Rydel panted as he killed the last elf. They were still in the early E-grade, however, their levels were around 10, still in his limits but he suffered from some superficial wounds. It was inevitable, he was surrounded in all directions and even with his superior perception, some lucky shots ended up grazing him. The atmosphere in the coliseum reached a crescendo, Rydel was ecstatic to hear people praising his name along with the cheers. “The lanista has a new champion! He had demonstrated his individual might, will he be a fierce leader too? The next round will speak for itself.” The commentator shouted. “Those able to reach this stage are few and far between. Also, strong people are usually loners that can’t stand working in teams.” The noble-looking elf commented. “I think that he will do it okay, I’ve always had faith in him.” The experienced elf coughed and praised Rydel, his son eyed him with doubts. “I want to bet some life stones that he won’t be able to pass the next round.” The rough-looking elf said. The others looked unsure, but they eventually acceded. Life stones grew mostly underground where the spiritual energy was the thickest, a long time was needed for them to form. They were green with diverse black patterns, and they were used to cultivate as an alternative to experience. Their size was regulated and the concentration of spiritual energy that had seeped inside depended on the quality of the stone. The boats and corpses disappeared, but the light red tint in the water stayed. Rydel’s boat wasn’t an exception, however, when he looked around he noticed the addition of two galleons in confrontation. They looked like pirate ships, one was colored silver and the other was brown. Rydel didn’t need to be notified who was his as he felt a connection from his badge to the silver galleon. Rydel quickly jumped at the prow and looked at the expectant eyes of the crew. The first thing Rydel did was to take the hat from one of his crewmates, the pirate was slightly confused by the action but he didn’t say anything back. Rydel was now satisfied, he coughed and put himself in the mood for pirating. “Listen folks! I want the other ship to be sunk in the bottom of the ocean!” Rydel shouted at his crew. “B-but we aren’t in the ocean.” A timid-looking pirate responded. Rydel gave him the stinky eye. “I don’t want any excuses! What weapons do we have available?” Rydel asked. “We have 8 canons ready t-“ The second-in-command tried to speak but they were suddenly attacked by the rival galleon. An energy barrier emerged around their ship to protect them. Cracks rapidly formed, if they did nothing the shield wouldn’t last long. “We have around 20 life stones, they’d last for 10 more minutes if we run the formations uninterrupted.” The second-in-command said at the unspoken question. Rydel observed their enemies, the barrier that protected them also prevented him from leaving, he couldn’t go to the other galleon and just kill everyone inside. So this was what the commentator meant as a team exercise, this victory depended on his crew and leadership. Rydel closed his eyes and used the badge as an intermediary to connect to the ship. He was able to feel all the resources that he had available. He needed to be smart to pass this round. “Aim the cannons and shoot at the enemy on my mark!” Rydel shouted “Aye!” Everyone responded and did what he ordered. “3, 2, 1, GO!” Rydel ordered. The eight cannons shot and a similar shield appeared on the enemy ship. Meanwhile, they were still being bombarded. Rydel thought of a plan and tried to see if it worked. “One of the fighters, jump out of the ship.” His command was met with silence. Rydel released his full aura, it wasn’t able to affect his environment, but it was enough for the current pirates to know that he wasn’t someone to mess with. “NOW!” Rydel shouted. One of the weak-looking pirates wasn’t able to bear the pressure and jumped out of the ship. This confirmed Rydel's theories, he was the only one that couldn’t go out. The pirate soon returned to the ship through a ladder. Rydel uprooted a long wooden plank from the floor, he could see the ship’s storage from there, but he didn’t mind. “Advance! We’ll collide with our enemies!” At this point, the crew just heeded the orders of their strong crazy captain. They soon crashed against the enemy ship and Rydel slammed the wooden plank to connect their ships. “Go, go, go! I trust in you, go kill them all!” Rydel encouraged his crew and as they went to the other ship, he injected a dose of spiritual energy to strengthen them. He wasn’t using any skills so it wasn’t very effective, but it was better than nothing. Rydel exhaled and watched as the pirates fought among themselves. He was still hesitant about killing other people, that’s why he tried being more decisive. There wasn’t room for indecision if he wanted to get a higher score on this test. Rydel went down and took one of the cannons to the upper part and aimed at the other ship. He took out the cannonball and stuffed the hole with five life stones, he lit the fuse and protected himself with a spiritual armor. BOOOOM The barrier was pierced through, the explosion rocked the ship, the shield cracked and dispersed in the next moment. Rydel lamented that he had to use so many life stones, but it was necessary. The enemy crew consisted of twenty pirates and a captain, they were locked in combat, however, it was clear as day that Rydel’s crew were losing. They had the support of their captain and Rydel wasn’t able to move out of the ship. He lifted a cannonball and aimed at the captain. He concentrated, as his perception of time slowed down, he