Spirit's Ascension-Chapter 71—Forging Ritual
Cole observed everyone’s expression with a strange face.
"Why are you all staring at me?" Cole asked.
No one responded to him, though; they all just stared at him in shock.
Cole decided to completely ignore them and check the surrounding liquid.
It noticed the water appeared much clearer, like it had lost almost all its special content.
"No wonder it stopped working," Cole said.
He then proceeded to leave the pool to join the others on the edge.
The moment he got to the edge, Bryan rushed straight to his side before asking.
"How could Spirit Mantra withstand it for so long? didn’t you feel satiated?"
Cole was taken aback by Bryan’s words.
"Spirit Mantra? Was I supposed to cultivate in there?" Cole thought.
He didn’t let his thoughts show on his face, though, to prevent further complications.
"Uhmm, I don’t really know; I just went with the flow," Cole responded as seriously as he could.
"Hmmmmm,"
Having answered Bryan’s question Cole was about to ask about the instructor or the next step when he caught sight of the man approaching with the elder in tow.
"You are finally out," The man said with a look of relief.
"Why were you in there for so long?" He asked.
But before Cole could even respond, the elder interjected, completely overriding the question.
"Since you all are done with the Body Forging, it is time for the second part."
"A ritual, if you will call it that."
"It involves a sparring session between two random students or a direct challenge."
"But a rule stands in the spar. The use of abilities isn’t allowed, just the physical body and Combat stances."
The first person to react was the jealous student; a smile formed on his face while he smiled slyly at Cole.
"My chance has arrived," he thought.
Since he had been interrupted earlier, the instructor decided to completely forget about the matter.
"Follow me; there’s an area for sparring."
Cole was shocked by the sheer number of compartments this hall has and their diversity of function.
About five minutes later, they arrived in the sparring area. I talked just like the sparring area in the Testing place where Cole had his first battle.
They all stood by the arena, waiting for someone to challenge the elder or teachers that were already there to pick two students.
Eleanor was just about to select two students at random when she was forcefully stopped by another teacher.
She looked around to see a standing man raising his hands nonchalantly while maintaining a confident look.
"Who would you like to challenge?" Eleanor asked.
"I would like to challenge Cole Bremont," the student said.
"You may proceed."
Receiving Eleanor’s approval, the student looked extremely happy as fantasies of his victory flashed in his mind.
"I, Sylvester Mardine, challenge you, Cole Bremont, to a duel."
Cole was more than happy to participate. He was ready to attack the proud bastard earlier in the morning, so he had no reason to reject it.
"I accept," he then said calmly.
The two of them walked into the arena under the watchful eyes of everyone.
Different thoughts were going through everyone’s mind at the moment, with the majority favoring Sylvester.
"No ability allowed, just physical," the instructor said again.
"Noted," they both shouted fiercely.
"You may begin."
Cole was in no hurry to attack; he stood in his position and observed his opponent.
He couldn’t use the Eye of Scrutiny since there were no abilities allowed, but he could still calmly analyze.
Sylvester felt extremely confident, so he didn’t bother to take caution; he charged straight at Cole with all he had.
Cole still didn’t react, waiting patiently in his spot while taking in as much information as he could.
In the blink of an eye, Sylvester arrived just in front of Cole.
The moment he arrived, he sent a straight jab at Cole, planning to knock him out in one attack.
Cole was immediately shocked by what he could see.
Though the attack approached fast, it didn’t seem to have any outstanding force behind it.
To confirm his speculation, Cole dodged to the side while intentionally leaving a gap in his form.
A smile formed on Sylvester’s face as he immediately capitalized on the opportunity.
Bam!
His punch landed on Cole’s shoulder.
"Hmm, it was stronger than I expected, but it is manageable," Cole thought.
"Time to have some fun then."
Though it wasn’t like Cole to play in serious situations like this, he just couldn’t suppress the urge to.
Sylvester felt a large surge of satisfaction seeing his punch land, but it soon vanished when he observed Cole’s expression.
Cole just stared at him blankly like he couldn’t feel a thing.
"Bastard," Sylvester shouted with gritted teeth.
He immediately lost his cool and wanted to make Cole suffer.
He began sending barrages of punches straight at Cole, and Cole just stood there and took them all.
He wouldn’t have been able to take all of this if he hadn’t advanced and participated in this forging.
But now he could take them all without too much pressure.
"I can take this," he said.
After taking a bit of punishment head-on from Sylvester, Cole decided it was his turn.
The next attack coming, Cole predicted its path permanently, and with a smooth, calculated movement, he dodged it skillfully.
With that dodge and a burst of speed, Cole appeared directly behind him.
He sent a kick straight at his shins.
The attack hit cleanly, resulting in Sylvester almost falling.
Cole didn’t let up, though; he sent an attack straight at Sylvester’s back.
The attack hit heavily, knocking Sylvester far away.
Sylvester lay on the ground in defeat for a while, but before that, the man called Cole out as the victor.
Golden aura suddenly surged out of Sylvester, and at exactly the same moment, Cole was frozen in his place.
"What’s going on that’s breaking the rules?" Cole thought urgently.
He didn’t have to say anything before Eleanor suddenly appeared behind Sylvester.
"That’s against the rules, kid," she said before sending a chop at his neck, directly knocking him out.
"Cole Bremont Wins," She then said coldly.
