Chapter 107: Tower of fortune
The arena remained deafening long after the Hell Hound's body struck the ground.
Students throughout the stands were still cheering, while the enormous display above the battlefield showed Xingluo's name beside the completed challenge.
She remained near the ruined centre of the stage, breathing heavily as the excitement from the battle slowly gave way to exhaustion.
Heavenfall dissolved from her hand and returned to the Star of Ruin.
A short distance away, Varkhiel stood motionless with his greatsword lowered beside him.
The strange black markings from his final attack had already disappeared, leaving nothing visibly different about the Soul Sentinel.
Xingluo glanced toward the dead Hell Hound before rubbing her aching shoulder.
That bastard really nearly killed me.
Wuxia barely heard her, his attention remained fixed upon Varkhiel and the notification floating before him.
[Soul Sentinel Varkhiel has awakened an Inherent Skill.]
He had only commanded Varkhiel to intercept the Hell Hound. Everything that followed had come from the Soul Sentinel himself, including an ability Wuxia had never known existed.
Interesting.
He dismissed the notification without examining the skill further. Thousands of people were still watching the battlefield, and this was hardly the place to start experimenting with Varkhiel.
Wuxia raised one hand, causing the remaining Soul Soldiers to disappear into dark mist. Yue Qianyin vanished alongside them before Varkhiel finally followed.
Xingluo noticed nothing unusual and instead looked toward the stands, where the noise had somehow become even worse.
"LUO XINGLUO!"
Someone shouted her name, and several sections immediately followed.
Xingluo's tired expression brightened slightly as the cheers spread throughout the arena.
She raised one hand and gave the crowd an awkward wave, still unused to having thousands of people screaming her name.
Wuxia laughed quietly beside her.
Very graceful.
Shut up.
High above the arena, Mu Yaochen had yet to leave his seat.
His eyes remained upon the place where Varkhiel had disappeared, while one finger tapped slowly against the armrest.
Xingluo had already proven far more interesting than her records suggested, but that final attack had added another question to the growing pile.
Professor Liang noticed his expression and sighed. "Don't start thinking about dissecting my student."
Mu Yaochen looked offended. "What kind of person do you think I am?"
"The kind I have known for several decades senior."
"Then you should know I would ask first."
Professor Liang's expression immediately darkened.
Mu Yaochen laughed before turning toward the enormous betting display as the arena began calculating the completed wagers.
His smile slowly disappeared.
The numbers continued changing for several seconds before the final settlement appeared across the screen.
Most students had bet against Xingluo, especially after the Nether Wolf was unexpectedly replaced by a Hell Hound.
Those wagers had disappeared together with the beast's head, leaving an enormous betting pool divided among the few people who had chosen otherwise.
Only five substantial bets had been placed upon Xingluo while the original odds remained absurdly high.
Their resulting payouts were equally absurd, Mu Yaochen stared at the number for several seconds.
Professor Liang followed his gaze before a faint smile appeared across his face. "Something wrong, Senior?"
"Nothing."
Mu Yaochen answered considerably faster than usual.
Down near the betting counters, Xiaorou had already discovered exactly what had happened.
Her glasses nearly slipped from her face as she stared at the projected settlement before her.
She counted the number once, frowned, then counted it again to make certain her excitement had not added several imaginary zeros.
"They actually owe me this much…"
Ruan Mei leaned closer and looked at the amount.
Her eyebrows rose immediately. "You really bet that much on her?"
Xiaorou straightened. "I had complete confidence in Senior Xingluo from the beginning."
Tianhe looked at her strangely. "You tried convincing her not to fight."
"Those are completely unrelated matters."
Before Tianhe could answer, the fifth-year senior behind the counter hurriedly turned away from them.
His previous excitement had vanished together with the Hell Hound and the enormous payout displayed before him did nothing to improve his mood.
A message suddenly appeared upon his terminal, he read it once before his expression became considerably stranger.
Several seconds later, Mu Yaochen appeared beside the betting area with Professor Liang and Ming Hao following behind him.
The nearby students immediately quietened when they noticed the Vice Dean approaching.
Xiaorou looked between Mu Yaochen and her still-unpaid winnings before taking a suspicious step toward the counter.
Mu Yaochen ignored her and examined the final settlement again.
"Five?"
The senior nodded quickly. "Five major winning bets were placed before the odds changed, Vice Dean."
Mu Yaochen remained silent for another moment.
"Give them Fortune Tokens."
The senior blinked. "Vice Dean, weren't those tokens reserved for—"
Mu Yaochen looked at him.
"Fortune Tokens."
The senior immediately understood. "Yes, Vice Dean."
