Atheline extended his palm forward again. Lightening appeared first, stable and circling his arm like a coiling snake. Usually unstable when summoned immediately after water, this time there was no backlash. Ice formed next followed by all the other elements.

The elements circled above his palm in a compressed sphere obediently like living things. Atheline stared at them silently.

He had felt the change in his body during the battle. It hadn’t happened at the start but at the near end when he was forced to combine all the elements to slow down the spear thrown at him.

He had felt a sense of crisis at the moment and it seemed his body had reacted accordingly. He hadn’t felt the usual breakthrough physically this time but he had felt it in an almost spiritual way.

He could feel it now, his core had expanded even more. He had finally stepped into the SS rank power group.

A memory flowed back to him. He had once jokingly thought of putting himself in a stressful situation and experiment if he could advance, just like how it had happened in the human kingdom.

The opportunity seemed to have presented itself without him trying.

Atheline closed his fist and the power dispersed around him. He had finally gotten true advancement. While the ones he had had were advancements they were in a sense not true advancements.

They had happened in a closed controlled space while he was fully conscious of it happening.

A small exhale left him as he felt his body fully heal itself after the elemental wash. Silence filled the cave afterwards.

Outside, distant roars still echoed through the Spitting harrows but further away. The beasts had likely reached the battlefield already.

They were probably still searching or fighting amongst themselves.

Atheline leaned his head back lightly against the cave walls before closing his eyes briefly.

He remembered Igrad’s final words.

The protector, the Gladia kingdom, and the stupid cult that was after Lilith.

Thinking about Gladia he could already imagine the reaction Lilith would have. With the way Igrad spoke so freely about it because he knew he would kill him, he was probably going back now to Gladia or trying to salvage whatever was left of the mess he had created.

Atheline knew he wouldn’t be the last one to attack. He had yet to be attacked by a dark elf which was weird. Lilith had told him there was a chance he might get assassinated and to be prepared.

After a few moments, Atheline opened his eyes. They retained their former calmness. The advancement had changed more than his elemental control.

His senses had improved too. He could now almost physically feel and touch the Aether in the air.

The movement of water was also clear plus the fish jumping inside, he could also feel the heat from the battlefield and even the heartbeat of small creatures hidden beneath the earth.

Everything felt more vivid now. He had thought he had good sense but now it felt more amplified.

’If this is me, then what about lily’

He reached towards the bow resting beside him. The weapon had survived surprisingly well which was expected since it was a high-grade weapon. A wedding gift from Lilith.

His dagger looked worse. It had borne the brunt of the spear and fire. The blade edge had chipped from repeated clashes against the spear.

Atheline studied the damage silently then finally allowed himself a quiet realisation.

He had won. He had truly won. It wasn’t because Igrad was weak, far from him. An SS-ranked fire manipulator should have overwhelmed anyone in his rank and below in all the continents.

Yet he survived, adapted, advanced, and forced the same opponent to retreat. Atheline allowed a small happy victory laugh to escape.

He ran the tip of his finger on the dagger almost adoringly before placing both weapons in his storage ring.

The cave became quiet again afterwards. Only the sound of water dripping somewhere echoing remained.

Then, for the first time since the hunting competition began, Atheline allowed his exhausted body to rest. He still had two more days to go and he didn’t want his body failing him in battle.

.

.

.

Morning arrived slowly within the Spitting harrows. Competitors woke the moment light came sleep still in their eyes due to the continuous roars of beasts from the never-calm forest a reminder that the forest belonged to beasts not humans.

Inside the cave, Atheline opened his eyes. For a brief moment, silence prevailed before the world shoved nature to him. Awareness returned instantly.

The scent of damp stone, the faint sound of flowing water nearby, the dull ache lingering throughout his body, and beneath it all the perfect circulation of Aether naturally through his core.

He sat up slowly.

The wound across his chest had already closed overnight and only a long red line was left. Atheline was sure he would be left with a scar this time from the spear wound. Only the blood-stained clothes that he still wore were evidence of what had happened the day before.

The burns along his arm had faded considerably as well. His recovery speed had also improved as expected but still impressive.

Atheline flexed his fingers once before standing fully. Wind flickered unconsciously around his hand for half a second before disappearing again.

His gaze lowered to the small stone he had taken out from his storage ring. The image stone. He was curious about everyone’s rank.

A thin layer of his aether passed through it and the hologramic screen came into view.

[Atheline Sunblade, 10,053 points, rank 1]

[Igrad Neill, 7580 points, rank 2.]

[Yander Blackburn, 4504 points, rank 3]

[Simion Vilkorian, 4495 points, rank 4]

[Caius Therlner, 4409 points, rank 5]

"This is more than I expected," Atheline mumbled to himself.

He knew his numbers shot up because of yesterday’s fight. They had both killed a lot of beasts as collateral during the fight and it was expected for their points to go up, they were also near the centre so many of the beasts were high level.