5 days passed since Erik''s and Amber''s spar. During this period, the young man trained as a madman, continually sparring with Amber, Floyd, and Gwen.


    During this period, his battle prowess increased by leaps and bounds, primarily thanks to Amber''s innate teaching talent.


    He still wasn''t on Floyd''s, Gwen''s, or Amber''s level, but he was on the right track, ording to his friends. Even professor McAllister saw his improvement andplimented him several times for his achievement.


    Though, If he was good enough to enter the Red Pce was unknown, Erik at least felt confident enough to try. He didn''t think he was bound to get a bad score in the tournament.


    As Erik prepared for the big event, the tournament''s rules came out. It was a simple single-elimination tournament in which around 352 studentspeted. Even if the event was open to all, only a few had enough confidence to join it. The school was able to amodate 176 fights all over the school campus, giving the students a hard time since the training field was random, and every student had to fight a match a day. After winning a match, the individual would move up into another bracket, with the tournamentsting ten days.


    Though on the sixth day, when only twenty-two individuals remained, the fighting stage would change to a ring, and the fights would be streamed on the school''s tform.


    Besides, if one made it to the sixth day, they would automatically be epted to join the Red Pce, meaning that Erik had to win just four fights to be epted into the Red Pce.


    Obviously, Erik wanted to show his fellow students how much he did change during this month. For this reason, the young man decided to try his best and get a good score at the tournament.


    Erik nned on trying harder than ever before, not only because he knew what awaited him if he lost but also because he had friends encouraging him, and that helped him train day and night. All of this was possible only thanks to the system and the power it granted him.


    Erik was currently seated in his ss with all his ssmates present. This was thest day of school, and the principal decided to end the lessons early to celebrate.


    Erik''sst high school ss was the link-establishing one with Professor O''Leary, and he was currently focusing on establishing neural links. As the young man focused, he felt mana circling inside his body; it was a tingling sensation that started in his brain and ended at his feet.


    It was a peculiar feeling that he knew was beneficial to him. Unfortunately, that day he couldn''t make another neural link; if he did, that would have been a good increase in his stats that could have given him an edge for the uing tournament.


    As the ss ended, Professor O''Leary decided to give a little speech to his students; he stood from his chair and addressed them: "My dear students! Today is your graduation day!" His voice echoed throughout the hall as the students cheered excitedly.


    Then, the teacher continued speaking, saying, "I want you to know that I''m proud of each and every one of my students here today." They apuded enthusiastically again, and after  the apuse died down once more, the old man said, "I know that some of you decided to join the tournament, so if you want to leave for training, then you are free to do so, but if you wish to stay then there is going to be a small feast in the cafeteria."


    The teacher talked for a couple of minutes more; he even addressed Erik, telling him he was happy that he could finally get a neural link.


    He was obviously unaware that Erik now had ten of them, despite most of them being useless since they didn''t improve his statistics. Though Erik knew that he was now a SIGMA2 ranked citizen, and albeit not being the one with the highest score or the strongest, he was at least able to defend himself.


    The students cheered loudly as they heard their teacher talk about a feast. After all, most of them looked forward to eating the food they would miss from that moment on and that they had eaten in the past two years every day.


    "I want to remind all of you that the tournament will take ce today at fifteen, so if you wish to see your friendspeting, you better not bete!"


    And so everyone left their seats and headed toward the exit. Soon after, the teachers followed suit, leaving only a couple behind, among witch was Erik.


    The young man preferred going to the gym, where he knew Floyd, Gwen, and Amber were waiting for him; as he walked down the halls, Erik saw many tournament participants. They had anxious looks on their faces. Since the day of the announcement, the young men and women went into a training frenzy, hoping to gain that edge that would make them strong enough to enter the Red Pce.


    Though, not every student learned how to fight, preferring to spend their days as peacefully as possible before entering the military, where their training would start.


    The ones who decided to join were those with a little bit of experience under their belt. Today the preliminaries were going to start, and since half the participants were going to be eliminated today, most of the students were very nervous.


    Maybe they had what it took for them to join the Red Pce, but if they were unlucky enough to meet a strong opponent early, this would prevent them from joining the ce.


    When Erik entered the gym, he saw that Floyd, Gwen, and Amber were already there. They weren''t alone, though, as all the top students were training and sparring among themselves.


    The favorite to win the tournament, Nathaniel was sparring 2v1 against Karl and Natasha, his two friends. He was fighting two people together and was known for having won countless duels like this.


    Karl was a tall man with long blonde hair tied up in a ponytail, while Natasha was a short woman with ck hair; she always had her bangs covering part of her face.


    Both of them were good fighters, but neither could beat Nathaniel. His martial art wasn''t the best among the top students, with him only being the third, behind Amber and Anderson, though, his power was uncontested when he used his brain crystal, since it was easy to use, very precise and had a lot of power.


    Even though he was in his prime right now, he still trained hard and kept improving his skills. If anything, Nathaniel was the perfect example of someone who wanted to be stronger, no matter the cost.


    If things went as Erik estimated, Nathaniel would win the tournament, with Andersoning second. Erik was sure of this since they were unmatched in school.


    Even if Anderson''s destructive power was higher than Nathaniel''s, he couldn''t carelessly use it when so many people were present. Besides, he had to be careful since he could kill Nathaniel himself.


    As Erik met with his friends, he, Amber, Gwen, and Floyd decided to start their training. They wanted to start the tournament in their best condition, and a friendly spar was everything they needed to be in top shape before the tournament started.


    Like that, Erik''sst training session began, and the students prepared themselves for the big fights that would start soon. When the bell rang at fifteen, signaling the end of sses, all thepetitors rushed out of the ssrooms, eager topete.


    It was almost time to start the draw, which would decide who would fight whom.