3 Rookie Champion
Sitting on top of the flying magical beast, Sasuke's face did not reveal any sort of emotion, even though they were flying at an extreme speed 1000 feet high up into the air. Since the beast was flying at such high speeds, he could hear a ceaseless rumbling sound from the wind in his ears.
This reminded him of the times when he rode Garuda, his Hawk summon. The air whistling through his face, made him feel nostalgic, as he had not flown so high up since he had been born in this world. Through this experience of being so high up in the air, Sasuke could not help but miss his Hawk summon. It did not help that this flying beast was actually a giant hawk.
Looking at Sasuke's passive face, Shang Bai couldn't help but nod in approval. Most children generally paled in extreme fear after flying on top of a magical beast for the first time. Some children trembled in fear the whole time, while a smaller amount even wet themselves, but very few people had achieved the same calmness as Sasuke.
Shang Bai thought back to when he had sent Shangyang Hu, the first and eldest son of Sasuke's father, to Kargath Academy a few years back. After sitting on the flying beast, Shangyang Hu's entire body had shivered from fright as he grabbed hold of the feathers on the beast's neck.
"The young master does not seem to be like the others; it truly makes one wonder what sort of accomplishments he will succeed in the future." Shang Bai thought to himself.
Sasuke stared at the flying magical beast below him and asked, "What kind of beast is this, to be flying at such a fast speed?"
"This is only natural!" Shang Bai spoke in a majestic voice, "Young Master, you shouldn't underestimate this magical beast. This magical beast is called the Eagle Beast; it is a Class 4 magical beast which is the equivalent of a Great Saint Master. It can fly through the sky at extremely fast speeds, and even though it is barely Class 4, even someone of the same rank of Earth Saint Master would not be able to fight it when it is in the sky."
"Then that would mean this Eagle Beast is very expensive." Sasuke wondered aloud.
In his previous world, there was no such price tag on summons, as they would be bound to the summoner by a contract scroll, and could be summoned any time the summoner desired.
Shang Bai nodded, "That is natural as well. Flying magical beasts are very expensive; not only because they are hard to capture, but hard to tame as well. Even though flying magical beasts are the fastest way of transportation, riding on one is very dangerous. In the case that a magical beast goes out of control, then the rider will be sent falling from thousands of meters in the air. Even with the power of an Earth Saint Master, surviving a fall like that would be unlikely and even if you're lucky, you will still end up with a fatal injury. Even if it's a Class 1 or 2 flying magical beast, its price is still very expensive, especially if it has a berserk nature or won't submit to a human. Therefore, taming a flying magical beast is a very challenging task to accomplish."
Sasuke nodded his head before slowly becoming silent once more.
Shang Bai looked at the silent Sasuke and said, "Young Master, your older brother Shangyang Hu is also at Kargath Academy. It has been a few years already, so becoming a Saint isn't too far away for him. If you ever come across a problem at the academy, don't be afraid to ask your older brother to help solve it."
"Hn, I know." Sasuke grunted. But his mind felt complicated when he thought of his mysterious older brother. Sasuke had never seen him before, and he didn't even know what his brother's personality was like. He was also very worried about if his older brother would be jealous about his innate skill at cultivating Saint Force, like third brother Shangyang Ke was. Being jealous over something like this was not at all uncommon within a big clan.
In Sasuke's heart, he desperately hoped that such a situation would not happen to him. In his previous life, his older brother Itachi Uchiha had loved him till the end, and had done so much to shield him and protect him. Another person whom he had long considered his brother was Naruto, who had similarly helped him during his darkest times.
Sasuke treasured this bond shared between himself and his previous life brothers, and similarly did not want to come into conflict with someone who was his brother in this new life.
The thing Sasuke cared most about was the bond between Family, and he hoped he would never have to fight against his family in this world as well.
After the Eagle Beast flew for half the day at an extremely high speed, it finally arrived at Kargath Academy, where under Shang Bai's control, it descended to a mere 100 meters above ground.
Kargath Academy was established within the plains, with a great wall 10 meters high surrounding it. The academy was extraordinarily big, and the lands it covered were vast as well. Even though Sasuke was hovering 100 meters above ground, he still couldn't see the entire academy.
Kargath Academy was the most prestigious academy in the Gesun Kingdom, and today was its annual opening ceremony. For that reason, the front gates were extremely lively. There were many people there, as well as a few luxurious carriages that were parked not too far away. However, Sasuke couldn't put names to the types of magical beasts that were pulling the carriages. Virtually every carriage had a few guards protecting them.
From this Sasuke could see how prosperous the Gesun Kingdom was.
In the skies, a few flying magical beasts approached them, descending down onto the academy courtyards. Each of them carried a small child around the Uchiha's age.
Shang Bai instructed the Eagle Beast to fly down towards the courtyards as well, landing them right next to a 100 meter tall tower. He brought Sasuke directly into the tower. Outside, there were still quite a few flying magical beasts resting there,
Sasuke and Shang Bai walked to the top of the tower to meet the headmaster of Kargath Academy. The headmaster was not that much different in age than Shang Bai, and Sasuke had a feeling that the two had some sort of familiarity between them.
Because of this familiarity, Sasuke could easily enter the academy without any problems. Under the instructions of the headmaster, Sasuke's older brother Shangyang Hu had been called up to the top of the tower as well, allowing him to see the mysterious older brother he had never met before.
Shangyang Hu was already 18 years old, the same age as his second sister Shangyang Mingyue, but Shangyang Mingyue was younger by 3 months.
Shangyang Hu was a fairly sturdy teenager who was taller than Sasuke, and he wore the academy uniform. He had already been enrolled in the academy for over 2 years, and his Saint Force had also reached the peak of the 10th layer. However, he had not yet condensed it into a Saint Weapon.
The distance between the peak of the 10th layer and Sainthood was not big at all, but the moment in between was very important, as condensing the Saint Force into a Saint Weapon was a very challenging task. On the Tian Yuan Continent, many people weren't capable of forming a Saint Weapon since birth, because they lacked the aptitude, as well as the innate skill. According to the headmaster, Shangyang Hu had already reached the peak of the 10th layer a year ago and had already tried to form a Saint Weapon 3 times, but only met with failure each time.
However, seeing an 18 year old that could form a Saint Weapon by the age of 18 was rare to see on the Tian Yuan continent. The average age was around 20 years before a Saint Weapon could be formed, but most of them were geniuses. Of course, the average person could make a Saint Weapon at that age as well, but most of them would not be able to walk down the path of martial arts for long.
Because the spiritual energy of the Tian Yuan continent was abundant, the average life span of a person was around 200 years. For a person to form a Saint Weapon at the age of 20, that could be considered decent.
Shang Bai pointed at Shangyang Hu and said to Sasuke, "Young Master, that person is your older brother Shangyang Hu." Looking over at him, he cried, "Eldest master, this is your younger brother Shangyang Xiang Tian."
"Big brother." Sasuke looked at Shangyang Hu with a slight smile as he called out a greeting.
In his eyes, he had felt that Shangyang Hu looked to be a strong yet straightforward person, but his heart was not in complete agreement.
Hearing Sasuke's voice, Shangyang Hu scratched at his cheek with a laugh, "Little brother, feel free to call on me anytime. If you are bullied in the future, then look for me straight away, and I'll smash them to pieces!"
