"Ha-ha-ha! You are defeated now, young man! I am the winner!" Dunn laughed loudly and proudly. He
looked at Rocky's beaten state and felt really proud of himself. Beating Rocky felt like a huge
achievement to Dunn; a seemingly insurmountable mountain that he was able to climb despite the
odds. 'Rocky is seriously injured after getting hit by my spiritual power. He will not have the strength left
to even stand back up, ' Dunn thought.
To Dunn's surprise, Rocky started to move and got himself up to a semi-standing position with the help
of his hands. Rocky was standing shakily as if the slightest wind could knock him back down. The mere
action of standing up seemed to have drained Rocky of all of his remaining strength. But he did it.
Beyond Dunn's expectations, Rocky was able to stand up again.
"That is impossible! How are you still standing even after my deadly attack!? I am sure that I have
injured you severely and you have almost no spiritual power left!" Dunn said as he tried to get over his
initial shock. Dunn stood mute and shocked as he tried hard to rationalize what had happened. He was
sure that Rocky should now be so close to death that the slightest of movements would be impossible
for him. He attacked Rocky with full force mere moments ago. Any other spirit manipulator would have
died or would be in a coma from that last attack. To stand up once more after that attack was
something that was beyond impossible.
But Rocky was able to do the impossible many times before. After he got hit by the maximum force of
Dunn's attack, Rocky was able to stand up once more beyond the expectations of everyone who
watched the battle unfold before them. A hundred questions crossed Dunn's mind regarding Rocky.
Questions that were brought by Rocky's ability to survive an attack that could have easily killed any
other spirit manipulator.
"Never be too sure of anything. A situation can change at any time. You are not the winner. No, not yet.
The true battle is just about to begin!" Rocky said coldly with a smile of contempt. He wiped the blood
from the edge of his lips and gave Dunn a challenging stare that made Dunn feel like Rocky was
belittling him.
"Don't worry. My next attack will kill you and end this battle completely!" Dunn was brought into a state
of anger by Rocky's arrogant statement. His face was flushed red with anger and frustration. He
wanted to just reach for Rocky's neck and strangle the life out of him. He felt so angry at Rocky right
now that it was all that he could do to hold it all back.
Rocky stood unsteadily as he stared at Dunn. It looked as if he would lose his balance at any time and
fall over. Rocky looked as if he exerted all of his strength just to stay standing. Everyone who watched
the confrontation was sure that Rocky would be completely defeated or even killed by Dunn's next
attack.
The people who watched the developments of the battle through the Illusory Mirror, were at the very
edge of their seats. They all admired Rocky's tenacity. Even though he displayed great stamina
throughout the final round, everyone was sure that Dunn would win the final round. There was a great
difference in strength between Rocky and Dunn and everyone was convinced that the game was
already decided. They all felt pity for Rocky for losing to Dunn.
But Rocky had constantly displayed an outstanding willpower. He was brave and resourceful
throughout all of the three rounds of the competition. He was definitely not an ordinary person even
though he seemed to be one at first glance. Everyone was astounded by his incredible performance in
the contest and they regarded Rocky differently now than before the start of the competition.
Everyone felt that Rocky was doomed to failure because of the difference in the strengths of Dunn and
Rocky. They felt that Rocky's strength was not as strong as Dunn's nor was it even close.
Isis and Marin glanced at each other. They thought of Rocky's true identity and the truth about his
hidden strength. They knew that Rocky had concealed a great deal about his true identity and many
other important things. It was because of Rocky's secretive nature that Isis felt it hard to trust Rocky
completely. And Marin felt the same. They both felt that Rocky was annoying because he was always
secretive. But they too, after they witnessed Rocky's outstanding performance and excellent character
in the three fierce rounds of the competition, had changed their impression of Rocky unconsciously.
And they had not noticed this change in themselves at all.
"And now everything must come to an end!" Lance was calm and collected. He was very pleased with
Rocky's performance in the three fierce rounds of the competition. He never planned to put a lot of
weight on the outcome of the third round. The single important thing for Lance was knowing that Rocky
was a truly talented young man. Although he started as a mere beast breeder in the northeast military
camp, Lance felt it was wise to harness and cultivate Rocky's potential.
Lance slowly raised his hand to give the order to end the third competition. When his hand was halfway
up, a huge, deep red flame burst forth and shot into the sky. The bursting flame shot forth in a pillar of
fire that radiated great heat energy.
