arts Schools around the world. Any one of them might rise to prominence.

It was equivalent to twelve director seats.

Of course, it had not been this way from the beginning.

Rather, it had gradually evolved into this arrangement following the emergence of the Fighting Tournament.

At every Fighting Tournament, the twelve highest-ranked Martial Arts Schools would obtain those seats.

They could receive a share of the Heavenly Arena's profits, or participate in its operations. The latter was rare, however. Most of the time, the positions were used to find jobs for incompetent disciples of a Martial Arts School, or arrange employment for their family members.

That allowed them to focus wholeheartedly on training without being troubled by worldly concerns.

Ever since this rule had been established, those seats had changed hands every year. The only exception was the Heart Source School.

There were still six months until the next Fighting Tournament.

The requirement for entering the Fighting Tournament was to reach the 200th Floor and win at least one match.

The Heavenly Arena did not yet have any Floor Master system.

What would happen if an independent fighter entered the Fighting Tournament and even achieved a good ranking?

No one knew yet, because since the Fighting Tournament began, no independent fighter had ever won the championship.

It was not that there were no experts among independent fighters. Rather, there were even more experts in the world's renowned Martial Arts Schools.

Lucky also looked into past Fighting Tournament champions and saw a familiar name among them.

Beyond, Netero's son.

Naturally, Lucky could not possibly know the others.

As for how the Heavenly Arena operated now, it mainly relied on the Fighting Tournament. Once the seats had been decided, meetings would be held regarding profit distribution and the Heavenly Arena's operations.

The twenty chief referees were the ones responsible for carrying out those decisions.

Of course, chief referees also had the opportunity to participate in the Heavenly Arena's operations, though their authority was not as great. They needed to notify the twelve directors and gain the support of more than half the chief referees.

The entire Heavenly Arena was an intricate web of intertwined interests.

The Heavenly Arena had many employees, but the referee position held the most importance among them.

The rest were ordinary staff or administrative personnel.

To become a chief referee, one was practically no different from a fighter—one needed sufficient seniority and enough strength.

The higher one went, the fewer referees there were, and the greater their authority became.

At first, Lucky had thought that making changes would be difficult, but he quickly discovered that was not the case.

Naturally, he had no chance of taking part in large-scale operations.

But as his authority increased, he was able to do certain things.

For example, as a referee on the 100th Floor, he could gain full control over a certain area below the 100th Floor.

He could use it however he pleased.

He could operate all kinds of businesses there, or even lease it to others.

That was truly a substantial benefit.

Lucky had not yet decided what to do. There were too many businesses in the Heavenly Arena already, and he wanted to do something that did not yet exist.

Aside from the Heavenly Arena, Piccolo had also spent over a month learning a great deal about Keli City.

Keli City had official authorities, after all, since it was within the Republic of Padokea.

Keli City had five major powers.

They were the Martial Arts Hall faction and the four major Mafia families.

There was no need to say much about the Martial Arts Hall faction. Various Martial Arts Schools had established themselves here, some large and some small.

The large ones were world-renowned, while the small ones had been opened by some Heavenly Arena fighter.

They could be considered a large collective, though they were not particularly harmonious with one another.

The four major Mafia families each occupied a territory, spreading outward in the four directions centered around the Heavenly Arena.

Lucky was most familiar with the Conrad Family.

Then there were the three families of Hobart, Daniel, and Harlan.

They primarily dealt in prostitution, gambling, drugs, and collecting protection fees.

Only the Conrad Family was somewhat different. They also had legitimate businesses covering clothing, food, housing, and transportation, and even maintained connections with several martial arts schools.

Based on this information, Lucky was able to draw a few conclusions.

First, to become the controller or operator of the Heavenly Arena, one needed to bring in greater profits and be accepted by the various martial arts schools.

In Lucky's view, quite a few Martial Artists became corrupted after coming here.

In Keli City, as long as one had money, one could experience many things.

Whether they were high-ranking personnel of the Heavenly Arena or Martial Artists, once they gained enough status and wealth, they began indulging in extravagance and pleasure.

A considerable portion of the Mafia's income came from them.

That was why the Heart Source School held the highest status in the Heavenly Arena. It had certain plans for the arena's operations, ensuring order and preventing certain things from appearing within the Heavenly Arena.

Otherwise, the Heavenly Arena would surely have no shortage of casinos and the sex industry.

Therefore, if Lucky wanted to gain enough influence, aside from his own strength, it would be best for him to join the Heart Source School and become one of its members.

At the same time, he needed qualifications equal to those of the Mafia families when negotiating with them, whether in status or strength.

Or he could directly unify the Mafia families of Keli City.

At the very least, the Conrad Family appeared qualified to do so. Judging from how the family operated, it was not some shortsighted Mafia family.

And if he wanted to gain status, Lucky felt that slowly becoming a referee and rising through the floors would not be enough.

He wanted to use other methods.

Of course, money was indispensable if he wanted to make things happen.

Lucky began by trying his hand in the "entertainment" industry, or rather, by "cooperating" with the Conrad Family.

Lucky began independently developing a Nen Ability.

As a natural Nen user, he even possessed the Sign-in Nen Ability.

But in Lucky's eyes, that ability was more like a "system" beyond his control.

He needed to develop an ability that he could control himself.

He did not choose to develop a powerful ability. Instead, he set his sights on memory.

Without a photographic memory, he needed to dig into the memories "deep within his heart."

At first, he had considered waiting until the Three-Tomoe Sharingan could hypnotize him into "remembering," but then he realized that his body was different, and his memories were probably connected to his "soul."

So he decisively chose a Nen Ability.