He could not help but chuckle inwardly at his brother's speech, and nodded in response.
His brother bore absolutely no resemblance to Itachi Uchiha, but seeing his straightforward and frank nature could reminded the Uchiha of Naruto, another person as important to him as Itachi.
Any doubts regarding Shangyang Hu disappeared from the Uchiha's mind, and he felt that this was a person he could trust.
Shangyang Hu shook his head and laughed once more, "It'll be no problem, not a problem at all. No matter what you say, I am still your older brother, so protecting you is an absolute must." After this, Shangyang Hu suddenly froze before looking around, his eyes revealing some doubts. "Shang Bai, where are second sister and third brother?" He asked.
"Eldest master, the second lady and third master have not yet reached the requirements to enter the academy, so it is only the Young Master that was able to join." Shang Bai answered serenely.
"Oh!"
Hearing that, Shangyang Hu let loose a disappointed look and began to mutter, "How did they not reach the requirement of reaching the 8th layer. This is silly. It seems little brother is more formidable, since he reached the 8th layer so quickly. He's even more amazing than me, his older brother.
"Eldest master, please escort the Young Master down. From today on, you need to properly look after your younger brother. I still have some business to settle with the headmaster." Shang Bai said.
Shangyang Hu nodded his head firmly and pounded his chest with his fist, "Shang Bai, don't worry! I definitely won't allow anyone in the school to bully fourth brother!"
Afterwards, Sasuke received the school medallion and left with his older brother.
After exiting the tower, Sasuke looked at the school medallion in his hands. Aside from it being proof of him being a student, it also contained his dorm address.
Although Sasuke was not familiar with the layout of the academy, but because Shangyang Hu was there to lead the way, they both ended up at their destination sooner than he had expected.
The dormitories of the academy were built using a very durable type of stone and were split into 2 different areas. One area was for the commoners to live in, and the other side was for people like Sasuke, who had a prestigious clan backing them up. The differences between the two were like comparing the heavens to the earth.
Kargath Academy was Gesun Kingdom's most prestigious academy, so it naturally had to have a unique characteristic.
Kargath Academy had a very strict rule; one must reach the 8th layer of Saint Force before they reach the age of 18 in order to fulfill the requirement. If a student does not reach this level, then even if they are from an extremely prestigious and rich family, they will not be able to enroll in the academy.
Because the tuition costs were very low, even the commoners were able enroll with ease. Some of the students that successfully enrolled came from impoverished families, but Kargath Academy had even waived the fee for many. For that reason, many students were of a commoner's background, and had a poor innate skill for cultivation.
At Kargath Academy, there was also another iron-set rule that an aristocrat's follower could not casually bully commoner students. Otherwise, no matter how powerful your family background was, you would still suffer from a serious punishment. If the situation was serious enough, then you might even be expelled. Although this would offend some major families, Kargath Academy's had the backing of the Gesun Kingdom Royalty. Moreover, the headmaster was one of the six most powerful Saints in Gesun Kingdom, so no major family dared to speak up against this iron-set rule.
Sasuke's dorm room was around 10 square meters, and the room's decor was extremely simple. Aside from a bed and a chair, there wasn't anything else present. However, the entire room had been tidied so that it was extremely clean and organized, and it was completely spotless
"Little brother, this is your room; remember the location well, and be careful to not go the wrong way." Shangyang Hu laughed.
Sasuke nodded, and after throwing down some of the clothes he had brought with him, the Uchiha decided to train further but ended up being reluctantly pulled away by his energetic older brother to wander around the academy grounds. Shangyang Hu claimed that it was so that Sasuke could familiarize himself with his new surroundings.
For the entire afternoon, Sasuke was dragged around by Shangyang Hu to wander aimlessly around the school.
Suddenly, Shangyang Hu opened his mouth to say, "Fourth brother, tomorrow is the annual new student competition. There are plenty of rewards, and the first newcomer champion can even win a rank 3 Magic Stone. The person in second place can win a rank 2 Magic Stone, and the person in third place can win a rank 1 Magic Stone. You have to try your best and earn first place."
Sasuke's heart pounded after hearing that, "But Brother, aren't Class 3 Monster Cores precious?" Even though Sasuke knew about monster cores, he was still ignorant in regards to their prices.
"Of course. Class 3 Monster Cores can be sold for more than 100 Amethyst coins. I joined this academy 4 years ago, but I have never been able to use a Class 3 Monster Core; the highest I've used was a Class 2 core that cost me 50 Amethyst coins." Shangyang Hu's face started to show signs of heartache after saying that.
Sasuke began to plan it all out in his head. He quickly decided that he would try his best to win that Class 3 Monster Core from the academy competition. Despite never using a Class 3 Monster core before, he knew that absorbing the energy contained inside would allow him to increase his rate of cultivation.
He didn't know how fast he would be able to absorb World Essence after taking the Class 3 Core, but he knew that by using it, the peak of the 10th Saint Force Layer was within reach.
As the sky gradually grew darker, Shangyang Hu led Sasuke down to the student dining hall. After the dinner they split off and went their own ways, returning to their dormitories.
After returning to his room, Sasuke closed the door and sat on his bed and to begin cultivating once more. However, he suddenly heard a knock on the door. Sasuke looked at the door in annoyance, before walking to the door and opening it.
Standing outside the door was a 30 year old woman wearing a light green dress. Although her beauty was not so much as to cause entire cities to war for her favor, she could still be considered beautiful. Her long, dark green hair went down to her shoulders, and gave off an impression as if it was floating.
"Is there something you needed?" Sasuke asked with some confusion.
"You are one of the new students of Kargath Academy. Tomorrow will be the Kargath Academy's annual Rookie is mandatory for all new students to participate. Do not forget to come." She spoke with a tone that was as equally apathetic as her stare.
"Yes, I know. Is there anything else?" Sasuke asked in an irritated tone.
"No." After dropping this word, the woman turned around to leave and walk to the next room. It seemed as if she had to notify every students one by one.
Closing the door, Sasuke returned to his bed and sat down on it. Quickly, he returned to a silent state of cultivation.
The next morning, Sasuke finished his night of cultivation, left his room and headed towards the dining hall alone. Since he left so early, there weren't many people up yet so he was able to find himself an empty table to sit at due to the entire hall being almost empty.
After eating his breakfast, Sasuke headed towards the center of the academy grounds where the sports field were. The academy competition would be taking place in the stadium here.
Along the way, Sasuke noticed that he was surrounded by rookies just like him, and they were also heading towards the giant field. Because the elder students all wore a school uniform, Sasuke could clearly recognize which ones were Rookie. Although, there weren't that many upperclassmen;perhaps they did not have much interest in the rookie competition.
When Sasuke arrived at the sports field, he could see 5 circles, each 30 feet in diameter, on top of the sports grounds. There were already many people already surrounding it.
Sasuke arrived at a tree a few meters away from the grounds.
He saw many people his own age taking with one another in large groups, but the Uchiha quickly distanced himself from them, preferring his own silent company.
Quietly walking towards the tree, he pushed off against the tree trunk to jump upwards towards the tree top. Settling down on the tree branch, Sasuke started to rest in the shade, since it was still too early for the competition to start. He was in no rush to get there so early, and pointlessly suffer under the blazing sun.
Time quickly passed. Soon, it was the time for the competition to start. At this time, the competition arena was already packed with thousands of students. Only a few of them wore student uniforms, everyone else was a new student.
