- Veena -
She sat in the audience with Rose as they watched over the competition. Their seats had been arranged by the Knight Academy and Arnold, who himself was sitting among the head gallery with the rest of the City Lords and dignitaries.
Their seat was still in the noble area, where people just below the top level were sitting. With her was the merchant, Roland, Ryan's father who had just made a temporary contract with the Fairy Tail guild. He was a former knight who had retired due to injuries and had taken over his family business. But even with his injuries, he was a max level T5 Lord Knight.
Over a thousand people had entered the competition. Five hundred T3, Three hundred and fifty T4 and Two hundred T5.
First round was a simple trial where the people had to fight three Golems of their own tier. If they won, they would then qualify for the next round. The Golems were created by the Magic Tower.
"I wonder what kind of spell they are using?" Rose whispered as they looked at one of the players being knocked out by the golem.
"The Magic Tower has many kinds of magicians, preceded over by Archmage Antonidas. Their means are never to be underestimated." Roland said.
"But if they can create such Golems, surely they could do the same in battlefields, right?" Rose asked.
The answer came from someone else.
"Not really."
They looked behind and saw an old man with sharp eyes and neatly trimmed beard and moustache, looking at the field. He wore a pair of glasses and looked like a noble but his warrior-like aura wasn't hidden by his gentlemanly dress.
"Regan, when did you arrive at Greenfrost?" Roland asked, pleasantly surprised at the new man's arrival.
"This morning. We got delayed by some bandits on the way. Pesky cretin were causing trouble in the villages we were passing through. It took me some time to find every last one of them."
"Ahahahaha, that's just like you, Sir Regan the Just." Roland laughed and then introduced her. "This is Regan Fowler, a teacher at the Magic Tower."
She gave the man a short bow and he returned a nod.
"Those Golems need a supply of magic crystals and can only function within a certain area. They are not suitable for battles as they cannot easily distinguish between friends and foes without some mage controlling them individually, something which is unnecessarily wasteful. That's why they can only be used in such cases as well as to train soldiers in a controlled environment."
"I see."
"Moreover, making T5 and above Golems is extremely hard and expensive. It's far cheaper to train Knights of that level." He added.
"The average strength of golems is also lower than a Knight of the same level." Roland added. "Even Magic Knights can take one down in a solo battle despite them being resistant to magic."
She looked ahead and sure enough, individually they were quite a bit weaker but when three cooperated together, their strength was formidable enough to easily defeat most of the challengers they faced.
At the end of it all, only around a tenth of the T3 remained, thirty five of T4. It was finally time for the T5.
She had noticed that the ones who won were all above average level. In fact, she could say this without a doubt that the fighting abilities of the qualified people were far above the average player of the same level. Although, she was pretty sure that each member of her team was stronger than them and could have qualified too.
"Now here's where the real competition is." Roland said as he sat straight in his seat, watching closely.
The players entered the field one by one and Roland explained.
"Each faction like the Knight Academy, Magic Tower, Church, nobles, etc, get to nominate twenty people of their own. The rest are independent individuals who have come from all over Greenfrost to show their talents and win a reward, maybe even catch the attention of someone high up and get recruited."
She nodded. She had indeed noticed some people with a parchment and pen, noting down the names of some participants after the games.
"T5 Golems are controlled by individual mages. They will be having a lot more problems than the previous two rounds." Regan said and they watched closer.
The first challenger, a Level 48, T5 Martial Artist stepped forward.
The match started with the signal from the judges and the three golems divided in three directions, magic forming in their hands as they shot three different types of elemental magic at the monk from all three directions.
And to his credit, the monk moved swiftly, dodging the attacks and retaliating but the combination of the three golems was hard to counter. By the end, he was able to defeat two of them but fell to the third one.
"It's… much harder than the previous rounds. They can even use magic." Rose whispered softly, looking at the battle, worriedly.
