Enrico had a clear victory, earning six points and one more point for intelligence at the end, giving him a total of seven points in his first round.
'Damn, I wanted to win without taking any damage, but that spell that blinded me messed everything up.'
[Looks like your plan to earn points didn't go too well, I'm really sad about that.]
As Enrico had already said, not all his plans would work, so he would have to use his backup plan—and even if that failed, he had a third one.
'It doesn't matter. Even if one plan fails, I've got more, and even if the third plan doesn't work, I'll adapt and find a way.'
Enrico's vision had returned to normal after Franchesco fainted, so he was watching the fights of Group F from the stands above, analyzing every image transmitted to maximize his chances of victory.
'From what I can see, Franchesco and Sakura will be the easiest to face.'
One of the fights was Sakura versus Nicholas, who, despite struggling, was clearly winning his match. Sakura had a strength-based magic, which was surprising since she was from Tsuyokuni, where such magic didn't exist.
[She's half orc and half human. She only looks like that because she takes after her human side.]
'Now that makes sense.'
"Go, daughter! You can do it!"
"Why are those two shouting if the girl can't even hear them?"
They heard some voices and shouts nearby—it was a man and an orc. Apparently, they were her parents. The surrounding voices were of people annoyed by how loud those two were.
'How noisy, their daughter doesn't seem to have the same personality as the two of them'
[Maybe she was raised by her grandparents?]
"That's incredible! What a comeback!"
Before he could answer the system, Enrico heard one of the commentators' excited voices. Turning his attention back to the fight, in a sudden turn, Sakura was pressuring Nicholas with multiple glowing red punches.
'She's stronger than I thought… but still not enough.'
Even under that pressure, Nicholas found an opening and created an earth sword that slashed her abdomen. With focused eyes, he made another strike toward her arm.
"Strength Magic: Muscle Strength!"
The sword hit her arm but couldn't cut through. From Enrico's point of view, her muscles had hardened like metal.
'I guess I was wrong about this fight.'
The two began exchanging blows nonstop. Sakura's fists seemed even stronger, and yet Nicholas didn't back down—in fact, he increased his speed, dodging several of her strikes.
'Earth Sword: Magical Concentration!'
'Charged Fist!'
Nicholas's sword pierced Sakura's abdomen at the same time her fist hit his face. Both tried to remain standing, but as if all their magic had drained, they began to lose consciousness.
"This match ends in a draw."
With that, they each gained only two points, tying and staying ahead of Franchesco, who had lost to Enrico.
"Decisive victory for Lira!"
In another broadcast, Liang was unconscious while Lira had no visible damage on her body, which made Enrico sigh. Without a doubt, she would be the biggest problem in the group.
"The matches for Groups F, D, E, H, and A have ended. The other five groups will be broadcast this afternoon. Those who wish to wait can stay in the lounge, and those who leave must bring their IDs to return to their assigned seats later."
With that, the morning matches were over. The first group he checked was Group A, where Victoria was. As expected, she scored ten points. Elaris also won her match with eight points.
'They're doing well. Now only Roberto has to win his to make it a full victory in the first round. Now let's see my group's results.'
First place: Lira Xuefeng – 9 points
Second place: Enrico Solcren Ferreira – 7 points
Third place: Nicholas and Sakura Himari – 2 points
Fourth place: Franchesco Giovanni and Liang Xuanwu – 0 points
'Liang must be feeling down right now. I'll try to cheer him up later.'
[But isn't it Kael who knows him, not your Enrico identity?]
'…You're right. Forget it.'
Turning around, Enrico went back to his room. Since tomorrow would be the second round, he needed to train a bit to perfect his new magic, which he had learned thanks to Virelle.
'Let's head back first. I already said I'd stay in my room yesterday, so they shouldn't be worried.'
Deciding to check his stats, he noticed they had increased by one percent compared to two days ago. Thanks to so much hard training, his synchronization percentage had reached thirty-five percent in just a few weeks since the day he sacrificed one of his circles.
If combined with the power of his ring and the advantage from sacrificing his circle, he would actually be at about seventy-five percent power.
'If I could use the fire ring and the water pendant at the same time, that would boost me even more.'
The problem was that those two elements were too opposite, making it hard to balance them when used together. Moreover, he had made a personal pact with the system: if he wanted to store things, he had to give something of the same category in exchange.
'It's funny how I feed it food, and it never gives anything back.'
[Are you complaining about me? If you want, we can go outside and settle this right now.]
'If I could, I'd love to—but I've got more important things to do.'
Entering his room, he locked the door and went straight to the bathroom. Since he didn't want to cause a huge mess in his room, he would use that magic at a lower level inside the bathtub filled with water.
'Tomorrow will be the fight against Nicholas, and since he's a reincarnator, I have to be careful.'
Elsewhere, that same Nicholas was meditating, surrounded by a brown energy. His skin was slowly turning brown over time.
'Just a bit more and I'll evolve this earth magic.'
When he opened his eyes, there was a dark brown glow in them. Looking at his hands, he clenched them into fists and closed his eyes again.
'Today I'll do it.'