Amid the vast crowd, several wizards wearing robes bearing the Thorn Ring's emblem were also watching the battle.
Had Dago been there, he would have recognized quite a few familiar faces among them.
"It's Dago."
A young wizard spoke quietly, barely able to suppress the excitement in his voice.
"It's hard to imagine he's already advanced to the Third Circle. I haven't seen him show his face in a full three years. I thought he'd given up on this grand event, but..."
A wizard from the Thorn Ring tightened his grip on his staff and exclaimed in admiration, "So he'd already entered-and even secured a place!"
"This gathering brings together every top wizard prodigy in the south. Even Baker failed to make the top thirty-two."
"Exactly..."
Violet, whose eyes resembled lapis lazuli, wore a complicated expression. "Even Baker couldn't do it, yet he's already qualified to face Gellman."
"No matter how this battle ends, Dago's name will spread throughout the south."
The Thorn Ring wizards kept talking, unable to hide their excitement. Watching Dago fight on the platform filled them with pride as well.
Others might not know, but as fellow members of the Thorn Ring, they understood better than anyone.
Just how old was Dago's soul?
He was practically competing against people an entire generation older than him.
Boom!!
Lightning thick as syrup held the rapidly spinning metal crescent firmly at bay. Empowered by thawing flame, the Yitai Edge reached within ten meters of Gellman but could cut no farther.
"Stasis!"
Beneath his cold silver mask, Dago's eyes flickered.
The spinning metal crescent instantly dispersed, transforming from the toughest, sharpest blade into fluid, flowing water.
The silver torrent of metal flowed swiftly around the area where Gellman stood, but waves of lightning plasma and the power of his domain