The Almighty Cultivator

Chapter 7

Loud laughter rolled through the combat hall as Chris climbed onto the platform.

Diego watched him approach with a mocking smile, but Chris met his gaze without the slightest hesitation.

“You think I am afraid of you?” Chris asked. “If anything, I am afraid that you might get hurt so badly that you will never recover.”

The noise from the crowd rose until it was almost deafening.

“He was only trying to be kind to you!” one of the candidates shouted. “Yet you are insulting him for it.”

“You should be grateful that someone of Diego’s standing is willing to fight a worthless nobody like you,” another added.

Their words did not disturb Chris. His attention remained on the spiritual energy flowing through Diego’s body. It pulsed around his stolen core, then spread through his arms and legs in bright streams that only Chris could see.

The coordinator pointed towards the weapon racks lining the walls.

“You may both select any weapon you want.”

Diego glanced at the polished swords, spears, and staffs before turning back to Chris.

“Go ahead and take the finest weapon you can find,” he said. “You will need every advantage you can get.”

Chris’s face remained calm.

“There is no need for me to carry a weapon just to defeat you.”

Diego raised his brows. “Are you certain about that?”

“I am completely certain.”

The confidence in Chris’s voice drew another wave of angry murmurs from the crowd. Diego’s smile stiffened, but it returned a moment later.

“Since you are so confident, I will allow you to strike first.”

Chris stepped forward without another word and threw a punch towards Diego’s face.

The blow was neither fast nor powerful. Diego easily leaned aside, allowing Chris’s fist to pass harmlessly beside his cheek.

Laughter erupted throughout the hall.

“That is the weakest punch I have ever seen!”

“He did not even put any strength into it.”

“Was that truly his best attempt?”

Diego laughed until tears gathered at the corners of his eyes.

“I expected more from someone so desperate to enter Capricorn Academy,” he said. “This is not even a fight. It is a complete waste of everyone’s time.”

The candidates joined him, but their mockery meant nothing to Chris. None of them understood that he had never expected the punch to land.

He had thrown it to test the strange sight given to him by the black core.

Before Diego moved, Chris had seen the spiritual energy inside his opponent shift towards his right leg. A thin current then rose through his waist and gathered in his left shoulder. Only after those changes did Diego lean aside.

His body had followed the energy perfectly.

A quiet confidence settled inside him and a smile curved into his lips.

“I believe it is your turn now,” Chris said. “You promised to finish this with one blow, did you not?”

Diego’s laughter faded.

“You still have the courage to provoke me after that miserable display?”

“I am merely giving you the opportunity to prove that your stolen core was not wasted on you.”

The words wiped the remaining amusement from Diego’s face. His hands curled into fists as silver energy burst from his chest and spread across his body.

“I will defeat you with one blow.”

The crowd roared in approval. Their voices shook the combat hall as Diego lowered his body and gathered every trace of power the nine-ring core could produce.

Chris watched the streams of energy twist around Diego’s legs before surging towards his right arm. The current grew brighter and more violent with every passing second.

Diego was not merely trying to win. He wanted every tutor and student inside the hall to remember his strength. If he destroyed Chris with one strike, nobody would question whether he deserved to become Capricorn Academy’s most celebrated new student.

The coordinator stepped back as the pressure rolling from Diego cracked the stone beneath his feet.

“I have never seen a candidate display such power before entering the academy,” he whispered.

Rachel’s worried expression slowly changed into a smile. She had watched Diego take Chris’s perfect core, and now everyone would finally witness the future she had chosen for herself.

Diego pushed off the platform.

He crossed the distance with such speed that most of the candidates could not follow him. To them, he became a streak of silver light racing directly towards Chris.

Chris saw something different.

He saw the energy inside Diego’s body reach his shoulder. He saw it coil around his elbow, flood his wrist, and gather behind his knuckles before the punch was released.

The blow struck with enough force to send a violent blast across the platform. Dust exploded into the air, hiding both fighters as cracks spread through the stone beneath them.

Diego remained in the middle of the dust with a broad smile on his face. He had placed all his strength behind that attack. There was no possibility that a coreless nobody could have survived it.

The crowd fell quiet as the dust slowly cleared.

Diego’s smile vanished.

Chris was still standing in the same place. His clothes had not been torn, there was not a single wound on his body, and the calm expression on his face had not changed.

Silence seized the entire hall.

Chris looked at Diego and smiled.

“Was that all?” he asked. “I expected better from you.”