The Arena God (I)

Seunghyuk looked at Jisung straight in his eyes again and sighed softly, enjoying the mere thought of himself having someone to even worry or even care him about. It was a feeling so special that it was unable to put into words. Since Seunghyuk found out about the masked man's real identity, he decided to mess around with Jisung.

"Sir, why did you save me? In a Conqueror world where the strongest live and the weakest bleed, why would you take that risk to save someone you don't know?" Seunghyuk emphasised the last two words obviously and Jisung clenched both his fists with his knuckles pressing against each other as he breathed in and out through his teeth, as always when he gets nervous, "I appreciate that you saved me, but I just don't get it? You don't know me..."

Seunghyuk was feeling happy with himself all of a sudden for teasing Jisung, and he tried his best to suppress his laughter as he shot Jisung his best confused look. Seeing that Jisung was still nervously standing motionlessly at one spot without the intention of giving a reply, Seunghyuk sighed again, but this time on purpose, extremely intentional.

"You know, I recently met a really good man...or should I say boy? He's just 19 this year and is a boy's spirit inhibiting a man's body. Yeah, he's extremely serious at times and was able to lead a whole group of elite Conquerors in a huge companynat such a young age, " Seunghyuk said as he recited the self-drafted lines that he wrote in his mind, like he was performing a monologue as an actor on set as he continued on, "His name is Jisung, I don't know if I should be telling his name around like this, but he's probably the first person I've ever felt genuine warmth from excluding people related to me by blood. It was such a good feeling that I really want to keep getting helped by him. It's a pity he didn't help me when I was ambushed by an assassin this time..."

"Hyung...I...Ah!" Jisung caught himself and his once released fists clenched slightly with his knuckles meeting at the centre of his palms again as he sounded an awkward laugh before bringing his voice down to a low growl, definitely sounding unnatural for a human being to speak like a constipated bear, "I mean, your...friend would have probably felt really worried about you and your well-being...right? I...I mean, he is a really good boy...man! A really good man, right?"

"Jisung, you're awful at lying..." Seunghyuk said and finally stopped resisting his flow of laughter like incoming current and let it come out, ripping the weird-shaped mask off Jisung's face, revealing a defeated Jisung as Seunghyuk continued to say, "Jisung, thank you again. You did so much for me in a short span of time. You worried for me when I was faced with problems in the company, and you worked things out for me, especially teaching me a lot during our fight in the Battle Pod. You even went to the point of using an S-Grade item to heal me..."

Jisung did not think too much over why and how Seunghyuk knew about the S-Grade pendant, but he was only thinking over what he had done for Seunghyuk over the past few hours to a day.

"You know...Jisung, you're kind, caring, genuine from deep in your heart and good-looking being a plus point, moreover, you are willing to sacrifice what you own in order to help someone," Seunghyuk's smile escaped and plastered onto his face again as he turned to Jisung, breaking out a simple joke, "If I were a girl, I would have fallen for you already."

Jisung seemed to take the joke the wrong way and his face heated with red like a bowl of boiling tomato soup bubbling after contacting high, intense heat. Jisung did not respond to Seunghyuk's joke with a strong rejection due to disgust or anything, he just pursed his lips shut and sat there reddening up as every second ticked past. Seunghyuk only sat there densely, not knowing what was going on in Jisung's head and merely stared at him in the eyes like a curious owl.

Just as the atmosphere was about to get heavy and sink down with awkwardness due to Jisung's embarrassment, Seunghyuk's face suddenly lifted upwards in amusement.

"A mission..." Seunghyuk said out loud and the abashed Jisung caught it, asking excitedly which further confirmed the point that Jisung is a boy living in a man's shell, "So hyung! You got a mission? I've never gotten one since ages!"

"Really? Have you turned on auto-receive?" Seunghyuk asked Jisung which had given Jisung a face layered with another skin of confusion when he mentioned auto-receive, so Jisung replied with, "There's no auto-receive! Missions are a rare thing nowadays! If only there really is an auto-receive setting, I would've gotten so many missions and it would benefit me so much! Nice joke...like the previous one you made...haha..."

