Chapter 42 You Can Be a Little More Arrogant

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Fifty arenas competed simultaneously, and the second round ended in just one hour.

In the presence of over two thousand spectators, accompanied by the refresh of the big screen in the sports stadium above, only fifty names remained high and mighty in the end.

Jack Clark looked up and saw his own name ranked at 49th, a faint smile spreading across his face.

Besides himself, he also saw several acquaintances' names. Crystal Lewis successfully defended the tenth place, Matt Watkins 29th, and Marcus Lindsay, whom he had defeated, at 34th.

Only the Class Leader's sister, Mandy Lewis, was at 40th.

This ranking made Jack Clark slightly astonished because he felt that this female student named Mandy Lewis was quite strong, possibly even stronger than Marcus Lindsay?

On the main stage, Vernon Lowe announced, "The second round of the competition is over. Now comes the challenge round. Those who are not satisfied with their ranking have one opportunity to challenge anyone in the top ten."

"Win and you move up, lose and your current ranking remains unchanged. Is there anyone who wishes to challenge?"

"I, I want to challenge the 20th rank."

"I want to challenge the 10th rank."

"I, I also want to challenge the 15th rank..."

All are first-grade freshmen, all at the First Layer Heaven. Without any worries holding them back, who would be afraid? Thus, many people with lower rankings chose to challenge those ahead of them.

Including Zac Maben, who was ranked fiftieth, he also chose to challenge Mandy Lewis, who was in fortieth place.

On the other hand, Jack Clark made no move, and no one challenged Jane Aiken, the first-ranked.

Under everyone's gaze, the challenges ended quickly, and all who challenged the top ten failed, while a few who challenged ranks in the twenties and thirties were successful.

"Now I declare the first Freshman Ranking Tournament to be over."

On the main stage, Vernon Lowe declared in a solemn voice, "All freshmen who have entered the Top 50 will receive an additional five contribution points every month during their time at the school, continuing until the Second Grade."

"In addition to this, each student will receive a 20% discount when exchanging for school resources."

As soon as Vernon Lowe finished speaking, a staff member rushed up to him and whispered something in his ear.

After listening, Vernon Lowe nodded slightly, then said in a solemn voice, "I and the teachers here have something to attend to. Everyone is dismissed, and the contribution points will be distributed to your Student ID accounts tomorrow."

After these words, the teachers hurriedly left their seats.

Jack Clark, carrying his sword, walked up to the audience seats, and Justin Welan shouted excitedly, "Jack, you've really made a name for yourself this time, actually making it into the top fifty."

Jack Clark smiled, "Is it that exaggerated? It's just the 49th place after all."

Justin Welan speechless, "Jack, everything about you is fine, it's just that your modesty makes me really want to hit you, for real."

Snort! Freya Louise, nearby, couldn't help but laugh at his words.

Justin Welan huffed, "It's 'just 49th place' after all. If you don't want it, you can give your spot to me. I didn't even make it to the second round, which is way unluckier than you."

Freya Louise approached Jack Clark, a smile on her lips, "Actually, Jack Clark, you can afford to be a little more arrogant, because being among the top fifty of the freshmen is quite impressive."

With nearly two thousand students in the entire grade, and currently over seven to eight hundred having achieved Foundation Establishment, in addition to over a hundred 'geniuses' who practice Advanced Skills.

Under these circumstances, Jack Clark, who cultivated the lower-tier Dragon Elephant Power, managing to break into the top fifty, has indeed surprised and stunned all those who knew him.

Even Crystal Lewis and Matt Watkins did not expect anyone from the class to make it to the top fifty, especially someone whose initial talent seemed rather average.

That's why Freya Louise said he could be a little arrogant because he had earned that right.

Jack Clark smiled, "Alright, I'll be a bit more arrogant, at least until everyone has made their breakthrough to the Second Layer Heaven."

Joking and chatting, the three of them merged with the crowd and left the stadium.

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More than two thousand people streamed out of the stadium, then split off into small groups and dispersed.

The day's competition was intense and exhilarating for the contestants, but for the vast South Sky High Martial Arts Campus, not many people took it seriously.

Even the school authorities were only represented by some class teachers, not a single leader in sight.

As for the senior students, it goes without saying that most weren't on campus, and the few who were barely took an interest, only a handful stopped by to watch out of curiosity.

For them, the matches in the First Layer Heaven weren't worth watching—it would be better to spend that time on cultivation.

...

It was only three o'clock in the afternoon, still early. While Justin Welan and the others went off to cultivate, Jack Clark followed Freya Louise to the thirty-third floor to read.

Browsing through the bookshelf, Jack picked out a book on Mutated Beast Anatomy, while Freya had already taken a seat by the window, holding a volume of Taoist Scriptures in her hands.

Jack sat down opposite her and asked curiously, "Why do you always sit in this spot?"

Flicking a strand of hair from her ear, revealing her fair and lovely profile, Freya chuckled and said, "Because the view is open here, and I can catch the sunlight."

"Don't you think basking in the lazy afternoon sun and quietly reading a book is very picturesque?" With that, the girl winked playfully at Jack.

Jack was momentarily stunned by the reason and then conceded, "…You talk more, you make more sense."

After sharing a light laugh, they both lowered their heads and returned to their reading, enjoying the rare leisure of the afternoon.

One could not tell at all that they had just experienced a fierce and spectacular competition.

Although he said he was reading, most of Jack's attention actually plunged into the Heavy Armored Beast.

Today's brief moment of glory did not lead him astray; he was very clear that his current advantage wouldn't last long.

If he wanted to continue having the strength to suppress or even surpass those 'geniuses' after the Second Layer Heaven, he could only hope for his Avatar to evolve again.

Beneath the turbulent waters of the Great River, a ninety-centimeter Heavy Armored Beast roamed, its gaze piercing through the murky water in search of prey.

At that moment, a school of upward curved mouth fish swam above, the largest ones nearly a meter long, and even the smallest were three to fourty centimeters.

But the Heavy Armored Beast simply glanced at them before looking away, continuing its slow patrol along the riverbed.

After several days of hunting, Jack realized that those ordinary fish contained average nutrition; the best were the large Mutated Fish species.

Eating Mutated Fish of the same size could contribute several times the energy and significantly promote the growth of the Heavy Armored Beast Avatar.

Suddenly, the water in front exploded, and a massive shadow charged into the school of fish at an astonishing speed. It opened its massive mouth and devoured an upward curved mouth fish that was a meter long.

This was a Mutated Fish over three meters long, resembling a giant catfish, its body covered in black scales, with a colossal head making up half of its body, about a meter wide.

Its mouth was filled with dense, sharp teeth, and four whiskers, a meter long each, floated around. With just a couple of sweeps, it had swallowed more than ten upward curved mouth fish—it was extremely ferocious.

Boom!

Just then, the riverbed's silt erupted, and the slow-moving Heavy Armored Beast's limbs burst forth with power, stirring up waves of silt as it charged towards the mutant catfish.

As the charging Heavy Armored Beast caught its attention, the colossal mutant catfish didn't recoil but advanced. Opening its enormous maw like a Black Hole, it exerted a powerful suction force.

Gulping down, the mutant catfish swallowed the Heavy Armored Beast in one gulp.

Compared to the mutant catfish, which was over three meters long with a mouth a meter wide, the Heavy Armored Beast, not even a meter in size, was just a little creature — easily consumed in one bite…

Suddenly, the mutant catfish began thrashing wildly in the water, and thick blood surged from its gills.

A black head burst through the top of the mutant catfish's head, and blood from the six feathered horns on either side blurred into the blood-red fluid, giving the black armored beast an extremely fierce appearance.