Xiaorou's expression changed.
"Wait."
Mu Yaochen had already turned away.
"WAIT!"
Several students laughed as Xiaorou hurried after him, forcing Mu Yaochen to stop and glance back at her.
"What happened to my payout?"
"Your payout?"
Mu Yaochen glanced toward the betting board as though he had only just remembered it existed.
"You'll receive part of it normally."
Xiaorou stared at him. "Part?"
"The remainder has been replaced with something considerably better."
Five streaks of dark-gold light flew from his hand and crossed different sections of the arena.
Xiaorou caught the one coming toward her.
A dark-gold token rested inside her palm, its surface engraved with a tall tower surrounded by several circular patterns.
A notification appeared before her.
[Special Access Item acquired.]
[Fortune Token]
[Grants one entry into the Tower of Fortune.]
Xiaorou looked at the token before slowly raising her eyes toward Mu Yaochen.
"I want my money."
Mu Yaochen coughed lightly. "Young people these days really don't recognise good fortune."
Several older students nearby had already noticed the token and their reactions were considerably different.
"The Tower of Fortune?"
"She got an entry token from an arena bet?"
"Where was this generosity when I lost three million last month?"
Xiaorou's irritation weakened slightly as the surrounding voices reached her.
She turned toward Ruan Mei. "Is this actually valuable?"
Ruan Mei shook her head. "Don't ask me."
One of the nearby fourth-years stared at Xiaorou with obvious disbelief.
"The Tower of Fortune is a ninety-nine-floor ancient artifact, entry tokens are extremely limited and you can't simply exchange contribution points for one."
Xiaorou looked down at the token again.
"Every floor contains a harder trial than the previous one, but the reward after clearing it is completely random."
" People have received everything from ordinary materials to equipment and skill books they couldn't obtain anywhere else."
Another student immediately interrupted him.
"Random means random, someone once cleared a floor and received materials worth less than his preparation costs."
"And someone else received an Epic skill book."
Xiaorou's fingers tightened around the token, her anger suddenly became considerably less certain.
Mu Yaochen watched her expression change and nodded with satisfaction.
"See? Considerably better."
Xiaorou narrowed her eyes. "Then why didn't you give me the token and my entire payout?"
Mu Yaochen disappeared and Xiaorou stared at the empty space for several seconds.
Ruan Mei immediately covered her mouth before she could say anything worse.
Several nearby students nearly choked trying not to laugh, while Tianhe quietly turned away and pretended he had heard absolutely nothing.
Professor Liang looked toward the place where Mu Yaochen had vanished and sighed.
"That old senior truly hasn't changed."
By the time Xingluo finally left the battlefield, the situation around the arena had become even worse.
Her challenge rewards had already arrived, including a considerable amount of Academy Contribution Points for completing a match far beyond her registered level.
She barely managed to examine the number before reaching the exit, the moment she stepped beyond the restricted arena passage, students began gathering around her.
"Junior Luo, what class are you actually?"
"Was that armoured swordsman your summon?"
"Are you really a Necromancer?"
"How did you fight that thing directly?"
Questions came from several directions before Xingluo could answer even one.
Someone pushed through to congratulate her, while another immediately asked about Varkhiel.
A Combat Department student wanted to know where she learned swordsmanship, while two nearby Necromancers were already arguing about what kind of undead her summons could possibly be.
Xingluo's initial satisfaction disappeared remarkably quickly.
How do I get out of this?
Wuxia floated beside her with considerably less concern.
The Veyran.
Xingluo almost rolled her eyes.
I nearly got cooked alive ten minutes ago.
And you survived.
How comforting.
Wuxia looked toward the arena's storage facilities.
Get the corpse before someone else does.
Xingluo wanted to complain again, but she remembered the Veyran looking directly toward Wuxia during the earlier match.
That question had remained unanswered since yesterday.
"Everyone, sorry."
Xingluo raised both hands before another round of questions could begin.
"I've barely been in the academy for a day, at least give me some time before interrogating me."
Several people laughed, although the crowd still showed little intention of letting her leave.
Fortunately, Ruan Mei and Tianhe finally reached her from the other side.
Xiaorou followed behind them, still clutching the Fortune Token while muttering something unpleasant about the Vice Dean.
Xingluo immediately moved toward them.
"Perfect timing."
Ruan Mei smiled. "Enjoying your fame?"
"Not even slightly."
Xingluo slipped between them before the surrounding students could close around her again, Wuxia glanced toward the distant storage facilities.
Now the Veyran.
Xingluo sighed.
Yes, yes. Your precious corpse.
Without waiting for the crowd to recover, the four of them hurried away from the arena.