Yi Qiang took out all his badges, counting them.

It had been six days already, meaning the marksman had one more day to collect as many badges as he could. And, to that end, he would undoubtedly count his efforts as a success.

467 badges. Not bad.

Initially, that would have been impossible - not out of his lack of skill, but out of the fact that there weren't 467 badges in circulation. There were, if Yi Qiang remembered correctly, 23 contestants, each of which received one medal, meaning there were only 23 badges to go around.

However, as Yi Qiang had quickly discovered after a cursory glance at his inventory, it was not so simple.

It seemed that after every day passed, each badge doubled - a form of meritorious mitosis, as Yi Qiang had affectionately coined it. It meant that 14 symbols turned into 28 the second day, the third day he had 76, the fourth - it went on.

This effect each badge had resulted in more consequences than Yi Qiang had initially expected.

Suddenly, wealth was a lot harder to consolidate, not because of its sheer quantity, but for a different, less apparent reason.

As the marksman had personally confirmed after trailing a few contestants, it was a pervasive tactic for those getting robbed of their badges to lie about how many they had. This method only worked for those who stored their merits somewhere separate from their person, but among the brightest talents of the kingdom, that was all but ubiquitous.

Of course, the only reason this was so effective was the context of the Empire Contest. While murder wasn't explicitly outlawed, there was no doubt it would be punished by not only that unfortunate genius' background, but the royal family - every youth in the competition would make up the foundation of the country. Death in the tournament would harm only the kingdom, and they would not stand for it.

As such, there was no way any genius would consent to turning over every possession on their body for the hunter to be sure they weren't being duped. Perhaps they could resort to non-lethal violence, but that would still be frowned on, and it wasn't worth it for a few badges.

As things turned out, there was an unwritten agreement between the hunters and the hunted, at least for those with enough situational awareness to understand it. The prey wouldn't hold back too many of their badges when defeated, and the victors wouldn't try to squeeze every last drop out of the person they were robbing.

Of course, there would be people who didn't follow this - there always were - and kept the majority of their badges, or who refused to back down until they got every token possible out of the contestant they defeated.

But, all in all, the unforeseen development concerning the badges had made the first round more exciting and intricate.

Yi Qiang had done the math - there were currently, on the 6th day, 736 badges in circulation. Given that, he figured 467 medals was a good percentage considering all the other powerhouses in the tournament with him.

The marksman had to admit he was lucky, though; unfortunately for the Four and any other black horses looking to debut on the first round, Yi Qiang was at home here.

And there was nothing more terrifying in an otherwise even match than the opponent's comfort.

The archer supposed he could start dominating the competition if he took the risk and went after the Four. There was only one day left, after all, so if he could establish an even greater lead over his only current rivals while he had the advantage, that would be the best-case scenario.

It also had to be considered Yi Qiang had not seen or sought after any of the Four since the beginning of the first round. And it was undeniable that, since then, the marksman's power had grown uncontrollably, more than ever before, including even when he was still new to Ascend.

After all, since the monstrous tiger, Yi Qiang had taken to hunting beasts and contestants equally. The former were rarer, but with his continually increasing movement speed, it was child's play to find quite a few a day. In itself, the fact that he managed to keep ahead with the badges while cautiously hunting the terrifying beasts of the forest was impressive.

And the results had shown. Not only had the archer monopolized the majority of the badges available, but Yi Qiang had also leveled up a vast amount. From his initial level, 50, to his current level, 93, he had gained a total of 266 stat points. A large amount of those came from Patience - without the perk netting him a total of 15 extra points every ten levels, he would only have gained 215 stat points, a difference of 51 points, which was worth a lot more than what it looked to be. After all, the value of a stat point wasn't constant - the higher the stat it was placed into, the more it was worth, and the more change it would evoke in Yi Qiang. As such, 51 points were the difference between killing a powerful beast on the level of the colossal tiger in 1 normal attack compared to 2.

