9 more geniuses fell the same way Ray White did.
They all had their own stories, their own ambitions, but Damien was hard-pressed to care about them.
After all, he had his goals too, and they far outstripped the importance of these young geniuses in his heart.
Besides, if they couldn't take their defeats today as a lesson and humble themselves before improving to one day reach his level, they weren't worth the title of genius.
The battle arena had strict rules. Only 10 matches could be fought every day, if one fought an Overlord, they couldn't fight another match until the day after they won.
This meant that Damien yet again took the opportunity to spend his day training before returning to the arena.
As for the Overlord? He wasn't even worth mentioning. Regardless of his position, he was still the Overlord of the Pawn Bracket. Damien only needed a slight bit of mana to defeat him.
The Pawn and Knight brackets were meant for 3rd class competitors. The fact that Damien was even forced to plow through them was ignorant.
Then again, if it was anyone else, they wouldn't have been forced to do the same.
Despite Hidden Death Valley's abject rejection of status, that didn't mean the geniuses within would completely abide by those laws. In smaller situations, bribery and oppression wouldn't be monitored.
These facets came with existence. To live was to experience them. Therefore, in spite of their desire for fairness, the leaders of the academy didn't completely quell this oppression.
Bribing the battle arena staff was quite an easy task for Reavus Bloodlock. Even though he knew that Damien wouldn't be held back by these small brackets and young geniuses, he thought he could at least use them to relatively understand Damien's strength.
An early 4th class being under level 225 still needed to put in a bit of effort to defeat a genius at the extreme peak of 3rd class. This effort might've been only a slight excess amount of mana in their attack, but the amount of excess still signified the level their strength had reached.
Damien, however, didn't let this faze him. What could Reavus gain from a petty trick like this? Damien wasn't a mere dog as Reavus had been assuming him to be, and naturally he wouldn't perform like one.
Whether it was the Pawn Bracket or the Knight Bracket, Damien breezed through them by merely constricting space around his opponents until they were crushed. There was no excess use of mana, no lack of control that could reveal a hint of his true power. The only thing Damien gave his enemies was a show of dominance.
Just like that, using the 4 days he was required due to the restrictions, Damien passed through the bottom two brackets like a storm and arrived in the King Bracket.
'Finally, things should get interesting.' He thought to himself.
The King Bracket was a different place than the previous two in that there wasn't necessarily a set level of strength for those present within it. Every 4th class genius in Hidden Death Valley that couldn't rack up a 10-win streak was placed in this category.
Of course, high-level 4th classes above level 375 who dominated the competition were immediately seeded into the Emperor Bracket, but even without them, there were countless beings between levels 350 and 374 who remained in the King Bracket.
Most of them weren't even trying to compete.
Due to the harshness of the King Bracket, the Emperor Bracket had become a selective club of sorts. Those who could fight there were only the peak geniuses of Hidden Death Valley and the universe as a whole.
In this sense, a level 380 genius who was over the age of 300 didn't qualify for the Emperor Bracket. Despite their strength, their talent was still lower than the required level.
'300…Bai Xieren and the rest are all over 10,000 years old and still stuck at the higher end of 4th class. The disparity in talent is a little jarring to look at.'
It couldn't be helped. The Human Domain's precarious situation naturally led to a lack of talent. This trend only changed with the current generation of geniuses like Damien and Long Chen. Now that wartime was upon them again, the Human Domain was fated to rise.
Nevertheless, seeing young geniuses who didn't even reach the age of 100 yet standing equal to the peak figures of the Human Domain filled Damien with a different kind of fervor.
He couldn't wait to battle.
And he knew…
The King Bracket would provide him a ton of entertainment. His enemies would be here in droves trying to hinder his path, even those unrelated to him would do their best to block him from entering the Emperor Bracket sheerly due to the exclusivity its existence now held.
On the 5th day of his arena run, Damien arrived back at the battle arena and made his way to the challengers' section. The day was already over, and it was deep into the night. The arena was lit up by mana-powered torches and beautiful dancing spirits that lit the way. The ambiance it gave off was completely different than it was in the sun, emitting the aura of something sacred.
The atmosphere, however, was far more thrilling. Millions of people stood in the stands cheering. With Hidden Death Valley recruiting geniuses from all 7 remaining intact sectors, it would've been stranger if it didn't contain at least this many people.
The earth shook with their cheers. The sky trembled with their battle intent. The enclosed space of the battle arena was like a completely different world compared to the serenity outside its barriers.
Entering the challengers' section, Damien immediately noticed the difference between those young geniuses and the people present. Everyone emitted a slight latent bloodlust accumulated over countless years of combat. Their gazes didn't carry any of the innocent exuberance of youth, despite their appearances not being much different from those youths themselves.
Damien inadvertently cracked a smile as he took a seat. He crossed one leg over the other and spread his arms across the seats next to him, relaxing entirely.
He closed his eyes and waited his turn. What he wanted was battle experience not sparring experience. There would rarely be moments in war where he knew his enemy's every ability and saw them fighting beforehand. If he wanted to prepare for that scenario, he naturally couldn't be as observant as he was before.
Still, his stance was one of dominance and fearlessness. In a room filled with peak geniuses, he actually dared to recline so casually?!
More than just a few were offended. And more than just a few aura pressures converged on Damien's body in a bid to suppress him before he got too arrogant.
The smile on his face twisted into a sneer.
Hoo…
He blew out a small breath of air.
The aura pressure was dispelled just like that.
Damien scoffed in his mind. How could any mere aura pressure stand against his Void Mana? Laughable!
'But…this is how it should be.'
Prideful geniuses, endless competition, and bloodlust clouding the air…
'Mm, the atmosphere is just right.'
