Jovic stood at Li Jiye's door, with a very complicated expression on his face. Along with crackling sounds inside the room, a strong herbal fragrance quietly wafted through the crack of the door.
Jovic cleared his throat with a light cough, feeling awkward.
"Li Jiye… I'm Jovic. I wonder if you have time? My martial art skill is completed now, and I was wondering if I could get some pointers from you."
What followed was a mind-boggling silence. At this moment, Li Jiye was concentrating on refining the potion and completely ignored his invitation.
"Erm…"
A wave of embarrassment immediately crept over Jovic.
In actuality, it wasn't that Li Jiye didn't care about Jovic; he was just too focused on refining Tier 2 body-building potions. With the Divine Blessing skill, the potions he refined were much more effective than ordinary potions.
He had already spent three days in succession refining the Tier 2 potions. Having used all the body-building potions he refined previously, he had already reached the Tier 2 advanced-level.
The changes brought by the A-level skill was obvious even to the naked eye. Even if he didn't take the initiative to train, the external elemental energy would flow into his body actively. It was indeed a wise saying that one's skills determined one's strength.
Li Jiye was now busy refining the body-building potions. His physique's foundation was now similar to a Tier 3 martial artist, and he believed that with one or two more bottles of body-building potion, he would be able to make a complete breakthrough.
Thus, in comparison, Li Jiye found it easier to ignore Jovic at the moment.
After a long time, Jovic clicked his tongue and suddenly thought of something.
"Li Jiye, I know you're a pharmacist… I have a formula in my hands now. I wonder if you're interested?"
As soon as his voice fell, a question finally came out of Li Jiye's silent dormitory.
"What tier is the formula?"
"Tier 3 Tauren potion."
Li Jiye quickly thought about it.
This so-called Tauren potion was an advanced-level potion, but its effect wasn't considered very strong. It only helped increase a part of the martial artist's strength for a short amount of time.
"I'm not interested…"
Jovic almost choked on his own saliva upon hearing Li Jiye's words. He calmed himself down and finally rolled his eyes.
"I can smell the body-building potion in your room… How about we duel? If you defeat me, I'll give you a Tier 3 body-building potion formula!"
This body-building potion was countless times more attractive than the Tauren potion. Not long after, Li Jiye's messy hair poked out from inside the room.
"Deal!"
An hour later, Li Jiye finished packing and followed Jovic to the competition venue in Polar Star Academy.
At this time, the arena used for the qualifying matches had yet to be removed. Upon seeing them get onto the ring, the students in the area started whispering amongst themselves.
"Huh? Aren't they the champion and runner-up of the previous qualifying match? Why are they here again?"
"I don't know… But I heard that Jovic wasn't happy about losing to Li Jiye that day. He recently went to practice his B-level martial art. I think he wants a re-match!"
Jovic's face flushed red when he heard their comments.
He had indeed lost to Li Jiye two days ago despite being a higher level than him. This made him feel very unreconciled, and he refused to accept it. Now that his B-level skill Lethal Twine had been completed, he naturally came to Li Jiye to avenge his past insult.
On the other hand, Li Jiye was rather indifferent about the students' comments. Yawning, he turned to look at Jovic opposite him.
"Shall we begin? I don't have much time. I need to go make more potions later."
This sentence immediately triggered Jovic.
"Okay. I'll show you my new skill then!"
In the next second, he released all the Poison Element in his body. Purple-red poisonous smoke spilled continuously from his body, spreading throughout the entire ring in an instant.
But what astounded Jovic and the other students was that instead of dodging the poisonous smoke using Shadow Wind Steps like the previous match, Li Jiye just stood still without making a single move.
"You…?"
Although thrown off balance, Jovic didn't stop summoning the poisonous smoke.
The thick purple-red poisonous smoke instantly turned into a thorny ring that looked unusually sturdy. Once it appeared, it flew towards Li Jiye relentlessly.
Li Jiye's eyes instantly lit up at the sight of this. Although he already possessed a Poison Element skill, he still lacked a means of utilizing properly. Now, Jovic was giving him some extremely timely help.
Thinking of this, Li Jiye walked towards him and grabbed hold of the thorn ring that was struggling to penetrate his body.
"My apologies… I just upgraded to the Tier 2 advanced-level two days ago. Furthermore, I also consumed a poison immunity potion in the Demonic Beast Mountain Range. Your skills can no longer inflict damage on me."
Casually strolling over to Jovic, Li Jiye reached out to pat his shoulders and then slammed his fists into his abdomen all of a sudden.
Turquoise light flashed, and Jovic felt a huge force press on his chest and abdomen. Before he could open his mouth to say anything, he had already been knocked off the ring.
"Oh my God… This… this ended so fast?"
"He actually walked straight through the poisonous smoke!"
The students watching the match were now rendered speechless. Jovic was also silent for a long time before he finally looked up at Li Jiye.
"I've lost… but I still won't accept it! You must have taken the 'Nemesis of Poison Fruit'. This is only a quick fix!"
Li Jiye nodded nonchalantly and yawned again. After refining potions for so many days non-stop, he lacked sleep and was too lazy to argue with Jovic at this time.
"Well, let's just say I took a quick fix then… But Senior Jovic, didn't you promise to give me a Tier 3 body-building potion formula if I defeated you? Are you going back on your words?"
Jovic gritted his teeth and sighed.
"I'm a man of my words! Don't worry. I'll give you the formula as promised… but I have a request!"
"If I invite you to a competition again, you can't reject me!"
Li Jiye grinned. He liked people like Jovic who refused to admit defeat. He couldn't wait to replicate the new skills that Jovic would gain in the future.