The words of Old Tiger silenced the professors. Most of them were disappointed except Hesco and the other two that bet on Raia.
Now that Old Tiger bet on this kid, it was already almost 98% sure that Raia will win. They trusted his words and his insight to these kinds of things.
Old Tiger was an old man that was always sitting at the entrance of the Tower of Trial.
However, that was not the end of his identity.
He was the Watcher of the Tower of Trial.
Apart from the Pillars, Protectors and Guardians, Watchers were also some of the strongest humans. In terms of strength, they were just below the Guardians.
And like the others, they also have their purpose.
It was to watch over the important structures of humanity, one of which was the Tower of Trial. Each Tower of Trial has one Watcher guarding it.
They just not guard the Tower but also look for some potential prodigies and geniuses that come to challenge the tower.
At times when the planet is under attack, they will also take the tower with them using a special formation and leave the place. The value contained in the Tower of Trial was important for humanity after all and leaving it to the hands of the enemies can result in unimaginable damages.
Old Tiger was at 7th level Earthen State, one of the highest in the whole Rhost.
After arranging the stakes, Old Tiger activated the crystal ball and from it, came projected views of what was happening inside the tower. Each screen has a student in it, with their names and what floor they were currently at.
"Mm..most of them were already on the second floor." Hesco nodded.
"Sharia and Grace are already on the third floor." Sir Samuel said.
"Azel and Kayle, too."
"Wendy and Esther were also on the third floor. These ladies were strong."
"How about Raia? Where is he? Where is he?"
They searched his screen for a few seconds and shouted.
"This kid is already on the sixth floor?!"
…
On the sixth floor of the Tower of Trial.
From the first to the sixth floor, Raia didn't use the hour of rest time and directly moved on to the next floor. The cultivation states of his opponents increased for every floor he cleared but their numbers varied.
All of his opponents were beasts. However, with his speed and strength, he only needed a single strike to kill them all. And he didn't use any of his stamina so he was still in his perfect condition.
The others also moved fast as they defeated their opponents easily but most of them were managing their spirit energy and time so that they could reach higher floors, saving their trump cards as much as possible.
Raia was battling five black clawed eagles. These eagles were mid rank 2 beasts, one step closer to high rank 2 and were equal to a 6th level Martial Physique State human.
He was having some hard times at first. It was because this was the first time he fought a flying type beast. For the first five minutes, the eagles were just roving on top of him, observing him with their light gray eyes.
He tried to jump and he reached the height where the eagles are, about thirty meters, but hit nothing with his sword. The eagles were very agile in the air and could dodge his strikes very quickly.
Raia was rubbing his chin and thinking what to do. He wanted to move on to the next floor very quickly and get first place while also trying to beat the record of Dillan Gail.
Right now, he has a goal that he will try to reach. It was to clear at least the twentieth floor.
"I don't know if three days will be enough for me to reach the twentieth floor. I need to get going really quickly."
He doesn't have the time to play with these birds.
When his eyes landed on the concrete floor, he had an idea.
After sheathing his sword, he punched the floor.
'Bang!!'
Debris and small pieces of the concrete floor were scattered around. His hand bled but it was still fine.
"This material can penetrate the defense of these eagles." He said after checking the stones.
He took some of it and stared at the eagles. After locking his eyes on one of them, he took his stance, aimed and threw the stone at the first black clawed eagle using all of his power.
'Swish!'
'Boogshh!'
The first eagle was instantly killed after the stone obliterated its chest. It didn't have the chance to evade.
"Bull's eye." Raia said to himself with satisfaction to what he had done.
However, the remaining four eagles were still roving in the air. He took another and aimed at his second target.
'Swish! Boogshh!'
The second black clawed eagle's body also exploded.
"I'm actually pretty good at this…."
With the current state of his aspects, his control and aim were both very high giving him also a very high chance of hitting his target.
At this time, the other three black clawed eagles began their descent and their goal was obviously Raia.
"Good thing you guys are coming to me."
He drew his sword but still had a stone on his other hand.
A black clawed eagle quickly descended and used its long sharp claws and talons to strike Raia.
He evaded it easily and slashed the eagle the time it passed by him. It was cut cleanly into two.
The next one quickly made its attack. Raia ducked and stabbed the eagle on its chest.
He flicked the stone in his fingers and flicked it, aiming for the head of the last eagle. It quickly died after the stone pierced its head.
With that, the challenge of the sixth floor was finished.
[ Congratulations on clearing the sixth floor. Would you like to take an hour of rest or move directly to the next floor? ]
A gentle voice sounded.
"Move me directly to the next floor."
[ Understood. ]
Raia was enveloped in light and disappeared on the sixth floor.
At the seventh floor of the tower, he quickly began his fight with two high rank 2 gray horned hogs.
