The first order of business was to scale the volcano. The marksman had already noticed that the further up he ran on the volcano, the stronger the beasts that had joined the horde were. Logically, at the top, he could find the most powerful prey, and, by association, the most lucrative.
It was true he had enough trouble with the lion and snake, but that was when facing the two at once, especially since both of them had countered most of the weapons in the marksman's arsenal. His mobility was useless against the snake, and even his prodigious skill was hampered by its ability to change size. Meanwhile, the lion was so large that dodging was made far more difficult, and its defenses were formidable enough to shrug off less powerful attacks.
Yi Qiang had no doubts that if he were able to choose his opponents on his own terms, victory would be a lot easier, not to mention his specialty in surprise attacks. His skill in stealth and in assassination would make even stronger beasts but fodder, and the marksman had long since found out that every level counted in terms of experience gained with a kill.
So, he had to fight against the limit of his strength, and at that moment, he was nowhere near it.
Climbing up was easy. The terrain wasn't particularly challenging to walk on, after all, though it restricted his stealth. That did lead to some unfortunate encounters with particularly keen-eyed or olfactorily gifted beasts, but they were simple enough to handle.
Within a few hours, Yi Qiang started to notice both a significantly increased density of foliage in the ground and higher-level beasts. Both of these were good signs - the latter signified he was getting closer, while the former hinted at good cover, assuming the shrubbery got thicker.
He was constantly nearing the peak, and within ten minutes, Yi Qiang finally arrived at the precipice of the volcano, looking into the lava. At this point, Yi Qiang turned back and scanned the ground below him, watching for signs of life. While the terrain had cleared out as he got close to the sweltering heat of the top, the marksman's keen eyes could still spot countless signs of life in the foliage, so dense at this point that it almost resembled a forest.
His head turned slightly, Yi Qiang's eyes instantly focusing on his first prey, an obscured figure in the dense grass and small trees.
Leaping forward, Yi Qiang soundlessly landed in front of the nearest tree to his next prey and summoned a bow. With two well-placed golden arrows, the beast died painlessly and without complaint.
His hunting had begun.
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As the sun inched high in the sky, a figure dashed down the volcano. Disregarded any notion of stealth, it tore through any obstacles with sheer, incredible speed.
Yi Qiang didn't know exactly when the deadline was over, but he didn't want to risk it; as such, the marksman decided to reach the spot by noon on the final day. He had experienced great improvements, after all, and there was little harm to be found in that extra security.
As he watched the surroundings flash past, even Yi Qiang marveled at his own rate of growth - within three days, the marksman had grown to the point where his first challenge on arriving, the lion and snake, would be almost effortlessly handled by the present him.
I never knew what I was missing by not raising my level crazily until now. The rate of improvement is incomparable to training on my own, and I've actually grown the fastest ever since coming to Ascend. The forest was good, but the prey was too sparse; here, the beasts are of not only a higher level but a far higher quantity.
Yi Qiang thought back to the three days of nonstop hunting he had undergone. Not once did he sleep, hesitant to waste time, and it was a good decision. Though there were a few times he brushed against death - chance was impossible to fully control, after all - his time on the volcano was extremely lucrative: Yi Qiang gained 34 levels and, by his count, around 20 skill levels.
With his new Agility, it was all too simple for Yi Qiang to rush down the volcano without any monsters having a chance of approaching him. Even if he managed to garner a monster horde the same size as last time, the marksman was confident that he would elude the mob effortlessly.
And so Yi Qiang raced down the volcano, reaching the bottom within ten minutes and finding he was the only one who had made it by noon.
The Absolute was waiting there, of course, but no one stood in his vicinity. This was a welcome development to Yi Qiang - there would, hopefully, be no questions about why the marksman didn't bring the eggs. He didn't want to reinforce the idea that he was better than the rest of them if he didn't have to, because the kind of resentment engendered by that was dangerous, even taking into consideration the difference between Yi Qiang's power level and the power level of anyone else in the competition.