"In wars, you don't get to choose how many people come after you or what kind of skills they will have. This test is to emulate that kind of situation. The skills of the golems are randomised to simulate real war." Regan explained and they watched forward.
Sure enough, under the siege of the three golems, the T5 players started being eliminated one by one.
There were obviously those who passed the test, being able to take down the three golems through plans or by using skills against them but everyone was hurt more or less.
Finally, it was Arthas' turn.
She sensed Rose becoming tense and placed a hand on her hand, reassuring her. "Don't worry. Arthas is strong."
"Is that your partner?" Roland asked, looking forward.
"Yes."
"Oh… a Knight Academy representative? I haven't heard about him." Regan said, taking a closer look.
"He was brought by Lord Straight and nominated by Sir Ralph himself so he must be good. My son hasn't been back home these days so I don't know much" Roland replied.
"Arnold Straight? Hmm, that guy… is difficult. But our Magic Knights are not to be underestimated either, not to mention the Templars."
"Heh… we will see." Roland scoffed in good nature. And then turned towards her. "What do you think he will do, Miss Veena?" Roland asked.
"Arthas will win." She replied.
"Ahahaha that's the way."
They looked forward and the judge gave the signal and almost at the same time, Arthas kicked the ground, reaching the golems who were still trying to get some distance from one another. His blade lit with lightning and he slashed down.
The golem lifted its arms, trying to block while the other two moved to aim at him.
But under everyone's stunned eyes, the golem was cleaved through without any resistance. Arthas didn't wait either and spun around, kicking the upper piece towards another golem, blocking the angle of attack.
The magic attack from the said golem clashed with the torso of the first golem and the blast destabilised it, while also creating a cloud of dust around them.
Arthas kicked the ground once again and dove into the cloud of dust and almost next second, another golem slashed from between was thrown out of the cloud of dust.
Their vision wasn't obstructed for much longer either as the cloud of dust suddenly separated from the middle, as if slashed by an invisible giant sword. What appeared for their sights was the last golem falling in two pieces, bisected in the middle.
There was a moment of silence in the whole stadium. Even the judge was quiet, not sure about what happened.
Arthas sheathed his sword and slowly walked back and looked at the judge.
It was then that the judge broke out of his trance.
"P-pass."
The crowd, as if awakened by the judge's voice erupted in an uproar.
Veena looked at the two men beside her, looking at the field in stunned silence before turning towards her and then looking back at the field.
"H-ow long did that take?" Roland asked.
"I… don't know. Five… seven… seconds. By Mother Magic, is he really a T5?" Regan replied and then looked at her.
"A Level 28, T5." She replied.
"28! He's not even max level?"
"A-actually." Rose interrupted.
"Hmm?"
"He… just levelled up when he destroyed the last Golem." Rose added.
Veena checked the Guild menu and sure enough, he did level up.
"My apologies. It seems he is Level 29 now."
…
…
…
…
Regan opened his glasses and rubbed his eyes and then looked at Roland. "We are screwed this year, aren't we?" His words, completely breaking his cold noble facade.
Roland, who had a wide smile on his face by now, laughed at the words. "Very likely, my friend. Very likely."
_________________________________x____________________________________
The matches had stopped for a while.
It turns out that many of the contestants and even some of the judges were raising complaints that Arthas was a higher tier individual, hiding his level by some means.
A short check proved that they were completely wrong and the matches were continued.
She noticed there were several other good fighters who could even match the players in her team in skill level.
By the end of it all, almost all nominated contestants from the Knight Academy, Magic Tower and Church were selected, passing the test. Among others who passed were the members of the Order of the Black Hand, having passed the test as well. Finally, there were several other independent warriors, making a total of sixty three people.
The sun was already setting so the rest of the matches were left for the next day.
Both Rose and she went ahead and met with Arthas who was currently being surrounded by the Knights of the Knight Academy.
She noticed that he was genuinely happy and was having fun at the moment.