Jacob breathed a sigh of relief after hearing the judge. He was worrying for nothing. He was still impressed by the forceful surprise attack carried out by the opponent. He looked up toward the elder and waved at this. After getting back a wave of hand in return, he returned to his room.

He started waiting for his next match. As time passed, the remaining participants present in the room kept getting called to fight their matches. Jacob assumed that newbies must have been eliminated by now. Not even fifteen participants were remaining in the room by now out of original number of nearly sixty.

Another thing that Jacob had noticed was that the ratio of elimination in girls as compared to the male counterparts was lesser. If compared according to the number, more percentage of the boys had been eliminated by now than their original number before the first match as compared to the girls.

Jacob found it a bit strange. Huh? Why are more men being eliminated? He kept thinking about the reason behind this seemingly strange thing for a while. While thinking about it, he unconsciously raised his left hand and observed some bruises as a scene of a leaping girl flashed into his mind. But he could not reach the conclusion even after scratching his head for a couple of times while trying to solve the enigma.

Jacob decided to ditch the thing instead of giving himself a headache for a few minutes. He would ask someone more qualified later on. Thinking about it, he looked towards the entrance of the door. He was getting a bit restless due to having a newer mystery to solve.

Soon, the third round ended. As Jacob's match was not that early, much lesser time passed as compared to the waiting in the previous rounds. Nothing much happened in that time except a person or two being eliminated.

The lazy man came once again and replaced the old list with the new term. He was not in a hurry this time. He turned toward the remaining crowd in the room and said,

"Less than half way to go. Keep it up."

This time, his voice was not as bored as before. He also did not mock them. He tried to motivate them while having a genuine smile. He also gave them a thumbs-up before exiting the room.

Seeing that, Jacob slightly shook his head. He could see the difference in treatment easily. The treatment they got from him improved greatly in mere three matches. They had not even reached the real tournament yet. He could imagine the respect they would get when participating in the tournament.

He also had some doubts in his heart while thinking about the treatment thing. Is it his personal habit or is it prevalent in such circles? Hmm. More observation needed. Jacob needed to observe more people in order to confirm his suspicions. It was still too green for him to arrive on such conclusions.

He got up and walked to the roster. He found his name in the fourth match this time. He came back and waited for his turn. It would come soon.

And it came much earlier than he expected. Not even five minutes had passed since the first three matches had begun before his turn came. Two people had left their room to participate in their matches. None of them came back after that.

This time, his opponent was wielding a strange weapon of choice. It was a pike. He was a bit muscular and was wielding it with both the hands. And it seemed that he was having no difficulty while doing it. He was also wearing a simple leather armour.

Jacob became a bit cautious. The reach of a pike was much more than a spear. The opponent in front of was also strong enough to wiped his weapon, unlike a certain someone he had fought previously.

He had to tread cautiously here. The only strategy he could think of was to get closer to the enemy and hit him with a strike. He was not strong enough to pull his enemy toward him while grabbing the pike. There was a great chance he would injure his hands badly during the tugging war. He also did not have the ability to break the weapon or disarm his opponent.

"Start." At the judge's shout, the match started.

This time, both the Jacob and pike wielder moved at the same time. They did not break into a run but walked toward each other cautiously.

As soon as Jacob reached in the enemy's strike range, the enemy struck. It was a simple thrust but the force behind it was considerable. Jacob decided to dodge and get closer to the enemy instead of parrying it.

He sidestepped right in time and was successful in dodging it. Although he was wearing an armour, he did not become cocky. He was aware that there was a great chance his armour would be pierced as soon as he got struck by a pike or a spear.

Jacob tried to close the distance as much as possible but met with a failure. The opponent also stepped back to maintain the distance as soon as he tried to close in. Jacob became a bit frustrated at that but did not lose his cool. He had met a tough opponent at last.

The next attack by the pike wielder was a sideways swing. It was a wide swing and it would catch Jacob in his waist if he did not do anything in time. Jacob was fully concentrated at it. There was some momentum in it and if he dodged it perfectly, he would get a chance to close the distance.

Just as the pike was about to hit him and do a significant amount of damage, he jumped up while quickly bending his knees toward his abdomen. He was barely able to dodge the swing with the hair's breadth and his feet touched the ground. He quickly moved to close the distance with his opponent.

Unfortunately, just as he was halfway to the opponent, the adversary quickly adjusted. He quickly prepared for another attack.

