When his Beastmaster was level 40, Jack received another new skill.
Combination Assault, level 1/20 (Active skill, requires pet)
Perform a joint charge with Beastmaster’s pet against a single target. Deals 400% physical damage. 10% chance to Dizzy and Fear. Reduce target’s defense by 30% for 10 seconds.
Range: 20 meters
Cooldown: 10 minutes
Stamina: 100
Jack had 18 free skill points for Beastmaster saved up, he used them all for this skill. On level 19, this skill dished out 760% physical damage.
He also had 6 Blade Dancer and 3 Archmage skill points. He spent them on Wind Slash and Myriad Ensnaring Chains. Both became level 12 after.
Wind Slash now dealt 410% damage and shot three wind energies. Myriad Ensnaring Chains released thirteen chains, each of its chains was also more sturdy, more resistant to breaking.
The Ice Demon Boss provided a large number of souls. After all the runs, Jack had collected 530,000 soul points. He used them to again max out his advanced skills and spells. With the current available amount, he maxed out Charge, Shredding Fang, Arcane Turbulence, and Ice Ring.
Jack had 21 free attribute points, he distributed them to Dexterity this time. His Blade Dancer and Beastmaster already gave excellent Dexterity stat, but he figured he should just enhance it more, trumping the speed of all the challengers in the tournament. Combined with the boosts from his race skill and equipment, his Dexterity was at 573 points.
On the day of the selection tournament, Jack went first to Amy’s Bakery and Ellie’s Restaurant to take his profits. He received 84 gold coins from both establishments. Amy’s Bakery was now five-story tall after becoming a luxury shop and featured a much better look. It was three-story less than Ellie’s Restaurant despite being the same grade, but Jack didn’t complain. He was happy as long as the profit it produced increased.
Afterward, he joined his fourteen guildmates and went to the League of Champions’ building which housed the tournament. The news of the tournament was already spread. A lot of players crowded around the building, hoping to be allowed in to watch the tournament.
But only tournament participants and members of the League of Champions were allowed access. Even the faction’s members were not allowed into the arena hall where the tournament was carried out.
Due to the popularity of the tournament amongst outworlders, the league of champions had arranged to broadcast the tournaments at selected venues, charging them coins for the views. These venues were at theaters, VIP rooms of taverns, and other public closed buildings. The VIP rooms of Ellie’s restaurant were selected as one of these venues. These crowded players hurriedly ran to those venues, fearing the venues would be filled up if they were late.
Jack and his group went into League of Champion’s building after rigorous checkings. Together with him were Jeanny, Domon, Fierce Flame, The Man, Bowler, Giant Steve, Trinity Dawn, Viral Cora, Balo, Jason Wu, Michelle, Olddemon, Sturdy Serpent, and First Mate. First Mate was part of the Warriors of Solidarity, he was The Man’s adjutant, a level 44 Avenger.
Before they left, Jack had used the stock of ores in the guild’s warehouse to increase the level of these fourteen’s equipment. All of them had rare equipment on them. With the increased levels, Jack was confident this team was the best in terms of equipment amongst the participants.
John had ridiculed Bowler for joining, but Jeanny defended by saying that Healer’s tournament was focused on their healing, not their fighting prowess.
Jack submitted his list of participants to the prince a few days ago. Since every prince was told to bring only thirty participants with equal numbers between the six advanced classes. They would have to bring five participants from each advanced class. So after receiving Jack’s list, the prince adjusted his selection of participants outside Everlasting Heavenly Legends.
The fifteen of them were brought into the hall where the selection tournament took place. It was another huge round hall, much like the colosseum-like hall where the members of this faction underwent the challenges. Yet, Jack didn’t see anything that looked like an arena.
There were, however, similar large plates along the wall as in the challenge hall. The plates here were simply missing the numeric numbers. Several natives of the faction were seen tweaking those plates. From this scene, Jack figured the tournament would take place inside constructed dimensions similar to faction challenges.
Many players were already inside the hall. These others huddled into three different groups. One was led by Garland Thunderhand. Another had the cloaked man who stood behind Prince Rhemos during the tournament meeting in the palace. Commander Quintus stood amongst the third group. Those would be the tournament participants representing the three princes. Jack went to the group led by Commander Quintus.
Jack saw many familiar faces among the participants. Rhemos’ team mostly consisted of coalition experts. Red Death, Yellow Death, Princess Purple, Selena, Stonecleave, Warpath, Grimclaw, Killmonger, Goliath, Lustful Elly, and Beauty Beholder.
