Chapter 58: Focal fights

“Ayrin's tactics wouldn't have succeeded if Rowan had a powerful enough area skill, even something like Dulvi's 'Wave Impact.'”

“It's also a decision-making issue. Who would have thought at the beginning that his stamina and momentum are so amazing? Even if Dulvi had the been the one matched against Ayrin, maybe he'd also have thought of letting Ayrin run out of stamina first. And then it's already too late by the time you notice something's wrong.”

“That's right. Even if Rowan realized it from the very beginning and broke Ayrin's tactics, who knows whether Ayrin would have switched to another method or not.”

“The most important thing is that Rowan is too weak. If he were strong enough, he could have struck Ayrin with a mighty arcane skill that wouldn't even have let Ayrin run away.”

“What's the use of saying that? Who has such an overwhelming superiority? An arcane skill like that, do you think everyone's at Chris' level!”

Among the shocked arguing voices, more and more people felt that even if Rowan had had some powerful counter skills, perhaps Ayrin would still have achieved victory.

In their eyes, Ayrin became someone who could simply not be measured by common sense.

“What a fearsome momentum and recovery capacity.”

The teacher who'd approved the switch in the fighting order earlier was also looking Ayrin with astonishment. He saw Ayrin walk back to the rest area, surprisingly looking as if he recovered his strength after catching his breath for a mere little while, even after constantly bursting out at top speed for so long.

Just at this time, the other two students in the same group as Ayrin and Rowan both walked in front of him and told him,“Teacher, we're forfeiting our following matches.”

“Forfeit? Why, is it because we readjusted your opponent last minute, that's why you feel it's a little unfair?” This teacher was suddenly startled.

“That's not it, teacher.” One of the two students immediately shook his head. He looked at Ayrin with admiration and emotion. “We both reached an agreement right now. We're very aware of our own strength, we can't possibly be Ayrin's match. Since Ayrin can defeat Rowan, he can naturally defeat us as well. We both want to let him save a little strength.”

The other student also immediately said, “We want to watch him exchange blows with stronger opponents. For him, there's no opponent left in our group that's stronger than Rowan, but there are opponents stronger than Rowan from other groups coming up next. We want to him to preserve as much strength as possible to fight against those people, we'll also be able to see more spectacular matches.”

“Very good thinking. To tell you the truth, at first I didn't think he could beat Rowan either, but now I'm also more and more hopeful about him. Who knows, maybe he's truly capable of passing this selection and joining the academy team.” This teacher suddenly guffawed out loud, then he patted the two students on their shoulders. “I agree to your forfeits, but you two also have to do your best. I heard that the intensity of Ayrin's training has always been four times that of ordinary people's.”

“Four times?” These two students suddenly turned a little white. But then they saw an even fiercer blaze burning inside Ayrin's eyes. “Teacher, we understand. We'll definitely work hard!”

...

“I didn't expect you to have such a stunning momentum.”

“Chris!”

Ayrin heard Chris' voice as soon as he sat down beside Kybaver.

Ayrin had no idea what kind of training Chris completed again this time. Her left arm, perpetually wrapped in bandages, trembled nonstop. When she looked at Ayrin however, her tone was filled with happy delight. “It's no wonder you kept saying you wanted to join the team, no wonder teacher Carter especially helped you apply.”

“What! You didn't apply yourself, it's teacher Carter who signed you up?” Kybaver couldn't understand why Chris and Ayrin were so familiar with each other, but he was in for another surprise as soon as he heard Chris' words.

It turned out this guy was a genius that elite teachers had already taken a fancy to long ago?!

“Did you see my fight right now?” Ayrin actually didn't take note of Kybaver's expression at all. He only laughed out loud at Chris. “Haha, how was it, do you think I can fight my way into the school team this time?”

“I'm not sure.”

Chris seriously thought for a moment. “The two others in your group forfeited just now. You already qualified from your group, but the real fights begin now, after the group stage.”

“These guys are all at least as powerful as Rowan?” Ayrin nodded. He raised his head and looked at Chris. “Then give me a little additional motivation.”

Kybaver orginally thought the relationship between Chris and Ayrin a little ambiguous. Now he almost fell down face first.

Give me a little motivation... Was he trying to make Chris give him a kiss in front of the crowd or something?

“What kind of motivation?” Chris' thoughts weren't as torturous as Kybaver's, but she was also a little curious as to what Ayrin wanted.

“Buy me something delicious... Something tasty would be the best.” Ayrin rubbed his belly and said with a pitiful face, “I ran for so long just now, I feel like I'm dead hungry... If I had something to eat as a reward, I will definitely perform even better.”

“...” Kybaver immediately rolled his eyes as soon as he heard, extremely disappointed. He mumbled, “Whatever the case, he's standing face to face with a beautiful girl... He actually doesn't want anything else, he just wants something to eat. Only a low-level Giant Food Monster would have a brain like this.”

Ayrin heard some mumbling but he didn't clearly hear the words. He happily turned his head around and asked Kybaver, “Kybaver, what are you mumbling about. Are you hungry too?”

