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Chapter 62: Ain vs. Elias Wilmer

While the venue was still amazed by Ain’s performance, the remaining matches continued, and round five soon concluded. With six matches and a bye, seven students advanced to the next round.

After another quick break, the matches for round six were displayed.

Ain looked up at the holographic screen and found his name without an opponent. He was lucky and received a bye for this round. He didn’t have too many thoughts and glanced through the other three pairs before turning away.

The remaining participants were the ones Ain suspected to have reached Intermediate Rank-1. At this point, they had no choice but to reveal their hidden cards if they wished to attain victory. As the only one not battling this round, Ain’s advantage was apparent.

Time passed and round six soon ended.

The three matches took longer than the previous ones, and all six participants openly revealed their ranks. Some of the keener students realized from their performance that their power had already surpassed Beginner Rank-1, causing exclamations and some rueful comments.

In the end, with the addition of Ain, there were four students remaining. Before moving on, two more matches took place as the defeated students from round six battled against each other for fifth place. After all, the rewards for the top five were different, and only they received the meditation technique.

After a short break, the matches for round seven, the semi-finals, were announced on the holographic screens.

This time, instead of just names, there were also large portraits of the semi-finalists with a “Vs.” between each pair.

[Ain Weisman Vs. Elias Wilmer]

[Elina Reynolds Vs. Frans Vaughan]

In the special spectating seats, Ain and the other three glanced at each other. Frans carried a gentle smile and nodded at them. Elina Reynolds, the dark horse in this competition, naturally emitted a cold aura and returned the nod expressionlessly. On the other hand, Elias Wilmer, Ain’s next opponent, smiled heartily and said, “Good luck!”

With a small smile, Ain similarly nodded at the trio.

Teacher Linus took the time and addressed the venue, “Finally, we’ve almost reached the end! In round seven, there will be three matches. The first two matches will decide our finalists, and the last match will rank the third and fourth place!”

“Without further ado, let’s welcome our two participants for the next match; Ain Weisman and Elias Wilmer!” This time, Teacher Linus’ voice carried more varied intonations, as she clearly enunciated their names.

Right on time, Ain and Elias left their seats and made their way to the arena amidst the cheers from their fellow students.

As the competition continued, the spectators began to favor certain participants to win the competition. Although some of their favorites had lost, they had moved on to support others. At the moment, both their supporters cheered loudly.

“Ain, end the match in five seconds!”

“Elias doesn’t have a mechanical spirit pet! Just use Malicious Gaze and finish him!”

“What’re you talking about? Elias won’t lose!”

“Do you think that the Titan Bear is a joke?”

Ain glanced at the spectators and spotted Hugo amongst the crowd, cheering loudly while waving his hands in the air. Ain suppressed a smile and stepped onto the arena, along with Elias.

After reaching their marked positions, Elias grinned while clutching his fists and said, “Ain, you’re one of the few students who used martial arts in this competition. Let’s have a good fight!”

Ain glanced at Elias, who stood half a head taller than him with a muscular physique, and replied sincerely, “Let’s have a good fight.”

Just as Elias noticed Ain’s martial arts, Ain had done the same. In this competition, a spirit tamer using martial arts to fight was a rare sight. A few had done it, but only they had made it this far.

Until now, Elias’ battles had been almost identical, even the previous one against an Intermediate Rank-1. His spirit pet would directly entangle the enemy’s spirit pet, and Elias would rush up to the opponent to exchange blows, ultimately defeating the opponent.

As Ain prepared for the battle, he thought of his former job as an instructor at the Steel Lion Martial Arts Gym. Initially, he hoped to use that chance to spar against worthy opponents while also earning some money, but the endeavor was a let-down. He ended up teaching children and was unable to fulfill his goal.

With only Ms. Livia as a sparring partner, Ain had rarely exchanged blows with others using martial arts. Of course, this didn’t include spirit beasts or the fights he ended swiftly.

As the robotic countdown began, some expectations arose in Ain’s heart.

“Three, two, one, begin!”

When the match commenced, both Ain and Elias summoned their spirit pets and dashed forward, as if they had a mutual understanding. Under the bright sun that was no longer overhead, two shadows chased after their figures as they clashed in the middle of the arena and began exchanging moves.

