I used cultivation to slam the door shut, and then a pretty powerful Kinetic Push to press the spy against the door. He grunted as his face pressed against the seam. I wiggled my hand a little bit, to rub it in.

“What is this?”

“If you kill me, there will be consequences after the tournament,” the spy hissed.

“Kill you?” the governor said slowly. “That is not how House Salakin handles affairs. Guards!” 

I finagled with the spell formula and turned the continuous Kinetic Push into a suspension effect. The Spy resisted, but he didn’t have a combat Class, and was thus far more susceptible than Veena was, whom I could ragdoll as I wanted with my current power.

I removed him from the door and he levitated helplessly in the air. When the guards entered they just looked at the dangling spy and chuckled.

“This legend of the Little God just keeps getting better,” one of the guards said as he cuffed the spy.

“Indeed it does,” Danek said under his breath and smiled. 

I released the spell on the Spy, but still kept my cultivation pressing the door shut just in case.

One of the guards held the Spy pressed against the wall, while the other searched him. They removed a narrow blade, the object beneath his collar, and several folded papers from inside his clothes.

“How did you know?” the Spy demanded.

I just smirked. “Magic.”

The governor took the papers and waved a hand.

“Take him to the stockades. Nobody speaks to him without my permission. Assign someone with an Evolved Class to watch him. Not stand behind his cell door; watch him.”

The man started protesting. “The stockades? Right now? You can’t! They’ll be watching. Even if you don’t kill me, they will!”

He had chosen a little late to become talkative.

For a moment, everyone watched the door after they left.

Then the governor turned to me.

“How did you know?”

“I didn’t. He had much more mana than the others, and he was carrying artifacts.”

Danek glanced at the broken tea set on the floor. Father looked at me with an expression I couldn’t quite place.

“What?”

“Nothing,” he said and smiled. “Just proud of you.”

The governor slowly sat down again. “I believe we should finish that agreement.”

“I believe,” Danek said with a spreading smile. “That capturing a spy of your enemies certainly counts for something.”

The governor chortled and shook his head in disbelief.

“Cornered by a five-year-old,” he muttered under his breath.

After the negotiations were finished and some papers were signed, we left the governor’s house. I expressed interest in the little artifact the servant had dropped. Unfortunately, the governor wanted it examined first.

Unreasonable. I could examine things too. But I supposed I could wait. But with that, our business was done here.

I wanted to get some training done, and wanted to find Alik and Veena. We caught up with the guards near the harbor square.

The prisoner walked between them with his hands bound. He had stopped protesting and was concentrating on looking at the ground.

The market was busy. People carried baskets between stalls, and someone was arguing loudly over the price of a fish. Father stopped to look at a display of hooks.

Then the crowd shifted around a group coming from the other direction.

Ranok walked near the front, his greatsword across his back. He had some thugs around him in red bandanas, just like the sailors from the harbor. He noticed the guards escorting the prisoner and frowned. Then he noticed me and his eyes went wide.

I gave him a big smile and a wave. 

He controlled himself and his expression returned to a blank scowl. To his credit, he was bold. Instead of turning away, he took confident strides to walk to loom over me.

Why did everyone always insist on looming over me? Maybe that was just how it was, considering I wasn’t even three. I would be in a few days though!

One of the men in the Belator group was one of the sailors from the harbor. He recognized me and was about to say something, but Ranok silenced him with a gesture.

“Enjoy your expedition?” he said in a low voice.

“Very much,” I said cheerfully. “Look what I found.”

I produced a small bone flute and gave it a discordant whistle. His eyes narrowed.

“You want it back?” I asked.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said just a smidge too fast.

“Of course you don’t,” I said and smirked.

The guards continued past. Ranok didn’t look at the prisoner again. He just glared at me.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said in a low growl. “We made some last minute moves and House Belator poured a lot of resources to improve my magic.”

I gave him a genuine smile. “I’m so happy for you.”

He bared his teeth. “Don’t you belittle me. I will crush you.”

Hmph, I was serious about being happy for him. Well, mostly myself. I was excited to see what kind of magic he now had.

“Anyway, you can go now,” I said. “I’ll see you at the tournament.”

Ranok took a step forward. “You—”

Then one of his men put a hand on his shoulder. “Young master, people are watching.”

Ranok immediately broke that hand. He left his servant cradling it on his knees, and stomped off, while the rest of his retinue followed him.

*

I spent the next few days training.

Alik was stronger than before. Much stronger, actually. His spear moved quickly, and he could keep attacking for far longer than I remembered.

To his chagrin, I was on a completely different level now.

“Again,” he said after dusting himself off after another loss.

He planted his feet and thrust.

The spear struck my barrier with a hard crack. Then he immediately withdrew his spear, inhaled and struck again. He kept doing this in a steady rhythm as sweat glistened on his tanned skin.

That looked so tiring. Why on earth would anyone want to become a martial expert? Conditioning was hard work. I shuddered at the thought of cleaning my clothes without magic.