All in all, the marksman had little doubt he could take on any of the four, except for Ilien. The mage's combat was based on range, as was Yi Qiang's, which leveled the playing field. Of course, given his recent improvements, the element of mystery and the factor of a bad matchup shouldn't be enough.

After all, if Ilien couldn't necessarily beat the other members of the Four, it was highly unlikely Yi Qiang would have too much trouble with him.

Making his decision, Yi Qiang set off. Over six days, everyone had spread out a significant amount, though they were starting to concentrate once again as the first round drew to a close. This distance made his job more troublesome than it had been the first few days.

Thankfully, there wasn't too much space between everyone, even the powerhouses, because of the universal goal of the competition - gain as many badges as possible in the short time allotted. Given that the only way to do that was to hunt others, it would be counterproductive, at the very least, to venture further into the forest. Then, accounting for the possibility of encountering a creature far above one's weight class, it was no wonder everyone stayed in the same general area.

Which was good for Yi Qiang; unfortunately, that meant it was not so good for everyone else.

He set out in the direction his ears could make out the most noise in; if he could do it, chances the agile Restra could too - her capabilities seemed similar to Yi Qiang's own, while not identical. And that meant that, if she wasn't planning on giving up, that would be where Yi Qiang could find her.

It seemed luck was on the marksman's side this time; a particularly attractive series of sounds Yi Qiang followed led him to a spot where two contestants were fighting.

Not only that, but their strengths seemed to be above average as well, as the archer had guessed. That meant they would have accrued more badges than average, too, most likely a welcome amount to add to Yi Qiang's own stores.

That meant that even if he didn't find Restra here, the archer still could have profited from his target.

However, he doubted this situation was as simple as it seemed on the surface. Considering his prey's skill, Yi Qiang found it likely Restra was in the area as well, keeping an eye on the two fat sheep that were the clashing participants before them.

The sniper slipped into Stealth the moment he could and concealed his presence without the system's help otherwise, meaning he should have the advantage; Restra would have no reason to suspect his presence. Not only had his name or prowess not spread far yet, so she likely wasn't even aware of him, but he could, without a doubt, find her a lot easier than she could detect him.

Yi Qiang looked around with sharp eyes, cautious with his gaze so as not to alert Restra if he found her. Scanning the foliage on the ground, which he found unlikely but worth the try, Yi Qiang moved up to his height level and immediately caught onto something.

A figure, obscured by a strange force and seemingly part of an exceptionally large tree.

There she is.

Yi Qiang formed his plan instantly. Just like she probably would, he would wait until the two on the ground finished fighting and attack when she ambushed them. Thankfully, arrows, especially those made of Qi, were silent, meaning Restra wouldn't detect his attack until it was too late.

The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.

Yi Qiang was always the oriole. It got tiring.

He kept a close eye on both Restra and the two on the ground, gauging that their fight would end in a few minutes. In the meantime, the rogue kept still, unaware of Yi Qiang's watchful gaze.

Finally, the slightly stronger fighter sent his opponent to the ground, crashing unceremoniously in an exhausted posture.

A pile of badges appeared in the man's hands, a dozen or so. Not bad.

As Yi Qiang expected, that was when Restra chose the moment to attack.

At an impressive speed, she kicked off her hiding spot and darted forward. A gleaming, impressively sharp pair of daggers appeared in her hand, either by magic or by technique imitating it. They were most likely laced with poison, but it seemed to be invisible, as Yi Qiang's keen eyes couldn't see any trace of its presence.

He summoned a gleaming golden bow in his hand, nocking an arrow and crouching at the ready.

The victorious participant recognized Restra immediately. Not daring to say a word, he lowered his head and took out another dozen badges to add to the defeated fighters' tribute, trying his best to hide his ugly expression.

Yi Qiang loosed his blunted arrow the moment the merits made their way into Restra's hands, channeling the power of the Dragon Marksman's Judgement to enhance his attack.

It neared its target at an incredible speed, moving quickly enough that Yi Qiang saw no way for Restra to avoid it.

He was right, but apparently, she didn't have to.