Jacob knew that he did not have much time left. He had to strike now otherwise he would not be able to properly handle the next attack. His sword could barely reach the opponent. So he attacked while trying to extend his sword as further as he can in order to properly injure the opponent. It was a slash.

The muscular enemy tried to dodge the attack but could not save himself. His right arm caught the sword. The leather armour was quickly penetrated and a gash was inflicted on his arm. Due to the distance, the gash was not that deep. Its depth was one inch at most. Blood also started leaking from it immediately.

The man's expression twisted greatly in pain and he produced a muffled groan. In an angry retaliation, he attacked with another swing. Jacob could only block this time.

Clang

Although the injured man struck with full force, Jacob himself was stronger than an adult. He was able to block the full powered blow while only stepping back a few times in order to dissipate the momentum behind the attack.

Next, the injured man delivered a slash. Although, one of his arms wielding the pike was injured and bleeding constantly, he was still attacking with ferocity.

The gash was not that deep and the muscles in his arm were only slightly damaged. They were still able to function properly. However, he had to feel intense pain each and every time he used them. Nevertheless, the fire of not giving up kept him going on.

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Jacob dodged the slash and tried to close the distance as the pike wielder stepped back in order to maintain the distance between them. They kept doing the same thing for the next few minutes. Jacob tried to close the distance as he kept blocking, parrying and dodging. The injured man kept retreating in retaliation.

In addition to getting close to the enemy to strike him down with his longsword, Jacob had another strategy. He was constantly trying to maneuver the opponent into a corner after which he would finish the match. The mini arena they were fighting in was not that large. So, Jacob fought in such a way to corner the enemy.

Unfortunately, the enemy was not that dumb. Since he had chosen a pike to fight with, he had considered all of his possible weaknesses. Although he was bleeding lightly, his brain was still properly working. Soon, he noticed what Jacob was trying to do and started resisting Jacob's attempts, increasing Jacob's frustration.

He was a bit successful at first. He even managed to hit Jacob once but it only resulted in a slightly dented armour from the side. But after suffering two more injuries on his left waist and right forearm, Jacob successfully cornered him and inflicted another injury on his left chest. He weakly tried to hit Jacob with his weapon but it was parried away. He soon found the tip of a longsword on his neck.

"The match is over. Jacob wins." Seeing that, the Judge announced and Jacob stepped back.

The injured enemy smiled bitterly at that and dropped his pike. He was in too much pain. The adrenaline was leaving his body and he could not hold his weapon much longer.

"You fought well. I am still aching from my side." Jacob said as he sheathed his blood soaked sword.

"Aching huh? You are in too much pain then. Well, you also fought well. Congrats." The injured man said with a soft voice as he looked on his injuries. He was sarcastic at first but still congratulated Jacob in the end.

Jacob could only smile apologetically at that. He did not mean to mock him. After nodding at the injured man, he looked up toward his father. This time, even before waving his hands, he got a wave from the elder.

Happiness blossomed in his heart as he waved back. He then started walking, heading for his room. He kept looking toward his father until he stepped into the corridor and their line of sight got blocked. He soon entered the room. A bloody smell permeated the air as every remaining contender silently looked toward him before stopping paying any attention to him and minding their business.

Jacob silently walked back to his seat and waited for his final match. The preliminaries were about to end. He was not disturbed with the bloody scent at all. He was a hunter. He was used to it. As for why, there was a bloody smell in the room, nobody had cared to clean their weapon after their matches.

The matches were only a few in the fourth round. Jacob mused that the number would be much lower in the final round. Since, the number of participants had decreased by a great margin, the matches had also decreased with time. Soon, the fourth round ended.

The lazy man came as usual and replaced the list. He did not say anything and just gave them a thumbs-up with a big smile before exiting the room.

Jacob did not get up from his seat immediately this time around. Instead, he observed the rest of the competitors remaining in the room. Only four of them were remaining in addition to him. Two of them were girls while two guys. One of the male participant was the well armed person Jacob had observed when he first came here.

It was a possibility that one of them would become his opponent in the next match. Miraculously, he had not fought with any of his room mates in the first four matches.

Jacob was not the only one who was observing others. He himself was being observed by two others. One of them was the well armed guy while the other a girl. The well armed fellow was smiling at him weirdly while the girl had an expression of interest.