However, Sasuke noticed that most of the Rookie students –students who had achieved the ninth layer or better– were most definitely from commoner families.
He made this judgement based on the new student uniforms they all had to wear; these people were wearing crude and coarse versions. This made sense given that the Gesun Kingdom was predominantly comprised of commoners, and children from impoverished families were used to working hard. Thus, these kids worked hard to improve when cultivating Saint Force, and so were capable of reaching the 8th layer and joining Kargath Academy.
Aside from those students, the rest of the Rookie seemed to be around 16 to 17 years old.
Sasuke himself was 15 when he had reached the 8th layer, an achievement that could not be so easily replicated, and so it made Sasuke the youngest student there. Despite that, Sasuke's physical growth far surpassed anyone else. Although he was really 15 years old, he was built as if he were a few years older.
After resting for a while, Sasuke hopped to the ground nimbly and walked towards the competition area. Although a crowd was already forming, Sasuke didn't try to force his way through. Instead, he calmly stood on the outside. Regarding the freshman competition, Sasuke had no interest in it at all; even watching it didn't seem appealing to him. The only reason he would be participating today was because of the Class 3 Monster Core.
"Everyone, quiet down!"
Suddenly, a loud piercing sound rang out. The cry was so loud, it was heard by everyone in the sports field and everybody immediately became quiet. In an instant, the whole field became absolutely silent..
A white-robed, middle-aged man came walking up to the podium. The man looked like any other man his age, with no remarkable features. However, the light in his eyes was so bright, it looked as if he had a Saint Weapon hidden inside, making people afraid to stare straight into his eyes.
Looking at everyone, the man smiled kindly. Speaking loudly in a friendly voice, he said, "Dear students, I am the vice-principal of Kargath Academy Baien. I will be the one in charge of today's martial arts competition today as well as being the one who makes up the rules. I am going to presume everyone has already seen the rules on the post board at the school gates, so I won't repeat it. The prize for this year is the same as always, the first place winner will win a Class 3 Monster Core, the runner up will win the Class 2 Monster Core, and the third place winner will get the Class 1 Monster Core. Other than that, the top 50 participants in this competition will receive a single Amethyst coin as a prize.
Hearing this, every single student wearing the uniform of the commoners began to cheer in excitement. They did not spend much from day to day and only had simple food as their meal every day. A single Gold Coin was enough to feed a family of three for a month, and an Amethyst Coin was worth 100 Gold coins. Although a Monster Core was a precious item, but none of them had any high hopes to win one since there were only 3 chances to earn one. But getting a single Amethyst coin had 50 chances to be earned.
At this moment, pretty much all the students from less privileged families could not help but become more excited. They all inwardly swore to themselves that for the sake of this Amethyst Coin, they would have to work hard to enter the top 50 spots.
Looking at the jubilant expressions on the faces of the commoners, some of the nobles looked on with disdain. A single Amethyst coin may not be such a small amount of money to a commoner, but to a noble, it was worth very little. Even Sasuke had 50 Amethyst coins on himself to use as he wished.
The Rookie Academy competition began not long after. The students personally drew individual lots to draw tags from within a large container. However, the tags were covered by a piece of paper, making it impossible to see the numbers on them.
The two pots had different labels. One of the pots were for students who had reached the 8th layer while the other pot was for those who had reached the 9th layer. This method made sure that no student would fight another student from a different layer and make the outcome of the battle completely predictable from the start.
Although Kargath Academy's lowest entry requirement was having reached the eighth Saint Force level, there were always some new people amongst the Rookie every year that were geniuses who were not at all lacking in terms of cultivation. It could also be said that there were a few treasured geniuses that had been given up by the aristocratic families, so there were always Rookie that had already achieved the ninth Saint Force layer admitted to the school every year.
Drawing lots did not take long to accomplish, and soon enough it was Sasuke's turn. Looking at the pot, Sasuke casually grabbed a single tag from within. Unsealing the tag, he read the words with a relieved look, "Third stage, number 64."
Seeing the number on the tag, he inwardly understood clearly that his opponent would be number 136 on the third stage, because this time's competition matched opponents based on finding the two numbers that would give a sum of 200.
After getting their tags, every student slowly walked towards their respective platforms while Sasuke walked over to the third platform.
The competitions were progressing at a fast rate, as the first round of the competition only took half a day. Because Sasuke's own opponent was not at all knowledgeable about how to fight with martial arts, Sasuke had easily won and made his way into round 2.
After eating lunch, the Rookie martial arts competition continued. However, the number of competitors had decreased by half. It seemed like there were only 500 people present by the end of that first round.
The second round was decided in the same way as the first round, with drawing lots. Because the amount of people that remained was far less than that of the first round, it had only took 4 hours to finish. By the end of the 2nd round, 256 students were left standing, Coincidentally, since it was an even number, then there would not be an awkward situation where there would be a student that was left out of the drawings.
Immediately heading into the third round, people began to draw lots to find their opponents. By night time, there were only 128 people that advanced onwards, with Sasuke standing amongst them with a bored expression.
Leaving the competition grounds, Sasuke noticed that the sky had long since darkened. He glanced at his protesting stomach and shook his head with slight disappointment. In his previous world, he could have gone several days and nights without eating and still not feel hungry. Now that he was used to three meals a day, he now felt hungry after skipping a single meal, leaving Sasuke to feel slightly disappointed with himself.
Soon, Sasuke arrived at the dining hall. After receiving his food, he found an empty seat and began to eat. Although the food was simple, completely incomparable to what he had in the Shangyang household, Sasuke still ate it with relish.
Since the current Rookie martial arts competition had just ended, the current number of people present in the dining hall was not any less than usual. In fact, there were so many people that not long after Sasuke sat down, all of the seats in the dining hall had been filled. There were still many people who couldn't find available spaces. Although Sasuke was sitting alone at a table, not a single person dared to sit together with him, since all the other students there were peasants. How could they possibly dare to sit with Sasuke, who was wearing luxurious clothing? It was obvious at first glance that he was from an aristocratic family.
Just as Sasuke began to eat with relish, a hand suddenly slapped onto his shoulder, causing the table to shake from the action.
Sasuke furrowed his brows as he slowly lifted his head up. The owner of the hand belonged to a male noble around 20 years old. Beside him were two youths, with faces full of arrogance. One was a male, and one was a female, and both wore luxurious satin clothing. It was obvious from first glance that they were from wealthy families.
Looking at the three nicely dressed students with a irritated expression, he spoke, "What?"
The 20 year old noble's face had an ominous glint as he stared at Sasuke. Speaking arrogantly, the noble said, "Hey, brat. This table here belongs to us, you should sit somewhere else." Although the youth could tell that Sasuke was by no means a commoner from the clothes he wore, the youth still did not bother to look at Sasuke in the eye.
Sasuke looked at him with unconcealed disdain, and snorted, completely ignoring the three youths. The Uchiha did not feel like creating a scene within his first day at the Academy.
Realising he had been ignored, the noble's face looked quite angry. Having already lost his patience, he shouted, "Are you going to move or not?!"
By this time, the spectacle at Sasuke's table had already attracted the attention of everyone else. Although there were many people watching, no one had the audacity to step in to say something.
A smirk appeared on Sasuke's face. These type of occurrences had almost never happened in his past life.
