NOVEL NEXT Chapter 230: Not much of a public speaker
Ronan reached down to smooth out a torn flap of fabric in the golden captain's uniform, before pulling his hand back. The rugged appearance probably helped with the image he was trying to create, so he decided against it. What did he care what these bastards thought of him, anyway?
Most of them would cheer whether he lived or died. Some would likely profit from his death, so he wasn't about to start giving a shit about their opinions of him.
He smirked and raised a hand to wave at the gathered crowds. He didn't much care what they thought, but he still wanted to put on a show. It was kind of fun, once he forgot that the vast majority of them could probably squash him like a bug with a single slap.
The announcer let the final part of the battle play out, with the audience reacting appropriately as Ronan blew the Governor sky high before being whisked away from the planet by the system. He did wonder how safe it was to reveal the planet to all these people, given that it was technically his territory and some random powerhouse could just go and steal it from him. Then again, he would probably finish this iteration soon enough and it wouldn't even matter.
"And that wraps up Ronan's first step on the path, folks! What a conquest. While we've seen faster victories before, this is definitely up there with the greatest. Those of you who haven't already should start putting your money on this guy. Now, why don't we hear a few words from the gladiator himself. Give it up for Ronan Steele!" The announcer waved a hoof in his general direction as the microphone device flew over to him and the crowd started to cheer once more.
He coughed once to clear his throat. "I'd like to start by thanking all of the idiots who bet against me for their hard-earned money. I rubbed one out with your cash before I came out here." The cheers stopped instantly, a deafening silence falling over the empty space. Even the announcer gave him a sideways glance.
He stared around, not giving any ground to the spectators. He wasn't embarrassed. He'd thought of this the moment he'd earned those credits. The silence was broken by the sound of shattering.
In the corner of his eye, Ronan saw some falling glass and a blurry shape rocketing towards him from one of the stands. Let's hope the announcer wasn't lying about the system's protections…
The shape became clear as it drew closer, which took all of two seconds, and revealed itself to be some kind of humanoid alien with bug-like compound eyes. It had drawn a plain-looking sword and was in the process of swinging it at Ronan when it suddenly… vanished.
Literally just disappeared into thin air.
One moment it was about to attack him and the next it was as though it had never existed in the first place. Ronan was curious about how the system did that, but he had bigger worries. Like the fact that a large swathe of the crowd was booing him vigorously.
"Alright, settle down you crazy fuckers!" The announcer broke his usual cool personality and stomped a hoof against the empty space, sending a deafening boom echoing through the entire staging platform.
The crowd went silent immediately. Clearly the bovine dude held a lot of sway. That or they were just scared of the system doing to them what it had done to Ronan's would-be attacker.
No one else had been stupid enough to repeat that attempt after seeing what happened to the strange humanoid. Or at least, no one had been stupid enough to follow through. Quite a few of the spectators had been in the process of charging him but given up and retreated to their seats.
Ronan stared back out at the crowds, continuing to smirk. The reaction was a little more heated than he'd expected, but it was about what he'd hoped for. "You can only blame yourselves for betting badly. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the fights. I'll try to make the next ones quicker. Make sure to bet on me if you don't want me to use your credits for my next celebration. Also—" Ronan suddenly found himself back in the waiting room before he could finish his sentence.
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A message appeared in front of him and he had to stifle his laughter when he read it. If they think I'm bad they should meet a bloke from the East End…
I know I told you that the brash personality was a hit, but you took things a little too far. The Horgavian that attacked you and was erased was a member of a prominent clan that even the system's forces can't easily deal with. You've caused a right mess, so just spend the rest of your two weeks doing what you need to do.
Minoraxis, Gladiatorial Commentator #4
He only has himself to blame. He did tell me to keep it up. Perhaps he should've been more specific with his guidelines. Ronan sighed as he reclined in the comfortable chair. He was going to continue cultivating, but first he thought he should meet with the princess. Hopefully she was in a better mood than the rest of the crowd.
Princess Petalania has been notified of your request, please wait for a response…
Princess Petalania has accepted your request! Stand by…
Just as it had been the first time, the princess accepted his request to meet almost immediately after he sent it. She appeared in the chair opposite him, looking a little flustered but mostly bemused.
"Oh! I wondered if you were going to make me wait until the end of your rest period." She beamed with a smile and Ronan swore her hair grew a little longer. "That was quite the uh… speech you gave out there. I'm not quite sure I understood some of it, even with the translation. What does polishing have to do with credits?"
Ronan choked on his prepared greeting. Polishing? What is she— He realised that the translation skills might be a little more abstract than direct. Of course an English euphemism from his world wouldn't get through to everyone in the same way. "Don't worry about it. Crude joke. I'm not much of a public speaker, I just thought it would be funny to piss those bastards off. They think they can just sit around and be entertained by the suffering of others. Pricks." He saw the princess' face droop. "I mean, not all of them, obviously. You seem pretty invested in my success. Your gifts were a lot of help, by the way. Thanks."
She brightened up immediately, her skin going a deep shade of green and her yellow eyes glistening. "They were? That's wonderful! It makes me so glad to hear it. I was a little worried that only having stat-boosting skills wouldn't be enough. They aren't that good unless you have a class that gives you sufficient stats to improve upon.
"They said you had a mythical class, though, so I guess it worked out. You didn't seem to struggle much, even conquering a whole planet despite being integrated recently. I'm jealous." She sunk back into the chair as she finished, sighing deeply.
Ronan raised an eyebrow but didn't question it. Her personal issues weren't something he was particularly interested in prying into. "Well, you said you wanted anything interesting in exchange, right? I'm not sure if this counts but the species that occupied that planet had some really weird technology. It connected to their brains and let them control almost everything in their cities. I got one as a loot drop. You can have it if you like." He opened his inventory to take out one of the devices when Princess Petalania groaned and sat back up.
"A neural link? That's barely worth seeing. They aren't really that compatible with my species anyway. I appreciate the effort though. I don't think you'll find anything cool until the third or fourth step. Maybe the second, though it depends what it is. I'm happy to just watch you fight through it all. Anything to keep father off my back."
Hiding his disappointment, Ronan lowered his hand. Apparently the technology he'd thought was hyper-advanced and cool was just run-of-the-mill stuff in the multiverse. "The announcer guy mentioned you can give me more gifts before the second step? Not that I want to seem greedy or anything, but every little helps."
To his surprise the princess actually seemed excited at the mention of the sponsorship gifts. She leaned forward in her seat and started waving her hands excitedly. "Oh! Yes, I have something great in mind. I watched you fight and realised you don't have any decent weapon skills. Most of your skills are generalist, right?"
Ronan nodded, surprised at her perceptiveness. Petalania didn't seem like a fighter, but then again in the multiverse advancing to any higher level required some sort of competency in combat. Or so he assumed. Maybe it was different for people who were born on worlds that had already been integrated.
"I thought so. You can decline if you think it wouldn't fit your style, but I have a rare skill scroll that should interest you. Here, take a look." She took a frayed looking scroll out of her inventory and tossed it over to Ronan.
He caught the scroll and pulled up the description, immediately frowning. "I think you gave me the wrong scroll."