I Reincarnated Into A Single-Celled Organism! - I Reincarnated into a Single-celled Organism! - Chapter 134

Although there was some muttering of discontent, most of the people present kept their voices down. It was clear that Brandon Capala was superior, yet because of some agreement he made with Jordan earlier, Jordan threw the alchemy competition, allowing Brandon’s younger brother to win, and in exchange, Brandon chose to give up rather than fight Jordan. They were manipulating the system, but this was the way of things.

Although it was said this was a world where strength mattered most, strength could mean a lot of things. There was also having a strong background. If you had the right connections, even ignoring your genetic lineage, access to superior medicines, and access to techniques, you could still succeed just by creating advantageous deals. Although this bothered some, there wasn’t much they could say.

Even if Brandon wouldn’t fight him, he still needed to be superior to everyone else besides Jordan. Most of those muttering under their breath never would have even had a chance of being within the top ten, let alone of the top three.

The person who seemed to react the most to this development was Abigail. A cold frown appeared on her beautiful countenance. It was unclear exactly what she was thinking, but I could guess she was probably trying to figure out what they were aiming for. From what I knew, Abigail’s uncle had been pushing her to marry one of his sons.

She likely assumed that with the martial competition, Jordan had been his trump card. She probably never imagined that he had reached the 4^th realm at such a young age. Yet, rather than dominating the stage, he had already agreed to step down and allow another to win the competition. She glanced over at Jordan’s sister, Penny, but didn’t show any reaction to her brother stepping down. It seemed like she already knew what they were planning.

Of course, none of their plotting was my concern except where it affected Mara. If the Capala residence no longer became a safe place for her, then I would simply remove her from it.

The competition continued onward. Several rounds passed by and more and more contestants were eliminated until the top performers were starting to show. Ten contestants seemed to rise to the top. Anyone who faced them would immediately concede. These also coincided with all of those sitting in the third realm or above. There were far more competitors in the second realm than the third, and for those in the top tires of the third tier, those could be counted on a single hand.

I was also part of these top ten, but not because people believed me to be in the third realm. The crowds had seemingly decided that my victory had only been decided using poison. It was considered the despicable contestant that had cheated their way into the top. Although my opponents were too afraid of my poison and conceded, they all shot me dirty glares too.

“Sammuel Edison versus Fate Lou!”

Although the two names caught everyone’s eyes as they were both on the top ten list. There were a few women in the tournament, although she was the only one in the third realm. The few others had dropped out quickly, some not even reaching the top one hundred.

Destiny seemed to grow excited. “Big sister will make it to the top ten.”

“If it is her Fate.” Her father responded with a subtle smile.

She rolled her eyes, “Father, I worry about you sometimes…”

He blinked.

As for Sammuel, he came up to the stage but stopped before he put his foot on. He gave a light bow.

“I don’t make it a habit of fighting women.” Sammuel declared, causing Fate’s eyes to flash. “I’ll just give this one to you.”

This was the first match that Sammuel lost, and it was of his own volition. There were a few others who had done similar, claiming they wouldn’t fight her because she was a girl, but most of them were in the 2^nd realm and so their excuse was looked down upon. Didn’t they all give up because they were afraid to fight her?

She glared at him. “You dare look down on me?”

“Not at all.” He gave a helpless shrug. “It is my principles.”

He turned and left the stage, allowing the time of concession to pass. She watched him leave with an unhappy expression on her face. Yet since he didn’t go on stage, there was nothing she could do. Some of the spectators called out jeers toward Sammuel, unhappy with his cowardice, but he ignored them all as he returned next to me. There were a few who had a different look, almost like they understood his choice.

“You don’t fight women?” I asked, feeling slightly amused.

A sad smile formed on his lips. “Yes, well, it’s a long story. Perhaps I’ll share it with you sometime.”

He took a long pull on his flask before wiping his mouth. Fate left the stage once again without going. It was only a few rounds later that Lot Lou was selected. He was to go against Huntington. Since Huntington lost to me, he seemed to be on a warpath, defeating his enemies in the most ruthless ways possible. This had caused the rest to concede up until this point.

The fight was one of the more colorful ones, but it was clear from the unset that Lot Lou was at a disadvantage.

“Lot is only an early tier. Although he has many techniques and Lou’s family genetics favor battle, he’s just not as far in his evolution. Huntington will end up being the victor.” One of those observing in the family boxes spoke.

In the end, they were correct. Although Lou’s fighting style seemed to have more finesse, he was ultimately unable to keep up with his opponent’s superior speed and strength. The fact he was able to keep up with someone several evolutionary levels higher than he already spoke to the Lou family’s military prowess, yet in the end, strength still won out and he was defeated.

Unfortunately, this turned out to be Lot Lou’s third loss. He had also been matched against Brandon earlier and was forced to concede. As a result, he was the 11^th disqualification, just failing to reach the top ten. His hand held his sword tightly in his hand, and frustration could be seen on his face.

“You did well, nephew.” Destiny’s father spoke up. “Don’t forget you’re still only 20. Work hard, and you’ll be able to sweep away the competition during the next tournament.”

“Yes, Uncle.” He gave a bow toward their stage before retreating.

Like that, the top ten were decided. Besides Brandon, Huntington, Jordan, Sammuel, Fate, and myself, there were four others in the third tier. One of them was a famous mercenary who was part of one of the A-ranked teams. One of them had a somewhat renowned master. The final two were part of the families. One was a Rockford, and the last was affiliated with the Lou family, but he didn’t have their name.

As a result, eight of the top ten were people affiliated with another power, with only two being unaffiliated. Since one of them was Sammuel, that left me as the only recruitable unaffiliated in the top ten. This could only be expected, as those recruiting would mostly be looking at the younger ones who reach the top twenty. Even those who reached the top twenty, but were twenty-five already weren’t sufficient. However, I stood out particularly badly.

“This guy was just lucky.”

“If it wasn’t for him depending on poison, he would have been defeated already.”

“He’ll be removed next round for sure.”

Those were the things being said about me, but I didn’t care. The next round began, but considering this was the top ten, they got rid of two stages, and names only appeared on the one.

“Since we’re down to the top ten, all future losses will be counted as two.” The magistrate declared.

This meant that those who reached the top ten without a single loss could afford to lose one, but those who had previously lost a match had to win all of their victories. The first name popped up on the board.

“Sammuel versus Huntington.”

Huntington’s eyes flashed as he appeared on the stage. “Come up here. Let me show you what real strength is, or will you concede on this match too?”

“Are you calling yourself a woman?” Sammuel cocked his head before he blurred, appearing on the stage a second after. “Forget it, I won’t allow you to escape by changing gender now.”

His words shocked many of the audience, but slowly some snickering sounded out, causing Huntington’s expression to darken. He couldn’t help but flash a look at the girl he brought with him. She had a hand over her mouth to hide a smile. His expression soured even more as he turned to Sammuel.

“Hmph, it’s time for you to step aside. The Lord was gracious and let you keep your life, and yet you still want to cause trouble. It’s time you see just how high the stars are from you.”

Sammuel’s eyes flashed. “Then, let’s begin.”