"Obediently wait for me to finish my food first." Looking away, Sasuke began to dig into his food with renewed interest.
However, to these three people, Sasuke's meaning was loud and clear.
"Brother, it looks your power isn't enough in this school; you couldn't even claim a table. You'd better not make the two of us eat our food outside." The girl behind the noble lightly laughed.
Hearing these words, the look of awkwardness on the face of the 20 years old or so young man disappeared, leaving only a look of anger. Staring viciously at Sasuke, he shouted, "Kid, what is your name, and what family are you from? If you have the courage, tell me."
Sasuke's eyebrows creased together, but before he could say anything, another voice cried out, "Kadiyun, you are one of the upper classmen of Kargath Academy, to think you have the nerve to bully one of the Rookie!"
The one who had spoken was another person about the same age as Kadiyun. He also wore the same academy uniform, and he walked towards them.
Seeing this youth, Kadiyun face slightly changed. His eyes showed a hint of fear, as he said, "Moran, you should not meddle in my affairs."
At this point, Sasuke knew the names of both people. The one from earlier was called Kadiyun, and the one that had just arrived was called Moran.
The youth called Moran chuckled and said, "Kadiyun, it is true that your affairs are not for me to meddle in. But since I am an upperclassman, I cannot ignore the troubles of a junior."
Hearing this, the faces of the two youths standing behind Kadiyun changed.
At this time, the girl standing behind Kadiyun hesitated a bit, and then lightly tugged at Kadiyun's clothes. She lightly whispered, "Big brother, there are some open seats over there, we should just go sit over there.
Kadiyun looked around the dining hall, and sure enough, a spot not too far away had opened up. Staring at Sasuke with a ferocious glare, he waved his hand, "Second brother, third sister, let's go." He said as he started to walk over to the empty table; if he had continued with this spectacle, then there would had been no benefit for him. He was also slightly afraid of coming out as the loser, since Moran's clan was not at all weaker than his own clan. Moran himself was actually stronger than him.
But that wasn't the most important aspect. The bigger matter at hand was that if word got out that an upper classman like Kadiyun was bullying one of the Rookie, then he would become the target of ridicule. Furthermore, if the headmaster heard about this, then he would definitely receive a strict punishment.
Another reason why Kadiyun wasn't willing to pick on commoners for their seats was for something that every upper classmen knew about within their hearts. As one of the 6 strongest Saints of the Gesun Kingdom, the headmaster of Kargath Academy was very partial towards the poor students.
At that moment, Kadiyun's sister looked at Sasuke with renewed interest as if she suddenly recalled something. Opening her mouth, she said, "Oh, I just remembered. You're one of the 128 Rookie students that made it into the next step of the competition. I saw you on top of the fighting arenas." As she spoke, the girl's eyes suddenly gained a malicious intent within them.
Hearing this, the previously silent male turned around to say something, "I hope that I'll be matched up against you tomorrow in the competition then." With an evil laugh, he turned around and walked towards the empty table where Kadiyun was heading towards.
Taking in the words of that male student, Sasuke didn't bother responding, nor did he care about the person at all.
Moran walked on over to Sasuke and patted his shoulder with a laugh, "You really have guts to not have given Kadiyun face. If he tries to bully you in the future, then all you need to do is just look for me."
Sasuke stood up from his stool and spoke, "I am Shangyang Xiang Tian. Thanks for the help."
Moran started to chuckle, "You doesn't need to be this polite. Kadiyun's clan has been fairly aggressive within the academy recently. I've long since found him to be quite annoying, but unfortunately, I could never find an opportunity to teach him a lesson. Right, I am called Moran."
"You'll want to be very careful in the competition tomorrow. The two people behind Kadiyun were his younger sister Kadili, and his younger brother Kadiliang. It's been rumored that both of them have already reached the 9th layer of Saint Force."
Sasuke only smirked and said, "You don't need to worry."
Nodding, Moran said, "It's getting late so I'll be returning to my dorm. I hope we'll see each other again."
After he left, Sasuke quickly finished up the rest of his meal before returning to his dorm. Throughout the entire day, he hadn't seen his older brother Shangyang Hu at all. His actions and whereabouts were completely unknown.
Casually sweeping away the dust in his room, Sasuke climbed onto the bed and began to cultivate once more, as per accordance to the lessons.
The second day of the competition quickly progressed. Because there were less and less people, the top 8 were quickly decided by the end of the day. After the top 50 had been established, the academy had cancelled the rule that prevented students from the 8th layer to fight against those from the 9th layer. The students were now free to fight with whomever they were matched up against, so aside from Sasuke and another suntanned student, the other 6 students had already reached the 9th layer of Saint Force. In order for the suntanned student or Sasuke to enter the top 8, they had to defeat some students who had already reached the 9th layer of Saint Force.
Other than that, Sasuke had ran into something unexpected. Of the 6 Rookie who reached the 9th layer, 2 of them were the students he had ran into yesterday: Kadi Qiuli and Kadi Liang. Although Sasuke had yet to fight against the two, he felt that each time he saw them, there was a hidden air of provocation between them.
Regarding the two siblings' glares, Sasuke paid no mind to them. In his mind, he could only think about pitting himself against the only other 8th layer Saint Force freshman. That male student's martial art style was clearly seen by Sasuke, who thought that it was fairly unique that suited him greatly. His strength was extraordinary as well, which was the main reason why he had made it into the top 8 without any real trouble. His strength far surpassed those of anyone else his age,, and half the opponents he had faced had been thrown out of the ring.
The final matches were to be held tomorrow, and by the end of that, the Rookie Champion would be announced.
Leaving the sports grounds, Sasuke immediately headed towards the dining hall. After getting his food, he saw out of the corner of his eye one of the competitors of the competition; it was the suntanned student. He was currently eating by himself in a corner of the room. The student was wearing simple clothing with a few patches over it. Although the male looked to be around 16 years old, Sasuke could see a firm expression on his slightly immature face. His stature and build did not fit his age at all; he was already reaching a height of 1.8 meters, almost as tall as Sasuke's brother, Shangyang Hu, and his girth was larger by a circle too.
With a bit of hesitation, he walked towards the table where the suntanned student was eating, and sat down with his tray. Turning his head to greet him, Sasuke spoke, "I am Shangyang Xiang Tian. What name do you go by?"
Tilting his head up to meet Sasuke, his eyes slowly swept over his clothes before he said, "I am called Tieta."
Sasuke said, "I only recently saw you fight in the competition. To see a student of the 8th layer beat students of the 9th layer is truly admirable."
Hearing Sasuke's praise, Tieta couldn't help but laugh as well, "I only won because my strength was better than theirs, that's all. They were truly difficult to deal with; even now I'm still sore from the matches."
Hearing Tieta, Sasuke couldn't help but ask, "Tieta, you say you have a great amount of strength, but how heavy of an object can you lift?"
"When I was back at home, I could lift a 200 kilogram rock." He said quite arrogantly with a face full of pride.
Sasuke's face went blank as he heard that answer. This was a monster of a student; a 200 kilogram rock was impossible to lift for the average adult. But for a young boy like Tieta to be able to lift such a titanic rock, Sasuke could only feel awe from this fact.
"Tieta, how old are you?" Sasuke had started to look at Tieta in a different light now.
"16 years old." Tieta said as he munched on his food, his chewing caused his words to be almost inaudible.
