Standing upon the arena, Edrick stood out like a sore thumb, not only because was he not dressed in the typical robes of the sect, since special disciples had no assigned garbs to them, making him a dark, most noticeable figure amongst the many youths partaking in the duels right now, but on top of that, with his two meters and fifteen centimeters in height, wide shoulders, and arms just slightly longer than normal, most eyes naturally drawn to his fight, even if involuntarily.

Moreover, with his long, stark black hair that was slightly swaying in the wind, his body covered in weapons, a rapier, a dagger, a quiver full of arrows and a whip at his waist, a longbow on his back and a Kanabo held in his hands, and a small cape draped over his shoulders made him the opposite of inconspicuous.

The instant Elder Gang signalled the start of the fight, his opponent, just a regular outer disciple that had never even seen Anoteros before, as his dormitories were on the opposite side of the entrance, and thus, far away from anywhere the special disciple might be at.

The young man was not feeling confident at all, but he barred his spear at the intimidating figure nonetheless.

Edrick towered over him and was wielding a weapon that provided significant reach as well, as the Kanabo he wielded was naturally properly sized for a big man like himself- Despite that, a spear was the king of reach amongst melee weapons, or so the disciple told himself, so, as long as he could keep his opponent at bay, he might just manage to squeeze a victory.

The outer disciple marched forward and thrusted his spear, his assumption making him feel a fleeting sense of confidence about his situation, a fight wasn’t all about who was the physically strongest or the biggest after all- Unfortunately, when the difference was too great, brute strength indeed tended to prevail.

Edrick just swung the spiked club straight at the spear, it did not break, for it was thrown out of the adversary’s hands before the wooden handle could sustain heavy damage, and for a moment, the spear user was dumbfounded, but not for long, for he went from flabbergasted, to unconscious in just a moment, as Anoteros swiftly followed with a high kick straight into the young man’s chin, making the poor disciple spin before crashing against the ground like stringless puppet.

The noble scion didn’t even break a sweat.

“Damn, this guy joined at around the same time as us?”

“That’s nobles for you, they aren't like us peasants…”

“Did he even use any actual techniques? That just looked like regular martial arts to me”

The audience chattered amongst themselves whilst Edrick walked off the arena after his opponent was carried away to rest, he had held back, as a direct hit like that could have killed the poor guy, in fact, he seemed like he was just a weapon cultivator, so technically, dying in one strike was very much possible for him, even if Anoteros had been just as strong as him.

Whilst Edrick had been dominating his opponent with both strength and skill, Xiao was having his first duel as well, facing off against another outer disciple who wielded a straight sword similar to his, but Xiao had a good recollection of this part of the novel, the first few fights had been somewhat glossed over, but there had been some details mentioned about them...

The first opponent wielded a sword, but was not a weapon cultivator, being one of the few who decided to begin with a body cultivation technique instead… The disciple before Xiao was a burly youth who looked like he could easily replace a burden beast to plough the fields.

If not for the fact that he had the typical ridiculous, messy facial hair young men often had, one might even suspect that he was thirty years old.

Xiao did not know the exact technique, but if it was available to outer disciples, it was unlikely to be one featuring special abilities within it, and although he knew that, as the protagonist, he was supposed to win easily...

But he also knew not to trust the story he had read blindly, this wasn't a story anymore, things could change, and characters had become real people, with real lives, that guy facing off against him wanted to win, and was unlikely to not use everything he had just to allow the narrative to proceed as intended.

Both of them surged forward at the same time, the burly disciple swinging first, with his adeptness with that kind of blade, Xiao could tell that, although the posture was correct, the swing was not anything too great.

He weaved and dodged past several of the opponent’s attacks, confirming that indeed, his swordsmanship was full of openings.

Feigning the fact that he could not counterattack, Xiao acted like he unintentionally backed himself against the edge of the arena, baiting the disciple into committing to an attack, which turned out to be a thrust.

Xiao merely sidestepped, spinning around a bit to lightly push against the disciple’s back, alongside his momentum, the burly youth launched himself out of the arena, caught by tendrils that extended from the barrier before he crashed into the ground and hit himself in the head with his blade.

Realising what had happened, the duel’s loser just sighed.

The protagonist gave a small bow to his opponent and glanced toward the arena where Edrick was, only to find it empty already.

Xiao had used a feint and trick precisely because he wished to maintain his sword skills under wraps until he encountered Anoteros in the ring, so naturally, he also would have liked to see him fight for a bit, as truthfully, he had never seen Edrick actually in an actual combat situation, but clearly, he had absolutely destroyed his adversary this time.

Considering the audience had erupted with noise, though, the main character assumed that nothing too brutal had occurred.

He silently stepped off the arena and went back to sit down, catching sight of Edrick getting doted on by his wives.

“Having a harem sure does look nice, don’t you think?” the emerald ghost suddenly popped into existence, exiting the emerald necklace with a smirk on his wrinkled face.

‘It looks nice, sure… But I doubt it’s easy to find women who would just casually agree to that’

“One only needs overwhelming strength and good stamina to form a harem, trust me on that…” the spectre stroked his beard, trying to recall examples of successful harems to mention to Xiao, but every time he thought of one, he realised that it was probably not a good example.

“...Or maybe not, but it can work, alright? Argh, forget it for now”

Xiao rested his chin against his palm, just watching the remaining duels play out.