Leaving Everyone Shocked

Adonis walked down the large hall to the arena' excited to fight his first fight in the tournament. Unfortunately, the Ascent Stage cultivator got defeated by Mila, but Adonis was excited nonetheless.

He walked into the Arena and saw the huge crowd in their seats, looking down at him. He could see that some people were looking at him with curiosity; while others were anticipating an exciting fight. He didn't see any looks of mockery or disgust.

'These people must not know who I am.'

Adonis was convinced that every day people didn't know who he was; he was relieved and determined, relieved that people didn't know him, and determined to make his name known.

He then used his senses to find out what other people's reactions are. But his senses picked up tremendous auras of different elements, he knew they belonged to the Great Families. He then realized something and looked toward the fiery aura, he knew his family was up in that suite and he couldn't help but feel happy to see them again. He waved at them and gave a smile, he then refocused on the arena when he heard his opponent approaching.

His opponent arrived with a serious expression; when they stopped, they spoke to him.

"Your Green Valley Sect is impressive, especially for an unknown sect. But this is where your journey ends! Our Lion Temple Sect will make our name known and your sect is merely an obstacle in our way-."

While the guy ranted about how great the Lion Temple Sect was, Adonis slowly moved his head up and stared at the barrier which was red, curious about how it worked.

'I know it uses Magic Crystals, but what grade and quality? They must be high grades since I heard the barrier takes a Heaven-Stage full-force attack to break it. Makes sense, this entire tournament is sponsored by the Imperial family and they invest a lot into this-.'

In the middle of Adonis's thoughts, the guy noticed Adonis's lack of attention and yelled at him.

"HEY!!!"

"Huh?"

"DID YOU EVEN LISTEN TO A WORD I SAID!!"

"Oh! I didn't; I usually filter out useless stuff being said," Adonis replied bluntly.

Note that the conversations the contestants in the Arena have with each other are amplified and heard by the audience. So, a lot of the audience snickered and laugh at this.

The Lion Temple disciple felt embarrassed and pissed, so he was ready to end Adonis for this.

Seeing his opponent get prepared to fight, Adonis decided now was the time to test his new skill.

The barrier, as if waiting for the talking to be over, lit up green the moment both were prepared.

The Lion Temple disciple launched toward Adonis, ready to beat his face into the ground.

'Orbital Sun x1'* A sliver of Anima spun rapidly around his fire affinity.

"Inferno."

Adonis pointed his right palm toward his opponent; a ginormous blast of fire erupted from Adonis's hand. His opponent didn't even have time to react until the tempest of fire hit them and carried them into the wall.

Adonis put his hand down as Inferno was done, he expected his opponent to last a bit longer, but he decided that this was a good thing, as it meant that Orbital Sun was more powerful than he thought. Hearing the voice announce his sect's victory, he turned around and walked off stage, leaving a shocked and quiet crowd.

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In the Lock Families suite,

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

All of the Lock siblings were silent after what they witnessed. After a minute of silence, the fourth sister was the first one to speak.

"First sister, pinch me."

The first sister would usually question her actions but did what she said without a second thought.

"Ow!! Ok, so I'm not having a nightmare. What the hell was that?!!"

The siblings were silent for a few moments before the second brother spoke.

"I told you, he changed."

"I know he changed!! But I mean, how did he do that-!!!"

The fourth sister became silent when she remembered the second brother saying "He has fire...as large as the sun."

"Hey...Second brother? When you said he has fire as large as the sun...did you mean his-"

"Yes, I meant his affinity for fire."

"!!!"

The fourth sister was shocked by this; in the Lock family, only two people had a fire affinity as large as that, the second sister and her father. Now, Adonis, who used to have no affinity, had a fire affinity that rivaled the strongest Lock members.

Her mind was rushing with thoughts about how this could be possible; she didn't understand how Adonis could gain such power. The other siblings seemed to also be in contemplation about Adonis's newfound strength.

The only person that wasn't in their thoughts was Balthasar Lock, he looked on pathetically, but if you look at his mouth closely, you could see a twinge of a smile. A smile that told how happy he was.

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Back at the hotel,

Juniper got scolded by Sect Leader and Elder Maron for closing herself in her room but then revealed that she reached Ascent Stage, stopping any complaints the two had.

When Adonis approached Juniper before she had to train with the elder and leader, he congratulated her and wondered how it happened.

Turned out that when Mazarine sucked a bit of the Anima out of his body, her core became several times more powerful; inadvertently affecting Juniper's cultivation and sending her into the next stage. She also told Adonis that Mazarine didn't try to take over her body and thinks she is resting.

Adonis was relieved and happy for Juniper; she left with Sect Leader and Elder. He went to see Lena and knocked on her door.

However, when Lena opened the door, unlike Juniper, who came out looking refreshed, Lena looked disheveled. Adonis immediately reacted, worrying about her; Lena smiled at this and invited Adonis inside.

There they would talk about what happened last night.

*x1 means the slivers of Anima used, Ex: "Orbital Stars x2" meaning Adonis used two slivers of Anima to enhance his ki.