Sasuke's impression of him grew even more as he said, "Tieta, did you have this strength since you were a kid?"
"That's right, my strength was always stronger than most but then so was my appetite. Because I couldn't always eat until I was full in my home, I usually went up to the mountains and hunted for my own food." Tieta said flatly.
Taking in a deep breath, Sasuke mentally confirmed that Tieta's strength was definitely a god given power. Otherwise, a young boy like him would never have been able to lift such a heavy rock. But what surprised Sasuke even more was that Tieta would frequently hunt by himself in the mountains. For someone who was barely 16 to be able to hunt with ease in the mountains, this made Sasuke's respect for him grow by an large amount. After all, not only did wild beasts appear in the mountains, magical beasts would occasionally appear as well and the latter's strengths were incomparable to those of regular wild beasts.
Tieta rubbed at his stomach and stood up from his stool with a laugh, "Shangyang Xiang Tian, I've eaten my fill so I'll be returning to my dorm to sleep. Tomorrow is another day of the competition after all."
Sasuke nodded his head, "I hope that you will make it into the top 3 in tomorrow's contest."
The Uchiha hoped to fight him. He wanted to see the level of strength the residents of this new world had.
Tieta fiercely nodded and a resolute look could be seen in his eyes, "I will definitely work hard and strive for the top 3. A single Class 1 Monster Core can be sold for at least 10 Amethyst coins!"
Not long after Tieta had left, Sasuke quickly ate his own food and returned to his room. Right as he closed the door behind him, a knock could be heard on it.
"Brother, are you here?" Asked Shangyang Hu in a strong voice.
Hearing the voice, Sasuke was surprised. It had been two full days since he had last seen any trace of his brother. Quickly opening the door, he invited Shangyang Hu inside his room.
"Little brother, I'm sorry but I haven't been keeping track with your progress in the competition." He hurriedly said before Sasuke could open his mouth to ask a question.
Sasuke nodded his head and said, "I've already advanced onto the top 8; tomorrow will be the final day of the matches."
As he listened to Sasuke, Shangyang Hu suddenly grew happy for his younger brother's success.
Excitedly, he said, "Little brother, you are truly amazing! It's no wonder you came here before second sister and third brother." Fishing a thumb sized crystal out of his pockets, Shangyang Hu placed it within Sasuke's hands, "Little brother, this is a Class 1 Monster Core. Two days ago, a few friends and I went to the forest behind the academy and killed a Class 1 Magical Beast together. This is the monster core I fought to get for you, so take it. It's already getting late, so your big brother won't disturb your rest anymore. Tomorrow is the final day of the competition, so you must work hard and earn the number one title!" Shangyang Hu then exited from the room, after slowly closing the door shut.
The moment before Shangyang Hu could close the door, Sasuke caught a glimpse of a 3 inch long claw mark that ran down Shangyang Hu's arm.
Silently looking at the Class 1 Monster Core in his hands, Sasuke's eyes widened.
He did not think his older brother would go this far to help him succeed in the competition.
Although it was only a Class 1 Monster Core, Sasuke could feel Shangyang Hu's concern radiating from it. Thinking back to the wound on Shangyang Hu's arm, Sasuke knew that the wound came from hunting a magical beast. Whenever Sasuke thought about the gift, he couldn't help but feel warm inside, a sensation familiar to when he thought of Itachi.
After standing in the center of his room with a stunned expression for a while, Sasuke finally took a deep breath, gradually forcing himself into a state of calm. Then, he got onto his bed to start cultivating once more. Although he had the monster core now, he did not want to use it just yet, so he stored it away in his Space Belt. With the competition in mind, Sasuke fully believed that he could take the number one spot. And although he had lost a great amount of his power after reincarnating, he still had the knowledge of every type of swordplay, as well as understanding nearly unmatched in the sword, so much that they were ingrained into his soul. He had not lost his understanding of the ways of the sword, and so this is how Sasuke would advance through the continent in the future.
Not only that, but the Uchiha could just use his Sharingan if the worst came to worst.
The next morning, Sasuke finished his breakfast quickly before arriving at the competition. Perhaps it was because today was the final day of the competition, but a lot more people came today than the two previous days combined. Many of these newcomers were older students.
The fighting grounds had been fully fixed last night, and the original five arenas had been changed to four. However, the four arenas were now larger than before; the arenas from yesterday were on a completely different level that couldn't be compared with the new sizes.
At this moment, Sasuke felt something behind him. Turning around, he saw his older brother Shangyang Hu forging his way forward of the crowd, trying to reach him.
Taking note of Sasuke's stare, Shangyang Hu smiled widely. Quickly detaching himself from the crowd, he ran up to Sasuke's side and slapped him on the shoulder. "Little Brother, today is the day you must work hard. Your big brother won't demand of you to get the number one spot; getting into the top 3 is good enough!" To Shangyang Hu, getting a monster core was only a minor reward, the most important thing was getting a good rank. Although the price of a monster core was not easily ignored, it was not something that the eldest son of the Shangyang Clan deeply desired.
Sasuke smiled and said, "Big brother, you don't have to worry. I definitely will not let you down."
His impression of his older brother was quite good.
The time of the competition came quickly. This time, the top 8 would fight it out in the semi finals. After drawing lots to decide their opponents, Sasuke immediately walked onto the arena. Not long after, Sasuke's opponent slowly came up into the arena, but to Sasuke's surprise, his opponent was a girl. More precisely, his opponent was the girl from last time– Kadi Qiuli.
Kadi Qiuli was wearing a dark red style of clothing, and although she was only 16 or 17 years old, her body was developing nicely. At this point, she had already enraptured the attention of all the boys in the crowd. However, as true as it was for most people born into a prestigious clan, she carried around with her an arrogant air.
Sasuke stood empty handed on top of the arena. The reason why he was empty handed was because of the academy rules. They believed that the best way to judge a person's strength was by empty handed combat, and so bladed weapons were not allowed. And since it was not possible to form a Saint Weapon without being a Saint, all of the Rookie were forced to fight without weapons.
Kadi Qiuli looked at Sasuke with a haughty look, "You really didn't let us down. For your arrogance in the dining hall the other day, I'll be sure to teach you a lesson today." Kadi Qiuli's voice carried a sharp but clear sounding tone.
Hearing this Sasuke's face revealed a look of disdain.
A loud sound rung throughout the arena, signalling the start of the match.
Because all four of the arenas were in the same place, the moment the gong was heard, all 8 participants simultaneously started to move and began to fight.
Kadi Qiuli quickly strode towards Sasuke, but when she was within 3 meters from him, she suddenly jumped up into the air to deliver a flying jump kick towards his face. Although she was young, she was fairly strong since she was already at the 9th Saint Force layer.
Sasuke stood in place without moving a single step. As Kadi Qiuli's foot got closer to his face, he tilted his neck sideways, allowing the kick to merely graze past the side of his head.
Her reaction speed was fairly fast, the moment she realized her kick didn't connect, she swung out at his nose with a Saint Force enhanced fist. Not only was her fist coming in at rapid speeds, but with a huge amount of energy stored within her fist, any normal person would come out with serious injuries after being hit by that. As far as Sasuke was concerned, she would not hold back. No matter if she ended up defeating Sasuke and moving on into the top 4, or if she was just teaching Sasuke a lesson, she would definitely not allow herself to hold back.
