Chapter 688 - Genius The crowd turns rowdy knowing the new privileged acolyte managed to defeat 4 opponents continuously and now enter to fight the fifth one. Emery however just concentrated to calm his spirit core, preparing to fight the next opponent. The screen display in front of his eyes shows the name of his next opponent. [Rank 78 - Trish (84)] It was apparent the test ranking showed that this acolyte actually had a higher real rank than her test rank. Therefore, no wonder many people lined up trying to challenge her. However, unlike those privileged acolytes, Emery had heard her name before and knew her prowess. In the first week, Emery came to the Magus Academy. In fact, Trish was somewhat a renowned name among the regular acolytes at that point in time. During the time he was painfully trying to reach rank 2 acolyte, Trish was already a household name with her rank 5 cultivation. Her name was shown on the last day ranking only under the Dragon Boy Zach, as the second most talented regular acolyte. She was one of those acolytes, who improved themselves and climbed step by step from regular class to elite class, before eventually reaching the privileged class. And until now, she was still proving herself. Emery could sense she was still in the fourth pillar of rank 9 - a sight that could be counted as rare among the privileged class' acolytes. It was no surprise that her test result was not that high. Now, the genius girl hailing from a middle realm stood in front of Emery. The two of them finally standing in the same arena. The young girl with short black hair and shiny bronze skin didn't have any weapon with her. The only thing that barely resembled a weapon were the two bracelets on her arms. Emery couldn't help but be taken back, when he noticed this. Oblivious to Emery's surprise, Trish looked at him and nodded with respect, hence Emery quickly did the same. For some reason, Emery always felt this kind of people who respected their opponents were not someone to be underestimated. Hence, as soon as the referee announced that the match began, Emery immediately activated all his buffs and raised his vigilance to the maximum to allow him to immediately cast spells when needed. It was clear he planned to hold nothing back in this fight. His opponent Trish, on the other hand, was seen moving her body and arms around in a circular motion. A moment later, a body of water materialized and was floating between her two arms. Seeing that, Emery couldn't help but comment, "A water elemental acolyte?" Emery rarely saw a pure water element combatant among the top ranking, as the element was known to not be that suitable for combat. At the same time, this also made him wonder what kind of ability Trish had, that allowed her to enter the privileged class. The girl started taking some kind of martial art stance, while the body of water was moving around her body in beautiful and mesmerizing motions. It almost looked like an ethereal dance of water. Before Emery knew it, he saw the body of water rapidly enlarge within his vision; Trish had pushed it forward. The water churned violently, as it swiftly flowed through the air, heading towards him. Amused, Emery quickly moved out of the way while casting [Whiplash], a tier 1 water spell that looked really similar to what Trish just sent to him. Splash! Loud sound of water splashing was heard, as the two bodies of water clashed with each other. However, unlike what Emery expected, his body of water was entirely obliterated, while hers remained the same. In fact, it suddenly swerved halfway after it destroyed his spell, heading his way again. Seeing that Trish's attack was quickly approaching, Emery quickly cast [Blink]. His figure disappeared and reappeared a few meters away. Now that there was some distance between them, this time he decided to cast [Steam Lance] - a more powerful, pierce-type water spell, sending a spear-shaped water body to the incoming attack. It didn't take long for the two bodies of water to meet and collide with each other. Splash! Similar sound rang in the air, Emery observed how his [Steam Lance] got completely obliterated by Trish's attack, just like its predecessor. It was evident that even his tier two water spell empowered by his enhanced nature core was not enough to stop Trish's attack. The body of water kept charging towards him at full speed, as if nothing had happened to it. This time, Emery decided not to dodge and instead shot towards his opponent. Realizing Emery's intention, Trish immediately did another movement with her body and this time, another body of water was created in front of her body and completely shielded it. Even though he saw she used some kind of defensive measure, Emery did not stop his charge. On the contrary, he accelerated even further. He could not believe such a transparent water barrier would be able to withstand his punch that contained an entire 168 battle power. Still, just to be on the safe side, he cast [Granite Skin] on himself, before he drew his fist back and launched it forward with all his might. BAM!!! The water barrier immediately shattered apart into patches of water when Emery's punch connected, its protective prowess was not as durable as he previously thought. Now that she had nothing to protect her, Trish quickly ran behind her, and of course Emery immediately tried to catch up to her. After taking just two steps, Emery suddenly felt that something was wrong and his hunch was proven right, when he saw his opponent was smiling at him. "I got you!!" Emery suddenly discovered his body turned as stiff as a rock. His eyes moved around to search for the culprit and he finally found it. The water barrier he had previously shattered that splashed all over his body didn't go away. Instead it stuck to him, making him feel very heavy. At the same time, due to this unexpected interference, the body of water that had been chasing him since the start of the match had finally managed to land on his body. SPLASH! Because of his granit skin, Emery didn't feel much pain when the water hit him, but his whole body was very wet. What's more, it also made his body feel even more heavy. "What the hell is this!?" "Heavy water!" Trish said, before she did another movement and sent three more bodies of water to him. [Blink] Emery immediately activated his escape card to run away from those waters. Fortunately, [Blink] was a special movement spell that did not need any muscle power. If that wasn't the case, then he would basically be doomed, as he was having a hard time even lifting his arm. When Emery's figure reappeared quite a distance away from her, "Darkness, Water and Earth elements, triple elements, impressive!" Said the girl, as she created several more bodies of water, which had already coalesced and turned into a huge wave of water. Emery knew that if those hit his body again, the situation would be even more troublesome. The wave of water swiftly headed towards him, Emery was about to cast another [Blink], when he realized he couldn't get his feet off the floor. Looking down, he just realized the entire floor was soaked by that water and it was awfully sticky. Trish looked at Emery with a smile and said, "I am sorry, but I can't allow you to advance any further." Following those words was a rushing wave of water crashing down on Emery. ---------------------------------- Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,