Perfection

Bobby's winning streak and his decision to continue using his core-ranked martial art caused an outrage among the recruits in the seventh group. "He's way too arrogant! Axel, take him down!" The disturbance caused the other students to look over. "Core-ranked martial art sounds interesting," a girl looked at the seventh group's stage with interest. She was Vanessa, who was ranked fourth amongst the city recruits. Being a city recruit, Vanessa didn't need to enter the preliminaries. Even if she had, with her skill level, she could beat everyone at the preliminaries. Calvin, who was ranked first among the town recruits, couldn't come close to matching Vanessa's strength. "Fine, let's see how strong your core rank martial art really is," Axel glared at Bobby, hurling Thunder Fist. Axel shouted as he used his high-rank martial art. Burning Thunder Fist was a fist skill that used strength and speed to overpower the opponent. Its attack was like a raging storm.

Axel's strength was well within the crowd's expectation. However, most of them were more focused on Bobby. Would Bobby really continue to use a core-rank martial art when he was facing Axel, who was ranked seventh amongst the town recruits? Just then, Bobby used a skill, Flaming Metal Fist. His fist emitted a red glow. It was the core-ranked martial art again. "He's using Flaming Metal Fist again! He's still using core-rank martial arts!" Many of the students had thought Bobby had just been joking, but he really had used a core-ranked martial art. This was completely outside of their expectations.

"Prepare to lose," Axel rushed towards Bobby. This fist contained great power. "Not bad, Axel's Hurling Thunder Fist has reached the low level. It's obvious that he has trained hard," many of the students agreed. The two students on the stage clashed together; it was fist against fist. Axel pushed his Hurling Thunder Fist to the max. If he used a high-rank martial art and wasn't able to take Bobby down in two to three moves, how would he even reach the top 10 Town recruits of the preliminaries? Bobby was calm as he easily blocked Axel's fist with his own fist. Boom! Axel's arm went numb as he was pushed back two steps. On the other hand, even though Bobby's hand trembled, he was still standing in the same place.

"How is this possible?" Axel was shocked. He had thought that he could take Bobby down in one punch, but in reality, his attack had been blocked by a core-rank martial art. "What is going on?" the student shouted. "I cannot accept this; it was an accident. His fist just happened to hit the weak point of my skill," Axel howled as he used his Hurling Thunder Fist and pounced towards Bobby again. Boom! Once again, Axel was pushed back. "It is a core-rank martial art. How is Bobby blocking Axel's attacks? How can a core-ranked martial art have the upper hand against a high-ranked martial art?" The students were confused.

One move... two moves... three moves... Every time Axel attacked Bobby, Axel was pushed back. When two people of the same rank fought, it was normal for one person to gain the upper hand. However, gaining the upper hand by using a core-ranked martial art against a high-ranked martial art was unheard of. What was going on? Axel frantically used all his power. Many students glanced at the judge. "Bobby's battle experience and skill far surpass Axel's," the judge said, but his explanation wasn't enough for the students. "This kid has trained a core-rank skill to the max level," an old voice sounded from the center of the crowd. He was the old man with a white beard; he was the main judge for the town recruits contest.

"Max level?" A few judges nodded at his words. Everyone knew that the higher the rank of the skill, the higher the damage output. However, this was not always the case. For example, when one person trained a low-ranked martial art to the high level and another person trained a high-ranked martial art to the low level, the high-ranked martial art would not be as powerful as the low-ranked martial art. Martial arts had four levels that were based on how well the skill had been trained: beginner, low, high, and peak level. Peak level meant that the skill would reach 90% of its full potential. It was rare for someone to train a martial art to the peak level. However, the peak level was not the limit of the skill. It was possible to train a skill past the peak level to the max level. Max level meant that the skill had been trained to at least 99% of its full potential. At that point, the skill would have been perfected. Although it seems like there is a small difference between the max level and the peak level, the gap is insanely huge. The difference is even bigger than the difference between the low level and the high level," the main judge exclaimed.

"Even if that is the case, Bobby's strength would only be on par with Axel's," one of the students said. He didn't completely understand the main judge's explanation. After all, high-ranked martial arts were three levels higher than core-ranked martial arts, and Axel had trained the high-ranked martial arts to the low level. "You're right, the max level of a core-ranked martial art would only barely be able to match up with the high-rank martial art. But as you can see, Bobby's body strength, reaction speed, and battle experience far exceed Axel's," the main judge praised Bobby's strengths. From the main judge's additional explanation, the crowd finally understood.

On the stage, the fight between Bobby and Axel continued. "Bobby's going to attack now. Oh my God, he's so fast!" As the spectators looked towards the stage, they saw Bobby change from a defensive stance into an offensive stance. His Flaming Metal Fist that far surpassed the skill's limits with incredible speed and power contained in his fist, Bobby rushed forward and struck Axel in the shoulder. Axel screamed as his arm was ripped out of its socket. "Number 188 wins," the seventh group's judge said. The students of the seventh group were stunned. "Bobby beat Axel with only a core-rank martial art. Unbelievable! Axel was ranked first in our group." Bobby had won his 15th match. This meant that he was now the strongest in group seven.

At that moment, Calvin, Peter, and Sarah looked over. "Next Level. During Master Jackie's lecture, I remember entering a meditative state. I thought about Flaming Metal Fist, so that was when Flaming Metal Fist was trained to the max level." Now Bobby understood what had happened. After Bobby had exited the meditative state and returned to the lecture, he felt that his core-ranked martial art, Flaming Metal Fist, had reached an even greater strength.

"Not bad. It looks like there's someone incredible among the town recruits," the main judge said. "Although Bobby has trained his core-ranked martial art to the max level, he will still lose against my son Peter. After all, core-ranked martial arts are still core-ranked," the middle-aged man said. "Oh?" The main judge looked at the middle-aged man with interest. The middle-aged man was Peter's father. Peter's father glanced at his son with a confident expression. "True, the potential of core-rank martial arts is limited. Bobby must have spent a lot of time and effort to train it to the max level, which means that he wouldn't have had much time to train his other skills. Unfortunate," the main judge sighed.

"Hmph! Max level of a core-ranked martial art?" Peter scoffed. In his eyes, core-rank martial arts were rubbish. Jessica looked at Bobby with wide eyes. "Peter, you have to beat him." "I'll only need 3 to 10 moves at most. Don't worry, I won't let him off the hook that easily. I'm going to humiliate him," Peter said confidently. He had spoken in a loud voice, so many of the students had heard what he said. Bobby met Peter's gaze. Bobby smiled as Peter glared at him. "Number 188 versus number 233," the preliminaries continued. After Bobby defeated Axel, there was no one else in his group who stood a chance against him. 16 wins, 17 wins, 18 wins... Most of the people Bobby had matched with had admitted defeat, and those who had dared to fight Bobby had been defeated with one fist. "It's too shameful to lose against a core-ranked martial art," the students looked at Bobby with wary eyes. 18 wins, 19 wins, 20 wins in a row. Finally, Bobby had won 20 matches in a row, giving him the right to proceed to the next round.