The red-robed man’s muscles tensed, ready to swing his fist at a moment’s notice.

  I’ll punch back as soon as his fist is blocked. He thought, his eyes fully focused on Nova through the wind screen in front of him.

  Beside him, the green-robed man was fully occupied with maintaining the wind screen, but his eyes darted between his friend and Nova. He could already envision it, as soon as Nova’s fist was blocked by the wind screen, his friend would immediately swing at him.

  Knowing the strength behind it, he was sure there would be only one outcome.

  Their victory.

  While the two waited expectantly for Nova’s fist to meet the wind screen and be blocked, Nova could see they were trying their best not to show any hint of expression on their faces, but it was all too clear.

  A smirk slowly spread across his face as he thought, ‘Are they betting on this thin thing to block me? While I don’t know if my body can go toe-to-toe with a mid first stage Force, I do know something…’

  Throwing his fist at the wind screen, he finished his thought.

  ‘This… can’t stop me.’

  Pop

  As soon as his fist met the wind screen, the latter vanished like a bubble being popped, doing nothing noteworthy to reduce the strength behind Nova’s punch.

  So much so that not even the spectators in the stands could tell whether the wind screen had been fake or real.

  Both the green-robed man’s and the red-robed man’s eyes widened at the sight, but there wasn’t much time to think.

  It’s too late to run now. The only choice I have is to meet it.

  Having gone through a multitude of fights, the red-robed man didn’t panic. Instead, his mind felt clearer than ever.

  Clenching his hand tighter, flames erupted even more wildly, as if a volcano had just gone off. Then, with a shout, he swung his fist at the incoming blow.

  Thud!

  When the two fists met, there was no cracking sound nor any loud bang, only a muffled thud of flesh meeting flesh.

  ‘Evenly matched? I can’t complain. This guy is leagues above who I was a year ago,’ Nova thought as he stared at the red-robed man, whose disbelief was clearly written all over his face.

  ‘Why is he so surprised? We just tied. What a weirdo.’

  He scoffed inwardly and, as he was about to jump back to assess the situation, his gaze landed on the ground.

  There, beneath the red-robed man’s feet, were two skid marks, practically impossible to notice unless by pure chance, just a few millimeters long.

  ‘Now I see why he’s reacting like that.’

  Nova’s smirk morphed into a grin at the sight. He landed a few meters back and observed the two men, who were staring at him dumbly.

  ‘Despite his Force not being as complete as mine, my body is now able to go against a mid first stage Force with no issues, even having an advantage at that.’

  However, he inwardly shook his head and continued, ‘But winning is off the table.’

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  While Nova’s body was strong enough to match a mid first stage Force, and he could go for many rounds with no issue whatsoever, it wasn’t enough to secure victory. At most, he could drag the fight out until one party grew too tired to continue and then claim a win, but that was simply not realistic, and far too risky.

  The difference between him and the red-robed man was measured in mere millimeters. Any mistake Nova made would not go unpunished, and to top it all off, there was the green-robed man just a few meters away.

  Having thought this through, Nova sighed. ‘I wanted to use this month to test the current limits of my body, but who would’ve thought I’d already find them in my first fight?’

  ‘Since that objective is complete, I’ll quickly finish this here and go back to training.’

  Just as he was about to use his Spear Force, he paused abruptly, a thought striking him.

  ‘I almost forgot. If I use my Spear Force, the next civilizations I fight will never bet a high amount. That absolutely can’t happen.’

  Nova’s taut nerves relaxed as he stood quietly.

  Under the wary gazes of the two men, Nova waved his hand and, from his Inventory, pulled out Dreadscape.

  The air around him shifted the moment he held the spear in his hands.

  If earlier he had felt like a country bumpkin who thought he was strong, now he felt like a true master, one who was undeniably powerful.

  The green-robed man’s head swiveled toward his friend, and he shakily said, “He… What do we do now?”

  “He must’ve been toying with us the whole time,” the red-robed man said gloomily. “I can’t even fathom how strong he is right now.”

  Both of them could instantly feel the change radiating from Nova, and how could they not?

  Nova was now a Spear Master, one who could, by the system’s judgment, open his own school and spread his teachings in the way of the spear.

  But that wasn’t even the scariest part.

  If put into perspective, the green-robed man and the red-robed man were both Masters, of wind and fire, respectively.

  The shocking part was that Nova’s strength, even while fighting with bare fists, was already enough to contend with them.

  Earlier, they had assumed Nova was using some kind of abstruse Force, something like Fist Force, which explained their disbelief at his strength, given his relatively low ranked civilization. Now, however, they understood that he wasn’t using any Force at all, yet he was still able to fend both of them off with ease.

  That was what truly frightened them.

  What an anomaly. Judging by the pressure I’m sensing from him, he should be able to fight against the top 5,000 without issue.

  The red-robed man gulped loudly. Thankfully we signed the contract before this fight, or I don’t even want to imagine what would’ve happened if we had made an enemy of him.

  Without the contract, he was almost certain that neither he nor his friend would have walked out of this arena alive. To make matters even worse, once their civilization learned that both of them had fallen to a low ranked civilization, they would spare no effort to avenge them.

  What came after that was something he didn’t even want to think about.

  The red-robed man glanced at his friend and quietly said, “I suggest we surrender.”

  Surrender? The green-robed man repeated in his mind. If his friend had said this just a few minutes ago, he would’ve laughed at him for being a coward, but now… he couldn’t.

  He glanced at Nova and, seeing how relaxed he was, sighed bitterly to himself. He truly was toying with us earlier.

  All of this, though it would take a while to explain, had happened in the blink of an eye.

  Without looking away, he nodded slightly to his friend. Just as Nova was about to dash toward them, he said aloud, “We surrender.”

  Not one of them knew that Nova hadn’t been intentionally toying with them. He was simply testing the limits of his own strength, and once he found them, he would, without hesitation, unleash enough strength to quickly finish the fight and return to what he had been doing.

  Hearing that they had surrendered, Nova arched an eyebrow. ‘Already giving up? I thought the higher a civilization ranked, the more they would take pride in being part of it. How strange.’

  It was impossible to know what would’ve happened if either of the men standing before him had known what he was thinking, but luckily for them, they never would.

  As soon as the words left the green-robed man’s mouth, a notification of his victory flashed in Nova’s mind.

  ‘This was faster than I thought. When I get back, I’ll have to check the next civilization to challenge when my turn comes,’ Nova thought, lowering his head.

  “Excuse me.”

  It was then that a respectful voice rang out in front of him.

  Nova lifted his head and saw the green-robed man standing in front of him. “What is it?” he asked, curious.

  With a kind smile, the man said, “I came here to say that, as per the agreement, we won’t seek revenge, and all our grudges end here.”

  Nova noticed the expectant look in the green-robed man’s eyes and knew what he was waiting for. As his body began to be slowly teleported away, he said, “Alright.”

  The green-robed man, upon hearing that, felt as if he had been pardoned for the gravest of crimes.

  His last thought before he and his friend were sent back to their town was: We’ve avoided a calamity.

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