Point-of-View: Argent Stryker

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"H-hey, that didn’t count, he definitely attacked me before the barrier was fully formed, didn’t he!?" Cried the defeated Adventurer, a look of frantic denial on his face.

"No, he did not. If he had, then the safety function wouldn’t have activated," The receptionist shook his head, before turning to me, "Congratulations, you’ve successfully passed, you are eligible to officially register as an Adventurer. Would you like to start at Bronze rank, or would you prefer to keep going?"

"Hm...I think I’ll keep going. I’ve gotten this far, so might as well start with the highest rank I can reach at my current level," I shrugged in response.

"Very well, then. I’ll return shortly with your next opponent," He nodded, before glancing at the opponent I’d just defeated, "Come along now."

"Tch, whatever," He muttered, giving me a dirty look as he walked past me.

What a sore loser. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised at how easily I won...mom was Diamond ranked in her day, and dad was Platinum ranked, and I was training and sparring with both of them quite regularly. They may have been retired for the last decade and a half or so, but still.

Honestly, I think even Larrk before his awakening might have been able to beat this guy, so yeah. My next opponent will be Silver ranked, wonder if I’ll get more of a challenge than I did with my first opponent?

Naturally, I’m going to try to rank as high as possible with this, I want to know exactly where my current power level ranks. That way, I’ll have an idea of how much room for improvement I’ve got, and which areas I need to work on.

Right now, my Magic is probably the area that needs improving the most. Larrk has a greater affinity for Spellcasting than I do, but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna neglect my Magic.

Spellcasting, hand to hand combat, the use of my Soul Weapon and proficiency with my Skills...these are all the factors that make up my fighting style. And I have to be as proficient in all those areas as much as possible, the more options I have at my disposal, the better off I’ll be.

On another note, the Skill I used, Limit Breaker, boosts my powers by fifteen times my natural ability level, so it’s extremely powerful, but it also takes a fairly severe toll afterwards. Since I only used it for a couple of seconds, the toll was very brief this time, but if I use it for longer, it’ll be pretty severe.

I should hold off on using it against my next opponent, better save it for the one after that, or if it seems like I can’t defeat the next one.

Hm? Speaking of which, looks like the receptionist is back, along with my next opponent. A sullen looking man, maybe in his early or mid thirties. Wonder how strong he is...guess I’ll find out shortly.

"Are you ready to begin the next duel?" Inquired the receptionist, as they approached me.

"Yes, I am. Let’s get started right away," I nodded in response. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

My opponent didn’t say a word, silently strolling out towards the duel space. Unlike my previous opponent, this guy didn’t just stand out in the open, making his way towards a row of trees and slipping behind one, disappearing from sight.

Looks like this duel’s gonna take longer to finish than the previous one...well, not that that’s saying much. Alright, my turn to head in next...I already know where I’m heading.

I made my way towards the waterfall, climbing up the cliff as I got to it and slipping behind a row of bushes, glancing up as I saw the barrier start to form. Okay, here goes...

"Initiate Skill: Intangibility," I quietly chanted, before turning myself fully intangible and dropping through the ground, staying calm and waiting for the right timing before turning myself tangible again, landing in the space behind the waterfall and under the cliff, before chanting again, "Initiate Skill: Radar."

This Skill is a sensory ability, it lets me sense all living presences within a radius of five kilometers. Of course, I barely need a fraction of that distance in this situation, so I’ve shrunk it significantly.

It’s actually pretty disorienting and difficult to focus when it’s at more than a kilometer, I really have to work on that. But at this current range, I don’t have a problem, I can focus and concentrate just fine.

And as for my Intangibility Skill, once activated, I can use it at will for five minutes, and if I use up that time limit, I can’t use it again for ten minutes. I can turn myself fully intangible, or just certain parts of myself, and I can also turn anything I’m touching intangible, otherwise I’d have lost my clothes when I used it just now.

Now, then...where’s my opponent? I can sense him heading this way, but it feels like he’s heading up the cliff. Good, that means he didn’t notice me using my Intangibility.

Hm...now, what? How exactly do I attack him from here once he’s above me? I haven’t mastered any Spells powerful enough to blast through the layer of rock and dirt above me, Limit Breaker only boosts my physical abilities.

None of my other Skills would work for this either. I should have thought this through a bit further than I did...oh, well, nothing I can do about it now. I’ll just leap out from behind the waterfall and take him by surprise.

As I sensed him starting to climb the cliff, I chanted to bring out my Soul Weapon before zipping forward and jumping out of the waterfall, locking my gaze onto my opponent as I tossed up one of my blades and took aim at him with my hand.

"Elemental Flame: Fire Blast!" I exclaimed, firing out a powerful burst of flames at him.

He leapt off the side of the cliff in alarm, and as my flames struck the spot he’d been climbing up, I caught the blade I’d flung up and shot towards him, springing towards him and starting to slash at him with my blades.

"Manifest Soul Weapon: Forked Spear," He quickly chanted, narrowly blocking my slashes with the handle of his Soul Weapon.

The blade at the end of it was forked into two blades, like the tongue of a snake. As my feet landed, he took a couple of steps back and drove his spear straight towards me.

I swiftly deflected it to the side by striking the handle with the flat of my left blade and then shot forward, driving the tip of my right blade towards the bottom of my opponent’s jaw.

He quickly tilted himself back, my blade grazing the tip of his chin before he backed away and got some distance, before suddenly shooting straight towards me rapidly.

I ducked as he swung his spear at me, before flipping myself back as he slashed it down at me, his weapon hitting the small, shallow lake at the foot of the waterfall with a loud splash.

He then tightened his grip on his handle before driving his spear further into the bottom of the lake and then vaulting himself towards me, using the momentum to wrest his spear out of the water and swung it across towards the side of my neck.

I could block it, but...my Intangibility is still active, so let’s see if I can surprise him. Sure enough, his eyes widened in confusion as his weapon harmlessly whizzed right through my neck, before I dropped one of my blades and grabbed the handle as it swung past my neck and giving it a sharp tug.

I pulled him off-balance, before swiftly driving my other blade straight at his chest, a barrier wall forming in front of it before I could pierce him. I stopped short as my blade broke through the barrier, taking a few steps back as my opponent collapsed onto his knees in defeat.

Hm, this safety function isn’t very effective. My blades break through the protective barriers with ease, I might have killed both my opponents if I didn’t have enough control to stop short.

Well, the barriers are strong enough to briefly stop my attacks for an moment, that certainly helps with stopping short. Now, then, that’s two down...

"You have now qualified for a starting rank of Silver. Would you like to keep going or end it here?" Inquired the receptionist, walking over as my opponent picked himself off and headed back towards the staircase, a sullen look on his face.

"I’ll keep going, no reason to stop now," I remarked without hesitation...yeah, let’s see just how far I can go with this...

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