Another thing that had not gone unnoticed by Jacob was that he was the only person present in the room who had seemingly no injuries. All the others present had injuries to various degrees.

The armed person's armour was broken from at least three different places and bandages could be seen inside of it. Similarly, the girl that was looking at him had half of her head covered in bandages. The others also had various degree of injuries on their bodies.

Soon, others got up to look for their names. Jacob also followed them. Only the well armed dude kept sitting and kept smiling while staring at him.

Jacob did not pay much attention to him and walked to the list. He found his name quickly. It was at the top of the list just like the first round. He had to fight in the first match again.

Thirteen matches. Seems like this round will end quickly. Jacob saw the total number of matches on the roster. They were much fewer than the matches in the earlier rounds. He still remembered the over a hundred matches in the first round. And they were specifically for their middle line group only.

"Hey, rich snob. Do you know Andrew Ursus?" As Jacob was headed for his seat, he heard a voice from near him.

He looked towards the person who said it. It was the well armed guy. He had a sword and a shield lying near him.

"You talking to me?" Jacob pointed at himself as he asked the question. Although, he knew the answer to that question, he still decided to give it a go. He was also a bit annoyed by the title given to him by that guy. I knew something was wrong with him. And who is he calling pretentious here?

"Yes. I am talking to you. Now answer my question. Do you know Andrew Ursus?" The man repeated his question. He had a slightly mocking smile on his face.

"I don't." Jacob replied simply as he started walking toward his seat, indicating that the conversation between them had ended.

"What? Do you even know me?" The shield guy showed an expression of surprise as he asked another question.

"No, I don't know who you are. I don't care who you are." Jacob sat down on his chair by now and opened his arms wide as he replied. He had a slightly annoyed expression on his face. He was being disturbed with some weird questions by some random person out of nowhere.

"Woah there. You know that such words will offend many people out there. You should be thankful that I am a benevolent person. I don't mind such words. A friendly advice though, think about your words before uttering them out in front of some people. It will save your life." The armed guy said while making a mocking expression. It was unknown whether he was sincere with his words or not.

Jacob simply shrugged after hearing him out. He really did not care about him. As for his advice, he took it with a grain of salt.

"Are you really not interested in Andrew Ursus?" After a few seconds of silence, the guy spoke again.

"No, I am not." Jacob kept his words at minimum while sporting a slightly annoyed expression

"Why is that? Can I know the reason?" The armed man asked the reason for Jacob not taking interest.

"He is not related to me. So, I am not interested." Jacob answered him patiently. At least, the dude in front of him was being nice to him despite his mocking smile.

"Oh. He is really related to you. I guarantee you that." The armed man replied with a mysterious expression.

Jacob raised an eyebrow at that. How come some unknown person had become related to me all of a sudden. Thinking about that, he said,

"How so?"

"Now we are talking. What I wanted to say is that you should not get cocky with the victories. You are no match for Andrew Ursus. The beast core belongs to him. So, you should stop dreaming about it." The man said while smirking.

Jacob frowned after hearing what the man had said. Several questions popped up in his mind. One thing he came to know was that Andrew Ursus was another competitor in the tournament.

"How do you know that I am not a match for this Andrew?" Jacob tried to probe more information from him. Any information for possible future foes were a great deal for him.

"You may know how to fight well. You also look strong. But he is a much better fighter than you. He is also stronger than you. So, you have no chance in the tournament at all. In fact, nobody has any chance of defeating him."

"If nobody has any chance then why are you taking part in it? You also have no chance." Jacob countered with his own question.

"I am not aiming for the beast core, unlike you. I am trying my luck for the second or third spot. There are also prizes for those."

That's new. Jacob came to know an important piece of information. There seemed to be more prizes in addition to the beast core.

"You don't know how I fight. Neither have you seen my strength. So how can you compare me to someone one. You have not even seen one of my match." Jacob asked while gesturing toward him in a questioning way. He found it funny that how the man in front of him was trying to degrade him without even knowing anything about him.

"It does not matter. You will understand tomorrow." The armed man tried to act ambiguously. He refused to give Jacob any more information.

"Who is this Andrew Ursus?" Jacob tried again.

"I won't spoil your surprise. You will know everything tomorrow." The man did not budge from his position. He refused again to give Jacob anything and kept him in suspense.

Jacob became silent at that. He decided to not ask the man any more questions. He thought that it would become counter productive if he did so.