Just as Mark Reed threw his punch, Brian Carter suddenly moved.

Originally as motionless as a statue, he suddenly came to life!

He took a small step back, instantly widening the distance between himself and Mark Reed. His left hand shot out like lightning, grabbing Mark Reed's incoming fist—not to block it head-on, but to pull it along with the momentum of Mark Reed's forward lunge!

Mark Reed's entire center of gravity was immediately thrown off by this seemingly effortless maneuver. Mark Reed's expression changed, but before he could react, Brian Carter's right hand had already struck out like a gust of wind.

His fist landed squarely on Mark Reed's waist.

Mark Reed was sent flying sideways by Brian Carter's punch, crashing heavily to the ground two meters away, curling up like a dehydrated prawn.

William Harris abruptly lowered his crossed arms, his face already changing color.

One move!

It had only taken a single move for Brian Carter to defeat Mark Reed!

And it happened while Mark Reed was using his best movement technique, the Swift Rabbit Triple Change—yet he was still cleanly and decisively beaten!

Chapter Eight: Fierce as a Wild Beast

The entire fight lasted only a split second, but William Harris, whose strength far surpassed Mark Reed's, saw a lot more than others.

Mark Reed was no longer a match for Brian Carter—in fact, they weren't even in the same league.

Brian Carter was faster than Mark Reed in both strength and reaction speed. That lightning-fast grab and pull looked simple, but Mark Reed had no time to react or dodge at all, which spoke volumes.

That punch was clean and decisive, without any hesitation, and it landed precisely on the weakest point of Mark Reed's defense!

Fast, accurate, ruthless!

Brian Carter's strength was clearly above level seven among the power users. Otherwise, he couldn't possibly have such quick reflexes. The difference between each level might seem small, but in reality, it's these tiny differences that decide victory or defeat—life or death!

A miss by a hair, a loss by a thousand miles!

The other two young men were even more dumbfounded. Their strength was weaker than both fighters in the ring, so they couldn't analyze as much as William Harris. They only saw the most direct result:

Mark Reed, ranked fifth among the power users, was knocked down in a single move by Brian Carter, who was ranked eighth!

After landing his blow, Brian Carter didn't follow up with another attack. He knew exactly how powerful his punch was—it wouldn't cause serious injury to Mark Reed, but it would keep him down for a while.

Mark Reed struggled to lift his eyes, looking at Brian Carter standing before him. The morning sun was rising right behind Brian Carter, making his face appear somewhat shrouded in darkness, yet also giving him an aura of awe-inspiring, insurmountable majesty.

"You win!"

Mark Reed moved his lips a few times before finally forcing out the words. His heart was filled with frustration and humiliation, but he didn't feel hatred.

He who humiliates others will be humiliated in turn.

He had stood up for Eric Turner, trying to humiliate Brian Carter, but lacking the strength, he ended up being humiliated himself. If anyone was to blame, it was himself.

Brian Carter didn't say anything insulting. He just smiled lightly and said, "Then thank you for the two hundred gold coins."

As Brian Carter walked toward the bench and reached for the pouch of crystals and the two purple gold coins, William Harris, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke up: "Wait!"

Brian Carter placed his hand on the pouch of crystals, looked up, and said calmly to William Harris, "What is it?"

William Harris stared at Brian Carter, his face grave, with no trace of his earlier disdain. At this moment, in William Harris's eyes, Brian Carter was already a formidable rival.

Whether or not Brian Carter would awaken his bloodline and become a bloodline warrior in the future, at least for now, his strength was enough to put great pressure on William Harris!

"So, if I place a bet with you, I can fight you?"

Brian Carter straightened up, fixed his gaze on William Harris, and smiled slightly. "What, you want to bet with me too?"

William Harris nodded, slowly stepped forward, and took out four purple gold coins from his person. He didn't put them down immediately, but stared into Brian Carter's eyes and asked, "How much do you want to bet?"

Brian Carter glanced at the purple gold coins in William Harris's hand, feeling a surge of boldness in his heart. "Since you've already taken them out, let's bet it all at once!"

The wariness in William Harris's eyes deepened. He knew Brian Carter came from a poor family. Twenty crystals, or two hundred gold coins, was a huge sum for Brian Carter. Now that he had just won two hundred gold coins, yet when it came to betting with William Harris, Brian Carter was willing to wager all twenty crystals along with the two hundred gold coins he just won. At the very least, this showed how confident he was in his victory.

William Harris hadn't come along this time because of Eric Turner, but because someone else had asked him to find an excuse to teach Brian Carter a lesson and warn him that there are some people he shouldn't get involved with, let alone covet.