She spent quite a lot of time in the garden admiring all kinds of strange flowers that she had never seen before. Although it might sound boring, it was quite an interesting activity for her, certainly more interesting than talking to those annoying people.

  After spending a lot of time alone, she finally decided to go back, guessing that the tournament would start soon. When she returned to the building, many people approached her, including Senlin.

  “Where have you been? We were getting a little worried about you.” Senlin said with concern.

  “I just needed some fresh air. I felt a little dizzy."

  “You could have told someone.” she said, shaking her head.

  “Yes, yes, I’m sorry.”

  “Anyway, we don't have much time left. The tournament is about to start, and many people have already gone to find their seats. Come on, we have to take off these stupid dresses and put on our real armor.”

  The two girls went to change into more appropriate outfits.

  The tournament was actually fought without weapons, using only martial arts. After all, they didn't want any of the children to get injured. Of course, the absence of sharp weapons did not guarantee that no one would get hurt.

  “Hey, you said you felt dizzy, is it okay for you to participate?” Senlin asked

  “Yes, I feel better now.”

  Everyone had already left the changing room, and they were almost all ready. The atmosphere before the tournament was intense, as by now everyone understood what the main prize meant. No one was going to give up easily.

  When May left the changing room, all eyes were on her. She was considered the favorite to win the tournament. Unfortunately, she wasn't certain of her victory.

  She sighed quietly and sat down next to Chen. They sat there in silence.

  A few moments later, a woman came into the room and announced the first participants of the tournament. It was a girl from class A and a boy from class B. The girl seemed vaguely familiar, but the boy was a complete stranger to her.

  I wonder how they choose the opponents. Could it be rigged?

  It wouldn't be surprising if they set up the opponents so that the most exciting ones were saved for last. The important thing in tournaments like this was crowd satisfaction.

  Everyone came out to watch them fight. It was their first fight, so everyone was curious to see how it would play out.

  The seats were not full. Only about half of them were taken. It was easy to tell who was the most important person there based on where they were sitting.

  Two children came out to the center of the arena. In the middle stood someone who looked like a referee. He was an extremely muscular man with long black hair and huge blue tattoos on his arms that formed intricate patterns. He briefly explained the rules.

  Basically, you could give up at any time by shouting “stop” or tapping your hand on the ground, which meant instant defeat. Losing consciousness was also considered a loss. Interestingly, the referee had no right to stop the match, even in a life-threatening situation. In other words, even if someone was bleeding to death, the referee would not stop the match until the participant gave up. It was a little abstract to her, but this world had its own rules.

  The boy looked at the girl with superiority. He was more than 10 cm taller than her. Although he was in a lower class, he was certainly much bigger than her physically.

  From what she had heard from Chen and Senlin, their cultivation stages were actually the same - Qi Refinement Late 2 stage, but they were in different classes, which was due to the fact that the girl had much better talent.

  This meant that although the girl had higher talent, they were currently at roughly the same level in terms of cultivation. That was why the boy was the current favorite and why he was currently looking down on the girl.

  “I'm not going easy on you just because you are a girl. Know that all cultivators are equal.”

  “Fight me like you would anyone else.”

  “I advise you to give up quickly, I won't hesitate to break your bones. I come from a family with a long tradition of martial arts. And looking at you, I doubt you have any experience. I don't know how you're a class above me.”

  “Stop talking so much and let's finally get to the fight.”

  The referee waited until they had finished talking, as the crowd was excited. It was also part of the show, they liked how they talked to each other. When the referee noticed that they had finished talking, he signaled for the match to begin.

  The boy immediately jumped towards the girl. She clearly didn't expect him to attack her right away and clumsily stepped back, losing her balance. The boy aimed his fist at her.

  Before she could react in any way, she was struck with full force in the face. The boy did not stop and continued to beat her. She tried to stand up, but was unable to. She tried to defend herself by kicking and trying to break free, but she was powerless. Finally, she grabbed the boy by his long hair and pulled it down with all her strength.

  The boy groaned in pain and grabbed his head with his hands, trying to soothe the pain. The girl took advantage of the opportunity, quickly got up and punched him straight in the nose.

  The boy quickly came to his senses and grabbed her with all his strength by the shoulders and punched her in the face as hard as he could.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  The girl screamed and fell down. Blood was pouring from her nose. The boy didn't stop and the girl couldn't take it anymore and started hitting the ground aggressively with her hand.

  The referee immediately grabbed the boy to stop him. The fight was over, and he had won. The girl was lying on the ground, and several people ran up to her. May suspected that they were probably medics.

  It was a very brutal fight with no trace of elegance. The fighters were still not skilled enough in martial arts, so it was just a dirty fight, like two drunks outside a bar.

