Chapter 290: Dark Arena

The reason why the commercial district was spared from the influence of the factions and powerful figures was not only because it provided a substantial tax income to the city, but it was also because the commercial district was a window for all the major factions of the world to get in touch with Darkness Port.

The majority of businesses in the commercial district belonged to the major factions that had settled down in Darkness Port for a reason that was fairly easy to understand. It was the only safety city by the shore and was blessed with rich aquatic products.

If Darkness Port did not take a step back and allow the other factions to have a piece of the pie, it would become the target of the world.

However, it was obvious that Darkness Port did not want to simply compromise, hence the city opened up the commercial district and allowed the major factions to settle in, forming a subtle balance between power.

“The Island Master is quite smart,” Tang Ling muttered when he read that part.

Boss Huang smiled softly with his smoking pipe in his mouth, not commenting on anything.

Since the book had clearly stated that the commercial district was off-limits, even an idiot would know that one must lay low and stay away from trouble instead of trying to tip the scale of the district.

Therefore, Tang Ling spent extra effort to remember what businesses the major factions owned in the commercial district. Of course, he was after the entrance to the black market. Since Boss Huang claimed that this book of his was a precious treasure, it was only natural that it contained some information about accessing the black market.

Tang Ling was extra concerned and paid extra attention to remember this particular information. That was the summary of the commercial district, but the cabin area was a whole different story.

Before this, he got to know from the Darkness Guidebook that the cabin area had three functions: military, cultivation and battle ring.

The military part was easy to understand as they should be common troops stationed in Darkness Port. The only difference was that the stationed troops of Darkness Port were a mysterious force. Besides the Maritime Disaster and other special occasions, they would never intervene in anything else in Darkness Port.

They might not even show up once in years. The commoners knew that they were stationed in the dark cabin area where they could never see the day of life throughout the year, but Boss Huang’s book clearly stated that they were stationed at the bottom level of the cabin area.

The cabin area was divided into three levels and the bottom level was connected to the flat-topped mountain beneath Darkness Port. Inside the flat-topped mountain was a huge secret that only a handful of people knew. It was said that it held the most important secrets of the entire port city. Therefore, it would only make sense for the common troops to be stationed there.

So, what exactly was within the flat-topped mountain? Boss Huang stated in his book that there was a giant Universal Rock inside, which was one and a half the size of the entire mountain, plus a space. It was also said that the Island Master of Darkness Port reaped some tremendous benefits from this ‘space’.

“Space?” Tang Ling furrowed his brows as it was difficult for him to understand this concept. He unconsciously looked at Boss Huang who, unfortunately, was not that generous with his answers.

Tang Ling accepted the cold shoulder with a shrug. He was not interested in the stationed troops anyway because he believed that he would never cross their paths, or they him.

Moreover, the book mentioned that the stationed troops should be the sole military power under the Island Master’s command. Even the Darkness Court, which governed the port city on behalf of the Island Master, for the time being, had no right to command the troops around.

Tang Ling might not be interested in the stationed troops in the cabin area, but he was interested in the other two levels of the cabin area. One of them was the battle ring and the other was the cultivation area.

Other than its rich aquatic products, Darkness Port was also famous for two other things: its battle ring and its cultivation rooms.

Anyone who bought information about Darkness Port would also be informed as such.

On the second level of the cabin area were a thousand cultivation rooms built in a large downward spiral. All the cultivation rooms were open to the public. Without a doubt, even the weakest rooms on the highest floors were better than many core cultivation areas in the smaller safety sectors and might even compete with the cultivation areas that were above average in some safety cities.

The lower the floors, the better the cultivation room. The detailed benefits of cultivating in the rooms were not clearly revealed to the public, but Boss Huang’s book stated that the rooms contained a large amount of pure energy that was modified by Darkness Port’s own unique method, thus it was more suitable for human cultivations.

Consequently, even those without genetic talent could obtain a huge amount of benefits in the cultivation rooms. Not only could they enhance their basic attributes like speed and strength, but they could also extend their life power, or in simpler words, live longer.

Boss Huang even wrote his theory in the book. If a person without any talent had access to the cultivation room on the lowest level for a long period of time, that person might be able to become a superhuman that could rival a Purple Moon Warrior, minus the talent ability. However, by doing so, the gains would not compensate for the loss.

This particular paragraph excited Tang Ling a lot. He clearly knew smithing had many benefits, but in the end, it still could not increase his amount of energy. Of course, Boss Huang’s food supply was a way, but…there were a lot of buts…

For example, the energy from the food was incomparable to pure energy. Back in the tower of Safety Sector No. 17, the cultivation room had left a deep impression on him.

