The annual tournament was conducted over a period of four days.

On these four days the first two were the qualifier rounds for the preliminaries. On the third day the quarter finals and semi finals were conducted, while the finals were conducted on the fourth day.

Each student was given a number in the start and the number represented their identities in the tournament. The matches were set through random selection of numbers.

However, the matches were only set amongst students of same batches on the first day. Each batch was known as a band. The first 100 students which were comprised of the fifth years were known as the 1st Band while the band comprising of second years were known as the 4th Band.

There were no ranks given to students after the 4th rank. All 96 other students were unranked and positioned in a band.

In the first day, the students went through numerous matches to decide the rankings and on the second day, they could issue a challenge to each other above their class to improve their ranking.

Challenges issued during the tournament cannot be rejected by the other party. Only the top 4 students, the ones who reached the semi final of their respective bands and above were eligible to issue a challenge.

( I am changing it to 4 instead of 3 as mentioned in the last chapter. I have made the change there as well)

If a student won from his senior, then the student will be placed in the respective senior's band while that senior will be placed in the junior's band. The reward gained by the student will include his ranking reward in his own band and the reward received in the particular band he entered.

Students and spectators could also place bets during the matches. The tournament was a huge opportunity for every student to increase his or her wealth.

Matches having popular candidates specially a match of a previous high ranked versus low ranker were not that ludicrous opportunity to earn through betting. The payout was very small as everybody knew who would win and so the bets were always one sided.

There were only a few rare cases where there was a surprise in the final outcome. The matches amongst the average rankers and those between the unranked second years were the real gambling attraction.

Since the final outcome could be anything as nothing was known about them, the payout was usually good in such matches.

To keep the competition intense, the academy had a very cruel rewarding system. Only the top 4 rankers were given higher amount of rewards such as items and techniques. The rest 96 received only one type of reward, a fixed stipend.

The higher the band reached the higher reward received by the students.

The tournament began with the anchor calling out names of the participants. James had received the number 425. There were multiple small rings on the huge platform where contestants fought. A referee presided over each ring calling out the respective participants and looking over the match.

" Number 425 vs number 467!" called out the referee.

James stepped inside the ring hearing his name. It was the first time he would be fighting inside the coliseum and many eyes would be on him. He was nervous but confident in himself.

" Don't worry bro! Nobody watches us second years! The audience will only watch the fourth and fifth years so chill out! " came a voice suddenly.

James was surprised as he looked behind him to see Gus in the crowd. He was a bit embarrassed hearing the remark and smiled helplessly. It was true, when they were in first year they themselves only watched the fourth and fifth years fight.

Matches between second years especially in the initial elimination round would not catch the audience's interest.

Even the gamblers would watch the initial elimination fights to get a clear understanding of the fighters capability before betting on the student in further rounds.

He looked in front eyeing his opponent. His opponent was a beginner stage Azure realm cultivator to which James breathed a sigh of relief. He had spent all his money on this fight as a bet.

These bets were called blind bets where the opponent wasn't known. The payout depended on how much was betted against him compared to for him. These bets continued till the semi finals of each band. The academy deducted a 5% fee for coordinating such bets.

He didn't take out his weapon and decided not to use his movement technique. He was confident of taking the opponent down through his physical capability alone.

Back in Bursberg city, Edward and Marriane were glued to their television holding each other's hand, watching their son on stage.

" Start! " shouted the referee and James charged in dashing towards the opponent.

Seeing his sudden direct charge the opponent was flabbergasted and didn't respond in time. The gap between them was only about three meters.

James closed the gap in a single step and threw a punch at the opponent's abdomen. The guy flinched in pain and then was overturned as James quickly threw him down from behind.

The opponent had heard about James and knew already he wouldn't win. He was quite depressed in getting matched up against James. Upon seeing him charge he couldn't think straight and fell to his doom.

" Winner 425 James Walter! " announced the referee. He could see that the opponent wouldn't be able to put up a fight and decided to continue with the other matches instead.

'Ting' his watch made a sound showing his account balance which wasn't changed in the slightest.

" Tchh it seems that nobody betted against me" said James.

James walked down meeting up with Gus.

" That was too easy " said James with an unhappy expression.

" Haha I know man same thing happened with me. Looks like they know about our cultivation stage and are too nervous and scared to put up a fight. " replied Gus.

The matches continued and none of them were quite intense. Fifty students got eliminated in the first round and the second round began soon after.

This time James was up against a gauntlet user. The opponent charged at him using his skill but, James simply infused qi in his hands and matched it with a fist. He was able to just brute force his way through the match ultimately winning it.

His account again showed an unchanged balance which depresses James.

Due to the difference in cultivation stages and his physical toughness he outstripped his peers vastly in power. He wouldn't be able to find his match until he fights against the other mid stage Azure realm geniuses of his batch.

James watched the others fight as he strolled around. He saw Gus had another easy match. Gus used his spear and had broken the sword of his opponent during the exchange. He grinned as he came down.

