Five opponents with different specialties and strengths had to be knocked down before Emery finally made it into the top 80 rankings, a position that secured him the next tier reward of 15 Spirit Foundation Pill.
Emery turned his eyes towards the huge holographic screen floating above the arena and saw the next group of privileged acolytes participating in the rank matches.
[First-month privilege ranking challenger]
[32 participants]
[Rank 64 – Armand Nephilim (71)]
[Rank 68 – Reney (75)]
[Rank 70 – Vegoth Sage (65)]
[Rank 73 – Cenari (76)]
[Rank 74 – Dayasta Diass (72)]
[Rank 77 – Mahareth (79)]
[Rank 78 – Emery Ambrose (68)]
Emery saw the list of names of his next opponents. There were 5 of them he could challenge with his test rank of 68. This meant, even if he could beat all 5. He still wouldn't reach the next tier upgrade.
The smart thing to do was to stop here, as he originally planned. After all, he would still have 11 months to slowly make his way up.
Not only would this ensure a stable progression and a firm development of his cultivation, he would also not attract too many eyes to himself. Because, at the end of the day, the tallest trees catch the most wind – especially those that grow too fast.
However, at this moment, Emery felt his body boiling from within, as if it was an active volcano that wanted to unleash everything that was pent up.
He couldn't stop now, he couldn't think about anything else but to fight. He even ignored Roran, who was calling for him on the side.
The ten minutes break given after the match was on, while Emery was recovering his condition, the destroyed and broken part of the arena was quickly repaired and turned to its original state, as if nothing happened.
On the side, Roran became particularly excited when he saw that Emery managed to win his fifth match. However, he called him over to put some perspective on the latter.
In his opinion, the first twenty ranks from the bottom would not be too hard for Emery. However, the same couldn't be said for the next twenty.
From this point on, the journey would not be a walk in the park, as the strength of the opponents to be fought would increase exponentially.
Roran firmly believed Emery would not be able to defeat them right now, not with his current state of exhaustion, after fighting intense matches in rapid succession.
Therefore, he told him it would be better to stop at this point and continue with the personal challenges he could do weekly.
However, Emery, for some reason, ignored him completely. Even Roran started to sense something weird was happening to Emery.
At this moment, a few figures just arrived at the arena and walked in his direction.
"I told you we came too early!" said a young man with messy golden hair that reached his shoulders.
The man came with two other people, one was a very muscular, serious-looking man that held a spear in his hands, the other was a charming young girl with long luscious fiery red hair that cascaded to her hips.
The young girl turned her eyes to the arena to see who was fighting. She suddenly became excited when she saw the figure recuperating at the rest area on the edge of the arena.
"That's him! Emery Ambrose! Aah, if I knew he was here, I would have come earlier!"
The man with the huge spear seemed interested to see when he heard her words. On the other hand, the golden-haired young man immediately cast his gaze below and searched for the said person.
"What!? That's the new guy from the elite class, isn't he? The one with the title Savage? Huh! If anyone would be called Savage in the privileged class, then that person could only be me, Diyoo!"
The three people who just arrived were the 47th rank Annara Veirmont, the 55th rank YunXiao, while the loud golden-haired young man was the rank 28, Diyoo.
Annara finally noticed Roran standing nearby, so she quickly approached him.
"Harlight! Tell me how that guy's match went!"
It was at this time Emery's sixth match began, as his name was called up. His figure was seen walking into the arena again and stopped just a few meters away from his opponent, the one ranked right above him – the 77th rank Mahareth.
His opponent this time was apparently a speed-type fighter, who could use and combine both spells from lightning and wind element. Unfortunately for the other party, he didn't have the necessary firepower to hurt Emery physically.
In just around five minutes, Emery managed to trap the poor guy with a combination of [Blink] and [Shadow Root]. Simply put, he basically crowded the entire arena with [Shadow Roots] to hinder his opponent's mobility, before appearing right upon the other party with [Blink].
The fight ended with Mahareth being incapacitated, as Emery broke his leg.
"Emery Ambrose wins!" The referee announced immediately, when he saw Mahareth physically unable to continue the match.
Seeing such a sight, Diyoo quickly commented, "Wuhu! That's more like it! Damn, that must hurt!"
Annara, on the other hand, smiled as she spoke to Roran. "Wow, I didn't think he was this ruthless before."
Hearing that, Roran showed a complicated look on his face. "Yeah… me neither."
On a different side, where a group of privileged acolytes with golden robes had gathered, Armand could be seen more annoyed than ever. He couldn't accept the fact his teammate Jordi lost so badly to that detestable person. And now, the man he hated just defeated another one.
"Armand, he's very strong!" Jordi said, when he noticed the irritation on Armand's face.
Alas, this only backfired. "Shut your mouth, you loser!"
While Armand was arguing with the man, Emery kept his seemingly unstoppable streak by defeating another acolyte ranking above him again.
"He wins again!"
"Do you think I can't see that?!" Armand snarled.
"Brother Armand, he's now ranked 73th already."
"Brother, That's his seventh streak!"
Hearing the people around him start talking that way about the person he hated really annoyed Armand. The truth was a bitter pill on his horizon, he could clearly see how strong Emery already was, and knew that, if he didn't try harder, the man could really catch up to him.
Armand understood he had to train harder. However, this didn't stop him from getting annoyed with his team's talk of Emery.
"Don't worry, brother Armand. His test rank is only 68, so he can't force you, the 64th rank, to a fight. You don't need to fight him today."
This was actually the only fact that made him calm, but the way his teammate worded this phrase and what it implied made him uncomfortable.
"What the fu*k are you saying?! I've told you, I'm ready to fight that guy anytime!"
The one who spoke realized his error, as he quickly responded, "Of course, brother Armand. There's no way you are scared of that puny person! Anyway, even if he somehow manages to reach your rank… that's three more matches. I'm sure he will be half-dead by then."
Armand nodded his head when he heard that.
"That's true… It won't be pleasant to fight a completely exhausted, half-dead opponent!"
The people around him immediately sang praises, when they heard Armand's words.
"Brother, you are so great!"
"That's right! How magnanimous of you!"
As soon as those praises resounded in the air, the group heard how the referee declared that Emery had won his match again. By this point, the latter had bulldozed through eight people in succession.
Armand subconsciously looked over the list on the screen and saw only two names left before his, inwardly thinking.
"He won't win the next one… right?"