Another thing was that Tang Ling had no idea how long he would stay in Boss Huang’s place. Although Boss Huang was cunning, sleazy and a little disgusting, he was essentially a good man.

I must find a way to get to the cultivation room in the cabin area.

Tang Ling made up his mind. Even though all he could get to was the lousiest cultivation room, the effect would still be amazing. As for Boss Huang’s remark on why Darkness Port opened its cultivation room to the public, Tang Ling ignored it altogether.

All he could think about at the moment was the resources to get into the cultivation room.

Even an idiot would know that the better something was, the higher its price. The lousiest cultivation room in the cabin area would cost 3 Black Sea coins and 1-star Darkness value per hour. As for a better cultivation room, other than a higher price in Black Sea coins, the requirement for Darkness value would also spike.

So, what exactly was Darkness value?

In simple words, it was a gauge to measure the contributions towards Darkness Port, and there were a plethora of ways to acquire value, including lifestyle, occupation, businesses, military, and so on. For example, one could get some paltry Darkness value by sweeping the streets of Darkness Port. Business owners who paid their taxes were also rewarded with Darkness value.

Even by staying in Darkness Port for a long period of time, some sympathy Darkness value would also be granted every month.

However, all the methods were exceedingly slow and 1,000 in Darkness value was required to reach a 1-star Darkness value. If one did not want to take the risk, one would have to save up for decades or maybe until the end of time.

Of course, there were also ways to earn Darkness value quickly. One of them would be joining the resistance against the Maritime Disaster. By achieving certain battle achievements, one could be a millionaire overnight. It was possible to skyrocket to 5-star Darkness status and exchange for an elementary Darkness Badge without any problem.

However, the Maritime Disaster was not a frequent occasion. Therefore, those who possessed a certain level of strength in Darkness Port would choose one of the two easiest ways to earn Darkness value.

The first way would be the Darkness Ring.

The second would be the Hell Ledge Challenge.

Sometimes, Darkness value was much more valuable than money in Darkness Port.

The Darkness Ring was located in the first level of the cabin area, but it was not just any ring. It was a culmination of multiple rings that spread across the entire level.

Firstly, there were multiple modes provided to the participants. The first one would be man versus man mode, which meaning was self-explanatory. The second one was man versus beast mode, whereby man would have to fight against a beast, insects, or even plants.

The third was an unusual mode. It was probably the most difficult to understand, but it was actually man versus machine which saw one competing in strength tests, speed tests and all sorts of strange tests.

The last one was the group battle mode. As its name suggested, it was group versus group or even battle royale mode.

Looking at the different modes in the ring, one could expect countless more modes that branched out from the four major modes. For example, in man versus man mode, the participants’ age and power level would split them into different rings and categories. Similarly, in man versus beast mode, there were also different types and levels.

Tang Ling was too lazy to calculate all the complicated branches of modes. All he needed to know was that one could advance in the ring from a low to a high level, and with every match won, one could receive money and Darkness value corresponding to the category participated in.

The most tempting thing was that once a week, the Man of Darkness competition would be held. Those who had the highest rate of winning in different rings of the same level would be assembled together to find out who was the best.

Once a month, the Son of Darkness competition would be held and those who were eligible for participating were those who had gained the title of Man of Darkness.

Lastly, the King of Darkness competition would be held every six months and those who would participate would definitely be Sons of Darkness and so on.

Winners of each competition would be rewarded with a huge amount of money and Darkness value. The competitions would only be held in the center ring of the first level, the Arena of Kings.

The various matches of different modes were usually the favorite form of entertainment for the people of Darkness Port while the competitions that were held in the Arena of Kings were the celebration of the city. It was the festival that everyone would go crazy for because all the matches and competitions had a huge amount of profits involved, such as the guessing activities and the bets which were held by the official organizers.

However, regardless of how big the profits were, no one dared to affect the fairness of the matches in the ring.

‘I can prove that the matches are conducted in absolute fairness.’ Boss Huang had purposely made a remark beside the description and Tang Ling somehow believed it.

At the same time, he was moved by the competitions. He needed Darkness value and money. Therefore, he would have to participate in them! He could at least fight his way up and earn enough money to pay off his debts with Boss Huang so that he could eventually leave Dvesha Moha.

As for the mysterious Hell Ledge Challenge, the mention of the challenge alone would shock the people of Darkness Port, yet many could not hold back their urge to step up to the challenge. Anyone who succeeded, even by a little, were granted with unbelievably huge rewards and benefits.

Where exactly was the Hell Ledge Challenge and what was it about?

Even though Tang Ling was instinctively cautious against the name ‘Hell Ledge’, he could not help reading further. If he could somehow make this challenge work, it would be another way other than the ring to earn money.

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