Although it was Harrot's first time killing someone, he did not feel particularly uncomfortable. Perhaps it was because he had experienced death before.
Rodri had been a scumbag and a rapist to begin with. He deserved to die, and Harrot felt no guilt over killing him.
Still, as fellow gladiators, Harrot could not help but feel a sense of shared fate over Rodri's death.
Even if he was an elite gladiator, even if he had the system, he still could not claim he was absolutely safe. He might very well fall in some battle against a magical beast or monster.
I have to get rid of my status as a gladiator as soon as possible! Harrot thought to himself.
In the stands, Rodri's father sat slumped in his seat, his face drained of color and his expression vacant as tears streamed from the corners of his eyes.
The cheers of the surrounding spectators sounded unbearably harsh to him. Aside from grieving, there was nothing he could do. He did not dare seek revenge against the Gladiatorial Arena.
The Gladiatorial Arena was the Old Marquis's property. He could always have another son, but if he angered the Old Marquis, his entire family and caravan would be finished.
The bearded noble left with his daughter, surrounded by guards. His daughter had emerged from her emotional trauma, and a smile had returned to her face. The bearded noble smiled in relief, thinking that he would reward that big gladiator if he got the chance.
Meanwhile, at The Bald Man's invitation, Harrot went with him to have a good meal outside the Gladiatorial Arena.
Gladiators were generally not allowed to leave the Gladiatorial Arena, but with The Bald Man leading the way, letting one or two gladiators out was no big deal. Everyone simply pretended not to see.
Along the way, The Bald Man praised Harrot for not embarrassing him. He warmly threw an arm around Harrot's shoulders and chatted with him.
Harrot was infected by The Bald Man's mood, and the unease in his heart gradually faded.
Scarface would not be around much longer. The Count would soon get rid of him, and The Bald Man valued him so highly. He would definitely succeed in escaping his status as a gladiator.
The two ate at a tavern. Quite a few people recognized The Bald Man and Harrot, and a crowd clamored to toast Harrot.
Though gladiators were only slaves, the strong would always earn respect. Most Commoners held powerful gladiators in a kind of awe.
After returning to the Gladiatorial Arena, The Bald Man spoke quietly to Harrot when no one was nearby. "You did well. The noble lord was very satisfied!"
Ding! First quest completed. Quest System unlocked. You can view the quest tab in the system interface.
When The Bald Man finished speaking, Harrot suddenly heard the system notification in his mind. It immediately piqued his interest, but The Bald Man was discussing something with him, so it was not convenient for him to check the system.
The Bald Man then sternly instructed Harrot to keep his mouth shut and not talk carelessly before saying, "I have something to discuss with someone tonight, so I won't be training with you. Get some proper rest!"
Harrot was extremely concerned with the newly unlocked Quest System. After agreeing repeatedly, he returned to his cell.
Quest "Kill the Rapist" completed. Quest reward: EXP +800. Randomly obtain one item. Accept reward now? Yes!
Harrot immediately rose by one level, reaching Level 5, and another item appeared in his inventory.
Horned Helmet, +20 Defense. Strength Requirement: 12. Harrot was thrilled. His four equipment slots were for a helmet, clothes, gloves, and shoes. Aside from the helmet slot, the other three all contained equipment.
Now he had a helmet too, and its quality was extraordinary. +20 Defense! The other three pieces combined only gave 10 points!
Harrot impatiently equipped the Horned Helmet. The buff on his character panel changed to "+30 Defense, -1 Agility."
The loss of Agility was perfectly normal. His previous three pieces of equipment had all been made of cloth and leather. Their defense was low, but they were also very light. This Horned Helmet, however, was forged entirely from metal and weighed a great deal. Combined with the weight of his other three pieces of equipment, it had reached the threshold for reducing Agility.
But compared to 20 Defense, losing 1 point of Agility was nothing. Harrot eagerly ran a test.
The results were remarkably impressive. Even using half his strength, Harrot could not harm his own body at all. It could be said that his Golden Bell Shield had advanced from beginner proficiency to modest accomplishment!
He was now very curious about what would happen if he fought an Agility-type enemy like Rodri again. The opponent probably would not be able to break through his defenses at all. His +30 Defense protected every part of his body without a single blind spot.
After Harrot collected the quest reward, the quest tab was empty, containing only a few system messages:
When completing an important request or quest for someone else, you can obtain corresponding EXP and a random item of equivalent value based on the difficulty.
Over the next few days, Harrot participated in four gladiatorial matches and won every one. The elite gladiators were all recovering from their injuries.
Every other gladiator who faced Harrot was crushed in one-sided fashion. The spectators also developed a deep impression of him, and most had accepted his title as the God of War.
Unfortunately, the elite gladiators of the Gladiatorial Arena were all injured and unable to compete, so his Ten Wins for Freedom challenge could not proceed. His goal of escaping slavery remained far away. The Bald Man could do nothing about it either. The rule had only been established because the Gladiatorial Arena was giving him face; there was no way they would make further exceptions.
One night, instead of guiding Harrot through the Dragon Slaying Sword Art as usual, The Bald Man said grimly, "Tomorrow, you have to fight a magical beast. No teammates—just you. Damn it, that animal really is capable of this!"
"A magical beast? How strong is it?" Harrot hurriedly asked. Magical beasts were mutated from ordinary wild animals and shared two traits. First, they could all cast magic. Second, their offspring did not inherit the mutation; most of the time, the descendants of magical beasts were still ordinary animals.
There were many kinds of magical beasts. Powerful ones could rival dragons, while weaker ones were not even as strong as fierce beasts such as tigers or lions.
The Bald Man said uncertainly, "I don't know exactly how strong it is. That bastard only just bought it. From its appearance, it should be a mutated hyena. It isn't very big, so its close-combat ability probably isn't that strong. The problem is that we don't know what kind of magic it can use."
Harrot silently considered this. Magical beasts were fantasy creatures that had not existed in his previous life, while magic was a mysterious power he had never encountered in either his previous life or this one.
The Bald Man gave Harrot plenty of advice on dealing with magical beasts, but since he did not know the beast's specific abilities, his advice was not very helpful.
Harrot felt somewhat heavy-hearted. Before he had transmigrated, the territory where the original Harrot and his father had lived had been destroyed by a magical beast. In his memories, it was a gigantic leopard more than ten meters long.
The guards and militia in the territory had been completely unable to resist. They could only be slaughtered one after another, and the original Harrot's father had died miserably as well.
Although the magical beast bought by the Gladiatorial Arena could not possibly be that powerful, it still made Harrot extremely nervous.
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