The Spar

He also thoroughly answered Harrot's questions. Gladiators are primarily divided into cannon fodder, regular gladiators, advanced gladiators, and elite gladiators.

Cannon fodder consists of ordinary death row inmates from prison who aren't particularly skilled, mostly thieves and bandits of average ability. They're brought out to fight to entertain the common civilian audience.

Since they're just expendable scum anyway, no one cares if they live or die. If numbers are low, the prison can easily pull in a large batch, and they're very cheap.

Regular gladiators are more capable. They're mainly mercenaries, soldiers, and wanted criminals who have committed heinous crimes. In short, they're skilled scumbags who deserve to die, but can still be exploited for their value while alive.

They're quite strong but have terrible tempers. They often fight and cause trouble when released from their cells for training, so they're brought in batches to another heavily guarded training ground daily. The guards there are fully armed and carry crossbow bolts, so no one dares to cause trouble unless they have a death wish.

When there's a large audience or high-ranking individuals present, these gladiators are sent out to fight. Although it takes some effort to replace them, it's not a big loss.

Elite gladiators are the core of the Gladiatorial Arena. They don't usually fight on stage and only need to train daily to maintain their strength. They're only brought out when noble lords come to watch matches. Every elite gladiator is a master capable of fighting ten opponents at once.

Only battles between such exceptionally skilled masters can satisfy the discerning nobles. There are very few masters of this caliber in prison; most were "dug up" from outside by The Bald Man, who put in a lot of effort.

Precisely because of the scarcity of elite gladiators, the loser is almost never executed after a battle between them, though direct death in a real fight is unavoidable.

Even so, the treatment of elite gladiators is enviable. Most of the time, they don't have to stay in cells. After training each day, they can freely chat and rest in the training ground. Their food is also much better than others, and they have the privilege of applying for "Ten Wins for Freedom."

Advanced gladiators are special, specifically established by The Bald Man. Gladiators at this level aren't necessarily much stronger than regular gladiators, but their crimes are all excusable.

Some were accidentally offended noble lords and ordered to be executed, some were mercenaries tricked by employers into committing capital crimes, and some, like Harrot, were slaves sold here, etc.

These gladiators aren't top-tier in combat but aren't vicious, and their character can be trusted. Many noble lords and wealthy merchants will take a liking to someone and buy them as guards or attendants, earning the Gladiatorial Arena a lot of extra money.

The Bald Man also tries to give gladiators of this caliber the same treatment as elite gladiators, with no difference other than not being able to apply for "Ten Wins for Freedom."

The Gladiatorial Arena has fewer than 10 elite gladiators, just over 20 advanced gladiators, and more than 50 regular gladiators. The number of cannon fodder is irrelevant as they can be replenished at any time.

There are three main types of matches in the Gladiatorial Arena. The most common is 1v1 duels, usually between gladiators of the same level.

Then there are multi-person melees, involving 10-40 participants. The fight only ends when one person remains, and casualties are usually very heavy. These are only held when nobles are watching.

The final match is the man-beast fight. This is a new match mode added after Scarface arrived at the Gladiatorial Arena. Simply put, it involves gladiators fighting various ferocious wild beasts, magical beasts, or even terrifying fantastical monsters.

Depending on the strength of the "beast," the Gladiatorial Arena will arrange a certain number and strength of gladiators to fight. For the most common wild beasts like hungry wolves or wild boars, only one or two cannon fodder are needed.

If it's a powerful beast like a lion or tiger, a lineup of a few cannon fodder plus one regular gladiator would likely be arranged.

If magical beasts are involved, at least nearly ten cannon fodder, several regular gladiators, and one elite gladiator must be arranged to fight.

Although fighting these wild animals and magical beasts results in heavy casualties, at least elite gladiators are not easily lost. The most terrifying and bloody battles are against those fantastical monsters, such as forest trolls, ogres, and multi-headed lizards.

Regular gladiators are all scumbags with basically no sense of teamwork. In battles against monsters, once they're on the arena floor, they all point to their teammates to fight, hiding themselves and not daring to attack the monster. As for cannon fodder, they're so scared when they see a monster that they lose all combat effectiveness.

Several attempts to send cannon fodder and regular gladiators to confront monsters resulted in complete annihilation every time, with no victory against the monsters. The Bald Man understood.

Only by sending elite gladiators, who are far stronger than ordinary people, along with well-trained and united advanced gladiators, can those terrifying and powerful monsters be defeated with minimal losses.

As for "Ten Wins for Freedom," it means gaining freedom and shedding the slave identity after accumulating ten elite-level gladiatorial victories. However, achieving ten wins in elite-level matches is extremely difficult. This rule has been in place for nearly 10 years, and only 8 people have successfully passed.

