wow volume 4 is completed. recently i have seen more views of my story. although it is still less than 50, it is much better than last time where i only got 1 or 2 views.

because this is the end of volume 4, there is this one week break for me. if my full time job is to write stories only, i wouldn't mind writing it everyday. heh it's too bad i have to work and study at the same time. kind of tiring.

anyway, this volume and the next would be all about fighting. i don't know if i described the fight scenes well, since this is my first time doing so. i have to conserve all the special powers those characters have for future use, and only let them use a tiny bit of their skills. i hope it doesn't bore you, my readers, too much.

if you want to see more of the story instead of just fighting, just bear with me for one more volume. after the competition had ended, i will go on to talk more about the stories. heh is this a spoiler?

in any case, there isn't much of what i really want to say here, because the story is still not in its main track yet. it is still just warming up. lolx it's funny i take more than 4 volumes to warm up. but once the 'opening scene' is done, there will be much more. and then, i hope you will enjoy the stories.

oh yea, before i forget. i just realized that the way we speak and use english may be a little different, due to the culture. so if you see the way i use my english is a bit funny, it actually is not so over here. i have checked and double checked and sometimes triple checked my posts to get rid of errors. yeapx.

once again, enjoy the stories. and i hope my blog views will increase. maybe one day if it hits 100,000 per week or something like that, i can publish my story in a book! hahahax. 'dream on', that's what my practical side of me says....

i certainly do hope that my page views are not of a result of random stumbling into here, and the people go out within 3 seconds upon entering. neither do i hope the page views are increasing as a result of more bots.... awww.... put some comments, so i know i actually have readers. hahahax

Next was the hooded kid. The kid, as was assumed by the others due to his height and size, surprised everyone the most. They had not expected the kid to get so far.

First, it was because judging from his size and height, he could only be around an age when one just stepped into teenage. A person that young would most probably mean that the period of training he had gone through would be significantly lesser than the adults. Second, being a kid, his speed, endurance, stamina and strength would also be lower than the others. At least that was the common view of it.

With those 2 assumptions, being in the last of the 3 stages of the event was already a feat. It was something no ordinary kids could do. Now, that kid was facing an adult. An adult man. Yes, he might be good. But in this competition, getting beaten up was no foul. This was a fight. Where there were fights there were also injuries and beatings. It was common sense.

No matter how good he was, he was still a kid. Being amazed by his ability was one thing, but now some of the people were starting to worry for him. How could this small and short kid, beat an adult? Here in the last set were the best of all the competitors. Even deaths were normal.

Was the kid forced into this fight? No one knew, for no one could see his expression. Those who had concerned themselves with him could only hope the opponent showed some mercy and not come down on him too hard.

Wearing a cloak with a hood so that no one saw the face, no one knew how he looked like. Everyone tried to see as much of his face as possible. Such an extraordinary kid aroused the curiosity of all the others. Everyone had already forgotten the dangerous air the group of small kids gave when they entered the city. Because they had not bothered to hide their emotions and their feelings at that time, some of the people already noticed them.

Now, this hooded kid below, wearing a cloak that covered every other part of his body except his hands below the wrists, had controlled his emotions so he did not give himself away. Humans are such amazing creatures. They could sense others’ emotions by instinct.

Now, what the crowd saw was a harmless boy instead of a dangerous kid. Amazing how the human memory could block out such an important thing just by the things they saw. In the end, all the others judge people by appearances.

At this time Narf took notice of the kid, since Tor had given him a description of the havoc he created.

‘I see,’ Narf said to himself.

Interesting. Very interesting. If the kid below could fight well, even if he did not win, Narf would consider asking him to join the military. With the correct training and nurturing, he was sure the kid could rise high and fast, and be useful.

As usual, the 2 competitors stood opposite and facing each other. When the referee declared the start of the match, the other competitor had wanted to make some remarks. He started to open his mouth, but before he could even make a sound, the kid had already rushed at him.

The moment the referee declared the start of the fight, the kid had appeared right in front of the man. He covered roughly 10 meters in… a fraction of a second?! The kid proceeded to hit the man, with only his small bare hands. The pair of hands was really small. The more people looked at it, the more they felt it was amazing.

Due to the unpreparedness of his opponent, he got hit over and over without any chance of defending. The kid kept hitting only the vital spots of the human body. The attacks were continuous, with no pause in between.

Narf noted in his mind that although people sometimes got surprise attacks, but to be unable to retaliate even a bit was at a level different from the average attacks. That was because of the moves and speed that did not give the defender a chance to even show his power.

The kid had not allowed his opponent to get a breathing space. All he did was to keep hitting him until he fell. The spirit of not underestimating his enemy, showing no mercy, as well as finishing the battle fast to avoid any slip-ups or miracles for the other side.

