A Dragon's Curiosity

“Wait a moment.”

So far, the [Eternal Warrior] let the two kids deal with the registration by themselves.

By now, Tyne Pinewood figured that the troublesome part was over and he found some motivation to finish all tasks in one go.

Once they were done, he could go back to the [Silverveil] residence and rest.

Normally, he was not fond of the arena and big congregations of people, especially noisy spaces, but the respect and admiration of his pupils compensated him for the stress.

He had talked way more than usual, partly to pass the time and partly to impress the two youths with his vast connections and powerful associates.

Now it was only a few small chores that separated the man from slacking off and resting.

Tyne Pinewood had been worn down from all the bustle and he felt annoyance build up, although it was his own choice to come here.

He picked two golden coins out of thin air and flicked them at the receptionist, who was fairly surprised but still managed to catch them.

Both coins had a big one on the front and a crown printed on the back, giving them the value of one gold each.

“Add one of them to each of their accounts, it would be best if the expenses and additional funds are clearly marked for the time being, they’re still young.”

As a prominent member of [Silverveil], it was to be expected that Tyne Pinewood owned a spatial treasure.

All his gear and wealth was stored inside the treasure, making it convenient for the warrior to retrieve his gear or pay for expenses on the spot without having to fear pickpockets or being caught unaware.

“Of course, Ser. The accounts associated with each member are constantly updated and held to the highest standard, given that the payment goes through the arena documents or the guild card.

If the account holder wishes to inspect their stored records, any branch of the arena will be happy to disclose them.

Our wish is to render the best service possible and offer the highest amount of support for future arena contestants.”

Aaren was shocked at the great fortune suddenly given to them, whereas Nisha only admired the spatial treasure and the proficiency which allowed Tyne Pinewood making the retrieval seem casual and natural.

Due to his birthplace being a rural village, the greatest amount of money Aaren held in his hands before coming to the capital was in the range of several dozen copper - no one in the village needed greater amounts to trade with each other.

After the young man relocated to the capital to attend the [Royal Academy] with a grant from the crown, he also obtained a moonly stipend, two silver on top of his room and board at the  academy dorms, as well as a silver for his aunt that accompanied him.

He did not believe the generosity of the crown at first and repeatedly asked the student affairs office for confirmation, yet he was floored when it turned out that the two silver were given to him as spending money freely.

Now, he only attended a special class with an instructor invited by the school, yet the famous adventurer easily pulled out gold and spent them on the students without hesitation.

Aaren was torn inside and wanted to speak up, but he had developed a fairly good skill on reading the air and the annoyance radiating from their teacher kept him silent.

“All done. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

The receptionist’s smile now looked far more genuine compared to the beginning, although she still looked as professional as ever.

Seeing the adult shaking his head and the young girl and boy following him sticking to his lead, the assistant bowed and saw them off.

“Thank you for the visit. The arena looks forward to your next visit.”

Tyne Pinewood nodded and left the wooden stall.

Nisha and Aaren had to sprint ever so often to keep up with his long strides, barely keeping the pace.

The march only eased into a slow stroll once the arena and the bustling crowd streaming in and out of the building retreated and the streets cleared sans the occasional pedestrian.

Seeing that their instructor no longer radiated his annoyance so strongly, Aaren mustered his courage and asked a question.

“Isn’t one gold too much? That’s a lot of money.”

Thinking about the documents in his pocket, the young man nearly panicked at the thought of losing the paper sheets and wasting a big fortune.

Nevertheless, the [Eternal Warrior] hardly cared about the coins he randomly tossed out.

“The gold is meant for you to enter the arena.

Don’t think about saving money, go and spectate more matches, place bets and learn more about different fighting styles.”

As a famous adventurer, Tyne Pinewood earned a lot of money every time he went on an expedition with his group, enough to live without worries if he did not care about securing resources for further advancement.

Even without the big outings as part of [Silverveil], he only needed to enter the Dungeon and slay monsters with seventh rank strength and above, any material harvested from their body would easily yield proceeds in the range of tens of gold.

As a ninth rank warrior, it was as easy as a walk in the park for the [Eternal Warrior] to earn money if he set his mind to it.

Tossing out a gold coin every now and then did not even make a dent in his fortune.

“Consider the money as the other half of the resources for the special class.

The potions, pills and other cultivation materials will get distributed based on personal strength, whereas you all get the same amount of money every moon to spend in the arena.

Depending on whether you want to enter the pit to fight, or just spectate and bet money on the fights, you can amass quite a lot of credit.

A lot of the stores carry more specialized weapons, equipment and tonics, the better your performance, the more items you can buy.”

The instructor made it clear that there would be no special treatment and that Grace Silverwood and Kian Ravenstone would also get the same opportunity.

Only having personal cultivation but lacking battle tactics and knowledge about different styles used by the opponent would hamper future progress, hence Tyne Pinewood separated the benefits into two portions.

The strongest fighter would get the lion's share of cultivation resources, while the best strategist would earn the most money for equipment, customized potions and pills and other rare items sold at the arena.

