Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Graham had been fed a single fruit of the Tree of Life, along with the elixirs. That had been the same amount as many of the others, even less in a few cases. However, somehow, it had had the biggest effect on him compared to everyone else.

Alex had consumed the most out of all of them, and even he didn’t have physical strength this great.

He could only imagine how much better his father would do if he were given more than the limited supply of fruits and elixirs he had gotten. How strong would he become?

Was the Divine Domain realm a possibility? Was the Celestial realm?

Alex could never know for a long time.

Graham walked up from the arena and sat back in his seat, and only then did the others congratulate him. Many of the people didn’t even focus on the next match that went on down below, looking only toward Graham from time to time.

A lot of the fighters were no doubt hoping that they would not be placed against him.

Alex smiled faintly as he saw that the chances of his father winning the whole thing were now higher than they had ever been. Everyone he had lost to before would likely not hold up against him.

He continued watching the fights. At one point, they pointed out a man in a white robe who went by the name of Stonegrip. He was the one his father had lost to last time. Watching his fights, Alex could understand why that had happened, but he doubted that would be possible this time around.

Halfspear fought as well, though she finished her battle as elegantly as ever, hardly ever giving them any sign of difficulty. Half the time, it didn’t even look like she was trying.

The round of 16, with its 8 battles, came to an end as well, and the quarterfinals began next, with the final 8 people remaining in the competition.

Graham was called over first, along with another strong female fighter. This opponent of Graham’s was far more agile than any of the others he had fought until now, making it so that Graham had a harder time defeating her.

The woman dealt out her attacks and then dodged everything that Graham threw at her. At first, it almost looked like she was going to win simply by making Graham far too tired to continue, forcing him to keep attacking.

However, to everyone’s surprise, Graham adapted to the woman’s fighting style. Slowly, the gap between him and the woman grew smaller and smaller until there was no longer a gap.

Graham had as much agility as the woman did. In fact, he likely had far more than her. The only issue was that he hadn’t fully tapped into it the way the woman had. And while being forced to fight her, he was forced to adapt himself to her speed and movements, allowing him to catch her and defeat her.

Once the battle ended, Graham moved on to the semifinals.

Halfspear fought well as well, moving on. So did Stonegrip. Another person who moved on was a man whom neither his father nor his friends knew about. Based on their conversations, it was clear that this man was a newcomer who had likely come with the Gods.

He was quite strong as well, though exactly how strong, they couldn’t tell until the battle happened.

The semifinals started a few minutes later as the referee called over Ironbrawn and Stonegrip.

The final match of last year’s tournament was happening in the semifinals this time around. Everyone who knew that was more excited than they had been for any other match this entire time. People cheered loudly for both of them as they made their way down to the stage.

Graham walked onto the stage and looked at his opponent. Stonegrip held Graham’s gaze for a few seconds before giving a knowing nod. Graham returned the nod as well and fell into a fighting stance.

Once both participants were ready, the match began.

Graham launched himself toward his opponent. Stonegrip saw Graham coming and angled himself to dodge the attack while retaliating with a counter.

At the last moment, Graham’s feet touched the ground, immediately changing his trajectory just enough that Stonegrip’s counter could not work. Stonegrip had to change his stance quickly to block the attack, as he could not dodge it.

Graham’s punch landed on the man’s arm, a deafening boom sending ripples through Stonegrip’s body. His eyes widened in horror as he realized that Graham was much stronger than he had been before.

Stonegrip skidded a few steps back before coming to a stop. Had he not allowed his body to move with the momentum, he would’ve likely had his arms broken.

”Incredible,” he said with a faint look of awe before quickly returning his attention to the fight, as Graham was already making his way toward him.

Graham and Stonegrip fought, going back and forth as they exchanged hits. Graham took far more direct hits than Stonegrip did, and while they left rather red marks on his body, beyond that, they did nothing to Graham.

None of the attacks had managed to go past his muscles to reach his bones.

On the other hand, the same could not be said about Stonegrip. Parts of his body were more than red. They were black and blue. There were already signs of swelling in many areas. And more than that, it was clear he was in pain.

The man did his best to continue fighting for as long as he could, but as time went on, he had to admit to himself that there was no way for him to defeat Graham. His strength was so great that technique couldn’t overcome it so easily.

In the end, after taking a rather nasty hit, Stonegrip was forced to give up.

As soon as he spoke the words out loud, the referee stepped in and stopped Graham from continuing the fight before proclaiming him the victor of the battle.

Graham was now moving on to the finals.