"Oh, right." Ronin spoke as if he'd suddenly remembered something. "I forgot to tell you—I've offended the Phantom Troupe. If I get too famous, it might draw them in. They could assassinate me… or just snipe me on the ring."
Now that the contract was already signed, Ronin felt there was no need to hide everything. So as he set the file down, he told Milia plainly.
Milia's body stiffened for a brief moment after she sat down.
But she only shot Ronin a look. "With how relaxed you've been acting, you must have ways to keep yourself alive. Fine—then I'll assign you some security. If something happens, they can at least serve as an early warning."
"Fine." Ronin nodded.
Milia thought for a moment, then suddenly asked, "If it happens on the ring—are you confident you can win?"
Ronin immediately understood what she meant.
The Troupe were already A-rank wanted criminals. If things were handled right, Ronin's reputation could explode overnight.
Even betting odds would spike—an easy opportunity to rake in huge money.
Unfortunately…
Ronin shook his head. "I can't beat them. If I really had to step onto the ring against one, given my current situation I'd probably forfeit."
"Is the gap that big? If I can raise your strength three to five times, could you beat them?" Milia pressed again.
This time, she truly hooked Ronin's interest.
"How long can it last?" Ronin stared at her.
"Three times for seven minutes. Five times for four minutes." Milia didn't hold back this time. "Of course, that's assuming we prepare in advance. That's also why I'm confident you can challenge a Floor Master."
She still didn't state her Nen ability outright, but Ronin could already think of a few ways she might achieve what she described.
Ronin fell silent, thinking.
If his strength increased fivefold, would that let him cast B-rank ninjutsu?
And even if he still couldn't use B-rank techniques, once that boosted Nen turned into abundant chakra, could he unleash far stronger taijutsu?
Ronin thought of one technique: the Eight Gates.
Overall, the Eight Gates could be considered S-rank taijutsu—after all, it was the kind of explosive power that nearly kicked the entire Hokage story into its ending with a single strike.
But if you broke it down, opening only one or two gates wasn't necessarily that impossible.
In Ronin's view, just opening the Gate of Opening and the Gate of Healing should be about as difficult as C-rank ninjutsu.
And even if he couldn't open the Eight Gates, just having massive chakra paired with Cherry Blossom Impact could let him hit with power not much weaker than Uvogin's Big Bang Impact.
Maybe… there really was a chance.
"We can try," Ronin said without making promises.
Uvogin's strength right now should be in a rapid growth phase—just like Ronin himself. The next time they met, both of them would likely be stronger.
But if Milia could help him find Scarlet Eyes in the meantime, then after his next evolution, his odds would rise even more.
"Good." A sharp glint flashed in Milia's eyes.
Then, as if she'd thought of something, her tone shifted abruptly. "I heard the Kurta Clan was massacred a while ago. Are you interested in the Scarlet Eyes? Do you want me to help you collect them?"
Milia connecting those dots didn't surprise Ronin.
He'd basically piled the conditions right onto her face. If she still couldn't see it, she wouldn't be worth working with.
"Yes." Ronin admitted it directly. "They're one of the Seven Most Beautiful Colors of the world, after all."
"And you also said you have a grudge with the Phantom Troupe…" Milia studied him more closely. "Was it the Troupe who massacred the Kurta? Or… are you a Kurta yourself?"
The moment she finished, Milia shook her head. "No… you don't seem like it. You're too calm, and it doesn't feel like you're acting. But your hunger for the Scarlet Eyes is real. So were you there too? Were you even trying to grab a share of the spoils?"
"Something like that," Ronin answered ambiguously. Then he didn't linger on the subject. "They'll probably leak some Scarlet Eyes onto the market. That's my target. Even if I can't get all of them, I'll buy as many as I can."
"Scarlet Eyes won't be cheap," Milia said, following his lead and analyzing it. "By publicizing the massacre, they're clearly telling buyers that Scarlet Eyes will become a limited-edition item.
That pushes the already sky-high price up another tier. If you want to buy as many as possible, you'll need to prepare an enormous amount of money."
As she said it, Milia belatedly realized something: the whole "strength" angle might've been a pretext. What Ronin needed most right now was money.
"Yeah." Ronin nodded. "So here's the plan: you help me find out when they'll sell the Scarlet Eyes. And I'll keep fighting matches, build fame fast, and gather cash as quickly as possible."
"Well then, looks like we're going to be busy." Milia flexed her hands—then noticed Ronin's gaze and quietly lowered them again. "Fighting more often will build your fame faster, but don't push past your limits."
"Relax. I know what I'm doing." Ronin stood up. "I'll take the files. If anything comes up, we can talk by phone—or you can just find me in the 200th-floor residential area."
Leaving Milia's office, Ronin felt oddly lighter.
He still couldn't trust Milia completely—but his instincts told him she mostly saw him as a money-making product.
That was unpleasant, sure, but he couldn't really complain.
Because Ronin was treating Milia as a tool as well.
Right now, it was mutual exploitation.
Still, in Ronin's view, a partnership bound by profit was a sturdy one—at least until a bigger profit appeared.
Ronin took the elevator straight to the 200th floor.
Even though Milia had already given him the profiles of 200+ fighters, he still had to register on the 200th floor first.
From the 200th floor onward, the match rules changed.
Here, it became a declared-match system: everyone had a 90-day preparation window. Within that window, you could designate a match date.
Of course, you could also fight every day, or fight one day and rest the next—anything. After each match, the 90-day preparation period reset.
But if you didn't declare a match within the preparation period, you'd lose your eligibility, and your fight record would be wiped.
To clear this floor's rules, you had to win ten matches.
However, if you lost four matches before getting ten wins, you'd lose eligibility as well.
If you won ten matches, you earned the right to challenge a Floor Master. Defeat a Floor Master, and you became the new one.
From the 230th to the 250th floors, Heavens Arena had 21 Floor Masters in total.
And the final 251st floor belonged only to the champion of the grand fighting tournament held once every two years—a symbol of status and glory.