Depends on Spirit Stones

Each stage of ascension in the Awakening Order is a leap in the level of life.

The difference in strength is not small.

A Fourth Awakening Stage hunter can take out Triple Awakening one without meaningful injury.

The gap between the bottleneck like a Fifth to Sixth Awakening Stage was even bigger.

A sixth Awakening hunter can easily win even against 3 Fifth Awakening Stage hunters.

This is common sense.

Zhou Jianhong naturally saw the man's doubts and said with a smile, "True, the aura won't lie. Before, I also measured a person's strength by their breath."

He did not immediately explain, his eyes fixed towards the distant confrontation of the two hunters, "The bearded man on the left side. I know he has accumulated more than five hundred mission completion points. And the right side bald man's aura is stronger. I don't know him much, he just arrived at the shelter not long ago."

The captain was even more confused.

Zhou Jianhong stopped talking for a while and grinned, "Adventurer's Guild points are equivalent to spirit stones. Except for the fact that there's a lot of rare items that only can be exchanged with Adventurer's Guild points and can't be purchased with spirit stones. Of course, spirit stones can be directly exchanged for points but there's some restriction related to the adventurer's star level."

"For example like you guys who haven't registered as adventurers. You can only buy the most basic weapon series. While two star adventurers had the luxury to exchange more equipment. Not only equipment, training facilities access also included, as well as some auxiliary resources that can enhance your strength."

"The guy who completed 500 mission points is cool. Certainly, he used them for improving his strength. You can't compare him with an ordinary Triple Awakening hunter. If you ask me, I think the bearded man will win. You'll know when you watch the fight."

No one knew who started the argument, but it was fiery. They would have started fighting a long time ago if they didn't care about the shelter's rule.

Now, they started a cursing war—foul words pouring out of their mouths full of [beep] censor sound.

Soon, patrol members with black uniforms came to the scene. They were already well seasoned with this kind of hunter conflict. Seeing none of them was willing to apologize, they suggested the hunters take this matter on the duel arena ring.

The bald man showed a fierce smile. "Let's see how it goes on the ring. I'll beat you to pulp!"

The bearded man on the other side didn't show any weakness. He raised his middle finger. "You [Beep][Beep][Beep][Beep][Beep]-"

.....

The duel arena ring wasn't located in the commercial district, but it wasn't far.

The bearded man and the bald man both cursed as they walked, followed by many onlookers. The captain's squad and Zhou Jianhong were among them.

The ring was a square area of fifty by fifty meters in size, neatly paved with symmetrical white stone slabs. There were unfinished circular audience seats around the ring.

The onlookers were standing at the opposite of the audience seat, looking at the duel arena ring.

"Duel arena ring, also known as the grudge stage. A battle to end grudges. After all, a lot of people had died so who would hold grudges?" Zhou Jianhong laughed, "Just kidding. Not all battle ends in death. You can't use sharp weapons in a regular battle and you're allowed to admit defeat."

"Sometimes some hunters will start a survival battle in order to compete for resources. Of course, once the hatred of the two sides is too strong and they have reached the point of craving for blood, they will do the survival battle. In this battle, you can use any means of weapon and there's no surrender to admit defeat. You win or you die."

"As far as I know, living in the doomsday is already a survival battle."

Anticipating what the square-faced man thought, he continued. "Although people died in the survival battle, if they don't do it, hatred will still exist. They didn't do it in the shelter, but they killed each other in the wilderness. If they do it in the shelter, they will hurt the innocent ones so compared to that, this duel arena is the better option."

The bearded man and the bald man were constantly cursing. But once they got on the ring, they didn't speak. Their eyes flashed with fierce light towards each other.

Although it was only a regular battle and they could admit defeat, none took it lightly. Once one was injured, even if they managed to recover, they would miss a period of time to recover. Not to mention there's no guarantee that they will come out alive from the regular battle.

The two hunters stood in the area.

One was holding a metal long stick, and one holding a dull metal combat knife, fighting against each other.

Each blow was powerful, and with their strength, once they hit the skull, it was entirely possible to crack or even burst their opponent's skull.

The scene was absolutely thrilling!

Unlike the two martial arts school students' battle before, the One Punch martial arts school's core apprentice could crush experts at the same level as them. Whie Ji Ming and Xia Wanru were also powerful on their own.

Although the bald man had killed a lot of demonic beasts in the wilderness, his combat skills were very ordinary.

The bearded man used a body hardening potion. Although he was one level weaker than the opponent, his skills make up for it.

Looking at the ring, the squad's mouths were wide opened.

The mindset of aura power theory that rooted deeply in their brain suddenly shattered. Perhaps in the Tree Shade, the level isn't everything. In addition to the aura, how many guild points spent also counts towards one's strength.

The captain glanced at the calm Zhou Jianhong on his side. Wondering how many points this man consumed and how strong he was.

....

On the field.

After two minutes of fighting, the stalemate was broken as the bearded man struck his stick on the back of the bald man's hand. Knocking off the blunt metal knife.

The bald man was quickly beaten by the sticks in the chest. He spitted out blood as his body flew backwards. Red drops of blood stained the white stone slab. He rolled on the stage twice, hands up in the air and shouted to admit defeat.

It was really the Triple Awakening bearded man who won.

The square-faced man looked confused.

Zhou Jianhong patted his shoulder, "You just said that tomorrow you intend to leave the Tree Shade. I know you're anxious to find your wife and children, but I still want to advise you to stay a few more days. Maybe you can exchange for more advanced equipment, or improve strength through your training. Who knows? It might help you cross the wilderness. After all, you can only be reunited when you're alive."

The square-faced man squirmed in his throat, twisted his head, and swept his gaze across the faces of several team members behind him. Thought of the images of their dangerous situation played in his head over and over again.

If they weren't lucky enough, all five of them wouldn't be standing here today.

But luck doesn't always accompany them.

Just with the Demon Slayer combat knife, his combat power has increased by a certain degree.

But, if he could be stronger like the bearded man on the arena with strong physique beyond his level... then he can certainly exchange high-levelled rune weapons that even Zhou Jianhong could only dream of having.

It would give them the certainty of crossing the remaining few hundred kilometres.

They had travelled for two months. Maybe they can wait a few more days…

The square-faced man nodded heavily, made up his mind.

Even if…

He had to pay the hotel rent for a few more days.