David had a certain question that kept nagging at his consciousness. As he raised his hands at Zamian's question, he couldn't resist himself.

"Master Zamian...how come Tier 0 individuals were allowed in the contest? Didn't the requirement in the Sihapi contest require one to be an awakened?"

Zamian looked at him with a perplexed expression, as did a few others.

"Are you trying to say that they are unawakened? If so, that's so wrong. They are awakened Tier 0 individuals."

This time, it was David's turn to appear confused.

"Is that so? Don't we instantly jump from Tier 0 to Tier I the moment we awaken our mana nodes?"

A thin smile covered Zamian's lips. Under his breath he muttered. "I see...so it's you..."

But aloud, he asked. "Tell me something. How did you awaken your nodes?"

In response, David closed his eyes as if recalling something. "I think...there was this stone, something called power stone. I awakened using it."

A stunned silence ensued in their cramped up group, broken only by the faint, distant shouts of the Masters of the other two claws, who were training their own disciples.

The boy with the receding hairline suddenly exclaimed in surprise.

"You what! A power stone? Did you just say you used a Power Stone?!"

Seeing their exaggerated reactions, David understood something was wrong. He could even

faintly guess the reason.

And the next moment, Zamian confirmed his suspicions.

"A17...one might say you are a lucky man, given the series of misfortunes a slave could give through. A power stone...while I can guess where you got that from but most of these poor plebs you see here didn't get access to such a precious gem such as that.

50 souls... that's a huge bonus in itself. Only a power stone grants that."

David stored this piece of information as the members from his claw continued looking at him with an incredulous look, which he tried ignoring to the best of his abilities.

'Great, now Zamian knows that I am one of the candidates the princess had registered...and natural sense would dictate the nameless girl is also one of those three candidates. On that note, who really was the third candidate?'

After that short exchange, Zamian inquired about the other higher tiers. Only two claw members raised their hands - the brute guy with a large greatsword and a young man with a short stature and sharp face.

Zamian scrutinized them for a moment and then with a shake of his shoulder, he asked them to pick up a weapon of their choice from the shelf on display.

The two shared a glance before walking towards the shelf under everyone's curious stares. The broad man chose a greatsword for himself and the short man, a katana from the collection of the several wooden weapons.

When they reached Zamian again, he asked.

"How much confident are you both regarding your combat arts?" His tone was neither mocking nor curious, his eyes firm.

The muscular guy briefly looked sideways and then answered with confidence. "I may not know too many styles of my art but I would wager I have mastered all the basic forms."

"A safe answer. What is your name by the way?"

"Brynden... it's Brynden, Master Zamian." The muscular guy - or rather Brynden, performed a small bow to Zamian, whose eyes shifted to the man beside Brynden.

"I am Aeris, Master." The short heighted man introduced himself, his deep voice deliberately slow and sounded as if he was speaking through gritted teeth.

Zamian noticed it as well but let go of it. Rather, he raised his hand as a wooden sword manifested in the air, his fingers wrapping around the hilt of the wooden weapon.

"Come at me, you two. I have limited my strength to that of a Tier I individual, so you don't need to worry about unfairness. Oh, and by the way, you are allowed to use your mana for body strengthening as well."

An excited hum stirred among the members of the claw as they were both surprised by this sudden development and looked forward to the matchup.

Brynden was the first to step forward as without a word, he raised his greatsword high up into the air. Then with a burst of speed, the wooden blade cleaved the air as it charged towards Zamian, who sidestepped at the last moment.

But before the greatsword could fall onto the ground vertically, Brynden shifted his weight on his knees as he flattened the sword and swept it at Zamian's feet.

With a smirk, Zamian softly tapped his sword on the greatsword and using the forward momentum, he too moved in the direction of the force and made it safely out of the weapon's range.

His hands zipped backwards as his sword blocked an approaching katana with a dull clank. With the smirk still playing on his lips, he spoke.

"Aeris...I didn't allow you to use your skills. Only your combat art." The next second, before Aeris, who had used his skill to teleport behind his Master, could even comprehend what had just happened, the back of a hilt struck against his stomach, making him double over.

The covert strike was followed by a second strike as the length of Zamian's sword whacked against his face and he fell down on the ground, his vision bursting into stars.

But Zamian didn't relax. His feet moved before his mind could calculate anything, dodging Brynden's attack, who was now starting to look uncertain.

He had himself seen Aeris fight in the contest and if he was being honest with himself, Aeris was on the same level as him. And to be discarded like that as if he was just a mere fly, that made Brynden more cautious.

'Did he really limit his strength or...am I the one lacking here?'

But nevertheless, his face didn't reflect his internal feeling of doubt. He pressed on with his force loaded assaults, each of which were easily dodged by Zamian.

"Hmm...I have gotten a good insight into your technique now." Saying that, Zamian moved deep into Brynden's range, taking him by surprise.

But without panicking, he pushed the back of the greatsword against Zamian.

"Good move. But at the end, that's useless." To Brynden's astonishment, Zamian maneuvered his body to an unbelievable angle as the greatsword passed over his head by a mere inch.

As his body curved upwards to stand up again, so did his sword. It traced a parabolic path, gaining enough momentum before crashing against Brynden's nose, who let out a sharp grunt before crouching down on the ground.

"Alright, who is next?" Zamian asked as he looked at the dumbfounded newbloods.

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