18. Gladiator and Level

As the young island master, Isabella indeed had quite a few privileges on Sea Moon Floating Island, and everyone would grant her some respect. Therefore, her two follower witches Ella and Becky quickly returned, accompanied by the person in charge of the Arena, a capable witch with a Big Sister demeanor.

"Miss, I didn't expect you to grace our Arena with your presence today. This is truly an honor for us. I've already prepared the venue for you. Do you want a public or a private match?"

The capable Big Sister said warmly, smiling the charming smile of one accustomed to dealing with important clients.

"A private match."

Isabella, now used to being treated with admiration, commanded indifferently.

Generally speaking, the Arena offered two types of matches for clients to choose from, similar to how restaurants have both a main hall and private rooms.

A public match was the kind where spectators could watch, akin to dining in the main hall. Since profit could be derived from spectator tickets, the venue fee was relatively cheap. However, gladiators had to endure the audience's scrutiny and critiques, and there was also the risk of leaking their favored spell information.

On the other hand, a private match was like a private room, where only the gladiators and approved spectators could enter. However, the venue fee was considerably more expensive, costing more than ten times that of public matches.

But clearly, Isabella wasn't short of money, and the Miss didn't like the idea of being scrutinized and judged as if part of a show.

Also, her duels with Alice over the years had always been evenly matched, never a certainty. What if she embarrassed herself in a public match?

"Alright, here is your room card, Miss. I hope you and your friend have a pleasant time."

The capable Big Sister nodded, wasted no more words, and handed over a card with both hands to Isabella, then politely excused herself and left.

"Let's go then, Alice. You still have a chance to back out, don't come crying after I beat you and claim that Big Sister is bullying her little sister."

Holding the room card, Isabella taunted Alice challengingly.

"Hehe, you're the one who'll regret it. Hope you can still talk tough after my Magic Bullet greets you."

Alice, her anger building along the way, confidently snapped her fingers, the cracking of her joints filling the air as she spoke.

Thus, everyone arrived at the entrance of the Arena. Isabella swiped her room card at the portal styled like a Bronze gate, and walked through first, with Alice following closely, not showing any signs of backing down.

At this, Miss Dorothy, the Fire-Blazing Master, made a resigned face. She exchanged glances with Isabella's two downtrodden follower witches, and then the three of them also entered.

The familiar dizziness of teleportation hit again, and once they emerged from the portal, Dorothy rubbed her forehead slightly, feeling somewhat uneasy. However, the interesting spectacle of the encounter helped her ignore some of the side effects caused by her highly sensitive constitution, so this time, she didn't end up spewing rainbows but quickly adapted.

When the discomfort subsided, Dorothy found herself and her group inside a very luxurious and elegant VIP box that clearly looked high-end.

The box contained about a dozen high-end Sub-Dragon Skin seats, each with a small snack table beside it, while along the wall of the box there was a fully stocked buffet of snacks and a drink rack.

The front of the box featured a huge floor-to-ceiling glass window that allowed a view of the large circular Arena below.

Next to the window, there was also a control panel. At the center of the control panel was a large Crystal Ball, the hub for setting the Arena's configurations. This Crystal Ball could be used to intricately set the style and rules of the Arena.

"Random terrain, no rules brawl."

Before Isabella could continue her provocation, Alice stepped forward, adeptly manipulated the control Crystal, and then walked out of the box first.

In response, Miss Blue Hair showed no fear; she graciously smiled at Dorothy.

"Then please, Big Sister, do us the favor of serving as the referee."

With that, she strode into the war room from another exit of the box, full of fighting spirit.

By the time both foes had left to prepare, Dorothy calmly headed to the nearby snack rack first. She grabbed some sunflower seeds and potato chips, then took three bottles of chilled soda before finally bringing all these to the crystal control panel.

"Come on, Ella, Becky, my good sisters, let's gather for some snacks and enjoy the show," she called out to Isabella's two attendants.

"Okay, Miss Dorothy," they responded.

They didn't stand on ceremony with her, after all, the lady of the house was not around, so there was no need to be so formal; they could be more relaxed.

That has always been the work mindset of witches.

Though the Witch World appears to be a traditional aristocratic lordship system at first glance, it actually isn't entirely feudal. At the very least, witches are, in theory, considered equal among themselves, a societal consensus.

Therefore, the relationship between a Witch Lord and her subordinate witches is more akin to workplace relations in Dorothy's previous life, more like a boss and employee, not the feudal master-servant relationship where the lord dictates life and death.

If I enjoy working for you, I will stay, but if you upset me, don't blame me for firing you as the boss.

Ella and Becky, like Dorothy and Alice, have a mother who is a Research Witch under the Sea Moon Witch, although their mother isn't as highly ranked as Dorothy's stepmother, she is still a core member of the Moon Sea Territory.

For Ella and Becky, serving as Isabella's attendants was also a kind of part-time job, just like some in Dorothy's previous life would take part-time jobs as maids; it's just a job.

However, unlike Alice, whose talents were exceptional, these two, with only the qualifications of ordinary witches, had no grand aspirations to make their mark and become lords themselves. They, rather, were willing to assist the Moon Sea Territory like their mother did, helping to bolster Isabella in the future.

After all, witches need to eat too, to earn money, and not live in poverty.

Of course, the concept of equality applies only among witches. Humans, as the origin of witches, enjoy half the status of witches and have a fair amount of freedom. As for the otherworldly races,...

It's all about luck, they can only pray that the Witch Lord who conquers them is merciful.

It's like not all pets have a good owner; such matters really are just down to luck.

However, just as there are animal rights organizations in Dorothy's previous world, the Witch World also has many overly compassionate witches constantly promoting kindness toward otherworldly races. The mainstream viewpoint of the Witch World has always been in favor of treating otherworldly races well, and they have even set up laws to protect rare races.

Most Witch Lords are quite good to otherworldly races, some are even as compassionate as a parent to their children. After all, nice people are generally more popular; nobody likes dealing with a brutal psychopath.

But there are always exceptions. Dorothy often saw news about brutal witches mistreating otherworldly races in the newspapers, just like some people would abuse cats or dogs in her previous life.

As for such matters, aside from condemning them and trying to isolate such individuals, there wasn't much else anyone could do. According to witch tradition, the otherworldly races in a Witch Territory are considered the property of the Witch Lord, and they have the right to do as they please with their possessions.

Ah, well, you can say that every forest has its variety of birds. If there weren't a few fools and psychopaths in such a big world, you'd think you were living in heaven,

Oh, and this world's heaven is not at all peaceful; the angels are too brutal, so that settles that.

"Miss Dorothy, preparations are nearly complete; it's time to start," Ella interrupted Dorothy's wild thoughts.

She came back to her senses and saw through the crystal that both Alice and Isabella were ready in their respective preparation areas. She then channeled her magic into the crystal in front of her, activating the arena.

As the duel began, a vast one-minute countdown timer appeared in the sky above the arena. The originally flat terrain began to undergo massive changes.

Invisible forces moved mountains and seas, reshaping the environment—transforming the ocean into fields, shifting stars, causing vegetation to rapidly grow. Quickly, a complex tropical jungle terrain was formed.

At that moment, as the one-minute countdown neared its end, the doors of the preparation rooms on both sides of the arena began to rumble loudly, slowly lifting.

The next moment, two figures shot out swiftly, transforming into streaks of light, colliding with each other.