The girls seem ecstatic that I won my group. "Now you get to compete in the gold tournament as well." Kira seem genuinely excited. Qualifying for the gold tournament was the goal all along. Winning the group puts me in the semi finals. "Let's see if I can win this tournament first before we talk about the next one." I am feeling reasonably confident after my skill maxed out.

"Make sure to win at least one of the next two matches. If you get one of the first three places there is cash prize." Lawra already has her eyes on the price. I head to the rest area and check the results of the other three groups. Noting the names of the winners I look around with my analyze skill to see if I can find them and get a feel for the next couple of fights.

As I am looking of the winners walk up and greet me. "Hi, I hear you beat my cousin. He is still stunned that he lost to you. To be honest I was expecting to face him and not you in the finals." I deduce that he means the guy I had such a hard time against. I try to be graceful in my comments, no need to antagonize. "He was by far the hardest opponent. I got lucky with a breakthrough in my skill at the worst possible time for him." The cousin I am likely facing in one of my next two matches appreciate my comment. "Thought so. You better pray you get as lucky with me or you will never win." The last comment is clearly a challenge, but it said lighthearted. Seems like a decent guy.

His life force level is 16 and his spear skill is 8, similar to his cousin. My skill is 10 now. I should still have a good chance at beating him. I find the other two opponents are equally skilled. All look beatable on paper. While we wait the audience are gathering to see the finals. There will be two semi finals and two further finals to settle the order of the last four. Looks like I will be facing the cousin in my semi final.

As I step into the large ring designating the fighting area, I notice that the audience numbers have more than tripled. As the fight starts I realize that the challenge wasn't bravado. He is probably a bit better than his cousin. I try to leverage my skill, but I keep faltering. Didn't skill trump strength. I got two levels more than him. "You don't seem as confident as earlier." My opponent is goading me or just commenting on my visible surprise.

As the fight drags on I realize that I am totally outmatched. My overboost skill which raises my skill to max when I hit level 8 has a major flaw. It is a hollow boost without the experience to back it up. I am not able to fully leverage the higher skill level, and my lack of experience is starting to show. In time I am sure I would be able to beat him, but today I am totally outmatched. I was probably outmatched by his cousin as well. I just got lucky.

Having lost my semi final the girls are trying to comfort me. I still feel like a fool for thinking I could win this tournament. The bronze final goes the same way as all of my opponents in the finals are about at the same level. I was clearly the weakest of them. "Sorry Lawra, no prize money this time." None of the girls seem bothered by that and encourage me to focus on the archery preliminaries starting in a couple of days. Still, we make our way to the guild common area to drown my sorrows a bit.