Jack, Domon, Michelle, and The Man shared the same advanced class, so they went together. Arriving in front of the walls under the sword icon, he saw Stonecleave, Warpath, Killmonger, and Goliath from Rhemos’ group. He didn’t recognize anyone from Therribus’ group.
“Why do you pick this section?” Stonecleave asked Jack when he arrived.
“Why? Because I am a Blade Dancer of course. That class came is from the Warrior class, in case you didn’t notice,” Jack replied.
“But you are also an Archmage and Beastmaster. Why pick this one?”
“Oh, now that you mention it. You are right! But then again, I will still choose this place. Hm… Can it be that you are worried because I am here, you people have no chance?” Jack asked back.
Stonecleave turned away, he didn’t deign to answer.
“Hmph! We can still strive for the second!” Warpath exclaimed.
Jack was amazed. It seemed that the guy had accepted reality by now. In the past, he would have made some stupid excuses to indicate that he was still the better swordsman. But this type was more dangerous. That meant he knew his shortcomings and thus could work on improving them, as opposed to those daydream lunatics who kept on making excuses for their failures.
Still, Jack felt pity for him. Perhaps if Jack was alone, then these people could still strive for second place. But with his grandfather beside him, it was a tall order. Even Jeanny had told The Man no need to participate. It was better to give the slot to players from the other classes, but The Man insisted. He was not to let go of this chance to have a spar with the other experts, even if he knew he won’t be the champions selected to go to the World Tournament.
Once everyone gathered, the staff explained to them that seven matches would happen at the same time, meaning fourteen participants. The last participant would wait. After the first fourteen came out, the last one would join the next matches, while one of the fourteen would sit out one match. The process would continue in this way until every participant had fought the other fourteen. Once all the matches were completed, the points would be tallied to decide the champions.
The staff threw a dice to decide the order. It didn’t matter really. Since in the end, everyone would fight everyone. And unlike the real world. After coming out of the space, all HP, Stamina, MP, and fatigue would be restored to full. So it didn’t matter who fought who first.
The dice were thrown. The first fourteen to fight then came out to the plates on the wall. Jack looked beside him and said, “Good luck.”
His towering opponent replied, “Go f*ck yourself.”
“So rude,” Jack uttered.
The plate in front of them glowed. Goliath touched the plate and vanished. Jack did the same.
For members of the League of Champions, they were familiar with such a process. Jack came out into the empty space similar to when he took the faction’s challenges. Goliath was opposite him. While Jack was observing, both of them heard the voice, “Fight!”
Goliath, who was now a level 45 Berserker, activated his Berserk skill at once. Black tattoos covered his skin as he lunged forward.
“So hasty!” Jack uttered.
Goliath used Punishing Cyclone. His body spun rapidly. His large two-handed heavy axe came at Jack with destructive speed.
Any opponent would have retreated seeing such a threatening move, but Jack was not anyone.
“I won the last time we competed in strength when I only have two classes. Now that I have three, let’s put it to test,” Jack said as his Storm Breaker slashed forward. The sword was engulfed by fire as it went to meet Goliath’s high-speed spinning axe.
*CLANG!*
The two weapons met. Flame Strike against Punishing Cyclone. Under normal circumstances, any other player who used Power Strike would have his arm smacked aside before the player got cut to pieces by the Punishing Cyclone. But in this instance, it was Goliath who got smacked aside. His Punishing Cyclone was forcefully canceled due to the huge difference in force.
Jack then crossed his two swords while Goliath was unbalanced. Devour Cross sent thick dark energy, sweeping Goliath’s body. His 3650 HP was zeroed instantly.
“Oh…,” Jack uttered. He forgot his Devouring Cross had already fully maxed to level 20. It dealt 700% darkness damage. Additionally, Goliath’s Berserk was a double-edged skill that reduced his defense, causing him to receive more damage than he should.
Jack looked at Goliath’s slumped body below his feet. Jack didn’t mean to finish the guy in one hit. This was not a life and death battle, he felt like he should have let the fellow fight a bit longer, allowing the poor giant to keep some of his dignity.
“Well, what’s done is done,” Jack shrugged.
