Walking around were the two boys, Harry and Kyle as well. Their duty or job for the day was to try to find Ray, and they were beginning to think just where he would be. If there was one thing they were scared of, it was returning back to the inn and meeting Sylvia empty-handed.

  After searching the streets and the nearby area, they could see no signs of Ray anywhere.

  "Where would he have rushed off to, so early in the morning?" Harry asked.

  And then something had clicked inside Kyle's head, a thought. Something that only Ray would be brave enough to do.

  "You don't think he decided to go to the arena again, do you?" Kyle said. "I mean, I know Slyvia said for him to stop and come back, but she didn't specifically tell him to stop going to the arena, right?"

  "Are you serious, do you really think, that Ray's that dense to not understand why Slyvia was calling him back? To not call attention to himself." Harry replied.

  As he said those words, a man walking past yelling in the streets was heard.

  "Everyone, we have a special event for you tonight. Come see as the newbie Nes goes head to head with Roki. Who will be the faster one to defeat the king tier beast this time? Please come place your bets."

  The two of them looked at each other, before rushing off to their destination.

  When they had finally arrived at the arena, they could see that there were advertisements spread across everywhere trying to get people to come in and watch the fight, and the outside of the arena already looked busy.

  There were screens that were displaying the recordings of both Ray's match from yesterday as well as Roki's. It looked like they were taking bets to see who would defeat the king tier beast faster this time.

  After looking everywhere for Ray, they could only assume they were too late.

  "Well, we might as well just go in and support him right," Kyle said with a cheeky laugh. "He had gone up to the betting counter and had but a single gold coin on Ray to defeat the king tier beast faster."

  This had reminded him long ago of the betting ring he had set up himself at Avrion. When they thought they also saw there was a chance to bet on whether Roki or Nes would take on the Emperor tier beast, and it seemed like the odds were pretty low.

  For this one, Kyle decided not to for now. Even Ray wouldn't be mad enough to take on an emperor beast, he thought. At least not without being able to use his magic.

  When entering the arena, the two got to their seats and looked around the area. As they had thought, it was completely packed and not a single seat was empty. Whatever advertisement and marketing they were doing, it had clearly worked.

  First, they watched the warm up contestants. These people would take on the basic tier and mostly get up to the intermediate tier before dropping out. Some of them got to the advanced tier, but no one would go further than that.

  Then finally it was time for Roki to enter the stage. Roki had to start from the beginning like everyone else and would start fighting a basic tier beast. But before his event started, they had an announcement to make.

  "Today is a special day for you all. We know why most of you are here, and it's to see how Roki and the newbie face off against each other. So we are going to change the rules a little for our last two contestants."

  "After one contestant finishes dealing with the beast, then the next one will step in and fight the exact same beast. The two will take it in turns going up in rank as they face the beast. This will give each contestant more time to rest and hopefully bring out their full potential."

  Usually, the beasts that were elected were randomized, but to make the betting fair and the competition exciting, they had chosen to do the event this way just for these two people, and it seemed like no one was complaining about it.

  The fight had started and Roki was able to kill the basic tier beast with a single swing; it was fast and clean.

  Next was Ray's turn. Kyle had only betted on the results of the king tier match, so he was just cheering Ray on for fun at this point.

  As the beast came charging towards him, Ray also swung his sword down, only his strike wasn't as smooth. However, it had produced the same result: slicing the beast head off, only his was done with raw power.

  The two continued to take it in turns until eventually, it was time for them to face off against a new king tier beast again.

  This time, the king tier beast was a large lizard-like creature that mainly used its tongue to attack. It would come out at a light speed and stick to objects pulling them in. Roki did well against this opponent, dodging most of the tongue attacks.

  He had been hit a few times and slammed to the ground, but after getting a few hits on the outage and slicing it off, it was easy work for him from there.

  Then it was Ray's turn. Kyle continuously begged that Ray would be able to defeat the beast quicker. That gold coin that was given to him was given by Slyvia, and it was his entire expenses for the whole of the trip.

  When Ray came to the stage, he struggled a fair bit more, but while watching the fight, Roki noticed something. Although his swordsmanship hadn't improved, something else did.

  'Are his movements and strikes more powerful now, but how?' Roki thought he might have been imagining things or Ray had been holding back last time, but he wasn't wrong in his thoughts.

  This was because Ray had consumed the king tier crystal. The improvements were ever so little, but Roki was able to tell.

  Eventually, Ray had defeated the beast, but it was at a speed that was slower than Roki's. Then it was time for the next step. Whether or not, they would go ahead and fight the Emperor tier beast. Roki had declined, and so had Ray. It hadn't come as a surprise, but the announcer then did something else. Asking them if they would compete again tomorrow against a new king tier beast.

  Roki had put his thumb up, and then the same question was asked to Ray. Ray's response to this was the same as well.

  Kyle and Harry looked at each other and thought they better tell Sylvia about this. She was perhaps the only one that would be able to convince Ray not to.

  When Ray had exited the arena, he was surprised to see Harry and Kyle standing there, but it seemed like they had ignored ray exiting and they were discussing something else.

  "What are you two doing here?" Ray asked.

  Kyle looked a little nervous before he said his next few words carefully.

  "Ray, it might not be a big deal, but it's just Slyvia and Martha. They're not replying to the messages I'm sending them."

  ****

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