Aaren did not really understand the importance of watching the arena fights, he was mainly interested in eventually joining the fights themselves once he learned a proper fighting style from the instructor.

As for the money, he intended to use it sparingly and only cover as little as necessary when visiting the arena.

Nisha, on the other hand, graciously accepted the gold and deliberated the deeper meaning behind the [Eternal Warrior] asking the receptionist to keep clear accounts of the funds.

At his level, the man had no need to act miserly and the elf could easily pay the fees for herself and the young man next to her if the experienced adventurer acted stingy over such a small amount of money.

Nonetheless, the dragon inside her hated to part with shiny things and gold was amongst the shiniest trinkets she collected inside her [Inner World], hence she was fairly thankful that Tyne Pinewood shouldered the bill for their arena visits.

Rather than nitpicking about expenses, it was far more likely that he set up a security measure against the nobles in their special class throwing their weight around.

Similar to Nisha, Grace Silverwood and Kian Ravenstone drew a healthy stipend from their family every moon, with additional expenses being carried by the Household if they reported them for proper causes.

If the noble families behind them were determined to push the cultivation of their scions forward aggressively, it was no problem for them to supply between five to twenty five gold moonly as arena funding - with even more gold promised once there were results.

What the instructor planned to do if they padded their accounts, Nisha had no idea though.

In the end, the elf similarly looked forward to frequenting the fights from the stands as much as Aaren.

She usually fought with either her [Taurith Shortswords] in close combat or practiced her archery to shore up her long range fighting capabilities.

Nevertheless, the girl had yet to settle on a final fighting style and experimented with several alternatives, such as the [Imperial Swordplay] and the wooden training weapons in the normal warrior class.

The former required a longsword and focused on a single blade, making the [Taurith Shortswords] unsuitable to carry the manual out to its maximum potential, whereas the dragon enjoyed leveraging her full strength with blunt weapons or increasing her range with long handles, it reminded her of whipping her tail forward in dragon form.

Each style had its own appeal and Nisha still had to try out quite a few of them, as some of the more exotic varieties such as sleeve blades and whips were not even offered in the basic warrior class.

Observing them in the arena would offer her insights into the pros and cons of such non standard weaponry and allow her to make an educated choice whether to experiment with practicing them or not.

Nisha also disdained the thought of losing to opponents she already defeated.

Whether Grace and Kian obtained additional funds from their families or not, the elf had no intention of letting them catch their breath and shorten the distance between them.

Even without entering the pit, it was still possible to gamble on the fights to earn more gold.

Whether the items on sale in the arena were useful or not, the [Eternal Warrior] surely had his reasons to recommend that they took the place seriously.

“Off you go then. Remember to practice more.”

Shooing the kids away, Tyne Pinewood slumped over and walked off in the direction of the base their team owned.

He hated when he had to talk too much, it tired him out - the man was ready to collapse in his bed and sleep for a long time.

Nisha said goodbye to Aaren and returned to the Dharnas estate, whereas the young man took off in the direction of the academy lodgings.

Unbeknownst to the group, the receptionist in the stall they just left excused herself and took a break, swiftly walking away with a summary of the information she just registered.

Behind the stalls, pathways and corridors closed to the public existed for the ease of the personnel moving through the different levels and bringing supplies to the respective businesses.

She climbed until the receptionist arrived at the highest level, a level that rarely saw visitors.

Looking left and right to make sure that no one saw her, the woman knocked on a door decorated with gemstones and golden lines - rumor had it that it was actually an array, though none of the employees at the arena ever verified that.

Hearing a muffled reply through the door, the receptionist entered and immediately bowed deeply, afraid to look at the owner of the room.

Despite being next to the VIP lounges and the hubbub of the stuffed seating areas, no sounds arrived here, making the silence stifling while the woman waited to be addressed.

Insecurity plagued her, stretching her nerves taut and wearing her mind down.

Thankfully, the silence did not continue endlessly and the owner spoke up eventually.

“You may rise.”

His manner of speech resembled a noble and he paid no attention to the figure or attractiveness of the receptionist at all.

When she raised her head, a rather young man sat in a luxurious armchair made of some shiny leather, no doubt harvested from a high rank monster.

His clothing and demeanor matched the expensive stationary, whereas his eyes were going through documents on his massive table crafted from exquisite wood.

The receptionist herself was close to two dozen turns old, while the man behind the desk appeared at least two or three turns younger than herself.

Nevertheless, the woman did not dare to behave rudely at all, as his identity would be astonishing even when put among the noble circle of the capital.

Not many people were aware who ran the arena, but plenty of opportunists eyed the massive profits from the betting establishments and wished to take them for themselves.

Regardless of their dreams, a few select families kept control of the arena for several centuries and their reign never wavered once.

All dishonest elements who tried to bypass their authority either went missing or were found as cold bodies drifting in the harbor bay.

The receptionist had a little more information than the guests and knew how terrifying the owner of the room was - the heir of one family in control of the arena and one of the managers that currently handled the daily operations.