Top ten 

The competition raged on. People were eliminated. Very few people managed to get to the top, and those people were absolute monsters.

Then there was Jack, Jake, Joey, and Frank, who seemed to be exceptionally close. The crowd recognized them as a group.

A group of monsters

There was also Gertrude. He didn't lose a single battle. He was, after all, a very strong fighter. His opponents weren't anything special, and like Jack, one of his opponents gave up on fighting him.

He won because of his prestige, but he wasn't the only one who had an unfair advantage. There was one more, and that person is

The young master, Yun,

Both of his opponents gave up.

A lot of candidates were already satisfied with being 2nd-grade cadets, so they didn't see it as much to just give up, especially as their opponent was not only strong but also very influential.

They simply didn't want to fight against someone like Young Master Yun.

A few other special characters appeared also.

And soon the battle was over and everyone knew what would happen next, but they had to wait patiently as the cadet leader, Arthur, wasn't paying attention to them anymore.

Inside the crowd of candidates

Frank, Jake, and Jack were all surrounding Joey, who was deep asleep on a bunch of packed barrels.

"snorrr"

"bamm"

The barrels collapsed and Joey hit his head on the floor.

"What what?" Joey screamed in a confused manner.

"Was this the same person that was literally fighting in his sleep?" They thought as a group.

Joey finally regained himself and looked straight at Frank and the rest who were staring at him.

"What?" Joey asked

"How did you become so strong?" Jake immediately asked, they were from the same place, so, of course, he was the most curious of them.

"I trained? How else do you become strong? " Joey threw the question back at them.

It was a strange question.

If indeed he trained and got stronger, was there any other way to attain strength?

All three of them looked embarrassed. They were in fact very strong too, and they weren't the same as they were when they first came to the Firebird military base.

"If they could get stronger, why couldn't he?" They thought

"That's not what we meant." Jack was the first to regain himself, so he said that

"Then what do you mean?" Joey asked

"The technique you were using just now was the firebird dance technique, right?" Frank asked

Joey nodded, "Yes."

"Then why does it feel so different ?" Frank said asked as this was the main reason for his confusion, as he also learned the firebird dance technique.

"Oh yes, it's a variation. It's still the same technique but this one had some alterations," Joey said.

Joey went further to explain how he went through grueling pain to learn the variation and how the person who taught him was a complete asshole and didn't let him sleep.

Frank and the rest went into deep thought. It was possible to reverse engineer a technique and improve it, yes, but it was also very hard to succeed in doing so.

The person who redesigned the technique must be a very experienced senior.

When Joey saw the look of contemplation in their eyes, he slowly crept back into a sleeping position.

But

Before he could close his eyes, a voice sounded and interrupted him.

"attention!!!!!" the voice echoed

The candidates who were off to the side discussing it immediately sprinted to form lines and stood at attention.

"Good," the person in front now said with a heavy smile on his face.

It was Arthur.

"Okay, those who have lost a battle should step to the side and let cadet Wang ben take care of your side," Arthur said while pointing to the far end of the field.

"The rest step onto the platform."

When they heard that the ones who had won both battles were slowly making their way through the crowd and onto the platform,

The first person to step out was Wilder.

And after him came a guy with red and messy hair.

Then came Jake and Joey.

Frank and Jack soon followed.

....

About 15 people had made it out onto the platform, and they all had extraordinary auras.

"Congratulations on making it this far. What this simply means is that you are very talented and will definitely be an asset to the base," Arthur said in a loud voice.

"I myself made it to this point once upon a time. Although I didn't make it to the next round, I still became the leader of the infantry unit cadets," Arthur said in a loud voice. He seemed proud of himself but it also seemed like he was gloating.

"Leader," a voice sounded behind Arthur.

Arthur turned back to look at who called out to him.

It was the cadet that came out with the box earlier.

He moved forward and slowly whispered in Arthur's ear.

Oh, a frown appeared on Arthur's face.

"I wasn't paying attention," Arthur thought.

"So you guys are 15?" Arthur asked.

The crowd looked dumbfounded. He was only just realizing this now.

"You are supposed to be coordinating this, damn it, how did you not know?" These were some of the thoughts that went through their minds.

They nodded.

"That's a problem. There can only be 10 this round," Arthur said with his hands up, showing that it was out of his hands.

"Who will forfeit so the rest can continue?" He looked at everyone with the corners of his eyes.

He seemed like he was genuinely waiting for someone to give up so he could get on with the competition and the rest of his day.

What a joke. None of them would ever think of forfeiting, especially without a fight.

"sigh"

Arthur heaved and said, "This is not the time for courage or stubbornness. We need some candidates to step down."

He was met with silence once again.

"Well, it seems like I have no choice then," Arthur said while cracking his knuckles.

When the candidates saw that, they took a few steps back.

"Was this man going to beat them up for not giving up?" They thought

"Hm hm", a cough sounded behind Arthur, which made him frown.

But

He knew that he couldn't continue with his line of thought because the person that coughed was the old man.

He was stubborn, but this old man was not easy to offend.

But Arthur, being Arthur, had another idea in his mind.

An evil smile slowly crept across his face.

"Okay, let's do it this way," Arthur said calmly.

"Since none of you want to forfeit, then I will leave it up to you to choose who will stay and who will leave," Arthur added.

Frank and the others looked confused. How were they supposed to do that?

Frank thought "even if they told someone to leave, no one in their right mind would just get up and leave."

"Unless" a sudden flash went through their minds.

Arthur was implying that they should remove anyone they deemed unfit to be on stage with them.

When Arthur saw that they understood what was going on, he smiled.

"boom"! The first person to attack was Wilder. He was aiming for some random guy with gloves on.

Then Gertrude followed.

And soon the room was filled with a battle aura.

They all stared at each other like predators that had seen their prey. The sheer intensity of their aura would be frightening to ordinary people.

They all waited for Wilder to end his battle.

And without any surprise, he came out on top in the end, and his opponent had no choice but to retreat.

"You step down." A youth stood there with his fingers pointed at Frank.

When Frank saw this, he frowned, "Did this guy really think he was weak because he only fought weak opponents during the previous round? Or was he doing it deliberately, and if so, where did his confidence come from?

Frank stared at him angrily for a second until he gradually calmed down.

"Come and make me," Frank replied.

The youth didn't show fear and started walking toward Frank.

An evil smile appeared on Frank's face for a moment, and in that brief moment, he released an appalling aura.

The youth stopped in his tracks when he felt the aura pierce through his skin and a hint of fear flashed through his eyes.

But the aura was brief; before he could pinpoint its origin, it disappeared.

He quickly scanned through the people in front of him and landed on Jack.

"It has to be him," he thought.

Jack was well-known for his antics, but he was best known for his strength.

Frank's voice echoed, "Are we doing this or not?"

But the youth only kept staring warily at Jack.

Jack noticed this and said, "Don't worry, I won't interfere."

Frank could obviously solve his own problems.

The youth nodded and dashed toward Frank.

Frank raised his hands and stood guard.

"boom" — they collided.