Everyone who watched the battle through the Illusory Mirror had a hand or two up in front of their faces
to shield their eyes from the fierce bright red glow of the flame pillar. They couldn't understand what just
happened. The flame pillar moved suddenly as if it was controlled by someone. It swiftly changed
direction and flowed like a huge tentacle that was controlled by a sentient mind. It then moved and shot
directly towards Dunn just as Dunn was about to attack Rocky.
Dunn was surprised when he suddenly felt an intense heat that grew hotter with each passing second
just as he was about to launch another attack at Rocky; an attack that he planned to kill Rocky with.
The red flame pillar charged towards Dunn in a terrible blast of fire. Dunn was shocked and he felt cold
sweat all over his body even though the temperature in the area rose into a sweltering heat. Only his
battle experience and strength saved his life. Dunn stopped advancing towards Rocky and the red
violent flame also stopped attacking Dunn and moved towards Rocky's side.
"Great job, Uriah! I knew you could do it!" Rocky exclaimed excitedly. He smiled proudly as he looked
at Uriah. No one had any clue what Rocky had truly planned.
Dunn fixed his eyes on the deep red flame blast and realized that it came from a beast. The beast now
glowed with reddish-brown scales from head to the tip of its tail. Small flames burned steadily from the
gaps between its scales. It looked like a scaled beast that was made of flame.
"It appears that the spirit-manipulated beast has reached the third grade of the three-star level. But,
how is that possible!? How did it evolve all of a sudden?" Dunn was surprised as he recognized the
beast with reddish-brown scales. It was Uriah. He felt his hope of beating Rocky slowly burned within
the fires of Uriah's body.
Uriah emitted an energy sheath that was stronger than the Razor-claw Wolf Bear which was also of the
third grade of three-star level. Uriah's unexpected evolution transformed it into a more powerful spirit-
manipulated beast. And this change took everyone by surprise.
Dunn was not the only one who was surprised by Uriah's sudden evolution. Even Lance and everyone
else who was watching the developments of the third round were totally caught by surprise. They all
thought that Rocky was truly defeated but Uriah's evolution at the last crucial moment suddenly shifted
the tide of the final round. No one expected anything like this would happen.
It was normal for beasts to have physical changes after their evolution; claws grew longer and sharper,
limbs became stronger and more agile, they could run faster and so on. All were partial changes to the
beast's body. Everyone present, including Lance who had a deep experience with beasts, had never
seen any spirit-manipulated beast that had its entire body transformed after its evolution.
Uriah was obviously an exception. It transformed its entire body when it evolved from the second grade
of the three-star level to the third grade of the three-star level. And this surprised everyone.
They called this kind of evolution as mutation.
Mutations of spirit-manipulated beasts were always related to their natural body. People thought that
Uriah's mutation occurred normally when it reached a higher star level. When spirit-manipulated beasts
reached a higher star level, they could transform their body into a new shape. They might get one more
head, or two more limbs, or another tail and so on. Some spirit-manipulated beasts could get wings,
and in very rare circumstances, some changed their entire body into a completely new form. There
were some spirit-manipulated beasts that transformed their inner body; they could get an extra lung or
an extra heart and so on.
However, it was not possible for the general evolution of a spirit-manipulated beast to cause a
mutation. But Uriah was able to achieve a mutation. Uriah turned the impossible into the possible. It
transformed its entire body into a higher grade as it evolved into a higher star level.
Rocky was sure that Uriah had the ability to bear and refine the spiritual power of the red spiritual
crystal. He knew that Uriah's body constitution was different from other spirit-manipulated beasts. So
Uriah ate the whole red spiritual crystal as instructed by Rocky.
It was a risk to have Uriah do so. But now Uriah was almost of the third grade of three-star level. If
Uriah refined the red spiritual crystal, it would grant Uriah enough spiritual energy to reach the third
grade of three-star level. And Uriah's strength would match that of the Razor-claw Wolf Bear. On the
downside, another possibility was that Uriah's fighting capacity could be destroyed completely by the
spiritual power of the red spiritual crystal.
What Rocky did was akin to gambling. The only difference was that Rocky had faith that Uriah would
be able to achieve the impossible.
Because of this, Uriah was able to achieve evolution at that crucial moment, and the evolution allowed
it to transform its body into a completely new form.
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