As it was just a probe, Ain didn’t use Spirit Impact, and so was the case for Elias. It had already been revealed that Elias could also use Spirit Impact.

With the dull sounds of punches and kicks colliding, the match took a heated turn right from the beginning.

After a few exchanges, Ain gained the upper hand and forced Elias to be on the defensive.

He keenly realized that his physique was superior to his opponent’s. It was apparent that Elias also focused heavily on body tempering, but he still fell a little short from Ain.

Ain had reached Intermediate Rank-1 almost a month ago, and his current physique was already close to the next rank, whereas Elias’ physique had just reached Intermediate Rank-1. Elias had most likely reached Intermediate Rank-1 recently.

As the two battled, their spirit pets were also locked in combat. As soon as Nox was summoned, it spotted the large, earth-attribute Titan Bear.

True to its name, the Titan Bear’s shoulder height was almost three meters. After standing up, it resembled a small mountain, looming over the others. Its dark brown fur served as a natural armor, and its thick, sharp claws seemed to be able to dig into the ground with ease. Its presence was menacing, encompassing strength, brutality, and arrogance.

It was the largest spirit pet that had appeared in this competition. In fact, it was also the largest spirit pet Ain had encountered so far. In comparison, Nox looked like a piece of cotton-candy that the Titan Bear could swallow in just one bite.

“Wooo….”

“Roar!”

After a threatening roar, the Titan Bear rushed towards Nox with heavy footsteps.

Nox’s voice was drowned out in the roar, as it prepared to act. Ain hadn’t given it any specific commands. It decided to fight it out with this big guy on its own.

When the bear reached the unmoving Nox, it raised its right claw up high and swung it down with great momentum, using Heavy Swipe, an earth-attribute skill. An earthly brown light surrounded the claw as it approached Nox. Just as the claw was about to hit Nox, it dispersed its cloudy body, making way for the bear’s claw, allowing it to pass through the vacant middle area instead.

Failing to strike its target, the Heavy Bear’s attack struck the ground, gouging out pieces of earth, raising a rain of dirt and dust.

Nox’s ghostly body could phase through objects and even other lifeforms, but the prerequisite was that there had to be no strong resistance. Both Nox and the bear were at Intermediate Rank-1. Although Nox’s spirit energy quality and quantity were slightly greater than the bear’s, this difference wasn’t sufficient to allow Nox to rely on this innate characteristic of a ghost to avoid the attack.

After a few experiments, Ain generalized Nox’s phasing ability’s limits. If Nox was one major rank higher than the target, it could phase through it. If Nox and the target were both within the same major rank, but there were two minor ranks between them, such as Beginner vs. Advanced, Nox could still phase through it.

But when there was only one minor rank difference, such as Beginner vs. Intermediate, the results were unpredictable, and it depended on their spirit energy.

In the case of the exact same rank or higher; unless there were special circumstances such as deliberately allowing it, or if the target was completely incapacitated, Nox couldn’t phase through them.

Not only lifeforms, but a similar principle was applied to spiritual objects.

After dodging the Heavy Bear’s attack, Nox’s white, cloudy body condensed two sharp and menacing claws and slashed at the bear’s unguarded chest with Phantom Claws.

The Heavy Bear sensed the attack and hurriedly used its left arm to receive it while recovering from the missed attack.

Slash!

Flesh and fur were sliced through as a gash appeared on the Titan Bear’s left arm. Blood trickled out of the open wound, soaking the surrounding fur before dripping down onto the ground.

“Roar!” The Titan Bear roared in anger and pain, swiping its claws at Nox in a flurry, as if it was swatting away a small mosquito.

Nox hurriedly retreated out of range of the bear’s strikes. It was difficult for it to dodge multiple attacks in quick succession with the same trick it used before.

On the other hand, Elias, who was being suppressed by Ain in physical combat, saw the Titan Bear’s plight and sent it a command. At the same time, he countered Ain’s incoming attack and used the chance when Ain blocked to retreat towards the Titan Bear.

Seeing this, Ain didn’t chase after Elias and called Nox to his side. While he battled Elias, he was also keeping tabs on the battle between the spirit pets.

He mentally praised Nox for the successful attack as it floated beside Ain with a jubilant mood.

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