Underground World

It turned out that fighting pits were numerous in the Underground World and each one of them had its leader.

These leaders organized a Collective Tournament among themselves but before that, each fighting pit must produce 10 best fighters they had trained well.

Producing 10 best means a mini tournament of bloody fights between Group B and also Group A. Those in Group A were previous tournament winners that participated in the Collective Underground Tournaments.

Noah glanced at Elya that was by the side. The boy looked more miserable than before. And he was now 1 loss away from becoming a full servant and he will be kicked out of Gaggard care.

"Slaving Palm can be your servant. You can order him to do anything you like!" Gaggard said. Elya's eyes brightened up as he knew that was a boon for him but Noah shook his head.

"Nah. I want him to be my servant." Noah picked a dark skin boy. 

"Why?" Gaggard asked, confused.

"Slaving Palm is strongly independent. He can be fine on his own!" Noah said, "What are the benefits of the tournament?"

"There are two wins. Group Win and Individual Win. But Individual Win is the most important and dangerous as you will be registered with Collective Underground and if there are fewer of you that came from the same Underground Pit then you may suffer. Anyway, the benefit is a connection with all manner of battle techniques, Knighthoods, items that can be found on the surface and also meeting with legendary figures." 

Gaggard became serious and said, "I want you to impress our Underground Leader, because once he backs you up. Then all those that hate you because of me will back down!"

"What about sabotage?" Noah asked.

"There are some that do that but it was instant death from the Leader. We might be divided but we must be united against our external enemies, the other Underground Pit. So, you are safe in that regard outside the ring!"

"Good. I will fight in the Tournament!"

"Haha. I like you, Tender. From now on, you will have access to Level 2 White Milk and you can stay in as long as you can if you don't have an external injury!" The old man said happily before he said his farewell and left the healing room, leaving the dark skin boy behind.

"My name is Dark Servant. I'm honoured to be your servant." The boy bowed fully with a smile. He knew that his life will be a good song as Noah will not mistreat him.

Because he will have food anytime Noah has, he will drink clean water, sleep where Noah sleeps and also wear good clean clothes. Above all that, he doesn't have to fight unless Noah asked him to.

Better than all that, if Noah was generous, he would be given some medicinal herbs to heal his injury and recover his fighting prowess.

When everyone went out. Noah lay on the now burning stone bed and asked his servant, "Do you like to become a Legend!"

The dark skin boy looked up in confusion and he found Noah smiling an eerie smile.

****

As usual, Noah mostly recovered in 12 hours and then the subsequent days were for him to reflect on his fight and come up with more fighting patterns. Not only that, he was training Dark Servant to be his successor.

"We want you to lose your next fight. If you do that we will give you 1000 Gold Coins and also a unique Palm Prom."

Noah was sitting with three old men and Gaggard by the side.

"I think we should accept that offer. You need that Palm Prom to perfect your slapping techniques and also the money will make you rich!"

Noah was really surprised to find that he was confronted with this offer. 1000 gold found isn't small and Palm Prom is as valuable.

But what was more valuable is reputation. With reputation, you become a legend even after you are long gone. 

Truthfully, Noah has the power to gain all that but reputation was built over time, and time is the most valuable aspect of humans. He was not willing to squander it.

The most important was that it would be an insult to him to lose to a bunch of kids. He refused to tarnish his name and his image in his mind. His pride will not allow that.

But, he needs to entertain their idea.

"I can't lose to a failure. The fighter should be worthy. He should be able to push me to my limit. If that happened. Tomorrow, you will have your win"

"We don't know who it will be. But it may be Water Rise, Fury Fist, Gentle Mane or even Stinking Balls!" One of them asked.

"Too bad. Fury Fist is something but the rest isn't worth anything."

"No. Stinking balls is powerful. He has been on the rise lately. You can lose to him!"

"Nah. His name will never allow me to lose. Even if I die fighting him I will resurrect to kill him!"

"Haha. I agree. We can't have the Stinking Ball tarnishing Tender Slap image." Gaggard said.

"Okay. Fury Fist will be a good match. He was Undefeated until he broke his hand against Steel Knight. Even after he recovered he began to play around. We can ask him to be serious. You can lose to him!"

"Nah. Impossible. The first good match I watched was between him and Water Rise, and he lost. Losing to him will make people have the idea that I'm weaker than Water Rise. I can't lose to people that lost to Water Rise ever!" Noah said.

They all nodded, that was a fair argument. They thought that Noah was now basking in the limelight for defeating Water Rise, so his loss to someone that lost to Water Rise might not be a good story, right?

In the end, they settle with Gentle Mane.

The moment they left, Noah sneered and said, "I'm losing to no one!" Before glancing at Dark Servant. His eyes were now hollow, devoid of emotions that made Noah smile.

"Go and fight!"