He felt the kid must have gone through some serious battle training to be able to fight this way. He who fought in serious battles before knew that talking in the middle of the fight was unprofessional, something only an amateur would do. Talking is left after the enemy was so badly beaten up there was totally no chance to retaliate.

That kid, he knew how battles were fought. Up till now, all the battles which had taken place involved talking. Only this kid did not talk. Only this kid showed exception compared to others.

All the while the people were in shock at the small kid, being able to force an adult to a corner, and not letting him have a chance. Staring at the scene with their mouths wide-opened, they could only see the man's suffering. It was just a one-sided battle. Because the kid was small in size, he lacked the power to give a one hit knockout to an adult through sheer brute force. But his continuous attacks were not that light either to be brushed off as nothing.

Time seemed to pass slowly for the man, and finally he collapsed on the floor, unable to stand up. All the hits on the vital spots had finally taken its effects. And this was achieved using only his physical strength, not showing even one bit of his power.

Stage 1 power? With just stage 1 powers he finished off a man. Not that his stage 1’s power was greater than the man, just that the man had no chance to use it. The one-sided beating was surely going to the man the moment the kid landed the first hit on him. The only question left was how fast? It certainly was quite fast, though not as fast as Bor.

Narf thought the kid had great potential in the future. The other people watched, and were very shocked. The hooded kid won. His face was still not shown to others. Even in that fight, his hood was always on. There was not a moment where under the hood he had lifted his face higher a little so people could see his features. Maybe, his face was disfigured. But that would mean that the rest of the hooded kids were like that too? Not only in terms of speculated injuries, but also skills?

It was Kelf fighting with yet another man. Although the competition was open to all, few women took part, and even fewer made it to the last set of the competition.

Despite how he said he did not want to attract any attention, Kelf was now one of the competitors with the most attention. Reason? His clothes. Robes. That was just out of place. Imagine someone wearing traditional clothing walking around as if that was the latest fashion. Adding the fact that the robes were more suited for a woman.

Kelf did not care about the stares he got from the others. In fact, one might say he had not cared how they viewed him. He had gotten used to it.

‘What a strange man,’ some were saying at the spectators’ seats.

Down at the field, his opponent looked at him with something like disgust.

‘Wearing a woman’s clothes. What are you thinking? Act like a man if you are one.’

That man, if one had to describe him with their first impression, it would be that he was that kind of person who believed in the power of men and the submission of women. Men would rule and women would stay at home and listen to what the men said. Yes, that was the impression he gave, and it looked like he firmly held on to that view.

Seeing Kelf dressed up like that, although technically that robe could be worn by men, he saw Kelf as an insult to men’s superiority compared to women, which was why he was disgusted. Actually, many of the people thought like him, but they never said it out. Or maybe, many of them did not have thoughts that extreme like him.

Kelf, himself did not bother with this kind of philosophy. It was simply pointless. Did it matter if men ruled the world? Did it matter if women surpassed men? No. To him, he did not care the state of the world as long as it did not affect him.

The ‘true’ man in front, he had decided in his heart to give Kelf a proper punishment in his own style, to wake him up and to show him how weak a person could get if he got too feminine. In actual fact, Kelf was not even feminine. In words, behavior, actions and looks, he was without a doubt, a man with almost no feminine quality with him.

The caring side of a woman, the thoughtful side of a female, the gentle side of a girl, although men do have this so-called feminine qualities, Kelf appeared as if he did not have any of them. Lin knew he had all that, but from what the eye could see, there was no way he could be feminine like what his opponent thought. If there was one hint of feminity in him, it would be his robes. To that man, wearing a woman’s clothes is one of the worst displays of feminity.

The fight began. The man attacked. He formed a sword in his hand, from the components of the ground. He was one who could form soil into any shape he wanted. Soil was all over the land of the earth, and he could have as much as he wanted up to the point of his limit. He took the sword from the soil below and charged at Kelf. Halfway he threw the sword towards Kelf. Kelf immediately form a barrier of ice and shot an ice dagger back towards him. His opponent dodged the ice dagger.

Facing each other once again, the man said, ‘Both of us have similar techniques. Just that I use soil and that you use water.’

Without a change of expression and saying the following as if he was stating a fact that a 5 year old kid would know, Kelf told him, ‘Mine is more useful and powerful since water is everywhere and in 3 different forms but soil is only in the solid state. In that way, you are at the losing end.’

Of course, he knew, that all combat potentials were made equal. That had nothing to do with which power had more variety of techniques and states. He only said that to make that man angry. Kelf was pretty sure he would be insulted that a ‘sissy’ would dare to say he was better in terms of fighting.

