"Pleasure meeting you, young master Xi." It was the next morning already. In the living room, Xi Jao sat next to Yang Lin, and across them sat a dignified middle-aged man in a formal, gray suit. As of now, the man was addressing Yang Lin as the young master, as he was instructed to reel in this youth no matter the cost; talent is always appreciated.
Even though they understood that Yang Lin had willingly offered to join their underground faction, everyone had a bottom line. Ever since this man stepped in, he had been all polite and smiles, it got to a point where Xi Jao felt a little uncomfortable, was this how they deceived his son?
"Get to the point." Said Yang Lin, albeit only seventeen years old, he is far from naive. It seems that one's might will always come first whilst reason, morality, and humane etiquette would come second if it ever came by at all.
"Right, pardon me." Nodded the man, then proceeded by placing a white laptop on the table and working wonders on the keyboard. His fingers flashed faster than Xi Jao's heartbeat, all the while a smile never departed from his visage. A few seconds after, the man flipped the laptop aside, presenting the screen to the pair.
"What I'm presenting you is the structure of our underground faction; the Luminosity of Demise. Our faction consists of two hundred and fifty underground floors, all dedicated to grooming the finest of combatants, killers, and bodyguards… Of course, it functions as a grand smelting trial for people who want to test their might and bring their ambitions to light." As the man spoke, the screen projected a towering building, though the image was inverted, so this building in reality dove into the depths of the earth.
"Let us run by the currency system first. Although the country has eighty-one cities, they all have a unified currency system with the neighboring cities, countries, and continents beyond. It may come as a surprise, but even the aliens share this currency system now, but they have integrated their own currency into it, and we adhered to it respectively, creating the Mortal Coin, and Immortal Coin systems."
"The Mortal Coin system deals with currency in ore and metal whilst the Immortal Coin leans towards spiritual resources, making it the lavish and expensive end of the ecosystem. I won't bore you with the latter, our business revolves around the former. So, the debt of the Xi Residence…" The man cleared his throat, waiting for a gesture from either of the two that he may proceed before continuing.
"Their total debt is one hundred silver coins. A thousand copper coins are the equivalent of a silver coin. A hundred silver coins are the equivalent of a golden coin. With that in mind, the Xi Residence are either to pay one hundred silver coins or a single golden coin, and their debt is called off."
The man concluded, his smiling eyes going from Xi Jao to Yang Lin, awaiting their input. Xi Jao was restless, his bruised face looked dispirited, that amount of money was simply beyond them. Yang Lin said nothing, he simply started attentively at the man in front. They must know that the house can't afford to pay up, he was waiting for the next part of the explanation.
"Seems like the young master is impatient to get into business. Very well," The man nodded, tapping a specific key on the keyboard. Next, a pyramid was projected on the screen. It had three levels; Silver, Gold, Platinum. The man said, "What cultivation plane and realm are you on, young master?"
Yang Lin looked at the projection, seemingly aware of how this will play out. Still, he answered, "Dantian Consolidation Plane, Meridians Expansion Realm."
By his side, Xi Jao was confused. He, a man of a simple family, understood nothing about cultivation whatsoever. He knew it granted humans with supernatural powers, and it seems that cultivation existed in ancient times and just recently it had dawned upon the human race once again, but that was the extent of his knowledge. Thus, he could only adopt a third wheel status in this conversation.
The man nodded, saying, "Not bad, not bad. Through the two hundred and fifty floors, the first fifty floors are for mortals, in those floors was the unfortunate fate of your son, sir. Again, my condolences." The man bowed lightly at Xi Jao, but quickly disregarded him and continued, "Those battles are cheap. A win will provide you with ten to fifty copper coins. In a deathmatch, you may gain up to a hundred copper coins per win."
"The following one hundred floors are for people within the Transcendent Metamorphosis plane of cultivation. A win in those floors will provide two hundred and fifty copper coins. In a deathmatch, it could go up to five hundred copper coins."
"That sums up floor one to fifty, and fifty-one to one hundred. Next, floor one hundred and one up to floor number two hundred, these are arenas for people on your plane of cultivation, young master. A win in these floors is five hundred copper coins, wherehas a deathmatch is a single silver coin."
So far, the middle-aged man had explained the 1st to 50th floor as the silver layer of the pyramid. 51st to 100th floor is the golden layer, and 101s to 200th floor would be the platinum layer. Thinking like this, Yang Lin felt something is amiss.
"What about the remaining fifty floors, why are they not projected?" Asked Yang Lin, confused.
The middle-aged man chuckled lightly. Looking at Yang Lin, and without suspense, he said, "The remaining fifty floors are separated from the pyramid altogether. These floors are infested with blood and tears. If young master's purpose of competing is to gather money, I recommend sticking to the pyramid's structure, otherwise…"