264 Almost Done

Unfortunately, I wasn't as lucky as to have my third match in the same day so that I wouldn't have to bother going back to the colosseum for the three days left in this round…

Still, I wasn't unlucky either, as my number was called out pretty early the day after, with the opponent being a sect member who had average ability that were barely along the standard that I inaccurately put together from my observations.

Obviously, I didn't allow the battle to last more than a minute, unlike what I did in my battle against the wind & fire swordswoman, as I had already watched too many matches to be able to judge without actually going through the battle myself…

At this point, and after having a full winning streak that started since the beginning of the tournament, with 5 of the matches not lasting a few minutes, it was obvious that I as well started to garner quite a bit of attention,

It wasn't wrong to say that I was finally registered as part of the 'Stars' that stood at the peak of the new recruitees and had a chance to contend for the upper ranking against the 'Show Offs' of the sects…

Of course, I was neither happy nor sad about it, after all, it was a part of my targets during the tournament and it was bound to happen sooner or later, it was just convenient that I revealed the dual elements of wind & fire that managed to draw the attention a bit earlier.

'I can finally go back and forget about these two…'

Knowing that the bonus round was still going to take place in the fourth day since the start of this stage, it meant that I won't have to attend to receive the info about the stage that will follow, as it's supposed to be explained in the fresh new day that will follow it.

So with that in mind, I carefreely left the colosseum in high spirits, without saying goodbye to any of the staring two, the reason that I was in such high spirits was obvious as well…

'One more stage done with!'

Knowing that there were hardly any 'Show Off tournaments' that lasted more than five stages according to the booklet given by the 'Hotel', it meant that I was more or less done with half the tournament which was obviously a thing worth being in high spirits for…

`~~`~~`~~`

Almost three days later…

It has been exactly 10 days since the start of the 'Show Off tournament', which were quite close to the number of days I spent in the Green Earth village, However, to me, it felt like it has been more than a month due to my boring routine. Had it been somewhere less crowded and more hidden, I would have already started training to shake off the uncomfortable feeling.

Of course, it wasn't without its own pluses too…

'At least I can sleep whenever I want…'

Other than the times I needed to be at the colosseum for my own matches, I had pretty much nothing to do but sleep or stay in bed, which was truly my one guilty pleasure as of late…

Unlike my sleep in my disabled days which was still one of my only enjoyment despite being not that comfortable, my recent sleep was full of eventful dreams and endless comfort, especially now that I was using this fantastic bed!

'Well, let's see how are things going to progress in this third round….'

Putting these happy thoughts aside, I took off from the 'Hotel' into my way to the colosseum with fast yet calm steps...

`~~`~~`~~`

"First of all, I would like to congratulate you all, the 80 participants who have managed to reach this stage, especially those of the new recruitees, congrats! You have passed the true 'Screening'!"

We were apparently all brought to a platform that stood in the middle of the colosseum as it seemed the two third stage earth practitioners have made another another round redecoration to reach the current scene in the center of the colosseum that now hosted only 4 rings that were a bit wider…

"Of course, the sect members who managed to get through are deserving of congrats as well, but it's obvious that those who do well without having been supported with sect resources before obviously deserve to be mentioned first…"

Looking around through the eighty participants gathered in this new platform, it wasn't hard to notice the recruitee ones from the sect members ones as I already knew their faces…

Not surprisingly enough, the number of the recruitees who managed to pass the earlier stages were merely 14…

Without much suspense, the dual element swordswoman seemed to have passed the bonus stage without issues, other than her there were also that earth practitioner, the three who cleared the bonus stage in the first round in merely an hour, and a few others whose battles were smooth sailing, like that guy the forfeited his battle against me…

'Maybe he has some skills, he could also have got lucky…'

On the other hand, there was also some unexpected passes, like…

'That idiot also passed…?'

Considering his strength, it wasn't that unbelievable, but it was a miracle that he didn't meet anyone who made use of his rash personality…

'Well, I guess he got his luck back after not meeting me in battle…'

"Starting the explanation of this round, the easiest way to simply say its purpose would be by using its name, this stage is named… the 'Intermediary' stage!"

'Hmmm…'

"Another way to describe it would be to call it the 'No Bonus' stage, the reason for that is because this is going to be the stage that separates your from the last one, starting from now, there is no more chances, if you miss, then you miss!"

'Great!'

With such great news that I won't have to go through this for long, I was obviously quite elated, even to the point of no longer being bothered by the stares of that idiot that were still active to this point!