Ascent of Hero on the Dragon Throne

Isis and Marin had taken their seats. Each drowned in their thoughts. But without a doubt, all they had was the same views over the same person.

Suddenly, a man shot beside Lance.

"Be on full alert to his every step," Lance ordered the man, whose eyes gazed in one direction.

In a twinkle of an eye, the man had already vanished into thin air.

Before long, the second half of the first round started which implied to be confused. The fifteen spirit manipulator with their spirit-manipulated beasts set out from their positions and travelled in the bamboo forest.

In theory, they would first search for the spirit manipulators of the same military camp. This was to strike up a friendship so that they would be on the same page. It would produce joint efforts to fight against the others. But this wasn't definite since they could first bump into an enemy rather than a friend. This was because the bamboo forest was dense and the paths in it were complicated.

If they encountered someone powerful, they didn't have to be strained or fear to send shudders up their spine. The rules allowed them to avert clashing. Specifically, once they collided into a sturdy opponent, they could withdraw from the separate paths. If luck fell on their side, they would meet their comrade-in-arms. On the contrary, they would be insulted back and forth.

In a few moments, two spirit manipulators, respectively at the ninth grade of the Earthly Stage and the sixth grade of the Earthly Stage, came face to face with each other. They were from the east-southeast military camp, the strongest of the six military camps. Dunn was the man at the ninth grade of the Earthly Stage. The Deputy Commander of the east-southeast military camp and the most powerful one of this rank, he was a minor hero in the Crimson Dragon Group and was even more robust than some Frontline Commanders of the base camp. Weighing by the power he had, he should have been promoted as Frontline Commander much earlier. It was truly regrettable that he was hubris and impulsive. Despite him having strengths and capabilities, he was not submissive to authority. So he had never been placed in a distinguished position.

Dunn was the most promising spirit manipulator to win the first place of the competition and be promoted as Frontline Commander. Since he had

asked in a cold face.

"Don't lie to me. How could you show compassion to me?" the spirit manipulator asked, still dubious about Rocky's intention regarding it's a dog eat dog world. According to the procedures, once a spirit manipulator was conquered or lost vitality, he would be knocked out. However, if Rocky pardoned him, he nevertheless could pursue his contest.

"Incredible as it seems!" Rocky said before he turned away with Uriah.

Watching Rocky leave, the spirit manipulator sighed a whiff of relief and headed to the other direction with his spirit-manipulated beast. Finally, the storm had passed.

Till the spirit manipulator had gone. Rocky and Uriah came back and went after him.

"How dumb is he to conclude I would let him go scot-free with no cost? I just made you my bait," Rocky muttered to himself, obtaining gratification from his shrewd conjecture.

The truth was, Rocky took advantage of the spirit manipulator to explore the way for him. If he encountered more than two allied spirit manipulators of other military camps, retreating would be an uphill task and would be instant. Instead, if he encountered a single weak spirit manipulator, he could stand out to overthrow the spirit manipulator and make him as his new bait. Such a strategy could guarantee him to elude the spirit manipulators that were mightier than him so that he could be one of the seven winners who could enter the second round easily.

However, when he followed the spirit manipulator, a shadow flashed after him, but it disappeared swiftly.