"I will see you later, Mr. Rayforth!"

David soon exited the room, leaving Claude standing alone in the guest room.

'So the Headmaster is wary of me, huh..' Claude smiled as he sat down on the wooden chair and began reading through the scroll once again. 'I did expect that, but to think he'd be so straightforward about his wariness..'

Claude narrowed his eyes as he massaged his forehead, before letting out a heavy sigh. 'Well, it isn't like I have another option to lean on right now. So I guess I'll have to be on my best behavior,' Claude let out a bitter smile and he decided to focus on the sparring contest first.

'For now, it's better to study the information about the other disciples first and plan out strategies in order to counter them,' Claude thought to himself as he began going through the scroll. 

-------- EVIL SAMURAI IN CULTIVATION WORLD --------

Claude began concentrating as he read the information that was present, making sure he memorized each and every single point that had been written down on the scroll. 

'It's surprising how many members the Grand Astral Faction really have. I was expecting a number similar to the Flying Sword Faction, or perhaps maybe slightly more than that, but I guess I was way off.' Claude thought to himself as he came to the realization that the number of disciples who were part of the Grand Astral Faction were well above thirty, which just seemed ridiculous to him. 

'I guess the Headmaster is someone who prefers quantity over quality.' Claude wondered the reason for such a large roster of members, and came to the conclusion that the Headmaster picked almost all the disciples who had even some form of potential, instead of picking them only after intensely researching them like his previous master did. 

Of course, he was confident that the Headmaster was aware of the problems such a method of choosing might bring about. After all, he was an Elder for the Golden Avarice Academy. It wasn't a position that can be achieved by just anyone. 

And it wasn't as though he was picking them off the street. He only picked the inner disciples, who were already a step above the normal cultivators, and finding a really bad cultivator among them is extremely hard. 

Sure, it may make it hard to find a genius who may rock the martial world using such a method, but Claude figured that the Headmaster wasn't exactly planning to find anyone like that in the first place. From the looks of it, it seemed like the Headmaster only wanted to have a large group that was headed by many strong cultivators, instead of a small group that had one genius.

'Well, whatever the reason may be for such a decision, it seems like I am going to be having quite a number of opponents to beat,' Claude thought to himself as he began counting the members.

After counting, Claude realized that including him, there were a total of thirty two members in the Grand Astral Faction. Going by the conventional tournament knockout style, this meant that Claude would have to fight five matches to clinch the title of victor. 

He then looked at the main group of disciples whom he considered to be the biggest obstacles on his path to victory.

'The first one is, of course, senior Russell Davies!' Claude stared at his senior's information that was written on the scroll with a cold look on his face. 

Although he didn't like this senior of his, he had to admit that Russell Davies was a powerful foe. Currently at the sixth rank of the sky realm, he seemed as though he was already close to breaking through to the seventh rank. Claude couldn't help but furrow his eyebrows at the immense potential this young man had. But nevertheless, Claude had to defeat him in order for him to claim a complete victory in the sparring contest.

'Winning against him might be difficult, but it's not impossible,' Claude said to himself. 

A relatively normal cultivator would assume that beating an opponent with a three rank difference is an impossible task, especially since the difference is only going to be more evident the higher your ranks are. After all, even Claude, who was already a cut above the rest of the cultivators, wasn't able to defeat Victor Hannibal, someone who was three ranks higher than Claude. But in reality, it is a bit more complicated than that.

In reality, it is less difficult to defeat an opponent with a three rank difference when you are at a higher rank than when you are at a lower rank.

When you are at a lower rank and a lower realm such as the earth realm, you have very few opportunities and avenues to turn to in order to defend against a really strong foe. Not only are you not physically strong enough, you have also not fully realised your body as a whole, with lesser understanding of your senses and motion and an even less variety of defense and attack techniques in your arsenal. This makes it extremely hard to defend against a powerful opponent and the difficulty only increases the higher the rank of your opponent is. 

However, compare that to a situation where both the cultivators are at a higher rank, and there are more avenues that you can choose to be a part of your strategy. With enhanced senses and a deeper understanding of your body as well as your limits, the difference in cultivation rank is not so apparent like before. Of course, a cultivator can still lose to a powerful opponent. It only became a lot less difficult to fight such a strong foe than before.

And this effect only amplifies when it comes to a genius in cultivation and technique such as Claude Rayforth. 

'It may be a difficult objective, but who knows...' A sly grin appeared on Claude's face as he looked at his senior's data on the scroll. 'Maybe there might be a miracle.'

His gaze then moved on to his next obstacle, who was senior Leroy Wayne. Similar to senior Russell Davies, senior Leroy was also at the sixth rank of the sky realm, which meant that he was another opponent that was going to make it difficult for Claude to win the contest.

Leroy, who was well known amongst the faction members for his body strengthening techniques, was dangerous when it came to close range attacks such as palm strikes and fist attacks. He held so much raw power in his close range attacks that he was able to knock out almost all of his opponents with a single strike, which earned him the title, the 'K.O. King'.

'Against such a dangerous opponent, it's important to keep a distance and keep moving, and not let him catch you.' Claude told himself. He was aware of such strong people. They would usually lure their opponents to a corner or a place where it would be difficult to make large movements. He had to make sure that such a situation is never created.

'I have to be careful of such tricks,' Claude's gaze then shifted to the next ones on the list; the twins Ray and Eva Walker, who were both also at the sixth realm. They were known for being fast and agile, and Claude, who could also be described similarly, felt that they could be an annoying opponent for him to beat as well.

'But although these two might be difficult to win against, I feel as though he is my biggest threat,' Claude said to himself as he looked at the last member on the list, and even he wasn't confident against such an opponent.

The opponent's name was Javier Banderas, a senior who was currently in the seventh rank; someone who could only be described as a monster. 

'To think I even considered Dalton Palmer as the greatest foe I could face,' Claude snickered in his mind. Of course, Dalton had the potential to grow even stronger if given enough time and guidance, but right now, Javier was much stronger than any student Claude has ever faced.

After reading the data that he was given, Claude realized that he was going to have a really hard time at the contest. Javier was, as some would like to call, a complete cultivator. He made sure that he was consistent in utilizing and mastering all of his skills and techniques, whether it came to speed, power or even reflexes, and only after he made sure that everything was balanced did he move forward.

He wasn't the strongest, nor was he the fastest, but he made sure that he didn't fall behind by improving each and every aspect of himself and not becoming someone who was dependent on one thing.

'I thought that this contest would only be amusing at best,' Claude had a wide grin on his face as he stared at the scroll with anticipation in his eyes. 'But now, I feel as though I can't wait for it to begin...'