The Tournament Begins

The crowd roared back to life, curious to see just how strong the youth of Iron Town really were. More than anything, they wanted to guess the current strength of the Iron Territory based on the tournament's results. If there were many geniuses and talented youth, then credit must also be given to the people who helped nurture the younger generation. But if there weren't any outstanding characters that emerged, they would know that they didn't have any good teachers or examples to follow.

"Yo, Oli!" Yeter ran towards his friend. "Good luck, you'll need it for our rematch."

"Oh really? From what I remember, you were the one who got buried alive last time," Oli poked fun. "Just wait, Rathe should announce the brackets any minute now. After that, it's your job not to lose to anyone but me."

They laughed and paid close attention to Rathe on the stage, who began to announce the brackets and the first-round matches. Oli was selected for the first fight and Yeter would be on the other side of the bracket. It would only be possible for them to meet up if they made it to the semifinals, but they both didn't think it would be too difficult with there not being too many peak-novices, particularly peak-novices with high affinity.

However, Oli and Yeter kept their eye on Karos and were thankful to see him in the other bracket. Looking from the outside in, it was clear that they tried to divide the talent evenly and split both of the peak affinity cultivators in separate brackets. Netra hadn't signed up, especially now that she had the guaranteed first seat.

"Alright so the rules are simple, someone will win if their opponent is knocked out, is forced off the platform, or gives up. If anyone attempts to kill their opponent, they will be immediately disqualified and punished by Iron Town justly. Remember, this is a tournament to determine rankings and not fight to the death." Rathe hurried through the rules and smiled back to the audience. "Also, for those of you looking to make any wagers, you can find one of our two betting stations on either side of the main tunnel. There you'll see the going rates, as well as a list of all competitors, their clan or tribe, and their level of cultivation. In fact, I think I'll be the first and bet one hundred gold on my nephew to take it all!"

As Rathe threw out a bag of gold to the stage floor, many people got up and searched for the betting booths. During this time the students all returned to the viewing rooms, leaving Oli and his opponent alone in the pit.

Rathe ordered Hurdo to take away the magicite and he stood at the edge of the platform as the match referee. After almost five minutes of waiting for the crowd to settle their bets and mostly return to their seats, Rathe called up the two competitors. He quickly made sure both of them were ready and began the match without wasting any more time.

The young frog in front of him gathered his water essence around him, forming a cold layer of frost. He then jumped at Oli and blew out a layer of mist to cover the battlefield, blocking Oli's line of sight to try and catch him off guard. Against most novices, the trick would've caught them off guard and the frog would have finished the match rather quickly.

Unlike others, Oli was ready for him, using his aura to physically sense him nearby. Any novice could do it, but most still had the habit to rely on their vision or hearing instead of tracking nearby threats with their aura.

To the frog's surprise, he was hit in the chest by a hammer and was launched off of the platform. Following the rules of the tournament, the frog was then disqualified, and Oli moved onto the next round.

The crowd followed the entire exchange with their auras and was happy to find that the peak affinity gorilla was also an excellent fighter. Those students in the viewing rooms weren't lucky enough to know what had happened until they saw the frog get expelled from his own cloud of mists.

Oli walked back to the viewing rooms and sat down with a sigh. He didn't want to reveal all of his techniques too soon and was glad to hide his hammer strike in the mist. Whenever someone came to congratulate him on the first win, Oli would thank them quickly and pay attention only to the stage.

"Nice job Oli!" eventually Yeter found Oli and charged into the room. "What happened? Did you use your hammer?"

Laughing, Oli shrugged and changed the subject. "Yeter I'll see you in the semifinals, right? It would be a waste to not beat you here in front of so many people."

"Ha, good luck with that!" The two of them began to discuss how they felt with the brackets, admitting that it wasn't going to be too difficult until maybe the quarter-finals. They each guessed who would move on and who wouldn't, trying to see who got the closest to having a perfect prediction as the day passed by.