The agile fighter's eyes widened the moment her other senses caught onto the arrow's presence, and she attempted to turn around, whipping back and summoning her daggers into her hands.

It should have been too late. She should have been knocked entirely out of commission.

Instead, a silver ring on her finger, an adornment Yi Qiang had noticed but paid no mind to, glowed with a blinding light. The question of what that heralded wasn't even given a chance to arise in Yi Qiang's mind, as instantaneously, a small, circular shield colored a light green appeared in the air, blocking his arrow and shattering in the process.

Along with the shield, the ring exploded into a fine powder, scattering down through the air.

Restra seemed to have been entirely aware that the attack would be blocked, having ignored it entirely in favor of her larger goal: its source.

She stepped off the ground, the seemingly light impact of her foot propelling her at high speeds directly to where Yi Qiang rested.

High speeds, but, to Yi Qiang, not high enough.

Another arrow found its way into his bowstring and all but disappeared with a quick movement. Similarly boosted by Dragon Marksman's Judgement, the attack moved as quickly as the first.

Restra was ready this time, though, and bringing her right arm down with impressive speed and coordination to slash the arrow in half... she missed.

And Yi Qiang's attack sent her flying backward, its force driving her into the dirt and making her skid until she collided into a nearby tree. The third arrow, moving directly after the second and arriving too fast for the rogue to respond, pierced her loose pants on the thigh and sunk into the ground before dissipating.

The marksman hopped down.

"I believe that should prove the victor of this match," he said, uncaring about sparing his prey's feelings. Geniuses almost always had some type of emotional fragility, and he had no intention of catering to that. "Your badges, please."

She sat there, covered in dirt, for a second, staring at Yi Qiang unresponsively with tense shoulders and glazed-over eyes.

He knew that look - she was replaying the battle over in her mind. Unfortunately for her, he did not have the time to give her the courtesy of rumination when he was still waiting.

"The badges."

The follow-up pulled Restra out of herself, and she handed over what seemed to be more than one hundred badges, kept in a random wooden box she apparently happened to have available.

Yi Qiang took it and removed the badges with not even a wave of his hand and tossed the box back.

As he turned around to leap up into the trees he was so familiar with after six days, Restra's slightly hoarse voice interrupted him.

"As gratitude for refraining from inflicting unnecessary injury upon me, I'll give you a warning. My background doesn't believe in excessive coddling, so my seniors didn't give me any powerful protective items. Still, if I had been strong enough, I could have turned the tides against you despite your initial advantage. The three other members of the Four have richer backings who are far less hesitant to... take care of their members. If you plan on trying to hunt the others for their badges, be careful - they'll likely be able to nullify at least a few of your attacks, unless you can overwhelm even their seniors. But if you could... you wouldn't be here. Once again, I thank you."

The fighter resembling an assassin in means and moxie bowed her head, returning to within herself.

At least she isn't self-inflated by her position or talent. That's rare among this level of genius. Impressive.

Yi Qiang understood her point but decided he would still try to collect the other three's badges. Most likely, it wouldn't be as lucrative as the amount Restra had gathered(her skillset was also well suited to the first round) but he would still accrue far more than if he hunted like normal.

And perhaps, the seventh day, he could spend the whole time hunting beasts.

Yi Qiang knew Taren and Ilien would not be easy to find because they were smart enough to care about some level of grace when they were walking through the forest, Taren especially, but Elias was child's play - pinpointing his location was even easier than finding Restra.

All the sniper had to look for was a trail made by pure strength and brusqueness. With the amount of area Yi Qiang could cover in seconds and how easily his experienced eyes could spot something like that, it was a matter of minutes before Yi Qiang was honed in on his next target.

Following the trail the barehanded brute set, Yi Qiang was slightly disconcerted to find a particularly wrecked area with smatters of blood all over it. That either means he found a powerful animal and had to fight it off, or that he seriously hurt a contestant. I think I prefer the former.

It took another ten minutes before Yi Qiang finally set his eyes upon Elias. He was trudging along, ignoring everything while, quite literally, shaking the ground with each footstep. Of course, there was no way the martial artist was that heavy, and a second more of inspection attributed the heavily increased weight to the bands around Elias' wrists and ankles, made of an unfamiliar materials.

