Thorn gently punched her stomach, sending with his fist a strong wind blast.

But, surprisingly, she was moved only slightly by the attack and didn't fly away like it was supposed to happen.

(What?! How much does she weigh?!) Thorn opened his mouth so wide it was hilarious. He looked at her body to try to figure out why she hadn't flew away. (Those shadow hands weren't there a second ago!)

At some point, six hands of shadow had come out of the ground and grabbed the legs of the girl with sexy lips.

He looked at her eyes again and this time he noticed a clear trace of ferocity in them. (She... definitely isn't a weakling...)

Soon, more shadow hands began to come out of the ground and they surrounded Thorn. He quickly sliced two of those hands using wind blades creating in this way an opening, which he used to escape in the next instant.

After having increased the distance between him and her by about ten meters, he stopped. (I can't slice all the hands holding her, not at the same time, at least not without severing her legs in the process... and I don't know if that's allowed... mmm... maybe I could scare her a little...)

He, again, used his control over the wind to move.

Appearing only a few steps in front of her, he crouched down and moved his index finger to draw a small horizontal arch which created a wind blade more than capable of cutting her legs and those shadow hands together.

But, of course, such a signal and obvious movement was not so difficult to dodge. Thorn was just making this attack to scare her and disturb her concentration.

Unexpectedly, and contrary to Thorn's expectations, she just smiled softly. (Are you trying to scare me? The fact that you underestimate me so much makes me really angry, it seems I have to show you who should be scared.)

Just at the moment when Thorn's wind blade was about to cut the first shadow hand.

*Boom!*

That shadow hand exploded releasing abundant white flames!

This caused Thorn to hold his breath. (Stupid! The flames can consume some part of the wind and weaken it but that won't be enough to stop my wind blade from cutting your legs! You were supposed to dodge that atta- Eh?! It disappeared?!)

In the blink of an eye, Thorn's expression went from worry to complete shock as he saw how his wind blade was completely devoured by those white flames.

Seeing his expression, the girl with sexy lips raised her chin and smiled smugly.

Thorn, who was squatting down, slowly got up while trying to calm himself down. (Can my luck get any worse?! Special Fire Element Awakened Skill: Omnivore Fire. And what's even more frightening is that she just used her Awakened Skill through her shadows which are a product of her Racial Skill, Arghh... I feel like a headache is coming right about now...)

The ten shadows that used to have different weapons not too long ago, at this moment, all of them were holding crossbows. They pointed at Thorn's back and shot shadow arrows which in the midst of the air turned into arrows of white fire.

Thorn didn't hesitate to use the layer of wind around his body to move out of the way, avoiding those arrows just in the nick of time.

When he stopped, Thorn felt pain coming from the soles of his feet, he looked down and noticed that the soles of his shoes had disappeared and that his feet were bleeding.

According to the rules of this phase of the tournament, if he were to stop touching the arena, he would lose. Because of this, when he had been using Wind Glide to move, he had dragged his feet. And actually, the shoes he was wearing were of low quality, so it was only natural for them to end up broken this fast.

Thorn put on a frustrated expression as he watched his blood. (Another annoyance... Oh, wait! Perhaps!)

After thinking about something, he laughed: "Hahaha...! You know what? I just came up with a good plan!" He waved his hand toward her, as if saying goodbye, and then disappeared in a gust of wind.

Although Thorn's strange behavior baffled her, the girl with sexy lips didn't stop searching for Thorn's Aura. After a few moments, she found his Aura and discovered that he was far away from her. Facing this fact, she laughed with arrogance and muttered: "I see, your plan was to run away. I guess if I am your opponent, running away is the best thing you can do. Hehehe..."

She then undid the shadow hands which were grabbing her legs and began to stroll around the battlefield once again.

But, before she could take the sixth step, she felt an Aura suddenly appearing behind her along with a kick in her butt. Kick that made her fly.

While in midair, she turned her head and saw a smiling Thorn. This provoked an utterly enraged look on her eyes.

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"A good plan, right?" Thorn said happily.

"That was dir--!" Before she could finish her sentence, a powerful gust of wind hit her and carried her off the arena.

Spreading his arms and with an earnest look, Thorn explained to nobody: "Of course it was dirty, it was in my mind a second ago after all."

In the meantime.

"Why are you this surprised? Did you not imagine that the person you boasted about was of her caliber would end up defeating her? I understand that it's impressive, but I don't think that someone of your status should be showing such an indecorous face in public." Delia Adver commented expressionless, looking at Arger Dal's disgraceful face, in truth a face that seemed to have just seen the ghost of his most beloved ancestor in broad daylight.

Of course, almost everyone else who had managed to understand Thorn's fight had the same expression.

"Ah, ahh... No, uh... He's not the guy I was talking about." Arger Dal explained, his voice dry.

Delia Adver slightly raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? But that doesn't explain why you're so surprised."

"A better question is: why aren't you surprised? Not only has he the absurdly rare Special Wind Element Awakened Skill: Berserk, but he also has more than one Wind Technique!" The dismay and indignation on Arger Dal's face were evident.

