Back at the barracks, Hector claimed his bunk amid the intense scrutiny directed at him. He'd upset the status quo in a big way. He defeated the person widely considered the second best among them. He did it in such a way that Evan might be rendered impotent going forward. Now people were trying to recall Hector's previous matches. He only lost the one time, and that was to the best of their group. Otherwise, most of his opponents had been of no great status.

They were coming to terms with the new understanding that Hector was a real contender. To be fair, so was Hector. He hadn't really expected to win going into that fight. His combat skills lagged behind many of the others here. It was a gap he couldn't close with a little bit of training, either. Some of his peers had been warriors for decades. What Hector had was a harder body. Today that had been enough. It might not always win him the match, but he thought he had a solid chance at the top five.

With the strength of two of the fish plasma elixirs in him, Hector finished his esophagus and completed his stomach. He got started on the small intestine but felt the energy dissipating generally throughout the body instead of staying put. Volithur had faced the same issue. The purpose of the intestines was to absorb and disperse nutrients throughout the body. Cosmic energy fed into them easily adopted that pattern. Very rapidly Hector ran out of energy.

The phenomena begged the question. Should he let it happen? It would raise his body enhancement evenly throughout the remaining tissues of his body. He believed he could use a spiral spin pattern around the length of the intestines to prevent energy leakage, so it was really a question of whether he wanted to prioritize digestion.

What did he need enhanced most urgently? The answer to that question surprised him.

His liver. After the hand-to-hand portion of the tournament, there would be six weeks of 'training' before the next segment. No doubt heavy consumption of uncut spirits would be involved. Hector felt that he had mostly recovered from the last round of alcohol punishment, but he suspected there was still some lingering damage. The delicate organs would be his next priority, then. Starting with the liver.

Hector went to the washroom to clean up some more of the blood crusting his face from both forehead and nose. He'd taken a bit of a beating to earn that win. Especially his right ear, which wasn't working as well as it usually did.

"I don't need you to fight my battles."

He spun to face Jasmine. Her face was like the palette of a painter doing a dark scene, a mix of blacks, blues, purples, and yellows. "That was my own battle I fought," he said.

"That's not how everyone else saw it."

"I'm not worried about how they see it."

She stared at him. "Are you claiming it had nothing to do with me?"

Hector clenched his fists. "Stomping the ribs at the end. That wasn't him trying to win. That was him handicapping you for your next match because he was upset you didn't lose fast enough."

Jasmine spat red-tinged saliva into the sink. "I don't know why you bothered. I'm damaged goods, aren't I? Not some pure virgin waiting patiently for your approach."

"That's not my problem."

"Isn't it?"

"No."

"Then what is your problem with me?"

Hector took a breath. "Would you be exclusive to me if I asked?"

Jasmine raised her brows. "Exclusive? You think I'm sleeping around for fun? I'm working, Hector. Girl power and all that, but let's be real. I'm in a tournament with bigger, stronger men. I need allies and there is a man magnet between my legs. I'm not ashamed to use it to my advantage. I got here because I don't hesitate to use everything at my disposal. I'm a fighter and I use every weapon available."

"I'm not after your 'magnet'."

Jasmine shook her bruised face. "I can't give you what you want right now. After the tournament, maybe. If you're not put off by my past as you say. If you've caught feelings… well, I like you too, Hector."

"Jasmine… there is no after the tournament for us."

"I don't know what your background is, Hector, but you can't know that."

"My dreams ended in the black tower of the Lord Platinum."

"So now you're a dreamer? I'd find that easier to believe if I hadn't caught you drawing chaos into your soul."

Hector checked their environment and then pulled Jasmine into an open stall. "You're right and wrong about what you saw, Jasmine."

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"My uncle… her uncle… an uncle, let's say, was a prodigy. That's what everyone thought. He grew strong faster than everyone around him. They even went so far as to claim he had lord potential. Then he grew sick. Horribly sick. Healers were called to help him. They took one look and said it was hopeless. Brittle soul, they called it. How did such an affliction happen? Only one way, they said. The man was using chaos to grow stronger. He was a tower built on sand and he was about to collapse."

Hector shook his head. "Have you ever seen someone draw in chaos? I have. It's not subtle, Jasmine. Their soul dims as the shadowy chaos pollutes their reserves. They run it through their filter realm and end up with more energy than before. It takes time, though. Like a new filter cleaning a dirty fish tank." Hector reached out and pulled chaos into his soul.

Jasmine watched him, uncertainty in her eyes. "How do you know for sure?"

"I have an insight into chaotic emergence. Everything in existence ultimately arose from primordial chaos. Cosmic energy is like a purified form of chaos. When I draw upon it, it is pure cosmic energy."

"If that's true, then why are you so slow to advance?"

"Jasmine, two years ago I was a normal human."

Her shoulders stiffened. "By Tian itself, you're serious? Two years? No. Impossible."

