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He cast [Haste] on himself to further amplify the speed differential between him and his opponent.

He proceeded to intersperse casts of [Rock Bullet] with [Air Bullet], [Earth Spike], and [Wind Blade], making sure to spend at least a third of a second to cast each spell.

Otto also waited another two seconds before casting the same spell again.

Emulating the cast times and cooldowns of a talented, but not a prodigious mage.

Rufus continued to approach even as he was peppered with spells.

Though the progress was slow, his health began to tick down.

But Rufus was not stupid.

He was also no weakling.

From what Otto had witnessed, Rufus\'s physical attributes were higher than his own.

Moreover, his experience was just as plentiful.

Other than the first moment when Otto caught him off guard with his [Wind Jump], Rufus did not give Otto even a single additional opportunity to open the distance.

This was despite their now measurable difference in speed created by the [Winding Restrictions].

Now, two meters away from Otto, Rufus decided to take a [Wind Blade] head on, receiving a major cut on his arm.

He took the split second to gather his power and stomp down, hard, on the ground.

Otto\'s eyes widened slightly.

The ground shook wildly beneath his feet.

On Earth, this shaking would have been severe enough to register as an earthquake, toppling houses, buildings and phone lines, creating cracks in the street.

Rufus, who was prepared for it, rushed at Otto with newfound speed.

The two minute duration on his shackles of wind had disappeared!

He had perfectly timed the moment to rush at Otto who was caught off guard!

Otto could even spot the split second where a triumphant expression crossed his face.

But then, Otto openly sneered.

Even after he handicapped himself so badly, keeping his footing amidst an earthquake like this would not pose a problem.

Otto calmly sidestepped Rufus\'s incoming rapid fire kicks and punches atop the heaving floor.

He didn\'t lose his balance for even a second.

Though frankly, Otto had to admit, Rufus was truly tough to kill.

His physical attributes were well beyond the standard of an Area 1 challenger.

Otto had to pour mana into all of his basic spells to break his defense, control him with [Winding Restrictions] to lower his speed, and chip away at his large health pool little by little.

He thought fast and jumped as high as he could before channeling [Wind Jump].

If Rufus couldn\'t fly, Otto would be the absolute winner in this scenario, since he could act like a mobile turret and rain down quick spells from above.

Otto stood atop a platform of air, channeling [Wind Jump] below him as he prepared to cast a supercharged [Lesser Vortex].

He moved continuously in the air to avoid the shockwaves that followed Rufus\'s punches.

Even so high up, these shockwaves were strong enough to pull Otto back down.

Seven seconds later, following a particularly intense period of evasion, Otto completed his cast.

A tornado stormed down from above, sweeping Rufus up with tearing winds, adding cuts and scrapes all over his body.

Otto cast a few consecutive [Earth Spikes] into the center of the storm for good measure.

He was puzzled when there was no feedback from the spikes.

It felt as if they hit... empty air...

Suddenly, Otto felt a threat rapidly approaching from behind his position on a wind platform.

His eyes widened in alarm.

It was too close, and moving too quickly for him to react in time.

How did Rufus get up in the air!?

Otto didn\'t have time to think, and he couldn\'t instantly cast due to his own self-imposed handicap.

He lunged to the side in an instant, to evade the punch.

But not far enough.

Otto could only helplessly be clipped by the residual force.

The blast came up from below, and instantly broke through the wind platform on which he stood.

It rocketed into his side with the force of a freight train.

Even if Otto wasn\'t hit by the actual punch, taking such a strong blow alone was enough for him to get an unfortunately comprehensive, newfound understanding of Rufus\'s strength.

Otto\'s body fell from the sky, through another platform of wind to smash hard on the ground.

If he was an ordinary person, he would already be a smear of paste on the ground.

This was no light fall.

A crater, over two meters wide, surfaced around him.

Otto finally got a good look at how Rufus made it into the air and his eyes sparkled with admiration.

Rufus stood on one of Otto\'s own wind platforms.

He made use of the 30-second duration of the platforms, carefully observed Otto\'s own route through the air, and jumped up to use them right before they disappeared, timing it perfectly to maintain his footing.