  However, the crowd loved it, shouting and cheering, applauding the winner, who raised his arms in victory. It was the first time in a very long time that they had had such fun. The fight and the blood had been incredibly thrilling.

  Although May didn't want to admit it, she herself watched the whole event with fascination.

  In a world devoid of entertainment, even the smallest form of passing time was highly desirable.

  But it reminds me of what I should do. There were hundreds of forms of entertainment on Earth. Just one would be enough to give me money for everything I need.

  Of course, she wasn't thinking of anything complicated like phones or movies, but rather simple games like chess, checkers, or even a regular deck of cards. Although there were some games here, they were nothing like those on Earth and were generally boring.

  However, these are still plans for the future. Right now, I should focus on the tournament. I wonder who's up next.

  The next match was announced a few minutes later. This time, someone she knew was fighting. In fact, two people she knew. Jun Chen and Deng Zhifang. To be honest, she wasn't rooting for either of them. She barely knew Chen, and she wasn't fond of Zhifang.

  Frankly, I don't care at all. But it could be an interesting fight. I wonder when I'll be fighting?

  They both entered the arena.

  May didn't pay attention to them as they started talking to each other, and she wasn't interested in that aspect. She began to think about something else.

  There are 16 of us, if I'm not mistaken? So there will be four rounds and a total of 15 fights? If I'm counting correctly...

  They finally finished talking and started fighting. That's when May snapped out of her thoughts and focused on the tournament again.

  Zhifang and Chen did not attack each other immediately like the fighters in the first match, but appeared to be awaiting the right moment. They were like wild animals waiting for an opportunity to hunt their prey. This was in stark contrast to the first fight.

  This continued for several minutes, and it was clear that the audience was getting impatient; they seemed bored by the fight.

  Finally, however, Chen attacked first. He couldn't withstand the pressure of the crowd. He ran up at high speed and positioned himself to strike him in the face. It was clear that this was real martial arts and not random movements like in the first fight.

  Zhifang, however, did not let himself be hit and avoided the move in a very artistic way. May thought that he looked a bit like a cheerleader. His movements were almost dance-like. Could this be the true nature of the martial art he is learning? She was impressed that he had mastered it to such an extent. Once again, however, she felt that something was wrong with him.

  It was immediately clear who had the upper hand. Zhifang completely dominated the blacksmith's son. His movements were a little too extravagant, but they seemed to work. On Earth, something like this would have been laughed at, but in a world where mythical energy existed, it made more sense than traditional martial arts.

  It really looks like something out of a movie. Seeing it, I think he's stronger than me.

  Her only advantage was her level of cultivation, which gave her a slight physical advantage. Her strength, endurance, and speed statistics were above average. Even though she was only 8 years old, she was already at the level of an adult world-class athlete.

  However, it would be difficult for me to defeat him. I haven't mastered my martial arts to that level. She decided to take a look at her profile.

  She had mastered three percent of Water Knight Art at the beginner level. However, even that was only possible thanks to her incredible talent. Others would not have been able to make such progress. It was just as her martial arts teacher had said. Water Knight Art was really too esoteric and strange. Although she had made some progress in such a short time, she still felt that in a real fight, it would not be much more useful than random movements.

  Her experience also clearly told her this. She had already had a few practice fights with other students in class and was unable to use this martial art in practice. It was just too strange. Others focused on clear and specific movements, but this martial art was the exact opposite and was based more on change? She wasn't sure herself. What does that mean in practice? She rarely managed to perform any movement correctly.

  In a word, this martial art is useless for now. Unless I master it at a higher level, using it does me more harm than good. Ironically, even though I'm learning a martial art, I can't use it.

  She began to wonder what her teacher was thinking when he told her to learn something so useless. She could only hope that at a higher level she would actually be able to use it.

  For now, however, she had to rely only on herself.

  She looked at her profile and decided that her only advantage was her stats, which were much higher than everyone else's. She also had a few skills, but they weren't useful in combat, at least not yet.

  Potion Shelter could be useful, but there was a strict ban on the use of items and weapons. So even if she wanted to, she couldn't use the potion to activate this skill because she would be immediately disqualified. Besides, she wasn't eager to reveal her abilities yet. She preferred to keep them a secret for now.

  She still hadn't been able to use this skill once since she drew it on the wheel of fortune. It crossed her mind to try again, but she quickly stopped herself. She had lost too much gambling.

  After a few minutes, the fight between the two boys finally came to an end, and as she had expected, the blacksmith's son fell to the ground, giving up.

  There were a few more minutes of waiting. Finally, it was her turn.

  “May Shang vs. Izzy Volenbaum!”

  Fuck, why do I have to fight the tournament organizer’s daughter? Wouldn’t it be embarrassing to eliminate her in the first round?