Alex soon arrived at the sect crater. He looked at his badge once more and found his way to a fighting stage. He watched the fight on the stage go on and waited until it was over.
Once it was, he heard his number being called.
"Number 168 and 173," the elder screamed through the crowd.
Alex walked up to the stage and saw another man come up. It was a young man with short hair and a thin body build. He looked like he had barely anybody mass on him.
'Is he okay?' Alex wondered. He had never seen anyone this thin in his life. 'How does a cultivator even end up being this thin?'
"It's him, right?" a girl whispered a small distance away from the stage. Alex could barely catch her voice thanks to his spiritual sense.
"Yeah, I heard he had won all of his matches and breaks through very fast. Apparently, in the little time he has been here, he has broken through quite a few times already. It's honestly unheard of how fast he is progressing." Another girl spoke, answering the first girl.
'Are they talking about me?' Alex wondered. He was surprised that they found out about his breakthrough speed somehow. 'But they shouldn't know about my cultivation breakthroughs at all. I make sure to keep it hidden most of the time.' He was truly confused.
"Do you know his name?" a boy spoke somewhere else in the crowd.
"Hmm… I don't really remember. It's a very weird name. It A— something." Another person in the crowd spoke.
Alex was truly surprised now. 'How do they know my name too? I have never used the world Alex at all.' He was starting to wonder if the NPCs could see his real name or were bugged.
"But why is he so good at cultivation, when he has a body like that?" another voice came.
'Huh?' Alex got confused.
"I heard he was at 7th Bone Tempering realm just a couple of days ago and now he is already at 8th Bone tempering realm. Honestly, that Adam guy might end up becoming a core disciple at this rate."
Finally, it all clicked in Alex's head. "Oh," he said as he realized that they were talking about the thin person in front of him.
'Adam? He is a player, isn't he?' this was the first time Alex had ever met a player in the game, aside from the first day when that person had helped him.
'I wonder if that guy already left this place and moved on to some other location,' he couldn't help but be distracted.
"Ready," the elder shouted.
Alex slowly took out his sword and got into a proper stance. The thin man named Adam proceeded to take out nothing and just fighting empty-handed.
"Fight!"
Alex immediately rushed forward, with friction to slow him down, and did a horizontal slice on the young man named Adam. Adam was surprised by the fast movement of Alex, and also started to immediately move away from the spot.
He was somehow faster than Alex, who was moving around at incredible speed due to his strong legs and frictionless body, thanks to the Fluctuating Friction dance.
Alex started chasing with his movement technique but couldn't catch up at all. The man was just way too fast.
'Does he have an immortal grade movement technique?' Alex wondered. It was very much possible that during the first treasures that were gifted to the new users, they randomly got a technique.
Alex got [Alchemy God's Knowledge] from that. It could be possible that this guy got a movement technique.
Alex was starting to get annoyed seeing the man run away so much. So, he put his hands forward and tried to stop the man from running.
Qi Manipulation easily stopped the man for a few seconds, enough for Alex to catch up. Just as he was getting close, the thin man used his own technique.
Suddenly, an illusory wall of golden light formed in front of Adam. Alex didn't want to stop from running his way, so he simply swapped the blade to his other hand and made a fist.
His fist started glowing yellow as he immediately sent it to Adam's way. Given that both of the abilities had yellow colors and were thus metal aligned, Alex thought that his ability would at best create an explosion and destroy itself and the barrier in the process.
But, something very unexpected happened. Suddenly, the barrier made out of the golden light crumbled to pieces under the slightest touch of the flying Iron Fist Punch as it continued its way to Adam.
Adam tried to move away from the line of target, but he found out that he was still stuck in the place due to Alex's Qi Manipulation. Horrifying fear ran across his mind, thinking he would die now.
Out of nowhere, the elder got into the middle of Adam and Alex and with a single thrust of their palm, the elder destroyed Alex's punch.
"Fight is over," the elder declared. Adam took a huge sigh of relief and thanked the elder. He then took the badge and immediately walked down from the stage. But as he did so, he turned back to look at Alex with eyes full of Hatred, Surprise, and Fear.
Alex walked up to the elder and took his badge and left as well, leaving only the elder on top of the stage. The elder looked at his hands and then remembered the badge number.
'Number 168? What is his cultivation base? I couldn't see it at all. Given that the attack was so strong, he must be around Organ tempering 3rd realm at the very least. Someone in the organ tempering realm and someone who can use the Iron Fist Punch, I wonder why I haven't seen this disciple before at all.'
The elder suddenly remembered that he was still looking after the fights, so he proceeded to call along with the other 2 contestants and forgot about the previous match.
