240 Third Stage

"My defeat. A complete and utter defeat." Moloch slumped back on his throne and waved his hand, causing all the projected illusions of the royal interior to disappear, and they returned to the floating platform scene. Jin, who was standing at the side the entire time, did not make a sound. "That was exciting!" The customers placed their worries to rest upon the completion of the match and began to discuss the unconventional tactics of Qiu Yue. Each and every move on her part was based on logic, but they felt that she had not shown everything to the unknown man with a plushie which many had yet to see in a dungeon."So did we win this round?" Qiu Yue gave a peace symbol with her right hand as part of the victory pose to Jin, and he could not help but nod innocently. He figured he should not say anything special and go with the flow for the moment by letting Qiu Yue bask in the glory of victory. Qiu Yue seemed very satisfied with the way things were going... But not Jin. He felt that there was an underlying agenda by the System if it wanted Qiu Yue to be part of his store. To tell the truth, he was currently torn by the desire to have her in his team and opposing the System's request. Since this was the first time the System gave him a recruitment mission, Jin was wary. While it was most likely beneficial to his dream, at the same time, it would mean that the System also got one step closer to whatever it wanted to achieve in the end.As Qiu Yue was having her battle with Moloch, Jin managed to calm down and began pondering if he could negotiate with the System to not let Qiu Yue be exposed to the System. For the past week or so when Jin was going through the System's mission of getting 5000 general sales, he had also been contemplating about his life. The current stage of life where he was with the System.How the System affected him, how it spurred him to great heights and the success he had right now. Jin was no doubt grateful for the System bestowing power and wealth to him. It allowed him to break the cycle of sloth and monotony, but it came with a price that he nearly had to pay. By killing people to be efficient. It would have meant losing part of his humanity for the fastest way to gain in the smallest amount of time. Truly something only someone without emotions would even consider under normal circumstances. However, the System was not exactly something one could define as 'normal'. Jin had vowed to Yun that he would search for an alternative solution. To avoid this killing method, that the System tried to make him implement it. His solution so far was, that he would work harder in the store to achieve his current dream. But as Jin was being swept away by tides of tasks and the daily handling of the job, he began to perceive the System and the work he was doing as a chore and nearly lost sight of his initial goal.However, seeing Qiu Yue again had made him recall why he wanted to be a dungeon supplier in the first place. This match with Moloch even allowed Jin to gain some reprise and clarity on the whole situation again. It was not a simple decision for Jin to make. The request of this System would ultimately affect Qiu Yue's career, life and possibly result in her being chained down by the System. While people might envy Jin for his excellent dungeons and possible wealth, in actuality Jin did not earn as much as they perceived. Sure, it was still a reasonable amount, but the System has always been the one controlling his finances, the work he was doing, and now it wanted to control the people he was interacting with. Jin always thought that he was fine being a prisoner of the System, but after that incident, he wanted to change. Nevertheless, no matter how he tried to rebel against the System, he was still a cog of this big machine. …and there was also that small lazy part of him that even liked not having to think for himself and simply going with the flow.This was especially true with the new urgent mission. If Jin did not complete this particular mission, he would not receive this network that Ming was talking about. This specific reward however, made Jin have some suspicions that the figment of Ming could also be part of the System's plan. Either that or the System had managed to catch wind of his thoughts about the Bellator's Network.Regardless, Jin felt that he could not continue living this kind of life, not when Qiu Yue was being dragged into it. "Looks like I need to have a proper one on one conversation with the System. This cannot go on any further. I will not allow Qiu Yue to also be chained down by the System." Jin said to himself."Jin? Jinny!" Qiu Yue snapped her fingers right in front of Jin which startled him and caused him to shout as a reflex."Hahaha, what's wrong, why are you in a daze?" Qiu Yue asked as she pointed at the treasure chest that Moloch presented upon defeat. "Look what he gave us, I wonder what's in that chest!""I was thinking about how amazing you were. Wait, I thought Moloch wanted to have a few more rounds?" Jin was puzzled as he noticed the treasure on the ground."No, it was a complete defeat for me. Hence, I am willing to allow you two to move to the next stage. However, the next stage is somewhat different. The two of you will be split apart, the test of one's true strength." Moloch wanted to do an additional round and pit the odds against her since he wanted to regain his pride as a Demon Lord but he eventually stayed his hand. There was no use fighting against someone who potentially be an ally in the future according to what he had heard from the System. Besides, the System wanted to have a benchmark test and Moloch did what was told. However, now he had a goal to attain aside from building the new city fortress, to have a proper rematch with Qiu Yue.Moloch sighed at the thought of the rematch and waved his hand once more which suddenly made Jin and Qiu Yue be separated by a divide in the floating platform. As the sizeable floating platform turned into two smaller ones, Jin's platform was suddenly engulfed within a dome of darkness while Qiu Yue's floating platform was still intact. Even the customers were shocked by the change of events. "I did not know the random arena was this challenging." A customer commented as the crowd saw the drastic change."Same here, I did not expect a random arena battle to be this unique." Another customer said."This is the first time for me to see a battle of wits too. I had been in quite a few random arena battles myself, but I have yet to see this particular monster." Bin Yong gave his own opinion after he heard the customer's reply."Master Know-It-All?" Shi Zuo politely asked for his opinion."Nope. I believe I have observed more random arenas battles than any cultivators here, but this is also a first for me." Mr Know-it-All answered."Well, I guess it is, after all, a random arena battle. I heard the stages of the dungeon instance were created based on your level." One of the customers replied."Does that mean the dungeon instance purposely chose something to test Boss Jin and his friend? And now it even decided to split the two of them, to properly test their true strength? If that is the case, it seems Boss Jin would be in a different match based on power level." Another customer deduced upon seeing the change in the battlefield. "Well, I would prefer to see Jin's match rather than that girl's, even though she was really brilliant in the previous match." The customer got excited to find out who Jin's opponent would be. "Will it be another new monster that Boss Jin has yet to release out to the public?" Mr Know-It-All rubbed his chin in anticipation.The screen then turned towards the dome of darkness, but instead of faces, the customers could only envision two silhouettes and there was no audible audio this time around. However, it was not the same for Jin as he could see everything within the dome. He was not aware that the darkness was impairing the vision of the magic eye and there was only one particular entity capable of doing that. "Yawnnnnnnnn." A silhouette with a red latex suit magically appeared out of nowhere as Jin was looking around to search for enemies. "No way…" Jin gripped his katana even harder as he saw his opponent walking closer to him."You want to have a proper talk with the System right? Let's talk honestly as we dance with our blades." Yun swung her gigantic two-handed cleaver in front of Jin.