Chapter 21: The Present Situation

Chapter 21: The Present Situation

I felt hungry. I haven’t been fed for days now, all because of Georg. That old man claims that I could perform my best when in a state of starvation, so he stopped giving me food few days before each match.

His torturous training methods and nonsensical beliefs haven’t changed in the past two years. In fact, they’ve only escalated. That guy never gives me a reason not to want to kill him... He was truly detestable.

Regardless, the next day was the match, and after that, I could say goodbye to an empty stomach for a while. The hungrier I was, the better the food would taste afterward, even though it was mixed with all sorts of poisonous pollutants, metals, and mysterious substances.

Moreover, in these two years, I’ve gained a resistance to hunger, or rather, I’ve learned how to control my own appetite. I spent my time training to control my fighting spirit and spiritual power independently. If I were to enhance my fighting spirit or spiritual power without Georg’s permission, I’d feel a constriction that felt like being choked, but, even in the midst of pain during battles, I persevered and continued training because I believed that it would improve my fighting skills.

All of this was done for my mission to “survive for a hundred years”. My desperate efforts have borne fruit, and now I have acquired delicate control over my fighting spirit and spiritual power. I discovered that with these skills, it was possible to control both my senses and emotions.

No matter how severe the pain was, I could immediately block it and move normally. I could also calm down and act rationally even when feeling anger or impatience. Conversely, I could also feel sad for no reason or develop a desire for inanimate objects like cages, although I never actually acted on these impulses.

Moreover, this delicate control technique was very useful in actual combat. It allowed me to maximize my strength with minimal fighting spirit, and I never ran out of fighting spirit even in prolonged battles. I could also perform advanced techniques with ease, such as focusing my fighting spirit on a single point like my poisonous stinger.

The power of my spiritual art has also increased, and the time it took to generate it has been significantly reduced. Although it was a mundane skill acquired through diligent training, it was also a technique that helped me win.

Anyway, thanks to all of this, even if the slave were to appear when I was hungry, I wouldn’t even twitch an inch. I wouldn’t expose myself to the same humiliation I suffered two years ago. I would simply welcome her as usual.

“Excuse me.”

After knocking on the door, the slave entered the basement. It wasn’t surprising since I could hear her footsteps approaching. I wagged my tail slightly to show my welcome. It had been two years since I started honing my skills, but for some reason, I still couldn’t communicate telepathically. So, I had no choice but to express myself through gestures and body language. If only I had asked Woodsorrel for some tips... but I didnt, and this is why I was struggling.

Although her face was covered in bandages, the female slave had learned to laugh at my comical movements. It made me happy, so I tried to act funny whenever I could. Perhaps to the slave, I appeared as a jester. Even if that was the case, I didn’t mind.

“Sorry, there is no food today as well,” the slave said apologetically. However, this wasn’t a problem, as I already knew there wouldn’t be any. I didn’t mind and just continued to move my claws up and down. The chains clanked and made a loud noise every time I moved, so I tried to keep my movements small.

I didn’t really care, but it seemed that the slave did. She took something out of her pocket and placed it in front of me. My knowledge told me that the brown, round object was bread—a type of food made by kneading and baking grain flour.

“Here. It’s not much, but I’ll give you some,” the slave said. Visitt novelbin(.)co/m for the latest updates

Perhaps she pitied me for being forced to fast for days straight, as she had hidden her own bread to share with me. While her gesture made me happy, it also made me feel guilty, knowing that the slave’s food supply was already limited.

(Maybe something that can be hidden in bandages is good after all. Then...how about this?)

I selected a relatively small piece from the peeled exoskeleton and infused it with spiritual power. As a result, the exoskeleton transformed into thin fibers resembling hair. I then used my pincers to cut them into appropriate dimensions, bundled them together, and spun them into thread.

I manipulated the resulting threads to form a loop and tried to connect the ends, but it didn’t work well. So I made a small, deformed scorpion to cover the joint. There, now the bracelet is complete.

I often saw wealthy female spectators in the arena wearing bracelets, so I took inspiration from them. The ones they wore were made of sparkling metal, while mine was made of my own exoskeleton material and was entirely black. However, it had a unique luster that distinguished it from metal.

I think this is a decent product. I don’t know much about the values of the Furu race, but I know they appreciate rare things. They are the type to appreciate spectacles like the “Battle Beast Tournament.”

“Wow... it’s beautiful....”

“Kishiki”

“Eh... are you giving this to me?”

The slave exclaimed as she gazed at the bracelet I had created. It seemed she was quite mesmerized by it. She let out a sigh of admiration while still clinging to me, and I offered the bracelet to her.

Timidly, the slave accepted the bracelet and immediately put it on her left wrist. She looked delighted, smiling happily as she examined the bracelet from various angles. Seeing my benefactor pleased made me happy too.

“Thank you, Mr. Scorpion. I’ll treasure it,” the slave said gratefully.

For a while, she gazed at the bracelet before loosening a bandage and wrapping it around her wrist. Now, it was impossible to tell whether she was wearing the bracelet or not. Although the bandage seemed painful, it was the perfect way to conceal things like that.

Afterwards, the slave returned to her daily tasks. If there was anything different, it was that during her work, she expressed gratitude towards me instead of discussing events in the mansion. If she was so pleased, then it was definitely worth creating the bracelet.

Throughout her work, the slave seemed to be enjoying herself, and before leaving, she expressed her gratitude once again. If she was that happy, I thought I would make something for her again. Not only did it bring joy to the girl, but it also served as training for my spiritual control—a double gain.

I didn’t want to make another bracelet since it would lack creativity, and making something too conspicuous was also not ideal. So what would be good? A ring would be boring... Hmm, I couldn’t come up with anything. Despite having some peculiar knowledge, I was still just a scorpion.

But now I had a new motivation to stay alive. In the darkness, I trained with even greater determination than the day before. Strangely enough, I hardly felt any pain that came with the training process.