Emery took a deep breath to calm his excited nerves and started to regulate the spirit energy in his cores. With him having a smoother process channeling his vigorous spirit force, he could also feel the prowess of his Spirit reading had been elevated as well.

There was not much increase in its range, but the quality of the skill itself was upgraded to an obvious degree.

Previously, Emery could only tell the standard of his opponent's strength in some rough estimation, now he could tell for sure that Giovanni, the huge man standing in front of him with a large blade on his shoulder, was a rank 9 acolyte with six pillars formed.

This was an individual on the same level as the strongest person in elite class 7, Orycon. But this revelation certainly did not worry Emery even a bit, let alone falter him. After all, he was able to stay on par with Orycon without using all he had.

Instead of thinking of the upcoming match as a hard-fought battle, Emery's mindset leaned more towards the thought that this match would be a good practice to pick up what he left off and learn to adapt to his newfound improved strength.

Emery took out his tier 4 sword, before taking his own fighting stance, ready to fight the opponent before him.

"You! New kid! Rank 68?" Giovanni scoffed before he continued his words. "The test result must be wrong! Just go back to where you came from. You don't deserve to be here."

Unexpectedly, Emery felt annoyed by the other party's words. He tried to force himself to calm down, it seemed to have little effect as he replied to the insult.

"Yes, I will after kicking your ass!"

Veins seemed to pop on Giovanni's forehead when he heard Emery's words, however, he didn't say anything more. Instead, the large man's body was suddenly engulfed by a powerful discharge of spirit force. It bursted outwards and enveloped every part of the former's body, before he stomped the ground and darted towards Emery.

Swish!

The air seemed to be sliced apart as Giovanni swung the blade in his hand. It was a powerful slash that could easily cut Emery's head off the neck and instantly kill him if it landed, however, Emery dodged it with ease by taking a sideways step.

A moment after, the tip of the blade suddenly made a sharp turn in the air like lightning and followed the direction where he moved, making its way to its initial target: his neck.

"Huh? Even his sword skill is as strong as Orycon," Emery thought, as his hand reflexively moved and blocked the blade with his sword.

Clang! A loud sharp sound rang out in the air, as the two metals clashed against each other. Emery's body was sent half a dozen steps backwards, as the force behind Giovanni's strike was a bit much for his reflex reaction.

"Huh?!" Giovanni said, raising his eyebrow. "You are full of shit! Come fight me seriously!"

Emery rolled his eyes at his opponent's blatant taunt. The latter launched an attack so suddenly before and now acted like he was the victim by blaming him for not fighting seriously. He was really lost for words.

For a moment, Emery considered the thought of using his spells to win, but he changed his mind in the end. This was a good time to check the limit of his new physical form after all.

When Giovanni came charging in his direction again, Emery quickly focused his concentration on certain meridian points and used his powerful battle art.

[Immortal Gate - stage 5]

[Battle power increased by 32 points]

[Battle power 136 (168)]

"Arghh!!," Emery cried a little as the battle art took effect.

There was a second wave of pain that appeared, as all the muscles in his body suddenly bulged due to the boost. Even so, such pain was not as significant as the tremendous enhancement he was given.

Seeing the large blade come for him once again, Emery gripped his sword with both hands before brandishing it in front of his chest. He wanted to block Giovanni's strike directly and compare their strength now that his battle power had further increased.

CLANK!

This time, the powerful swing that sent Emery flying earlier was not able to make his feet move a step. It did not even manage to make the hand holding the sword tremble.

At the moment, Giovanni's face was staring down at him. Their faces were so close that Emery could clearly smell the other party's foul breath. This, however, only made him frown a little, not affecting him at all.

"Huh! I guess your power is not bad, but a lower realm like you will never win against a great sword master like me!" Giovanni sneered.

He quickly drew his blade back and retreated. While taking a few steps back, he prepared to launch his battle art, then shouted what seemed to be the name of his battle art out loud.

"Star Revolving Sword!"

In a matter of seconds, multiple purple orbs of lightning materialized all around Giovanni, as he made his stance. At first glance, the battle art felt very powerful. However, Emery wouldn't let assumptions get the best of him. Of course, he would also not underestimate his opponent.

A massive grin was on Giovanni's face, making him look like a maniac for a moment. "Hahaha, accept your surrender or die!!"

Swish!

The man's figure seemed to disappear, as he dashed at breakneck speed. It was also at this moment that Emery saw the former swing his blade again, but this time, the slash was so fast it looked like there were three blades swinging at the same time.

However,

Clankk!! Clank!! Clankkk!

Emery was able to see through all the attacks and feints Giovanni threw at him, blocking them all with absolute perfection. This extraordinary sight naturally stunned everyone, especially his own opponent Giovanni.

"What?!" That can't be! There's no way you just did that! Where did you learn my skill before?!" Giovanni's voice had turned shrill at this point, disbelief was apparent in it, as he really couldn't believe what his eyes had just seen.

The man became furious and decided to strike again. This time, he seemed to move even faster, as Emery could see four blades coming at him. In response, he quickly used the [Weeping Phantom] steps to dodge and block all of them flawlessly.

Clankk! Clank!! Clankkk! Clank!!

Even though his attack once again failed, Giovanni didn't stop like before. Instead, he quickly delivered another round of slashes that Emery gladly welcomed. A faint smile could be seen on Emery's face, as he parried and blocked the former's attacks.

The huge man continued his relentless assault. Several good minutes had passed, but Emery did not see any improvement nor variations in his opponent's attacks. He both out strength and out skill his opponent. His attempt to practice and learn his newfound power was apparently unsuccessful against this particular acolyte.

He shook his head and commented, "This is getting boring!"

Upon hearing such words, Giovanni, being a very proud man, became incredibly enraged. Inwardly, he vowed to make Emery regret saying those words.

However, when he was shouting for the next attack like he always did, Emery already prepared a gift for him. He had mustered all the strength in his body and channeled it into both of his arms. It was as if the current Emery was a bow whose string had been drawn to its maximum and was ready to unleash all its might.

Emery maneuvered his sword around and swung it toward his opponent's chest, smashing Giovanni with his newfound 168 battle power.

BAM!!!

ARGHHHHHH!!!

It wasn't even a battle art attack but the strike was so powerful that made Giovanni scream in agony the moment it landed. It sent him flying a dozen steps away and brought the huge man to his knees. The latter's eyes turned red, before he suddenly spurted out a mouthful of blood and fell flat on the ground. His body was twitching violently, as if he was in a seizure.

One of the senior staff immediately rushed to the arena and squatted down next to Giovanni, before examining his condition. After a while, the staff stood up and announced the result.

"The winner is Emery Ambrose!!"

The result quickly brought surprise to all the other acolytes and magus who watch the match

Right as the staff announced Emery's victory, a notification appeared in his mind.

[Your Privilege rank has increased to 91]

And just like that, Emery won his first match with one hit against a privileged acolyte.

It was such an exhilarating feeling for him, he brought his clenched fist high into the air and opened his mouth.

"Who's next?!!"