AI Model: gemini-2.5-flash
Lu Feng sat back in his rest capsule, a little dejected. He had come to hone his combat skills, but his opponents didn't even fight; they just surrendered and ran away.
Surrendering before a battle officially begins allows for an immediate concession.
However, if one surrenders after the battle has started, Lu Feng's consent is required to end the fight.
So, that special forces soldier was very decisive, not giving Lu Feng any chance to bully a weaker opponent, and slipped away before the battle even began.
"Received a message from this opponent. View? Yes/No."
Lu Feng chose to open and view it.
"You trash, intentionally dropping your rank to bully weaker opponents! I'm going to report you!"
Lu Feng pouted. The Reincarnation Paradise imposes severe penalties for intentionally dropping one's rank in the Arena to bully weaker opponents. Not knowing this, he must be a bumpkin.
Ignoring the keyboard warrior, Lu Feng continued to matchmake for an opponent.
Because his ranking was low, matching opponents was quick; he found his next opponent in less than ten seconds.
It was the same venue as before, but there were two more spectators in the stands.
"Three, Two, One, Battle Start!"
This time, their opponent was an archer.
The archer was agile, with firm and sharp eyes, exuding an aura of fearlessness.
Even upon seeing Anka, he showed no sign of fear, nor did he choose to raise his hands in surrender.
Instead, the moment he encountered Anka, he unhesitatingly leaped backward, quickly increasing the distance between himself and Anka.
Undoubtedly, this archer was no ordinary person.
His series of fluid movements clearly indicated he was battle-hardened and extremely experienced.
He knew that with his own strength and skills, a direct confrontation with Anka would be futile.
Therefore, he decided to fully leverage his high agility, cleverly avoiding Anka's direct assault, and immediately locked his target onto Lu Feng's head.
The archer was well aware that individuals like Lu Feng, who possessed such powerful summons or followers, often had a relatively weaker main body.
If he could successfully land two arrows on him, victory in this battle would surely belong to his side.
Of course, if luck was good enough to land an arrow in a vital spot, it might even be a one-shot kill, ending the battle instantly.
With a clear battle plan in mind, the archer immediately sprang into action.
He gripped the bowstring tightly, drawing it back to its maximum tension, while his feet darted rapidly along the edge of the Arena like a gust of wind.
His gaze remained fixed on Lu Feng, constantly adjusting his position and angle, solely to find the most ideal shooting opportunity and vantage point.
But unfortunately, this archer's self-proclaimed high agility attribute was only a mere 14 points!
Compared to Anka's impressive 28 points of agility, it was like showing off one's axe before Lu Ban.
Anka looked at the archer 'slowly' circling to his side, wondering what he was trying to do.
Unable to figure it out, Anka simply stopped thinking, twisted his body, and lunged, striking the archer with a paw to the face.
The poor archer had originally thought that a distance of a full 120 meters should be considered absolutely safe.
However, he never expected that for the agile and swift Anka, such a distance was no obstacle at all.
In the blink of an eye, Anka leaped like a flash of lightning, pouncing straight towards the archer with overwhelming force.
Instantly, the archer's eyes widened in terror.
He stared in disbelief at the tiger's paw, larger than a washbasin, hurtling towards him at an astonishing speed.
As the tiger's paw drew nearer, the archer's vision gradually became filled with a dazzling light, eventually dissolving into a myriad of light particles.
"Individual battle ended. Victory. Two consecutive wins!"
"The Hunter's ranking has increased, from 157303rd to 130614th (Tier 1)."
Good, this time there was combat experience, but also not really.
Lu Feng stood there with his spear, utterly bewildered. He was behind Anka and hadn't even clearly seen what the archer looked like.
He only saw Anka pounce and strike once, and the battle was over.
"This isn't what I imagined. What went wrong? Let's try another round."
Lu Feng frowned and started his third battle.
This time, his opponent was a cowboy with two guns. After the battle began, it was the familiar pounce and strike, and the battle ended.
"Three consecutive wins!"
Lu Feng still couldn't see what his opponent looked like, only inferring from the cowboy hat slowly floating down from mid-air that the opponent was probably dressed as a cowboy.
"I refuse to believe it! I came to the Arena, and I can't even get a decent fight? Continue matchmaking!"
"Four consecutive wins!"
"Five consecutive wins!"
"Six consecutive wins!"
"Seven consecutive wins!"
..."Fifteen consecutive wins!"
In the rest capsule, Lu Feng's current ranking: 35279!
He angrily threw his spear to the ground.
"What's the point of fighting anymore?!"
In fifteen battles, he didn't even get a single chance to make a move.
Very few Contractors could withstand Anka's unstoppable pounce and the deadly combo of his fierce and ruthless claw strike.
If any did, he would just follow up with another claw strike.
Lu Feng's most "險" moment occurred during a duel with a fully armored knight.
The knight, relying on his armor's defense, managed to withstand Anka's fierce attack.
Then, without hesitation, he unleashed a charge skill towards Lu Feng, who was behind Anka.
At that moment, Lu Feng was overjoyed, thinking he had finally gotten a chance to make a move.
But when the knight was still five meters away from him, he was swept away by Anka's Tail Sweep.
Lu Feng, still holding his spear aloft, ready to thrust it out with all his might, was teleported back to the rest capsule.
"Brother Tiger, this isn't working. We need to cooperate, cooperate, do you understand?"