(Accumulating 10 wins at the same level is already an exaggerated difficulty. Take Flamma as an example; he was one of the greatest legendary gladiators in Earth's history, and his lifetime record was only 21 wins, 9 draws, and 4 losses. American dramas and movies are artistic exaggerations! The physical quality of ordinary people in this world is not much different from Earthlings; at least no gladiator in the arena exceeds the human limit on Earth.)

After listening to Hark's introduction, Harrot carefully analyzed the information. There was both good news and bad news.

The good news was that Harrot could tell he probably belonged to the elite gladiator category. After all, in The Bald Man's eyes, he wasn't just well-built; his vitality was also incredibly strong.

And after fully experiencing the attribute points and various skills the system provided, Harrot was confident that his physical fitness was absolutely top-notch among normal humans, though he lacked some combat technique and experience.

Elite gladiators aren't executed if they lose a fight, and with the system's cheat of revival from near-death, he didn't have to worry about dying accidentally in a match. At most, he'd lose some max health. After all, it was quite unrealistic for the shoddy weapons gladiators used to cut Harrot into pieces with one blow.

As long as he didn't die, he could continuously accumulate combat experience and hone his fighting skills. While defeating enemies, he could also gain experience points to level up and improve his strength. Harrot believed he could definitely complete the "Ten Wins for Freedom" challenge.

The bad news was that his enemies weren't just humans, but also magical beasts and supernatural monsters—terrifying creatures that didn't exist on Earth. He just hoped he wouldn't encounter monsters with overly sharp teeth and claws. Harrot felt that as long as no critical body parts were missing, he could probably revive from near-death eight times out of ten.

Just then, a muscular man walked over, interrupting Harrot's thoughts, and cheerfully said, "Hark, you've been talking to him for a while. He must be a good guy to get along with, right?"

Harrot glanced at the man who called Hark "old man." He was about 1.9 meters tall, covered in strong muscles. While still far from Harrot's physique, he was certainly a strong man.

"Brother, my name is Stank, and I'm one of the bravest gladiators in this arena. Everyone calls me Stone, so you can just call me Stone. Interested in a spar?"

As the muscular man introduced himself, he also proposed a sparring match. Harrot, severely lacking in combat experience, was naturally willing and agreed without hesitation.

Hark, standing nearby, was somewhat dumbfounded to see these two, who were practically strangers, decide to spar so quickly. However, he didn't say much, only explaining to Harrot:

"Stone doesn't mean any harm. He just loves to test himself against people. He's fought almost every gladiator in this training ground. It's not personal against you."

"Don't worry, I actually wanted to practice my greatsword technique with someone. I haven't used this weapon much before, so I'm more than happy for Stone to challenge me!"

Harrot was afraid Hark would misunderstand that he disliked Stone and was going to teach him a lesson, so he quickly explained. Hark and the other advanced gladiators were all unjustly imprisoned, not inherently bad, and Harrot wanted to get along well with them.

Stone laughed heartily when he heard Harrot's words and said, "Exactly, old man! I use a greatsword too, so Harrot and I can exchange tips!"

The two each grabbed a greatsword and stepped onto the ring in the middle of the training ground. Seeing Harrot and Stone, these two burly men, about to spar, a large crowd of gladiators in the training ground gathered to watch.

The elite gladiators and advanced gladiators generally had good relationships. Several of them eagerly questioned the old man.

"Old man, you've been talking to him for ages. Who is this newcomer, and who do you think will win between him and Stone?"

"Is he a master brought in by Boss The Bald Man? If we don't get more people, we really won't be able to handle those monsters!"

Hark grumbled, "I just finished explaining the arena rules to him. Before I could ask for more details, Stone interrupted me. All I know is his name is Harrot, and the arena paid a hefty price to buy him from a slave trader. I don't know anything else!"

"Aside from a few elite gladiators, almost no one has beaten Stone. Do you think he can beat Stone?"

"Probably. Stone usually relies on overwhelming strength to relentlessly pursue others. This newcomer is even bigger than Stone. In a match between two-handed greatsword users, if one side is at a disadvantage in strength, they basically have no chance!"

The gladiators off to the side discussed amongst themselves. Harrot, though outwardly calm on the stage, was quite nervous within. He gripped his greatsword tightly, his eyes fixed on Stone. Harrot, unwilling to initiate, wanted to wait for Stone to attack first.

Stone saw that Harrot was standing still, showing no intention of attacking, and calmly adopted an expression that seemed to say, "Go ahead and attack." He felt like he was being underestimated and couldn't help but feel a little annoyed. Fine, if you look down on me, I'll show you my strength!

Originally, he had wanted to defeat Harrot with skill and speed, trying to avoid a test of strength. After all, from their physiques, he was indeed at a disadvantage; there was no need to fight in an area where his opponent excelled.

But now, Stone decided to compete with Harrot in pure strength. To extinguish Harrot's arrogance, he would defeat him in the very area he was supposedly best at!