Chapter 1742: A Higher Position Grey stood on the platform, staring at everyone present there. His intention was simple: he wanted to challenge someone in the top five; he turned to the Elder in charge of the platform and bowed before speaking, "Elder, what are the requirements for me to challenge any of them?" "Oh, you're interested in challenging one of them?" The Elder looked at Grey curiously. After seeing Grey on the platform, he could already guess his plans, but still, hearing him say it was astonishing. Not just him but everyone else present felt like they were in a dream. A Sixth stage Sovereign wanted to challenge people who possessed strength close to the Peak of a Ninth stage Sovereign. Although they were all impressed with Grey's performance against Vale and his companions, those two were just Seventh stage Sovereigns whose strength was close to a peak Eighth stage Sovereign. Everyone present was a genuine powerhouse with strength rivaling a legit peak Ninth stage Sovereign, yet Grey wanted to challenge them. 'Could it be that he hasn't gone all-out?' 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖 When this thought flashed in the heads of a few people, their expressions paled. If even after using a trump card that could rival a Ninth stage Sovereign, he still had more trump cards, then Grey's abilities have far exceeded that of a peak Eighth stage Sovereign. The reason they didn't think that Grey's abilities rivaled a Ninth stage Sovereign was simple: the attack he used isn't something he can use at will and the toll it takes on him is generally very strong. Since it isn't a power he couldn't use at will, then they didn't think he was worthy of being placed in the same regard as a Ninth stage Sovereign. Grey nodded to the Elder's question. The Elder gave him a deep look before nodding and saying, "You will have to defeat the last person in that top ten." "Can't I challenge someone in a higher position?" When this question rang out, everyone paused. Even the Elder rubbed his ears to confirm if they were still there, "You want to challenge a higher position?" Grey nodded. Seeing him nod, the crowd took in a deep breath. Gasps of shock spread across the audience as they almost couldn't believe their ears. Logically speaking, given the strength Grey has shown so far, battling one of these Eighth stage Sovereigns would've been his best bet, but shockingly, he wanted to challenge someone in a higher position. Anyone above the duo were Ninth stage Sovereigns. The Elder frowned slightly but didn't try to dissuade him, "You can only challenge someone of a higher position if you enter the top ten. And to enter the top ten, you must defeat the last person." Grey nodded to the Elder and turned to the ten people standing on the platform. Usually, the battle for the top ten is fierce, well, according to the conversations he had heard over the days from these people from the Pyro Faction. But surprisingly, in this competition, none of the people in the top ten tried to challenge for a higher position. In fact, the two who fought for the position of number one among those in the Eighth stage were the final two completing the top ten. No one challenged them for their positions. It's clear that they all knew each other's strengths and didn't want to waste any time. Grey turned his gaze to the group of ten who were all looking at him with interest. They've all seen Grey's performances and knew that he was a shocking talent, but none of them believed that he would be able to cross the threshold of the Ninth stage and compete against them. So although they knew they weren't as talented as Grey, they were a hundred percent certain he wasn't their match in terms of strength, and fortunately, this entire competition relied on their current strengths and not talents. A young man in the Eighth stage of the Sovereign Plane walked out from among the duo in the Eighth stage and looked at Klaus, his expression serious as he spoke, "If you're interested in challenging for my position, I have no problem with that," He paused and gave Grey a deep look, and added, "As long as you have the ability to take it." Grey didn't waste any time and walked to the center of the platform. He needed to end this battle quickly so that he would be able to have enough strength to challenge the person in the fifth position. The Elder in charge of the competition signaled for the other nine to leave the platform and stand by the side before calling for the start of the battle. The second the battle started, to the shock of everyone, Grey was the one who made the first move. Advancing with shocking speed, he arrived in front of his opponent, standing within a meter of his opponent, flashing him a wide grin. The young man suddenly had a bad premonition and hastily tried to retreat, but Grey didn't plan to give him that chance. His plan for this fight was simple, he wanted to use his overwhelmingly superior physique to dominate his opponent. Elementalists generally rely on their elemental attacks when fighting after getting past the Arcane Plane. Once Elementalists gain the ability to start freely manipulating their elemental affinities outside their bodies to attack, they mostly stop cultivating their bodies with their essences and focus solely on improving their essence core. Generally, with each breakthrough, their physical strength sees a little increase, but compared to the increase in strength of their elemental attack power, it was almost negligible. It's not that some Elementalists haven't tried to improve the strengths of their bodies, after all, they've seen the benefits of it during the early stages; it's just that cultivating their bodies was too difficult. The time needed to cultivate one's body to the Origin Plane is almost four times as hard as cultivating their elemental essence to this level. The higher the cultivation stage, the more difficult it was to achieve a breakthrough in their physical cultivation, so after dabbling in it for some time, most of these Elementalists discard it and focus on their essences.