Hector didn't say anything, only looked back at her.

"I don't believe your conspiracy theory, either. After the tournament ends, the two of us can figure out what makes sense. I do like you, Hector. You're kind and strong and clever. But… later."

Over the next two days, Hector sneaked away every chance he got to cultivate chaos. He won all his matches and received the elixirs made of fish bodies and fish cores. Those resources went towards his organs. First was his liver. Then came his pancreas. Then his spleen. Then his kidneys.

By that point, Hector figured out why the digestive organs came after the intestines in the proper sequence. The chemical processes of those organs transformed a raw resource into an output. Because the organs were enhanced, they created enhanced chemicals. That was a problem in two ways. Firstly, his intestines were receiving digestive juices that were comparatively twice as strong. It caused quite a bit of discomfort as his guts were barely able to handle the increased corrosive potency. Secondly, the energy to upgrade raw materials from his diet to the peak of the fifth level had to come from somewhere. That somewhere was his energy reserves.

It provided a possible answer to an enigma of cultivation to Hector. He often wondered why Xian didn't go past level ten. Well, there was the level eleven emperor of Zing. But typically ten was seen as the limit. There were level eleven and twelve Arahant, he knew. So why not among the Xian?

Because there was a steady drain on high level cultivators to maintain their body at the level of enhancement they achieved. Nutrients had to be upgraded to fuel their body. Even living on Tian, most food was no better than level four. Upgrading that to level ten for use by the body would be extraordinarily draining. Between saturating the soul, performing body enhancement, and filling reserves to capacity, there already wasn't a lot of spare cosmic energy. Having a portion permanently drained away to maintain the body would be a challenge. Needing to dip into the reserves to use the aura, domain, and externality was another challenge – what was the point to having great power if you never got to use it?

Consequently, Hector decided he would finish his intestines before doing anything else. Deviating from the cold forged method hadn't been wise. He wasn't experienced or wise enough to disregard the ancestral knowledge of the Xian on the subject they took most seriously.

On the third day after defeating Evan, the lords set Jasmine as his opponent for the morning match. He sighed as they faced off against each other. He'd not enjoyed beating the two other women in the tournament. That had been business, though. There couldn't help but be some personal mixed in with this match.

Unfortunately for Jasmine, losing wasn't an option for Hector. He needed to start stockpiling energy soon and the only way to get away with that was if he didn't have any more body enhancement to perform. When the resources resumed, they would suck energy into his body from his reserves. The only way to get ahead of that demand was to complete his enhancement. Which meant he needed the elixir from beating Jasmine.

She certainly did not hesitate to do her best. Hector smiled as she baited him into throwing the first punch and then began her circling maneuver. The fact that she went so hard at everything might be his favorite thing about her. As much as he wished he could talk her into taking a fall this match to minimize how much he had to hurt her, that wasn't how she did things. A few days back he saw her do her best to destroy Micah. It hadn't worked, obviously.

When she dipped around his back for her signature move, Hector let her send him forward onto his knees. He kept his chin up so that she could start on the choke. Then, before her feet could become hooks to seal their bodies together, Hector exploded up to a tripod on his feet and head to launch Jasmine free.

She flopped onto her back and Hector jumped on top in a cross body position. He winced as he landed a couple of punches onto her temple. Jasmine was tough and unwilling to go unconscious. Her sponsor, however, saw no point to letting the damage continue and yielded.

As Hector stood back, he noticed that when Jasmine's sponsor helped her up he slipped a subtle boob grab in. Her lips tightened in an initial reaction, but a moment later she was looking up at the man with a dazzling smile that he returned with a smirk. Hector sighed as he returned to the dugout. Though Jasmine may weaponize her sexuality, he knew she paid a price for it. Just because she didn't mind paying didn't make it right. Maybe he'd adopt another lost cause. Could he rehabilitate Riley and Darius and Jasmine? Probably not. He could certainly try, though.

After lunch, Walt called out Hector.

That presented an interesting situation. Hector had only lost once to Micah. On the other hand, Walt lost to both Micah and Evan. In theory, the fact that Hector beat Evan was a promising indicator. More practically, Hector knew Walt was a bad stylistic match for him. Walt was fluid in his movements and extremely adaptable. Hector was a clumsy brute. He did so well against his peers because he had superior enhancement.

So what was his strategy here? He refused to go for a sneak attack like Evan had done. As he'd promised this man a few weeks prior, he would fight with honor. He eventually settled on a simple strategy. He would fight as a counter-puncher for this one. Accept damage to give damage, trusting that his ability to resist injury was greater.

As they began circling each other, Hector couldn't help but go over the list of people he had yet to face. It should be a cake walk after Walt. Which meant that this fight should determine if Hector received second or third place in the final rankings. That was the difference between a full vial of silver plasma elixir or just half that amount.

He needed to win this one.

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