In Salin's city, the currency was the last to be issued. There were banks now, but the large amount of Qinyin currency was the main medium of transactions.
Salin had done a lot of publicity to open the arena, and the ticket price was finally set at 25 copper coins.
This price was still a bit high, but it was within the range that commoners could afford. The people at the bottom could eat a full meal with one copper coin, which usually consisted of half a loaf of black bread and a bowl of mush made from corn. The prices of Qinyin were extremely low. This kind of black bread was actually mixed with a lot of animal feed.
The average commoner would need at least 10 copper coins for a meal.
Twenty-five copper coins was about the cost of an adult's food for a day. For the poor, spending a day's worth of food to watch the competition was somewhat unrealistic. However, Salin's arena had tickets, and the magic number on the ticket could be used to place bets. Twenty-five copper coins wasn't just a ticket, but also a lottery ticket for gambling.
One ticket could watch 15 matches, and if one guessed correctly for each match, one would earn 100 gold coins. If one guessed correctly for 14 matches, they would earn 10 gold coins. If one guessed correctly for 13 matches, one gold coin.
One gold coin was equivalent to a thousand copper coins. In comparison, one would realize that the investment in the ticket was extremely small. Even if one guessed correctly for 13 matches, it was equivalent to the ticket money for 40 matches.
In reality, it was extremely difficult to guess correctly for 13 matches, but apart from Magicians, no one understood how difficult it was. Commoners could only calculate the multiples between 100 gold coins and 25 copper coins.
That was four thousand times. Four thousand times the profit could easily destroy a commoner's brain.
The ticket for the first opening match of the arena was only one copper coin. Everyone only needed to guess the top three, and they would earn a silver coin. The lord of the city had said that this was to let everyone understand the rules. Familiarize themselves with the betting method. When the arena was fully operational, the lord of the city would provide the corresponding information for the 16 contestants in the weekly finals, so that everyone could judge for themselves who would win.
These 16 people were the weekly victors of the small arena. The small arena also accepted bets, but the amount of prize money was reduced by half.
The opening match wouldn't be held in the small arena, but directly in the large arena, and the lord of the city would personally host it.
All the tickets were sold out. In fact, it wasn't even enough for Salin to spend on publicity. Fifty thousand copper coins were only equivalent to fifty gold coins. Salin was making a loss.
The nobles also felt that they could make money from the arena, but Salin had just distributed the profits from the mineral deposits and magic cores to them, so they didn't try to get a share of the profits.
In the blink of an eye, it was July. The first match began in Salin's arena on the 1st of July.
The arena that could hold more than fifty thousand people was named the Metatlin Central Arena. There were twenty-four passageways in the arena, and at the center of the arena was a huge empty space that was six hundred by six hundred meters. At the center of the empty space was a stone floor, surrounded by uneven ground, sand, and a few deep holes filled with water.
The surrounding stands were in the shape of a staircase. All of this was designed by Elena, and it was very spectacular. The oval-shaped arena was thirty meters tall and looked like a small enclosed city. Hundreds of metal pillars were strangely curved, forming complex geometrical shapes that stretched towards the center of the arena.
Above the stands, stained glass was laid on metal brackets, forming a semi-enclosed ceiling. Even in torrential rain, the spectators could watch the match under the ceiling.
In the north of the arena, there was a protruding platform. The platform was designed according to the style of the clouds, simple and elegant. On both sides of the platform, there were also semi-enclosed seats for the nobles. They could be separated from the commoners, and they could watch the match from a closer distance.
In fact, even the commoners wouldn't be unable to see clearly because of the distance. On the metal brackets of the semi-enclosed ceiling, there was a magic projection that could magnify the match on the ground and form a virtual image in the air. Elena had even designed a magic projection that could amplify sound, so that every spectator could clearly hear the intense sounds of the battle.
After seeing Elena's design, Salin felt that he had sold the tickets too cheaply. For twenty-five copper coins, he could watch a Magician's masterpiece. This wasn't just a matter of making less money, but also a matter of the value of a Magician.
Fortunately, the ticket for the opening match was only one copper coin. Eleanor suggested that they sell tickets of different grades according to the seats. The tickets for the nobles' seats cost twenty-five gold coins, and the seats where one could watch the magical images cost one silver coin. Twenty-five copper coins were for the commoners.
The nobles would privately bet that twenty-five gold coins were nothing to them.
