Top 16

He got careless!

Adrian's eyes widened in shock as the ball of water surrounding Richard's fist collided against his lower torso. The hit sent him tumbling backwards, struggling to maintain his balance so as to not fall over.

However, that was not the end of it.

Upon contact with his lower torso, the ball of water actually stayed on his body, completely detaching itself from Richard's fist.

Shit!

Adrian cursed in his head as he saw the water slowly spread across his body, threatening to engulf him entirely.

Flowing Water Bindings. It was a Water Class magic that allowed a user to plant bindings made of water on a target. The water planted on a target would spread and turn extremely viscous, creating a strong resistance and restricting movement.

It could even be used multiple times on the same target to increase the amount of water planted and thus strengthen the binding.

The downside of this spell was that the user would have to come into physical contact with the target, and that the spreading of the water was not the fastest. But it was only a matter of time before it showed it effect.

Richard grinned excitedly upon seeing his attack connect, but he didn't let up because of one successful hit.

Just like everyone else, Richard knew that Adrian had an ace up his sleeve, which was his mysterious ranged attack. Because of that, Richard chose to follow in the footsteps of Adrian's previous opponent, fighting close up and at a pace fast enough to not give Adrian a chance at using it.

For a moment, Adrian glanced worriedly at the blob of water spreading from his lower torso. But his gaze immediately turned back up to face his opponent who was rapidly approaching.

He was now on a timer, he needed to beat his opponent before this water binding kicked in and restricted his movements.

"Shock Imbue!"

Adrian slammed both palms onto the ground just like in his first match, causing a small explosion.

"This again!" Richard did not hesitate at all and charged right through the cloud of smoke caused by the blast, determined not to let Adrian create any distance between them.

He had to stop Adrian from using that ranged attack of his!

The cloud of smoke was not a huge one, and Richard quickly emerged from the other side within a second. But what he saw when he emerged was not what he was expecting at all.

A feint!

That was the thought in his mind as he saw the palm strike heading straight towards his face the moment he emerged.

Using his spiritual sense, he had clearly seen Adrian leap back after causing the explosion. That was the reason why he charged forward without hesitation to close the gap.

But judging from the current situation, Adrian must have been prepared for this, and had only leapt back a little before charging forward once again.

This time, Richard was the one who got careless! He was still not proficient enough with his spiritual sense to perpetually probe for changes while fighting, thus resulting in him falling for the opponent's trap.

Adrian, on the other hand, had clearly sensed Richard charging forward, and thus changed his plan from creating distance to closing the gap instead.

It was a gamble, but it was a gamble that paid off since Richard simply continued on his original path.

The palm strike connected squarely with Richard's face, slamming him straight to the ground as Richard's body continued moving forward due to the inertia from before.

Bang-!

A loud clap sounded as Richard was slammed to the ground.

Many eyes opened wide in disbelief as Richard simply remained lying there on his back, no longer able to move from both the shock of the turnaround as well as the true electric shock from Adrian's palm strike.

Adrian won again!

With the announcement of his victory, Adrian let out a sigh of relief.

This match was too close for comfort!

If he hadn't showed his ability to attack with his Spiritual Aura previously, it was unlikely that the opponent would have just carelessly charged forward.

Considering that he was afflicted by the opponent's attack, as long as the match got drawn out, his loss would have been inevitable.

But no matter what, the result was all that mattered.

The water bindings kicked in before Adrian could leave the fighting platform, but a warm light shone over him and the water bindings dispelled.

The senior apprentices chosen as referees for their matches were specially chosen by the professors, all of them equipped with some form of healing magic. This healing magic from the referees was also the reason why the participants could continue fighting for multiple rounds in a single day.

And should something extreme were to happen that was beyond their means, the professors watching would personally take action.

"What a pity, Richard got careless there. Otherwise he could have won!" the professor from Sand Academy sighed.

"That was quite close indeed. If the participant from Sand Academy hadn't gotten impatient and rushed straight at the end, he might have been able to clinch the victory. Though I guess it is a good thing that Adrian didn't lose this early," Professor Xen agreed before casting a side glance to a man seated alone at a corner.

Having caught him doing so, the professor from Sand Academy sneakily cast a side glance over at the man as well.

"Who is that?"

This time the professor from Sand Academy did not verbalise his words. Using his spiritual aura, he directly sent a telepathic message to Professor Xen.

"Colonel Riverdon, one of Sir Raymond Nyx's capable assistants in the Royal Noc Military," Professor Xen didn't elaborate, but took care to reply using a telepathic message as well.

"Sir Raymond Nyx's men eh? I understand what you mean now," the professor smiled knowingly.

How could he not know about Sir Raymond Nyx, the famous Golden Halberd of Death of the Royal Noc Military?

Recently there had been a huge controversy over Sir Raymond Nyx bestowing the rank of Captain to a mere 10 year old kid who hadn't accumulated any achievements whatsoever. Since his subordinate was here to watch the match and there was also a 10 year old kid participating in the tournament, it was not difficult to connect the dots.

There must have been a reason for Sir Raymond Nyx to have done what he did, so this 10 year old kid must truly be extremely talented. Just from what he had displayed so far, especially forming his own Spiritual Aura this quickly despite his age disadvantage, it was indeed the case.

