Chapter 30: Bet

"You say I am weak? Well, I may not be your match now, but three months from now I will challenge you to a fight and beat you senseless. How about it, do you accept this challenge?" Eric was straightforward and put forth a challenge for his opponent.

Hearing what he had just said, the other three on the floor were quite shocked. The first one to recover and change the expression on his face to a proud grin was Blake Tyler, followed by Rick, who tried to calm down to contemplate how he could get his son out of this situation.

No matter the result of the battle, if this battle were to happen, his son would definitely face some consequences at the very least.

Brandon, however, still didn't believe what he had just heard. An eleven year old had challenged him to a battle three months from the current date, along with saying that he would beat Brandon senseless.

It was practically impossible for someone to close such a gap in cultivation with just a measly three months, but Eric's confidence was unwavering, as if his victory were obvious.

From Eric's point of view however, his victory was indeed the obvious outcome. He was a Triune Cultivator whose aptitude was unrivaled and along with his hard working and dedicated nature while cultivating, he would need only a couple months to catch up to Brandon.

The cherry on top, however, was the Scam System. Including the rewards and benefits he would receive from the Scam System, it was possible for him to be strong enough to beat Brandon in half the time he decided in the bet.

Since he was now a cultivator of the mind at the Second Layer of the Trainee Mentalist Realm, his thought processing speed and mental abilities in general were faster. He was able to come up with a proposal considering all these factors in a relatively short time.

This bet which Eric had come up with was a scam: he would definitely win the battle, while that was a possibility that his opponent considered to be impossible.

Eric calmly waited for Brandon to respond while the latter had also come to a conclusion.

From Brandon's point of view, he was just looking at an overconfident young master who didn't know his place. He was sure that he would win, but that didn't mean he would accept the terms for the battle so easily.

"I have nothing to gain from my inevitable victory in this duel which you propose. What are the stakes for this battle?" he asked trying to sound calm.

Rick breathed a sigh of relief, seeing that his son wasn't being impulsive and actually gave the situation some thought.

Even Brandon realized that if he randomly beat up a child that much younger than him, especially the son of the renowned Blake Tyler, he would bear severe consequences. Winning the battle doesn't mean being safe from punishment. He would be called someone who takes advantage of and bullies the weak and would severely damage his reputation.

However, if there were a reward involved, he could consider taking up this offer depending on what it was.

'How predictable,' Eric thought to himself as he gave Brandon the possibility of an irresistible reward if he won.

"If you win, my dad will take you in as his disciple. How about now, are you convinced?" Eric kept his words simple and his intentions straight.

Hearing this, Brandon's eyes lit up with joy and greed. Blake was incredibly strong and being his disciple was a status that countless aspiring young men desired from the bottom of their hearts.

For Brandon, especially, this meant a lot. Since both the paths they cultivated were the same, having Blake as his master would be the most beneficial for him.

His own father was pretty strong as well, but Rick was a mind cultivator while Brandon was a dual cultivator of the Soul and Body. Unlike Eric, who could ask his dad for help and guidance while cultivating, Brandon's father couldn't really help him much while cultivating.

Other than the obvious increase in cultivation level and strength, being Blake's disciple would increase his status incredibly as well.

As of right now, he was just the son of the Vice Leader of the Roaring Dragon Mercenary Group. However, if he became the Leader's disciple, his status would be upgraded to the Young Leader: the successor to Blake who will become the next Leader after Blake.

Eric had considered Brandon's circumstances and came up with a pretty lucrative proposal for the young man.

All this while, Blake and Rick quietly suspected the verbal battle between their kids.

Blake was confident in Eric and trusted his son's judgement, but he was still paying close attention to his conversation with Brandon.

Rick was also quietly listening, but unlike Brandon, he was a bit more cautious and suspected that Eric had some trump card up his sleeve. Even though he himself was suspicious, he had worked alongside Blake for quite a while and was almost sure that Blake and Eric wouldn't have malicious intent against Brandon. After taking everything into consideration, he decided to leave the final decision to his child and just spectated from the sidelines.

'Thanks to this stupid brat, my future prospects have increased so much!' Brandon thought to himself while grinning as he looked at Blake, whose simple smiling face showed no disagreement with Eric's previous statement.

Though his words were harsh, Brandon wasn't necessarily a bad guy. He believed in strength and was rude to Eric as that was the correct response in accordance with his own ideals; which most people in this entire world believed to at least a certain extent. According to the little knowledge that he had, Eric was just an arrogant young master, unlike Blake, who had achieved great strength from his own hard work and efforts. Because of this, he respected Blake, but not his son.

Brandon was about to speak up, but Eric was faster than him as he added the final terms to his bet.

"Since this is a challenge and you get a reward for winning, it only makes sense that there is a reward for me as well, right?" Eric paused for a couple seconds and then continued, "If I win, you will become my underling."

Brandon heard Eric's final addition and after a few seconds, agreed to the proposal.

"Ok, I agree to your terms and this duel which will take place three months from now." Brandon said formally with a serious look on his face.

To him, nothing much had changed. No matter what Eric's reward for winning was, his chances for victory were extremely slim anyways.

Noticing how Brandon had agreed to his bet, Eric smiled and calmly thought to himself.

'You will be quite useful in the future… This is just the beginning of the grand plan…'