As he got into speaking distance, the marksman was surprised by the Absolute's stony face. As he remembered, the powerhouse was a lot more social than what he seemed to be at that moment. Completely unresponsive to Yi Qiang's arrival, the man just sat there, in midair, eyes closed and facial expression icy.
It was four hours until everyone gathered; Restra was the first to arrive, which was not much of a surprise, followed by Taren, then Ilien, and some other contestants before Elias arrived second-to-last. All of them carried a few bright red eggs, which Yi Qiang presumed to be the spider eggs. Yi Qiang also noticed that they were two fewer in number than how many they had begun with. He assumed that they both had crushed the spatial teleportation sphere and the Absolute or someone else had whisked them away.
Once everyone was standing around the Absolute, he finally began to speak, opening his eyes.
"That concludes the second round. Congratulations on those who passed. Get through the third round, and I'll be tempted to learn your names.
"Now, how about we-'" the Absolute's expression changed. A flash of panic appeared on it before cool confidence smoothed it over, and without another word, the Absolute disappeared.
Somewhat confused by the sudden change, the contestants looked around for any sign of what happened. No one seemed surprised that the powerhouse was capable of teleporting, but the fact that he would do so at such an arbitrary moment had to mean something else.
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Ilien was the first to speak.
"Maybe this is the third round. He wants to see what we do or something."
Taren disagreed.
"The Absolute has always been upfront about testing us. If he wanted to test our situational awareness or our creativity, he wouldn't go to this trouble. He would create some other trial."
Yi Qiang didn't participate in the discussion, as he had an inkling of what type of emergency could cause a panicked reaction in the most powerful man in the kingdom. Knowing that whatever it was, the issue would undoubtedly be solved, the marksman was instead content to wait.
Five minutes later, the conversation having long since ceased, the Absolute reappeared as silently as he had disappeared.
"Sorry about the interruption. I bring... a visitor. This young one is apparently a spy from another kingdom, come to do... something unsavory. That certainly means a few heads will roll after this tournament, but for now, I think I'll turn this into an opportunity for the lot of you."
Questioning gazes fell upon him, already somewhat numb to the constant new developments in the tournament under his control.
"Yes, this is a good idea. I was originally planning on making you undergo something similar to round one and a half, but now I'll give you the chance to skip that. If one among you can defeat this little guy in combat, I'll teleport everyone to the location of round three.
"One warning, though, this kid is quite a bit older than the rest of you. And he's hidden his power to get this far in the tournament - in all honesty, a few hundred of him could likely have challenged me when I was his age. Well, any takers?"
A few seconds were spent in ponderous silence before the rash Elias stepped up. Of course. Boldly, he announced:
"I will gladly take this challenge!"
"Very well! I'll make the two of you a little arena, hold on..." the Absolute twirled his finger and within seconds, an open-air fighting arena was formed, with seats along the edges for everyone to spectate.
Yi Qiang couldn't help but dryly note to himself, well, that's considerate.
Everyone was levitated to the top in short order, except for Elias and the infiltrator who he was bound to fight, who were floated down to the sizeable ring in the center.
Elias' fists began to glow with a mysterious blue light, with almost runic swirling patterns covering the surface of his fists. That's new. Looks like this tournament has been good to him too.
Free of his invisible restraints, the spy also prepared for battle, retrieving two swords and covering them in a fiery haze. Interesting.
The battle didn't take long to commence, with Elias rushing in and sending a powerful right hook at the sword wielder.
It was blocked almost effortlessly, however, and the traitor's leg shot out, hooking Elias' and, with a bump using the pommel of the same sword that blocked the martial artist's fist, sent the fighter stumbling backward. Meanwhile, the other sword snaked from below, stabbing at Elias' eye with scary precision.
The barehanded fighter was not all bluster, though, and instinctually dropped down to avoid the lethal attack, carefully maneuvering his bulky legs to bring the traitor down on the ground as well.
