"What?"The geezer frowned at Frank in displeasure. "What would you know about us martial artists? The way I see it, the boy isn't exhausted—he's merely confident that he can keep going. "Also, wasting pure vigor for vanity… Don't make me laugh!"In reality, the geezer could see that the airwalker was sweating all over his brow, and his cheeks were flushed. He was clearly exhausted, but the geezer remained stubborn."Exactly! What would you know?!"A youth behind the geezer leered at Frank in contempt just then. "Average Joes like you would never understand martial arts, so shut up already and stop making a scene!"The girl behind the geezer was leering at Frank too. "That's right! My senior apprentice has already mastered the art of airwalk. You're the one who doesn't get it!""Pfft…"Frank snickered, realizing just then that the airwalker was the geezer's apprentice.It was now not surprising that the geezer was so upset after hearing Frank's comment.Still, Frank shook hi
"That's it? That's all a Zamri martial artist can manage?""What a loser. He can't even cross a lake.""Fine, then why don't you do it?""That's stupid. I know that I can't cross the lake, so I'll just take a boat."Hearing the rowdy laughter around him, Frank could not help chuckling too.At the same time, the geezer who had been endlessly confident a moment ago was deliberately avoiding Frank's gaze, which made him laugh even more.Still, seeing that Lebon was losing the strength to even flail in the lake and that no one was going to help him, Frank clapped Scarface on the shoulder. "Go on. Quit laughing and get him out of there already."Scarface was so busy laughing that Frank's nudging caught him off guard. "Huh?! Why should I go?!"Frank chuckled. "So that you can flex your muscles. Don't you want squealing fangirls or the crowd's cheers?""Alright, consider it done!"Scarface lit up with anticipation right then, and without another word, he leapt toward the lake like L
In fact, the geezer turned away, afraid to glance Frank's way, saying nothing even as his apprentice Lebon fled pathetically behind him.Gong!A giant gong resounded from the center of the floating platform, cutting short the crowd's laughter and chattering.Standing beside the gong, Mr. Zoran was frowning a little since the crowd had been getting a little rowdy. He barked, "All participants of Group One shall now proceed onto the stage!"The crowd finally moved at his order, and almost every martial artist decided to take a boat, while just three used airwalk techniques like Lebon did.However, they managed to cross the lake without any further accidents, which was harsher on Lebon in hindsight.Soon, over forty martial artists were gathered on the floating platform, all of them coming from all walks of life. Most were vigor wielders, while only a select few had recently reached the Birthright rank."Master Lawrence, I'm going now," Kat said, since she was in the first group to
"Alright. So, is everyone in the first group here?"Nonetheless, with Kat arriving last on the floating platform and in dramatic fashion at that, Mr. Zoran looked around and did a head count.The number of participants there was exactly the number of participants in the group, except for Lebon, who was disqualified after falling into the lake."Counting down from five!" Mr. Zoran announced as he held up a palm.As he started counting down, the martial artists around them appeared solemn and wary.It was a free-for-all—with one misstep, they would be attacked in numbers."One… Go!"Once Mr. Zoran finished the countdown and the free-for-all began, every participant leapt toward the target they had locked on to."Hello, princess… Let's see what you can do!"A fat middle-aged martial artist was wiping his drool as he charged toward Kat."Hoho! You have fine taste, brother! What a coincidence—I was aiming for her too!"Another tanned youth was laughing as he ran at Kat as well, h
While the geezer was surprised that he would think that Frank was an Ascendant-ranked elite, he soon shook his head.Frank had to be joking—after all, the geezer had never heard of such a young martial elite in Riverton or Zamri.Still, even as the geezer's thoughts wandered, Kat finally moved against the two thugs who were flanking her on the floating platform.With a subtle grunt, she suddenly launched forward, dashing to the side of the pudgy martial artist before he could react."Eh?"Even as the pudgy martial artist turned and realized where Kat had moved, he tried to change the path of his attack when he felt the agony in his belly.He looked down to find Kat's foot striking into his stomach before sending him flying.The pudgy martial artist screamed as he crashed into the other martial artist. Then, both of them flailed for just a moment before rolling together off the edge, crashing into the lake with a loud splash."Pfft…"And seeing those two sleazebags knocked out
The lanky Mr. Quaker clasped his hands behind his back as he roared with laughter and strode off.The pale martial artist who used the claw technique soon followed him as well."Hmph."Mr. Zoran snorted, but he scowled once Mr. Quaker was gone.He turned and saw that out of the fifteen participants who had cleared the free-for-all, only five were from Zamri, while the other ten were from Riverton.A look of worry appeared over Mr. Zoran's face right then, and he eventually turned toward Frank, who stood in the distance.All three of Frank's apprentices proved outstanding, having cleared the free-for-all.That also meant they were the three out of the five Zamri participants who had qualified…Without another word, Mr. Zoran made a beeline for Frank. "Mr. Lawrence."Frank was just commenting on Scarface, Mona, and Kat's performance and shortcomings in the free-for-all when he heard Mr. Zoran and turned in curiosity. "Yes? How can I help you, Mr. Zoran?""Oh, it's nothing…"No
For example, the members of Thousand Isles Guild left the Martial Tournament after they had a run-in with Frank.Sanne Dali had since been grounded, while Ivo Werner was too embarrassed to stay in contention.That in turn led to Zamri losing the participation of a good number of martial elites.In fact, Frank could tell that there was a hint of dissatisfaction in Mr. Zoran's question. It was true that the situation would not be that one-sided if members of Thousand Isles Guild were still participating, to the point that Mr. Zoran was getting paranoid."Don't worry," Frank assured Mr. Zoran, clapping him on the shoulder. "In the end, Riverton and Zamri share four berths, right? I can promise you that my party will take three. How about that?""For real?" Mr. Zoran exclaimed, but he could not hide his look of skepticism.After all, he had seen the brief melee between Scarface and Mr. Quaker's nephew and could see that Scarface might not necessarily win."Don't worry. I'm sure," Fr
"Woo!""Yeah!!!"Heartfar's challenge sent all Riverton participants and audience members into a frenzy, and they cheered in thunderous approval.On the other hand, the Zamri participants and audience members were scowling in silence."Hehehe…"Mr. Quaker, the Riverton Martial Alliance branch manager, took the stage just then. "I think that's a wonderful idea. Instead of fighting for themselves, each participant will be fighting for the city they represent… What do you think, Mr. Zoran?"Mr. Quaker had certainly shown his hand now, sending his nephew to issue a challenge that could ensure none of the Zamri participants qualified. He was even hyping up the Riverton participants and audience members to gain their full support!Seeing through the ploy in an instant, Mr. Zoran promptly refused. "This is the Martial Tournament. The organizing committee has set the rules to ensure fearness, so I refuse to bend it. There must be no changes made!"All the Riverton participants and audi