With such a reward waiting for anyone who could defeat one of the top three, plenty of students were willing to lose their challenge so long as they could try to get that spot. And once they realized they could challenge them over and over to try and tire them out, more people became willing to try.

After four challenges, a wildebeest stepped up and stared at Karos. "I challenge Karos for the third seat!"

Finally opening his eyes and looking up, Karos blinked and stopped cultivating.

The others all noticed that he wasn't taking any of them seriously. From that, some more people made it their mission to challenge the big three out of spite.

"I'll make this fast," stated Karos as he stood up and walked to the ring. "Get ready, I'll attack the moment we begin."

"Bring it on!"

Ania noticed the wildebeest getting w.i.l.l.y thanks to Karos's confidence. Understanding why Karos acted like that, she shrugged and yelled, "Start!"

"Your mine, Kar--"

"Lightning Whip."

Suddenly, Karos was behind the wildebeest and Karos' tail was lashed across the wildebeest's back.

Without a chance to fight back, the wildebeest was knocked to the ground, barely conscious.

"Your natural defenses are high, but you're too slow." As Karos left the ring, he gave the wildebeest a tip to work towards.

Though Karos was very confident, the cla.s.s was now reminded why. Also, he was actually quite kind, ending it quickly without much injury to the loser and he even mentioned what the loser could work on.

It was humbling for the wildebeest, but he couldn't complain because he had lost by such a wide margin. He took Karos's words to heart slowly got back up, limping out of the ring.

"Who's next?" asked Ania, unfazed by the exchange.

Two more challenges went by like normal, fighting people only a few seats higher. Then, a lynx stood at the center of the ring and looked at Oli.

"I challenge Oli, for the second seat!"

"Are you sure?" asked Oli.

Like Karos, he was also using this time to cultivate. In fact, each of the top three was cultivating at the side of the room.

"Mhm! You dominated the tournament, but I wasn't a peak-novice at the time. Now, it's time to really test you!" yelled the lynx.

Oli glanced at Karos, who shrugged and didn't act like he cared at all. Since Karos responded like that, Oli understood that Karos wouldn't be mad if he taught the lynx a lesson.

"Fine, I guess it was bound to happen." Standing up, Oli took his time to reach the ring. "This is your last chance to choose someone else. Once the fight starts, there's no going back."

"Shut up! I can challenge whoever I want, and now I can finally face you," replied the lynx. "Karos only lost to you last time because someone else was controlling him. Now that I'm also a peak-novice, I'll show you the true strength of our lynx clan!"

"Are you both ready?" stated Ania, sounding neutral and unbiased.

"Ready!"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Fight!"

"Take this!" yelled the lynx, vanis.h.i.+ng and using the same tactic that Karos had done a few fights prior. "Lightning Whip!"

The lynx's long tail crashed against Oli's back with frightening speed, surprising the cla.s.s. They hadn't realized how much that lynx had grown. Some of the students that were ranked slightly higher than the lynx sighed in relief, happy that the lynx had challenged Oli and not them.

A smile was on the lynx's face as his tail hit the unmoving Oli, proud of his unmatched speed.

But that's when the lynx realized that he hadn't actually hit Oli, but a small layer of essence around him.

"Huh?" He was confused because he should've been able to smash his way through such a small amount of essence.

"What's the matter, is that all you've got?" laughed OIi. "I even gave you a clean hit. Tell you what, I'll give you five more hits. If you can't even break my defenses, you'll forfeit."

"Don't mess with me!"

The lynx repeated the attack, this time using even more essence, but the same thing happened.

"Four more," stated Oli. The young gorilla had still yet to move an inch.

Furious, the lynx circled Oli with his fastest speed. It looked like there were multiple lynxes surrounding Oli, showing everyone that the lynx was really giving it his all.

"Absolute Shock!"

Four bolts of lightning converged on Oli, coming from four different parts of the circle. The lightning danced around the gorilla's defenses, but again it was unable to have any effect.

"Three more!"

Now showing the results of his essence control training, the lynx attacked again from his circle. But this time, the bolts of lightning were thinner yet more powerful.

However, the lynx finally noticed something about Oli's defenses. They were getting stronger after every attack the lynx made. And it happened again, even after he showed off his improved attack.

"Two more!"

"Lightning Fang! Lightning Whip!"

Now knowing that he had to give it his absolute all, despite Oli being a plane lower than him, the lynx launched two attacks at once. Both attacks showed his new control of essence, condensing it and keeping less energy from leaking out of his control in order to increase its strength.

As the lynx bit at Oli's arm and the long tail reached around to his Oli's back, he was surprised that Oli stood there and let both attacks crash onto his defenses, undeterred.

"No more!" shouted Oli. The gorilla looked at the lynx, whose fangs were wrapped around the defense of his arm.

"Thanks for helping me test a new battle art of mine, you should forfeit now before I attack. Otherwise, you won't be happy with all the injuries hindering your cultivation."

The lynx had an utterly defeated face. He now understood that Oli had genuinely defeated the lynx clan's young master.