As it had already been several hours since they had last spoken, Liam did not want to make Derek wait any longer and immediately messaged him to arrive on the arena grounds.
Derek as well did not question him and promptly arrived at the battleground. He stood in the short line and registered with the referee and not long after his name was called.
However, as soon as Derek moved to the center, he couldn't help but notice something strange going on this time around.
Groups of people started gathering around together and were huddled up here and there. The entire atmosphere around the arena had changed.
Derek searched for Liam's face in the crowd and looked at him with confusion but the latter did not explain anything. He simply waved his hand, asking him to fight.
Derek blinked in confusion but then shrugged and went back to his business. He jumped into the ring, his feet landing with a loud thud that reverberated inside the stadium.
Almost at the same time, his opponent as well arrived and the fight soon started.
Derek instantly zoned out everything that was happening around him and his entire focus was only on the fight and his opponent.
His brown eyes that contained a raw vigor and ferocity tracked each and every move of his opponent and his muscles responded accordingly.
This time, both of them were tanks clashing against each other so it was a special sight for all the spectators.
"Pound him down, bro!"
"Show him who is the boss!"
"DEREK! DEREK! DEREK!"
"RYKER! RYKER! RYKER!"
The crowd started chanting loudly in unison. One of the players who had arrived at the floor just now did not understand what was going on and asked his friend.
"Hey, how do we know the players' names? Isn't it supposed to be anonymous? Are they famous or something?
"What? You don't know! What a lucky bastard! You just arrived on time."
"Quick quick. Open your system interface. There will be a prompt for betting. Someone has placed a 1000 gold coins bet on the player named Derek."
"You only need 1 silver to participate, then you can also get a piece of that pie. Fast. Place your bets."
"Wait, I only need to place 1 silver bet?"
"Yup, think about it. Even if a thousand players place the bet, we will each get 1 gold coin at least."
"And there definitely aren't a thousand players here. So we will get more than 1 gold coin for sure."
The player instantly felt his heart rate quicken after hearing the word gold coin and hurriedly placed something as a bet.
Most players gathered on the floor did the same as well, even if they were there simply for spectating or planned to participate.
Chances like this to earn money without breaking a sweat were really hard to come by.
Some rich idiot was willing to throw away so much money. How could they miss this precious opportunity?
So all the players hurriedly placed their bets with whatever money they had on their hands.
If they lost, then they would only lose a penny but if they won, they would be raking in gold coins.
This news quickly spread like wildfire.
But unfortunately, the fight between Derek and Ryker ended in a heartbeat and the result was a shock to everyone who had placed their bets.
Both the tanks were bulky men and both of them were somewhat skilled and yet the one who won the fight was the tank with the shoddy equipment, Derek.
This went against common sense but the players only had their bad luck to curse.
To lose even when the opponent was wearing only a pathetic set of equipment that looked like it was going to break and fall apart at any given instant, everyone spat on Ryker and lamented their loss of the golden opportunity.
They had one chance to win an easy gold coin and now that chance will never come back again.
Maybe once the tycoon was whimsical enough to bet 1000 gold coins but will he be betting such an insane amount of wealth every single time?
As everyone looked longingly at the two fighters getting out of the ring, one in pain and the other with a blank expression, the referee stood up to call the next pair of fighters.
With this everyone's heart sank as their gold ship officially sailed.
No one even paid attention to the next couple of fights. Some people tried betting on these fights but without the enticing 1000 gold coins to sweeten the pot, no one was interested.
They were still busy discussing the earlier fight between Derek and Ryker and how they would have done things differently.
Suddenly everyone became an expert and cursed the poor guy for losing badly. If only they had another chance…
And unexpectedly, their wish soon came true…
Since everyone was quite distracted by the whole betting situation, not many players were currently grinding the fights on the 90th floor.
Because of this, Derek's turn arrived sooner than expected and his name was once again called on the stage.
Almost instantly, one of the female players in the arena shouted at the top of her voice.
"Look! Look! The betting is on again! Someone again placed a 1k gold coin bet on this guy! OH MY GOD!"
The other players who were also in the middle of checking their system interface noticed the same thing and immediately became excited again, hurriedly placing their bets.
But after this initial shock from the goddess of wealth knocking on their door a second time wore off, another obviously glaring fact surfaced.
Sure, the 1000 gold coins were available but was this opponent capable of winning?
As everyone looked at the fighting ring with great expectation, once again it was Derek who won the fight and not their horse.
Another opportunity missed!
"Damn it, will this tycoon again place a bet or what? Just one more chance. Fuck it, I will personally get in the ring and fight!" Someone shouted.
But no one believed that such a thing could happen…
After all, 1000 gold coins was not a laughing matter. It was an astronomical amount that only guilds could afford, that too probably only rated guilds.
However… against all odds and logic… when Derek's number was once more called onto the stage for the third time… the pot was again instantly filled with 1000 gold coins!
In fact, making everyone's heart do flip-flops, every single time Derek stepped into the fighting ring, the same person kept wagering 1000 gold coins!