BATTLE FOR STARS

For example, today, Lina could look directly at many slave owners without deliberately showing respect or fear, and she didn’t need to offer polite greetings either. Of course, Lina would never provoke anyone—after all, even if they weren’t her owner, offending them would still lead to very unpleasant consequences.

Her owner, Jace, had long booked a flying car to the Gladiator Center. His training facility was some distance away, requiring over an hour of flight. Jace seemed quite excited in the car—after all, he would make a lot of money again during this carnival. Jias, on the other hand, remained silent the whole time, without a hint of a smile on his face.

“Jias, how have you been these past few days? Did you go out and enjoy yourself somewhere?” Jace surprisingly initiated a conversation with him today.

Jias was one of Jace’s sword fighters, belonging to the lightest weight class. He weighed only 60 kilograms, and his performance had always been poor, so he didn’t earn much money for his owner.

Each year, the gladiator competition was divided into mech fighter matches and sword fighter matches. However, the opening exhibition match was a sword fight. Though called an exhibition, it was actually one of the most brutal matches, because the two participants were at opposite extremes in weight class—one the lightest, the other the heaviest.

Unlike mech fighters who relied on skill and reaction while piloting mechs, sword fighters fought with cold weapons, where strength and endurance mattered more. Such a match was almost always one-sided. To emphasize brutality and stimulate the audience’s darker instincts, the match always ended in the death of one participant.

“Mm.” Jias responded briefly, saying nothing more.

Jace didn’t mind. He knew what Jias was about to face. Although he was bound to lose a slave, he had already received compensation in advance for Jias’s participation.

The exhibition match participants were selected by lottery from many sword fighters. Jace had long registered Jias, effectively using this as a way to eliminate an unprofitable slave.

“Lina, your opponent today is from the Wuhong District—her name is Carmen,” Jace shifted his attention to Lina. Every victory she achieved would significantly increase his income, far more than what Jias brought him. “Did you review the opponent report I had the analysis terminal send you?”

“Yes, Master,” Lina replied respectfully.

“I’ve watched her matches. She’s not your match, but she does have a few tricks. Just be a little careful and you’ll be fine.” Jace seemed very confident in Lina winning her first round.

“Understood, Master.”

The flying car soon arrived at the Gladiator Center. Just as it stopped at the entrance and they were about to step out, another flying car suddenly pulled up beside them.

“Jace! Long time no see,” a man stepped out and greeted warmly. A beautiful girl followed behind him. Lina turned her head and immediately recognized Julia and her owner.

“Hello, Andrew,” Jace glanced at the man. He knew him well—another slave owner specializing in gladiators. They had been rivals for years, though that didn’t affect their relationship.

Usually, they only compared whose slaves earned more money. In recent years, both Lina and Julia had brought significant profits to their respective owners. This year, they would also face off in the tournament for the grand prize.

“I think this year’s champion will come from one of our two sides,” Andrew said, sizing Lina up. He knew she was Julia’s biggest rival.

“Perhaps. I heard your Julia hasn’t lost in the past two years,” Jace replied while casually gesturing for Lina and Jias to enter through the competitors’ passage.

“How about we grab a drink and chat?” Andrew suggested.

Once slave owners delivered their fighters to the Gladiator Center, their task was done. The center had dedicated personnel to manage the fighters. To prevent interference with the neural control systems implanted in the slaves’ brains—which could affect match outcomes—the entire center blocked all wireless communication.

For safety reasons, slave owners simply handed over their fighters. The center maintained order using robots, house slaves, or armed free citizens.

“Sounds good. It’s been a while—let’s find a nice private room and have a drink,” Jace agreed. Though their fighters would compete fiercely, it didn’t stop them from enjoying themselves.

Lina entered the Gladiator Center—the largest arena on the planet. While many domes had their own arenas, none matched this one in scale.

The center had dozens of floors and covered hundreds of acres, making it one of the largest and tallest buildings on the planet.

As soon as she entered, a uniformed attendant approached. Lina glanced at his badge—it marked him as a house slave of a major slave owner. After verifying their identities, he quickly directed Lina and Jias to separate passages.

Since they were competing in different events, their inspection and waiting areas were different. Lina boarded a small indoor flying transport and soon arrived at a large hall.

There were two house slaves working there, handling match arrangements. Several mech fighters participating in today’s matches were resting nearby, while two armed free citizens stood guard in the far corner to maintain security.

“Lina, come over for a physical check,” one staff member called out.

Lina glanced over and obediently walked forward. This was a standard pre-match procedure, similar to doping tests on Earth.

Mech fighter matches required extremely high neural responsiveness. Certain drugs could temporarily enhance neural reactions, giving unfair advantages, so they were strictly prohibited.

Lina stepped onto a platform. A scanner swept over her from head to toe. Several mechanical arms extended, attaching sensors to different parts of her body to begin testing. Another arm grasped her hand, and a needle inserted into her vein, quickly drawing a tube of blood for analysis.

In just over a minute, the basic examination was complete. As long as the blood test results came back clean, she would be cleared to compete.

As Lina stepped off the platform, she saw Julia entering the area as well. Although they had been rivals for a long time, they had barely interacted, so they simply glanced at each other in silence.