Chapter 36: Cultivator vs Elementalist

“Oh that kid.. there is indeed a pure generalist in the academy but..” Daniel hesitated

“But what?”

“Uncle, we heard that the results from his divination was very strange. His growth potential for all his elements were graded 1”

When the old man heard this, he became suspicious. A pure generalists having a growth rate of 1? That would be very strange indeed

“You three bring a guard with you later. Find him and take some of his blood, if he doesn't cooperate, just take it by force” His eyes turned serious when he ordered the William, Daniel and Zachery

In the old man's mind, such a thing should be impossible. The only reasonable explanation would be that some powerful sect altered the results in order to monopolize the pure generalist.

If he could bring in a pure generalist with him and nurtured him, not only his clan, but even the Imperial family would reward him.

The 3 who heard the order could only accept it. The information of Teo's result had already spread throughout the academy for a whole year and no other news about it changed. To them, it was already as true as the sun rising from the east.

….

Teo who was getting bored waiting for the tournament to start, took out a blank book from his bag and started reading

Lia and Windle could only sigh at the sight of Teo.

After a while academy judges took to the side of each 5 stages. The Red Guard members surrounded the entire arena and medical teams were on standby near the stages.

The headmaster Elon Rizon entered the arena and spoke

“Welcome guests and students to our annual student ranking tournament. As per tradition, these first two weeks we will hold the inter-year competition. I hope you guests enjoy yourself, and participants work hard and achieve great strength!. Let the tournament begin!”

The headmaster's voice sounded loud and strong, and right after he spoke, participants flowed out of the waiting room and took to the stage.

Although it was called a tournament, with so many students, each match must be done simultaneously. 20 students of the same year took took to the designated stage. 10 matches per stage meant 50 matches simultaneously.

3 judges per match, it was very organize but still very confusing for someone like Teo. Teo's attention moved from one match to the next. He could tell that some of the matches were not as good as his sister Rowen's spar against Gina before.

The quality of fights were easily noticeable. The fourth year was the sloppiest while the eighth years were the cleanest. Most people ignored the younger fighters and focused on the eighth years' matches instead. They were more exciting and awe-inspiring.

The matches were held from 8 am to the afternoon, then a short break was held. After 1 hour, the tournament resumed until 10pm. Teo casually watched today's fights and only recognized one of the fighters today. It was his sister who fought during the later half of the day.

Rowen's fight was very quick, she easily over powered her opponent with overwhelming speed. The match lasted less than a few seconds as she easily knocked out the opponent with a kick to the head.

The following day, Teo, Windle and Lia was accompanied by Rowen. Since her fight on the first day was finished, she didn't have to fight until the third day.

"Senior Gina's match should be coming up soon" Lia said to everyone

"She should be the next match" Rowen who was besides Teo confirmed

Once a match within the fifth stage finished. Gina and her opponent left the waiting area and headed towards the open stage

Teo noticed that Gina had two blades sheathed at her lower back

"This should be an easy win right?" Teo asked

"No, her opponent is a little tougher than normal" Windle said

"Tougher?"

"That's right, you didn't watch last year's match, that guy was one of the top 16th of their year" Lia explained

"Her opponent is Diego is strong, but Gina should still win. After all Gina was top 8 last year, 7th rank to be exact" Rowen explained

'Top 8! 7th rank!'

Teo was shocked, he didn't realize how strong Gina was but then he recalled his sister's spar with Gina...

He guessed it but he could help but ask

"Sister what was your rank last year?"

"Me? I was ranked 5th last year" Rowen answered as if it was not a big deal

"If I wasn't an elementalist my rank would probably be lower than Gina" she explained

The match started and Diego spun his metal staff and sparks started forming around him. Teo could see the lightning elemental energies being gathered by Diego.

Teo was slightly worried for Gina. Although her sister said she was 7th last year it was still very dangerous for her.

"Don't worry, all elementalists have the same weakness. Although their power is strong and they don't use much Qi, once they run out of Qi, the match would be over"

"Run out of Qi?"