could see the expressions of every pirate fighting for their lives. He waited until he got a clear path to the captain and shot. The captain detected too late the killing intent aimed at him, the cannonball was upon him in an instant, he wasn’t able to avoid it. A headless body dropped to the ground. Although this put pressure on their enemies, they were still equally matched. This didn’t continue for long as Rydel continued shooting the munitions. They won after three more minutes of fighting. However, Rydel’s crew wasn’t left untouched, only thirteen returned to the silver galleon. Rydel wasn’t happy, but he didn’t know what else to do. He had to wait to have clear shots to help his teams, and he didn’t have any useful ranged skills. He hoped that his next evolution would cover this weakness. He gazed at all the death that he’d caused before hardening his expression. War wouldn't wait for the unprepared. “I don’t know about you, but little Rydel had left me speechless! A fierce fighter and a ruthless leader at the same time! Would he be able to take his team to the impossible?” The commentator hyped the fight. The rough-looking elf and the red-haired one grumbled and gave life stones to the winners. “Knowing when to admit a defeat is a virtue.” The noble-looking elf said to his neighboring friends. “Thank you for your patronage!” The experienced elf was beaming with joy. The next round they didn’t bet, as they four already knew the result. Rydel was confused as the next round didn’t start immediately, he soon found out why. A giant tentacle emerged from the water next to the enemy galleon and crushed the ship. More tentacles kept coming and in just a minute, the entire ship was dragged under the water. “I-it can’t be.” The water level wasn’t very deep, so Rydel carefully stuck his head out of the ship and saw two giant sapphire eyes looking back at him. “A fucking kraken…” Rydel murmured. The creature wasn’t trying to be sneaky either, his full aura was on display. It was a middle E-grade beast. Rydel’s mind raced a thousand miles per second trying to think about a solution. He poked a finger and confirmed that he was able to leave the barrier. At least he had more room for movement now. “Do we have any weapon able to kill that thing?” Rydel rhetorically asked. “N-no.” His second-in-command responded. Of course, he knew it thanks to his connection to the ship too, but maybe he had overlooked something. Tentacles soon attacked their ship, they were unsuccessful thanks to their shield, but this couldn’t go on. He could order his crew to sacrifice themselves to wound the kraken. Their only purpose was to help him in this test, but Rydel didn’t want to go through that route, as long as there was a minimum possibility that they were true people, he didn’t want to have his conscience to bear that kind of sin. “Shoot a life stone with the cannon.” Rydel ordered. Alas, the explosion’s outcome was only a light burn that quickly regenerated, it only served to piss the kraken off, who’s tentacles were now attacking with frenzy. They still had fourteen life stones remaining. Rydel wasn’t able to use his Dao, as it was still daytime, which left him with fewer options. If only Neena was here, they could beat the ass of the kraken. “Put every life stone in a sack.” Rydel ordered. The kraken was still putting pressure on the shield, in two more minutes it’d pop and they’d be dead. After receiving the sack, he tied it to his pants and Rydel prepared himself emotionally. “If I don’t survive this, tell my family that I loved them.” Rydel seriously said to the crew, they nodded in understanding. Rydel dived in the water and went straight to the kraken’s eye. It wouldn't let him approach so easily, in no time dozens of tentacles blocked his vision. He took three life stones and punched. Rydel only had a split second to redirect the energy, the quantity was enough to affect the physical realm, his punch covered in spiritual energy wounded the kraken. The tentacles moved away for an instant, but the wound wasn’t very deep, they soon came back and swatted him. Rydel positioned himself so that he could use the push to move closer to the kraken. Rydel grimaced as his ribs were crushed and he coughed blood. Water entered his mouth, he redirected his energy to push the water out of his throat. There were 5 meters between the kraken and him, Rydel strengthened his right arm and thrust his sword. The kraken closed his eye at the last moment, but the sword pierced through the eyelid. One tentacle caught his leg and crushed it, Rydel’s pain went through the roof. However, his determination didn’t falter, he continued to swim downwards until he reached the sword hilt, and crushed the entire sack of life stones. He redirected the energy into the sword and blew off the entire eye, the Kraken’s shrill was heard even under the water. Rydel suffered from the explosion too, his energy reserves were at a minimum as his two arms were blown off. He swam with his remaining leg and reached inside the beast. Rydel’s eyes were bloodshot, the pain was unbearable, he covered his leg with his leftover energy and stomped the brain of the creature to a pulp. The lifeless body of the kraken sank into the coliseum. Rydel was still inside the carcass, he was suffering as he didn’t have the energy to replace the oxygen, and his body involuntary breathed. Rydel noted how his lungs were filling with water and his exhaustion made him fall over. Rydel’s hair stood on end as he felt a high E-grade aura washing over him. Before crushing the badge, the last thing he saw was a row of fangs larger than a house about to descend on him.