Wrist and ankles weights. I respect that; he doesn't want to stop training even for something as important as the Empire Contest.

Unfortunately for him, I won't give him the time to take them off. I'm not green enough to give up an advantage out of compassion.

Yi Qiang readied his bow, drawing it back with an arrow in his hand. Just when Elias' right foot, his dominant side, was at the peak of its movement, Yi Qiang fired, a Dragon Marksman's Punishment spiraling through the air. As Yi Qiang had already come to expect, a translucent shield appeared, blocking the powerful arrow before shattering.

Since the martial artist's senses weren't as keen as Restra's, he was only alerted to the silent, predatory attack by the shattering of the shield, which alerted him to his danger.

By the time Elias had faced Yi Qiang, though, two more arrows were flying at him.

The first he managed to block with a fist glowing red, scattering the powerful attack. However, the second managed to get through, catching Elias in the chest and sending him flying back.

Or, at least, it would, if not for the rippling membrane that appeared over the barehanded fighter's body. Like a stone into a pool, the arrow disappeared when it made contact with Elias' protection, no signs of damage appearing on the membrane.

Seeing this, Yi Qiang leaped back; meanwhile, Elias' absorption barrier absorbing the other two arrows that the archer had sent as the martial artist took out an intricately inscribed red stone, crushing it. As he did so, a red aura surrounded him, so condensed that Yi Qiang could feel its power from the multiple hundreds of feet he had already retreated.

Elias, perhaps overcome by the red aura's bloodthirsty feel, roared and stomped his foot on the ground, it fracturing from his power. This gesture was more than an expression of rage in the martial artist's case, however, as the bulky man shot forward at a speed comparable to Yi Qiang's own.

When the arc of his jump reached the forest floor again, Elias bounded, pushing off with both legs, directly at Yi Qiang.

This time, his speed surpassed even Yi Qiang's, a feat more terrifying than it was impressive.

I can't beat him in speed while the aura is active, and it's unlikely I can break the barrier around him. So I have to elude him until both run out - then, I can end the battle quickly. That won't be easy, though, given how much faster he is than me.

I have three advantages. My agility, ranged attacks, and preserved rational thinking all mean I can still win this. If I use them correctly.

Going as far as to dismiss his bow, Yi Qiang kicked off the nearest tree, beginning to dart from trunk to trunk.

Elias, while possessing enough of an advantage in speed to have already caught up to Yi Qiang, had far more trouble reversing directions.

First, his weight, a full hundred pounds heavier by Yi Qiang's estimation, combined with his overwhelming power increased his momentum to unstoppable levels.

As such, when he pushed off a tree to travel in the same direction, the tree fell down. And, in doing so, most of the energy in his kick was lost, making Elias' practical agility manageable.

In other words, eluding his raging opponent was effortless.

In the interest of continuing to probe the martial artist, Yi Qiang began summoning throwing knives for 5 Qi points each, weak blows compared to his usual fighting style but effective enough to test whether or not the seemingly impenetrable body shield was still active.

The cycle was continued for 5 minutes by Yi Qiang's count before Elias began to slow. The shield was still active, but the marksman could easily gauge the fighter's red aura weakening, and his power with it. It also seemed movement with the aura in place was far more taxing than without it since the barehanded warrior was breathing heavily despite the fact he had only been exerting himself for five minutes.

The hardest part is over. Now, I only have to wait a little longer before I have the victory.

At this point, Elias' power decreased by the second. In only half a minute from then, the martial artist collapsed. Yi Qiang found it heartening to see that the kind of power the martial artist wielded came at a price - an item that allowed the initially far weaker Elias to not only contend with but dominate Yi Qiang, without any drawbacks was too terrifying. In this case, it seemed, the price of the consumable item was stamina and sanity.

Noticing the trembling, heaving muscles of the martial artist as he tried to get up, Yi Qiang walked over and spoke.

