I thought it would take a little longer to get the boxing techniques up to the expert level, but the reality was different. The copper body pills turned out to be more useful than expected. The effectiveness of one advanced-quality pill was enough to gain an extra skill point in just one day.
Strength level:
Body Refinement: Blood Refinement
Practice method:
Breathing (Beginner 32/10,000)
Copper Body/Physical (Beginner 30/50) (Mortal)
Spiritual techniques:
None
Physical techniques:
Boxing Methods (Expert 2/40)
Skill Points: 0
With my preparations ready I headed to the first level of the city Andres, as its name indicates, this city belongs to Baron Andres, the city is divided into three levels, the first level being for commoners, the second for one or another immortal practitioner and prestigious merchants, as for the third level only people of high status could enter, be they nobles, alchemists, spiritual blacksmiths or very high level immortal practitioners.
Fortunately, outsiders or low-level practitioners like myself can still stock up on supplies on the first level of the city without any problems, as there are shops selling weapons and alchemy pills for those who need them.
. . . . .
In the middle of a large square, a man in colorful clothes shouted to the crowd, skillfully drawing everyone's attention.
—Come all the way to the grand circus, those who want to see blood and exciting fights between immortal practitioners , come and enjoy an unparalleled excitement! —
I approached him with confident steps, judging by his gaze, he seemed to have noticed that I was approaching him.
—Sir, are you interested in seeing the exciting fights that take place inside the circus? —
I nodded at the man's question. "I am, but I would like to know what one has to do if one wants to participate in the circus fights."
At my question, the man raised an eyebrow and a big smile blossomed on his mouth.
—Ah, you should have said it before, sir, come with me— The man began to walk quickly towards an imposing circular structure from which the cheers of the people and the sound of metal clashing against metal could be heard.
Approaching a window that was empty unlike the others that were completely full.
The man in colorful clothes began to speak —Let me explain to you, sir, in this place you can register your information and after doing so, the circus will be able to schedule a fight for you, depending on your strength of course—
The man handed me a sheet of paper from the window. On it were some information in the form of questions.
What is your name or nickname?
What is your strength level?
How often would you like to be called? Rarely/Regularly/Very often.
There were a few more questions, but in my opinion these were the most important.
I was able to answer all the questions fairly easily, however, the first question gave me some trouble.
What is your name or nickname?
He didn't have a name, so all that was left was to make one up or come up with a random nickname.
The man in colorful clothes, seeing that I was taking so long to answer the first question, didn't seem to despair. Instead, he commented, "In the questionnaire, you answered that you use fist techniques. Why not use white fist as your nickname? It's simple, but it sure has a certain charm with your hair color and pale skin."
Looking at the man for a few seconds, I felt grateful, following his suggestion, I wrote down the nickname he proposed and handed him the questionnaire.
The man accepted the questionnaire and placed a stamp with the image of a male peacock on it. He then handed it to the person behind the window, and the other person handed him a metal plate.
—It's almost ready, sir, now you just have to place a drop of blood on this plate —
Handing me a silver needle along with the metal plate, I did as he asked, a drop of blood fell onto the metal plate, a few moments later, the plate lit up with several colored lights.
Upon closer inspection, several of the information I wrote on the questionnaire appeared on the plate, along with an extra one that read: colorful turkey ring.
Seeing my gaze fixed on that section, the man in colorful clothes explained —The circus is divided into several fighting rings, each ring belongs to a boss, in your case, I am the boss of the peacock ring or colored turkey and I am also the one who manages things like bets, fights, payments among other things without much importance —
The man took the badge from my hands and continued explaining — Your badge will start to shine every time you are required in a fight, we usually call potential participants three hours in advance, if they do not show up during the first two hours, we will only call someone else, we understand that sometimes they may be busy with other matters, you can also come to this window where I registered you and ask with your ID badge if there are any fights available —
It was quite a bit of information, to be sure, but I appreciate this man's patience when it comes to explaining.
—Thanks, then I'll see if there's a fight available —
The man smiled. "Then I'll be on the lookout for you, white fist." Bowing elegantly, the man retreated to the square and continued shouting, "Come to the circus and enjoy wonderful fights for the modest price of a gold coin!"
After losing sight of him in the crowd, I approached the window and asked, "Will there be any fights available?"
The guy behind the window asked me for my ID badge and, after writing something on some papers, gave it back to me.
—There will be two fights before you, someone will call you to attend the fight ring, you can wait in the hallways, from there you can also see some of the fights that are taking place and remember, if you lose you will have to pay 10 gold coins, if you win you can win 10 gold coins plus a bonus for good performance —
As the man at the window told me, I walked to the end of a large hallway that only fighters could pass through.
At the end of the hallway, several fighters of varying strength were waiting their turn just like me.
No one seemed to mind or be bothered by my presence, I sat in an empty spot from which I could see some of the fights that were taking place, in particular, there was one that caught my attention.
. . . . . . .
Two men were dueling, each an expert in his respective field, one wielding a mace so naturally that it seemed he was wielding a stick and not a giant piece of metal.
While the other person was wielding a spear, however, the spear had something that made it special, a kind of transparent veil seemed to be covering it.
Each man practiced the bodily and spiritual paths respectively, the veil of energy that covered the spear was nothing more than the spiritual qi covering the spear.
Seeing the man using spiritual Qi surprised many practitioners, because because qi is useless in the early stages, no one was willing to risk their lives in a battle.
It was such basic knowledge that even mortals knew it, so the person should at least be at the third stage of spiritual refinement.
Although qi practitioners were much weaker physically than body practitioners, once they reached the third stage of refinement, they had many methods to confront and defend themselves at the same time.
And that was happening right now, even though the man with the spear was receiving several direct blows from the man with the mace , he did not flinch, as if the blows were not capable of causing him any harm.
If one looked closely, one could notice that the same energy that coated the man's spear also coated his body, dissipating almost all of the damage from the man with the mace.
However, if this continued, the spearman would eventually lose, because if it came to attrition fights, the body practitioners would win almost one hundred percent of the time with a few exceptions.
Just as a blow from the mace was about to strike the spearman in the right side, a gray smoke condensed around his legs and he disappeared from where he had been standing.
The mace could strike nothing but air, and as for the man with the mace , confused by what had just happened, he failed to notice a presence that had positioned itself behind him.
By the time he realized the situation, it was too late, the man with the spear stabbed him several times in his balance points such as his calves, destabilizing his posture and forcing him to kneel on the ground.
By the time the man with the mace wanted to reply, a spear appeared in front of his neck, it was a matter of a little force before the spear stabbed him and killed him instantly.
—I give up —With some difficulty, the man with the mace retreated from the fighting ring after his opponent removed the spear from his neck. Disappointed, he managed to hear the screams of some of his fans.
—Great bull, next time it will be—
—Yes, great bull, you only lost because your opponent has no honor —
After hearing the cheers of his fans, the man cheered and with a big smile left the circus. "Yes, who could have said that I would face someone so dishonest?"
—Illusory Spear, Illusory Spear! — Applause for the man with the spear was also not lacking.
Ignoring the cheers, the Illusory Spear sneered silently, "In a fight, the winner is decided by intelligence, not strength. You can't expect honesty and honor from everyone, or sooner or later you might end up being killed in a fight."
He also withdrew from the ring, as someone at the third stage of Qi refining, he couldn't afford to waste time on anything other than immortal practice, furthermore, he has already spent a large amount of spiritual Qi, wasting it might be detrimental to his practice.