Chapter 176 Challenge?

Another two weeks passed before the first Originals had amassed enough Military merit points to challenge one of the top-ranked Originals to take his place and receive direct tutelage.

However, nobody could find Nial and the others, forcing them to launch a large-scale manhunt.

At least, that was how it felt as more than a hundred Originals combed through the military camp to find Nial and the others.

It wasn't that Nial or his friends were hiding. Rather, they were working so hard that they didn't even notice how much time passed, let alone that their Originals bracelet had beeped, indicating that they had been challenged by someone.

The Originals bracelets worked within the military camp, which made things much easier.

But even if Nial's Originals bracelet was ringing dozens of times after a single day, he didn't even notice it.

Nial merely believed that he had been stung by a bee, which was why his wrist was itching.

Only when Instructor Junades received a notification did he approach Nial with a wry smile. His expression was a little bit odd but Junades kept his act together.

'Is it my fault that he challenged Nial?'

"Nial, you've been challenged. Didn't you receive a notification?" Junades' voice sounded calm at first but Nial's extraordinary senses could detect that something was odd.

"Challenged? Me? Why?" He was confused for a short moment because he had actually forgotten about the training period and that Junades and Kassandra merely taught them because they were in the Top 10 ranks of the military camp's participants.

"Ahh…by whom was I challenged? And do I have to defeat multiple Originals if I was challenged several times in a single day?"

Nial was still lying on the ground and trying to catch his breath while speaking to Junades.

It was obvious for him to be challenged. After all, he was at the lowest rank of all Top 10 ranked Originals, i.e, rank 10 which made him an easy pick.

He wouldn't take long to reach the 5th Origin rank but that was not important right now as he was still a few days away from enlarging his mana core once again.

Thus, as a 4th Origin rank, he was likely to be considered as an easy target.

"You can only be challenged thrice a week. Otherwise, someone might start to target only a particular person in the Top 10 ranking, which is actually not what we want."

Nial nodded his head at Junades' explanation, only to hear Kassandra's exclamation from behind.

"Junades?! Are you seeing the same as I do?? Why would the Sword Master's son challenge Nial?? That makes no sense!"

Jase Irka was in the Top 10 ranking as well. As such, he wouldn't gain anything by challenging Nial. Rather, he would bear a loss because it cost quite a few Military Merit points to challenge someone from the top 10.

Even Kassandra couldn't understand what was going on at first. However, after giving it some thought she recalled that Junades had told Commander Ullyr to make Nial spar with Jase during the camp's gathering.

'Is it because of that? But only the Instructors should have heard that…did someone tell Jase? What a snitch!!'

It was actually not a problem for Jase if he would defeat Nial. He wouldn't lose his right to stay in the top 10. However, if Nial were to be heavily injured, it would be quite problematic for him to fight against two more challengers, let alone to continue his training.

Kassandra was not too fond of Nial because of his dark energy but it was still important for him to be trained.

She had seen his potential and unbending will to become stronger.

As such, there was no way that she wouldn't want to continue teaching him. After all, they needed to mold the participants into brave and powerful Originals, the sooner the better!

Not even Nial's blindness prevented him from pursuing his goals, and even if Kassandra didn't want to accept it, she had to acknowledge that Nial might even be stronger, more decisive, and more ambitious than Bella…for now at least.

While Kassandra's thoughts were running wild, Miranda smiled brightly.

"That's perfect!"

The moment she said this everyone turned to her.

'Perfect?! What is perfect with this? Jase is a monster in human skin…he is the worst at holding back!!'

While both Instructors screamed inwardly, they didn't dare to lecture Miranda openly.

"What a shame…I was not challenged yet. I cannot even test how strong I have become…lucky you, Nial!!"

It was Mathias, who said this while lamenting about himself. He had warmed up to Miranda and the two Instructors.

Thus, he could reveal his inner thoughts in front of them without feeling awkward. Mathias might not be a battle maniac but it would certainly be good to test his current limit while fighting one of the strongest Originals of the new generation.

Jase Irka was certainly amongst the strongest Originals of the new generations, which was why Mathias looked at his friend with envy.

"If you love Jase that much, challenge him yourself. Maybe if you defeat him, he would not want to fight me anymore…"

Nial was unaware of the reason why another top 10 ranked Original would challenge him but if he were to forfeit, he would lose the right to remain in the top 10.

He had to accept Jase's challenge, which was why he got up from the ground before taking a deep breath.

"Will I have some time to rest or do I have to fight with him right now?"

Nial didn't feel intimidated, let alone nervous to have been challenged by Jase.

Rather, he felt like it was a waste of his time which was why he felt like beating the crap out of Jase. Unfortunately, his body was utterly exhausted, which made things difficult.

