SWNOVELS Chapter 34 That's Cheating
At that moment, everyone turned their eyes onto Agnes, who raised her head haughtily. She was a young woman with long flowing hair tied with lime silk. She was wearing a light blue dress.
She looked beautiful and graceful, with an elegant and noble air about her. Without a doubt, many of the male warriors admired her beauty.
"It is said that Agnes is not only the genius of the Shui Clan, but also one of the gifted outer disciples of the Snow Sect,” one of the warriors muttered.
"Agnes has three hundred and twenty black dots! This time, Agnes could very well win first place.” "Of course! In my opinion, Agnes is the best warrior around!"
"I never expected Agnes to be an outer disciple of the Snow Sect and manage to obtain three hundred and twenty black dots. I think she might take third place this time," Ricky muttered, under his breath.
In the minutes that followed, the total numbers of black dots the participants had obtained were revealed to the public one by one. However, no one got more dots than Agnes, and only two warriors had over two hundred black dots
Harald and Connie were growing more anxious and upset, as they found out that Jim and Leo hadn't shown up yet.
Meanwhile, the attendees of the Zhang Clan and the Wang Clan were also very worried. Their warriors, Finn and Waylon, also had yet to appear.
"It's my turn now!" With a subtly smug smile on her face, Heather walked towards the two scribes of the Lion King Castle and drew her ironwood.
"Look! The Lady of the Lion King Castle is there now. I wonder how many beasts she has hunted this time," a warrior said curiously.
Since Heather and Agnes were two outstandingly gifted women who had joined the Iron Blood Trial, they would likely to be compared to each other by everyone present.
"Humph! The Lady of our Lion King Castle must win first place this time!" the disciples of the Lion
King Castle exclaimed, upon seeing Heather.
"Humph! It's highly possible that Agnes will get first place!”
Now many warriors began to bicker because of the two women.
"Heather! Four hundred and ten dots!" called out the voice of one of the scribes. The crowd fell silent immediately.
No one had ever gotten four hundred and ten black dots during the three Iron Blood Trials. Not until now.
"Ahh!" The members and disciples of the Lion King Castle began to cheer in unison.
Benson and other senior leaders of the Lion King Castle also laughed in glee, their eyes shining with pride.
"It's impossible!" the warriors who supported Agnes exclaimed, in a stark contrast from those who backed Heather.
"Silence please, everyone. During each Iron Blood Trial, we have invited one remarkable warrior of Bone Reinforcement from each city to patrol the periphery of the Lion King Mountains to prevent those who are not participants from entering them,” a senior member of the Lion King Castle explained. "Thus, the Iron Blood Trial is absolutely fair.”
"That's right. We can testify to that!" Some powerful warriors of Bone Reinforcement stepped forward from the crowd and were willing to bear witness.
Those who were suspicious of the results quieted down, grumbling lowly.
Agnes, who stood there quietly the whole time, said nothing. But on her delicate face, there were traces of sadness and disappointment.
After a few more warriors’ ironwoods had been checked, it was Ricky's turn.
Since he was a nobody, only Grace, Heather, Harald and other some disciples of the Snow Sect cared about how many black dots Ricky had.
Grace hoped that Ricky could get more black dots, while Harald and Connie were gearing up to laugh at him. After all, they didn't believe that Ricky at the sixth grade of Skin Refinement could hunt many beasts.
However, everyone was flabbergasted after finding out the total number of black dots on Ricky's ironwood.
"Ricky of the Snow Sect has seven hundred and three black dots!"
A shocked hush fell upon the crowd. Even the two scribes were amazed. They held Ricky's ironwood tightly, as if they thought that they made a mistake while counting up the total number of the black dots.
"Ahh. You must be very surprised!" Heather snickered, in stark contrast to the rest of the crowd, who were stunned and shocked.
Agnes finally turned to gaze at Ricky with haughtiness in her gaze. Being the outer disciple of the Snow Sect, Agnes of course knew Ricky, the one with no spiritual meridian.
Even though he had no spiritual meridian, the achievement he had made during the Iron Blood Trial greatly surpassed hers.
Agnes was disappointed and displeased by the result, but on the other hand, she started to feel a growing interest in Ricky.
"It's impossible for him to get seven hundred and three dots!" Harald roared in rage, after he recovered from the initial surprise.
"Harald, don't lose your temper because of jealousy. Otherwise, you will not only disgrace yourself but also the Snow Sect!" Grace said sneeringly.
Of course, she herself was still in a state of surprise too.
"Master Benson, do you think it is possible for Ricky, someone at the sixth grade of Skin Refinement to hunt and kill seven hundred beasts of advanced stage of Skin Refinement within a month?" Harald said to Benson, the Master of the Lion King Castle, ignoring Grace.
"Yes. He's right! That's impossible!" Almost all the warriors began to talk about this matter after Harald's outburst.
"He must have cheated at the Iron Blood Trial this time!"
Learning that many warriors didn't believe Ricky could get so many black dots, Benson felt morose, not knowing how to deal with the situation.
No one had any evidence to prove that Ricky cheated at the trial, but it indeed seemed impossible and odd for Ricky to hunt seven hundred beasts within a month. Even Benson found it hard to believe.
And even if Ricky had robbed other warriors of their ironwoods, it was still impossible for him to get so many dots.
Besides, Harald had just said that Ricky was only at the sixth grade of Skin Refinement, so Benson began to doubt it even more.
Benson looked at Ricky and exclaimed, "Ricky, you'd better explain it to us!"
"I will then!" Ricky nodded.
Glancing around the warriors who kept on talking in whispers, Ricky spoke calmly, "Hi, everyone. Harald told you all that I'm at the sixth grade of Skin Refinement. Do you really think that he is right?”
Ricky's words caught the attention of the bickering warriors.
Then Ricky's aura suddenly changed and was boosted to the highest limit that the eighth grade of Skin Refinement could reach.
"The eighth grade of Skin Refinement!" Sensing Ricky's powerful aura, many warriors marveled, glancing at Harald with disdain, as if blaming him for tricking them.
"Damn it! He was just at the sixth grade of Skin Refinement some days ago, but how could he reach the peak of the eighth grade of Skin Refinement within a month?!" Harald asked himself furiously. "How could such a worthless piece of trash without spiritual meridian cultivate and achieve the eighth grade of Skin Refinement?"
Connie also glared at Ricky sullenly.
"He has even made a breakthrough and reached the eighth grade of Skin Refinement!" Grace was also shocked at the revelation that Ricky had cultivated into this level.
She felt confused. The longer she stayed with Ricky, the less she seemed to know about him.
"Hey, everybody, don't let this guy fool you!" Harald yelled. Being the powerful warrior of Bone Reinforcement with wide knowledge and experience, he had quickly calmed himself down.
"Please think about this. Even a warrior at the ninth grade of Skin Refinement could not have killed so many beasts, let alone Ricky who's only at the eighth grade of Skin Refinement. So that must be cheating!”
The warriors fixated their suspicious eyes on Ricky again when they heard this.