Hector blocked the first punch. Walt stepped in with it and collapsed his arm to turn it into an elbow that clipped Hector's cheek. When he flinched back, Walt brought up a knee to his gut before snapping Hector down into a headlock. Walt fell to his back holding onto his grip, launching Hector into an involuntary front roll that ended with Walt in top mount.

Elbows rained down on his face. When Hector blocked, Walt walked his knees up beneath Hector's armpits so that his arms were forced to remain in place around his head. Walt shifted to one side, separated the arms, and leaned back. Hector on rare occasions watched a few UFC matches with coworkers back on Earth. He had a rough idea what an arm-bar was. It was exactly this.

With a mighty effort, Hector curled his arm while Walt sought to force it straight. Hector was losing. It was the entire posterior muscle chain of Walt versus the biceps of Hector. He tried to get separation between their bodies but Walt held on tight and leaned weight on him.

Suddenly inspired, Hector got his shoulder beneath Walt's center of gravity. With a growl, he sat up using the elbow on the other side, slid his knees into place, and stood with Walt still clinging to him. He'd just executed the exercise known as a 'Turkish get up' with a human hanging onto his arm.

Walt released his grip and landed on the ground as Hector made it to his feet, exultation rising in his heart. Then Walt spun on his back beneath Hector and between his legs like a break dancer, seized Hector's legs, and sent Hector back to the ground on hands and knees. Walt somehow rode that momentum to come up behind him. A quick scoop of his leg turned Hector onto his back.

In an instant Walt was back in mount, going for a repeat of his previous arm bar attempt. Hector came up aggressively, wary of being caught in the same thing twice. For a moment, Hector was certain he'd bested Walt with his impeccable timing. The other man fell to his back while Hector came up on top. Then Walt's legs clamped tight around his neck and one of his arms and he recognized the position. It was a choke with the legs called a triangle by UFC commentators. And he was locked in firmly enough that his ears popped from the tight squeeze and the veins on his forehead bulged.

Hector started to stand to slam Walt off of him, but Walt hooked an arm behind Hector's knee and swept. The choke hadn't budged even a millimeter even though Hector now lay on his side. He struggled mightily to extricate himself in every way he could imagine. Pulling out – no. Pushing deeper – really bad idea. Standing – more like handing out opportunities to repeatedly sweep him.

He didn't realize he'd lost until he woke up. Typically he didn't return to consciousness on a clay floor. Certainly not to the roar of a crowd. It took a couple of seconds for him to remember his circumstances. Walt held out a hand to help him up and Hector accepted.

"Good job," he grumbled, trying not to be sour about his loss.

"You strong," Walt returned in his halting English. "Stand with Walt."

"Yeah, I don't think you were expecting me to lift you up from that position."

Receiving only a single elixir made it hard for him to get very far on his intestines that night, though he did manage to prove his theory about threading the energy in a spiral to prevent leakage. He estimated he was a third of the way through the large intestine. The next day he won both of his matches, resulting in two fish plasma elixirs. He finished his small intestine entirely and began on the large. Then came the final day of the tournament, with the final match in the morning.

Hector won that one and all the gladiators came up to receive their rewards for the single match. He drank down the fish plasma elixir and they were sent to lunch after the lords left. And this lunch was far beyond the meager bread they'd been served in the past.

The spread was more useful than enjoyable. Hector had three of the hard-boiled bird fetus eggs on his plate when it arrived. He had not missed that particular delicacy. When those were gone, he ate a bowl of the thick stew. It was organ meat cooked in bone broth. The flavor existed somewhere on the spectrum between 'not good' and 'bad'.

There was also a generous amount of wine. The servants refilled goblets continuously, so Hector didn't know how exactly how much he drank. It was a lot. Enough to become tipsy with his enhanced liver. When he thought they were done with the meal, desserts arrived. There were honey cakes, sugared pecans, baked apples, and hard sweets. Master Percival encouraged them to celebrate by gorging themselves. Hector couldn't help but think of them all as pigs being fattened before the slaughter.

They were led back to the barracks to clean up before the award ceremony. Everyone was given a fresh uniform and Percival did hygiene checks to make sure no one would be attending the ceremony dirty or smelly. Then they were escorted into the depths of the palace to stand outside a banquet hall. While waiting there, Percival briefed them on what was expected.

Their talent manager went in first while they remained outside with the two guards. Hector noticed that both guards were only level five like them. If he had full energy reserves, this would be the perfect time to escape. Alas, he was bone dry and drunk as a skunk at the moment. But if the opportunity had happened once, it would surely happen again. That was what he told himself.

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In the few minutes he had there, Hector began using the energy of the fish plasma elixir from the morning's match to continue his work with his large intestine. He needed to be done with his body enhancement very soon. Hopefully this silver plasma elixir he received would do wonders for him. If not, he may need to begin cultivating chaos openly around the clock.

