444 Fame [1]

"…err."

A deathly silence enveloped the studios as Zack was at a loss for words. His mouth momentarily twitched as he had difficulty trying to find the right words to say.

Staring at the screen in front of him, he wanted to bury himself underneath the ground. 

Recollections of the words he previously said flashed across his mind as he lowered his head in shame.

If Ren had beaten Kevin within a very small margin, he may have been able to brush it off, but that was not what happened. It was a far cry from what happened as Ren simply beat Kevin without the fight even being a close one. 

Rubbing salt to his wounds, Lorena spoke from the side.

"…So, I guess your previous analysis was incorrect."

"Keum, well, it appears that I may have underestimated Ren."

With a slight cough, Zack quickly brushed the topic aside and quickly changed the topic. He was a man that had been in the industry for quite a while, and therefore, had very thick skin. 

"Anyways, have you all seen the last moments of the fight? When Ren was able to defeat Kevin?"

Tapping onto the table, replays of the last moments of the fight appeared on the screens of everyone watching. With a serious disposition, Zack pointed toward the rings surrounding Kevin.

"Most of you are probably already aware of what these rings are. Since you've seen his profile you must know that one of the sword techniques Ren practices is [Ring of vindication], a three-start defensive manual."

Pinching the hologram and zooming toward the ring, Zack continued. 

"Notice how the rings over here are red? ...When one reaches the essence realm of mastery for this art, they are able to display 'Elemental discharge', which is the third movement of the defensive art. What it essentially does is attract a specific psyon before diffusing it in the air. In doing so, one is able to weaken a psyon attributed attack, which is exactly what happened in this case." 

Zooming out, Zack pointed at all the thirty rings on the screen. Then, pinching onto the screen he zoomed toward Ren and pointed at his sword. 

"While Kevin was attacking, Ren was secretly gathering rings. Once Kevin was about to use his most powerful move, it was then that Ren discharged all the rings and dissipated all the flame psyons revolving around Kevin, reducing his attack completely." 

As Zack explained to the audience, secretly he was shocked himself. Had he not replayed the match a couple of times before, he would've never been able to tell what had happened. 

Once he did find out exactly what Ren did, he was left extremely impressed. Ren may have not outclassed Kevin in terms of brute strength, speed, or any other stat, but what he did however completely outclassed Kevin in terms of strategy. 

Although he hated to admit it, Ren without a doubt deserved to win the match. 

***

At the same time. 

"Looks like you still have a long way before reaching my level."

Ren's words powerfully rang inside Kevin's ears as he looked up at him with a mixture of shock and confusion.

'Just what in the world happened?' Kevin wondered to himself as he looked around, towards the rings surrounding him. 

He already had an idea of why he lost, but the way that Ren was able to handle him so easily made him question reality. After all, Kevin didn't think that it would've been so one-sided. Especially when he knew that he could also beat Kimor. 

Fortunately, seemingly being able to see through his thoughts, Ren softly said. 

"I broke through."

"Huh?" 

A look of disbelief flashed across Kevin's face as he quickly closed his eyes. Then, sensing the mana around Ren's body, he couldn't help but gasp in surprise.

It was true!

Ren had broken through to <B+> rank. No wonder he felt so much stronger than when he had fought against Kimor. 

"Haaa…"

Letting out a long and tired sigh, Kevin smiled before leaning back and resting his hands over his knees.

"You beat me fair and square. I can only accept my loss."

Kevin took the loss quite well. He wasn't the type to make excuses whenever he lost. 

Even though Ren was higher ranked than him, that didn't mean anything in Kevin's eyes. After all, Ren did beat Kimor who was two ranks higher than him. He didn't doubt that Ren may have also beaten him if their ranks were the same. 

In the end, Kevin had set his mind to take this opportunity to contemplate over his shortcomings. 

The only problem he had with the situation was the fact that he was unable to gain the elven tear, however, after deliberating over this matter for the past few days, he decided to perhaps try to trade for it with one of his more important items.

This was all he could do at the moment.

With a self-deprecating smile, Kevin leaned to the right and tried to stand up. 

"Well, congrats on winning. I guess this is the end for me. Do me a favor and win the tournament so that I don't feel terrible for losing to you."

Ren merely smiled when he heard Kevin's words. Just before Kevin could say anything else, Ren turned around and shouted.

"I forfeit."

Like a thunderclap, Ren's words resounded throughout the whole stadium as everyone froze on the spot. Including Kevin who couldn't believe Ren's words.

"…Ren."

Kevin's brows furrowed.

"Are you doing this because of the situation with Emma? If so, you don't need to forfeit. It was my loss, there is no need for you t—"

"Stop it."

Ren cut Kevin off before turning his head to look at him.

"First things first, I'm not surrendering because of your situation."

"Uh...really?"

Ren's words confused Kevin. If he wasn't surrendering because he felt pity for his circumstance, then what was the reason for his sudden withdrawal?

After all, everyone had seen it. He had beaten him cleanly! There was no benefit in him forfeiting the match. 

Before Kevin could ask any further, the referee's voice echoed throughout the arena.

"Contestant Ren Dover, are you sure about what you've just said?"

There were hints of doubts in the referee's words as he too struggled to understand why Ren wanted to give up.