“Get lost! Don't talk to me, you're annoying.” Kybaver shouted gloomily. He was thinking, right now, after being beaten up, he wished nothing better than to puke out everything he had in his stomach, and this guy's actually still asking him if he wanted to eat something?!

“Wait for me here then.” Chris covered her mouth and smiled, entirely devoid of the air of a master. Then she disappeared from the rest area in an instant.

“She's not as scary as they say, she's pretty cute. In fact she would make a pretty good girlfriend.” Kybaver enviously watched Chris' back and whispered, “She's not crazy at all.”

“Are you talking about Chris, of course she's not crazy.” Ayrin only heard the latter part of Kybaver's words, hence he seriously said, “Just a little face-blind.”

“She only cares about training usually, doesn't communicate with people, and has a little facial blindness to boot. I also heard she doesn't have many friends in her grade. Why's she so familiar with you,” Kybaver jealously said. They kept calling Chris the Amazingly Crazy Girl, and rumors said she was weird and fearsome, but she was after all the idol of Holy Dawn Academy, and she also looked beautiful, that earned her enough bonus points. If a boy could truly make Chris his girlfriend, then this boy would naturally gain a lot of face.

In fact, for youngsters like them whose dreams just set sail, they didn't have much understanding about love. Everything was very hazy. Many boys would often recklessly chase after a girl or another for some reason, then feel that their love was a matter of life and death, feel that they couldn't live a single day without their partner. And then, when they finally parted ways, after waking in dire pain, they would realize they were still alive and kicking. Perhaps, not many days later, they would be completely healed and rushing onto the next battlefield of love, until the day the hot-bloodedness of youth drifts past and they reach true maturity, only then discovering what genuine love was.

“Since she usually looks so normal, so cute and so easy-mannered, why does she have to train so painstakingly, why does she hang the slogan of becoming the national champion on her lips all day long?” Such a thought once again popped in Kybaver's brain. He couldn't resist looking at Ayrin and asking him in all seriousness:”Why does she want to seize the final victory in the great tournament, there must be some special reason. Ayrin, since you're so familiar with her, do you know the real reason why?”

“Ah?” Ayrin shook his head. “No idea, I didn't ask her. What I think is, if there's really a special reason, then she'll tell me if she wants to tell me, and if she doesn't tell me it must certainly be because she doesn't want to.”

Kybaver looked at Ayrin's face, not uttering a sound for a long while.

Ayrin rubbed his face, curious, asking, “What?”

“Nothing,” Kybaver said, extremely depressed. “I'm just looking at your head. It looks very normal, so why does it always seem like what's inside isn't the same compared to the rest of us?”

“Not the same?”

Ayrin smiled, embarrassed. He said, “I just think that, if you want to help a friend, then just help them. You don't necessarily have to ask your friend why they want to do that thing.”

“...” For a little while, Kybaver didn't know what to say. There was only a voice inside his heart telling him that it was certainly better to be friends with a guy like this than be enemies.

…

As the selected went on without interruption, final victors also emerged from the other groups.

In the stands however, the gazes of the vast majority of spectators stayed locked on two persons.

One was Ayrin, someone no one could see through, someone that couldn't be predicted using common sense. The other one was Bora, someone with stunning strength, to the point almost every participant in the selection thought he was certainly number one.

Everyone was waiting to see who their next opponents would be.

In the hearts of many people, they even felt that Ayrin and Bora were the hopes of Holy Dawn Academy in the main qualifiers to come.

“Bora against Leila!”

“Ayrin against Rogrid!”

At long last, the tournament bracket featuring the twenty powerhouses left was publicly revealed.

“Rogrid?”

When everyone's eyes gathered on these two focal fights, Ayrin couldn't resist poking Kybaver beside him, asking him who on earth his opponent Rogrid was.

“You're hurting me on purpose right?” Kybaver's face paled when Ayrin pokes just happened to land on the painful spots on his chest. He helplessly pointed at one side to someone tall and skinny. “That's him... A powerful figure in third year. He's expert in 'Crashing Flow' and 'Sand Scorpions.' The method you used against Rowan is pretty useless against him. If you can't think of some other way, then you might as well admit defeat and be done with it.”

Ayrin observed Rogrid.

This was a tall and skinny boy. His neck seemed longer than usual, but other than that his appearance was very ordinary. When Rogrid found out his opponent was Ayrin, he also turned his head this way, and when he noticed Ayrin also looking at him, he smiled and nodded, seeming very friendly.

“I know about Crashing Flow, it's a waterfall-like stream of water that rushes my way.” Ayrin actually acted a little furtive, asking Kybaver in a low voice, “What kind of arcane skill is Sand Scorpions now?”

“An arcane skill that gathers sand and gravel from the ground and shapes them into many sand scorpions.” Kybaver glanced at Ayrin and explained, “Those sand scorpions won't attack him, but if you approach one or if you carelessly step on one, then it'll give you a sting you'll be hard-pressed to forget for your entire life. You can imagine the feeling of a pointy thorn pricking inside your flesh, then turning back into several dozen grains of sand and gravel boring into your flesh.”