Then Percival began calling their names. First Micah walked through the open doors and came forward to bow to the Lord Platinum and accept an extremely large vial. Next Percival called Walt, who received a normal sized vial. Hector held his breath in suspense. By his understanding of the rules he should be next, but Hector couldn't help but worry the lords would somehow screw him over. His worries proved unfounded and they called him forth as the third place finisher.

Hector went up, bowed the theater way to the Lord Platinum, and accepted a half vial of silver plasma elixir. He walked over to stand in line then. Evan was called as the fourth place winner. Then Darius for fifth place. Those two each received a vial identical to Hector's. Then the remainder of the group were called in one at a time. Each of them received a vial of fish plasma elixir.

Until the final four. Those ones were called forth to bow before the Lord Platinum. She smirked down at them. "Not everyone can win at a tournament. Unfortunately, there are only sixteen spots in the single elimination bracket. You four will not be permitted to remain on Tian after this ceremony. Please wait by the door and I will be with you soon to arrange your departure.

"As for the rest of you, please drink your rewards. Then go thank your sponsor. Some of them are feeling generous and no one seems particularly concerned about the rules around resources at this moment." She winked to the entire room, eliciting laughter from the lords.

Hector popped the cork and drained his elixir, wondering what Lord Andrew had for him. Surely something good since Hector made third place. The energy suddenly surged within Hector and he pushed it into his large intestine. In one minute, he finished his digestive system. Only muscles and flesh remained. In the moment, he transitioned to using the flood method of body enhancement.

When an attendant collected his empty vial, Hector walked towards where he saw Lord Andrew sitting with Master Dorian. There were a couple of low level servants standing behind the two of them. Hector gave his trademark bow. "Thank you, Lord Andrew."

The lord grinned at him. "It is a pleasure to sponsor a winner, Hector. Do a slow turn for me. Good, good. You look to be most of the way done. Just muscles and skin, it looks like. Those are about a quarter of the way to saturation. Sit next to me, Hector."

Lord Andrew held out his hand without looking and Master Dorian placed a package of waxed butcher paper on it. The lord set the package down before Hector. "Consume that."

Hector broke the wax seal and undid the paper to discover his reward. It looked like jerky. "Thank you, Lord Andrew. May I ask what it is?" He certainly hoped it wasn't just beef jerky. That would be majorly anticlimactic. They received beef regularly in quantities greater than this.

"Level six orangutan meat." The clipped tone of the lord made it clear that his answer was in fact a command for Hector to get on with it.

He dutifully put the strips in his mouth and chewed. The meat tasted subtly sweet. He really did not like the idea of eating an ape, but how could he truly object when he'd once drank an elixir made from a human being? And as the meat hit his stomach to mix with the remnants of the silver plasma elixir, energy shot into his muscles effortlessly.

Lord Andrew slid a bottle of wine towards Hector. "Drink it all. It's fortified."

He was still tipsy from lunch, but Hector obliged. This was the help he needed. And the wine was actually quite delicious. Apparently not all alcoholic beverages from Tian were garbage tolerated for their energetic properties. He drained the bottle in about ten minutes, which pleased Lord Andrew. "That should get you most of the way done with your muscles, I should think. Don't worry too much about the upcoming single elimination bracket, Hector. Just fill your soul to capacity with cosmic energy and the rest will take care of itself."

Hector nodded agreeably, not trusting himself to speak. It was quite obvious this man already pictured Hector within a vial, ready for consumption. Would Lord Andrew drink it himself? Or instead would Hector's remnants benefit a favored descendant or loyal retainer? It would be none of those options if he had any say in the matter.

"Very well, Hector. You should return to your friends and metabolize the drink."

Hector stood and bowed to Lord Andrew, almost tripping as he did so. He was extremely inebriated. Master Percival appeared from nowhere and escorted Hector out into the hallway and made him sit on the floor. "Don't you dare throw it up, Hector. That is quite an investment your sponsor made."

He remembered the trip to the barracks in bits and pieces. It was vague impressions for the most part of his head hanging low so that he watched his feet as a cable of force from Percival steadied his balance. He clearly recalled pausing on his shaky feet so that he could properly aim for the outline of the door. At the time, it seemed amazing that he could casually execute such a complicated task as passing through entrances on a regular basis. Being sober was equivalent to a superpower to him at that moment.

Hector woke several times through the night. Each time he felt his stomach doing bad things. He wanted to relieve the nausea and the terrible pressure by regurgitating its contents, but held strong. The pain was the price he paid for the luxury of easy improvements. Some poor ape died so that he could eat bush meat jerky. One at level six. Hector wondered about the intelligence of apes on Tian. Surely they had to be smart if they could cultivate.

It was immensely sad that humans would kill a thinking animal to steal its cultivation. Almost as sad as the fact that every one of Hector's fellow fighters would be turned into elixirs soon. Well, now that he thought about it, him dying seemed a lot worse than the orangutan.

He didn't even think to check his progress until after the sun was high in the sky.

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