"Hahaha…!" Cley Alch, the Lurep Village governor, suddenly laughed. "This youngster's luck is ridiculous, but his talent more so. To use Wind Glide and Wind Blade with such ease… he's definitely at the Final-Star Use of the Skill."

"That's amazing." Ramph Zelu, the best blacksmith in Lurep Village, remarked. "To be only at the Second Level Intermediate Awaken stage, and yet have already the required understanding degree to reach the Energy Core Evolution stage… Really amazing."

With an unimpressed expression, Delia Adver said: "He's not as outstanding as you think. If my disciple had taken that fight seriously, the boy would be already less than ashes…"

It was evident that Thorn's performance had amazed Arger Dal, Cley Alch, and Ramph Zelu; but they actually didn't pay much heed to him afterward. It was indeed nice to meet a rare star, still, one would continue with their own business after that.

However, the one who seemed the least interested in Thorn, Delia Adver, was unexpectedly the most conscious of his existence. Her gaze would wander around him every so often voluntarily or involuntarily.

A few minutes passed by without any major incident.

"Stop!" Lenna Zelu ordered loudly. "Congratulations! All fifty participants left on the arena have passed to the second phase of the tournament!"

*Clap!* *Clap!* *Clap!* *Clap!*...!!

The public and judges congratulated the participants who remained with a loud round of applauses.

"Very well! You can get back to your seats now, we will have a short break of thirty minutes before we start with the second phase. In the meantime, all viewers and participants can enjoy a small appetizer we have prepared." Lenna Zelu said as she pointed with her right hand at a large door which began to open.

From within, several employees of the Zelu Mansion came out pushing wagons filled with drinks and food.

While the participants were returning to their seats, the employees distributed the appetizers.

As Thorn sat next to Rose, she said worried: "Do you think you'll be able to win? It was just the first phase and you've already got yourself into a difficult situation. Though your shamelessness has saved you this time; if you face another opponent like that, maybe you won't be so lucky…"

"Hey! I don't want you to talk to me about shamelessness!" Thorn folded his arms across his chest and lowered his head. "And don't worry, I'll get the prize even if I have to use the full extent of my Second Pace. Although that will attract unnecessary attention..."

"Mmm? Second Pace? What is that?" Rose asked with confusion written all over her face.

"Would you care for an appetizer?" Before he could answer her question, a short gargoyle, an employee of the Zelu Mansion, offered them drinks and food.

"Oh, let's see, let's see." Thorn smiled and rubbed his hands excited. "I want a little of this, of that, of these and also of this other. Oh! Of this one I want two." He grabbed food and drinks enough to fill seven bellies without a hint of embarrassment on his face.

A little scared, the short gargoyle reminded: "T-take care, don't choke yourself..." He then quietly withdrew while pushing his wagon.

Thorn observed that Rose didn't take anything and asked: "Mmm?! Why didn't you grab something? Are you thinking I'm going to share my food with you? That's naïve! Very naïve! I was pretty sure you were smarter, Rose!"

Rose grumbled while hitting the back of Thorn's head. "Don't speak so much rubbish! To eat I would need to put aside my hairy mask! Keeping my identity hidden is more important than some snacks!"

Sometime later.

The short gargoyle appeared again in front of Thorn and Rose, this time pushing a big trash can.

Thorn threw the disposable plates and cutlery into the trash can.

"D-did you really eat all that?" The short gargoyle asked, his voice trembling in shock.

"Yeah, it hurts a lot but I don't have any regrets." Thorn responded slapping gently his big belly.

The short gargoyle was about to walk away when suddenly he heard Thorn's voice. "Wait, I almost forgot these."

Thorn took his bloody and broken shoes off of his feet and threw them into the trash can.

"It was a hard battle..." He explained showing a casual smile.

The short gargoyle could only give him a forced smile: "Hehehe... have a good day."

After the short gargoyle left, Rose said: "Later, I'll get you another pair of shoes."

"Oh, there is no need. I feel more comfortable in this way, besides, it'll be easier to control the wind with my feet." Thorn said nonchalantly.

"O-okay." Rose nodded. The idea of saving some money was quite pleasant to her.

A few minutes later.

Lenna Zelu descended on the center of the platform and began with her speech: "I will explain the rules of the second phase."

"Listen." She held up a finger and continued. "I'll call by name two participants and they'll have to come to the arena and then they'll have to fight, the winner will stay in the arena and will fight with the next participant I'll call, the winner of this second fight will stay in the arena and will fight with the next participant I'll call, and so on until forty-nine participants are defeated."

She then lowered her finger and continued explaining. "It appears like, in this way, there will be only one winner at the end, but in reality, it is not like that. There will be ten participants who will pass to the third phase and they will be selected by our secondary judges. So, make sure to not hold anything back even if you suspect you'll definitely lose against a certain opponent!"

"Also, before fighting, each participant who climbs onto the arena will have to reveal its Awakened Skill. In this way, both opponents will know the skill of each other." Lenna Zelu laughed a little and ended her announcement of the rules with the following words: "And don't worry, you'll have more freedom when fighting in the second phase. You will not only be able to use the arena as a battlefield but also the airspace above the arena! But be careful, if you touch the roof of the hall, you'll lose, and of course, you'll lose too if a single centimeter of your body leaves the airspace of the arena!"