Mystic Eyes of Death Perception from Zero

"Take this and hurry in!"

Handing Graham a tattered iron sword, the soldier shoved him into the arena and closed the door.

Opposite him, Mickey also trembled as he held his iron sword and walked over. It was clear that his eyes were filled with hatred.

In contrast, Graham was somewhat puzzled, 'This guy suddenly loathes me? Why? Is he out of his mind? It can't be just because I ignored him, right?'

"Go on, kill that weakling!"

"Hurry up and fight!"

"Kid, I believe in you, give him a good beating!"

Graham pretended not to care as he glanced around the place, discovering that this was an arena similar to the ones in ancient Rome in his previous life... A colosseum.

The audience seats were in a circular arrangement with rows above/below, and the duelists were at the lowest level, making it convenient for the filthy nobles to watch the match.

During this time, Graham noticed out of the corner of his eye that there was an hourglass in the middle of the audience seats, with sand continuously falling.

It would take about three minutes for the upper layer of sand to run out, meaning that if he and Mickey didn't decide the winner within those three minutes, both of them would be executed simultaneously.

The nobles above kept urging them to fight, and Mickey could not wait any longer.

"Argh, die!"

With hatred, he roared and charged forward, raising his two handed sword and slashing at Graham.

Mickey's hatred for Graham was simple.

Graham ignoring his earlier goodwill had already made him very unhappy, and what happened afterward made him feel that Graham might have known all along that the soldiers would make friends kill each other.

Graham knew but did not warn him, damn it!

He was forced to kill his friend, and it was all Graham's fault. He deserves to die!

People always find excuses for their actions, and Mickey was no different. He chose to blame Graham for everything to ease his conscience.

In short, he was afraid of death, afraid to die a traitorous devil, so he reasoned that if he killed Graham, the devil 'responsible' for his trauma, he would clear his conscience and might later die a saint.

Seeing the iron sword slashing towards his face, Graham did not move at all.

At that moment, he had a strange feeling.

And no, it wasn't fear.

Fear wouldn't solve his problems, just like in Roswaal's mansion, where he could only be slaughtered.

What appeared before Graham was a magical scene; he felt everything around him slow down, and Mickey's furious slash seemed as slow as a turtle's crawl.

'Could it be that I entered the legendary sage mode?'

*Boom*

"Argh, die!"

As Graham tilted his head to dodge the attack, the slow-motion view ended swiftly.

Mickey missed his strike, stumbled, and turned around to slash at him again.

'Here it comes again!'

Graham's eyes lit up.

The 'sage mode' had returned.

Watching Mickey's movements slow down like a turtle, Graham's expression remained unchanged as he performed a standard thrust with his sword.

*Thud*

"Argh!"

The pain from his chest instantly swept through Mackie's entire body. He dropped his iron sword powerlessly, clutching his chest in agony, his eyes filled with unwillingness.

*Bang*

Graham, expressionless, kicked Mickey away and then quietly looked at the audience seats above, his eyes flashing with infinite coldness.

Graham did not notice the blue light that flashed in his eyes when the 'sage mode' arrived. Was that his true golden finger?

Strangely, a living being perished before his eyes, yet he did not feel any discomfort. Instead, he felt a sense of warmth, as if something had been added to his body.

Vaguely, he seemed to hear a mechanical voice:

[Plunder successful, awakening progress... 0.1%.]

Graham was stunned for a moment, even doubting if he had heard it wrong, but his body indeed felt much better.

His mana and stamina seemed to have increased!

So, that 'Plunder' was his golden finger?

What would awaken after reaching 100%?

Graham suddenly felt full of anticipation for his life as a sword slave.

Now, everyone around him was his enemy! All were targets for his Plunder!

This was the best place for him to become stronger!

Wait for me, Roswaal, I'll be back soon!

Graham had won, and the nobles who bet on his victory laughed and cheered.

As a result, he earned the right to have a meal. Looking at the ghost horn of Lyle in his arms, Graham's gaze became even more determined.

'I must become stronger, stronger than anyone else.'

Holding the food, Graham returned to the sword slave camp expressionlessly.

There was another rule here: those who won twenty matches in the arena would get their own room.

Though called a room, it was actually just a simple cell, which Graham despised.

But it was better than nothing.

A group of people staying in one room, the smell was indescribable.

So, Graham's current goal was to kill nineteen more people and get his own room!

Moreover, after winning 100 matches, a sword slave could challenge the Sword Slave King and become the new Sword Slave King.

In reality, it was just a higher-level thug, not very useful.

However, Graham believed that by the time he could challenge the Sword Slave King, he would have already gained the strength required to leave this place.

....

[T/N: This went on a whole new direction than I was expecting

.. I mean really, a Plunder System? What happened to my Mystic Eyes of Death Perception? Are we being trolled or something?

Also, the slow motion thingy was originally 'Sage time', but I just felt that didn't sound nice, so I went with 'Sage Mode'... Or should've I picked 'Sage perception' instead?]