16 The Challenge

The people started to crowd around Caol and his tablet. They thought it was quite preposterous for a kid like Caol to put up a challenge like that. In their eyes, he was a rich greenhorn, giving away an enormous amount of money. A gold coin is sufficient for a family of four to live comfortably for three months. Let alone, ten thousand of it.

The challenge looked like a joke, but no one wanted to be the first one to go up against Caol. Some people thought that Caol wouldn't put up this challenge if he wasn't confident in winning. It was still a very tempting challenge as one wouldn't lose anything if he loses, that person may even win the gold.

Soon enough, people couldn't bear to accept the challenge. A man, seemingly in his late 30s went in front of Caol. This man shouted at Caol, "Hey kid, let me take that gold off you."

Caol slowly opened his eyes and stood up. He looked at the man, before nodding. As soon as Caol gave his agreement, the man immediately moved. He wanted to end the fight quickly before Caol could react. Unfortunately, he was wrong. As the man went behind Caol, he threw a punch to the back of Caol's head.

A smug look crept upon the man's face. He knew this was over, even if Caol had the same strength as him. Not before long though, the man was astonished. He didn't feel his punch connect. What connected was Caol's elbow to his face instead.

This strike made the man's nose bleed. Caol aimed for his nose as this will give the man a harder time for breathing, and it will make his eyes watery.

The man quickly recovered. He was a bit ashamed of himself. A 7th stage Martial Master, getting hit by a teen. The man retreated for a bit, before formulating his game plan. At this moment, he knew he had to take Caol seriously. That strike wasn't a fluke. The man looked again at Caol. He saw Caol full of openings. Caol wasn't even doing a stance. He got a bit angered, then quickly went for Caol's legs. The man thought that Caol was faster, so he had to take out his mobility.

It was still a wrong notion on the part of the man. When he thought of attacking Caol's legs, Caol was already in front of him. Caol did a reversed back kick and sent the man flying, before he hit the stone tablet. He lost consciousness for a few seconds before waking up. He bowed to Caol and thanked him for showing mercy, before he left.

By this time, one can fit an egg on almost every mouth of the crowd. They were shocked and didn't expect this development. It wasn't everyday you see a teen toying with a martial master.

[Quest 2 progress: 1/100]

Caol sat down on the ground and meditated, while waiting for the next challenger. Nobody wanted to go up against Caol by this time. Soon, the people spread the news toward the whole Martial District that a teen was challenging 100 people, and the one who can beat him will get 10,000 gold coins.

Caol's spot became overpopulated. Thousands of people gathered here, squishing their way to read the tablet. It was a full hour after the first challenger before he got another one. This time, it was a bit interesting.

Seven people came up. One of them spoke up and said, "The people doing the challenge was not limited, correct?"

Caol heard this and felt dumb. He forgot this loophole in challenge. 'Well, I guess this way will be faster. It will be harder though. What if 100 martial masters came at me all at once. That will be a spectacle.' Caol stood up and politely asked the seven of them to start.

The group was wiser than the first challenge, finding the loophole. They went into a formation with four in front and three at the back of Caol. They all started to bring out their weapons. The four in front had longswords, while the three at the back had a spear, a bow, and a whip.

'What a shameless group.' thought Caol as he brought out his own weapon. It was the Power Pole. Caol never really used it in a fight, even though he practiced it. Master Jian even imparted him some basic techniques on how to use sticks, staffs, and spears. Caol held the pole with two hands. Caol never underestimated anyone in a fight. This was instilled way earlier by Grandma Yu. He took every fight seriously.

Soon, a very fast arrow neared him. Caol already sensed it. He moved a step to his right. The four people was already in front of him after his maneuver. Caol was still calm as he used the pole to block attacks coming at his torso. Once he was done with this, a sword went straight for his head and a spear attacking him from behind.

Caol had no difficulty dodging the attacks. He weaved his head under the sword, before using the pole to deflect the spear towards the other swordsman. The spearman forcibly halted his attack, but he got smacked by the pole on his face. He was knocked out cold.

To deal with the swordsmen in front of him, Caol did a sweep with his pole, hitting three of the swordsmen in their guts. They fell back and vomitted their breakfast. The guy with the staff tried to smash Caol's head. The guy with the staff thought that the attack would most likely be effective as he had a longer reach than Caol and his pole. Little did he know that he was up against the Power Pole. Caol commanded it to lengthen and thrusted it into the man's face. It hit his forehead, leaving quite a big bump on it.

Caol took this chance, while they weren't ready for the unexpected change with his pole. He swung the pole in a full circle before lengthening it again when it was near the archer to do a sweep to the archer and the swordsman. The archer was hit, and he was out. The archer felt like he was useless as he only fired one arrow. Everything happened so fast. The swordsman responded a bit faster and laid down on the ground.

The guy with the staff was still dazed by the hit to his forehead that he didn't notice the pole coming towards his left cheek. He was then sent flying before cursing his unluckiness.

There was only one guy left. As Caol immediately went in front of him, the guy surrendered. Caol clasped his fist towards the group, before sitting down and meditating again.

[Quest 2 progress: 8/100]

Soon, groups of people wanted to try too. Nevertheless, they were defeated. Caol took every challenge seriously and limited the people challenging him. The people within the age of 30 to 50 was usually in the 5th stage of Martial Master to the peak of this realm. His quest only needed him to challenge 100 martial pracitioners ten years older than him.

Before the end of the day, Caol finished his quest. There were times when it became a bit harder, but it was just another means for him to refine his battle experience.

[Quest 2 completed. The host is awarded 10,000 system currencies, 1 day of practice inside the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, and a Mystery Gift Box.]

Caol was eyeing this gift box for so long, he wanted to wait for a bit before using the time chamber as 10x of gravity isn't appealing to him anymore. It can just be used to lengthen his training time before the war starts. 'System, open the gift box!]

[Opening the Mystery Gift Box...]