Alex stood tall, well as tall as his 5''8 self stood — his heart pounding in exhration.
He had won nine matches in a row now, with his confidence soaring with each victory. However it also made him realise how weak the average first year student was.
It was like each of these youths just floated their way through their time in the Primordial Expanse, having everything spoon fed to them and not experiencing any danger or suffering at all.
He had an inkling that none of the opponents he had faced so far had been through even 1% of anything he''d experienced so far.
But then again, the same could be said for Alex, as each of his opponents hade from wealthy and prominent backgrounds, with family and teachers to back them up and prepare them for their time in the Primordial Expanse. They had probably received drastically different advice about the Primordial Expanse than Alex did.
Alex''s advice was all just about how to survive as the bare minimum. There wasn''t any focus on how he might gain strength and experience etc.
The crowd of people spectating his fights had grown steadily over the past few hours, as the various stadiums across Capital Prime city were avable for the rest of the University toe and visit, or spectate.
As Alex had won 9 matches in a row, and they had all been quick and rtively easy fights too, he had hundreds more people joining his stands after each fight.
''I truly wonder how half of these guys even made it far enough in the Primordial Expanse to reach this point…''
As Alex waited for his final fight, his mind drifted back to his opponents.
There was this one boy called Kai, only a year younger than himself, who looked so timid and scared to fight that Alex even wondered whether he was an awakened at all.
Alex watched as every Opponent Kai faced had their expressions light up in delight when their fight against Kai was announced.
It was essentially a free win.
Other than that, all his other opponents had been subpar at best, aside from that boy with the darkness element he faced, but he still wasn''t good enough to really pique Alex''s interest.
"Next match: Alex versus Niks Stein."
The AI''s mechanical voice interrupted his thoughts.
A hush fell over Alex''s arena when the announcement was made.
''What''s with the sudden silence?''
Alex frowned, puzzled by this change in atmosphere.
He nced around, noting the shocked and interested expressions of the other students.
Murmurs began to spread through the crowd, but Alex couldn''t understand the source of their astonishment.
''Who is Niks Stein?''
Alex wondered internally. The crowd had changed after the announcement was made, and they clearly weren''t so shocked by Alex''s name…
So it could only be because of his opponent,
But there was no time to seek an answer. He shook off his curiosity and strode confidently into the arena. The energy barrier hummed to life, enclosing him in its protective field.
Just as Alex expected, the audience''s whispers grew louder as Niks Stein entered the arena. Alex studied his opponent, noting his equallyposed demeanour and the cold glint in his eyes. Niks exuded a feeling of power and confidence that matched Alex''s own.
''This guy is different from the other guys.'' Alex thought.
As the twobatants faced each other, Alex caught snippets of conversation from the spectators.
"That''s Niks Stein? No wonder everyone is shocked."
"His father is an S rank awakened, and his father just reached A+ rank recently. They say Niks inherited a variant of his grandfather''s legendary S rank Talent, with Niks'' own Talent being S+ rank!"
"Both of them haven''t lost a match yet. This is going to be insane!"
''So that''s what made everyone so quiet!''
Alex had already filled in the nks from the short pieces of information he had gleaned from the audience.
''So he''s some rich kid who inherited his granddaddy''s talent? Let''s see if he lives up to all this hype.''
A demeaning smile flickered across Alex''s face. There was one group of people in society that Alex disliked the most.
The snobby upper ss brats who sh their egos around everywhere they go and cause pain for those weaker and poorer than them.
''It''s because of people like this that society has gone to shit.''
This was the first opponent that Alex actually felt danger from, but he still scoffed at such a thing.
Alex''s power all came from himself and his own efforts. Everything he had, he worked extremely hard for himself.
''Meanwhile, Niks over here was pampered from birth, probably fed copious amounts of beast cores and all kinds of other expensive elixirs that he hadn''t worked for.''
"I''ve heard about you. You got lucky with your fights so far, but this is where your luck ends." Niks spoke with a faint smile.
Alex''s eyebrows furrowed slightly, and responded.
"I think you''re getting luck and skill mixed up."
Niksughed but didn''t respond.
''What is this guy trying to do?''
Alex wasn''t impressed with the guy''s mediocre attempt at trying to get in his head.
He was already a little disappointed that the students of Capital Prime didn''t turn out to be as strong as he had hoped.
But he would dly put this guy born with a diamond spoon in his mouth, in his ce.
"Alex… Just a nobody who thinks he''s a somebody. This fight will be over before he can even touch Niks."
''Of course the guy has the typical cliché bunch ofckeys, whose only purpose is to throw around pointless insults and sow discord between two parties.''
A group of arrogant faced brats joined the audience, and immediately made their presence known with their loud mouths.
Strangely though, most of the spectators didn''t seem to disagree with what they were saying.
All of them had heard of the Stein family before, as anyone with a brain and an inte connection should have heard about them.
They had no doubts that Niks would wipe the floor with Alex, which Alex just found hrious.
''You guys haven''t seen anything yet!''
"Combatants, prepare for battle!"
In just a moment''s notice, the fight was about to start!