?


    A golden light descended onto his body, and a prompt appeared in Ryan''s vision.


    [Congrattions: You''ve gained 30 Enhancer Points]


    After receiving his points, Ryan navigated his way deeper into the forest.


    His job was to do his best not to stand out but still win thepetition.


    After a few minutes, Ryan approached a clearing and spotted six contestants. Their tell-tale tails and horns giving them away as contestants from the dragon race.


    Approaching from within the forest, Ryan was about to leave them be, but he overheard something interesting from one of the contestants.


    "Has anyone seen those phoenix brats?" One of the brawny youths from the dragon race asked.


    "Yeah, I saw them south of here," a dragon youth beside him with distinctive pointy ears and a yellow-tipped tail answered.


    "How many?" The brawny youth asked, directing his gaze south.


    "Four, they seem to have gathered a few items from the center like us."


    "We should trail them and take them out after they''ve gathered enough points to satisfy our appetite," a dragon youth with a cloak covering his face suggested.


    Ryan''s ears perked up. Before thepetition, he had little time to learn the rules, so he didn''t realize he could get points from other contestants.


    ''Why would I waste my time getting points by myself when I can just steal other people''s points?''


    After realizing this fact, Ryan entered the clearing, his emerald eyes locking on to the brawny youth''s.


    "Hello, gentlemen. I''d like to inform you that you''ve received the distinct privilege of being relieved of your items by yours truly," Ryan said theatrically as he made sure to make eye contact with each of the dragon youths in turn.


    "What did this human just say?" The pointy-eared dragon sputtered.


    "I think he''s lost it," another dragon added. "Doesn''t he know that dragons are a lot stronger innately than humans? It doesn''t even look like he has any items!"


    The brawny youth started chuckling. "My, my. It appears we have a jokester in our midst!"


    His chuckle abruptly stopped, and his once yful eyes turned cold with a tint of malice. "However, unluckily for you, I hate love grounding jokesters into ground beef!"


    Finishing his speech, the brawny youth charged toward Ryan with a small dagger firmly grasped in his right hand.


    The other youths smiled, expecting a triumphant victory for their self-appointed leader, but what followed made their expressions freeze and their veins run cold.


    Ryan expertly diverted the youth''s momentum and knocked the charging dragon to the ground.


    Before the youth couldnd, Ryan was already moving toward his next target and had the next youth on the ground before the horrified dragon could blink.


    After quickly cleaning up the fight, Ryan gathered the few possessions of the dragons and left them sprawled unconscious.


    Ryan knew that by removing their wristbands or making a close-to-fatal blow, they would be teleported out of the arena, but he had no intention of doing so.


    For one, none of the youths had any points, making eliminating them pointless since he wouldn''t receive any points.


    It would also garner the attention of the people watching if one person eliminated six contestants alone for seemingly no reason.


    Ryan had set up an illusion barrier before entering the clearing so what the spectators saw waspletely different and wouldn''t arouse any suspicion.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Looking over the few items the dragon youths had on them, Ryan threw out the useless weapons and set his sights on thest two items.


    One was apass that had could be used three times to locate the nearest point carrying participant.


    Thepass could also be used once to locate the highest point carrying participant other than the user.


    "It''s not bad, but I think it''s best saved forter," Ryan muttered, tucking it into his pocket.


    The final item was a small pair of sses and when Ryan ced them over his eyes… nothing happened.


    Seemingly perplexed, Ryan was about to throw the sses away when he nced at the youths on the ground and slightly raised his eyebrows.


    Small yellow 0''s floated above each of the unconscious dragons disying their current enhancer points.


    A small smile epassed Ryan''s face as he licked his lips in anticipation of his new found rewards.


    "M… I''ll see you soon," Ryan whispered, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.


    ===


    Somewhere on the Human Empire''s Military Training Campus…


    M was currently watching the enhancer tournament with boredom evident on her face.


    After missing the opening few minutes, she had been hoping the human school would produce at least a few worthwhile enhancers. Still, so far only a single participant from the human empire had gotten any points.


    "Abby, why are our enhancers so useless?" M groaned, turning to her elder sister in hopes that she would alleviate her boredom.


    Abby chuckled. "I seem to remember one enhancer that was very useful, although you seemed to have chased him out."


    M''s face turned scarlet as she stammered, "I did not chase him out! H-He left on his own ord!"


    "You''re certainly right about that," Abby replied, grinning as she teased her sister.


    "Anthony Dire wasn''t that man anyways," M muttered, her face bing solum as she remembered the day in the auditorium.


    Abby''s grin didn''t dissipate as she asked, "Sister, you''re just in denial. You remember the auction. You saw it as well as I did. You know the truth."


    M couldn''t help herself as she fell into a daze, remembering the auction like yesterday. The handsome man''s face as he stood almost mocking her on the stage and Abby as they embraced with a kiss.


    M hadn''t seen Ryan since that day, but she longed for their reunion and for him to call her once again ''Little Angel''.


    As her memories started to fade, M returned her focus to the screen just to glimpse the man who had the only points for the human camp.


    Her eyes narrowed slightly as she leaned forward, her body suddenly stiffening.


    Abby, catching her sister''s odd behavior out of the corner of her eye, asked, "What''s wrong?"


    "I-Is that?" M''s voice came out shaky as her eyes were glued to the screen, her breathing catching in her throat.


    Abby raised her eyebrow and turned toward the screen before she gasped, "Ryan!"