Dwayne

Lucas then continued his walk as the trainee lay staring at the sky. He was in disbelief at what had just happened. It happened so fast that he couldn't even react. By the time he got up, his comrades approached him, saying, "Bro, didn't you say he was a Reader?"

The accompanying trainees were left confused. Lucas himself didn't turn back to hear the rest of their conversation. If he were to guess, they were likely wondering how his friend got tossed so easily. That was because he was a grade three Primate.

Coming to the back entrance of the arena like he was instructed, Lucas was greeted by one of the servants. When the servant saw him, he said, "Wow! You actually came... I mean… Right this way, lord Lucas."

Passing, Lucas walked through a dimly lit tunnel. The room at the end was filled with benches, medical supplies, and warm-up equipment. This was the first time he had ever been to the Colosseum. It was almost equivalent to what he read in stories.

The main differences were that the walls were made of metal as opposed to the concrete seen in novels. Lucas spent the next few minutes stretching to get his blood flowing. The servant entered the room and saw how serious he was about the fight. A bit timid to know how terrifying a descendant could truly be, his finger shook when pointing where Lucas was to head next.

Finishing up his stretches, he walked toward the south door and passed through. He was now in what looked like a box with concrete underneath. The double doors in front of him opened by themselves, illuminating the next room over. Lucas entered only to see that much of the stadium was filled with spectators.

In the center of the arena was a large platform with one-meter-wide tiles to form a perfect square. In each corner were four stone pillars in the shape of cones. Lucas walked to the steps whilst looking at who was present in the colosseum. It was no surprise to him that all the descendants were watching from one stand except Octavius and Persephone.

Amelia had a look of disappointment on her face. Lucas could tell it was because she didn't sense any artifacts on him. All the other descendants, save Valentina, had looks of contempt. Once Lucas made it to the platform, he was equally unsurprised to see that the patriarch, who was sitting high above everyone else in a private seat, had chosen a grade three to be his opponent.

This couldn't be any better for him. In fact, he knew that the honourable ruler of all of Spain might have been an overbearing tyrant, but he was also a fair individual. Perhaps he had even seen through Lucas's façade, knowing full well that he couldn't possibly defeat any grade higher than three. Whether these things were true or not, everyone was going to find out how strong Lucas was.

A referee watched from the edge as Lucas unbuttoned his shirt. His fighter, a pale-skinned, bald man with a rat face, squinted his eyes to verify Lucas was indeed a grade two. When he confirmed it, he let out a sigh of relief. Yesterday, when he heard he was chosen to fight a descendant of the patriarch, his spirit was filled with nervousness.

They told him the descendant was a mere grade two, but he didn't believe it. Being the first one to enter the arena with all eyes (including the patriarch's) on him made the matter worse. Now that he was seeing Lucas for the first time, he had a sense of confidence.

"I'm not gonna go easy since our patriarch's watching," he said.

Lucas ignored him as he performed aerobics in one spot. People were quite impressed with his build. He was only twelve years old, yet he had a chiseled six-pack with defined muscles. This was the advantage of having high spirits: one could experience growth at an even faster rate than the average man.

With cold eyes and crossing his arm over his shoulder, Lucas said, "Do you think he's here to watch you?"

The comment irritated the man. He quickly began calling him out for his arrogancy, stating that he was honestly going to go light for his sake. Lucas didn't mind if he was going to try hard or not. He was not planning to go down.

His opponent was sporting a blue sleeveless shirt with baggy pants tied by a white belt at the waist. Evidently, he looked like a martial arts fighter. And since he had no seeable weapon in hand, neither could an artifact be sensed on him, he was clearly a hand-to-hand combat specialist. This meant that when he used any skills from his spirits, they would more or less augment his physical attributes to increase his movement abilities.

And who knows? There's a high chance he could expel something like a laser from his fingers, which could seriously impair Lucas. No matter what this guy's abilities were, he already had the advantage of being one grade higher. The chances of him winning were above ninety-nine percent.

"Tell me," Lucas demanded. "What's your name?"

Earlier, the man was mocked due to Lucas's comment. Now he was a tad confused about why he was inquiring about him.

"It's Dwayne," he answered. "I'm from Chicago, Illinois, in America. I recently broke through to grade three before getting accepted to the great Barcelona Sect for schooling."

Lucas couldn't help but understand why this person was chosen to be his opponent. After he revealed he was only two years older than he was, he was the most suitable fighter. Dwayne had only just become a grade three. That meant he had to have spent at least two years after his evaluation.

This was impressive. People spent decades trying to breakthrough to a grade. Some weren't even able to do it due to their low aptitude. A feat like Dwayne's accomplishment without any help from a sect was more than enough to prove him worthy of entry into a top-ten sect.

The two fighters began walking towards the center of the ring. Lucas looked above him to see the patriarch sitting with his fist resting on his chin. There was an unamused expression on his face.

"I'd like a good, clean fight," the referee announced. "Since the patriarch is spectating, fighters, go all out to show what it means to be part of the Barcelona Sect!"

The crowd cheered widely after hearing the referee hype up the match. Many onlookers had a clear desire to see Lucas get beaten to a pulp. When Lucas spotted Cora, she had a look of concern.

'That girl is worried, huh?' he thought to himself. 'She's got a little crush.'

When Lucas's gaze returned to his opponent, he noticed how serious his expression was. It didn't seem like he had taken his eyes off him for a second. This was going to be his first fight, but already he felt like he'd faced dozens of fighters. The referee straightened his right arm up high.

"To my left, we have Dwayne Rivers, grade three Primate, first year in the Barcelona Academy... Faced against Lucas Chang, grade two Reader, seventh grandchild of our honourable patriarch."

An uproar spread around the arena. People were still in disbelief when the official announced that he was truly a grade two. And the only descendant at that level to have such a low grade level. Plus, this was the first time on record that a grade two desired to challenge a grade higher than him.

The crowd got on their feet to observe intently. When the referee saw how invigorated they were, he gulped, bringing his arm down while yelling, "Begin!"