…
It was about two and a half hours later when Raia reached the tenth floor. He used his time to rest and recovered some of his spirit energy before moving onto the next floor.
The last beasts he fought were equal to two 9th level Martial Physique State beasts. He didn't have any difficulties in fighting them but he decided to take a rest anyways for him to maintain his perfect condition all the way.
The tenth floor of the Tower of Trial was different from the other first nine. Here, the opponent he had to defeat was not a beast but rather a human.
For every ten floors, the opponents of the challenger will be humans. They were not ordinary humans but were some of the geniuses in history. The tower creates a copy of a portion of these geniuses' battle skills and techniques and uses it to challenge the participants in the Tower of Trial.
The human in front of Raia was a male one. His face was not shown because it was covered with the plain white mask he wore. However, his build was manly. He wore simple pants and sleeveless shirt that both displayed his ripped muscles. His hair was shaved as he stood there, barefoot.
Raia observed that his opponent didn't have any weapon with him.
"A close combat fighter?"
It was likely to be someone who only fights with their fists.
Raia rushed toward him with his sword. He wanted to end as quickly as possible so he used his whole strength with this single slash.
His opponent didn't move an inch. He just stood there waiting for him.
Raia arrived quickly in front of the man and with his raised sword, slashed towards him.
Mid-air, he noticed that the man moved. He launched a punch with his right hand. Its direction was towards his wrist.
'Aiming for my weak point huh?'
He didn't put it to his mind because he knew that he could defend against that attack. Also, he was holding the sword with his two hands so he was not worried that he would let go of it.
Raia continued his attack. The fist of the man also came and made contact with his left wrist first.
'Bang!'
He felt pain on his left wrist and his grip actually loosened. But his right hand was still holding the hilt and his strike continued down.
However, something he didn't expect happened.
'Bang!
He also felt pain on his right wrist and at this moment, both of his hands let go of the handle of the sword.
'What?!'
He was shocked inside and in the next moment, the man moved swiftly and grabbed the handle of the sword.
Raia was really surprised but he didn't panic and quickly retreated a few meters back before the man launched another attack.
'I don't have anything that can match that sword.'
That sword was the highest weapon he currently had. He has high ranking materials from the world inside but he didn't want to show it to the others watching him.
'What technique is that?'
He was wondering what happened. A single punch that targeted two directions. In his mind, he was replaying what happened and was trying to see the structure of the technique. However, he didn't pay attention to his wrist so he had no idea what happened in that area.
Raia sighed. 'Now my lack of skills and techniques is showing.'
'Well, I'll just push through with raw power.'
When the man saw that he didn't put out a new weapon, he turned around and stabbed the sword to the ground. He then walked slowly to Raia.
'Tsk. Fist fight it is then.'
He launched himself towards the man and punched with his right hand. This blow contained all the strength that his body could give.
'Whoossh! Bang!'
He felt that he hit the man directly. The figure of the man was thrown twenty meters away.
Raia was expecting the announcement but it didn't come.
'He was fine after that attack?'
The man slowly stood up after a few seconds. He was struggling as his body was covered in wounds and bruises. Both of his arms were broken and his left arm showed some signs that a fist collided with it.
'A split second defense? Or prediction?'
Then, he saw some subtle changes in the man. The arms of the man slowly healed at the same time as his other wounds. It was really slow but Raia still noticed it.
"This guy has physique talent. Just the tenth floor and the opponent already had talent. I couldn't imagine what the other floors have. Will the others be able to clear this floor?"
Physique talents come with their own traits. Some gave a really tough defense, while others increased the refining speed of spirit energy. In this case, this human possessed a physique talent with healing. It was some kind of small regeneration but it was a great trait to have nonetheless.
After pondering for a moment, Raia decided to let the man heal his wound.
"I like that fist technique. Maybe if I see it a few more times, I might gain some insights on how it works. And if this guy has other skills, I also want to see it."
…
The professors outside were watching him closely.
There were already some students that failed. They were comforted by the professors for a moment and they turned back to the screens the next second.
Sir Samuel was staring at the screen of Raia intensely then he sighed.
"His lack of skills and techniques are beginning to show their effects."
The others watching with him nodded. They were impressed by how fast he cleared the other floors but now that he faced someone with high intelligence, they were looking forward to what he could do.
"Fighting someone like that will surely put him to a disadvantage but I believe he can overcome it with his monstrous strength. I think he can defeat that guy in a few more minutes.", Hesco firmly said.
"Well, we'll see about that later."
"The others were progressing smoothly. They would probably reach the tenth floor in half a day."
They attentively watched as Raia and the man exchanged blows.
However, after two hours, they began to frown as he was still fighting on the tenth floor.