Everyone knew, an angry person who could not bother to think was at a disadvantage. The only advantage he would have would be that he would be more daring in fights, and maybe stronger physically as he released the restraint on himself. But in the end, he who could not think, unless the enemy was much weaker than himself, would almost certainly lose the match.

In this case, the man fell for the trap. Not that Kelf had to resort to this cheap trick to win. He was just finding it not worth his time to spend any more effort to take him down. Like what Xue had said to Xel in the stands, Kelf in his own mind thought this man in front of him was just rubbish. Society would do better not to have him.

He was really angry this time. That half-man half-woman who played with ice insulted him. Unforgivable. Here and now he would prove his superiority.

He said, ‘I will prove to you that with this one form of soil I would beat the crap out of you.’

The moment he finished saying that, ice arrows fell down from the sky and all were headed towards him. There was no warning. But in fights, people do not stop and talk and get angry over minor things like a debate over whose power is better. He formed a thick soil roof supported by pillars, and sheltering him from the ice arrows.

At the same time the ground which Kelf was standing suddenly had big pillars of sharp spikes coming out. Kelf had noticed the change in the soil and jumped off just before the attack commenced. His foot barely left the ground when the soil attack took shape. He landed on top of the soil roof.

Forming an ice sword just before he landed, he proceeded to cut the roof cleanly into 2 even before his toe touched it, but as the roof fell apart, the man, with a soil sword in his hand jumped up towards Kelf, wanting to catch him unawares. However his sword cut through thin air instead of human flesh and the next thing he knew Kelf was behind him, putting the tip of the sword to his neck. He widened his eyes in surprise. Kelf was coming down from mid-air. How did he manage to get behind him when he was falling? He did not get the answer. But one thing he knew. Kelf won.

Lin’s turn was next. She faced a tall male opponent. He just looked normal, someone on the street you would not take a second look at. He somehow looked a bit excited about the fight. Maybe it was due to seeing 3 consecutive decisive matches. Or maybe he thought he would be able to win a decisive match as well.

He had a long sword. When the fight was started he immediately materialized his sword at the same time as Lin, who also brought out her weapons, which consisted of 2 daggers. Though her opponent’s sword was long she charged in without hesitation, clearly ignoring her range’s disadvantage.

Bending her body low, she moved forwards. The way she ran, it was strange as she bent her body so low while moving forwards she might lose her balance and fall off any moment. She was not keeping her legs straight and bowing her body, her whole body was like a falling pole.

People were saying she was mad. But she made use of that difference in range. Holding the dagger in such a way that it aligned with her hand, with hilt pointing out and blade point pointing in the direction of the elbow, she used the flat side of the blade of the dagger as a shield and blocked off the attacks of the sword. And when she managed to get past the sword’s attack she would flip the dagger into attack mode, the tip pointing outwards and tried to attack.

She only had the disadvantage if she was further away from the man, because his sword would be able to reach her and her daggers would not have enough length. But in close combat, the sword might prove to be more inflexible compared to the dagger. Her daggers, being aligned with her hand, and flipping outwards when necessary, gave her more control over her weapon compared to the man, because it was like Lin not using any weapon but her hands.

Moving your hands, were of course easier than moving your weapon. All she needed to do was to get a grip on the dagger to shield her hand, and she could fight easily. Jumping into very close range and using the daggers, it gave her a lot of flexibility. But the opponent was not that bad too. Jumping away at critical times he managed to avoid the attacks. He always kept his distance away from Lin.

Lin’s advantage would be a close range fight, and although he too was a close range fighter, his advantage would be a little more distance between the 2 of them. Thus Lin was stuck at trying to hit him this way. She could not land a hit on the man who kept jumping away. The fight was an equal match. Seeing no progress, both showed signs of frustration.

Maybe the crowd got a little bit bored too. But that did not matter to the 2 of them. Each of them only wanted the other out. ‘End this quickly’ was what was on their mind. Being more aggressive this time they charge at each other again. This time the attacks were faster and more aggressive. Unlike the previous clashes, they did not pause to think or get ready each time an attack failed. This time, they kept going at each other, as if by instinct. The moment one attack failed, another came up. Lin tried to get him from all directions. From the top, right, left, bottom, back, she tried all directions.

Xel said to Xue at his seat, 'Dear dear, this girl is so violent. I’m going to be scared if I meet her in the next match. With her temper she is going to make me beg for mercy for robbing her ice.’

‘Well you can’t blame anyone for that right?’

Facing each other and not attacking anymore, Lin was thinking hard. Then she got an idea, but it was a risk. Still she could not show her real powers yet. The other opponents who had fought in the earlier rounds won without showing much power. She could not be the oddball.

Furthermore if she used it now it would have shown to the others she was already below the others who made it to the second fight. If the winners got past the first round without showing their real powers, she could not use hers now. She had no choice but to take a risk.

