After a while, every cuffed prisoner was assigned to their roles.


    Pretty much everyone became Work ves, except the old man, Julian, and Kiernan. It was a pretty poor group of ves.


    "It would be a pretty horrible set of ves except for those two young men," Mael said to the hooked-hand pirate. "Y''know, Fighting ves aren''t sold directly, so I am buying them off of you."


    "Sure, not a problem," the hooked-hand pirate epted a heavy-looking money pouch and tipped his tricorn hat. "Nice doin'' business with ya!"


    "A wagon is waiting outside!" Mael shouted to the ves. "The Work ves, and you, old man, go there. You''ll be sent to the auction hall."


    The dispirited ves left the basement for their new lives.


    "And you two…" Mael looked at the two young men. "I''ll take you two to the barracks. You will wait there for your matches."


    "How does one win their freedom?" Julian asked.


    "Everything will be exined to you there. Just remember, you''re still ves. While you''re on top of the ve hierarchy, you''re still below everyone else on this ind!"


    Kiernan and Julian briefly nodded.


    They then followed therge-bellied man out of the ve house and then started making their way down the narrowed streets, and after a ten-minute walk, they arrived at the barracks.


    It was a gatedpound. It had walls that were at least ten meters high. The building looked like it was made from y. It was quite big with a balcony that oversaw the training yard.


    A sound of fighting came from inside.


    Mael knocked on the gate, and then one of the guards opened it with a look of wariness.


    "Two new ves for y''all."


    The guard looked at the two young men. He nodded. Then let them inside before closing the gate in front of Mael''s nose.


    Without lingering around, Mael turned around and left back for his ve house.


    Inside thepound, the soldier pushed the two young men inside the open-doored building and tapped his staff on the ground.


    "You two, wait here!" The guard shouted before walking away.


    "Hmm…" Julian turned around to the tall walls. "Can we jump over them?"


    "Not a chance," Kiernan said.


    "Bothersome…" Julian said, and then had an idea. "We got the money, right? Maybe we can buy our own freedom?"


    "If we suggest that, we''ll just get robbed of the money and beaten down. We''re ves, after all. We should also keep any notion of having money secret because, y''know, Count Sander."


    "Hmm, shit." Julian scratched the back of his head.


    At that moment, another man came with the guard. It was a short-haired, sleazy-looking man who was both short and ugly.


    However, he also wore outfits that were beyond what anymon man could afford. He was clearly a nobleman.


    "New ves, huh," Otto muttered under his breath, eyeing them with disdain.


    "So, how can we win our freedom?" Julian asked.


    "Who gave you the permission to speak?!" Otto screamed and waved to the guard.@@novelbin@@


    The guard retrieved a leather whip from his belt and whipped Julian across his chest.


    SMACK!


    "Argh…" Julian stumbled back with a whip mark stretching across his chest.


    The whip even shed through his shirt!


    "Know your ce, ve!" Otto screamed. "You''re nothing but trash below our feet. An insect. You speak only when I give you permission. You don''t have any rights anymore, got it?!"


    "…" Julian stood with a cold look.


    "Take them to their quarters!" Otto waved his hand and then walked away.


    The guard pushed the two young men and led them to their quarters. The quarters were underground, dark and damp with no windows.


    Find adventures on empire


    When they arrived there, there were already over a dozen other ves. They were lying on the cold and hard ground because they had no beds.


    The guard then locked the door and left.


    "New meat, aye!" A bald-headed ve called out. "Wee to your new life of misery and despair!"


    "If these are the conditions of the highest-ranked ves, I wonder how it is with Work ves," Julian whispered to Kiernan.


    Kiernan then walked over to the bald-headed ve. The ve turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow.


    "How can you win the freedom?" Kiernan asked bluntly.


    The bald-headed ve blinked beforeughing. The rest of the ves also chuckled andughed. It sounded hrious.


    "Oh, seeking freedom, I see!" The bald-headed ve stood up and was as tall as Kiernan. "Let me tell you something: stop dreaming."


    "Tell me." Kiernan replied defiantly.


    "Hah, this guy…" The bald-headed ve grinned. "Alright. We''re using Star System here. All the ves are ranked from 1-Star to 5-Stars. As you can see, we''re all 1-Star ves!"


    "We, as 1-Star ves, have the worst living conditions." Another ve said. "3-Star ves and above have beds. They even get to eat meat twice a week."


    "To have a chance at freedom, you must be a 5-Star ve." The bald-headed ve said. "You will fight another 5-Star ve in a deathmatch, and if youe out victorious, you''ve earned your freedom."


    "The opponent is usually from other barracks. This is Otto''s barrack, and he hadn''t had a 5-Star ve in quite some time, which has made him quite angry as he has be aughingstock among other barrack owners."


    "To be a 5-Star ve, you must at least be Martial Grandmaster. There''s no other way. I can tell that you two haven''t even experienced your Age of Growth.


    "Sorry to say, but it will be another ten years for you two before you can have a chance. If you survive that long."


    "Ten years, hah…" Julianughed. "Ki… I mean, Tobias, are you willing to wait that long?


    "I have two months before my school restarts, I will be out before then." Kiernan said coldly.


    "Hahahaha!" All the vesughed.


    "We got aedian over here!"


    "For now…" Kiernan cracked his knuckles. "My friend Jason and I will be the rulers of 1-Star ves; got it?"


    "Huh?" The bald-headed man stood up in anger, so did other ves. "What the fuck did you say, arrogant dipshit? You think you can juste here and order us?"


    "Yes." Kiernan lunged forward. "Iron Smash!"


    The fist sent the bald-headed man flying across the room, crashing into a wall.


    The ves looked shocked but then looked angry and rushed to Kiernan with screams flying out of their mouths.


    "Hahaha!" Julianughed and punched a few of the ves in the face.


    ''These are all Martial Champions.'' Kiernan looked at the ves with a cold look. ''All I see is free experience points.''