It didn't take long for everyone to finish their battles. This round was, after all, meant to be the easiest. From here, Yi Qiang grinned slightly at the thought, things will get a little harder.

He would welcome the challenge.

Soon enough, all the victors gathered on the central stage at the instruction of the other judges. Shortly after, the gaudy judge walked out once again. Though it seemed like he wasn't paying attention, Yi Qiang was willing to wager that the seemingly-foppish man was carefully watching every battle, just in case something came up that meant he had to reevaluate.

Just like last time, the judge took a few seconds to point everyone to the stage they would fight, heading off immediately afterward.

Unfortunately, Yi Qiang's opponent, this time, didn't look like too much of a threat either. That meant Yi Qiang wouldn't have much time to adapt to his new Strength and Agility, which the archer regarded as a rather high priority on his list - all the strength in the world wouldn't serve Yi Qiang well if he wasn't used to it and was unable to use technique or skill.

However, he could still use this duel as a learning experience.

For the sake of fair comparison, Yi Qiang summoned a bow with the same amount of Qi as with his first match. If he wanted to get an accurate picture of exactly how Strength affected his battle power, it was in his interest to regulate as many variables as possible.

He would have to pay more attention if he wanted to completely understand what such a massive improvement in his Strength did, however, because this time, Yi Qiang couldn't just judge based on how much damage an arrow did.

Holding a bow of 200 points of Qi in his hand and an arrow of 5 points notched in it, Yi Qiang prepared himself.

The archer drew the bow even before the judge gave the okay to fight; when that moment arrived, Yi Qiang needed only to release the bowstring, and the match would, if nothing unexpected happened, be over.

The judge eyed Yi Qiang, making sure this ridiculously powerful contestant wouldn't try to attack without his permission, and glanced at the other fighter.

Yi Qiang was also analyzing his opponent. Not bad.

From the woman's expression, she was well aware of the fact that her enemy had far outclassed her in this fight, but withholding the ugly expression on her face, the female fighter seemed almost unaffected by this. Fighting spirit and bloodlust poured off her in waves.

Unfortunately, she wasn't Chosen; otherwise, Yi Qiang would have been genuinely impressed. As it was, the woman's talent was apparent - she was relatively young, after all - but not that notable.

Yi Qiang couldn't help but smile slightly - the image of her staring at the shining golden bow in his hand slightly nervously while standing, maul in hand, was too funny. She'll grow to be strong, for a native.

The archer couldn't help but notice that the bowstring of the bow seemed a lot softer than before, in that it took far less energy to draw it back fully. That meant that he could use more powerful conjured bows, which seemed redundant because Yi Qiang's Vigor wasn't very high yet, but the marksman was sure he would find it very useful. He had tested it previously, and Yi Qiang became unable to draw his bow when over 700 points of Qi were used in its creation. Below that, he would find its use laborious, but conceivable. Unfortunately, around 550 points was his maximum to use fluently in battle - any less, and he would find himself struggling far too much for each shot to hold his ground.

Yi Qiang directed his attention to the judge's hand. It was soon to fall, and when it did, everything would be over.

The judge dropped his hand; to the female fighter, this was a death sentence. To Yi Qiang, it was an opportunity.

The golden arrow, loosed from its radiant holder, sliced through the air completely silent.

Its speed confirmed Yi Qiang's theory.

I knew that this game's physics wasn't precisely realistic...

The mechanics of an arrow's strength weren't exactly wholly consistent with those of real life, a conjecture Yi Qiang had suspected, but had yet to validate until that moment.

And what a validation it was.

At over one-and-a-half times its previous speed, Yi Qiang's golden arrow made its way toward his opponent's forehead. It was going to be an ending just like the former.

Or, that was the plan, until Yi Qiang's arrow dramatically overshot its target, flying over the female warrior's head by a large margin and on a direct path to the crowd before an invisible barrier stopped it.

Yi Qiang grimaced. That was embarrassing... How long has it been since I last failed a shot?

However, the marksman had to admit that that slip-up was inevitable. To make an accurate shot in archery, one had to be familiar with the speed an arrow would fly. If the gap between the imagined flight speed of a shaft and the real flight speed was too large, it was impossible to shoot accurately.