She rushed at the opponent again. This time when the sword was thrust at her, she took one of the daggers and rammed hard into the flat side of the sword’s blade. The dagger pierced through and was stuck there. Lin, indirectly, had some degree of control over the sword now. But she only wanted to ‘lock’ the sword so it could not come down on her. Because the sword was made of mana, all she needed to do was to inject more mana into the attack to pierce through it.

Stunned, the opponent could not move for a second and Lin threw the other dagger towards him. The dagger cut the side of his neck a little. It was immediately declared Lin’s win before the opponent could do anything.

As part of the usual procedure, Rif was standing across his opponent. They would only come together and exchange blows when the referee gave the signal.

Dressed like a slacker, indirectly he made his opponent not take him as seriously as he should. The man opposite did not take Rif lightly, but he also did not consider him a huge threat. He just viewed Rif as another normal competitor with nothing to be afraid of.

No, his skill was not that great. Just that he thought Rif was not someone great too. If this situation had to be compared with another scenario, it would be like a man not being afraid of the all-powerful God. Not understanding his own position, not understanding what might happen to him, an ignorant man continuing to sin and incur the wrath of God.

Not that Rif was that powerful, just that that was a comparison with the extreme to make it easier to explain. But did it matter? Like the ignorant man who was not afraid to challenge God, this man here did not fully understand his place as well.

Could anyone blame him, since he never met Rif before? No, no one could blame him, for no one knew the powers of Rif yet. Rif himself did not give off an air of danger. The man acted just as what the other people would. He was not wrong. Ignorance was not wrong, but ignorance could be costly. No one would blame you for not knowing anything, but no one would pity you when you suffer. Even if there was sympathy, in the end, you would still be the one suffering.

Just like this man, he was not wrong. Yet he would lose. That was a fact of life. Ignorance could be, and most of the time was, costly. Just that in his case, that ignorance of his was affordable. Lucky for him this time. But the next ignorance could prove too much of a price to pay.

Maybe that was why it was said it is good to acquire wisdom and understanding. Wisdom and understanding do protect your own life. Or maybe, the key to stop ignorance was to acquire knowledge? But knowledge would not necessary protect your life. One might have plenty of knowledge, but if he did not have the wisdom to choose the correct path, he would still lead himself to ruin. That way, was a man with knowledge who chose the wrong path considered ignorant? If one had to say, the answer might be ‘Yes’. Because that action without wisdom, it led to death.

Enough with the random thinking. Start the match. Rif was already bored with all the thinking in his head. It was all so philosophical. The referee started the match. Both rushed at each other head-on the moment the referee announced the fight. Rif changed form into a pure skeleton halfway while running while the other produced flames in his hands. The pace was not as fast as the previous match. Rif was taking it easy.

Although Rif's change to a skeleton was a bit of a surprise, it was by no means a shock. There were so many different kinds of powers out there. Like a human’s fingerprint, no one has the same power. People might have similar powers, but none are exactly the same. Well, at least Rif’s power was not so strange it defied their logic such as causing the world to disappear with a word. That would not be normal, not even supernormal. His powers were still in the range of a normal human, from the looks of it.

They punched each other and at the moment they collided Rif’s opponent raised his flames so strongly the audiences felt the heat. Rif, taking that punch directly, would have some serious trouble. That was the reason why death occurred in competitions like this. Although the authorities did take care to ensure deaths do not happen, there were cases where you never know what kind of powers people used until the moment they released it. And that power kills.

Everyone was staring at the center of all the flames, trying to see something out of that blue flames. Blue flames, as everyone knows, is hotter than orange flames. Would there be another death? If there was, then the death of Rif could only be counted as bad luck. Accident. What others did not know, was that Rif was a sub-commander of the military. Sub-commanders do not die that fast, and they do not die so easily. Even if one gets to the top with intelligence, to be able to ensure that the power lies with you and your soldiers submit to you without question, one must have power. And to those who knew him, they knew Rif would not die.

As expected, in another instant his opponent was flying towards the end of the stadium and fell hard. Out of the flame a long white bone stretched out, and the fist connected Rif with the man in front. The flame did not affect Rif, and Rif’s punch had so much power and strength that man was knocked back so far and landed so hard he got knocked out on the spot.

People were watching with mouth dropping wide open. In three consecutive matches the winners won so easily, completely thrashing their opponents. Rif returned to his seat, together with his teammates. The others saw, and knew that their team was not weak. Although it was an individual’s event, people knew they came together, and therefore, with their abilities, they would advance together. Some of the other competitors were already hoping that they do not get matched up with any of them the next round.

ningxin's note: hello everyone. i am a few hours late. to those who are reading this, sorry for the late posting. today (monday) is the lunar new year. to those who celebrate it, happy chinese new year to you!