In the colosseum-like hall inside the League of Champions' building, a crowd was gathered in front of the wall with the roman number of fifty. Suddenly, that wall glowed with blue light, indicating that a contestant inside had succeeded in passing the stage and was about to come out. If one failed, the color would be red instead.
"YES…!!" Gruff exclaimed loudly.
Jack came out from the wall at that time and was puzzled to find Gruff cheering so passionately.
"You make it! You are awesome!" The old warrior uttered. "Behold the birth of a new Centurion!"
Jack felt gratified. He never imagined Gruff to feel that strongly about his success. His opinion of this warrior had been less than favorable after finding out that Gruff had tricked him before during the expedition. Now, however, he felt that this guy was not bad at all.
Gruff then swiveled to the crowd behind him. "Now, pay up! Pay up!" He said as he took out his League of Champions badge. The others despondently took out their badges. Streams of light started flowing from their badges into Gruff's badge.
Jack froze seeing the scene. The genuine respect he had just felt for Gruff had now plunged back down again.
"Thank you… Thank you...," Gruff said as one by one his colleagues were done transferring either challenge points or glory points to his badge. The people who had made the transfer left soon after. All of which gave Jack one last glance before leaving. Dormu wore an especially deep frown when he left.
After everyone left, Gruff came over to Jack with a victorious expression.
"A*shole! Did you use me for a bet?!" Jack cursed.
"Haha. I've learned to not bet against you after our first meeting," Gruff replied, referencing the time he had lost the bet against Jack when Jack took the Warrior class trial.
"What do you get from them? Challenge points or Glory points?" Jack asked.
"Glory points, of course," Gruff answered. "What do I need challenge points for? It's not like I can pass stage 79 yet."
Jack took out his badge and gave it to Gruff.
"What's this?" The old warrior asked with a confused expression.
"I want my share of course," Jack replied.
"Haha," Gruff simply laughed.
"Hey! I'm serious. It's me doing the work. I should at least get some glory points as well."
"Didn't I already give you 200 challenge points?"
"Don't expect you can swindle me out with that measly two hundred points. Also, those are only compensations for the last time you tricked me. The bet just now is a different matter altogether. Now, give me some glory points!"
"Hm…" Gruff seemed to be doing some pondering.
"Hey, come on! What are there to think about?"
"I hear you will be representing Themisphere for the world tournament, will you not?" Gruff asked.
"Don't try to change the subject!" Jack said.
"Fine, fine, here. Five hundred glory points," Gruff said and transferred the points into Jack's badge. Jack checked his badge after. When he came out of stage 50, his badge contained 1,035 glory points. Now, there were 1,535 glory points. 500 points were equivalent to him repeating stage 50 ten times. Jack felt elated with this unexpected boon.
"Now, let's get back to the world tournament subject. You will be representing Themisphere, right?" Gruff asked again.
"Yeah," Jack answered while storing his badge.
"How confident you are in becoming the champion?"
"Well. If I say 100%, it will sound too cocky. So, I guess I will say 99% then."
Gruff rolled his eyes at Jack. He then said, "good, good. You have to put in the most effort to become number one!"
Jack's eyes narrowed to a slit. "Are you going to bet on me for the world tournament championship?" He asked.
"Hahaha," Gruff simply laughed again.
"Whatever you bet on. I want a share!" Jack uttered.
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"Fine, if you managed to become a champion in the world tournament, I will give you one thousand glory points," Gruff declared.
Jack gave him a hard stare that made the old warrior slightly uncomfortable. Jack then said, "I think you are swindling me again. I'm pretty sure you will be betting more than that. I want five thousand glory points!"
"You are vicious!" Gruff uttered. "three thousand points then."
"Four thousand!"
"Kid, do you think you are buying fish in a fish market? Three thousand! No more. But since we are such good friends, I will throw in one rare grade chest armor as a bonus."
"Rare? Should at least be a super rare grade. All the armors I wear now are already super rare, what do I need a rare grade for?" Jack asked.
"Really?" gruff knocked Jack's breastplate. "It does feel like super rare quality. Damn, kid! No wonder you just keep on defying expectations. You truly are one special outworlder."
"I like to think so," Jack said. "Now, do we have a deal?"
"Hm… Fine! Three thousand glory points and one super-rare armor. Now, go and make sure you become the champion! I will be there to cheer on you."
"You will be watching the tournament?"
"A lot of important people will be watching," Gruff replied. "Not only is this tournament a special event, but it is also held in the arena inside Daminos Square Garden. This place is closed to the public except during this sort of tournament. I wouldn't waste the chance to visit that place when it is available."
"Really? It's such a special place?" Jack asked.
"The place is a settlement built atop the summit of Mount Audacias, one of the mountains inside Hydrurond Dominion, the country of Draconian race," it was Peniel who explained. "The place is special because it housed the Council of Virtus. It's an organization that worships the God of Courage and carries out his will in this world."
Gruff turned his attention to Peniel. He had seen the fairy on Jack's shoulder but didn't give her much attention because he thought she was just a simple familiar until she spoke just now. "I believe I have not yet made your acquaintance, miss…"
"Peniel," Peniel answered.
Gruff gave her a slight bow. "As the fairy had spoken. This place is very beautiful, but most of all, the place is the gathering place of the mightiest warriors and knights."
"Hearing you two say it like that, I'm really looking forward to visiting the place," Jack said.
"You should! Now don't forget our deal. If you fail to be a champion, I won't forgive you!" Gruff warned.
"Don't worry," Jack said confidently.
After Gruff left, Jack asked Peniel, "The God of Courage, isn't that one of the Gods that have been erased?"
"If Wilted was telling the truth, then yes."
"Does this council know their God is no more?"
"God rarely makes any contact with the mortals. They do lay down their values to their worshippers though, so those worshippers can still carry out their duties even without their God's divine intervention. But I suspect the head priest of the council would have had an idea that something is wrong. He is the person that has the most connection to the God of Courage."
"That is sad… If only someone managed to save that God as well," Jack lamented.
"By the way, that Gruff just now gets an easy way out by just giving you five hundred glory points," Peniel said.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Well, I can't say for certain, but from the number of energies being transferred. I think the glory points he had received from his comrades should total around six or seven thousand points."
"W–What…?!" Jack uttered. "He gave me not even ten percent and still dared to grumble about it? That a*shole! I should have punched him harder!"
"Wasn't your fist hurt when you punched him? If you punched him harder, doesn't that mean more pain to you?"
"I will punch him again when I become stronger! Forget that a*shole. Let's go see what my current glory points can give me. I should be able to get some battle skills now, right?"
"You are a Centurion now. So yes, there should be some battle skills for choosing," Peniel replied.
Jack headed over immediately to the hall with the booths for exchanging glory points. He came to one of the free booths and asked for the list. He had gone up two ranks to a Centurion after completing stage 50, so the items displayed were much more numerous than previous when he was still a Principales.
Jack skipped the list from the Principales' section and went directly to the upper ranks. In the Pilus' rank section, there were some battle skills, but mostly only basic skills for Fighter and a few advanced skills for Warrior. In the Centurion's section, more advanced skills were available and a few elite skills. Jack checked on the elite skills first, but seeing the required glory points to exchange, he knew that he could not afford to be a spendthrift.
Each of these elite skills required around eight hundred to more than one thousand glory points.