<h4>Chapter 338 Invitation (4)</h4>


    Although not a single type of equipment was allowed to be used in the tournament, Billy still decided to go shopping on thest day before it. He will have more time to do that since Svan said that the tournament takes ce over many days, but he still wanted to take his time since he might find some item with an unusual effect around. His true goal was to make better versions of them once he has enough time to do so back home.


    While the effects weren''t much different than usual, Billy found some interesting pieces of equipment. He thought that the barbarians only forged axes and hammers, but he found some interesting bracers and even some gloves that looked like the hidden de. That was a pretty nasty thing to fight against… At least against humans, they would be scarily effective. Against monsters… Unless they hit the vitals, a de of that side won''t kill most of them. Their reach was troublesome and most monsters couldn''t have their vitals damaged with a de that was only that small...


    "I suppose I can buy some things and replicate them with better status at home," Billy thought. "Although they don''t use that many types of weapons, it seems that they have a history of trying to use many types to enhance their natural power. With that in mind, I have a feeling that I will see a lot of interesting things in the fights...


    While Billy was looking around, he reached a weird za that made him frown. A lot of people were there… And a lot of chained people were there being sold. Billy had heard of that from Svan. In their countries, they had ves, and in the other territories, they were prettymon as well… Prisoners of war, people that had too many debts, descendants of those two types of people…


    "I suppose it can''t be helped… It is better than killing prisoners of wars and it isn''t possible for debts to be forgiven that easily," Billy thought.


    Since Billy became a father recently, he felt for the kids that were born between ves, but there was nothing he could do for them, so he just proceeded with his shopping. In the end, he bought many types of weapons and put them in his magic cart since he couldn''t leave anything valuable in the room during the tournament.


    "Are you waiting patiently for the fights?" Natalie asked. "I can''t wait for it."


    "I am getting nervous… Fighting monsters and fighting people are a lot different, even more so when there is a crowd watching the whole thing," Alexander said.


    Billy was more worried about how things will proceed to decrease the number of participants. Apparently, five thousand individuals were going to participate, and the elimination process was chosen randomly every year in order to prevent cheating and not to give the participants any chance to prepare themselves.


    While those two were dealing with the excitement in very different ways at night, Billy slept soundly after ying with his kids. Thanks to that, he woke up feeling quite refreshed the next day, while Natalie and Alexander looked as exhausted as possible. After a good breakfast in another inn, the group split up once they received encouragement from their family and friends.


    The Coliseum was massive, so those watching the fights could easily reach the fifty thousand mark. The center of the ce one could find around the ring, and the participants were quickly assembling there. The ring was also big enough to let the five thousand fighters to stand there easily.


    "I can''t see how things could start differently than an all out battle of everyone against everyone…" Billy thought.


    Making everyone fall from the ring with a st of wind would be simple, but magic was forbidden after all. In any case, Billy was expecting a total war, but then some individuals carrying arge Earth pot showed up and told everyone to get a piece of paper from it. Eventually, Billy got him, and he found the number 777 on it… He wished that he had been that lucky against the poison dragon.


    "Participants number one and two will fight now, the others should step out from the ring. You have thirty seconds to win the fight, if neither of them win in thirty seconds, but will be eliminated."


    Those rules were pretty interesting, and in the end, it meant that those who were half-assed would be eliminated together. Still, it would take a while for Billy and his friends to turn… The first few fighters looked rather normal, so their fights took too long, and both of them ended up getting eliminated from the tournament. While Billy and the others saw that, they also noticed Svan and Marie approaching.


    "It seems things will be slow this year as well," Svan said. "Many fools think of themselves as the strongest without ever really punching or getting a serious punch on the face."


    "Isn''t the same thing everywhere?" Marie asked.


    "Are you going to participate too, miss Marie?" Alexander asked. "Forgive me for saying that, but I find it weird imagining you fighting without your daggers, you are fearsome with them, after all."


    "I will take that as apliment," Marie said. "Still, in my early years, I only fought kids a lot bigger than me with my fists, and I don''t remember losing a single fight."


    "... I will keep that in mind in case we have to fight against each other," Alexander said while forcing a smile.


    Billy almost asked the same thing before, but he was d that Alexander did it for him. In any case, since thest time he saw them, those two got considerably stronger. All of their skills went up at least by ten levels… he wondered if they heard Billy saying somewhere that training inside dungeons was a pretty good method of training… In any case, he will have to keep his guard against them as well.