CHAPTER 110: CHAPTER 102 THE FEAST EATER (SEEKING MONTHLY VOTES)_1

GURGLE...

The thick, dark neck was seized by five fingers, cutting off blood flow. Bulging veins writhed like coiled earthworms, threatening to burst from beneath the skin at any moment.

The next moment, the tightly clenched hand suddenly loosened.

The burly man, built like a full-grown black bear, collapsed heavily to the ground. He quickly clutched his neck, his chest heaving violently, and harsh, ragged gasps like a straining bellows escaped him.

"I... I surrender!"

Beneath the bear mask, eyes still bloodshot were wide with horror and terror.

Before the referee could announce the match’s outcome, the man in the bear mask had already stumbled and scrambled, "fleeing" towards the edge of the ring.

The referee for this match slowly approached from the side, glanced at the card in his palm, and then announced with some hesitation, "Feast Eater... is victorious!"

Under the Three-eyed sheep mask, Lu Yuan’s eyes flickered.

He glanced upwards.

Then, as if nothing had happened, he withdrew his gaze, casually shook his hand, and turned to walk off the platform.

Feast Eater.

That was his code name.

In the second stage of the tournament, every contestant was assigned a "code name".

Lin Zhiquin had given him his.

It originated from a legend in the scriptures of the Mosa Religion—

A traveler, dying of hunger and thirst in the wilderness, encountered a black goat.

The black goat, pitying the traveler’s plight, generously carved off its own leg, took out its own entrails, and used its own blood to brew fine wine, preparing a sumptuous feast for the traveler.

After the traveler had eaten his fill, he donned the fleece stripped from the black goat and, in the dead of night, loudly praised the deliciousness of the feast...

An interesting story, isn’t it?

Lu Yuan glanced at his Profession Panel, noting "Profession Experience +85" and notifications for Basic Finger Skill and Basic Capture proficiency increasing slightly.

This was his third match of the day.

The first two opponents were an amateur eighth dan and an amateur ninth dan.

The last one was the strongest, with an estimated Fist Strength of about 400 kilograms, clearly at a professional level.

But against Lu Yuan, who possessed 14 points of Strength and a Basic Punch Strength approaching 700 kilograms, he was clearly outmatched.

It took Lu Yuan less than three minutes in total to end the battle.

Three battles, yielded over forty, fifty, and eighty Profession Experience Points respectively. Although it’s a bit low, if there are enough matches, it’s still quite substantial. One more fight, ensuring two hundred Experience Points per day, and it will only take half a month for the ’Fighter’ Profession to reach Lv7.

Lu Yuan calculated mentally as he descended the platform.

When not frequently encountering "elite monsters" or "mini-bosses" like the Mouse Monster, Mosa’s fighting arena was still his most important source of Experience Points.

This was also one of the reasons why Lu Yuan, feeling the "scrutiny" of the many goat sculptures around him and knowing Mosa was not simple, hadn’t chosen to avoid it.

Furthermore, his own power was growing daily.

This fueled a growing confidence within him.

There were too many risks in this world; avoidance would never solve anything.

Obstacles must be shattered!

This wasn’t about shrewd decision-making.

This was the conviction a Fighter had to possess.

Just as he stepped out of the fighting venue, Lu Yuan saw Lin Zhiquin waiting at the entrance.

"Coach!"

Lu Yuan removed his mask, his face flushed with excitement. He had an air of "Coach, how did I do? Waiting for compliments!"

"You fought well," Lin Zhiquin nodded with slight approval, then pulled a thick envelope from his pocket and handed it to Lu Yuan.

"This is today’s prize money. Thirty thousand in total."

Lu Yuan took the envelope, a flicker of excitement in his eyes, yet he lamented with a touch of regret, "No more matches? I thought there’d be another... I could actually fight another one..."

"There will be plenty of opportunities," Lin Zhiquin said casually, then gestured for Lu Yuan to leave with him.

"I’ll drive you home."

"Oh, okay. Thanks, Coach."

"No problem."

「Thirty minutes later, at a familiar intersection.」

Lu Yuan got out of Lin Zhiquin’s car and stood under the streetlight, waving goodbye.

Only after the car had completely disappeared from view did he withdraw his gaze.

He reached up and rubbed his cheeks; the forced expressions had made his facial muscles a bit stiff.

Lu Yuan glanced indifferently in a specific direction.

A few crows were perched on a nearby trash can, pecking at food scraps scattered on the ground.

When the crows’ eyes met Lu Yuan’s, they immediately took flight as if on command, their forms melting into the night sky.

They flew towards the direction the car had disappeared, hot on its trail.

Only after this did Lu Yuan casually turn and head home.

...

For the next three days, Lin Zhiquin took Lu Yuan to Mosa to compete every day.

Sometimes three matches, sometimes four.

The skill experience and Profession Experience on Lu Yuan’s ’Fighter’ panel skyrocketed.

The slight awkwardness between them, caused by Lu Yuan’s display of strength on their first day, also seemed to gradually fade.

They settled back into their previous good cooperative relationship, reminiscent of a mentor and friend.

...

BANG!

The door to the public lounge was thrown open.

The buzzing chatter in the room abruptly fell silent.

The contestants, wearing various masks, all turned their gazes towards the entrance in unison; some already showed expressions of displeasure under their masks.

