"How?" the man looked with a stunned expression and Ning and his bird returned back to the waiting room.
Ning let the bird stay outside with the rest of the other beasts and he alone went in.
Another group fought and a single person returned from her battle. After that, the first round of matches was over and only 8 people remained.
"Alright, we are going to start the 2nd round of battle," the host said. "You two, you are up."
The man chose two people and they went to fight. While they waited, the host then told them who else they were going to fight.
Ning was paired up with a Rank 4 summoner that had summoned the giant gorilla. Ning wondered how strong the gorilla was, but there was no need to worry as his bird would always be stronger than the gorilla.
After all, it was a Rank 6 beast.
As the matches continued, Ning's turn came up and he went to the stage.
Against the gorilla, his bird had no problem and they easily beat them. The crowd seemed to recognize him as they cheered quite a bit for him.
Once Ning returned back to the waiting area, there were only 3 more people there and 2 of them were going to go out.
Ning didn't worry much as he knew he was going to win either way.
Finally, two of the 4 people in the room were taken away and Ning was left with a girl that had a Rank 4 summoned beast.
"Hi," the girl said now that they were both alone.
"Hello," Ning replied back.
"I… overheard you talking when you came here a while ago. You said you were new right?" she asked.
"Yes, I am," Ning said.
"Just a month old?" she asked.
"More like a week," Ning said.
"Oh, that's good," the girl said. "Would you mind listening to my request?"
"I don't mind listening to it," Ning said.
The girl fidgeted a bit as she said, "Can you give up the next match please?"
"Uh… why would you ask that of an opponent?" Ning asked.
"I'm so sorry. It's just a little important to me," the girl said. "I have a sick mother that I need to take care of and I need a lot of money very soon to heal her."
"I was hoping to earn that by fighting in the Pro scene," she said.
"I don't know if you're telling the truth or not, but I'm sorry I can't help you in that matter," Ning said and ignored her.
The girl tried to speak again but the match was over and their turn was up.
"Already?" the girl worried. All she could do now was hope to win this match. However, even as she walked out, she realized just how much her little turtle was scared of the firebird that was standing by it.
The barely a meter-tall turtle made its way to the stage and stood in front of the firebird.
Ning looked at the turtle and sighed. There was no point in this battle as it was practically in his hand.
"Go defeat it," Ning said and the bird took to the sky before flying down at such speed that the turtle didn't even notice it.
When the bird's beak hit the turtle's shell, Ning heard an audible crack as the turtle's shell was damaged from the attack.
A summoning circle appeared below the turtle but the damage was a little too high for the girl's spiritual sense to handle the fight.
'I'm done,' she thought and slumped to the ground.
Ning turned to walk back but the host appeared, bringing along another man that was the victor of the previous match.
"Congratulations, you two. You will be going to the pro scene now. Come with me," the host said and took the two along with him.
Ning looked back at the girl who was slumped on the ground with a sand face, but there wasn't much he could do for her here.
The girl stayed on the stage for a while longer before another match was to take place here.
At that time, she was forced to walk away. She would go back to the newbies' area, but she didn't have any spiritual energy at the moment.
In the last attack, all of her energy had been spent on protecting the turtle as much as it could.
So, without any choice, she left the arena and walked toward the ocean.
It didn't take her long to visit the beach as it was close by. When she did, she jumped into it and submerged there for a little while, absorbing the Spiritual energy in the water.
Aside from Spiritual pearls, this was the best way to absorb them. Given how important pearls were for her at the moment, she couldn't afford to use them up and have them be dull.
Who knew when an emergency came for her mother that she would need to take the Pearls out to pay for her.
After spending nearly half a day in the water, and then a little longer drying herself off, the girl returned back to her house.
"Mom, I'm home," she said as she went to her mother's room to check up on her. However, she wasn't there at all.
The girl's heart skipped a beat. "MOM! Where are you?" she rushed out of the room screaming.
"Stop making so much noise. What happened?" A voice came from the back of the house.
The girl quickly went out to find a woman that looked like her mother, standing in front of an outdoor fire, cooking something.
That woman looked like her mother, but… could it really be?
"How could you send someone to cure me alone? Shouldn't you accompany them?" her mother scolded her.
"What?" the girl asked.
"That young man that healed me. I asked where you were, and he said he didn't know," the woman said.
"What young man?" the girl asked. "Wait, are you saying you are healed?"
"Yes, did you expect him to fail? Honey, you should do something on impulse if you are not sure ab—"
The mother's words stopped in her mouth as her daughter suddenly hugged her. She could hear her daughter crying and her lips stretched into a gentle smile.
"It's alright. I'm fine, honey," the mother said. There would never be another day when the girl cried more, nor would there be a day when she laughed more.
