After explaining the structures and rules of the Ranked Stage, the referee kept mum and allowed the King to give the final words.
"Haha, I'm sure you are all wondering what the rewards. To motivate you I will tell you the rewards," teased the king.
Continuing, he informed, "Only the top five, that is the participants for the third half, are eligible to the rewards. The fifth....."
Jake listened to the king attentively.
He was able to discern some of the words the king used due to his time in the library.
The fifth-place would receive a [Low-Earth Rank] Technique, plus their authority level would be raised by one.
The fourth-place would receive the same as the fifth place.
It becomes different from the third-place who would win one(1) Energy Crystal, Increased Authority Level by one, a [Medium-Earth Rank] Technique, and a cultivation method.
The same applied for the second place with the only difference being two(2) Energy Crystals instead of one.
Finally, the first place, the crowned top position, would be awarded three(3) Energy Crystals, Increased Authority Level by two, an [High-Earth Rank] Technique, and a cultivation method.
Jake recognized all the items on the reward list.
For example, the cultivation method was what [Realm-2] cultivators and above use to advance their cultivation base.
Each cultivation method was like a food recipe and was different from one another. One could do without a cultivation method but it would be like cooking using the basic and public recipe.
Cultivation methods help refine one's [Elemental Spirit Essence] and used different ways of energy circulation. The most common way, which Jake still used was the spiral method, in which one would make a rotation.
Another one on the list that was quite unfamiliar was the Energy Crystals. Just by the name, one could infer what it was about.
Energy Crystals were items excavated from underground that contained [Spirit Essence] in them. They were like small containers.
The crystals were used by cultivators to absorb the energy in them. Usually, it was better and faster to absorb the [Spirit Essence] in the crystals than in the air, which was quite polluted.
On that note, the energy crystals were quite diverse and were different from the minerals found underground.
Thinking of this, Jake realized that the rewards were extremely generous and were worth it.
Any one of them would lead to bloodbaths among commoners.
Jake's attention peaked as the king gave out his final last words, "In the previous stages, I have seen your strong will and your resourcefulness. Now, I wanna see your strength, your pure combat ability. This stage would be different from the rest as one wouldn't be required to hold back. If you know you can't make an attack, then forfeit! "
His words burned the hot blood of the participants.
They looked up at him and each swore to achieve first place.
They had already passed through a few obstacles to get to this stage.
.........….
After the king's speech, the referee waited for the noises to calm and shouted, "I will begin with the first match of the first half."
He picked up the familiar bottle of names and shook it for a few seconds.
After going through all the procedures, he brought out two slips of names and looked at them.
The referee later announced, "Match 1, Ray vs Jake."
Jake frowned as he heard his name being called out.
He slowly stood up from his seat and walked to the stage.
Despite knowing his opponent, he felt nothing toward him.
To him, Ray was just a thing of the past. One shouldn't focus too much on the past.
By the time Jake got to the stage, he saw the familiar face of Ray.
'He still had that criminal face,' commented Jake.
He found it funny as part of the reason he suspected Ray the last time was because of his criminal face, which downright screamed "suspicious!!".
It was the same situation right now. Ray didn't know how to hide his expression and kept grinning at Jake.
It was somewhat foolish as Jake had previously praised Ray before. Yet, here he was embarrassing himself.
Clearly, he was cooking up something and was quite confident in himself, or at least, that was what he thought.
Ray confidently eyed Jake, his gaze seemed to have reached a conclusion of their match.
With a loud voice, he shouted to the referee, "I want a death match!"
His words echoed around the stadium as the crowd descended into silence.
The period of silence ended as they digested Ray's words. Two key words ringing in their heads, "Death Match!"
They knew what a deathmatch was. It was a battle to the death!
A cruel type of battle that would every time splash blood on the stage.
It was a sport to the audience, but a narrow path to the combatants.
So, the crowd descended into chaos upon hearing the declaration.
The referee cocked his gaze at Ray, not understanding why anyone would want such kind of duel.
"Are you sure?" he asked to confirm.
Ray nodded his head to verify his declaration. He had taken a strange item from the nobleman and broken through multiple stages. If anything, he was more than sure.
Plus, he could never forget the humiliation Jake took him through.
Following the standard procedures, the referee repeated, "What is the reason?"
"We have a dispute!" firmly replied Ray.
The referee turned to Jake and interrogated, "Is that true?"
Hearing the question, Jake's cold eyes met with Ray. As he also knew what a deathmatch was, he wondered why Ray was doing this.
Based on the rules of deathmatches, he could decide to reject the call out.
However, he chose not to. It would be better to cross Ray's name out of his list of people who want to kill him.
"Yes."
The referee queried, "Do you accept the deathmatch?"
He made sure his words were slow and clear emphasizing the importance of Jake's decision.
However, Jake expressionlessly replied, "Yes, I consent to it!"
His words brought another uproar among the crowd.
"Then, Begin!!" announced the referee.