But when they saw the figure appearing in the doorway, most of them quickly averted their eyes as if shocked, as if extremely wary of the figure’s imposing presence, fearing to attract his attention.

A tall, well-proportioned figure wearing a Three-eyed Ram Mask strode in from the doorway.

He quickly crossed the public rest area and entered a private lounge within.

Only after his figure had completely vanished did the room return to normal.

"It’s Feast Eater!"

"He’s won twelve consecutive matches! Even ’Tooth Bear’ lost to him today! It was a completely one-sided match; Tooth Bear was utterly crushed!"

"Please, tournament committee, don’t match me against him! I don’t want to be thrashed."

"Actually, it’s not that bad. Among the current top fighters, his demeanor isn’t too bad..."

...

Lu Yuan opened his locker and placed his Three-eyed Ram Mask inside.

Then he began to change his clothes.

He could clearly hear the discussions from the public lounge next door, just beyond the wall.

They’re right, I do hold back each time I strike. Lu Yuan quietly affirmed upon hearing someone’s assessment of him from the other side of the wall.

These past few days of continuous matches had earned him a bit of fame at Mosa’s "Boiling Night."

His Three-eyed Goat mask and his style of decisively ending battles within a few moves had made quite an impression.

The number of experts seems to be increasing.

Lu Yuan pulled his T-shirt over his head, recalling the last battle that had just concluded.

That opponent, codenamed ’Tooth Bear,’ was quite strong, his strength almost rivaling my own. Moreover, his hide was tough, and he was extremely resilient to damage. If he hadn’t faced me, that freakishly skilled, all-around warrior, even a fighter with 700 kilograms of Fist Strength might not have been his match.

It seems what Lin Zhiquin said was true: Mosa had unexpectedly increased the prize money and modified the tournament rules, attracting a large batch of skilled fighters.

I just don’t know how strong the truly top experts are, or when I’ll encounter them...

Lu Yuan closed the locker door, slung on his backpack, and reverted to his unremarkable high school student appearance, leaving through the back door of the lounge.

His family’s financial situation had greatly improved, and he didn’t have much to spend money on.

The prize money no longer held the same allure for him as before.

What attracted him now was the fighting tournament itself: the numerous opportunities to fight various types of martial artists, accumulate Experience Points, and increase his strength.

Exiting the lounge, Lu Yuan walked through the main hall and went up to the ground floor alone.

He then found Lin Zhiquin in a car parked not far from the club’s entrance.

With the tournament’s stakes raised, they no longer acted as casually as before and had begun to consciously conceal their identities.

After all, having one’s capabilities scouted before a match was a major taboo in the world of fighting.

"There were some issues with your fight against Tooth Bear today. If you had attacked his lower body from the outset, the fight wouldn’t have dragged on for so long..."

As soon as Lu Yuan got into the car, Lin Zhiquin began his post-match analysis.

It seemed they had completely returned to their former dynamic.

Lu Yuan listened very attentively.

While committing Lin Zhiquin’s words to memory, he planned to test these tactics against a similar opponent in the Consciousness Space later.

Once the summary was complete, Lin Zhiquin, as usual, took out the familiar envelope.

It was thick.

Compared to before, the prize money for winning three matches had now risen to one hundred thousand!

"Your current points are sufficient to qualify for the semi-finals. Whether you participate in the subsequent matches is up to you..."

Lu Yuan keenly sensed the unspoken meaning in Lin Zhiquin’s words and asked, "So, Coach, what are you suggesting?"

Lin Zhiquin glanced at him and started the car.

As the car slowly started, Lu Yuan heard him say,

"Come find me tomorrow afternoon. There are some things... I want to teach you."

...

「Consciousness Space.」

Lu Yuan threw a sudden punch.

The muscles on his arm bulged violently, veins popping, swelling instantly, before he smashed it solidly into the chest of the burly man before him.

CRACK! CRACK!

Accompanied by a series of sharp bone-cracking sounds, the latter was thrown violently backward as if hit head-on by a speeding car.

"Stop!"

Lu Yuan pressed the "pause button."

He then strode over to the burly man, tore open his shirt, and carefully inspected the mark left by his punch.

The entire area was caved in, the skin stretched taut and white.

Lu Yuan couldn’t help but look surprised.

Even without using a Sure-kill Skill, just a simple two-fold Special Burst... should have been enough to tear through this layer of flesh and skin.

Lu Yuan thought for a moment and chose to use Consciousness Inhabitation on his opponent’s body.

Disregarding the sensations of bulkiness and sluggishness, Lu Yuan focused all his attention on experiencing the surface layer of this body’s flesh and skin.

He was shocked to find that this opponent, Tooth Bear, had skin toughness and muscle density that far exceeded his expectations.

It’s even tougher than my own physique at 15 points of Constitution! But his Constitution is definitely not at 15 points!

Lu Yuan’s eyes flashed, his mind racing...

Suddenly, a thought struck him.

Flesh-Tempering!

On the night he encountered the Crow God’s Divine Servant, Zhou Ling had mentioned a stage in Martial Arts known as—Flesh-Tempering!

Could it be that this guy specifically tempered his flesh and muscles? Is that why his flesh offers such astonishing defensive power?

Lu Yuan withdrew his consciousness. He looked at his own body, with which he had once been quite satisfied, his expression shifting.

Soon, his expression firmed with resolve.

No, I have to ask Lin Zhiquin about this when I get back. I must learn this training method, no matter what!