Ever professional, though, Yi Qiang quickly conjured another arrow and shot again, changing the angle of his shot to compensate for his new Strength.

Simultaneously, the marksman was also very impressed - his opponent, instead of being intimidated by the fierce power of his shots, seemed only invigorated by it and managed to rush forward a few steps before Yi Qiang was able to shoot once more.

This time, Yi Qiang had angled his attack perfectly, and his aim, though a little shaky, was passable, good enough for his arrow to end up being halted right at the girl's throat.

I'll have to work on that, I suppose. It should be a quick process, though.

Yi Qiang was also slightly surprised by the fact that the life-saving enchantment stopped the arrow effortlessly, despite the increase in his power. The marksman, at this, could not help but feel the urge to test the limits of the enchantment, but he figured that there was likely little he could do to it at his current power.

Yi Qiang sat down once more, scanning the nearby stages. The other three battles seemed to be a piece of cake for the favored competitors as well; while they had yet to finish, all the strongest fighters were close to finishing their battles.

Disappointment surfaced in his heart as he realized the fact that he wouldn't be able to test his new power any further against stronger opponents. That was because after this round of battles finished, there would only be four people left, including himself, and that, according to the mysterious judge, would mark the end of the preliminaries.

What we've experienced so far is a very strange tournament structure. We went from the preliminaries to combat, but only with two duels, and then the final stage before the tournament finishes. Yi Qiang had participated in quite a few competitions li this before, and they were usually structured differently than this one, with the main difference being that there was just more fighting. The marksman attributed it to the extremely high restrictions on candidates that resulted in so few people moving on from the preliminaries.

He had to hope that the final stage would be more useful in terms of skill growth than either the preliminaries or the duels up till then, but Yi Qiang didn't hold out much expectation for that.

Soon, though, all the fights finished, and the four remaining fighters gathered at the central stage.

Not exactly overwhelming Yi Qiang with surprise, it turned out that the people who had caught his attention before the preliminaries had even begun were the ones who advanced to the finals along with him. Unfortunately, the woman who had accompanied the large, green-skinned man, both of who wore large hammers and tower shields, was eliminated at the duels. The pairing had been extremely cruel in that regard; the judge saw fit to make the two, who were clearly more than acquainted, fight each other for the chance to advance. The man won, not out of higher capabilities, Yi Qiang noticed, but out of luck.

Besides him, there was also the cold woman nursing her remarkable katana. What was most shocking was that despite his best efforts, Yi Qiang wasn't able to make out much from her battles - the moment combat began, a bloody cloud surrounded the stage the woman and her opponent occupied. This cloud prevented scrying eyes from drawing conjectures about the woman's combat power, a move Yi Qiang was sure was very deliberate.

Finally, a dignified young girl was holding an ancient-looking staff in the group, dressed in white robes.

She was, without a doubt, the strangest appearance on this final stage - Yi Qiang's eyes had glossed over her when he was analyzing his competition, as she seemed to have no unique qualities. He found out there was something strange about her, though, when he saw her fight.

Combat for the young girl seemed effortless. In all her fights, she gained her own victory easily, expending so little effort Yi Qiang wasn't able to make any meaningful guesses about her strength.

The marksman was able to guess why he couldn't peer into her capabilities at all, though - she specialized in magic, a subject about which Yi Qiang knew next to nothing. As such, he couldn't understand anything about her combat abilities, as Yi Qiang didn't even have access to Mana anymore.

He knew this because she dispatched her opponents quickly and easily using what was obviously magic - her first fight, she dragged her opponent off the stage by stomping her staff on the floor, scoring a victory almost as quick as Yi Qiang's own. Her second fight, her intricate magical tool expelled a powerful blast of sheer force, which was barely deflected by its recipient. It successfully created an opening, though, which the young girl capitalized upon by whipping her staff towards the sword wielder, the translucent lash of Mana stopping right at his exposed stomach - a killing blow.

Yi Qiang was also surprised by the high amount of Chosen in the finals. Including himself, half of the four people in the finals were Chosen, an impressive percentage. In all fairness, though, the sample pool of four people was too small to draw any meaningful conclusions, so Yi Qiang kept himself from being too surprised.

The ostensibly-dressed judge returned.

"Four of you left, I see. Well..."

"IT'S TIME TO MOVE ONTO THE FINALS!"