Barn Frank

Lucky got up the next day.

After washing up, he headed to the restaurant on his floor for breakfast.

Lucky was currently on the 100th Floor of Heavenly Arena, staying not in a fighter's room but in quarters belonging to Heavenly Arena staff.

Lucky could also be considered an "official" member of Heavenly Arena.

His adoptive father, Barn Frank, was a renowned referee at Heavenly Arena. Twelve years ago, Barn had noticed something unusual about Lucky and brought him back to Heavenly Arena, where he adopted him.

Although the anime had introduced Heavenly Arena, it had not gone into much detail.

It was only after arriving in this world and coming into contact with it that Lucky learned how different Heavenly Arena truly was.

First of all, Heavenly Arena had been built with joint funding from Martial Arts Schools around the world; it did not belong to any individual.

The Heart Source School accounted for the largest share.

At that point, Lucky finally understood why Wing had been able to obtain Heavenly Arena's battle recordings so easily in the anime.

Basically, every well-known Martial Arts School sent disciples to Heavenly Arena as a place for training and experience.

Among the Floor Masters above the 200th Floor, most were disciples of Martial Arts Schools.

Of course, the current Heavenly Arena was not yet the same Heavenly Arena from the later anime. Many aspects still needed improvement.

Without technological support, it could not provide the vast viewing areas seen in the anime.

After all, without large screens, spectators seated too far away would be completely unable to see the matches clearly.

Lucky's adoptive father, Barn Frank, was one of Heavenly Arena's chief referees.

This was also something Lucky had only learned after truly arriving here.

Being a referee at Heavenly Arena was a dangerous profession that also demanded sharp judgment.

The danger naturally came from the possibility of being attacked by contestants, such as Hisoka's battle in the manga.

As for judgment, referees on the first 200 floors could determine whether certain fighters could advance directly to particular floors instead of climbing ten floors at a time.

In the anime, Gon Freecss and Killua had advanced directly to the 50th Floor.

At the same time, referees also needed the discernment to understand the flow of a fight and determine the score.

Heavenly Arena matches were decided using a points system.

If one could not even understand what was happening in a fight, then scoring it would naturally be out of the question.

Heavenly Arena was known as the sacred land of Martial Artists, but it had another name as well: an open "underground arena."

To register, one had to sign an agreement—a liability waiver.

Although Heavenly Arena matches used a points system to determine victory or defeat, there was no prohibition against settling a match through a fight to the death.

Many matches were in fact extremely bloody, satisfying certain people's dark tastes.

Now that Lucky possessed the Sharingan, his goal was not to climb the floors and fight.

He wanted to become a referee.

The floor-climbing matches at Heavenly Arena had a limited number of slots each day. If a contestant was injured and applied before a match, they would not be able to immediately apply for another one.

However, there was a time limit of one week. If they did not participate in a battle for an entire week, they would be penalized by being demoted to a lower floor.

As for why he chose to be a referee, it was because he could meet more Martial Artists and witness more combat techniques.

After breakfast, Lucky went straight to the 220th Floor, where his adoptive father, Barn Frank, worked.

As a chief referee of Heavenly Arena, he was also considered part of its upper management.

There were twenty chief referees like him in Heavenly Arena.

Their main duties were recruiting referees and presiding over matches above the 200th Floor.

This also meant that they were all Nen Ability users.

Although this was not yet the era of the anime, many of Heavenly Arena's systems had already been perfected. Naturally, the battles above the 200th Floor were all fights between Nen Ability users.

If a referee had not mastered Nen, then observing from close range would also leave them affected.

Barn Frank, fifty-two years old, had black hair and looked like a burly middle-aged man.

His style was completely unlike that of most Heavenly Arena referees. He gave off more of the impression of a Fighter than a referee.

And that was indeed the case.

Perhaps Barn had not possessed such a physique when he first became a referee at Heavenly Arena, but as he presided over more and more matches, he gradually became what he was now.

Working as a referee at Heavenly Arena was dangerous, and few could guarantee that nothing would ever happen to them.

Most referees would switch to desk work after saving enough money and would not remain in the position for too long.

Barn Frank, however, was currently the oldest and strongest referee in Heavenly Arena.

Ordinary matches were rarely assigned to him anymore.

He was now mainly in charge of the Fighting Tournament.

The Fighting Tournament was a project that Heavenly Arena had only begun operating in recent years.

Barn Frank's office was also unlike an ordinary office. Rather than an office, it was more like a place for martial arts training.

When Lucky entered this martial arts training ground, Barn was currently practicing his punches.

It was somewhat like Netero's training, or perhaps modeled after Chairman Netero's method.

Of course, he was not a disciple of the Heart Source School.

Lucky entered the training ground and stood to one side, waiting for Barn to finish training.

This punching practice lasted for half an hour.

"Need something?" Barn Frank withdrew his fist and took long, slow breaths, gradually recovering.

Training like Netero's was not easy for ordinary people to replicate, even if they wanted to.

Then he turned his gaze toward Lucky before suddenly spinning and leaping forward, throwing a punch at him.

Lucky had been prepared. He immediately retreated and dodged the punch, but he only managed to dodge that one.

Because what followed was an unceasing barrage of attacks.

Lucky did his best to evade. Whenever he could not dodge, he used his arms to block.

They only stopped after Lucky was sent flying by a punch.

"While training Nen, don't forget your other training," Barn said.

Lucky bowed. "Yes!"

"Go on. What is it?" Barn knew his adopted son well. Unless something had happened, Lucky would not take the initiative to come looking for him.

"I want to become a referee at Heavenly Arena." Lucky directly stated his goal.

A look of surprise appeared on Barn's face.

At first, Barn had thought Lucky was planning to begin his "trial."

When he had adopted Lucky, it was because he valued Lucky's talent. Over the years, he had been strict with him, training him entirely toward the path of a Martial Artist.

He had even made an agreement with Lucky: as long as Lucky could fight his way up to the 200th Floor, then he would be free to come and go as he pleased, doing whatever he wanted. In Barn's eyes, that would mean he had "come of age."