“Look, this is what you call the King’s demeanor—unyielding! You losers should really learn from this!”

“This confidence—there’s truly no one else like him in all of OP!”

“I wonder who can be a match for King Bro. It’s the start of the school year today, so the newbies are in for a treat.”

Actually, those watching John Carter fight were all pretty low-level, just a few dozen people, just killing time and looking for entertainment from John Carter. The real experts would definitely be paying attention to battles between top players.

Based on win rate and number of matches, OP system participants are divided into Cannon Fodder, Brave, Elite, and Hall of Fame tiers.

Soon, John Carter found an opponent: “Future Gun King,” with a record of 0, in the Cannon Fodder tier—obviously a newbie. This didn’t surprise John Carter; at this point, he could only spar with rookies entering OP for the first time. If Dr. Charlton, the inventor of OP, saw his miserable record now, he’d probably cry.

The opponent chose a standard rune pistol, looking like a ranged fighter. In the OP system, all types of rune weapons are available without restriction, but there’s no bonus effect. When choosing, fighters mostly go with what feels right.

As for John Carter… he actually got assigned bare hands at random. Even though John Carter had been looking forward to this for a long time, he was a bit nervous—damn, even a dagger would’ve been better.

The battle scene was the most basic arena, with no cover at all—purely a test of skill.

The two fighters entered the ready state. The dozen or so bored spectators were actually quite excited. Sometimes, when you’re not in good form, watching Mouthy King’s clumsy performance helps restore your confidence and mood. And look at King Bro’s confidence—bare-handed! He’s aiming to dominate the world with sheer presence!

Future Gun King and Mouthy King both entered the stage, both choosing the system’s default face. Future Gun King didn’t seem to be in a good mood either—maybe he was really dissatisfied with John Carter as an opponent. He didn’t even bother with a greeting, just fired a shot right at the start.

John Carter dodged instinctively. The opponent aimed straight at his chest, raising the gun quickly and fiercely. Normally, with John Carter’s physical reflexes, he’d have been hit right away. He knew what to do, but his body just couldn’t keep up. Anyone with less resilience would’ve been driven mad by this.

But this time, John Carter felt as if he’d merged with the environment. His body moved naturally, and he miraculously dodged the shot.

The opponent was slightly stunned. Shooting at the center is the least lethal, but also the hardest to dodge. Standard rune pistols rely on rapid, continuous shots to take down the opponent.

Without hesitation, he fired three more shots in quick succession. Almost as soon as the shots rang out, John Carter’s body moved again, dodging all three in a split second.

A surge of joy filled John Carter’s heart—Simba really did it!!!

Fifty Grasso of soul power was enough to support all kinds of combat moves without losing form!

All those familiar feelings came rushing back. The ease he felt in his dreams had finally reached his body. This was it—the feeling of flying!

The onlookers, however, burst out laughing. My God, if even King Bro can dodge your shots, how bad do you have to be? Is this the legendary “no worst, only worse”?

The dozen or so spectators were having the time of their lives, and although Future Gun King was holding it in, anyone could see the anger in his eyes.

Bang bang bang…

This time, it was an aggressive three-shot burst. Normally, ranged fighters try to keep their distance, but this guy had lost his cool and tried to close in to improve his accuracy—a clear sign of lack of confidence.

The three shots formed a triangle, blasting toward John Carter. John Carter didn’t move randomly, but instead sidestepped and twisted into an arc in an instant.

All three shots missed again…

The spectators were about to die laughing. Finally, someone who could be compared to Mouthy King—maybe they really are brothers.

Future Gun King was clearly completely enraged—he actually threw away his gun???

Everyone in the viewing hall collapsed with laughter. The funniest match in history—a gunner who actually threw away his gun…

Future Gun King charged at John Carter in big strides. The viewing area had unknowingly grown to over thirty people. You have to spend personal credit points to watch other people’s battles, but everyone felt it was totally worth it—this was just too happy.

But John Carter sensed a completely different kind of killing intent. If the opponent’s marksmanship wasn’t that oppressive, now the person charging at him had the momentum of a tiger breaking out of its cage. Could it be that he was actually a close-combat specialist?

Boom! Future Gun King suddenly burst forward with an explosive charge. With a loud bang, he was right in front of John Carter, throwing a punch like Mount Tai crashing down.

In an instant, the whole arena went silent. That charge was something else. Also, everyone had been laughing so hard, they hadn’t even seen the move clearly.

Chapter 8: The Actor

But in the next second, the awe-inspiring Gun King Bro, whose punch seemed to decide the world, suddenly froze, his eyes wide like a bull’s, as if he’d seen a ghost, and he collapsed limply to the ground.

Mouthy King—victory!

A full three seconds later, the viewing room erupted in even louder laughter. “He’s definitely an actor!”

“That charge just now scared the hell out of me—turns out he’s just a paper tiger!”