"You lost in the end, but your willpower is spectacular. I admire your ability to exert yourself to your physical limit. I also apologize for the long recovery you will experience; hopefully, you'll have something to help with the process. At the same time, your badges, please. I'm sure you can summon them without moving."

Yi Qiang spoke more respectfully to Elias than he had to Restra, not out of sexism, but differing circumstances. Restra was capable, no doubt about it, but Yi Qiang had no idea whether that ability was acquired through talent or hard work - he couldn't gauge her willpower. Simply put, at the point in time where Yi Qiang was talking to Restra, he had no reason to respect her. That changed after her honorable behavior of putting her defeat behind her and behaving according to her own values despite it, however. Elias, on the other hand, had earned Yi Qiang's respect. It was extremely difficult to truly exert one's muscles to the maximum - after a point, simple fatigue would give way to piercing pain, which would constantly, uncontrollably grow, until muscles simply failed. That point was difficult to reach, and it was a process the marksman was familiar enough with to truly respect any who had managed that feat.

Anyway, lacking even the energy to respond, Elias simply retorted by summoning a pile of badges next to him. A quick count put it at around 50; a respectable number given that the environment was clearly not favorable to the martial artist.

Yi Qiang bent down and put the badges into his inventory before saying one last thing prior to moving on to his next target.

"I wish you a hastened recovery - I wouldn't want to see you ousted in the first round."

Next on Yi Qiang's illusionary "hit list" was Ilien. This wasn't out of fear of Taren, but logical reasoning on the part of Yi Qiang. Taren, as the marksman found out thanks to the magically-inclined member of the Four, was a member of the royal family. Combined with his genius, it didn't take much thought to draw the conclusion that Taren was, most likely, the member of the Four with the most prominent background.

As such, Yi Qiang had little doubt that the swordsman would have more numerous and effective countermeasures than anyone else. In preparation for this, the marksman wanted to fight Ilien to gather as much experience with the trump cards of Ascend while having less of a chance to be overwhelmed by them.

As such, Yi Qiang began to track.

This time, what he was looking for were signs of magical combat - burn marks on foliage, destruction on a scale that would be hard to achieve without focused effort by physical fighters, etc.

After around ten minutes of running around with watchful eyes darting about, Yi Qiang picked up on his first sign of Ilien's presence.

In an artificially-made clearing, Yi Qiang saw multiple clues alluding to the mage's power being used. First, scorch marks on the ground told the story of a blast of fire summoned by a prodigious magical fighter. Then, miniature ice crystals were also visible on the tips of surviving leaves and flowers, hinting at the use of a wide-range, blizzard-like spell. Finally, Yi Qiang's suspicions were all but confirmed by the once-live roots on the ground of the clearing, snapped by some strong physical force.

If this trail does lead to Ilien, I already know three things to watch out for - some sort of fire blast, a wide-range ice spell, and restrictive roots from the ground.

Anticipating the challenge of fighting Ilien, Yi Qiang looked around for clues of what direction he moved in after ending the battle, presumably with a victory. A glance gave him his answer in the form of displaced shrubbery continuing in a straight line for as long as Yi Qiang could see.

Five minutes of light tracking brought Yi Qiang within sight of his third or technically fourth prey of the day - Ilien.

Unfortunately, the marksman was not fortunate enough to find the mage embroiled in combat, but expecting those conditions every time he came within sight of another member of the Four was simply unrealistic.

Preparing himself for what would be an unusual battle, if Yi Qiang's hopes were realized, a golden bow appeared in the marksman's hand.

He began to sneak up to the mage, a light hop taking him to the tree branches and further subtracting from any chance of detection, no matter how small it was.

When Yi Qiang got within 20 meters of his target, though, Ilien's shoulders tensed.

At this subtle movement, the marksman completely stopped. Did he detect my presence? Incredible - even discounting my skill in hiding, Sneak alone should make that all but impossible here.

Suddenly, an idea occurred to the archer that made him want to slap himself in its simplicity. I forgot to consider magical means of detection!