Lu Feng slapped his thigh, heartbroken.
Anka, meanwhile, continued to lie lazily on the bed.
"Roar, roar, roar (They're so weak, I finished them without even trying hard. How can we cooperate?)"
"Then how about this: in the next battle, you don't make a move first. I'll go first, and if I can't hold on, you back me up."
"Roar (Alright, alright, whatever you say.)"
"Matchmaking successful. Due to the Hunter's fifteen-game winning streak, the Arena has matched the Hunter with an opponent within the top 30,000."
Lu Feng appeared in the Arena. His opponent was a burly man with a greatsword, who looked very strong.
"Remember, I go first. Don't you make a move," Lu Feng reminded him, a little worried.
"Roar (Got it, got it.)"
Anka impatiently walked to the side of the Arena, lay down, and yawned.
The burly man was on high alert, not daring to make a move. Faced with this strange situation, his heart was filled with doubt and unease.
Despite having such a powerful follower nearby, the follower merely watched from a distance, showing no intention of joining the battle.
And the young man directly in front of him had thin arms and legs, and even his grip on the spear seemed extremely unprofessional.
Yet, this seemingly vulnerable fellow was preparing to challenge him to a one-on-one fight!
Was this guy trying to lure him in, only for his follower to launch a surprise attack?
Or was he actually a master in disguise, trying to play the pig to eat the tiger?
All sorts of conjectures flashed through the burly man's mind, making it difficult for him to ascertain his opponent's true intentions for a while.
Lu Feng naturally knew that in a true one-on-one contest, he would absolutely not be a match for this burly man. Therefore, he gripped the spear tightly in his hand, not daring to act rashly.
Thus, both sides remained in a stalemate, neither willing to make the first move, and the atmosphere immediately grew awkward.
Anka lay nearby, eyes half-closed, dozing off.
"Fight! What are you all standing around for?"
"I spent Paradise Coins to watch a match, not to watch you play statues."
"Don't be a coward, go on, get him!"
The spectator stands were filled with boos. For a battle at the 30,000 rank, there were already hundreds of spectators.
Most of them were Employees, who came to the Arena in their leisure time to watch Contractors fight for entertainment.
The burly man's eyes gleamed with ferocity, no longer able to suppress his inner impulse.
At this moment, he no longer cared whether this was a trap or if the enemy was intentionally feigning weakness; he would just slash with his greatsword first!
After all, he had full confidence in his own formidable strength.
The burly man stomped his feet fiercely, pushing off the ground, and shot forward like an arrow released from a bowstring.
On the other side, Lu Feng was startled by this sight, and in his haste, he quickly raised his spear, attempting to block and defend.
However, everything happened too suddenly, and his movements were ultimately half a beat too slow.
Just as the spear was halfway raised, the burly man's greatsword had already heavily struck his left shoulder.
In an instant, blood splattered, and a heart-wrenching pain surged through Lu Feng, almost making him faint.
With a loud "bang," Lu Feng's body, having suffered such a heavy blow, involuntarily flew backward, falling several feet away onto the ground.
"Brother Tiger, quick, help me!"
"Roar (Didn't you tell me not to make a move?)"
"You can make a move now! I'm practically dead!"
Lu Feng was furious.
But before Anka could even get up, the burly man activated a skill, unleashing a two-hit combo that instantly reduced Lu Feng to a myriad of light particles.
"Individual battle ended. Defeat!"
"The Hunter's winning streak has been terminated!"
"The Hunter's ranking has dropped, from 35279th to 48629th (Tier 1)."
"Cooperation, Brother Tiger, do you understand cooperation?"
Lu Feng was on the verge of tears.
He didn't care about his winning streak ending or his ranking dropping.
Being defeated in the Arena was better than failing and dying in a mission world.
His cooperation with Anka, one could say, was not just bad, but nonexistent.
"Roar (You're too weak. I can't carry you.)"
"I know I'm weak, that's why I need to practice. But how can I practice when you do this?"
Anka turned his head, covering his ears with his paws, not wanting to listen to the 'weakling' Lu Feng's incessant chatter... In the stall area outside the Arena.
Tactical Wolf: You know what? Someone is intentionally dropping their rank to around 100,000 to bully weaker opponents.
Peach: Really? I'm in that bracket too. I don't want to run into him.
Elf Archer: Absolutely true. I ran into him too. He had a giant tiger, it was super fierce.
Mike the Cowboy: Yeah, yeah, I hit it and it was like tickling it, but it hit me once and I was done!
Tie Xue: I just fought someone with a tiger, but it didn't feel that strong. Very weak.
Tactical Wolf: Was he wearing a primitive mask, all white fur?
Tie Xue: That's right. He and the tiger stayed far away. I hit him, and he didn't fight back. I took him out in two cuts.
Tactical Wolf: Brother, what's your Arena ranking?
Tie Xue: 28754. Why?
Tactical Wolf: That's him! He must have gotten too high in rank from his winning streak and started intentionally losing to drop his rank!
Peach: Dropping rank to bully weaker opponents, confirmed!
Tie Xue: I knew that kid felt weird. Turns out he really is shameless.
Elf Archer: This is disrupting the Arena's order. He must be punished!
Mike the Cowboy: We'll report him to the Paradise. We can't let him get away with this.
Tactical Wolf: Yes, let's all report this shameless bastard together!