Wilbur, on the other hand, was not as lucky. The merfolk wrestler attacked using the mud suddenly, and it hit Wilbur square in the face. Wilbur could not open his eyes and instinctively reached up to rub at the merfolk.


    Just then, however, the merfolk wrestler came charging at Wilbur and grabbed him by the hand. The old man shouted, "Be careful!"


    The next second, Wilbur had borrowed the pressure from their interlocked hands to yank the wrestler up from the mud before thrashing him into the ground.


    Wilbur and the old man won this round.


    Wilbur wiped the mud off his face. "Thanks for the wrestling techniques you taught me, sir. I might have lost otherwise."


    "I really underestimated you, huh?" The old man chuckled at Wilbur.


    Following that, Hagin had the two men go through archery, tug-of-war, and fishing challenges. Despite increasing the difficulty of the challenges, both men passed all of them with ease as they were all tests of physical skill.


    Wilbur had lived in Gelsa, and the mysterious energy that surrounded it had greatly strengthened his body. Thus, the three tests were just a walk in the park for him.


    Hagin led the two men out of the army base after that. "The merfolk have eightmanders. Your eighth checkpoint will be choosing one of them and one of you will duel against thatmander. You may proceed to the ninth checkpoint if you win. But if you lose, you''ll have to leave."


    Wilbur and the old man exchanged nces. The old man asked, "Sir Hagin, can I know what the special traits of the eightmanders are?"


    "That''s a secret," said Hagin.


    "All I can tell you is that each of the eightmanders cultivates a different element. There''s wind, water, earth, fire, wood, and thunder. I suggest you choose the thunder-type powers, as they are less of a threat to you. That''s my way of repaying you for saving my life. I hope you don''t see me as heartless, gentlemen." The truth was that Hagin knew he would never be able to keep Wilbur and the old man from choosing thunder-type powers. Besides, the eightmanders might not be able to defeat the duo, which was what pushed Hagin to paint the gesture as a generous offer.


    At the same time, Hagin was also curious to see if Wilbur and the old man would be able to take on the challenge at the ninth checkpoint. Surely they would be devastated to lose to their own kind.


    The old man said, "No. It would be disrespectful of us to choose thunder-type powers. I think we''ll choose themander with Earth-type powers as our opponent."


    "Really?"


    Hagin looked at them in disbelief. It was clear that he had not expected the old man to choose that.


    "Are you sure you want to choose themander with earth-type powers as your opponent? You can''t change your decision once it''s been confirmed, I hope you''ll choose wisely."


    "That''s right. We choose themander with Earth-type powers as our opponent."