Chapter 290: Dragon Rider Squadron

The first round lasted for three days.

Although the mages hired by Mayor Corinth worked in shifts to broadcast the tourney through their magic mirrors, the citizens of Lancaster had their own lives to live-aside from a handful, most of them were certainly not staying around on Lancaster Square for three days.

If the viewership was represented in a chart, the graph would appear in a distinct U-shape, peaking when the first round started and when the first round was about to end.

Still, some of the interesting parts in the first round were hot topics (such as the compilation of ungrateful believers which Xi Wei had edited), even stirring a trend that elevated the popularity of the Twin City Cup in Lancaster and surrounding areas.

And yet, despite the crowds’ passionate enthusiasm and their looking forward to the next round, the contestants were already worn out in heart and spirit following the three-day-long fight for survival, having not even one bit of strength left in them.

As such, Xi Wei naturally wouldn’t urge them to promptly continue on to the next round.

After the contestants had gathered and embedded five marked cards on their bangle and activated it by shaking it twice like a smartphone, human language appeared then, informing them about the venue and date of the second round.

Illiterate Players naturally could use their System’s quest page and translate human language to ‘god words’ (the text typically used by the System) that even monkeys could understand.

As for whether the other illiterate Players understood…

Xi Wei: That’s none of my business!

What are you complaining about? The auto-translator is a part of the Church of Games’ divine grace as well. Ask your own god if you don’t like it!

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“The second round… is three days later? Feels like quite a long gap.”

Jom was a little surprised even as he stared at the translated text from the bangle.

He had assumed that there would only be a day of rest when they continued on to the next round.

Still, it made sense when he thought about it.

After all, not everyone was as accustomed as the Players were with death and injury to the point that their nerves had thickened—they certainly wouldn’t be trying to keep their intestines inside after their stomach was impaled one second, and eating red broiled intestine noodles at the tavern the next, after having a bottle of cola.

To most people, sleeping the entire day away only eases off their physical fatigue, and it would take a much longer time to adjust their condition.

Relatively speaking, three days was already too short.

“Jom, let’s go eat. I’m really craving for some black wheat crackers now.” Terry grimaced, clutching his stomach.

They hadn’t had a good meal in the three days inside the maze island, and this glutton was naturally aching all over his body.

“Alright.” Jom said, patting the head of the old dog which had been walking beside them. “It’s been tough on you too, Pikes. Let’s get you some good grub.”

“I also want curry rice, stir fried pig leg, terror bird egg custard…” Terry said, counting off his fingers. “A full humpbeast baked with habanero wheat would be nice too!”

“It’s always eat, eat and eat with you. Why not eat some dragon meat!?” Jom scowled at his partner.

“Eh? Can I really have some!?” Terry was delighted, completely missing the sarcasm.

Jom scowled even harder.

“You can have some dragon meat if you visit us.”

That was when a group of people approached them.

Jom turned, and realized that it was the group of wyvern knights they ran into back at the maze island. And at the moment, they were no longer their ragged selves after running around in circles seemingly without end, and almost being driven mad at that.

“And you are…”

“The name’s Isaac.” The man in the lead answered. “I’m the commander of the northern wyvern knights squadron in service of the Temple of Glory.”

“Of course, it’s not real dragon meat,” he added, with a proud smile that did not lack politeness. “There are always some young wyverns in our dragon stables which ended up with stunted growth. Since they might affect the younger dragons if we used them for breeding, we would deal with them like poultry for meals in our training regimen. Although we can’t provide much, giving each of you one thigh for a taste wouldn’t be a problem.”

“I’m sorry, but we’re not thinking about converting to the Temple of Glory,” Jom replied warily.

“Relax, I am absolutely aware of that. Consider this repayment for helping us in the maze island, not a lure for conversion.”

Isaac nodded as if it was only natural. “Even if I can’t say this on behalf of the Temple of Glory as a whole, I swear on my honor as the commander of the northern wyvern knights squadron that our men wouldn’t fight you as enemies. In fact, I could help pull some strings to ally the Temple of Glory in the northern regions to your Church of Games.”

Such a gesture of goodwill was plenty sufficient for the commander of the wyvern knights.

Even so, Jom really couldn’t tell what he was planning, and since the commander seemed overly enthusiastic, he eventually said, “You’re talking to the wrong person. We’re merely ordinary believers in the Church of Gameswe can’t influence the decisions of the higher-ups.”

“That’s a pity,” Isaac said without looking disappointed.

“Well, we still have things to do. See you around.” Jom promptly seized the moment to take their leave, dragging Terry along with him.

After watching as the two walked off into the distance, one of the wyvern nights turned towards Isaac in confusion.

“What are you doing, commander?” He asked, both upset and puzzled. “Do we need to concern ourselves with those two kids? Sure, they are good with directions, but their bone frames are getting fixed and wouldn’t make the cut for a wyvern knight. And wouldn’t it better if we gave them some coins if we were to repay their kindness?”

“Your ability to observe is weak, Jones. You’re not going to make leader if you go on like this.”

Isaac replied calmly. “Sure, the kids behave single-mindedly and are kind, but kind is just another word for naïve, and to put it crudely, it means that they are too fresh. However, I don’t believe that it’s good luck that allowed them to collect eight marked cards so quickly on the maze island.”

“In fact, they also triggered traps like we did when they led us away from that cursed place. But somehow, they would handle one danger after another easily, which goes far beyond good luck!”

Isaac eyed the thoughtful Jones once and then added, “Every sign points the fact that the two kids were hiding their talent from us, and there is every chance that they have considerable ability that wouldn’t lose out to you lot! Don’t look upset-sure, you have trained hard to cultivate your powerful auras, but auras don’t decide the advantage of a person in this world. I’m convinced that as the tourney proceeds, all of you would see how formidable those two young ones could be.”

“Are they really all that great…” The wyvern knight named Jones clearly wasn’t convinced by Isaac’s judgment.

Nonetheless, Isaac neither confirmed nor denied it. He merely turned towards the pair who had disappeared from a corner and softly sighed.

The truth was that what drove him to his decision wasn’t just the kids’ performance-it was the Church of Games’ outstanding survival rate, and the goodwill they displayed in the maze island.

The outstanding survival rate also indicated that the pair of youths were not a special case – despite being a relatively unknown minor religion, most of the Church of Games member proved to command such level of strength.

Their friendliness only strengthened their reputation, and in the very least, no one would have to worry about being backstabbed when they side with them.

And in this age of upheaval, paying a minor cost in exchange for a trustworthy companion was definitely good.