He would not lose to people who didn't care to grow stronger!

Even if Finn's interests were elsewhere (i.e. cooking, farming), he always took his time to train. He hoped to effortlessly go through the danger zone someday and not find any mobs threatening his peace anymore.

The fight started with Finn taking the first attack with a swipe of the E-class sword, and Milo hurried to block him.

Although the lad had minimal skills to speak of, Finn noticed that his opponent did have a certain determination in his eyes. Finn sent a barrage of attacks, a few swipes, a few parries, just to test him out.

The lad was shaking and gritting his teeth, no doubt shaking from the force. Still, he didn't fall down after a swipe from Finn.

However, Finn didn't want to waste either of their time, and it was better to save up energy for the next battles, so he hurriedly finished the job. Finn used the man's shakiness to his advantage, attacking from odd angles and causing him to lose balance while he was trying to avoid his attacks.

A person's instinct when falling was to touch the ground to soften their fall. He saw Milo's hold on his sword loosen in his panic, and Finn immediately stabbed at the side of his sword and swiped upwards.

Another kick later, Milo rolled over, and Finn took the token, which was easy enough to find in his breast pocket.

Speaking of the tokens, the contestants were free to hide the tokens wherever, as long as they were in their bodies. It was also part of an individual's strategy.

People could use this chance as a distraction after all, wherein one party on the losing side could attack the other while they were busy looking for the token on their bodies.

It was a bonus if they had more than one token after winning, placed in different parts of their bodies.

As for those who had no token anymore (because they lost the previous fight), then they just wouldn't have this chance. The moment they were kicked out of the ring or fell down without their weapons, it would be judged as their loss.

That said, if the enemy failed to find the token and they won in the end, they'd be required to show it in public as well. It was to ensure the tokens weren't hidden elsewhere outside of the ring.

Finn held up his token with a grin, confirming his win. Cheers resounded, and people clapped, amused by the fight.

The lad shakily stood up and nodded at him. He was biting his lips, determined to do better next time, fearing for the wasted danas in case he lost again, but his body was still shaky from the quick loss.

"Hey!" Finn called, and the lad flinched.

"Your sword," he said, holding the enemy's weapon with his non-dominant hand.

"A, Ah.."

"You're not bad," he whispered as he handed the blade to the lad. "If you need a job, come meet me after."

Milo gaped at him, confused, before absentmindedly nodding and leaving.

He had no idea they'd really encounter each other sooner than he thought.

…

Finn's second opponent was a man named Tae, who had a very punchable face.

The dude was arrogantly looking down at him, literally eyeing him up and down, then snickering to himself.

Finn's eyes twitched, but he did his best not to get too provoked.

The redhead looked at his opponent, who seemed to be in his late 20s, like him. He was also at the peak of the awakening stage, which was theoretically the same as him. Why was he so confident?

A moment later, he found out.

"You're going to die, now!" the opponent yelled and gathered energy, he thought he would do some grand attack. "Witness defeat within the first strikes!

"FLAME SLASH!" he yelled, and Finn could hear gasps of admiration from the audience.

"It's an elemental skill!"

"Wow!"

"How rare!"

Finn blinked, looking at the tiny line of heat that he easily avoided.

He rolled his eyes. That was it?

Holding on to his provided E-class blade, he also activated a skill.

[Blade of Fire]

A bigger wave of fire appeared, and Tae's eyes widened. He was still adjusting from using his own skill when a slash of fire headed to him!

"AHHHH!" he yelled, hit, and then he fell down to the ground, immediately losing consciousness.

…

The man's token was in his underwear. Fortunately, the fire burned most of the clothing, so it didn't take long for Finn to find it.

He could only brainwash himself that the fire had 'cleansed' the disgusting thing for him to touch it at all.

Just like this, Finn now had 3 tokens, signalling his successful passing of the first round~

Leiah and the others greeted him, slapping his back, ruffling his hair, among other things.

"Amazing!"

"Awesome!"

He couldn't help but feel conscious. Even though he hadn't been fighting for so long, it was still embarrassing not to do well at his age, so he really did want to do well, also for his own face.

Victor seemed to see him holding back, limiting the pride he had for his achievement. "Actually, you're better than most adventurers guarding the town now."

"What?"

"Well, most adventurers are satisfied with doing the 'safe' jobs, like mercenaries. After all, even those pay much better than the better-off commoners."

Marcus nodded with a sneer. "They're so weak…the guild should force people to exercise and grow stronger, I think."

"That's…not a bad suggestion."

During the Aphelion Months, having a stronger force could only be an advantage.

"No one asked?"

"Maybe, but behind closed doors," Victor said. "Those 'lazy' adventurers comprised the majority. Perhaps the elders are afraid of getting mobbed, while some are afraid to lose good money."

The membership to a guild was renewable yearly. One had the option of paying the currency or retaking the exams (though the exams for existing adventurers were much more difficult). Most people prefer to use the former, which was a substantial amount if one added every adventurer out there.

As much as one wanted to be ideal, money seemed to run the world everywhere, and running a guild was not a cheap endeavor.

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