Affinity:Chaos

With the first position claimed, Ezra and Jesse still fought fiercely for the second place. Ezra won by the smallest of margins.

Their battle was the only battle fought that Grey watched, discarding his thought process for the few minutes the battle was on.

The reason he watched it was to get an outer view of the light element. There is a difference between experiencing it up close and looking at it from a distance.

When the battles for the rankings of the Origin Plane concluded, the judges called those whose names were in the top ten to step into the stage to receive their rewards.

While Grey was outside, he asked Sylvia a question that was bothering him. He wanted to know how the stone worked since it was able to automatically move his name to the first place after he defeated Ezra.

According to Sylvia, in the small amulets given to them after they qualified for the top fifty, a small portion of their essences was taken from it. This amulet is made from the same item as the stone board, and it was connected via an array. No matter where Grey or other individuals ranked in it, as long as any of them is defeated by someone on the rankings, that person would take their spot on the rankings, pushing them down.

Grey was left surprised when he was asked what item he wanted as a reward, and rather than asking for a technique that everyone thought he would, he requested a book on arrays.

It can't be helped, he really wanted to increase his knowledge of them as quickly as possible. The arrays here are more complex when compared to the one back at the Azure Continent, and since the chance presented Itself, why not take it?

After the rewards were given to the top ten, the first stage of the competition was concluded. Now, it was time to start the second stage of the competition, the ranking for Overlord Plane Elementalists.

The first set was for the Early stages rankings. Only Elementalists in the First stage of the Overlord Plane to the Third stage are allowed to participate in this set.

Before Grey left after collecting his reward, he asked the judges if he could be allowed to also participate in the Early stages rankings for the Overlord Plane. His request threw them off their feet as they didn't expect he would want to try out his strength against those in the Overlord Plane.

After giving it some thought, they didn't feel it was odd given how strong he was. Even Ezra and Jesse were also planning to take part in it as well, so why couldn't the person who defeated them easily also take part as well?

The Lady amongst the judges gave Grey the go-ahead to participate. With that, he left the arena altogether.

The next round would begin the next day, and he wanted to try to study the books on arrays he was given. When he requested a book on array, he was actually given three instead of one.

Just like before, Grey stepped into his room and shut his door, before taking out the books on arrays and studying them.

Sylvia and Void were left to wander around the city alone. Unlike Grey, they didn't enjoy solitude.

….

The next day.

The next round of the competition was about to begin, and a fair few individuals in the Origin Plane were said to be taking part as well. The most notable name was other than that of the current newly crowned number one genius in the Origin Plane across the entire Acer region, Grey Dawson.

It was said that he won the competition without facing any challenges. Not everyone watched the battle take place, so there were fresh faces who came just to see this young genius who managed to sweep the ground with those in his cultivation stage.

In comparison to the number of participants in the Origin Plane. There were fewer people at this stage. According to what was registered, there were around five hundred or so youths who registered for this stage of the competition.

Just like the first stage, they would be having a battle royale. Only, twenty people would be going through from each stage instead of fifteen. There would be a total of fifty participants in a single stage as well, making things quicker.

But unlike the Origin Plane battles, the previous top ten in the Early stages geniuses rankings wouldn't participate in this round of battles.

….

When Grey stepped into the arena, he quickly attracted the attention of a lot of individuals. It was impossible for him to hide from them. His dressing, appearance, hair, and mask were too distinct from others.

People were pointing at him, showing him to those who were unfortunate not to be here the previous day to watch him breeze through his opponents.

"We're late again," Sylvia complained when she realized that the battles had started.

"Better late than never, right?" Grey asked with open arms.

"We should be done with this and leave soon, we still have other regions to go to," Sylvia replied.

"I'll be doing this again?" Grey asked, concerned.

"No, instead, you'll be challenging those ranked first. This way, you would save yourself the time of going through this long process," Sylvia answered while they headed to their seats.

Since Grey was ranked the number one genius in the Origin Plane, he had a special seat designated for him in the arena. Of course he could bring those close to him along!

When Grey heard Sylvia's words, he heaved a sigh of relief. He didn't have the time to go around for competitions, but challenging a single individual was less time-consuming and more straightforward.. Had he known, he would've waited till the winner was announced before challenging them in this competition, but he couldn't say he didn't like his reward though.