Everyone’s fight was broadcast. The people in the hall outside could see the fight, as well as those that had paid to watch in selected venues. Multiple screens were portraying different matches, but everyone’s attention was on the same screen. Both the ones in the hall and at the venues were silent.
No one would have expected any of the fight to have ended so fast. This was a fight between experts, for goodness sake. How could the difference be so vast?
The plate on the wall shone brightly. Jack and Goliath materialized in front.
Jack looked to the big man who was wearing a gloomy expression.
“Good fight,” Jack said, trying to display sportsmanship.
Goliath didn’t reply. He just stormed away, walking all the way to the exit.
“Wait! You still need to fight the others, don’t you?” Jack called out.
“Go f*ck yourself…!!” Goliath repeated his previous curse, with much more intensity this time.
‘Crap, did I just cause a participant to abandon this tournament?’ Jack thought, scratching his head.
Since he finished his fight so fast. He came back to Commander Quintus’ side. There were chairs there. He sat on one.
“I can see now where your confidence comes from when you said you will win this tournament,” Quintus said.
“Exactly, right? It’s just a waste of time for me to be here. I said already, it’s pointless for me to join this selection tournament. I’m sure to get selected anyway,” Jack said.
“Not too humble, aren’t you?”
“By the way, is there any reward for being the champion of this selection tournament?” Jack asked.
“The reward is the right to join the World Tournament,” Quintus answered.
“What? So boring,” Jack sighed. He then remembered something. He said to Quintus, “I remember last time you said you will help me learn your sword skill after I help the prince with a couple of assignments. I help with a couple already, haven’t I?”
Commander Quintus laughed. “All right. Tell you what, I will try to talk with one of the kingdom’s basic master scrollmakers. I will try to get the technique book for you before you leave for the World Tournament. How about that?”
“That will be great!” Jack uttered.
“I still need you to pay the coins though.”
“Sure. Here,” Jack said as he offered one hundred gold coins.
“I need a hundred and fifty,” Quintus said.
“Eh? Last time you said one hundred.”
“One hundred is for the materials and production process. Since you can’t find your own scrollmaker, I still need to pay the scrollmaker for his service.”
“Oh, okay,” Jack fished out another fifty gold coins. It’s a good thing he had picked up his profits earlier today. Otherwise, he won’t have enough. After giving the coins to Commander Quintus, he only had 33 gold coins left in his purse.
After a while, the other participants finished their matches one by one. Some took the entire ten minutes without a clear winner. They were forcefully ejected out of the match. The staff then called for everyone to gather again for the second round.
For the Warrior class section, since there were only fourteen participants left, no participant needed to wait anymore. Jack was paired with Stonecleave for this second round.
The staff told everyone that they should enter.
When Jack was about to enter, Stonecleave uttered, “I forfeit.”
Jack looked at him questioningly. Stonecleave turned to the staff who asked him, “Are you sure?”
Stonecleave replied with a nod.
“All right. I declare Storm Wind the winner, receiving two points. Stonecleave zero points.”
Since there was no match, Jack and Stonecleave went back to their respective groups.
“He must have heard what happened to your first opponent,” Quintus said when Jack came.
“Yeah. How wonderful it will be if everyone just forfeits and let me become the champion without even needing to lift a finger,” Jack joked.
Bored, he decided to walk around looking at the projections of the fight in the other places. He came upon the Rogue section and saw Red Death was fighting against Balo on the screen. Seeing that match, he didn’t know who to cheer for. He should be rooting for his guildmate Balo to win, but he felt that he preferred to have Red Death going to the World Tournament with him.
The two fought fiercely. Being both a martial art expert, the battle was evenly matched. Balo had a deeper understanding of martial arts, but Red Death had more experience with gaming mechanics. Their equipment seemed equally powerful, but Red Death’s possessed more non-standard skills. In the end, Red Death managed to wear Balo down when the time limit almost ended.
“Ah, too bad,” Jack uttered. Peniel was beside him. Jack was saying pity but why did she sense that he was feeling glad instead?
It’s the third round now. Everybody was preparing to enter again. Jack was now paired with a stranger, a level 44 Mage Knight.
When it’s time to enter, this Mage Knight said, “I forfeit.”
