After our match finished, we moved into the audience seats. Students of Broad River and Pine Hill Martial Art College entered the arena for their match.
Unlike our fight, their fight dragged on for a long time. They exchanged many blows, one after another, dragging cheers from the audience as one after another student fell. By the time the sun’s light started to fade, the fight finally came to an end.
Adrian yawned and said, "Looks like we have our potential opponents for tomorrow." Aster stared as all the students of Pine Hill Martial Art College left the arena and looked at the referee announcing the winner.
"This match’s winner is Broad River Martial Art College!" Cheers erupted from the audience as the victorious team celebrated, bringing the first day of the tournament to an end.
Aster didn’t waste any time. As soon as he finished dinner, he returned to his room and summoned the Grappling Gun from his inventory.
He stared at the weapon thoughtfully. "This Grappling Gun was a huge help today. As long as my opponent doesn’t have a movement restricting skill, this alone can be used in countless ways during a fight. But I can’t use mana in the Dream Realm. Leveling it up by using it manually takes far too long. I shouldn’t waste any more time."
With that thought, Aster lay down on his bed and used his talent, "Slumber Domain," to fall asleep and enter the Dream Realm. This time, Aster made a small change. Instead of climbing one wall each time, he imagined a series of walls placed in a parkour style.
Aster then fired the Grappling Gun at a wall far above his head. Instead of retracting himself all the way to the wall, he used the taut cable like a swing, soaring forward and landing on the wall directly in front of him. Only then did he retract the cable, causing the hook to detach from the first wall and fly back into the Grappling Gun.
He immediately opened his status window.
And saw that Grapple skill uses had increased by 1.
A grin spread across his face.
"So I was right. I don’t have to climb all the way to count as one skill use. Simply firing the Grappling Gun registers as a skill use."
Realizing this, Aster repeatedly fired the Grappling Gun from one wall to another, using the same trick to level up the "Grapple" skill far faster than before.
The next morning, the sun rose over the tournament arena. In just a few minutes, the second round would begin.
Aster slowly opened his eyes and glanced at his system window.
Skill:
Grapple Level 24 (24,000/25,000)
"Ahh, man! Just one thousand more uses and I would’ve unlocked the five uses per second feature. But I’m already out of time..." Aster muttered with a frustrated sigh as he glanced at the clock.
He grabbed food from his inventory and used Grapple to get to the arena quickly while eating. Aster arrived just as the match making was happening.
Aster joined Captain Lyra and the others. "Sorry, I am late!" Aster said and looked at the principals. The principal of Saint Helena picked up two folded pages.
"The two colleges whose names are drawn will compete in the first match of the second round. The winner will advance directly to the final. The losing college will get one last chance by facing the remaining college. The winner of that match will also advance to the final, where the tournament champion will be decided."
He unfolded the paper and announced, "The first match will be between Military Martial Art College vs. Broad River Martial Art College. Let’s welcome the students of these two colleges onto the stage," he said with a gentle smile.
The audience was cheering, but the General and Broad River’s principal weren’t happy at all.
"THIS BASTARD! I’M SURE HE RIGGED THE LOTTERY AGAIN SO HIS TEAM DOESN’T NEED TO FIGHT ANY TEAM UNINJURED," both the General and Broad River’s principal thought.
Meanwhile, Adrian and Alas were arguing about who would go first to fight. Yor said, "Why not send Aster again? He’ll defeat them all by himself."
But Captain Lyra replied, "No, Broad River’s principal is a cunning man. I guess they have already planned a way to defeat Aster. He might even get hurt so badly that he won’t be able to fight the next match. Fortunately, they have very little information about Adrian and Alas, so they should be a good counter against them."
Adrian and Alas used rock-paper-scissors to decide which one of them would go first.
"Rock... Paper... Scissors!"
Adrian used Rock, while Alas used Paper.
"Yeahhoo! I’m going to fight first!" Alas celebrated.
Adrian sulked, crossing his arms.
Aster was actually relieved. He didn’t have to fight immediately.
"Nice, I can use this time to complete a thousand more uses of the Grapple skill."
Aster sat on the chair and used his talent to instantly fall asleep and entered the Dream Realm to level up his Grapple skill.
Alas stepped into the arena," and Broad River Martial Art College sent out Riven Ravencrest as their first fighter. The moment both fighters appeared in the arena, the audience erupted into cheers. Students from both colleges shouted their names, while the spectators eagerly anticipated another intense battle. Some of the audience was relieved that Aster wasn’t the first contestant. "Great! Military Martial Art College didn’t send Aster first. His matches were so boring and confusing!" one spectator complained.
Alas stared at him and thought, "From yesterday’s match, I know his class is Blade Dancer. With his dual blade, he can use three skills: ’Whirling Edge’ to spin rapidly and deal continuous damage with his dual swords, ’Mirrored Step’ to create an afterimage to confuse the opponent, and lastly ’Dance of Blades.’ This might be his most powerful skill. It lets him fight in a fluid state that increases his evasion and critical hit rate. But I don’t need to worry about anything. My skills are the perfect counter to his."
Name: Alas Drudwedern
Class: Divine Paladin
Weapon: Holy Greatsword and Shield
"The match begins!"
The referee started the match.