BATTLE FOR STARS

“I did it on purpose,” Mor said as he pulled up one leg of his pants, revealing several fresh wounds on his thigh as well. “The guests think it’s more exciting that way. And the more injuries I take, the more they pay me.”

“That’s dangerous, isn’t it?” Ding Yufei said in surprise. “What if someone loses control? Wouldn’t people get killed?”

“I’m a professional. I won’t let that happen.” Mor laughed confidently.

In his view, he could completely control the degree of danger the guests posed to him.

Ding Yufei glanced toward Lina. Her expression remained perfectly calm, which clearly meant this sort of thing happened often.

“Mor, how long have you been a sword fighter?” Ding Yufei asked curiously.

“Thirty-five years, I think.” Mor calculated briefly.

“Thirty-five years… that’s incredibly long.”

To Ding Yufei, spending thirty-five years in the same profession was almost unimaginable.

Back on Earth, maybe only his great-grandfather’s generation had worked one job for their entire lives. Modern people changed careers constantly.

“From what I understand,” Belina said, “combat slaves are considered relatively high-income among slaves. After thirty-five years, you should’ve saved a lot by now, right?”

What she really wanted to ask was:

Why hadn’t he bought his freedom yet?

Mor sighed softly.

“It’s true that combat slaves sometimes earn several times—or even over ten times—more than ordinary slaves. But as a sword fighter, I get injured almost every match. Treatment costs a lot.”

He glanced toward Lina.

“She’s a mech fighter. Even with a high win rate, her mech still needs repairs after every battle. Sometimes it also needs upgrades. Money disappears quickly.”

Then he added:

“And last year I bought a life capsule too, which cost a fortune. But if Lina can win the championship this time, then combined with our savings, we should finally have enough to buy our freedom.”

Ding Yufei had already heard Belina explain life capsules before.

They were one of the key reasons humans in this era could live for several hundred years.

In essence, the capsule functioned as a cellular regulator. It optimized cellular growth and restored vitality, greatly extending lifespan.

Most people started using them around the age of forty. After taking one, their body condition could return to something similar to their thirties.

Wealthier individuals began treatment even earlier, in their thirties. Starting younger than that, however, produced little additional benefit.

Different nations produced different versions of the medicine.

The most advanced came from the Duir Republic. A single capsule could maintain effects for fifteen years.

Next were the Kramic kingdom and the Hania Federation, where each capsule lasted about ten years.

The Hill Empire and the Resk Empire had the weakest versions. Their capsules generally only lasted five years.

Of course, the elites of those two empires usually purchased superior products from foreign nations anyway. The domestically produced capsules were primarily sold to civilians and slaves.

Naturally, even within the same nation, life capsules had different grades.

For example, specially tailored royal versions used by the Kramic royal family could extend lifespans to nearly five hundred years.

Ordinary citizens generally lived just over three hundred.

As for slaves in the Resk Empire, most only lived slightly beyond one hundred years.

Partly because of brutal working conditions and exhausting labor.

Partly because the medicine available to them was vastly inferior.

But even these lower-grade five-year capsules were extremely expensive.

Many slaves had to save an entire year’s income just to afford one.

Yet if they didn’t buy them, they would age rapidly. Within a few years, they might not even be physically capable of working anymore.

This was especially true for intimate partners whose value depended heavily on youth and appearance.

“The money we save isn’t only for buying our freedom,” Lina added. “We also need savings for afterward. Once many slaves are freed, their owners stop providing them with work entirely. So we have to prepare for emergencies too.”

“But Lina already reached an agreement with her owner,” Mor said happily. “After she buys her freedom, she’ll continue fighting mech battles under his name. And her share of the prize money will actually be higher than it is now.”

Over the years, Lina had become one of Jeff’s biggest money-makers. Mor knew exactly how much profit she had earned for him.

So the moment Lina offered to continue fighting for him after emancipation, Jeff agreed immediately.

“What about you?” Ding Yufei asked Mor. “Will you keep working for your old owner as a sword fighter too?”

“I won’t continue,” Mor replied, shaking his head. “Sword fighting is too dangerous. Lina and the others at least have mech armor protecting them. We sword fighters are exposed directly. One mistake in the arena and you’re dead.”

He smiled faintly.

“And honestly… I’m getting old. I’ve got too many old injuries already. I’d rather find an easier job.”

“That sounds reasonable.”

Seeing both of them already had plans for the future, Ding Yufei decided not to ask further.

At that moment, the dishes they had ordered finally began arriving.

Several attendants stepped forward and carefully divided each dish into smaller portions before placing them in front of the guests.

During his time on Boman, Ding Yufei had already sampled plenty of local cuisine.

Overall, the food here was genuinely excellent.

In terms of cooking complexity, it sometimes still fell short of Chinese cuisine on Earth. But the quality of ingredients was unquestionably on another level.

That was mainly because this civilization placed enormous emphasis on ingredient cultivation.

For example, when searching for ideal barbecue meat, they would specifically breed and genetically refine animals to optimize texture and flavor.

The result was meat that was rich and tender without becoming greasy from excessive fat.

Sometimes, to preserve perfect texture, they only used specific sections of the animal’s body while discarding the rest entirely.

The same level of care applied to vegetables.

Although they used various cooking techniques, many dishes focused on preserving the original flavor of the ingredients themselves.

After generations of cultivation and refinement, the taste complexity might still not match certain Chinese dishes, but the texture and freshness were undeniably superior.

Recently, Ding Yufei had often been thinking about something.

If someone combined Earth’s culinary techniques with these alien ingredients, they could probably open a restaurant that would become famous across the entire universe.

What he didn’t realize, however, was that the restaurants he and Belina had been visiting were the absolute top establishments on Boman.

The ingredients used here were luxury products.

Trying to popularize such standards on a large scale would not only create massive waste, but would also be far beyond what ordinary people could afford.

And it was precisely because these restaurants pursued perfection in every detail that the temptation was irresistible for people like Lina, Little Chubby, and Mor.

This might very well become the greatest meal of their entire lives.

“Wow… this is incredible,” Ding Yufei couldn’t help exclaiming.

The restaurant truly lived up to its reputation.

Lina and the others were equally delighted, enthusiastically devouring the dishes in front of them.

The most exaggerated of all was Little Chubby.

He continuously stuffed food into his mouth at astonishing speed. Often, before swallowing one bite, the next was already waiting at his lips.

Anyone seeing him would think he had been starving for days.

But Lina and the others understood perfectly well why.

Compared to the slave-standard liquid meals designed merely to keep them alive, this food belonged to a completely different world.