"You were challenged more than half a day ago by him. If you don't try to find him now, I guess some Instructors would love to throw you out of the top 10."

Kassandra answered his question quickly which made him frown.

His entire body was aching and he felt like resting inside the nutrition capsule for several days.

Unfortunately, that was not possible now because of a brickhead, which made things even more frustrating.

"Drink this, and you'll return to your peak form the moment you arrive in the arena!"

All of a sudden, Miranda pressed some vial in his hand before opening the glass bottle for him.

She quickly motioned his hand to force Nial to gulp down the bitter-sweet liquid. It was extremely thick, and it took Nial more than half a minute before he downed the small vial.

However, even after he had emptied the vial, he could still taste it because the thick liquid was only slowly traveling down his throat.

Nial nearly gagged when swallowing the liquid, and everyone felt pity looking at the situation.

The Old Medic had forced Nial to gulp down some sort of mysterious potion she had created after various experiments.

Nobody dared to take the Old Medic's mythical potions without carefully researching them. Not only was the taste of some potions created by the Witch of the South horrifying, to put it simply, but some even induced ugly side effects.

Thus even Kassandra and Junades couldn't help but frown while looking at the situation in front of them.

Meanwhile, Miranda was in a good mood as she had been waiting for someone powerful to challenge either of her three disciples.

"We will end today's training. Let's watch Nial's match!"

Saying so in an excited voice, Miranda walked toward Bella and Mathias. She picked them up with a flick of her hand while continuing to smile brightly.

Nial, on the other hand, was emptying an entire bottle of water in his mouth, trying to flush the bitter-sweet thick liquid down his throat.

Due to his enhanced senses, his entire mind was flooded with the bitter-sweet taste. Even for lovers of sweet food, the situation Nial faced was horrifying.

He tried to keep a straight face but failed terribly.

Several minutes passed and Nial didn't even realize that they had already gone out of the Old Medic's abode, and had arrived in front of the arena.

There weren't many people inside the arena. In fact, most of them were Instructors, including Commander Ullyr, all of whom had seen Jase Irka challenge Nial Orin.

They had also recalled Junades' words during the camp's gathering about allowing them to spar with each other, which was why they had momentarily stopped their training to watch the fight.

Yet, what they hadn't expected was that they would have to wait for several hours until Nial arrived.

"Isn't he too arrogant to make us wait? Who does he think he is?"

"It has already been 16 hours since Jase challenged him. He doesn't even respect the Sword Master's son. What a rude brat!"

"Well, in this blind youth's defense, I would like to add that he might have been too scared to fight Jase. After all, the Sword Master's son is not exactly known for holding his strength back!"

While the Instructors gossiped amongst each other, with most of them thrashing Nial, Commander Ullyr felt a little bit confused upon seeing Miranda, Instructor Junades, and Instructor Kassandra.

Contrary to his first expression when he had found out about Jase's challenge, Junades didn't show any emotions on his face. It was merely his eyes that exposed the excitement he was feeling deep down in his heart.

At first, Junades had been worried because he knew Jase's reputation, however, he also recalled that he had wanted Nial to fight Jase from the beginning, to begin with.

That was why his nervousness was replaced by excitement.

On the other hand, Kassandra didn't know how to feel. She knew how strong Nial was and that he was the strongest amongst the batch of three disciples. Nial was also the one who confused her the most.

However, they were talking about him fighting against Jase Irka! Kassandra was unable to not feel worried.

Last but not least, Miranda's expression worried Ullyr the most. Usually, the Witch of the South was either extremely serious, somewhat playful, or laid back.

But right now, her body language reflected her excitement!

When the other Instructor noticed that Miranda was standing next to Nial, they instinctively stopped gossiping. They were confused about how Nial had been able to get close to the Witch of the South but none of them dared to ask.

The Instructors and everyone else present could only watch Nial step away from his group as he entered the arena with a calm expression.

His cape fluttered in the wind-still room while faint mana fluctuations were released from his body and the robe.

However, Nial's face was devoid of any emotion, and the stability of his mana fluctuations made it clear that he was not nervous at all.

Nial was eerily calm, but that was more than enough to cause a unique sensation in the entire arena.

A gloomy sensation filled the room and the atmosphere grew tense the moment Nial stood in his allocated position inside the arena.

He didn't do much but his presence grew stronger with time and reached everyone in the arena.

'What is this weird feeling?'

Even Commander Ullyr felt a little bit weird while looking at Nial.

But what nobody knew was that Nial was not even thinking about his fight with Jase right now. Rather, he was overjoyed about something else.

'Finally, I got rid of this fucking taste in my mouth!!'

**

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