NibbaBalls

Wasn't supposed to publish this now but I might not have the time to do it tomorrow. So enjoy chapter 4!

10 days later.

In the dark and cramped room,

Juan opened his eyes.

For the past 10 days, he trained hard to fully absorb 4 mid-stones and his strength has been improved by a lot. He then took a bath and cleaned up before going to the school to test his strength because there are no more weight lifting rocks above 500 pounds at home.

Arriving at the school's training grounds, Juan couldn't wait to find out how much stronger he got. He found the punching machine and punched it using all his strength.

Ting! 720 points*

The machine glowed as it showed the results.

As he was getting stronger it was getting harder to raise his strength with few resources and Looking at the results, Juan nodded in satisfaction. It won't be long till I become an official warrior and be able to access the second floor of the school library where I can get an advanced swordsmanship manual, Juan thought.

While Juan was thinking of the future, Pedro came to find him on the training grounds.

Juan heard someone running behind him so he glanced and saw Pedro.

"Pedro! are you looking for me? what do you need?"

Pedro nodded and said, "You are really a training maniac, It was hard to meet you these last 10 days."

Juan scratched his head and asked about what happened while he was training.

Pedro answered, "Our teacher announced that we should get ready because there will be a Ranking match for the students tomorrow and anyone who defeats someone ranked higher than them in the strength ranking board can replace their rankings in the new one."

There was a glint in Juan's eyes as his competitive spirit was aroused.

...

Day of the Ranking match,

Everybody gathered below the biggest stage inside the school's training grounds. There were two teachers assigned to supervise the match to avoid accidents from happening.

Ron was assigned as the referee, then he explained the rules.

1. One can challenge people above their rank but can also challenge someone below them but the challenged fellow can also choose to accept the challenge or not.

2. After defeating your opponent you can choose to continue or take a rest.

3. Killing is not allowed or you will be expelled.

After explaining the rules he said loudly so everyone can hear it clearly, "We will announce the new ranking board based on your combat prowess after the match ends and the rank 10 to 1 will receive more rewards."

Woo!

The sound of everyone cheering as they were filled with fighting spirits.

He looked around then scanned the excited students below the fighting stage and nodded to tell them that they should start.

A spear wielder student jumped at the center then challenged another student ranked number 20.

10 minutes later, he won and raised his rank to rank 20. He went down the stage to rest then the match continued with other students fighting and climbing up ranks.

Some won and they climbed up ranks, some lost as they were defeated.

Finally, it was time for the rank 10 from the old strength ranking board's turn. Pedro nodded to Juan and went first, he jumped to the center of the stage and shouted loudly. "I challenged Yuri, rank 8"

Standing at the center he said loudly, "Meg rank 2, I choose you" (pokemon reference xd)

Meg who just got off the stage was surprised then got angry.

So now even someone who is ranked 10 thinks im an easy guy huh? Meg gritted his teeth in anger then fell for Juan's plot and accepted the challenge.

Juan held his wooden sword with one hand and taunted Meg with the other,

Meg went back up to the stage in front of Juan and directly threw a dagger at Juan's face and charged at him then, he took another dagger and slashed at him.

Leaning to the side, he dodged the incoming flying attack and did a side step to stop the incoming combo then he held his sword with two hands slashed it horizontally with all his strength. His strength was now 720 pounds and even if Meg is stronger than him he can't get out without getting heavily injured.

Crack!

The sounds of bones cracking were heard when his sword connected and Meg spew out blood and fell to the ground unconscious.

Thud!

The match ended in an instant that everyone didn't know what to say,

Juan's every move was very beautiful and didn't waste any time just like the time where he battled with 3 horned wolves. Thinking of this, Christine looked at Juan's handsome face again.

Ron also took a few glances at Juan to remember him, A long whistle sounded and two medics brought a stretcher to move the unconscious Meg to the school's clinic.

"Next"

It was time for the next match but everyone was puzzled as Juan didn't get off the stage.

Ron was also surprised and asked Juan "Are you gonna continue?"

Juan nodded and shouted loudly "Christine rank 1, I challenge you in a duel."

Everyone was in an uproar and thought that he was overestimating himself because although there was only 1 rank difference between them now but the gap between them is like heaven and earth.

But Pedro didn't think so, he knew that Juan was strong even when he didn't have the body tempering technique and only used the sword when they were sparring he always won.

Hearing this, Christine smiled and accepted the challenge.

Both of them used swords so the moment Christine stepped onto the stage, their aura changed. Christine's aura was giving off a holy vibe, graceful and very pleasing. While Juan's aura was giving a sharp sword's vibe, sharp and dangerous.

Juan rushed first and launched a barrage of attacks at her while she blocked and counter-attacked from time to time. Juan noticed her moves and realized she was using advanced swordsmanship.

He knew that she was still holding back so he stepped back and gained some distance. They exchanged 100 rounds of blows and it was time to end it.

Juan stood straight and held his sword with his hands, staring at her he thought "She's really as beautiful as they say, as expected of the class goddess" Juan quickly got rid of the thought and focused but he didn't see her anywhere.

Then he heard someone say something behind him,

"It's a big mistake getting dazed in a duel you know? I'm sure you know that"

He looked behind him and found that her sword was already pointed at his neck.

Confused, He asked her "How?"

It wasn't just Juan, even Ron and the other students were confused. She just disappeared and appeared behind Juan in an instant.

But a noble in the back recognized it and shouted "Talent!"

Juan was even more puzzled as Christine's age was the same as him and she have to wait till she gets 16 to awaken her talent. Then he heard someone say,

"She probably used the legendary Talent stone! It was said that it was very rare and with it, you can gain extra talent in advance but no one wanted to even auction it for 1 million gold coins. There was no supply as just one talent stone is priceless. I can't believe the Paez clan used it on her, I heard that she was doted on by her grandfather and I guess the rumors were true."

Christine said nothing and smiled at him,

Juan got captivated by her smile up close and couldn't help but mutter the word "Beautiful."

She heard this and It was Christine's turn to be surprised, she hit his head with her sword and left the stage pouting.

Juan laughed and left the stage too.

After the fight, nobody was in the mood to continue so Ron declared the end of the ranking match as he showed them the new Ranking Board based on their performance.

...

These are the rewards.

"That's the end and now we are going to distribute the rewards to the new rankers"

Juan received his rewards and nodded in satisfaction while Pedro beside him said "The school this time has become really generous"

The rewards were all distributed and the school declared the end of the ranking match so they can go home and use the rewards they got to train.

The event ended so there was nothing to do so Juan then said goodbye to Pedro and went home first.

- End of chapter 4 -