This sudden turn of events rekindled the confidence of countless human spectators.
Quite a few even temporarily left Spectator Mode to tell others online to hurry back and watch. As a result, many spectators who had already left returned to watch the match.
The gravity inside the Weight-Bearing Cavern had now risen to more than twenty times normal. For Dragon Soul to remain upright and keep walking under that pressure was simply unbelievable.
“If I’m not mistaken, the competitor from the Tianshui Star Civilization became an Awakened One at that critical moment and gained the power of an Authority... He really is lucky.”2
After a brief silence, the commentator spoke again. Alongside the surprise in its voice was undisguised displeasure.
The audience paid no attention to that displeasure. They were all stunned by what its words had revealed.
Dragon Soul had gained an Authority and become an Awakened One just now?!
The vast majority of spectators had no idea what had happened. They had only seen Dragon Soul’s bones crushed by gravity, then watched him somehow reshape them.
Many thought he had relied on some kind of ability or used an exceptionally valuable healing item. It never occurred to them that he might have become an Awakened One.
Only true Awakened Ones like Guan Tong and Shi Jingyi could sense the change in Dragon Soul’s aura at that moment.
From then on, they knew that Dragon Soul had inherited an Authority and become a new Awakened One.
And the commentator’s ability to point this out meant that it, too, was an Awakened One.
“Dragon Soul became an Awakened One?! That’s great! We’ve got this in the bag!”
“What just happened? Why did he suddenly awaken?!”
“Could it be that his shattered bones reshaped themselves not because he used a healing item, but because of an Authority’s power?”
The excited spectators speculated among themselves, while the commentator continued speaking.
“But even so, victory is not guaranteed. A newly awakened one has limited power. Unless their Authority is particularly suited to attacking, they may not be able to break through the Oxsian Beast’s defenses.”
The spectators had no time to listen to the commentator’s pessimistic remarks. Every eye was fixed on Dragon Soul, waiting to see what he would do.
Dragon Soul had now walked up to Tuck. He spread his arms, clenched both hands into fists, then slammed them together. A surge of overwhelming force erupted in an instant.
“Ha!”
Dragon Soul let out a loud shout. The muscles throughout his body rapidly swelled. It looked like the same ability he had used before, but this time, numerous brown markings appeared along the contours of his muscles.
The markings gradually changed the color of his body, as though it had been coated in bronze.
Countless spectators stared wide-eyed at the astonishing sight. Dragon Soul’s body was rapidly swelling and growing. In just a few seconds, he had become a little giant more than three meters tall, and he was still getting bigger!
Inside one of the Myriad Sense Net Bubbles, a spectator watching the match saw the brown markings on Dragon Soul’s body and immediately understood.
“Ah, so he inherited the Authority of the Giant Spirit race. No wonder his injuries healed.”
Dragon Soul continued to grow. Now he was even taller than Tuck, the Oxsian Beast! With the markings covering his muscular body, he looked like a figure from some ancient mythology.
He finally stopped growing when he was nearly six meters tall. Raising his right fist, he rapidly gathered energy into the mountain-like muscles throughout his body.
His right fist turned red. Once again, he used the move he had developed himself, “Fire.”
But this time, with the power of his Authority supporting it, “Fire” was far, far more powerful than before.
Whoosh!
His fist, charged with terrifying power, came crashing down amid a violent gale. It struck the cracks that gravity had opened in Tuck’s head.
Boom!
The meteoric iron scales on Tuck’s head could no longer withstand the blow. Several cracks spread across them, and they burst apart.
A great deal of blue liquid sprayed out. It was the Oxsian Beast’s blood, rich with metallic particles.
After taking that attack, Tuck could no longer keep “sleeping.” It let out a muffled, rumbling sound, as if crying out in pain. Then the crystalline plates along its back opened, and it sprayed a mass of foam-like material at Dragon Soul!
“It’s coming!” The commentator raised its voice as soon as it saw this. “This is the silicon-based side of the Oxsian Beast. When it’s injured, glands on its back spray mineralizing foam that can turn its enemies into living fossils!”
The commentator sounded excited, as though it believed Tuck could defeat Dragon Soul with this move.
That made the human spectators’ hearts leap into their throats again. They watched in unbearable suspense.
Dragon Soul was still in his giant form. He had no way to dodge the foam sprayed at him from such close range, and the mineralizing foam splattered all over his body.
The moment it made contact, the foam rapidly crystallized Dragon Soul’s body. Just as the commentator had said, he was beginning to turn into a living fossil.
But Dragon Soul did not simply wait for death. He reacted quickly, let out another roar, and punched himself in the chest!
“Crack!”
The newly formed layer of crystal had not yet fully hardened. Under the tremendous force of his blow, it shattered at once, and fragments fell to the ground.
As for the crystals formed by the mineralizing foam on the rest of his body, he left them alone, protecting only his vital areas.
This sound judgment, choosing what to protect and what to sacrifice at such a critical moment, gave him the chance and time he needed to survive.
The gravity inside the Weight-Bearing Cavern increased again the next moment, crushing Tuck completely after the meteoric iron scales on its head had been destroyed.
“Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!”
The tremendous pressure forced the blood inside Tuck’s body to find an outlet. It all gushed from the opening in its head, forming a beautiful yet brutal “blue fountain.”
This deadly blow from the arena’s environment left Tuck unable to sustain its life. Its whole body shuddered, then lost all vitality and died on the spot.
Dragon Soul’s heart finally eased. All the strength left his body, and his giant form rapidly shrank back to normal.
He had been holding on through sheer willpower. Now that he had won, he could no longer keep himself upright and fell backward, unconscious.
The human spectators cried out in alarm. They were worried for his life, and also feared that if he died just like Tuck, the hard-won victory would become a draw.
At that moment, a teleportation light pillar appeared and carried Dragon Soul away. The commentator announced the result, sounding unwilling to do so.
“...Let us congratulate the competitor from the Tianshui Star Civilization on his victory. He will receive a fine gift provided by the organizers.”
Humanity had won!
Countless cheers erupted from Myriad Sense Net Bubbles across the network. Many people immediately logged off and rushed to spread the good news across forums and media outlets.
Zhang Minglu, who had been watching the match with his body tense from beginning to end, finally relaxed.
He rubbed his reddened eyes. His voice was almost choked with emotion. “You’ve been through so much, Dragon Soul... Well done. Well done!”
Dragon Soul’s victory gave humanity two wins.
That meant they needed only three more victories to complete this rule challenge. In other words, they still had one chance to lose among the remaining four matches!1
But what made Zhang Minglu even more excited was that, by a stroke of luck, Dragon Soul had completed his trial during the competitive match and become a true Awakened One who possessed an Authority.
This meant not only that Beixing’s officials now had another utterly reliable Awakened One, one who was firmly on their side. It also proved the strength of the official system’s training program, and Zhang Minglu himself deserved some credit for that.
More importantly, gaining another Awakened One would greatly increase the overall strength of the Tianshui Star Civilization!