"You see those blades Gina is holding? The blades are covered in a special gel. This gel is used for bladed weapons during the tournament. They are Qi absorbing gel, specifically produced for the tournament. The gel prevents her from stabbing and cutting through her opponents, but in turn every time she strikes him, his Qi will be drained out of his body"

"But how can she even get close?"

"Aside from running out of Qi, elementalists' weakness is also their speed. Most elementalists rely too much on their elemental manipulation that their movements becomes too slow. Cultivators have an advantage of speed, stamina and accuracy. As for power, cultivators can rival elementalists' power except they would have to use too much Qi"

Rowen was explaining to the trio the basic advantages and disadvantages of an elementalist and cultivator. Windle and Lia were taking notes, while Teo was focused on the fight.

An experienced fighter would minimize their weaknesses and maximize their strengths. Like Rowen, although she was an elementalist, she practiced cultivation as well to get used to fighting other cultivators.

The fight did not end quickly, Gina focused on her hit-and-run tactic. She would dash in, hit and run away. Diego proved useless as his speed was not enough to catch Gina. Although he could maintain a wall of lightning around himself, it uses up a large quantity of his Qi to maintain. Gina's plan was simple, exhaust Diego and attack when his guard was down.

Diego's initial plan was to use his staff to prevent Gina from getting close, but Gina's speed was too fast as she disappeared into his blind spots and was forced to use a wall of lightning to guard against attacks coming from his blind spot.

Gina did not use any attacks that involved large amount of Qi and only relied on her blade, stamina and speed to win the match.

The tournament allowed use of many different items except for items that were too strong that it could cause permanent harm or death, as well as items with unethical means of winning, but all items had to be approved before hand. Students could use enchanted swords and armor, or any special device that was not too unfair.

The first half of the tournament ended, the second half would start in 1 hour.

Rowen, Gina, Teo, Lia and Windle went around the Colosseum and looked towards many different shops. They went into a nearby stall and bought some food.

"Elder sister Gina sure is strong, I didn't expect you were top 7th rank last year" Teo praised

"Ha, I'm nothing compared to your sister. Did you know that Nathan from before was 6th rank last year? Hopefully I place higher than him this year"

"Riss' match should be later today, she'll probably just forfeit" Rowen said

"I want her to get bruised a bit before she can forfeit" Gina grinned

"Impossible, among the 3 of us, she is the best at running away"

"Ha ha ha"

While they were eating underneath a tree, a group of people approached them

There were 6 people within the group, 2 of which Teo recognized. It was Zachery and William. There was also a brown haired youth with them, as well as 3 armored guards. Teo remembered these guards were Imperial guards.

Aside from Teo, Windle also knew who these guards were.

Gina's eyes twitched a bit. Rowen's smile turned into a small frown. Both of them recognized Daniel.

"Daniel, do you have any business with us?" Gina asked

"Gina your match today is truly unsightly" Daniel said with a pompous demeanor

"Who is he?" Teo whispered

"He is the current president of the Rizon faction, Daniel Rizon" Rowen whispered

"Is he strong?" Teo asked

"He was top 4 last year, but 2 matches before his opponents were all from the Rizon faction and forfeited without a fight" Windle explained silently

"What? Are you just here to criticize my match? I'm sorry I am not 'lucky' enough to have weak opponents" Gina answered

Almost everyone knew that every year, the headmaster would pull strings to give the Rizon faction members easier match ups.

Daniel faced twitched a bit, he knew what Gina was implying but did not dig any further. His eyes gazed towards Teo who was behind Rowen

"I have no business with you or Rowen, my business is with that pure generalist"

When they heard this Rowen's face became solemn

"What do you want with my brother?"

Her kind and cheerful aura quickly vanished

[Authors Note: Hello readers, Cienz here just wanted to thank you for continually reading up to now. As you guys may know I have applied for a "donate button" and was approved yesterday. Not pressuring any of you to donate, its just for people who wish to donate would be able to. I won't be doing sponsored chapters because right now I can hardly finish a chapter a day.

Its good to have an outline of whats going to happen in the story, it makes writing it much faster, but also makes it so that there are some confusing parts, grammatical errors and what not.

If you want to support the series, you can donate, give a thank you (which motivates me in writing), help me proof read (and leaving them in the comments) and/or recommend them to others. Anyways thanks]