Indeed, Yi Qiang had no countermeasures or defenses for a spell that could alert Ilien to any amount of life within a certain area, meaning his stealth was all but useless against a mage with any modicum of skill until he managed to procure some method to get past the more mystical ambush prevention.

Fortunately, the hunter had only barely encroached upon Ilien's sphere of awareness, meaning that, while the mage was sure of someone's presence, he couldn't pinpoint whose it was or its general location.

Assuming this from the genius' smooth but frantic eye movements, searching the surroundings for any sign of other life, Yi Qiang was pleased. I still have the advantage. It's just lessened.

Choosing not to move closer for obvious reasons, Yi Qiang nocked a dense golden arrow into his bow, pulling it back and waiting a few seconds for Ilien's attention to be directed as far away from him as possible before releasing.

A near-solid Qi arrow sliced through the air, heading in a beautiful line at a mystical angle towards its target. Before it even hit anything, it was quickly joined by another. A third would soon accompany it as well, but there was no time for that before the arrow crashed against a translucent shield appearing in the air.

Unlike the other barriers against sneak attacks, this one didn't shatter, trembling in the air but remaining intact. Unfortunately for Yi Qiang, this meant that his second arrow didn't have a chance of reaching its target, either, instead being sacrificed to shatter the barrier one of Ilien's trump cards had set up.

By this time, the mage had whirled around, preparing a spell of swirling flames in his right hand and forming a ball of brilliant lightning in the other.

Now that his cover was exposed, as he had expected to happen, Yi Qiang gave up all pretenses of stealth, darting from tree to tree while sending a volley of arrows at his opponent.

Without even a physical prompting, however, a full-body shield surrounded Ilien, even as he formed two spells separately in his hands. It was likely not summoned by an item, but instead Ilien's own ability to juggle so many things in his mind.

The near-corporeal shield blocked Yi Qiang's spray of arrows, cracking on the verge of destruction, but the job was done - Ilien's other spells were ready.

First, the right hand pushed out with the condensed tornado of flames still swirling inside. When Ilien's arm extended outwards fully, though, the cyclone expanded and shot forward rapidly.

The effect was that of a magically-enhanced flamethrower, pushing out a stream of flames for a few seconds as Ilien tried to direct his arm to point at the elusive marksman.

Even as he dodged the expertly-directed river of fire by leaping from tree to tree, moving unpredictably and erratically, Yi Qiang's keen eyes picked up on another threat. Around halfway into Ilien's spewing flames, the still-nascent ball of lightning also finished forming.

Having made a note of its availability as an attack, Yi Qiang didn't miss Ilien's clever tactic of subtly directing his orb of lightning into the stream of flames, concealing it with the flashy appearance of his fire while aiming it carefully at Yi Qiang.

So prolific was the mage's control, actually, that should the archer not have noticed the trick, such an attack would have been particularly difficult to avoid.

Nevertheless, the attack flew past Yi Qiang, a couple more arrows shattering the mage's shield as well.

In a dazzling response to the sudden loss of protection, Ilien warped his flame spell, curling it around him to form a cyclone of fire, rotating around him. The flames, which Yi Qiang had already determined were not ordinary, were so hot that any attempts to get through the curtain just burnt his summoned arrows to a crisp.

Figuring that the spell would end soon enough anyway, Yi Qiang decided to take the brief pause as an opportunity to put himself in the most advantageous position and hide once again.

As he had already puzzled out, the range of Ilien's detection magic was 20 meters, meaning that if Yi Qiang backed away by 30 and hid, he would be safe until the mage walked around or somehow managed to increase his detection skill's range for a short time.

That was a distinct possibility, but either way, it would put Ilien in the passive position for a while. A short while, but it would be enough for the sniper.

Accompanied by Yi Qiang readying his bow and placing another arrow into the string, Ilien emerged from his blanket of fire.

However, seeing the new development, Yi Qiang's eyes sharpened and his muscles tensed for an instant before relaxing again.

The new Ilien was holding a brilliantly glowing staff and looking right at him.