"Next, Filicia will spar against Johnathan."
Felicia nodded and hopped onto the stage. She also took a sword in her hand. But there was a difference between her and Randle. She held the sword firmly and her gaze grew sharp.
She clearly had experience with the sword and was not a snob like Randle. She also looked seriously at Johnathan. Even though she was 3 levels lower than him, she still focused with all her mind.
This attitude earned praise from both Johnathan and the Snow Clan woman. They both nodded. Johnathan felt a little good that this girl was not like the snobbish Randle and took things seriously. While the woman nodded in appreciation. She knew that Felicia had put in decent work to get to her level.
Soon, the match started. Johnathan didn't use the same force as he did with Randle. He used power equal to 5th level of Foundation stage, the same as Felicia's and sparred with her.
They exchanged a few moves and even though it was just a superficial exchange in the eyes of the woman, she could see the strong point in both Jonathan and Felicia's skills.
Soon, Johnathan's skill couldn't be handled by Filicia and she did the sword and admitted defeat.
She went forward and days," Thanks for going easy on me."
"I didn't go easy on you You were fairly good yourself." Johnathan replied with a smile while trying his best to act cool.
Felicia saw through this and laughed," Well, there is no need to flatter me. I hope that as freshmen we can get along well together, you can look after us in the tournament."
Johnathan nodded and they both got it the stage.
"Next, Isaac will fight against Julia."
Isaac for onto the stage and also picked up his sword. He looked at Julia and didn't bother to hide the disdain on his face.
While it was a prominent part of their lives, machines were just insignificant and those who worked on them, the mechanics were even more so.
So this occupation was getting disdained upon by the people. The advancement in mechanics was not very good and slowly their role in their lives were relegated only to trivial needs.
In this combat oriented world, the armours produced by mechanics were very weak. And while there were higher grades of mechanics, they were all focused on large weapons rather than those used by individuals.
So, the scope of development for individual use machines was quickly list as they were simply to weak and the technology was not compatible with the new metals available for making such personalized equipments of higher grade.
Julia looked at his face but didn't think much about it. She had seen such have all the way from her childhood when they found out that she couldn't cultivate the clans's secret technique to now where she was disdained for her choice in occupation.
She took out the sword which she had used for yesterday's test. The sword was looking a little different than the day before. It was more well defined and looked even more powerful than yesterday.
"Start the match." The lady ordered.
"I hope you don't take offense if anything happens to you in this match. After all, blades do not have eyes." Isaac smirked. He didn't even showing the basic respect for his opponent.
Julia looked at him acting in such a way and her face turned from her usual innocent look to a cold indifference.
But waiting for anyone, she dashed at Isaac. Looking at this, Isaac smirked. He could clearly see the cultivation level of his opponent. She was a level 6 foundation stage while he was 2 levels higher. Moreover she was using a mechanical sword made by herself while he was using a said given to the students by the combat hall.
He was sure that his sword was no worse than her's. He casually swung his sword to meet Julia head on.
His face was leisurely but the very next moment, his face changed drastically.
He had thought that he could easily intercept Julia but to his surprise, the way she swung her sword immediately opened up all his weaknesses.
He wanted to change his sword's course to meet her's but there was no opening in her saying which he could make it on time.
Clang!
The clash of swords reverberated throughout the room and Isaac's sword flew through the air and fell down.
Isaac wanted to retreat but he felt a chill in his throat as well as a child pair of eyes looking at him. Julia had place her sword right before Isaac's throat and even moving it a little would cut his throat.
Isaac felt cold sweat dripping from his forehead. This girl, even though she was a mechanic, she was way more powerful than him. He was disappointed but soon he remembers that she was from the Snow Clan and felt a little better.
The woman and the two young ladies smiled a little and nodded slightly. Even though, she couldn't cultivate the core inheritance of the clash, she was still a member of the clash and was adept at combat.
Julia didn't do anything. She withdrew her sword and went out the stage. Isaac rubbed his throat a little, so feeling the chill against his neck which couldn't cut him down had it moved a little further.
"Next, Xavier will spar with Isaac." The woman said and she turned to Isaac and asked," Can you participate in another battle it do you need a break?"
Isaac hesitated for a bit but still nodded.
"Are you sure? I don't want to take responsibility of one of the students being harmed."
"I'm sure. I'll fight him." Isaac said.
"But I don't want to fight him." a voice sounded before the woman could reply.
Everybody turned towards the voice. It came from the side opposite to Isaac. There stood a slight lanky feminine youth who was looking at them with calm eyes.
"What do you mean you don't want to fight? After you giving up?"
