The second thing he would suggest is to make changes to the terms and conditions of the contract to make sure that everything is clear and there is no wordplay or tricks.
But his peers didn’t bother with caution. Some of them didn’t even read the contract. And the ones who read the contract read it hastily and skimmed over it quickly so as not to appear disrespectful and distrustful of Slav.
They didn’t notice that Slav had stated in the contract that he was buying his victory against them forever and ever, or that he was buying the right to decide their victory in any fight in the future, or that he was buying their freedom outright.
They thought that they were giving up 500 energy stones. But in reality, what they were doing was signing away their future and lives. Only the ones who decided to give up without getting any money or signing any contract managed to avoid this unfortunate fate.
Of the seven opponents that Slav fought in the first round, one risked disrespecting him by refusing to sign a contract and gave up on the fight after taking the money. Two were more timid and gave up on both the money and the contract.
The two of them said that it was just right for them to give up. So instead of disrespecting Slav, they actually honored him.
As for the rest, they either signed the contract without reading it because they didn’t think they had anything to worry about, or signed it without reading because they used to be slaves and couldn’t read, or hastily read through the contract and didn’t see anything out of place about it.
Regardless of their choice, Slav was always smiling. No one knew what he was really thinking about, so no one knew if he was truly pleased or was pretending to be pleased.
The first round ended with Slav winning completely in his group. Craig and Lillian also won in their group and advanced to the second round.
The three of them were also able to make it to the fourth round, which was the semi-finals. But one of them had to stop here because Craig had to fight Lillian.
Craig the swordsman was able to eke out a narrow victory against the seductress thanks to his higher-than-normal Dao Heart and the protection of the Sword Heart Metac. Instead of being bewitched and surrendering, he was able to continue fighting until he forced her to surrender.
Slav also won an unsurprising victory in the semi-final by buying his opponent off. Craig’s victory meant that the final match would be between the two of them.
As usual, Slav offered his opponent money in exchange for victory. He even offered double the usual amount that he offered other people. Unfortunately for him, this time, his opponent refused to accept his offer and back down.
Craig had always hated Slav and had always wanted to beat the young man up. This was his chance to do that and prove himself, so there was no way he was going to let the rich background of Slav, which he loathed and despised so much, be the reason he gave up on the fight.
With his mind made up, Craig went into battle like a valiant hero. He appeared ready to slay a dragon. Unfortunately, he lost his strength after taking just a single step towards Slav.
Slav took back the money he was offering and brought out a sheet of paper, which he waved at Craig as he asked, "Do you remember what this is?"
Craig had fallen to his knees because of the sudden weakness, but he could still see and talk. So he was able to recognize the sheet of paper that Slav was waving.
However, he didn’t care about the sheet of paper at all. All he cared about was why he was suddenly weak.
So what he said was, "What is happening to me? What did you do?"
He didn’t ask about the sheet of paper like Slav wanted. So Slav pursed his lips in displeasure before saying, "This is the contract you signed with the money lender last week. You went to borrow a lot of money, which you used to buy fancy Metacs to improve your strength."
"I’m guessing your goal was to use the Metacs to win a spectacular victory. Unfortunately, I got the contract from the money lender by paying off your loans for you. Now that I’ve taken charge of your loan, you can forget about using the loan to narrow the financial gap between the two of us."
Slav sauntered over to his weakened enemy and said with pride, "The foundation of a cultivator of the Money Pathway is the Contract Metac for a reason. What I used was the Contract Domination Metac, which weakens a target by the proportion of their loan in relation to their total value."
"Currently, your total value is 5,000 energy stones. But of those 5,000 energy stones, 3,000 of them are the Metacs that you bought with the loans. This is why you’ve lost 60% of your strength."
Then he chuckled and said, "Can you imagine it? You could have avoided this humiliation and even gotten 1,000 energy stones. But you had to make things difficult for yourself."
At this point, Slav gotten close to Craig. So he was able to wave the contract in Craig’s. He even used the contract to smack Craig’s face many times.
As he did so, he said, "Don’t worry. You will get used to the sudden weakness after a while. But you still have a decision to make. Will you continue to fight me? Why don’t you give up? My offer is still on the table. Just sign the contract, and all will be forgiven."
Craig’s face was burning with anger as he shouted in reply, "Never."
He even lunged for Slav with his sword, but Slav avoided it by jumping back.