Of course, I expected lots of users would participate in this event, since I belonged to the region with India and China which had the most number of users in the world.
And there was a possibility that the number of participants would increase even more from now.
However, no matter what the final number was, this would be a one-on-one tournament, and I was confident in winning any one-on-one fight. So I felt comfortable with the number of participants.
So I stopped caring about the number of participants and continued hunting, as usual.
The next evening I had dinner with my family, as usual.
We conversed with each other about various topics, but we mainly talked about the ongoing event.
"Gosh, there were less than 50,000 participants in the other regions, but how come our region had as many as 170,000? As expected, China and India are so huge compared to the other regions. Whew!" exclaimed my sister in disbelief.
I could easily confirm the number of participants in each region by cl.i.c.k.i.n.g 'check event participants.' In other words, it was not a secret.
That's why the status of the participants in a total of 40 regions was made public, but the region that registered the biggest number of participants was Region 11 that I belonged to.
At that moment, my brother opened his mouth.
"But it is rumored that Region 11 will win first place without a doubt."
As soon as he said that, all of my family members including his wife looked at me instantly. I said, shrugging a bit, "Well, I wish there were more events like this. I would win first place all the time."
Then I chewed the side dish in my mouth.
As a matter of fact, the cooldown of the God of Enhancement ended just in time for me to win first place. None of my family members objected to what I said.
After that, we had a good dinner, as usual.
The next day.
At the level 1500 Hunting Ground Land of Titan.
Obviously, I have experienced many events in the past, but what I liked the most about this event was that there was no need for me to go somewhere in advance.
In other words, a message rang while I was hunting as usual.
[You have applied to participate in the event to select the strongest person in Region 11.
- Your duel opponent has been found.
-Would you like to go ahead with the duel?
: If you refuse to proceed with the duel, it will automatically be counted as a defeat.]
"Participate!"
[You have chosen to participate.
-In 10 seconds, you will be moved to the dedicated arena.]
[You have 30 seconds to prepare for the duel.
-Within these 30 seconds, you can cast buffs and change your items.
-If you win a battle, you will automatically advance to the next round. The loser will be eliminated from the tournament.]
During the 30 seconds preparation time.
But I didn't really do anything during that time. Instead, as soon as the 30-second count disappeared, the transparent wall in the center of the arena disappeared, so I spoke softly at the opponent who appeared.
"Ice Punishment!"
Bang!
Of course, my opponent also knew the importance of striking first. So he also tried attacking me as soon as the transparent wall disappeared.
That's why my opponent's arrow hit my c.h.e.s.t, but the arrow tip bounced off me instead of getting stuck in my arm or c.h.e.s.t.
"Kheeeeeeeeh!"
[Lumen, Asirante has won.
- You advance to the next round.]
My opponent couldn't even withstand a single strike.
Did I start off with Ice Field or Thin Ice, which I normally used to signal my attack?'
To be honest, I didn't need to use them even in the level 1500 hunting ground Land of Titan.
As a matter of fact, my stats increased tremendously because of the parasite and the +7 Enhancement Ice Emperor's guardian sword, which made me stronger than ever.
That's why this event was held at a perfect time to demonstrate my dramatic increase in stats.
Anyway, a series of messages rang one after another, announcing my victory.
[Since you have won, Lumen, Asirante, you advance to the next round.
Shuuuuuuuuung-
In no time, the Land of Titan appeared.
"Blizzard!"
Puck! Puck! Puck! Puck!
[Kheeeeeek!]
[Khuuuuuuuuuk!]
I continued hunting as if nothing happened.
In fact, there was nothing particular except for the fact that I used Ice Punishment.
And I kept hunting like before day after day.
I repeated that for several days. Of course, the result was always the same.
I always ended up beating my opponent with a single shot.
No matter who my opponent was, they could not withstand a single strike.
While I was engaged in the duels, I sometimes met a welcome opponent.
For example, I encountered one of the Oizuki brothers of Japan's Mitsuya Guild.
During the 30 seconds' preparation time before the duel.
During that time, there was a wall separating me and the other person in the center, but I could figure out who the other person was because the wall did not completely cover his appearance . So I said hello to him first.
But the other person's face hardened as soon as he saw me, so he couldn't afford to return my greetings because he was so startled.
"Oh, you are Oizuki's brother, right?'
Of course I know his name because his traits were so impressive that I could not help but envy him back then. Since I was an ice-type wizard who attacked mostly with skills, I took note of him because he had the traits of Skill Master rather than his elder brother who had the traits of Item Master. But I deliberately pretended not to know him because I wanted to act haughty before this guy who had me in big trouble the first time I encountered him.
But the reason I could be so confident before this guy who troubled me so much when I first met him was because I now knew the weakness of the trait of the Skill Master.
The Skill Master trait could not restrict the special skill points that were acquired through events or quests rather than being given normally to everyone when they leveled up. In other words, even if my use of skills was controlled by the Skill Master, I could still use the special skill points to gain access to certain skills.
That's why I could beat the Oizuki brothers with 5 skill points at that time.
But now, thanks to the level 900 limited quest and the level 1200 regular quest, I had more special skill points than before. In particular, during the level 1200 regular quest, I acquired a whopping 3 special skill points. That's why I had no choice but to be more confident than I was back then. What's more, all I had to do was to fight only one of the Oizuki brothers this time.