With his heavy center of gravity already leaning forward, the sudden collapse of his support leg sent the giant crashing down. He fell hard, face-first into the unforgiving dirt. His massive head bounced off the packed sand with a sickening thud. The giant’s body went limp. He lay there, completely unconscious, a small cloud of dust settling around his motionless form.The deafening roar of the arena died instantly.Complete, absolute silence fell over the pit. Hundreds of spectators stared down in pure shock. The reigning champion of the lower pits, a man who crushed skulls for breakfast, had just been dropped by a starving, half-dead debt-slave with a single, awkward kick.Maximus lay in the dirt, panting heavily. His chest rose and fell in jagged, painful jerks. Sweat stung his eyes. He slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position, wrapping one arm tightly around his bruised ribs.He stared at the giant’s unconscious body. He looked at his own trembling, dirt-caked hands.The b

"Yes," Maximus agreed, nodding his head. "The odds against me will be massive. One hundred to one. Maybe five hundred to one. The rich nobles will bet actual gold that I get slaughtered immediately. They will pour their money into the betting pools."Maximus paused, letting the silence hang in the air. He looked directly into the Pit Master's eyes."But what if I win?" Maximus asked.The Pit Master stood frozen. The thought was impossible, yet Maximus had just taken down Kael in three seconds."If I survive," Maximus continued, his voice dropping to a serious whisper, "If I win the tournament, every single noble who bet against me loses their gold. And who collects that gold? You do. Kael brings you a bucket of silver. I can bring you a mountain of gold. I am your high-risk, high-reward investment. My intellect is worth far more than my death."The Pit Master stared at Maximus for a long, quiet minute. The wind blew hot sand across the arena. The guards stood completely still, waiting

With his eyes closed, Maximus stopped thinking about his muscles and started thinking about combat. He had zero martial arts training from his past life. He did not know how to punch properly. But he had an absolute, perfect memory, and a deep understanding of physics.He remembered the giant Kael in the pit. He remembered the heavy, stomping foot. He remembered how Kael shifted his weight. Then, he remembered the Pit Master. He remembered how the Pit Master stood, how he drew his sword, and how he kept his balance perfect despite his bad leg.Maximus’s brain took those memories and broke them down into pieces. In the darkness of his mind, glowing white lines drew a diagram of a human body.He was creating a "Skill Tree.""The fighting style here is heavy," Maximus thought. "They rely on brute force. They want to crush their enemies. Let us call it the 'Imperial Bruiser Style'."He visualized the Skill Tree. At the bottom was the base, the foundation.[Node 1 unlocked: Base Stability.

The heavy stone block was falling.Maximus Cobain could clearly see the rough, gray edges of the rock. He could see the dry dirt clinging to its surface. As it descended, the heavy stone blocked out the dim, flickering light of the torches in the hallway. It cast a dark, terrible shadow over Maximus’s face.Garek, the scarred brute, pushed the heavy weight down with all his thick, hairy muscles. His face was twisted into a cruel, ugly mask of pure violence.Maximus could not move. He was lying flat on his back on the cold stone floor. His heart was locked in a cage of pure agony. The Widow’s Draught poison was ravaging his chest, turning his blood into liquid fire. His muscles refused to listen to his brain. He was entirely paralyzed by the sudden, massive heart cramp.His mental Heads-Up Display, the hallucinated system created by his traumatized brain, flashed wildly in front of his eyes.[Incoming Mass: 15 kilograms.][Velocity: 5 meters per second.][Target: Cranium.][Probability

Maximus was suffocating. His vision turned completely black around the edges. But his survival instinct, guided by Theophilus's loud instructions, took over. He stopped trying to heave his chest. Instead, he focused entirely on his stomach. He pushed his abdominal muscles outward, forcing his diaphragm to drop low.Whoooosh.A massive, incredibly deep rush of cold air flooded into the very bottom of his lungs. It was the deepest breath Maximus had ever taken in his entire life. He felt his lower ribs physically expand. He felt the air hit the bottom of his lungs, filling tiny air sacs that had never been used before.Instantly, his mental HUD flashed a brilliant, bright blue.[Massive Oxygen Intake Detected.][Blood Oxygen Levels rising by 400%.][Vasodilation occurring. Toxin being flushed from Cardiac Tissue.]As the hyper-oxygenated blood rushed into his heart, the agonizing cramp violently released. The pain vanished, replaced by a strange, buzzing heat that spread to his fingerti