Chapter 25

After lunch had been served, the group walked over to the competition halls. Each competition was half an hour long, except for the forging competition. That one was held on a whole day entirely due to its nature. Forging a simple blade took much longer than creating a basic pill.

The competitions lasted for four rounds, one for each day of the tournament. They also functioned differently, as the number of participants was much smaller, and you couldn't pit two people against each other.

Instead, every participant would create their pill, array, enchantment, or whatever they were making, and the judges would determine if they passed. Half the participants would proceed to the next round on day one and two. In the third round, ten people would be picked to participate in the final round. And then a winner would be chosen on the fourth day.

The first competition of the day was in alchemy. Rose and the twins participated while Koren, Aurora, and her family, observed. Aurora had dreams of becoming a good alchemist, just like her beloved elder Vara, and now also the adorable Rose. But she was not yet at the level where she could participate in the competition.

For the first rounds of the competition, everyone had to make the same pill, which Rose quickly accomplished. Rila and Sila were a bit slower, using most of the time they were given, but in the end, all three passed to the next round.

Next was the array competition, which only Rila and Sila participated in. It was the same deal, with every contestant having to make the same array, which was just a basic one taught in class. They would be judged on how well they could create it in under thirty minutes. Once more, both twins passed.

The next few hours went by in a bore for Aurora and Koren. Aurora's uncle and the rest went home before everything was finished. Rila and Sila participated in every competition, which made things quite hectic for them. Watching someone make an enchantment on a blade and a few talismans wasn't too interesting, but Aurora, Koren, and Rose felt obligated to support the twins. The group of five had lived together for almost half a year, sharing every part of each other. They were becoming like a family, and all loved each other dearly.

When the first day of the tournament was over, the girls had passed all of their competitions. It was undoubtedly impressive, being skilled enough to be above average in all those areas.

After they all returned home for the evening, the rest of the day was spent naked.

The next morning arrived, and the second day of the tournament commenced. Aurora's uncle and cousins returned again to watch Aurora fight. The aunt had to work, which was unfortunate. But Aurora's two younger cousins were very eager to watch the fights. Which was understandable since there were lots of sexy girls to watch. Aurora was very much aware of how they looked at her. Even though it was a bit incestuous, Aurora didn't care too much. Looking was fine, even if it was her breasts. It was just another part of the human body. No need to be so nervous around it.

The two weeks every year when the tournaments were held were a national holiday, allowing every sect in the nation to have their tournaments at the same time, so that the family members of the disciples could watch. Many businesses would close down entirely, although most grocery stores and the like usually remained open.

But despite this, only Aurora's cousins and uncle had to come to watch, out of her entire group's family. It was understandable, though, since Aurora's parents and sister lived far to the east of Rose city, on the other side of the mountain range in the middle of the country. The other's families lived in the same area, too.

They were also busy types, with the twins' parents being nobility and Koren's parents being in the military.

The second round of the tournament had begun, and three out of the group of five would participate. Before the first fights started, the elder from the day before gave a quick recap of the rules. Then Koren was called to fight.

The man strolled up to the arena, still as confident as ever. So far, he'd had an easy time. Aurora and Rila both had fought a desperate battle to make it this far, while Koren had won with relative ease. And once more, his opponent's skill was a level lower.

Every time the girl attacked, Koren parried and countered. The girl already began the hesitate in her offense after a few trades. Every single time she tried to attack, she'd end up hurt instead. After only a short while of this, Koren started attacking. He hit her hard several times, and in the end, the girl surrendered. She was never downed, but she could tell she was outmatched and didn't want unnecessary pain.

Koren returned to his women as a victor, officially becoming one of the top 875 disciples in the sect, well past the top thousand mark. At this rate, he stood a great chance at being promoted to inner disciple.

Next up was Aurora. Aurora stood on one side of the arena, and on the other was her opponent. Surprisingly, it was someone she knew. It was Giya Han, the oldest daughter of elder Mura Han.

"Big sis Aurora! Funny meeting you here," Giya said, smiling heartily at Aurora.

"Yeah, I'm surprised you got this far. You're only sixteen and just joined the sect, right?" Aurora said.

"Yep, that's right. But to be fair, daddy taught Miya and me for years before we joined the sect. Not as often as I'd have liked since he's so busy, but it still helped."