Turning his head to glance at the referee, Ren didn't answer but instead yawned and walked toward the edge of the platform. Upon arriving at the edge, he slowly sat down and dangled his legs out.

With his eyes locked onto the audience who was currently still in shock by his sudden forfeit, Ren spoke up again. 

"The reason I'm forfeiting is quite simple really..."

Though Ren's words were soft almost everyone that was watching heard them. Be it the viewers from the human side, or the spectators that were currently down below. 

Everyone held their breath as they eagerly waited for the answer to why he was suddenly giving up. 'Was he perhaps injured?' Everyone thought.

It was understandable. Having fought against Kimor and Kevin back to back, it would make sense for him to have suffered incredible internal injuries that made it hard for him to continue.

These thoughts flashed in the mind of everyone watching for a brief instance. However, Ren's answer completely took everyone off-guard as some people even fell off the edge of their seats.

"…the reason I'm quitting is because I'm bored."

Silence.

Absolute silence descended upon the tournament grounds as everyone looked in Ren's direction with a baffled look on their face.

Two seconds passed since then, and once the crowd was able to process his words, many individuals stood up from their seats and shouted. 

"Bored?! The reason why you're quitting the tournament is because you're bored? Nonsense!"

"Bullshit!"

"Just admit that you can no longer fight!"

Obviously, not many people were happy with Ren's words. Ren's words were a blatant provocation to the other races! He was clearly saying that everyone was too weak or beneath his notice to even bother to continue participating in the tournament.

Instantly curses and all sorts of profanities headed in Ren's direction who simply took everything with a smile on his face. Seemingly finding the greatest of pleasure at the crowd's anger. 

Shrugging his shoulders, he continued provoking.

"What? Aside from Kimor and Kevin, there isn't anyone worth fighting. It's simply too boring."

Hearing Ren's words, the crowd became even more heated as more cursed were thrown.

"How dare you human!" 

"Such arrogance!" 

Shrugging his shoulders, Ren rebuked.

"You guys complain, but I mean my words. Apart from Kevin and Kimor, is there anyone that would even pose a challenge to me?"

His words may have been somewhat drowned out by the crowd's noise, but almost everyone present heard them, and one of the elves couldn't help but stand and shout.

"Vaalyun!"

Following the elves' words, another elf stood up and similarly chanted.

"Vaalyun!"

Slowly, one by one, more and more people started chanting the same name, and it wasn't long before Valyuun's name started to resonate throughout the surroundings

"Vaalyun!" "Vaalyun!"

With his back straight, and with a prideful look on his face, Vaalyun took a step forward, and everyone's eyes gathered on him. He had this prideful and otherwordly aura around him that made the others shout his name even louder.

This obviously did not go unnoticed by Ren who couldn't help but cringe at the sight. 

"Keum..." 

Clearing his throat, he scratched the side of his head and innocently said. 

"Sorry, but Vacuum who?"

The smile on Vaalyun's face froze, and so did the smile on the people who were chanting his name.

Following this, silence once again descended upon the stands as everyone was at a loss for words. 

Taking advantage of the silence, Ren continued to speak. 

"No offense, but I don't have a single clue as to who you guys are talking about. Whoever this Vacuum guy is, since I don't know him, it means that he's not worth looking at."

Ren's words were like sharp daggers that cut deeply, as Vaalyun's face twisted savagely. He was clearly enraged. 

Not that Ren cared as he turned his head and pointed in Kevin's direction.

"Honestly, I don't care. I've made my decision. If this Vacuum guy is as strong as you guys said, he should be able to defeat Kevin. If he can't, then you guys clearly have placed too much attention on some random guy that is not worth paying any attention to."

A long and exaggerated sigh escaped from Ren's mouth as he said this.

In all honesty, he obviously knew who Vaalyun was. After all, Ren wasn't one to forget grudges. No matter how small they were.

Unfortunately, since he had decided to drop out of the tournament, he didn't have enough time to fight Vaalyun and thus beat him up in front of everyone.

Since he couldn't do that, he opted for the next best option which was to simply humiliate him in front of everyone. For the sake of humiliating Vaalyum, Ren chose to provoke everyone. Also, he was using this as an excuse to stop Kevin from getting trying to change his mind. 

Since he had vouched for him, Kevin would have no choice but to beat Vaalyun in order to not tarnish the faith he put in him. 

Jin who was watching the match from below obviously could see through what Ren was doing, and when he realized just how petty he was being, he couldn't help but shake his head. 

He made a mental note to himself to never provoke Ren. 

He was simply too petty to be worth provoking.

"Well, that's enough said from me. Good luck in your next match." 

Waving at Kevin, Ren moved forward and dropped out of the platform above, falling down at incredible speeds. Just as he was about to land on the ground, a small circle appeared beneath his feet, and he softly landed on the ground.

With all eyes locked on him, Ren slowly left the place. Even though people were still angry at him, remembering his performance not too long ago, they chose to remain silent.

Staring at his disappearing back, almost everyone had the same thought.

'What if what he said is true?'

Thinking back at how easily he beat Kevin, and how he beat Kimor, everyone wondered if Ren's words were truly groundless.

What if there really wasn't anyone that could pose a challenge to him?

The sheer thought caused the hearts of some of the people present to freeze.