I was using only cultivation for this training. I felt the impact through the spell, but the structure held. I let him hammer the barrier with consecutive blows, while I tried adding a continuous Barrier Pulse effect to my barrier. It was just a fun project. I couldn’t think of a practical use for a barrier pulsing counter attacks like a metronome. It weakened the overall barrier’s structure too much for now.

But it seemed to be pretty good training for Alik. He had to time his attacks, or he’d fly on his ass.

Soon enough he did.

“Gah,” he said and got up. “The pulsing is too fast.”

“Really?” I said with a slow smile. “So you want me to make it easier for you?”

Alik almost choked. “Absolutely not, master!”

We worked at it until he dropped on his knees. He insisted on getting up despite himself. But when I took a few steps forward and literally just pushed at him — no kinetic energy, no mana augmented muscles. Just a toddler giving it his best push. When Alik fell under my magnificent strength, he finally understood he needed a break.

That was when Veena came at me. 

“Block this, magic pervert!”

Alik almost choked again. “What did you call him?” 

Her first charge pushed her whole weight with high velocity into my barrier. Her stance was immaculate. The barrier had to withstand a completely singular point of impact. Not even Alik could do this with a spear. I felt the barrier crackle under the force of her blow, but it didn’t break. Then I used Barrier Pulse to blast her on her ass.

Before she could get up, I used kinetic magic to suspend her.

She immediately started swinging her sword in indignant fury. “Put me down!”

“Hold still. You’re making the spell difficult.”

“It will be difficult for the healers to put you back together!” she screeched in outrage.

Keeping a person suspended was surprisingly complicated. Every time she moved, I had to adjust the force. Her Resistance made it harder too. But my cultivation had advanced so substantially, she was not my match currently. 

Veena threw her sword at me. It bounced off my barrier and fell into the dirt.

We both looked at it. I tilted my head.

“What’s your next move?”

“Put. Me. Down.”

I lowered her carefully. She huffed and straightened her battleskirt and gave a glare to Alik who immediately turned away. His shoulders were moving.

“Don’t you dare laugh,” Veena told him.

“I wouldn’t.”

We trained together after that. Sometimes one at a time, sometimes both of them. I kept a structured barrier active and used cultivation for the quick spells, learning how much mana each movement actually needed.

There was no reason to throw Veena across the yard if a small push at the right moment would ruin her attack. 

Magical Trance made the practice feel wonderful. I was still getting used to it. It was this poetic, artistic state where magic just flowed. I felt it was great for utilizing magic I already knew how to use well. My cultivation, the barrier and Water Bullet. But creating complicated things wasn’t where it shone.

It was also a gradual state. I couldn’t fall deep into it with my training partners. They just didn’t challenge me enough. I could sense there was more depth to this Skill Evolution, that I hadn’t yet discovered.

The morning of the tournament, mother made me put on clean clothes. She had bought me a new blue poncho. This was of even better make than my previous one. I would aspire to not ruin it immediately, but I didn’t like my odds.

We left the governor’s house in a group. I was walking at the front between Alik and Veena. The guards and servants cheered at us and wished us good luck.

The streets were full of people heading towards the amphitheater. House Salakin’s colors hung above the road, and I could hear music somewhere ahead. Hundreds of people were making their way towards the military district with the amphitheater arena.

We saw the retinue of house Belator walking in a dignified formation towards the arena. Their black and red banners were held high by men on horseback. Ranok walked at the front with some robed men, who I assumed were his family. None of them spared us a glance.

We walked and chatted. Well, mostly me and Alik chatted. Veena was nervous. I couldn’t blame her. She had a pretty big stakes riding on this. Speaking of, apparently Danek had sold all of his wares and stalls and made some last minute bets with all of his cash stack. 

I wasn’t about to let him down.

*

After some bustle and talking with the organizers about the structure of the event, Alik and Veena went down to a waiting area, while the rest of us took our seats. I was to go down soon as well, but I wasn’t fighting immediately. Neither was Ranok who sat opposite the arena and watched me with his arms crossed. 

“How are you feeling?” father asked as we sat down at a place of honor in the amphitheater directly below the governor’s family.

“I’m feeling confident,” I said.

“Good,” father said. “You should be. I’ve seen how hard you’ve trained. I couldn’t be more proud. Not because you’re strong. But because of how earnestly you work.”

I preened. “You give the best pep talks, dad.”

He ruffled my hair. 

“Look,” mother said. “Alik is up.”

Alik walked towards the center of the arena with a confident gait. He shook hands with his opponents and spun his spear in a wide arc as he took a stance. The other boy was larger than him and wielding a sword and a shield. When the proctor told them to fight, the boy charged with his shield raised. The fight was over in three moves. Alik broke the shield in a single thrust, then sidestepped a counter attack with his Dodge skill and toppled the opponent and placed his speartip at his throat.

I clapped and cheered with the rest of the crowd, and realized that I might have underestimated Alik. He was truly talented and strong. At least compared to the competition here. He still got his ass beat by Veena and me of course. His and Veena’s fights were crazy, and this looked like Alik was handling a child in comparison.