Jisung once again reminded himself of what Seunghyuk had said that got him red like a tomato, but Seunghyuk got a bigger reaction that swirled inside of him which he obviously did not show it out. Seunghyuk never knew Conqueror System Missions were such a rare thing. This made Seunghyuk cherish his ultimate system even more, now that it actually stood out much more than other ordinary systems other Conquerors have.

"So Seunghyuk-hyung, what mission did you receive?" Jisung asked politely yet curiously, his eyes sparkling eagerly, and Seunghyuk smiled again at Jisung's facial expression as he replied, "Yeah...It says here that I have to fight in Arena Might-Charger not far from where we currently are..."

"Misssion III: Tasting Glory 1

Objective: Win a single match in Arena Might-Chaser

Destination: Less than 1 kilometre away from current location

Rewards: Mask Of The Nighthowlers."

Seunghyuk was a little ticked off at first when he realised he was getting only a mask to hide his identity after completing a fight. He did not want a useless mask with no abilities or fighting capabilities, but Seunghyuk thought backwards to a few days ago where he was satisfied with all the rewards the System had given him, so this "Mask Of The Nighthowlers" should be something pretty rare as well.

"Hyung! I'm ready. We should get going now or people are going to start crowding around there if it goes past six o'clock," Jisung hurried Seunghyuk while putting on his jacket, preparing to dash off, and Seunghyuk followed behind Jisung, calling out to him, "Jisung-ah! I think it's better if you drop the "hyung" honorific, you're making me sound unfamiliar."

Jisung was mildly surprised but Seunghyuk kept quiet without saying anything and dashed forward, earning a competitive "hey" from Jisung at the back who dashed quickly until he was side-by-side with Seunghyuk. The day felt short, like the sun had only risen not long ago but it had already started to disappear behind the layers of clouds and hide behind the Moon.

"Conqueror's Name: Choi Seunghyuk (Male) (Leader of Legendclad)

Conqueror's Level: 4

Strength: 17

Agility: 17

Defense: 17

MP: 17

Skills: Short-Fused Explosion (1 out of 5 stars)

Eye of Detection (1 out of 5 stars)

Heart of Cold Steel (2 out of 5 stars)

Ancient Language Comprehension (1 out of 5 stars)

Snake Of Ophiuchus (0 out of 5 stars)

Dancing With Fire (3 out of 5 stars)"

Seunghyuk was able to dash down the lanes through towns and markets without feeling tired or worn out at this point, he had well-rounded stats to keep him going, and as Jisung trailed behind Seunghyuk, both of them reached Arena Might-Chaser.

The arena was sprawling and the humongous arena seemed to look down on the tiny Seunghyuk and Jisung. Compared to the huge arena, both Seunghyuk and Jisung really just looked like ants entering a huge building.

"So this is Arena Might-Chaser?" Seunghyuk asked and Jisung was about to affirm Seunghyuk before a well-dressed middle-aged man walked out elegantly and answered with a calm expression, "Yes, indeed. This is Arena Might-Chaser, where Conquerors Are pitted against each other in order to reap glory and rewards. I take it that both of you are here to participate?"

Seunghyuk was surprised at the immediate service he received but he promptly composed himself and nodded, giving the man a cue to lead them into the arena.

"So here are some basic rules of Arena Might-Chaser, and I would say they are of paramount importance in this arena," The man started to introduce the rules as Seunghyuk strolled in with Jisung following slowly behind, while he took in the extravagant surroundings of the Main Lobby, a complete hundred and eighty degree turn from Legendclad's simple and "budgeted" lobby, "The rules are as follow:

Rule Number 1: No weapons or armory are allowed in battle

Rule Number 2: No prohibited strengthening vials and potions are allowed in battle

Rule Number 3: No deaths are to be dealt to another competing Conqueror, offenders will be killed

Rule Number 4: Heed and follow the judging Conqueror's decision and rules at all times

Rule Number 5: Conquerors here are splitter according to ranks: Beggar Rank being the lowest, then Soldier's Rank, Knight's Rank, Lord Rank and the highest Emperor's Rank. Hence, competing Conquerors are only allowed to fight other competitors within one rank above or below."

"What? That's so many rules! Is there a booklet by any chance?" Jisung exclaimed and asked shyly while Seunghyuk was deep in thought, leaving Jisung and the introducer to reason heatedly.

"Well...Here's the rise of the Arena God..." Seunghyuk thought aloud.