There was only one person who offered to work together with him. It was the crazy cat girl. The fact that she did such a thing in front of everyone showed just how crazy she was.
The smart people were either trying to intimidate him publicly for clout, pretend to warn him with good intentions not to go too far so that he won't kill them, or declare that they would defeat him to garner support from the spectators.
No one was stupid enough to try to become associated with a hot and publicly hated mess like him. Maybe Konfucion's fan would understand since they knew her to be crazy, but the other spectators would only boo her and hope she went down with him.
He was thinking about Kilorita's offer even after she left because he was trying to discover her motives. She had attacked him as soon as they could move, and he had seen clear hostility in her eyes. Yet, moments later, she came to offer him an alliance between them.
Her actions made it difficult to decide if her offer was genuine or not. He couldn't even decide if she was going to be a reliable partner, much less if the alliance was real or not.
He grumbled, "I can begin to see why she is so difficult to deal with. But it doesn't matter. I am Augustus, and they are sheep. That's all that matters."
He realized that trying to find her motives is a dead end. So he stopped considering her motives or trying to figure out if she is an ally or not. He decided to focus on the simple fact that all of them are prey to him.
He was thinking about the things he had just experienced when an old man came up to him. The man had taken his time walking up to him. Now that he finally reached Kelvin, he rubbed his mustache first before speaking.
The old man had the demeanor of someone who wasn't in a rush. He was also very confident in himself. This probably has something to do with the fact that he is the strongest participant here.
The old man is the only D-rank in the game. He is probably also the only D-rank in the amateur league. The second and third strongest in this game are just E-rank. So the man had good reasons to be confident in how he walked and talked.
He said to Kelvin, "Young man, I'm sure you know who I am. I also know who you are. I must say that you are very talented. You are definitely professional league material. Unfortunately, you won't pass this game if you don't pay your proper respects to me."
Kelvin sneered at the old man. He had been keeping his arm folded across his chest and hadn't moved all along. But this time he finally moved.
He walked over to the old man and stood over him. He made sure that his sneer was right in his face.
Then he said, "Make me."
The old man sighed. "Ah, the pride of youth. How wonderful it is to be headstrong. It must be so nice. But be warned, pride goes before a fall."
Kelvin nodded and said, "I know that. But I doubt you have what it takes to make me fall."
The old man advised generously, "Young man, would you rather bet your future on your pride when all you need is to bow down and pay your respects? Don't be foolish. There is no harm in paying respects. Many people have done it and gone on to achieve great things."
Kelvin shook his head. "I am not many people. I am Augustus."
The old man straightened himself and reached up to his height. He spoke with a cold voice full of pride, "And I am the Baron. Know this well, boy. You shall not pass without my permission."
The two of them continued to stare at each other aggressively for a long while. It was the old man that broke posture first. But it didn't look like he was surrendering. He chuckled and turned away with a look of mirth on his face.
He said as he left, "Ah, the confidence of youth. We will see if the confidence of youth trumps the experience of age."
He made it look as if he was doing the ignorant boy a favor by backing down first. It surely looked like that to the thousands of spectators watching. They were all cheering for the Baron.
They were chanting his name and his catchphrase. "Bow to the Baron and you pass. Disrespect the Baron and you fall."
The Baron is a well-known figure in the destiny games. He has been playing for more than 50 years. Not many people have managed to last that long. The toil of playing the games every month for 50 years gradually kills off many people.
The Baron could have become a demigod many times over if he had advanced to the professional league and survived. But like many others, he refused to advance.
However, he didn't stop there. Many people who don't want to advance won't participate in the advancement game. They would rather return to level 1 to start again. Not that it was a good idea to risk their lives in a dangerous game for something they don't want.
But the Baron is not like that. He always decides to participate in the advancement game to block people from passing if they don't pay their respects to him.
The act of forcing people to pay their respects to him is not pure vanity, even though there is a large influence of vanity in the matter. It has to do with his ability. It also has to do with gaining fans.
By forcing many people to bow their heads to him over the years, he has gained a lot of fans. This has granted him power, which has made it possible for him to survive 50 years of the destiny games.