Among Therribus’ team, he saw Blackjack, Kill Order from Black Cloak guild, Honeycomb and Dashrunner from White Scarfs, and Radiant Phoebe from Saint Edge.
All the others were unfamiliar faces. Jack didn’t see any of the old experts such as Ironfist and Forcelabor. Jack thought perhaps this kind of tournament was beneath them. Or perhaps they were worried if they lost, they would lose the current prestige they enjoyed.
“Hey, I recognize that person,” Bowler said. He waved at the person, who was with Therribus’ camp. The person nodded back with a smile.
“Who is he?” Jack asked.
“That’s David,” Bowler answered. “He is one of the high-ups in the mercenary guild that John asked me to build relationships with.”
“The Dogs of War?” Jack asked, remembering the guild’s name.
“Yes,” Bowler replied.
Domon also nodded to another person from Therribus’ camp. This person didn’t return the nod, he instead looked away.
“You know him?” Jack asked his grandfather, surprised that the old man socialized with people outside the guild.
“Master Domon beat his ass during the coalition’s latest invasion attempt,” it was Bowler who answered. “That guy’s name is Regim. He is in the other mercenary guild that helped the coalition.”
After a while, Royal Advisor Mason appeared with a League of Champions’ executive, who Jack knew as well, Gruff. Gruff clapped his hands loudly, attracting everybody’s attention. Everyone stopped their chatting and turned to him.
Mason spoke first, “For those who not yet know me. My name is Mason, the royal advisor to this Themisphere Kingdom. On behalf of this kingdom, I thank you all for having come here. I know that you are not of this world and this is not your real country, but we would like you to think that it is. We have accepted you with open arms, and now we hope you can do something in return to contribute to this country. I will hand over the explanation on the details of this selection tournament to my associate here, Mister Gruff of the League of Champions.”
“Thank you, Royal Advisor,” Gruff said with a slight bow. “As is requested by the kingdom, we will host this selection tournament to select amongst you to represent the Themisphere kingdom in the World Tournament. We need the cream of the crops so that you can bring honor to this country. Glory and rewards await those that are sent to the world tournament!”
Cheerings were heard. Mostly from the league of champions’ staffs around the hall. Probably Gruff had them do that to rile up the room. Gruff continued, “Now, all of you will be divided into six groups based on your past advanced classes. Each group will have fifteen participants. Each of you will fight against all the participants in your group. One round will have ten minutes. Winners will be given two points, loser zero point, if no one win after ten minutes passes, both will be awarded one point. The ones with the highest points will be the ones who are sent to the world tournament!”
“Oh? A point system? I thought at first we are going to do an elimination system,” Jack mumbled. That meant he had to fight fifteen times. He had been hoping this event to end early so he can go back to grinding.
“The fight will be inside constructed spaces. Everyone’s match will take place at the same time, so we can round this up by today. No need to worry about dying. You won’t lose any level or equipment by dying inside the constructed space. Please note, however, that tools are restricted in that space. This rule is the same as when you fight in the world tournament. No tools! You can rely only on your skill or your equipment only.”
Jack turned to Peniel. “Is companion token considered a tool?” He asked.
“Yes,” Peniel answered.
‘Darn! And here I thought I can bully everyone using Arlcard,’ Jack thought, then added, ‘Well, I still have the Ice Demon Fiend.’
‘I’m afraid that is not available as well,’ Peniel informed.
“What? It’s my amulet’s ability. Equipment can’t be considered a tool, right? Are we supposed to fight buck-naked in the match?’
‘Your amulet is not a tool, but the Heart of Ice is. Even if it has been merged with your amulet, it is still considered as one. So you can’t use your amulet’s summoning ability.’
‘Sigh, never mind then. Not like I need them anyway.’
Gruff was still speaking, “Now, everyone! Please separate yourself based on past advanced classes. We have placed an icon under the wall indicating your class. Please head over to the corresponding walls. The staff there will give you further instructions.”
Everyone looked over to the indicated walls. There were now icons above the plates on the wall. Shield, sword, dagger, bow, staff, and a plus sign. Shield icon should represent the Knight class, sword for the Warrior class, and so on. Jack thought the healer icon with the plus sign was rather modern for this world’s setting, but as long as people understood, he guessed it’s fine.
Gruff ended his speech by shouting passionately, “Let this selection tournament begin!”
