Banyan City Arena

"Awesome, Brother Yu, you're the man!! I'll cheer you on when the time comes!!!"

Zhu Fugui gave Lin Yu a thumbs-up.

"Alright, Fatty, enough nonsense. Hurry up and finish eating so we can head out. I promised Mom we'd be back early tonight."

"OK."

The two quickly finished breakfast, then headed out toward the Beast Fighting Arena.

Along the way, Lin Yu's unusual eyes attracted countless stares from passersby. People kept turning back to look at him, and some even came over to ask about them. In the end, the two had no choice but to find an eyewear shop and buy a pair of sunglasses. Once Lin Yu put them on, they no longer had to "enjoy" the strange looks from passersby and were able to make their way smoothly toward Banyan City's arena.

The arena was a special institution introduced by the Freedom Federation. It was an official organization found in every city across the Federation.

With the arrival of the Age of Awakening, firearms and cannons had gradually faded from the stage of history, replaced by individual martial strength. Personal power had become the pinnacle of force in the new era.

Take the Dragon Glory Special District, where Lin Yu lived. Liu Mubai, the Sword Emperor known as the pillar of the nation—if he did not suppress his strength and went all out, he could easily destroy an entire city in a very short time. He was the equivalent of nuclear weapons before the Great Incident.

In the early days of the Freedom Federation, as individual strength grew increasingly powerful, people also became more and more fond of settling matters with their fists. It was common for minor disputes to escalate into major conflicts. The world, which had only just returned to order, once again became filled with panic, with everyone fearing for their own safety.

To preserve the hard-won stability, the Federation joined forces with several of the strongest people of the era to establish arenas and formulate rules. If there was a conflict, it had to be resolved in an arena. The misuse of abilities within cities was prohibited, and violators would be suppressed by Guardians.

Under the Freedom Federation's high-pressure policies, the budding signs of chaos were suppressed. After that, arenas became an indispensable part of the Federation people's lives.

At the same time, in order to give ordinary people a clearer and more direct understanding of magical beasts, arenas gradually added beast-fighting events.

Guardians would hand over magical beasts captured in realms to the arenas. The arenas would then release the beasts onto the Beast Fighting Arena for slaughter. This was also the only occasion when ordinary people could observe monsters up close.

Banyan City Arena was located in the center of Banyan City and covered nearly one hundred thousand square meters. The entire structure had been built from a special material found in realms. This material could withstand attacks of Tier 3 and below. Every duel platform and Beast Fighting Arena was covered by an independent barrier, while the entire arena was also protected by a marquis-tier barrier capable of resisting Tier 7 attacks. It was practically impregnable.

Thus, the arena also served as a wartime shelter.

By the time Lin Yu and Zhu Fugui arrived at the arena, it was around ten o'clock. Since it was a rest day, the line of people waiting to enter outside the arena was extremely long.

"We should've come earlier. There are way too many people!!"

Looking at the queue ahead, Zhu Fugui complained to Lin Yu.

"Nothing else to do today anyway. Just line up."

Lin Yu spoke indifferently.

"Fine, I guess. I'll count today as exercise for losing weight!"

The two walked to the back of the line and began waiting.

"Babe! I heard there's going to be a fight today between a Tier 3 Flame Wolf and a Tier 3 Ironclad Rhino. I can't wait to see it!!"

In front of Lin Yu and Zhu Fugui stood a young married couple. The woman's belly was slightly swollen; she was probably pregnant.

"Yeah, we're really lucky. I heard that normally, there are only fights between Tier 1 or Tier 2 magical beasts!!"

"Ha! Too bad neither of us awakened successfully. Otherwise, I'd really like to wrestle with those Tier 3 magical beasts!!"

"Yes, yes, if you awakened, you'd definitely be the strongest!!"

"Of course!! Babe, do you think our child will awaken in the future???"

"Definitely! He's carrying both our hopes with him!!"

The young couple before them were merely two among billions of ordinary people, but their thoughts were almost shared by everyone who had failed to awaken: placing their hopes on the next generation.

In this era, if you had not awakened, you would feel inferior to others. This was not discrimination, but a result of Blue Star's current situation. The monsters outside would not show mercy just because you were an ordinary person. Faced with such circumstances, awakened individuals naturally held a more distinguished status.

The line soon reached Lin Yu and Zhu Fugui. After checking their tickets, the two entered the grand-looking arena.

They asked a staff member about the day's Beast Fighting Arena events, then headed toward Hall No. 3, the venue the young couple had mentioned for the Tier 3 magical beast battle.

Following the crowd into Hall No. 3, the two were greeted by a venue resembling an ancient Roman colosseum. In the center was a Beast Fighting Arena surrounded by barriers, while the spectator seats encircled it in tiers.

The stands were already packed with people, and the atmosphere was blazing hot.

Lin Yu and Zhu Fugui struggled through the crowd and finally found their seats.

"Fuck!! There are way too many people. Why aren't they resting properly at home on their day off instead of coming out to join the fun!!"

Sweating profusely, Fatty immediately started ranting as soon as he sat down. Zhu Fugui was already fat to begin with, and squeezing through a crowd like this had taken every ounce of his strength.

"I told you to lose weight, but you wouldn't listen. You're almost at two hundred now, aren't you!!"

Lin Yu said helplessly to Zhu Fugui.

"Losing weight is impossible. I'll never lose weight in this lifetime! Even if Fatty dies from being fat, I still won't lose weight!!"

Zhu Fugui declared smugly. Lin Yu nearly choked to death at his words and rolled his eyes.

"Then just get fat to death!!"

Boom, boom...

A burst of thunderous drumming resounded through the sky. The crowd, which had been noisy a second ago, fell silent as a referee slowly walked to the officials' platform beside the Beast Fighting Arena.

"Today's competitors are a Tier 3 Flame Wolf from the Molten Realm and a Tier 3 Ironclad Rhino from the Thick Earth Realm!"

"You can view the magical beast information on the central screen!"

The referee spoke quickly. He knew that these people had come for the magical beast battle, so he did not waste any words and kept his introduction brief.

Afterward, information on the two magical beasts appeared on the screens hanging above the beast-fighting venue.

Flame Wolf: Fire-element magical beast. Skilled in fire-element abilities. Maximum tier: Tier 3.

Ironclad Rhino: Earth-element magical beast. Possesses a powerful body, with defense unrivaled among magical beasts of the same tier. Maximum tier: Tier 3.

Lin Yu looked at the information displayed on the screen, deep in thought.

Since coming to Blue Star, I haven't actually seen what magical beasts look like. This time, I can finally have a look. I wonder whether, with my current strength, I can beat these two?