Sasuke dealt with Ka Di Qiuli's attack with ease, and although his opponent was one layer higher than him, Sasuke was not like an average child. His battle experiences from his past world were abundant, so if he wanted to continue this match without fighting back, then Kadi Qiuli wouldn't even be able to touch his clothes, much less beat him within five rounds.
After she had tried to attack him a few dozen times without even being able to even touch Sasuke's clothes, she grew extremely annoyed and stopped her barrage of blows. Panting slightly, she stuck both her hands by her waists and glared at Sasuke, "Hey, are you going to actually fight or not? If you're not going to fight, then get off the arena instead of jumping around all over the place."
Sasuke smirked as he looked at the fuming Ka Di Qiuli and shook his head, "The person that'll be leaving the arena will be you, not me. How do you plan to beat me if you can't even touch my clothes?"
"Y-you…" Ka Di Qiuli's naturally beautiful face grew red with anger as she pointed at him with her finger, and she was momentarily unable to speak. But then she grew calm and she rolled her eyes, sneering, "So what if I can't touch you? You can't even stand to fight me head on, and can only dodge my blows like a little coward."
"Is that what you think?" Sasuke's face revealed a hint of a smile as he looked at her with a strange expression.
Kadi Qiuli looked on haughtily, speaking with complete conviction, "Of course. If you aren't a coward, then you'd better try actually fighting me."
Sasuke glanced over at the other 3 rings and saw that the other matches were beginning to wrap up.
Turning his head back to look at Ka Di Qiuli again, he spoke, "Then, I'll grant you your wish."
Hearing Sasuke words, Kadi Qiuli's eyes brightened, "You said so yourself, so don't you dare try to say otherwise later!" Kadi Qiuli clearly had no desire to let Sasuke prepare himself, so before she could even finish her sentence, she had already started to dash towards him. Just like the first blow, she leapt up into the air and lashed her leg out to kick him in the face, but this time the speed of her kick was much faster than her original one.
Sasuke gave an odd smile as the kick came closer. Just like he said earlier, Sasuke didn't bother to dodge, but instead, as the kick was right in front of his face, both of his hands lashed out and grabbed onto Ka Di Qiuli's calf. Exerting a decent amount of strength while twisting around, he whirled her around in one smooth motion. As he threw her, Kadi Qiuli cried out in panic as she was spun around by Sasuke.
Many of the surrounding students watching the event became dumbstruck. The Uchiha's fighting manner was not graceful.
Under the arena, Kadiyun felt the veins in his forehead throb as he watched his younger sister get mistreated in such a way. A murderous intent was focused on Sasuke as he watched him; if it weren't for the vice headmaster Baien presiding over the match nearby, then Kadiyun would have charged onto the arena long ago to teach Sasuke a lesson.
Sasuke's two arms were almost like strong pincers, clamping down onto her legs, as he spun her around twice before finally letting go. At that moment, one could only see Kadi Qiuli's beautiful body streak across the sky in an arc, before finally flying out of the arena, and crashing into a group of people in the audience.
The Uchiha tried not to laugh at the situation. It matters not how fast you are, if you can't even got your opponent.
He had learned this trick from Tieta. After watching Tieta in some of his matches, he saw that he had done a similar method to easily toss his opponents out of the arena. However, Sasuke had to admit, this method was a very easy trick to pull off for a quick but easy victory, and could be done to certain people with ease.
With only a tiny bit of disdain for the people in the audience who helped Kadi Qiuli back to her feet, Sasuke smirked as the referee proclaimed him the winner, before walking off the stage slowly.
Blankly looking at Sasuke walk off the arena, Kadi Qiuli's face fell. Since she was born, she had been pampered by thousands of people as she grew. For her to suffer humiliation from being tossed into the air after being spun around like a top, she had felt that she lost face as well as being wronged, despite not getting injured. As she thought about this, her eyes started to tear up, and she eventually began to leak out streams of tears as she cried silently to herself.
As Sasuke walked down from the arena,her brother, Kadiyun, blocked his path. Glaring at him icily, he growled, "Kid, you really have some fucking courage to treat my sister like that."
Sasuke coldly glanced over at the furious Kadiyun and snorted. Without saying anything, Sasuke walked away from him.
Watching Sasuke walk farther and farther away from him, Kadiyun's own face grew even more somber.
With the end of Sasuke's match, the final 4 names were called out. In the end, it was Shangyang Xiang Tian, Tieta, Kadi Liang, and Tian Mu Xiong that remained.
As far as Tieta was concerned, Sasuke was not at all surprised that he had made it. However, Sasuke did not think that Kadi Liang would unexpectedly make it into the top 4.
There was also the fourth participant, Tian Mu Xiong. His age wasn't all that different from Ka Di Qiuli. He had a medium-sized body, and a pale complexion. Although he was young, there was no doubt that he was handsome, with a perfect balance of his facial structures.
Sitting on top of the platform was the vice headmaster, Baien, who slowly looked over the four remaining students. With a small nod and a laugh, he announced, "It would appear that this year's Rookie are much stronger than the Rookie before them. I can only hope that our Kargath Academy will be able to boast of someone just as strong after."
After announcing the four remaining students, they were given an hour of rest before continuing on with the competition. However, by some miraculous chance, Sasuke's drawn opponent was Kadi Liang, while Tieta's opponent was Tian Mu Xiong.
Under the arena, Kadiyun and his siblings gathered at the bottom and watched; Kadi Qiuli's eyes were starting to become red and inflamed by this point.
"Brother, you have to teach him a lesson later." Kadi Qiuli said with unrestrained fury to Kadi Liang before the match started.
Noticing his sister's red eyes and her tear stained face, Kadi Liang couldn't help but feel extremely furious as he spoke, "Sister Qiuli, don't worry. Even if I get penalized by the academy, your second brother will definitely teach him a lesson."
"Hmph, what a savage kid. To think that he would dare treat our sister like this, he really does have a death wish. Sister, please don't worry, I guarantee you, that kid will definitely only feel suffering for as long as he lives in this academy. Although the headmaster sides with the poor people, he is by no means a commoner. Even if I beat him until he's a cripple, the headmaster won't say a thing; at the very most, he'll just scold us." Kadiyun's face looked as if he swallowed poison. When it came to their sister, both Kadiyun and Kadi Liang cared greatly for her. When Sasuke had treated their sister in such a way, he had already earned extreme hatred from both of them.
Soon, Sasuke and Kadi Liang both walked onto the arena, and waited for the start of the match. Right as the gong sounded, Kadi Liang dashed towards Sasuke and tried to slam his fist into Sasuke's stomach.
Sasuke nimbly dodged Kadi Liang's attack, while returning the blow with his own fist that was even faster than his opponent's.
Before Kadi Liang could even respond, Sasuke's fist had already made contact with his back. The force of his punch was so strong, it forced him to stagger backwards, before falling to his knees.
After one blow, Sasuke didn't bother to hold back. Both of his legs went into motion as he quickly ran towards where Kadii Liang was kneeling. All of a sudden, the originally staggering Ka Di Liang suddenly lost his footing once more and was sent flying again. After being hit, he flew two meters towards the edge of the ring, almost knocking him out of it, though half of his body was already hanging out of it.
