Chapter 787: Mark Reuss’s Gift
“So, there is an assassin organization going against your assassin organization?” Zhang Heng asked.
“Yes. And because the Balance Blade’s traitor founded it, it had a very similar organizational structure. Except for the presence of the priest, his organization is a replica of the Balance Blade. They even had the same number of core members,” Dadatis said helplessly.
“I see.”
“Although they have only two hundred years of history, the ruler at that time supported them. Hence, they managed to grow their organization fairly quickly. From that time onwards, they have been coming up with different ways to go against us. Supposedly, I should have waited for you to pass the test and join the Balance Blade before I tell you all these things, but given your current situation, it is indeed possible for you to meet our rivals in the future. I think it’s only right to let you know in advance,” said Dadatis. “For the sake of your safety, you’d better not openly discuss Balance Blade with others.”
“Understood,” Zhang Heng said.
“Very well. Then I will teach you how to conceal yourself in the crowd. Hopefully, you know how to deal with them in the future,” Dadatis said.
…
Zhang Heng’s life was straightforward for the next month or so. Dadatis would come and look for him from time to time in the middle of the night and continue to teach him the combat skills of an assassin. He would then go out and play peekaboo with the people hired by other gladiator schools to attack him during the day.
Since Dadatis told him that he was not allowed to attack the people tailing him, Zhang Heng took a lot of effort to deal with them. As he had said, his looks were very special in the city of Rome, and concealing himself in the crowd wouldn’t be easy. Besides the stealth skills that Dadatis taught him, Zhang Heng still had one more hidden trump card: his Lv2 makeup skills. What surprised Dadatis was how good Zhang Heng actually was even without anyone teaching him. Under the tremendous pressure he faced, he began to integrate his makeup and stealth skills to conceal himself better.
He even participated in four more gladiatorial performances, and as expected, won all four of them. And they were flawless victories. Coupled with the way Mark Reuss operated and packaged Zhang Heng, his popularity skyrocketed in a very short period.
Now, almost the entire city of Rome knew of a very powerful oriental man in the Victor Arena. And Zhang Heng also received the nickname Black Lightning. Over a couple of days, he received more than a hundred love letters. Ever since Sethnets retired, fewer spectators visited the Victor Arena. With Zhang Heng now its main anchor, the seats in the Victor Arena had filled up again. Mark Reuss could not be happier.
But soon, another matter quickly captured everyone’s attention.
And that was the new emperor of Rome, His Royal Highness Emperor Commodus, finally returned from the front line.
Five Good Emperors ruled the Antonine dynasty, and Nerva was the first ruler. The interesting thing was that the first four of these five emperors had no heirs to inherit the throne. Hence, they all chose to adopt a son with an outstanding moral code to inherit the throne. When it was Aurelius’s turn to rule, he had a son named Commodus.
Strictly speaking, Commodus was not the first son of Aurelius. Aurelius had four sons before him, but unfortunately, the oldest child only lived to about eleven years old. Hence Faustina bore a pair of twins for Aurelius. The older twin brother died at the age of four, and his younger twin brother was Commodus.
Later, Aurelius welcomed his seventh son, Marcus. Marcus was chosen as his heir at the age of four. Unfortunately, he died of illness at the age of seven. In the end, Commodus became the only surviving son of Aurelius.
This might sound a bit depressing, but considering that none of Aurelius’s four predecessors had a son to inherit their thrones, he was in a definitely better situation. Moreover, Aurelius foresaw that he would die not long after he contracted the incurable illness. So, he began to train his only heir. When he went to fight the Germanic, he brought Commodus with him and had personally taught him how to handle government affairs and lead the soldiers to fight the war. In seeking other military support, Aurelius arranged a between Commodus and Christina. The latter was born in a well-known Roman family. Her father was assigned twice as a consul, and he had considerable influence on the senate. In Aurelius’s vision, Christina would become the link between Commodus and the senate, and the marriage would be vital in assisting Commodus to further stabilize his rule.
Aurelius’s health, however, was worse than he thought. In the end, he failed to teach everything that Commodus was supposed to learn. When he passed away, Commodus was only nineteen years old.
And now, this young man who had just begun his sophomore year had to take the scepter from his father to become the new ruler of the entire Roman Empire.
With his father’s saint-like image and the four previous four good emperors, the people of Rome were looking forward to what the new emperor would do, especially when he returned to take over the power.
And Commodus did not disappoint his people. On the second day of his return to Rome, he announced at the enthronement ceremony that a grand gladiatorial performance would be held in order to reward the army and gain the support of the people.
The young man who had just turned twenty had not forgotten his father’s teachings. The bread and gladiatorial performances were vital to a king’s ruling. His generous act immediately won the cheers and support of the people.
Simultaneously, the senate, which was responsible for preparing the gladiatorial performance, had also begun. All the important notices and documents were distributed to various gladiator schools in Rome and other cities.
There was no doubt that this would be a feast for those who joined the gladiator performance.
“Look, this is a new weapon that I had someone special look for you.”
That afternoon, Mark Reuss visited Zhang Heng and brought him a gift—two Persian swords. Instead of swords, they looked more like a pair of blades. These could be considered as ancestors of the Damascus swords of later generations.
The two blades gifted to Zhang Heng by Mark Reuss were obviously better than the traditional standard weapons. In this era, most of the Roman weapons were made of iron and steel. However, since they were still not good at manipulating metal’s carbon content, the quality of their swords wasn’t that great.
However, the two Persian swords that Mark Reuss gifted him could be regarded as the ultimate weapons. Not only were they sharp enough, but they also came without the shortcomings of other bladed weapons. Other than that, the sword body was extremely tough. The craftsmanship was similar to the samurai swords from later generations, forged with high-carbon steel was wrapped around low-carbon steel. Hence, this pair of swords had almost no weakness.
The caster could have discovered this crafting method accidentally, or he might have mastered a unique crafting method.
Zhang Heng was more inclined to the former possibility. Otherwise, the quality of weapons in Rome would have improved tremendously.