The clamor of the young nobles soon increased and they began to bet, or increase their bets, frantically. The minimum bet was a large gold coin.

  "These nobles are so poor that the only thing they have is money to throw away…" Alexander scoffed. "But it's not as if all of this is bad."

  The bet amounts were high, with few people betting the minimum. All the others bet more to win more, especially those who placed bets on the favorite to win, a student named Jason.

  About 50% of the students bet on the "favorite." The rest concentrated on four possible underdogs.

  When the bets dwindled, the "manager" of the "Betting" took out 1 small coin that shone with a beautiful black hue and bet on Jason.

  "So this is what a black diamond coin looks like…" admired Alexander, his eyes lit up by the captivating shine of the coin.

  Upon realizing they had fallen into the Betting owner's scheme, the students who bet on Jason became furious, but none of them had, or were willing to bet, 1 small black diamond coin.

  Seeing that the prize had surpassed 2 small black diamond coins in total, Alexander took out 1 large gold coin and bet on himself, as it was an amount worth revealing his strength to obtain.

  Feeling the discontented gaze of the people upon him, the betting manager became anxious and passed the container with the prize to Lucas, the judge. That way, according to him, it would be more transparent.

  Upon seeing the reward in Lucas's hands, the students began to accept the situation and started to prepare for the fights.

  Once the tournament began, the disparity between the students was revealed, for although everyone had power and potential, some did not know how to use it and others did, as was the case with Jason, who won without unsheathing his sword.

  The climax of the first fights was when the student who managed the betting booth stepped up to fight, because his fight was against a student who clearly harbored resentment towards him.

  The instant the fight began, the Betting manager and his technique, which contrasted with his frivolous personality in applying blows, surprised everyone.

  His footwork, which could only be described as incredible, allowed him to dodge most of the blows with ease. And those he couldn't dodge were skillfully parried by his sword.

  Alexander was enchanted and full of desire for such a technique. "Even those who wish to deceive others with small schemes have some hidden ace in this place?"

  "I really did the right thing by evolving before starting at this academy," he thought. "Because without my current strength and attributes, I would be pressured by the technical quality of several of the other students."

  When it was Alexander's turn to enter the arena, the fight didn't last long, because his opponent, who leaned towards the magical side of hybrid combat, wasn't as strong and had more power than he could properly control.

  "I won't show more than necessary," he pondered. "I'll only use my speed to end this."

  With his action plan defined, Alexander stopped dodging and began to attack.

  Upon noticing his adversary was getting more and more frightened, he increased his speed even more, to scare him further, and kicked him out of the arena.

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  "My control still leaves something to be desired," he concluded. "It's better I take advantage of the initial fights to get a bit more accustomed to my power."

  The fights, which continued for several rounds without much time to rest, showed why Jason was the favorite in the bets. His physical capacities were already considerable, but the mastery he demonstrated in unsheathing his sword was truly impressive.

  When the "semi-finals" began, a student proudly entered the arena to face Jason.

  "You've improved again, Jason," said the young man who entered the arena. "But this time it will be different. Today I will defeat you and prove that I am the strongest student among the rookies of the Twin Combats Academy."

  "You are a good opponent, Hector," replied Jason excitedly, as if this were finally an interesting fight. "But you can't beat me."

  "Think what you want, because I will win," affirmed Hector, as if saying that to himself as well.

  The moment he finished speaking, Hector advanced like lightning and began exchanging sword blows with Jason.

  The other students were perplexed when the exchange of blows began. But as soon as the astonishment passed, they began to cheer for finally having an intense and balanced match to watch.

  Initially neither side had an apparent advantage. But as the fight progressed, it became clear that Jason was faster than Hector.

  Upon feeling this, Hector released a wave of fire from his body and made Jason retreat. The strange thing is that the wave of fire didn't seem like a spell.

  Hector didn't miss the opportunity he managed to create and launched several fire element spells at Jason.

  "|Fireball|."

  "|Fire Arrow|."

  "|Large Fireball|."

  Jason didn't stay still when he saw the barrage of spells. His face became very serious and he used a magical skill. "|Wind Cloak|."

  After its invocation, a greenish energy covered Jason's body and amplified his speed and agility again.

  With his new speed, Jason managed to dodge the |Fireball| and the |Fire Arrow|. But even with this speed it was impossible for him to dodge or get out of the range of the |Large Fireball|, which was clearly a Tier I version of the basic spell |Fireball|.

  Upon noticing there was no way to avoid the spell in time, Jason used another buff, |Wind Feet|, planted himself on the ground and began channeling energy into his sword, which began to glow.

  When the |Large Fireball| got very close, he attacked it and cut it from top to bottom with his sword.

  The most impressive thing about this move wasn't that Jason managed to cut the spell and pass through it before the explosion, it was that his momentum didn't stop there and in the same movement he defeated Hector by placing the sword at his neck.

  Seeing the match end in such an exciting way, the students celebrated with enthusiasm, especially those who bet on Jason. After all, a part of the profit, even if small, is better than the loss.

  This excitement continued until the next semi-final was announced and Alexander and a young woman entered the arena to face each other.

  The young woman who was Alexander's opponent seemed delicate and focused on magic, but her main form of attack was a very thin sword, which resembled a dueling sword. The fighting style and form of combat she presented were very similar to Jason's, but with a technique more focused on speed than strength.

  The speed she demonstrated was truly extreme and she knew how to use it well to suffocate her opponents with blows until defeating them. An advantage with which she managed to surpass even the footwork technique of the student who opened the betting booth.

  "Good thing I'm already a bit accustomed to this evolution," thought Alexander while analyzing his opponent. "Without it, it would be very difficult to keep up with the speed of her attacks."

  Alexander and the young swordswoman were very serious from the beginning. As soon as the fight began, the woman used a combination of |Wind Feet| and |Wind Cloak| while Alexander used |Magical Body Strengthening| and |Run|.

  As soon as the two collided and their weapons clashed, the woman was pushed back more than she would have liked and with trembling hands, after all, Alexander's attributes were those of a 2nd evolution creature.

  Surprisingly, the woman was not bothered and initiated a frenetic series of high-speed blows that surprised everyone. The longer the exchange of blows dragged on, the more people realized the stalemate they were in.

  The woman had greater technical quality and attack speed than Alexander, but his other attributes were superior, and this left her very overloaded to suffocate him with attacks.

  Feeling this was a great opportunity, he decided to take advantage of the enormous difference in vitality and energy between them to use her attacks to train his bodily control and his reaction capacity.

  This choice caused him a few cuts and some mental fatigue, but it also provided a development visible to the naked eye for those who were outside the arena watching the combat.