No one knew where Elena's many creative ideas came from, but with the help of the knowledgeable Magician, Nania, the construction of the arena went smoothly. By the time Salin came to watch, it had already become a bustling area in the north of the city.
There were many nobles in the north of the city, and many of them had bodyguards. There were also some professionals who lived here, hoping to gain the favor of the nobles. The mercenaries, on the other hand, were all in the east of the city. There were many shops there, and many merchants who needed mercenaries.
There were also craftsmen in the north. There were many equipment shops here, but they only sold for retail, unlike the east, which basically sold wholesale.
In general, there weren't any poor people in the north. The craftsmen could save up to a hundred gold coins a year.
Not to mention one copper coin per ticket, even one gold coin per ticket would be enough for the people in the north of the city. However, Salin was doing business for the long term. He couldn't just do it once, so he would rather target everyone.
Salin was invited to the high platform. There were only eighteen seats on the platform, and each seat could seat two people. These eighteen seats were for the twelve counts, four dukes, and Salin and Daniel.
Salin and Daniel would only be here today, and they might not have much time to watch the matches in the future.
Qin Yin had a very popular polo tournament, and there would also be a huge arena. However, those arenas weren't as luxurious as Salin's. The spectators were usually one to two thousand people. The arena that could hold fifty thousand people was noisy. If not for the fact that the nobles' seats had been designed by Magicians, they might not even be able to communicate.
There were a few magic arrays on Salin's wide table. The one in the middle was a transmission magic array. The longer the control range of the magic array, the more magic cores would be consumed. However, none of these magic arrays were offensive spells. They were all low-level supportive spells, and they were all effective within the arena.
Salin didn't have to worry about the number of magic cores consumed by these magic arrays. Moreover, they were all low-level spells. If Salin embedded a batch of mid-level magic cores, he wouldn't need to replace them for two to three months.
Today, Sicar didn't come. Beside Salin sat Elena. She had designed many things, and it was up to her to tell Salin what was the best way to do it.
Daniel was the actual manager of Metatlin City, but the person sitting beside him was Nicholas. He and Salin sat in the center of the nobles' seats. Behind them was a row of chairs arranged in an arc, and the people sitting there were all Salin's trusted aides. Neris didn't sit, but stood behind Salin. Beside her, three demons followed her, serving Salin and Eleanor.
The four dukes were very close to each other. If they moved to the sides, the counts would be much farther away. However, this high platform was connected, so it was easy to communicate with each other.
Because it wasn't time yet, Salin started to communicate with the people around him.
Elena explained to Salin in great detail, including the small shops set up in the arena, food, and water. There were also two hundred toilets and thousands of sentry positions in the arena.
The high platform that Salin was on was the control center for magic. Below the platform was a magic alchemy room that truly controlled the arena. There were dozens of magic apprentices working inside.
Salin listened very carefully, and found that there were no mistakes in Elena's calculations. When Elena had designed it, she had even considered how to evacuate the fifty thousand spectators in case of a fire.
At fourteen in the afternoon, a deep voice rang out. The entire arena could hear it.
"Attention, citizens of Metatlin City. The first Metatlin Tournament is about to begin. We are here to listen to the lord of Metatlin City, His Highness Salin, speak a few words to us!"
The arena was dead silent. This was a silence that commoners were used to when they talked to nobles. You could call it reverence, or respect. Especially since the person who was about to speak was the lord of Metatlin City.
Salin was already prepared. He opened the sound transmission magic seal and began his first short speech in his life.
"My people …" Salin's opening was designed by Elena. He paused for a moment, then said, "Hello, I, Salin Metatlin, am the lord of this city and this country. Metatlin, as the master of this city and this country, has created a competition that everyone is unfamiliar with. There is only one reason. I need capable people. "
The arena was terrifyingly silent. In fact, the entire arena was divided into twenty-four viewing areas. Once the magic seal under the control platform was opened, no one would be able to hear each other.
"The Church is attacking. Even now, there are still hundreds of warriors receiving treatment in the hospital that I founded. They may survive, or they will die in the Church's expedition. The Metatlin people will not surrender. We will have more warriors, more Mages, to resist the arrogance, prejudice, cruelty, and absurdity of the gods. So, I need you! "
"Let me tell you here. The entire Jialoulan has fallen, but Metatlin City will always stand on this land. We will never surrender. We will attack, attack the Light Plains."
Before Salin could finish his words, the crowd suddenly started cheering from an unknown area.
"Long live Metatlin! Long live! "
"We will never surrender!"
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