“Habitus can’t be the trump card of Victor Arena.” The old Persian trainer shook his head. “I told Gaby that his potential had reached its limit.”
“Is his potential fully developed, or are you unwilling to help him to develop further?” Zhang Heng asked.
The old Persian trainer smiled slyly and asked, “Is there any difference between these two questions?”
“Hmph. I knew it.”
“It’s not our fault,” the old trainer said sternly, “but this time, I did miscalculate the whole thing. We had an agreement with him. He is supposed to help us get what we want, and we will help him get what he wants. However, he suddenly turned his back on us.”
“You want me to believe that Habitus broke a contract between an ancient assassin organization? Why would he do that unless he doesn’t want to live anymore?”
“Although we are an assassin organization, we always stick to our principles, unlike some self-proclaimed nobles in this world. And we will not kill innocent people. Besides, we haven’t signed an official contract with Habitus,” the old trainer said helplessly.
“I understand now. You threw the bait to make him believe that you can help him improve his combat skills. Then he took the bait and learned that set of footwork from you. After he mastered it, he has no intention to work with you guys anymore. I have to say that he is brilliant. Here are my questions. You chose me as a substitute for Habitus. Why do you believe that I will take the bait? What kind of bait did your organization prepare for me?”
Since there was hot steam constantly coming out from the gap, Zhang Heng was now covered with sweat, and the old Persian trainer experienced the same thing as well.
“There is no bait this time, and I have no plans to use you as a substitute for Habitus because Habitus wasn’t the most suitable candidate for us from the beginning. During that time, we couldn’t find someone better than him. That was why we were left with no other options but to choose him.”
“What do you mean? Are you planning to ask me to take the bait without giving me bait?”
“No, I want to invite you to join us. I am not asking you to have a partnership with me like Habitus. I want to include you in our observations list and become our core member in the future. Or, to be more precise, we want you to become my successor. As I said before, we are an ancient organization. And we have our own principles and traditions. There are only a couple of core members in the organization. When the elderly retire, the organization will search for more young blood to replace them. However, the young blood must first pass the test.”
The old trainer paused, “Don’t say no to me first. Tell me, what do you want the most now?”
“My freedom?”
“If you can pass the test and become one of us, you will become a free man,” promised the old trainer.
“How about helping my friend to become a free man as well?”
“The slave named Varo? I sympathize with what happened to him. It’s not difficult for us to make him free again.”
“Thirty thousand sestertius?”
This time, the old trainer hesitated. “This… Although we can give you this amount of money, we must adhere to the rules first. I can say yes to it first, and if you really pass the test, I can personally give you the money.”
“You are actually quite rich. And… I want to become a Roman senator once I become a free man,” said Zhang Heng, revealing the last thing he wanted.
The old trainer shook his head as soon as he heard Zhang Heng’s request. “This is impossible,” he said. “Although our organization does have strong political allies, it would be absurd to let a newly liberated slave become part of the senate.” Suddenly, he stopped abruptly and realized something. “You don’t really want to become a senate. You are just saying that to size up our forces. If this is the case, you will be disappointed. As I said, there are only a handful of core members, and they are mainly civilians, which cannot affect the daily operation of the Roman Senate.”
“That’s a shame,” said Zhang Heng, “Because I can obtain my freedom by my own strength. Thirty thousand sestertius sounds like a lot, but it’s not impossible for me to earn it. Joining the Roman Senate was the only interesting request, but it seems your organization is not powerful enough to grant my wish.”
“You can indeed obtain your freedom with your strength, but it will take at least three years,” replied the old trainer. “Novices with average strength have only a few opportunities to perform at the beginning. We can help you to solve this problem. At the right time, we can get you out of this place. Other than that, I can also teach you how to fight.”
“I know how to fight.”
“Yes, but what you know is the combat style of warriors. I can teach you the combat styles of an assassin. We have turned killing into an art. We don’t engage ourselves in a fight, but once we get into a fight, we will surely claim someone’s life.” The old trainer then looked at Zhang Heng. “Well, the set of footwork I taught Habitus is just a basic skillset. The really powerful skills are only accessible to the core members. ”
Even Zhang Heng had to admit that the old trainer’s last proposal was very attractive. Until now, the nine rounds of quests had given Zhang Heng a good amount of gains. The game items were not as important when compared to the skillsets that he acquired—something that took him a lot of time to learn—and was the most valuable thing that he could gain from each game he played. However, if he could only learn the fighting style of a gladiator, there wasn’t too much to be gained.
After all, his swordsmanship had reached Lv.4, and the combat experience he had spent ten accumulating from the Black Sail quest was enough for him to dominate the arena.
In contrast, an assassin’s combat skills were more valuable to him.
As for what the old trainer said about taking him three years to regain his freedom, Zhang Heng did not take it too seriously. He had to admit that he never expected it would take such a long time to acquire his freedom from the arena. According to the old trainer, that was the average time for a gladiator to work his way up to become a free man. However, if the gladiator defeated someone impossible for him to defeat, the audience in the entire arena would cheer for the gladiator, and they would unanimously demand the master to make the winner a free man. At that time, even the master of the gladiator school could not say no. That was because the ancient Romans cared a lot about public opinion, at least for those that operated an arena.
Zhang Heng concealed his true strength because he did not become Mark Reuss’s money-earning machine. Other than that, staying out of the spotlight would also allow him to leave this place faster. Of course, if the old trainer had a way to get him out of the gladiator school, Zhang Heng would not say no. If there were an easier way out, after all, he would definitely not deliberately cause trouble for himself.
However, Zhang Heng knew about one cold-hard truth that would remain unchanged, and that was that nothing in this world was free.
The old trainer was hiding something from him. For example, why was he working with Habitus? Why did they break off their partnership? And the reason why the old trainer came here was not as simple as Gaby inviting him here to help him to train Habitus. Other than that, Zhang Heng also wanted to know about the core member’s test.
Zhang Heng did not ask those questions because he knew that the old trainer would not answer him. At least for now, both sides had something that each other wanted. And Zhang Heng had one of the biggest advantages too—he did not need to worry about his future. This was just a quest for him. Counting the extra time he had, he would leave this dungeon in a year and a half.
This was also the reason why he was more than willing to swear the gladiator’s oath. As long as it wasn’t something that would bring him an immediate danger, he could always agree to it first. So Zhang Heng asked, “What do you need me to do?”