"Nope." Xavier shook his head.
The lady frowned," What do you want then?"
"I mean that he is not strong enough to fight me." Xavier said calmly.
Hearing this, the 3 Snow clan women raised their eyebrows. Meanwhile Isaac was enraged. He pointed at Xavier and asked," What do you mean I'm not worthy enough to fight you? Do you think that just because you're a grade 1 concocter and grade 1 mechanic, you can do anything to want. Hmph, I'll show you what it means to fight an elite of the combat hall!"
Isaac lifted his sword and was about to dash towards Xavier for an attach but when he looked ahead, he couldn't find anyone. He panicked but before he could react, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head.
His sight turned dark and he fell unconscious.
The surrounding people were surprised. They didn't think that Xavier was so strong. What was must surprising to then was his speed. He had taken almost no time to reach Isaac and knock him out.
The woman from the Snow Clan was also surprised. She was paying a litte attention and was just able to catch Xavier dashing towards Isaac and the next moment, he was knocked out.
She now realised that she couldn't see through Xavier's cultivation. She found that strange. She was sure that he was weaker than her but she couldn't exactly point out how much.
She was surprised. She looked at cashier and said," So this is what you meant?"
Xavier nodded. He didn't have any sense of accomplishment showing on his face and he finished the battle just like he was swatting a mosquito.
"Then who do you want to fight?" asked the woman.
"I want to fight those 2." pointed Xavier at the 2 young ladies from the Snow clan.
The woman was surprised and so were the girls. The woman asked," Both at the same time?"
"Hmm." he nodded.
The lady turned towards the 2 girls and nodded. The two of them nodded back and leapt up to the stage. They didn't ask if he was confident enough or not in facing the two of them say the same time but they were going to fight him with their full strengths.
Xavier also readied himself. The last time he had thought, it was with Martial Grandmaster level experts but he had also learnt that along them, that her was the weakest of the bunch. That was the reason, Martial Grandmaster such as themselves did not hold any important position and were just Mercenaries albeit the strongest mercenaries. This showed how low the standard of the mercenaries was in this city.
The the looked at each other and nodded. Immediately, Xavier rush he towards the do. The 2 young ladies didn't move. They said there planned firmly, not out of fear, but with anticipation.
Immediately the surrounding became cold. The women started growing white most which started to lower the temperature of the room.. The air started to freeze and the floor was covered with ice.
This ability was called qi projection. This was the signature ability of Martial Masters. In the foundation stage, you would use qi to refine the body so that it can hold qi. In this stage, the busy will become strong but that's the extent of it. It cannot go further beyond that.
Upon reaching the Martial Master stage, a Cultivation will be able to manipulate the qi stored in the dantian to project their qi outward. These projections usually are in the form of slashes or waves and are able to harm an opponent from a distance.
But when a cultivate had a special attribute to their qi, they would gain the ability to project that attribute outwards. Just like how the Snow Clan members can use this ice field.
Xavier rushed into this ice field, only to find out that his movements were beginning to become sluggish.
One of the young ladies said lightly," This is the power of the Ice Field of our Snow Clan. You can't make it past the outer layer of you just have that much strength. Just give up."
Xavier looked at this and so his head. He started circulating his qi even faster to resist the cold and approached the two ladies.
The other young lady looked at this and said," Don't try too hard, or else you'll harm yourself."
"Yes, it's already good that you are able to defeat an elite of the combat hall of your class. If you try harder, you'll definitely beginner more powerful."
Xavier heard this and couldn't help but grin a little. The future were thinking that he was going to lose. He was just to seeing how much of the cold energy he could try to resolve by just taking in and circulating the ambient qi.
He found out that without covering it into his special golden gray qi, it was difficult to use qi to do anything.
He grinned widely and unleashed his power. The woman who was watching this out of the stage saw this and said,"Be careful! He can also use qi projection with an attribute."
But before her words could reach them...
BOOM!
A smoldering heat stormed out from Xavier and rushed towards the two ladies. The heat even permeated towards the whole room and affected everyone.
This heat completely melted the Ice Field and blasted the two young ladies. Unable to resist, they were thrown off the stage.
While they were thrown off the stage, their faces were not pale like those who were injured would have. Instead, they were flushed. Even their necks were a shade of red and their peaks moved up and down with their deep laboured breathing and sweat dripped down from their necks into their valleys. Their legs clutched together. Not only them, even the woman on the side was also like this.
The special condition of thier Snow clan had kicked in and now was studying them like nothing else. 'This man was the bane of their clan', they thought simultaneously.