End of the second round

After a few minutes' break, the seventh round was about to start.

The competitors were Zafar Mifsud and Sameer Gaber.

"This guy seems to have some decent luck. He has always been matched up with people at a lower tier than himself.

His luck should end this round unless he is matched up with you in the next round" said Qusay as he looked at Zafar.

Zafar was the guy in tier 5 of the mutant realm who beat up Atyaf who was in tier 4 of the mutant realm with brass knuckles in the first round.

His opponent, Sameer, was also in tier 4 of the mutant realm. He was the saber cultivator who defeated the rich archer, Uthman Dagher in what was considered the easiest match in the entire tournament.

The competitors moved to the teleportation platform before being teleported onto the stage.

The referee soon started the match and the competitors took their stances.

Zafar took out his brass knuckles and wore them on his fists before bobbing up and down like a boxer.

Sameer unsheathed his saber. He had a solemn look on his face. He was the unlucky one among the tier 4 mutants who was matched with a tier 5. He already knew he would lose but still chose to give it his all. After all, miracles could always happen, occasionally, rarely …

He snapped back to reality before dashing toward his opponent. He slashed at Zafar's chest where he was close enough.

CLANG!!!

Zafar accurately defended himself from the attack by accurately placing his fist covered by the brass knuckles in the saber's path.

Since he was a tier above his opponent, it was quite natural that his speed was greater than Sameer's.

Sameer did not stop there. Although discouraged, he kept swinging his saber at his opponent.

Zafar only needed to focus a little bit harder for him to be able to block or dodge the attacks.

When he thought he had had enough, he began to counterattack. His punches landed on his opponent's body. The brass knuckles added even more damage to his attacks.

Sameer was soon heavily battered and bloody. The referee stopped the match when he deemed Sameer unable to continue the fight.

Zafar was declared the winner.

…

Kane was not too awed by the match. There was nothing Zafar had revealed at the moment that made him special. He even thought that if he was careful, he might even win against Zafar if they were matched.

After a ten-minute's break, the announcement of the commencement of the final match of the second round was made.

The competitors were Lateefa Haddad and Baligh Ganem.

Baligh was a fighter who used impressive palm techniques while his opponent was a swordsman. Her swordsmanship was not that impressive in Kane's opinion and although she won her first match, it was because her opponent in the first round also had average talent.

The competitors were soon teleported onto the stage when they stepped on the teleportation platform.

The referee started the match after inspecting their conditions.

Lateefa drew her sword while Baligh extended his palms.

The two fighters quickly closed the gap between them and the clash quickly began.

Lateefa went on the offensive, swinging her sword to chain combination attacks at her opponent.

Baligh who was weaponless was extra careful and chose to observe her opponent's attacks to find her pattern as he dodged her attacks.

He quickly found a flaw. Although the combos were mastered almost to perfection, it was as if she was fighting right out of a textbook.

She had a combo for when her opponent was close and when the opponent was far away.

What she lacked was fluidity. She could not improvise if there was a sudden change in her opponent's tactics.

Baligh saw that and commenced his counterattacks. After memorizing her patterns, he was able to frequently pat away her sword strikes with his palms before landing palm strikes on her body.

This continued and the damage she accumulated soon became scary when enough time elapsed.

The referee stopped the match when Lateefa collapsed to the floor.

Baligh was then declared the winner of the match.

…

After a while, Baligh was teleported back into the waiting room.

It was just a few minutes past eleven in the morning and the second round of the tournament was already over.

Kane looked around the waiting room. There were only eight people in the room. These eight people were among the best (or the luckiest in some cases) of the competitors in the mutant realm. It would surely get tougher for Kane in the coming rounds.

The door at the entrance of the waiting room slid open and their referee Haytham walked into the room.

The competitors stood up when he walked in as a show of respect and only sat back down when he asked them to do so.

He looked at the eight people in the room before speaking, "I just want to congratulate you all on getting through this round and wish you the best of luck in the remaining three rounds to come.

You are all aware of the world merge that is currently occurring. I am pleased to announce that the sect leader, governor Philimon, would be purchasing a pocket dimension and you, the recruits stand a chance of participating in the raid without taxation on what you obtain".

Cheers rang out in the room as the competitors were elated by the news.

It was truly something to be happy about. There were two types of pocket dimensions. One was the type that could be bought by the governor of a city. These pocket dimensions are well-graded and the difficulty and rewards that can be obtained from them could be estimated from the grade.

The other type, are those pocket dimensions that are ownerless and appear at random locations across the planet.

These pocket dimensions cannot be graded until it is explored for the first time. This made the risk and danger involved in the exploration exponentially higher. Imagine a team of warrior realm fighters exploring a pocket dimension filled with creatures with a power level equivalent to demigods.

This made the pocket dimensions owned by cities more desirable to humans and beasts alike. The administration of such cities could only take advantage of the situation.

Apart from the first raid where the raid team is selected by the governor, other cultivators can raid the pocket dimension anytime they want, provided they can pay the entrance fee in Hunter Association contribution points.

They are also not allowed to take any form of spatial storage items, except the one provided by the administration into to pocket dimension.

When their allocated time is up and they exit the pocket dimension, they are required to pay a thirty percent tax on everything they gain from the pocket dimension.

If they stay past their allocated time, the tax meant to be paid will increase accordingly.

Haytham raised his hand to quieten the crowd. "Remember, I said 'stand a chance'. You can only qualify to become one of the pioneers when you prove to us that you are worth the investment.

How do you do that? You need to do your best and let us see your potential. But that is not enough. You have to prove to us that you put complete trust in the Storm Cradle sect by telling us what your mutation is. Only then would the sect trust you enough to pour resources into your development".

Haytham said this while taking furtive glances at Kane. Kane with his heightened observation noticed this.

Haytham continued "that is it for my announcement. Think about it. I will congratulate you guys once more and remember, be here by 9 tomorrow".

He soon walked out of the waiting room after giving his speech. The competitors were then escorted out of the arena.

Kane changed the torn and blood-stained shirt he was wearing with a new shirt he took out from his waist pack.

Qusay who was still with him waited till he was done changing before saying "Let's go to a restaurant for lunch. My treat".

With few words, he was able to persuade Kane. They soon flagged down a taxi that took them to 'The double decker' a well-known steakhouse in the Noble district.

The restaurant was quite fancy and luxuriously decorated. It was quite a busy day as the steakhouse was almost filled to the brim with customers eating and chatting happily.

Kane and his friend Qusay found a table and sat down before looking at the menu. They were soon approached by a waitress who took their orders.

Their food arrived in a few minutes and their table was soon filled with a lot of meat dishes and drinks with mild alcoholic content as Qusay considered Kane's age.

It turned out that the two were individuals who had a lot of appetites and their table was soon filled with laughter when they discussed some scenes that took place in their tournament battles that were not that funny but were made rib-cracking funny by the alcohol in their drinks.