It was, truthfully, a risky maneuver.

Made even riskier by the fact that Otto could have easily seen him and shoot him out of the air with his spells.

So he took advantage of when Otto\'s visibility was limited by the roaring grey winds of the vortex Otto himself had created.

It was a stunning example of the using the enemy\'s own might against him.

And his scheme paid off.

Otto felt his fingers itching to have a real battle with Rufus: to go all-out here and now, disregarding any consequences entirely.

This man was a worthy opponent. Strong enough for him to really sink his teeth into.

Maybe he wouldn\'t let Otto bring out ALL his battle prowess, but Rufus was definitely smart enough and strong enough to keep Otto on his toes.

But right at that moment, as he inwardly debated, his eyes found Verasha in the crowd.

The woman Otto didn\'t have more than a snowball\'s chance in hell to beat.

His heart chilled.

He quashed his burgeoning will to fight.

Rufus charged at him again, preparing to drop him down to 1 Health in an instant with one final punch.

Otto also couldn\'t showcase his light element here to heal himself.

He had broken something in his back from the sheer force of that fall, leaving him at just under half health.

Perhaps if his life was really on the line here, Otto would still be able to recover from this.

But at this point, Otto didn\'t believe it was worth it.

The organization had seen all they would get to see from him, in any case.

None of his trump cards were revealed, even inadvertently.

His eyes glinted.

His mouth opened.

"I forfeit."

Rufus looked at him calmly.

Otto detected a hint of praise and interest in his eyes as he mouthed some words inaudibly.

But when Otto decoded them, a chill ran down his spine.

"As expected of a challenger who cleared the [Titled] difficulty."

*************************************************************************************

Otto stepped out of the arena to the cheers of the crowd below.

They weren\'t cheering for Rufus, the supposed winner.

They were cheering for him.

Most of them could only feel admiration at his splendid performance.

After his loss, Otto also mentioned that he was still new, having recently passed the 1st floor.

The crowd was stunned into speechlessness.

So much potential!

Not to mention the enormous wealth he carried in his hands.

Actually, if Otto had shown off his true strength, their reaction would have been entirely different.

Perhaps the gazes directed at him would be hostile.

It was one thing to see a newcomer to the [Tower] show off his talent.

Right now, Otto\'s strength was immense, but it was at least at a level they could understand.

But if he had won the fight…

Then he was a threat to their position.

In their eyes, right now, Otto\'s performance had placed him among the middle of their ranks in terms of actual combat power.

Even so, this was something they could still more or less accept.

Of course, there would always be a few who were jealous and had negative feelings regardless.

Numbering more were those who now saw him as a delectable prey.

But Otto knew.

If they came after him, they might get more than they bargained for…

After mingling enough with the other Golden Club members, and waiting for each of the other newcomers to finish their fights, Glanes appeared before Otto once more.

His demeanor was slightly different.

At least, as far as Otto could read from the expression on a wolf, he appeared extremely respectful and subservient.

Otto raised his guard as Glanes growled lightly at him.

He inwardly thanked the [Tower] for its universal translation.

"Toto, please come this way. Verasha would like to speak with you."

Otto stared at him for a second and the wolf-man tensed. He looked to be preparing for a confrontation.

Otto\'s eyes darkened as he cast his gaze to the floor. A split second later, his expression smoothed out.

He nodded indifferently.

"Lead the way."

The other attendees made way with haste as they looked towards Glanes in trepidation.

Otto\'s eyes landed on the wolf-man\'s wrist.

Golden runes in the shape of a bracelet wound around it.

Glanes hadn\'t been wearing it earlier.

Otto looked up to meet his eyes.

Sensing the question therein, he grunted stoically,

"Our organization runs the Golden Club every month. The attendees, some of whom are members, will all recognize this symbol."

"What is the name of your organization?"

Glanes looked back at Otto before turning his gaze upward.

His tone was hard to read, even with the universal translator\'s \'full functionality.\'

"The Syndicate of the Eternal."