On another ring he saw Jane inside. When he went to watch the fight he saw the opponent raise his hand saying, "I concede" straight away.

He found out that her previous opponent had did the same as well. Thinking about it, it wasn't unusual as she was considered the number one fighter in the batch.

After the second round only twenty five students were left. Seven more who the judges determined had performed well even though they lost were given a not her chance making the total to thirty two students.

In each band after the second round of elimination certain amount of students who had performed well even after losing were moved to third round to make the number of participants to thirty two. In this way they were able to conduct the tournament with any anomaly.

The third round began, it was also the round from where the fights would start getting more intense as the weeds were removed only the best fighters of each band remaining.

For James it was still a cakewalk. He marched through unobstructed as no one was able to contend against him. From top thirty two he soon entered top sixteen. Till now he hadn't earned anything on betting on himself.

Even Gus had no such luck. In the senior matches the same was seen as the people avoided betting on the strong ones. Apart from the candidates identity the public also knew their cultivation realms through the information provided. Hence, they chose wisely when they put their bets.

Soon he was called up again on stage. His opponent was Brian Kranser who belonged to the nobles group. James didn't care much about it and charged in directly. When he neared to him Bryan suddenly said,

" You and I both know you are stronger than me. However, I advise you to give up this match and let me move ahead, otherwise it wouldn't be good for you" said Bryan with a haughty expression.

" Oh, and what might you do to me if I may ask? "

" Hmph! You commoners don't know your place. You won't be able to spend your days peacefully in the academy! "

" So you are threatening me? "

" Take it however you want. "

" I see. Well here is my reply. "

James took out his sword and walked towards Bryan with a solemn expression. His blade gleamed in the sunlight.

" You! Don't more a step forward! " said Bryan as he took out his sword.

But James did not stop and neared in instead. Seeing his sharp gaze the sword in Bryan's hand began to shake. Realizing how scared he was, Bryan clenched his teeth and swung his sword down at James.

James made a simple movement to his left dodging the blow and swung his sword at his opponent. Bryan was surprised as he felt no pain but as he looked down he saw his pants were torn in between revealing his red patterned underwear.

" My my, I never thought you had such tastes " said James as he smirked at him.

Bryan quickly covered it with his hands and stared hatefully at James. The crowd laughed and jeered at him.

" After this I don't think you will have a smooth time in the academy. " said James.

There were no such rules about it and hence, the referee could only stare at James.

Near a ring a group was gathered with Luke in the middle.

" That James he is having it too easy. Due to his mid stage Azure realm cultivation no one is able to put up a fight. " said someone.

" Last fight our brother Bryan lost to him miserably and was humiliated! We can't let this keep going on! We must do something! " said another.

The incident caused the small group of nobles a lot of unrest. They were clearly unhappy with the proceedings.

" Don't worry about it. I'll handle him. He is not the only person in the mid stage. I want you all to bet on me during the fight. " said Luke.

" Haha yes! Brother Luke can surely beat that commoner brat! "

" Yep in brother Luke we trust! "

" I'll make James pay for what he did. " said Luke with a strange glint in his eyes.

Incidents such as this was a blessing thought Luke. It helped him to maintain his control over them. To him they were nothing more than a bunch of pawns that were at his disposal.

The crowds cheered loudly as the senior batch matches got intense. James went to look at the other rings. He wanted to watch the matches of senior Ritz and Mark and Sean whom he was aiming to challenge tomorrow.

He found that Sean had lost last round. His opponent was a peak stage Azure realm fighter and Sean wasn't able to keep up.

'Senior Ritz was right he isn't anything special' thought James.

Sadly James couldn't gather much information from what he heard as the opponent overpowered Sean quite badly. 'Still he was able to reach top thirty two' thought James. He wouldn't underestimate his opponent.

He moved around watching other rings. He heard about senior Mark's fight as he missed it and watched some more seniors as well.

He saw Ritz fighting on one stage. Fourth year matches were highly viewed and loud shouts could be heard. A green aura enveloped Ritz as he shot at his opponent.

' Senior Ritz reached Emerald realm!! He must have recently broken through. He will surely challenge the fifth years tomorrow' thought James.

Once in a while there are always one or two students who break through to the Emerald realm when they reach the fourth year and so are able to put up a fight against the fifth years.

The fight didn't last for long as the bullets were too fast to dodge finishing off the opponent quickly.

The crowd burst in excitement at the show. James was thrilled by the cheers. It felt like the whole coliseum reverberated, this was a feeling he desired as well.

He returned back as the preliminaries started.

Soon after the referee shouted,

" Number 425 James Walter vs Number 439 Luke Astia"

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Note - Here is today's chapter. Couldn't write one yesterday. I have an exam on Thursday hence, I'll be studying and won't be able to write. After this exam I'll have my degree ^^ so I'll write a chap on Friday. If you find any mistake please tell in comments. Thanks and enjoy! :)