Or, he tried to; his efforts were in vain as the dual wielder jumped up a superhuman amount and sent a blast of swelteringly hot fire directly at his opponent. It tore through the air so quickly that even Yi Qiang, should he be in the same position as Elias, would be hard-pressed to dodge the attack completely.
However, the same moment, it dissipated into thin air and Elias was among the spectators again.
"Next?" the Absolute asked.
Ilien quickly volunteered.
With strategic positioning and terraforming, the mage managed to put the traitor in a bit of a worse situation than Elias had, but quickly lost too. The versatility of the fighter was formidable, making him overwhelming in melee and ranged combat.
Yi Qiang didn't want to make definitive judgments yet, as no one had managed to push the dual wielder to any meaningful degree, but it looked like victory would be assured if he were the one standing there, facing the traitor.
Restra, strategically, neglected to step up and the other contestants didn't do so either, recognizing that this was exclusively for the frontrunners - the Four and, as most acknowledged in their minds, Yi Qiang.
As a result, Taren was the next challenger. What followed was a beautiful sword fight. The swordsmen both exhibited highly refined skill and agility, with the traitor more focused upon power and Taren upon agility. However, it was over within a few dozen seconds - the dual wielder had been constantly suppressing the swordsman, and even Taren's magnificent footwork couldn't make up for the difference in physical ability.
Restra finally stepped up, shooting a glance at Yi Qiang before volunteering. What is with people insisting that the one with the best chance of winning always go last?
He put the thought out of his mind, however, as Restra was doomed to lose even more easily than Elias - her skillset was not as focused upon combat power than on stealth and ambushes. And, in a duel, that point was moot.
His premonition was correct - she managed to catch him off-guard with pure speed, but that was the end of it. A block and a single attack cornered her. Her technique was fine, but the sheer difference in physical ability made the loss inevitable.
With no one else seeming interested in taking up the challenge, Yi Qiang finally stood up. Without even having to speak, the marksman was teleported into the ring. It was slightly disorienting, but a golden bow quickly formed in his hands, soon accompanied by a brilliant arrow.
It was only five shots. Five simultaneous attacks that cut off the traitor's path's of retreat and attack and made contact inevitable.
Looks like experimenting with Dragon's Devastation as a single-target attack was at least somewhat worth it.
And if one made contact with one of his arrows, it was game over.
It wasn't much of a surprise that the Absolute didn't prevent the attack from following through as he had done with the challengers - the traitor was the one in trouble here, after all. As such, he was sent blasting back into the painfully sturdy wall the Absolute had created.
The dual wielder was still alive, however, and with a wave of a hand, the arena disappeared.
"And the victory goes to the Chosen. Thanks to him, all of you get to skip right ahead to round three. Which is a shame, since I was hoping to get rid of at least one of you before we got there, but I suppose what I have planned should make that irrelevant. Well? Are you ready?"
Everyone nodded in affirmation before the Absolute spoke again.
"Oh, and one last thing. Let this serve as a warning against the idiocy of not only betraying the kingdom, but then trying to pull something in one of the kingdom's most carefully-monitored events. Please direct your attention... there."
The traitor, with wide eyes, trembled at everyone's gazes, including the Absolute's falling upon him. He began to speak for the first time since the start of the competition:
"They... they said -"
He was cut off by the shimmering blade of force slicing his head off his shoulders.
Nobody seemed surprised by the man's death, which gave Yi Qiang a slightly better impression of everyone present. Those incapable of handling death would never truly succeed, in his experience.
"Well, without further ado, let's take a look at our next round, shall we?"
The air around them shimmered mystically before the environment shifted. In place of hard rock, Yi Qiang felt some sort of soft material comprising the ground, and his eyes darted around, taking in the new surroundings.
The marksman could make neither head nor heels of what he was looking at until something clicked.
Is this an... obstacle course?