Silver City had two faces.
By day, it was a city of commerce, alchemy, and polite cultivation clans.
By night, the shadows stretched long, covering the district known simply as **The Gutter**.
Kaelen walked down an alleyway that smelled of urine and cheap wine.
He had left his Vane family robes behind. He wore a simple black cloak, hood up. The **Nameless Slab** was wrapped in burlap cloth on his back.
He wasn't here for sightseeing. He was here for the bottleneck.
**Body Refining Stage 6 (Peak).**
It was a wall. To break it, he needed pressure. He needed blood that wasn't from weak guards.
He stopped in front of a rusted iron door. A bouncer the size of a grizzly bear blocked the path.
"Membership?" the bouncer grunted.
Kaelen didn't speak. He flicked a single Spirit Stone into the bouncer's chest.
"I'm looking for the Pit."
The bouncer caught the stone. He grinned, revealing gold teeth.
"Fresh meat? Downstairs. If you die, we keep your gear."
***
**The Blood-Pit.**
It was an underground coliseum carved into the sewer system. Torchlight flickered on damp walls. The roar of three hundred gamblers deafened the senses.
In the center was a cage. Inside, a man was currently ripping the head off a Dire Wolf with his bare hands.
The crowd went feral.
Kaelen walked to the registration table. A goblin-faced man was counting coins.
"Name?" the bookie asked, not looking up.
"Asura."
The bookie paused. He looked up. He saw the masked figure. The heavy, wrapped shape on his back.
"Asura? Edge-lord name. Alright, Asura. We have an opening. The reigning champion is bored. You want to fight **The Butcher**?"
Kaelen looked at the cage.
The man inside—The Butcher—was massive. Seven feet tall. Skin grey and covered in scars. He was drinking the wolf's blood from a wooden bowl.
**[Target Analysis]**
> **Name:** Gorrog (The Butcher).
> **Cultivation:** Body Refining Stage 8 (Early).
> **Style:** Berserker.
> **Status:** Murderer. Bounty: 500 Stones.
Stage 8. Two levels higher than Kaelen.
Iron Skin. Bones hard as steel.
"I'll take the fight," Kaelen said.
"Odds are 50 to 1 against you," the bookie warned. "The Butcher rips limbs off. He doesn't do quick deaths."
"Put everything I have on me," Kaelen dropped his pouch of 50 stones on the table.
The bookie shrugged. "Your funeral."
***
The cage door slammed shut.
*CLANG.*
The noise of the crowd turned into a chant. *"BUTCHER! BUTCHER! BUTCHER!"*
Gorrog turned around. He wiped blood from his mouth. He saw the slim figure in the black cloak.
"A little bird?" Gorrog laughed. His voice sounded like gravel grinding together. "Did you get lost, little bird?"
Kaelen reached over his shoulder.
He grabbed the handle. The burlap fell away.
The **Nameless Slab** hit the dirt floor with a heavy thud.
The crowd went quiet for a split second, confused by the ugly weapon. Then they laughed.
"Is that a door?" someone shouted.
Gorrog grinned. He cracked his knuckles.
"I'm going to use that scrap metal to beat you to death."
"Begin!" the referee shouted from the safety of the balcony.
Gorrog moved instantly.
For a big man, he was fast. He charged like a rhino. The ground shook with every step. He didn't use a weapon. His fists were weapons.
He aimed a haymaker at Kaelen's head.
It was a killing blow. Stage 8 strength would turn a skull into mist.
Kaelen didn't raise his sword.
He channeled Qi into his ankles.
**Phantom Step.**
*SNAP.*
The sound of his Achilles tendons tearing was audible only to him.
Pain flared white-hot up his legs. **[Pain Nullification]** deleted it.
Kaelen vanished.
Gorrog's fist hit empty air. The momentum nearly made him trip.
"What?" Gorrog spun around.
Kaelen appeared behind him.
He didn't attack immediately. He tested the stance. The tendons were healing rapidly, knitting together in seconds thanks to his passive regeneration.
"Too slow," Kaelen whispered.
Gorrog roared. He spun backhand, aiming to crush Kaelen.
Kaelen stepped again.
*SNAP.*
He appeared on Gorrog's left.
Gorrog swung left.
Kaelen stepped.
*SNAP.*
Right.
He was dancing around the giant. A blur of black shadow.
The crowd screamed. They had never seen speed like this in the Body Refining realm.
"STOP MOVING!" Gorrog screamed, frustration boiling over. He slammed both fists into the ground. A shockwave of earth rippled out.
"Okay," Kaelen said.
He stopped directly in front of Gorrog.
Gorrog's eyes lit up. "Gotcha!"
He threw a double punch. A hammer blow meant to flatten Kaelen.
Kaelen gripped the Slab with both hands.
**Strength: 60 + Gravity + Momentum.**
"**Shatter.**"
He swung the slab upward. An uppercut with 600 pounds of iron.
*CRUNCH.*
The slab met Gorrog's fists.
There was no contest.
Flesh and bone met Star-Metal Alloy.
Gorrog's hands exploded. Fingers turned into red mist. The slab didn't stop. It continued upward.
It caught Gorrog under the chin.
*SPLAT.*
The sound was sickening.
The giant was lifted off his feet. He flew backward, flipping in the air. He crashed into the iron bars of the cage, denting them.
He slid down. His jaw was gone. His neck was twisted at an impossible angle.
Silence.
Absolute silence in the Blood-Pit.
Kaelen stood in the center. He rolled his neck.
"System," he thought. "Dine."
He didn't touch the body. The range of the **Heaven-Devouring Scripture** had increased.
From across the cage, a red stream of heavy, iron-rich essence floated out of the corpse. It rushed into Kaelen.
It was Stage 8 Essence. Dense. Metallic.
It slammed into Kaelen's barrier.
*Crack.*
*CRASH.*
A shockwave of air blasted out from Kaelen's body, kicking up dust.
> **[Vitality Absorbed: Massive]**
> **[Barrier Broken]**
> **[Ascension Successful]**
> **Current Rank: Body Refining Stage 7 (Iron Skin).**
Kaelen looked at his hand. His skin shimmered with a faint, metallic grey light before returning to normal.
Iron Skin. He was now immune to normal steel weapons.
He looked up at the balcony. At the terrified bookie.
"I believe," Kaelen's voice echoed in the silent arena. "I won."
"You... you..." the bookie stammered.
"Pay me," Kaelen demanded.
He sheathed the Slab.
"And bring me the next one. I'm just getting warmed up."