Jarek vs Stig

Jarek would remain unaware that most of his secrets had been unearthed by Brynhild.

He would definitely be surprised and astonished by this in the future.

There were two factors that allowed Brynhild to come to the conclusions that she did.

One of those factors was, of course, her knowledge and intelligence.

Ever since she was young, she had demonstrated exceptional talent, and one of her kingdom's ancestors had taken a liking to her.

Brynhild happened to receive guidance from such a powerful figure, so it was no surprise that she was knowledgeable about things that most cultivators would never know of.

To everyone else, Jarek was indeed the most talented cultivator in the academy.

He was, after all, a supreme grade talent.

But without resources, he could only fall behind the other talented students.

Otherwise, how could Brynhild and Astrid surpass his cultivation?

As for why the academy higher-ups didn't notice anything strange, that was because they assumed his slow cultivation was a result of the karmic burden they had inflicted upon him.

Brynhild would be even more impressed if she were to become aware of this.

The second reason why Brynhild was able to see Jarek's abnormality was that Jarek chose to stand out.

If he hadn't participated in this tournament and just kept a low profile, Brynhild would have remained completely ignorant.

Fortunately for Jarek, they still managed to underestimate him.

Jarek was now completely overwhelming Stig, who was now completely on the defensive.

Stig blocks a punch that pushes him back, and before he could react, a kick landed on his side, sending him flying to the side, landing on the ground.

Jarek, always one to capitalize on the enemy's weakness, moved to deliver a blow intended to reap Stig's consciousness.

But Stig's instincts sent a warning signal, and he rolled his body on the ground, dodging a punch that was inches away from his head.

He broke into a cold sweat at the close call. 'That was too close.'

He looked at the calm and composed Jarek, his state sharply contrasting with his own.

Right now, he was breathing heavily and appeared quite tired, his stamina running out.

But Jarek didn't have any signs of exhaustion, causing him to narrow his eyes.

'This can't go on. I need to give my all in this match.'

As Stig thought so, he took a deep breath and then...

|Fire Art: Flame Breath|

Fire spewed out of his mouth like a flamethrower, and he directed it towards Jarek, who dodged to his left while moving backwards to avoid Stig's attack range.

But Stig wouldn't let him off easy and moved to close the distance.

Jarek kept moving, trying to maintain distance before rushing towards Stig.

This action took the audience by surprise.

Jarek then channeled fire qi below his feet.

|Fire Art: Blaze Steps|

Jets of flames formed, and they propelled him forward at tremendous speed.

Once he had picked up enough speed, the flames were extinguished, but his speed barely decreased.

In fact, it increased when he used another ability.

|Wind Art: Gale's Embrace|

With this ability, wind resistance produced by his high-speed movements almost vanished completely, and he became faster as a result.

This course of action took only a few seconds to perform.

With his incredible speed, he was soon upon Stig, who was unable to respond to Jarek's speed.

It was only when he was very close did Stig even registered Jarek's fist heading straight for him. "What in the..."

Jarek's fist connected with Stig's chest as he flew backwards, colliding with the tough barrier.

When the back of his head came into contact with the hard barrier covering the arena, he immediately lost consciousness.

"Winner—Jarek Jensson!"

The audience erupted with cheers as the referee announced Jarek as the winner.

"Hahaha! I called it. He really won." An upperclassman was laughing with excitement before turning to his friend seated beside him.

"Man, sucks to be you right now. Who told you to bet on the dragon? You should have just listened to your senior brother here."

"F**k off!" His friend cussed in response to his friend's shamelessness. Since when did this friend of his become his senior brother?

Inside an underground chamber—

A woman with pink hair and curved horns looked at Jarek with interest.

She had a seductive charm that put all of the people Jarek had seen in this world to shame.

Her beauty was earth-shattering, and her looks were second only to Jarek's.

"Interesting. But you won't be able to defeat me with just that." She said so while looking at Jarek, who was now moving to exit the arena.

Meanwhile, back at the audience's seating area—

"Boss, will we still be going forward with the plan?"

At his subordinate's question, Thrain could only heave a deep breath.

"We can only do this now. You think the brat would let us off when he is strong enough?" He then gritted his teeth as he thought of someone, "If only that Mir hadn't let that little bastard escape that day, we wouldn't be in this mess."

Thrain was determined to nip this problem in the bud before it became a threat to his life.

He was certain that Jarek would come after them in the future after graduating from the academy.

And he wasn't optimistic about his chances of survival if it came to that.

His death would be tragic.

He, of all people, knew what lengths someone can go for revenge over their loved ones.

 He himself once felt the same and had believed that a gentleman's revenge could wait for even a hundred years to be served cold.

And he was sure Jarek would be the same. But at the rate he was growing, he might be able to exact his revenge in only a few months.

'I must get rid of him now. Maybe I can use him.' A face came to Thrain's mind, thinking that if he could influence that person, then this task might be easy.

After all... 'If Jarek finds out, he won't be safe either.'

In a special seating area, which looked like the underground chamber found beneath the audience's seating area, a bearded old man sat and keenly observed Jarek as he moved to be teleported from the arena.

"So that is the world's newest supreme grade talent. He has a very interesting approach—using fire and wind to bolster his movements. It's almost like her."

The bearded man, who was actually the Deputy Academy Head, turned to the man standing beside him and asked, "Has he already signed the contract?"

"No, not yet. But he originally had the intention to, but he asked for more time to come to a decision." He paused and asked, "Could it be that he noticed something? He is, after all, a supreme grade talent."

But the Deputy Academy Head scoffed.

"You overestimate supreme grade talents. Although they are extremely rare, with only three existing throughout history, it is simply a matter of talent. Not every supreme grade talent is as terrifying as her. She is an exception."

"The boy just doesn't want to give away his freedom. He probably wants to be an independent cultivator. It is only a matter of time before he realizes that there is no other way he can get the resources he needs." The old man saw this outcome as certain.

Unless Jarek were not stupid, he would have no choice but to relent and join the sect.

How else would he cultivate without resources?

Now, all they needed to do was to wait for the lamb to drag itself to the slaughter.