After two more fights, I walked over to the waiting room. I did some work with some simple spells, while I waited. Soon I was called up and I walked to the middle of the arena. The crowd cheered.

“Little God!”

“The baby sorcerer!”

I grinned when I saw my opponent.

Gonor, son of Olemok, shuffled reluctantly into the arena where I was waiting. 

“Well met,” I said and grinned only wider. He grimaced and nodded.

“No hard feelings, right?” he asked when we shook hands. I reinforced my hand with mana just in case. I wasn’t about to get my fingers crushed over a petty grudge. But it seemed like Gonor was genuinely scared.

I shrugged. “Not from me. I’ll just need to brush past you in this. I’m not going to hurt you or humiliate you.”

“...Thanks.”

When the fight began, I just used a water jet to push him out of the ring. He seemed to have some resistance, but it was over in an instant. If there was no one here stronger than Veena, I wouldn’t need to exert myself.

Veena’s fights were even more short and brutal than Alik’s. She defeated all of her opponents in a single charge. 

However, Ranok was even more impressive. Each time he walked to the middle to shake hands, his opponents were visibly scared. I could see from their faces that Ranok was trying to crush their hands. I made a note of that.

But the fights were even more deadly than Veena’s one strike one kill tactics. How, one might ask?

Ranok just stood there. Menacingly. 

His greatsword rested on his shoulder and he stood in a relaxed pose and sneered at his opponents. He defeated three opponents in the exact same manner. By standing there.

His opponents would approach him slowly and carefully, but soon enough all blood drained from their faces and their steps became uncertain and they started to slow down. The closer they got to Ranok, the weaker they got. They all collapsed on the ground without landing a single strike.

“How is that possible?” My father asked.

“He is using magic,” I said and kept my Mana Sight fixed on him. 

“Belator family is known for their prowess in affliction, poison and corruption magic,” the governor said from his seat behind us. He leaned forward and addressed me. “As I am sure you know.”

“I was aware,” I said. “But I don’t remember it being so strong. He emits a cloud of his magic around him. But now the cloud is much wider and much more potent than when I last saw it a month ago.”

“Yes,” the governor said and stroked his beard. “The Belator ships have been bringing in curious resources and artifacts. Whatever they have been doing in the last month has increased that boy’s growth tremendously.”

“How is that even possible?” father asked. “Skills and Classes take a long time to develop, even with help.”

“Yes,” the governor said. “But magic and cultivation can increase rapidly in a short span of time, given the right methods and resources. They were clearly holding Ranok back to deceive us before the tournament.”

I watched Ranok’s contemptuous sneer as they dragged his opponent from the arena. Then he turned to look at us. Whether it was for me or the governor, the young warrior pointed his massive greatsword at us in a clear gesture of challenge.

I would soon get to test myself against him. Against another magic user. How truly exciting!

But first I won a few fights. Nobody count resist either the Water Jet or a Kinetic Push, and I ended my fights with a single move. 

The four of us made it to the semifinals. Me, Alik, Ranok and Veena. Our gameplan was simple, and luck was on our side.

Alik and Veena were to fight each other, and me and Ranok were the next pair. The true finals would be the semifinals. It was me against the Belator prodigy.

If I lost to Ranok, he would surely defeat either Veena or Alik easily. If I won, I was planning to lose to Veena in the finals to give House Salakin face.

Alik fought fiercely. I had never seen him like this. He was a whirlwind of destruction with the spear. He moved with grace and chained his abilities beautifully. But Veena was just faster and stronger. Even with the reach advantage of the spear, it was Alik who was on the backfoot, countering, parrying and dodging. Veena struck at different angles fast as a viper. After she landed a cut on Alik’s thigh, the boy gasped and dropped his guard. Veena kicked him and executed that strange class ability of hers that I had first seen against the raptor attack. She jumped into the air and spun wildly like a blender and struck down at Alik with all of her strength and skill. Alik’s spear withstood two of the strikes before breaking and the third spin struck him in the shoulder. The cut was shallow considering the ferocity of Veena’s attack, and she was clearly holding back. I was pretty sure Veena could have cloven Alik in half there. The proctor immediately administered a healing potion on Alik’s wounds and Veena was proclaimed the winner and moved on to the finals.

Then it was finally my turn. I walked to the middle of the arena. The crowd cheered for me. “Little God! Little God! Little God!”

There was electricity in the air that I enjoyed. I was feeling pretty excited and wouldn’t mind showing off a little. I wasn’t sure of the outcome, but I was sure I would have fun.

The crowd went silent when Ranok stepped into the arena. He looked at me with the cold, level gaze of a predator and extended a hand. I poured quite a bit of mana into my hand to reinforce it. His large palm swallowed my toddler hand. But he did not hesitate for a moment in an attempt to crush my hand. I actually had to pour continuous mana into my hand to stabilize it. 

“Scared?” he whispered.

I just looked up at him and grinned. “Excited. Show me your best.”