Watching this display of might, every student watching Sasuke all cried out in surprise. They had never imagined that in a single engagement, the victor would be so readily decided. This was something that every student thought was amazing; the 9th layer Saint Force student Kadi Liang was being beaten so easily by the 8th Saint Force layer Sasuke.
Seeing half of Kadi Liang's body sticking out from the ring, both Ka Di Qiuli's and Kadiyun's hearts leapt out from their chests and into their throats.
"Sigh, how can second brother be this careless, how-how annoying. He'd better not lose to a brat like him." Kadi Qiuli cried as she stamped her foot in anger. Though the longer she looked at Kadi Liang, the more easily one could tell her face was full of concern for her older brother.
Kadiyun let out a breath in exasperation, "What is second brother doing for him to be this careless and lose to a brat who's only at the 8th Saint Force?"
On top of the platform, the vice headmaster Baien smiled excitedly as he said, "The Rookie we picked up this year are definitely jewels. One has been blessed by the heavens, while the other I can polish and shine in the future. While his attacks are simple, there is a strange sort of mystery to him. Every single time there is a crucial point in the match, he unleashes highly accurate moves with almost instantaneous reactions. These two students truly do require closer nurturing. I believe that in the future, these two will be great experts within the Tian Yuan continent. I'd better discuss this with the headmaster later."
On the arena, Kadi Liang scrambled to pick himself back up, his forehead already dripping with cold sweat. If his body had slipped just a few more inches, then there would be no doubt that his body would've fallen down from the arena. And then if he truly did lose to an 8th Saint Force layer student in such a disgraceful manner, he would definitely have been labeled as a great disgrace.
When Kadi Liang crawled back up and turned himself around, his surroundings suddenly blurred, and he was suddenly aware of an acute sense of pain in his stomach before he could fully comprehend what was happening. But then, his body felt as light as a feather, before he realized the stage was growing smaller and smaller. The next thing he knew, his body impacted the ground below, and his previously spotless white robes now sported a single dusty footprint.
Blankly standing up from the ground, Kadi Liang looked all around himself, before he fully comprehended what had just happened. Indignation burst forth from his eyes, as he shot Sasuke a malicious glare. Although he had reached the 9th layer, he had ultimately been beaten by a student who had only reached the 8th layer, and felt his defeat was an extreme waste. Every time he thought of this, Kadi Liang's heart filled with endless anger. To him, this was definitely a huge disgrace.
Kadiyun walked up to Kadi Liang and said, "Second brother, you've disappointed me. You have really lost face for our Kadi clan." After dropping these words, Kadi Yun didn't spare a second glance at Kadi Liang, and immediately left the area.
Hearing Kadiyun's words, Kadi Liang's face immediately turned beyond ugly.
"Second brother, you were too careless. Although you said that you would help me teach him a lesson, it ultimately became you being the one that was taught." Kadi Qiuli said resentfully in a disappointed voice, her tone quite indignant.
Hearing this, Kadi Liang's face changed as well, before growling, "This was the extent of his luck. It was because of this arena that he won; if we were to change places, then there would be no way he would be an opponent for me. Third sister, don't worry, I will definitely teach him a lesson in the future."
Kadi Qiuli began to think; she felt that his reasoning had some truth to it. Slowly nodding her head, she said, "Second brother, you'll have to teach him a lesson for sure next time."
Kadi Liang patted his chest, and solemnly vowed, "Don't worry, third sister. Leave this to me."
Not too long after Sasuke had won his match, the match between Tieta and Tian Mu Xiong also started to wrap up. Although Tieta's Saint Force was lower than his opponent by a single layer, his blessed strength helped make up for this deficiency. In the end, he relied on the experience he had learned from hunting beasts and was finally able to beat Tian Mu Xiong by a narrow victory.
Along with Sasuke, he became one of the two finalists. By the end of the next match, one of the two will emerge victorious and be crowned the Rookie Champion.
After resting for two hours, the competition finals finally started. Sasuke and Tieta walked into the arena together,before walking to opposite ends 10 meters apart.
There were over 1000 students watching the arena already, while even more people were trying to find seats.
Sasuke looked at Tieta with a smile as he spoke, "Tieta, I didn't think you were this strong to be able to end up in the finals."
Hearing Sasuke's compliment, Tieta's face reddened from embarrassment, though it was obvious that he was very happy to hear the praise. With an honest laugh, Tieta spoke in a low voice, "Shangyang Xiang Tian, you're just as amazing."
The Uchiha smirked, "Tieta, this is the final round. Only one of us will be crowned the Rookie Champion, so you need to fight your hardest. If you beat me, then you'll be the champion; by winning, you'll earn a Class 3 Monster Core that is worth a few hundred purple coins. It'll be worth enough to feed your family for a lifetime."
Tieta grew pumped up after hearing Sasuke talk, "Shangyang Xiang Tian, I'll definitely use all of my strength, so you'd better prepare yourself!"
Sasuke could only laugh and nod, "I won't be that easy to defeat."
As the gong sounded to indicate the beginning of the match, Tieta immediately rushed forward after the sound. Tieta rushed at Sasuke, and immediately reached out to grab him with both hands, he planned to use his heavenly blessed strength to lift and throw Sasuke out of the arena.
Realizing his plan, Sasuke smirked; he was already extremely familiar with Tieta's style of fighting. For every single match so far, Tieta had used the same strategy, but it had worked nicely. If Sasuke was caught by him, then it would be extremely difficult to escape from Tieta's grasp.
Sasuke retreated a few steps to escape from Tieta's reach. Clenching his left hand into a fist, he used around 80% of his strength to strike at his chest.
Sasuke's fist was well timed and fast, not allowing Tieta any time to react at all.
Sasuke's fist let out a muffled sound on impact against Tieta's chest. However, Sasuke's look of satisfaction slowly changed, while Tieta had a look of amazement. What he had punched did not feel like a human at all, instead, his fist had felt like it had smashed against a wall. Not only was Tieta strong, but his physical body was extremely robust, so robust that it was actually beyond belief.
Sasuke's punch, however, had forced Tieta to stagger backwards, but only for a moment. Roaring out loud, he charged at Sasuke once more with both of his hands outstretched. With a punch using only 80% of his strength, Sasuke didn't even leave a mark on Tieta's skin.
Sasuke began to feel excitement as he watched Tieta come closer with his fists. He had long wanted to fight a worthy opponent since coming to this world.
He didn't bother to dodge or flee; instead, he prepared to use 100% of his power to strike back with his own hands.
The two fists struck against each other in midair, and the impact created a loud sound. It was so loud, that everyone in the crowd below the arena could hear it as clear as day.
As the two fists made contact, Sasuke's feet couldn't help but slide backwards at least 10 meters before finally stopping. His right hand had already started to tremble, so it was clear to see that Sasuke had taken more damage than given. Even though he had surpassed the average cultivation level for Saint Force, he was still far from the level where he could easily ignore damage from something like this.
Tieta, on the other hand, only slid backwards two meters. His face showed no outward emotion, and he appeared to not have suffered even the smallest amount of damage.
Sasuke rubbed at his reddening hand. After two confrontations, he now fully understood how foolish it was to engage with Tieta straight on. Tieta's strength wasn't just used for intimidation, his body was actually inconceivably strong.. Even someone a level stronger than Tieta could not be his equal. The only thing that could lead to victory against Tieta was if one relied on speed.
"Tieta, your strength has already far surpassed my expectations, but I'll be using my full strength now." Sasuke said as he walked forward.