But even if that was so…

"I'm afraid that it would truly be difficult for that kid to clinch the title of champion!" the professor from Sand Academy exclaimed out loud confidently.

"Oh?" the other professors turned their attention to him in curiosity.

"You do sound very confident," Professor Lenington was the one who commented, but it truly was what everyone else was thinking right now as well.

"I admit that he is a very exceptional talent. On top of being just a 10 year old, he was actually able to accomplish this much," the professor from Sand Academy smiled as he answered. "However, this year we have a monster among the freshmen as well!"

"Are you talking about the one who was involved in the fight previously? What was his name again…?" Professor Lenington struggled to think back about the incident from a week ago.

"Henrik," Professor Xen instantly spared him the agony of thinking so hard.

"That's right! I'm certainly talking about Henrik!" the professor from Sand Academy's voice got louder and louder as he spoke, the pride on his face apparent for all to see. "As though it wasn't enough for him to be extremely well trained in terms of physical capabilities, his magic affinity is towards Sealing magic! I'm sure you already know without me saying, but while Sealing magic is not effective in large scale combats, it is extremely dangerous in one versus one fights, especially against magic users!"

"That is true. If anyone were to fight a magic user who was proficient in Sealing magic, it really is a large disadvantage," Professor Xen agreed.

There was no need to defend the freshmen from his academy at this juncture.

What the other party said was completely correct after all. So all he could do was to count on the freshmen from his academy to hopefully perform beyond expectations and achieve the win.

If that were to happen, Professor Xen would naturally have some basis on which he could praise his freshmen instead of letting the other party remain this proud. It would not be too late to defend the freshmen from his academy then.

Daemon had lost to Kyle previously, so other than Adrian, only Elise and Sam were left.

Fortunately, both of them won their fights this round as well, proceeding to rank in the top 32.

After the first round, the approximately 250 participants were cut to 128.

After the second round, that number was then further cut to 64.

And now that the third round was over, there were only 32 participants left who were still vying for the top spot.

Naturally, Kyle and Henrik were among the top 32 as well. They were the two favourites from each academy, so there was no surprise that they were still in the running for the top spot.

"Number 13!"

"Number 2!"

It was now the fourth round, and Adrian stood against a female magic apprentice from Gryphon Academy.

His eyes were closed as he stood there facing his opponent, fully activating his spiritual sense to feel the changes in the air.

"Fight start!"

The moment those words escaped the mouth of the referee, Adrian's opponent sprinted forward towards him.

It seemed that everyone now believed that the key to beating him was to not give him any time to use that mysterious ranged attack of his. This resulted in everyone charging straight at him the moment the match began.

And in the previous rounds, Adrian had always tried to match his opponents in close combat with his shock imbued palm strikes.

However, Adrian had learnt well from the previous match, where a moment of careless had almost resulted in his loss.

He had underestimated his opponent simply because of he had the elemental advantage. But if he had a better sense of danger from the start, he would not have been so shocked by Richard's ability that he failed to notice Richard's other hand striking at him.

He would no longer expose himself to danger!

Even before his opponent could reach Adrian, she felt a strong impact strike her chest, completely halting her advance.

She coughed out in pain as her legs stopped in her tracks. Then another impact struck her abdomen, causing her to bend over with her arms clasping over her stomach area. A final impact struck at one of her feet, knocking it off the ground.

She was in too much pain to maintain her balance after one of her legs got struck off the ground, and she simply fell over other side, still coughing in pain from the first impact.

Everyone watching, including the referee, was shocked!

From start to finish, Adrian did not even move an inch. In fact, he did not even open his eyes!

Shouldn't he require time to charge up his ranged attack, and point his finger at where he wanted to hit? At least that was what he did in the first round!

The remaining participants wanted to pull their hair out in frustration upon seeing this!

Could it be that he didn't even need time for preparation? If so, how were they supposed to contend with him?

As his opponent was no longer able to continue the fight, Adrian was naturally declared the winner.

Only then did he open his eyes and make his way back to his seat, where he once again entered meditation.

But while Adrian was done with his match, Elise was still on the fighting platform.

She naturally didn't see what happened with Adrian, and was fully focused on her opponent.

Just like her other matches, she had skirted around her opponent, attempting to harass her opponent into making an error and revealing an opening for her to take advantage of.

However, this time it did not work.

No matter how many times she struck with her Wind magic, the opponent was always prepared, cleanly blocking the attack with a spell of his own.

Realising that she was just wasting her energy, Elise eventually gave up on finding an opening, charging forward with all she's got. Unfortunately, that was still not enough as her opponent parried the attack before striking her to the ground.

Another of the group had been eliminated from the ranking tournament, so Sam was the only one remaining who had the chance to join Adrian in the next round.

Seeing Elise lose managed to spark a burning determination within Sam, as he roared and charged at his opponent the moment the match started.

It was not a pretty match, as he slugged it out with his opponent from Sand Academy. However, Sam's burning determination allowed him to pull through, beating his opponent and advancing to the next round.

And with this, only 16 people were left in the ranking tournament.