Chapter 23: Combat Round Part 1

"Your recovery time is over, please prepare to return to the arena for the combat round" announced Ivan.

"If anybody has any issues or wants to pull out of the Combat Round please come and tell me now without having to embarrass yourself on stage" stated Ivan hinting to those weaker and Milo that they didn't have to take part if they didn't need to embarrass themselves.

Milo thought about it for a second, then completely wiped the idea of giving up and although he knew wouldn't do the best, he didn't want to back down.

"Don't worry about it, when we start cultivating properly we will become the strongest" reassured Damian as he tapped Milo's shoulder.

"Yes bro, when we get access to the famous Akegria Library and get a cultivation method and different skills, we will become unstoppable," said Milo excited to begin training within Akegria Academy.

"What are cultivation methods and skills," asked Damian ignorantly.

"Huh, you will find out after the competition" sighs Milo seeing how little his friend really knew about the real world.

Although Damian was educated within the Maxwell Family, he only had access to limited information by his family and didn't know much about cultivation other than absorbing energy.

He also didn't use the memories and knowledge within his mind much as they still felt like foreign memories and he would prefer to gain his own knowledge first hand.

Damian could feel butterflies in his stomach and was extremely nervous for the Combat Round to begin as he followed Ivan with the rest of the new students.

Biting his tongue to jolt his body with pain and out of his nervousness, Damian began to take deep breaths.

Remembering all the wild things he said on stage and how confident he was in front of everybody watching made him worry whether he could bring the same confidence.

However nervousness wasn't the only thing he was feeling, he was also excited to be able to battle others with Soul Spirits first hand.

{Try and acquire the blood of any of those with valuable Soul Spirits that I told you to look out for and you made friends with, which will improve your strength and talent} advised Utsusu.

[Will it have a negative effect on them] asked Damian not wanting to harm his new friends.

{It has no effect on the one you are copying from and as you get stronger you will begin to understand more about your ability and how it works, but for now, you should focus on your battles} answered Utsusu.

{However never forget that you can never tell anybody about your ability} Utsusu reminded him, worried that he would expose himself to his new friends.

Damian bore everything Utsusu told him and suppressed his curiosity.

As they reached the colosseum-like structure, they received a loud cheer from the crowd that was much larger now, all anticipating the results of the exciting combat round.

But before they reached the arena, Ivan stopped outside and said goodbye to more than half of the class who knew they had no chance at top 10 and or were too scared to battle in front of a crowd, and after giving them their white Akegria Academy robes, allowed them to leave.

As they all climbed up the steps to the central stage, Ivan stood in the centre with the circle of 20 students still there.

"Those who were in the top 7 in the Will Test will sit there while the other 13 students will battle for the other 3 top 10 positions left" announced Ivan.

It was an outrage that the competition was made much shorter for the audience and the chances could be seen as unfair for those 13 who had to fight for 3 positions, but to Ivan, it was obvious that they had no chance against most of those in the top 7 apart from Milo, and the other two in the 6th and 7th position.

Hearing this Milo and Damian looked at each other happily, knowing that Milo had a guaranteed position in the top 10.

There was a line of seats outside of the stage, but still in the arena, that those in the top 7 sat in.

"Are you excited to battle guys" asked Matilda in her usual giddy and energetic nature.

"Yes of course and I especially want to compete with Damian" replied Cole, but in a calm and non-aggressive way, compared to when his Soul Spirit is activated.

"Yeah, same" agreed Damian who also enjoyed battling and competing with others, driven by his insatiable desire to be the best.

As the new friendship group of 5 were having a lively chat, with hardly any input from the serious Julia, the other two in the top 7, that seemed to know each other, also had their own conversation.

The Soul Spirit that they both had, that was also the most common Soul Spirit, was the Body Augmentation Soul Spirit.

Depending on its Rank and the talent rank of the owner it varies in power, but it only had one application and was very basic.

Which was also why it was very common as it was very easy to manifest as a mutation over generations as more and more people were getting Soul Spirits over time, but also the weaker they were becoming.

It's one and only application was to strengthen a specific part of the body or the entire external body.

However, similar augmentations could be reproduced by reinforcing the body with energy by those that don't even have a Soul Spirit.

But a Soul Spirit has development and growth potential and also allows the owner to be able to use more Cultivation Methods and Skills that require the user to have a Soul Spirt, so overall was better than not having a Soul Spirit, but is still the most common and basic.

Those that did gain a body augmentation, was most likely a mutation in the offspring and luckily gained a Soul Spirit, but without an elemental affinity, could only form a Body Augmentation Soul Spirit.

However, basic doesn't mean weakest and was also the easiest to use and depending on its level could be very powerful in close combat.

The two only managed to stay in the Will Test because of their stronger wills and them being more proficient in the use of their augmentation Soul Spirit, as the Will Test didn't only test the mind, but also needed the power to be able to resist the pressure.

All of them went quiet when the battles began, especially Damian who had never seen any battles, and attentively watched the battles unfold.

It ended in exactly the way Ivan had expected with the three who came out on top, in the small competition to compete for the final 3 spaces, being the three that didn't have body augmentation powers, but were still weaker than Damian and his friends.

"Now with the top 10, we can begin the positioning of the top 10" announced Ivan as the crowd began to cheer in excitement to watch the battles they were waiting for, rather than the boring matches between the children who had common Soul Spirits and didn't know how to fight.