Tieta laughed, "Come then, Shangyang Xiang Tian, you won't be able to hurt me." Tieta's tone was filled with a fierce conviction.
Sasuke activated his Sharingan, as Tieta rushed at him full speed.
The Uchiha was able to observe Tieta's entire body in slow motion, and formulated a plan in an instant.
Much like Chakra, the Uchiha sent Saint Energy down to his feet, and felt a massive boost in speed.
In an instant he appeared behind his opponent and launched fist strikes one after the other, giving Tieta no chance to take a breather.
Under the Uchiha's constant onslaught a series of muffled blows came ringing out from the arena, almost as if it was just a single continuous line of sounds.
Under such heavy attacks, even Tieta's body couldn't help but falter forwards so much that he was left with very little time to turn around.
Tieta snarled in anger as he tried to steady himself. Suddenly, he turned around with his fists out and tried to smash them into Sasuke.
Sasuke had already predicted the moment when Tieta would try to attack Sasuke with his Sharingan, and he lightly leapt 2 meters into the air. Narrowly dodging Tieta's fist, Sasuke used both of his legs to kick at Tieta from midair. Both of his legs held formidable power, and they thrusted towards Tieta's back.
Sasuke lashed out with his feet several times before landing back onto the ground. By this point, Tieta's face had been kicked by Sasuke multiple times, causing his face to bruise all over.
All of Sasuke's strikes were precise and struck his opponent with deadly efficiency, wasting not a single ounce of energy.
Immediately after landing on the ground, Sasuke turned around on the floor and bent his legs down without pausing. His left leg revolved in a 180 degree arc, his right leg swept at Tieta's own legs.
Tieta's leg crumbled down below him, but he immediately bounced back up, and snarled as he rushed at Sasuke.
Sasuke and Tieta began to engage in another close combat situation, but with Tieta's god given strength and his frighteningly robust body, Sasuke had no chance of winning against him. Since Sasuke had already experienced it twice, he had thought of a countermeasure for this situation. Although it wasn't the best idea, he had no other ways of fighting against him. Sasuke had decided to rely on his nimbleness to fight against Tieta. Even though Tieta's body was extremely strong, Sasuke had been attacking the same place on Tieta's body to make it so that Tieta would feel so much pain, he would eventually be forced to grimace.
The following situation was now becoming one sided. With Sasuke relying on the experience he had accumulated over the past world to constantly beat Tieta so much that he could only run around with his hands over his head.
Although at times Tieta had found some opportunities to fight back, he was not able to hurt Sasuke, his attacks could not even touch Sasuke's clothes at all.
At this display, every student in the audience could only watch the match in shock. No matter how fast Sasuke was with his martial arts, his speed had far outstripped the average person, causing all of the students to look on with great interest, as it was something they had never witnessed before.
On the top of the platform, Baien gasped in admiration as he watched Sasuke, "This kid is definitely a unique one, his battle experience is rich, and his speed isn't slow at all either. It seems this student is called Shangyang Xiang Tian, so judging from his name, he is from Lore City's Shangyang Clan. It seems that I really will have to make a report to the headmaster later."
As the battle continued to persist, Tieta finally reached his limit. He cried out loud, and exclaimed, "Stop, stop! I can't fight anymore, I give up!"
The Uchiha had long deactivated his Sharingan.
He immediately stopped his attack and questioned Tieta with a disappointed tone of voice, "Why aren't you fighting anymore?"
Tieta rubbed at the reddening spots where Sasuke had repeatedly hit with a miserable face and said sadly, "You move so fast that I can't even see you clearly. There's no way I'd be able to attack you, so the entire time was just you wailing on me."
Sasuke could not help but chuckle, "So you're just going to give up the number one spot then?" Although Sasuke had held back quite a bit as he fought against Tieta, his skin was so thick and his body was so strong, that there was barely any serious damage done to him at all.
Tieta nodded his head and spoke in a muffled voice, "I won't be able to beat you, so the number one spot isn't mine to have. Second place is already decent enough; a Class 2 Monster Core can be sold for a decent price too!"
Afterwards, the two students walked off the stage while the third place winner was announced; Kadi Liang and Tian Mu Xiong who had fought it out against each other in a battle to determine the winner. In the end, it was Tian Mu Xiong who had won and claimed the title of third place.
After the quota for the top three players was met, Sasuke was called up onto the platform. As the vice headmaster Baien walked towards him, he glanced at Sasuke with no small amount of admiration. Immediately looking away, he turned his head to look at the thousand students in the audience and announced, "Dear students, this year's academy competition has finally come to a conclusion. I declare the Rookie Champion of this year to be the student Shangyang Xiang Tian who is an 8th Saint Force layer practitioner!"
The vice headmaster Baien spoke in a firm voice, causing everyone to applaude and cheer. But as some of the 9th Saint Force layer students heard the new Rookie Champion was a student was at the 8th Saint Force layer, many of them couldn't accept that. However, they could only grumble out their displeasure. But Sasuke's strength was something they could accept, some of them had even been dazzled by the way he fought, and his speed was something that not many people could dismiss.
"This year's freshmen are really too useless. In front of so many people that had reached the 9th Saint Force level, the final Rookie Champion ended up being a youth at the 8th Saint Force layer. This is really too embarrassing."
"That's true, today's freshmen were really too weak. Not only was the title of Rookie Champion taken by a person at the 8th Saint Force layer, I heard that the suntanned youth in second place was also someone who was only at the 8th Saint Force layer. I really don't know what these freshmen had practiced to the 9th Saint Force layer for."
The two people that spoke were seniors wearing the academy uniform, their tone were filled with a mocking voice towards those who had lost against the two.
Hearing the two students complain, another one of the seniors replied to them, "You guys shouldn't even say anything, it's not that those freshmen who reached the 9th Saint Force layer were weak, but it's because those 8th Saint Force layer students were stronger than them by a large margin. That suntanned kid had strength that could scare anyone. Don't tell me you guys didn't see how those 9th Saint Force layer students were easily thrown out of the arena. If it were us that were fighting instead, I'm sure that we wouldn't had been better off than the freshmen. As for that first place freshman, his strength was even more terrifying. Did you guys also miss how fast he was moving around and attacking? Even if it were us in that same situation, we would have a hard time trying to dodge his attacks."
Other than those two students, many other seniors of the academy were also discussing the matches amongst themselves. They had already been at the academy for so many years, but this years competition had left them speechless. This year's freshmen batch had many students who reached the 9th Saint Force layer, but no one had expected that the top two students would be 8th Saint Force layer students.
Soon after, Sasuke obtained the Class 3 Monster Core as a reward. It was a deep red in color, and was bigger than the monster core than the one his brother had given him earlier.
Holding his hand up, Sasuke could clearly feel the huge amount of power radiating from the core. Something like this did not exist in his previous world, but the energy coming off of it was absolutely huge.
Aside from the monster core, Sasuke had also received a medal that was cast in complete gold with a decorative design written on it.
From what Sasuke had heard, there was no information on the medal he had won, so he had no idea what use the medal was for. But as he was trying to figure it out, the vice headmaster Baien explained to him, "This medal can only be rewarded to the first place winner of every freshman competition. As long as you have this, then you will be given a Class 1 Monster Core every month. Other than that, the medal allows the wearer to access the first 5 floors of the library."