"I bet. He gave me a lesson the other day, and he's really skilled. But should we begin? Let's have a good fight."

"Let's do it!" Giya said, going into her stance and drawing her sword. Aurora drew hers too, and thus the fight began, as the bell had already rung.

Aurora took the offense as she was wont to do, but Giya blocked the strike and returned with one of her own. Aurora blocked it, and as soon as her arm was drawn back, it shot forward in a pierce as fast as an arrow, but Giya jumped back just far enough that the tip couldn't reach her.

As her back foot landed on the ground, she twisted her torso and sent her arm flying up, swinging across Aurora's torso. Aurora, too, stepped back just out of range and returned with another attack.

The girls fought each other, each with a sword in one hand and nothing in the other. Their arms moved with such speed that someone of weaker strength would barely be able to see it, but the loud clangs of clashing metal were loud. The girls fought each other, tit for tat; one attacks and the other defends and counters. Their blades hit against each other with steady rhythm, creating music out of battle.

Aurora was pushed back as the two years younger girl kept attacking. There was no question about it, she was more skilled with the sword than Aurora, but Aurora wasn't using anything other than her sword and right arm in this fight, nor was she using all her strength. This was the way Giya usually fought, a method honed through years of practice, but to Aurora, it was a severe handicap.

When Giya nearly hit clean on the cheek, Aurora finally decided to take this fight seriously. As the tip of the blade whisked past her face, Aurora dropped down, and her leg came flying up. Giya dodged the kick, but the other foot jumped, and Aurora twisted in the air. With the force of her entire body, Aurora's sword came crashing down on Giya. There was significant force behind the blow, forcing Giya to take several steps back, but Aurora suffered no such staggering.

As her blade struck down on Giya, Aurora kicked backward and spun in a circle, bringing her heel down on Giya, sending her further back.

Like a rocket, Aurora shot towards her, spun in the air again, and yet another kick flew at Giya. The young girl could not dodge the kick and flew straight off the arena! This didn't mean she had lost the battle, but it showed a significant disparity in strength.

That Giya had made it all the way to the fourth round showed she had great skill and perhaps equally great luck, but the fact of the matter was that this was almost certainly the end of the road for her.

Yes, Giya was more skilled in the sword than Aurora, but she was also many levels below her in cultivation base. Aurora was much stronger and much faster than Giya. When she used all her skills, Giya would quickly become overpowered.

The younger girl almost let the ten seconds pass before returning up and reentering the arena. Giya stared at Aurora in a ready stance, but then her pose relaxed.

"That's enough for me. I can't win against you, so I give up," Giya said as she sheathed her blade.

"Hey, you did great getting this far. I don't think many sixteen-year-olds got to the fourth round."

Aurora and Giya quickly departed the arena to return to their own groups. A few minutes after Aurora returned, Rila was called to the arena. And then she lost.

She was matched up with some random woman, but it took only three exchanges before Rila was knocked out cold. Rila charged the woman, but the blow was easily blocked and countered with an abdominal pummeling.

The punch had left Rila breathless, but despite that, she'd barely managed to dodge the next attack and return a wide swing with her own weapon. The woman blocked again, sliding her blade across Rila's weapon and hitting her in the armpit. The strike made Rila lose her weapon, and then finally, she was punched in the temple, grounding her in a crash. More than ten seconds passed before she woke up again. Funnily enough, she was well enough to walk away on her own. She had no real injuries from the fight. It had just been quick and merciless.

When she returned, she was met with speechless faces. Aurora, Rose, Sila, Koren, no one knew what to say. She'd barely even left, and now she was already back.

"Well, if I was going to lose, at least it was quick, right?" Rila said when no one spoke.

"Right. Yeah, that person was probably at the Condensation stage already. Probably a core disciple," Koren said.

"Just my luck. Oh well, it doesn't really matter. I barely even made it to 1,750 in the first place, so it's not like I stood much chance of getting to 875 in the first place," Rila said.

"That's likely why you were matched up with that girl. They don't want the core disciples to be eliminated early by fighting each other, so they'll usually be matched up with disciples who don't stand much of a chance of proceeding anyway. We probably won't see many Condensation people fighting until the third round of today," Aurora said.

"Makes sense."

Now that all three had fought their matches, and Aurora and Koren had proceeded to the next round, only one bout of fights remained until the first round of the day was over. A short break was held, and then the fifth round of the tournament began.