"This stage's battle will proceed in a similar fashion to the last stage's first round, meaning that it will also consist of three random draw battles, this stage will last for a total of two rounds as well…"

According to what the organizer said just before, it didn't seem like they were pulling any brakes as there was no bonus stage, which meant that…

"The second round is obviously not a bonus round just like I said before, but it would be another 'three random draw battles' stage between the 20 participants who manage to maintain their win streak without it any loses…"

'Mhm…'

"However, unlike the first round that would get you out if you get one loss, the second round is just to separate the 20 participants in preparation for the last stage, so do your best at the first round, since getting through it will mean you have survived through the whole tournament!"

The style they were using once again made no sense, were they really trying not to miss any budding talent? or were they just taking this tournament as if it was just a gamble where they throw the net and hope that they won't miss the good fish without trying especially hard for it…?

'Well, not that it matters to me anyway, they probably have something in mind…'

I only bothered going through this whole 'Show Off tournament' to enter a good sect, with the main goal being the extermination of the demons that intruded into the nature domain the Nature Domain, with a little side goal being obtaining whichever techniques or arts that would complement my path which is yet to be completed.

"The battles will start in half an hour so be ready! See you in the next round."

The organizer slowly exited the central platform we were at currently as he soon vanished from our sight, while I closed my eyes and simply thought about how soon I would be free from this nonsense tournament to pass time on happy thoughts…

`~~`~~`~~`

One day and a half later…

"That didn't take long, right? Once again I congratulate the last twenty surviors who managed to pull through the whole tournament, you now have the right to be called 'Rankers'!"

The first round was concluded in no time as the whole number of matches that were held came down to 120. I obviously managed to pass through it without trouble, which proved to be much easier than the last round, for me at least.

Unlike the last round where I had to fight the dual element swordswoman or the one before it where I had to fight the idiot fire fist guy who packed quite a punch regardless if he had enough wit to actually deliver it or not, this opponents I met in this round were all average one, with two being sect members below the swordswoman's level and the third one being the very unlucky guy who forfeited against me in the earlier round…

On the other hand, the 14 recruitees who have managed to reach the third stage other than me were down to only three!

The trio were unsurprisingly the earth practitioner, the dual element swordswoman, and the fire fist guy who seemed to be the only surprising one of the four of us recruitees…

"The reason you are eligible to be called 'Rankers' is because you are all going to move on to the last stage which is also known as the 'Ranking' stage!"

'Then the second round…?'

"You will still have to go through the second round. However, in this round, the one that acts as the true 'Intermediary', losing once, twice, or even thrice won't mean that you are eliminated, it will just mean that you have a different ranking."

'Oh…'

That meant that they were going to cut us into ranking segments through this round, before settling the concrete true ranking through one way or another…

"Anyway, I got nothing much to say to you, do well, and see you tomorrow during the last stage!"

With this, and without much time for rest, the second round of the 'Intermediary' stage started, which was better news to me, as I only had to put up with this only for the next day and a half at the very most…

'It also shouldn't be that boring…'

Now that we were down to the last twenty, it went without saying that most of these 'Rankers' should be at least able to put a fight on the level of that dual element swordswoman, which meant that it would at least wash away my boredom…

`~~`~~`~~`

The next day…

The second round soon came to an end as well, with no one of us recruitees meeting each other in battle, other than the fire fist guy who was unlucky enough to have the dual element swordswoman as his opponent, and ending up against the strongest sect member in the last twenty who use both the halberd along with the water attribute, which was more than enough to beat the fire first idiot…

I on the other hand had managed to get quite the easiest picks, with one of them being another match against the dual element swordswoman who directly forfeited as well as she already knew how this would go if she tried a second time, my other opponents were both elemental weapon masters who almost had the same level of ability as her who were obviously nothing to much for me as I only had to use the same move I used against the swordswoman to secure a fast and an easy win.

At this point, it was obvious that the only ones that could grab my attention were the earth practitioner that still seemed a bit mysterious and the water halberd sect member who simply trashed his every opponent at a level that was comparable to what I let out so far…

'The last day!'

"Once again, I'm here to deliver the last explanation for the last stage!"