Chapter 304 - Adventurer Association Auction.

'It's glad to know that although he looks mean all the time, he isn't unreasonable.' Blake said through the mind link.

'Yeah, I was shocked that he even accepted the request.' Brian was astonished.

'The request is for everyone, so aren't you afraid that the other teams would start performing better?' Castiel asked. 

'Not at all.' Blake said in an unbothered tone. 'They might manage to learn new battle arrays that would improve their performance, but they can never find the elemental cannon battle array, and neither will their synergy be as good as ours.'

'You forgot to mention that with our tight schedule they would have very little time to practice. Meaning they would have to sacrifice some hours of sleep, which would affect their performance in the long run.' Brian added.

With the training over, Blake's team returned to their tents to rest before the night shift, while the other teams headed over to the school to search for battle arrays.

…

Just a few minutes after the exercise was concluded, the daily reports of every team sent to the walls were being delivered to Principal Lovren by Professor Gibson. 

"Just like yesterday, the 2nd years had performed worse than the 1st years." Principal Lovren only nodded to the report as if he expected such results. 

"Also, every wall has eliminated a 2nd-year team, except for the southern wall that eliminated 2 teams." Gibson reported finally causing a change of expression from Lovren.

"That is odd." Principal Lovren said as he began stroking his white beard and pondering. 

The reform which only the 1st year students were undergoing was a combination of 1st year and part of 2nd year knowledge. 

Also, unlike the teachings of 2nd year students that were focused on 80% individual strength and 20 teamwork, that of the 1st year was 60% individual strength and 40% team strength. This was why Principal Lovren wasn't surprised about them performing badly.

What confused him was that the strongest teams were being sent to the southern gate, meaning even if teams were meant to be eliminated because of incompetence, then the southern gate was meant to have the least number out of the other gates.

"Yes it is quite odd, but it still makes sense. The so-called 'strong teams' of the 2nd year all rely on individual strength to get through problems, so when rules that limit individual strength are placed, they crumble." Professor Gibson explained. 

During the exercise, Major Reeves had set up barriers to limit the space the teams could use. This prevented the 2nd years from using fusion magic, thus making the exercise equal for both years.

"I wonder what the prince would do with the data we have gathered so far." Principal Lovren said in a pondering tone. 

"The data is totally in favor of the reformation. Do you think the prince would merge both years?" Professor Gibson asked. 

After seconds of pondering, principal Lovren answered. "Most likely, if the 2nd year students were to step down by a level they wouldn't lose much compared to the other levels, and although it will give them an advantage over the 1st years, it would make their juniors work harder."

Although the reformation was still in its experimental phase, even when the experiments would be completed and it would be implemented, the 3rd to final year students wouldn't be affected. This meant they would be 'subpar' to their successors, but the school had already concluded that it wouldn't be possible to step everyone down to the 2nd or 1st year.

"So how is Blake's team doing?" Principal Lovren asked, changing the topic.

"So far, they are still the ones with the highest points among all the teams." Professor Gibson answered. 

"Alright keep me updated on important info. I have to meet up with the prince." Lovren said as he warped out of the room.

…

Around the time the teams had begun their exercises, there was a special event going in the central region of the city. 

This was an event held annually, a week before the beast tide. It was the adventurer association auction and it was being held in the adventurer association building.

It wasn't open to the public, but to a selected few invited by the adventurer association. Those in attendance were top families, top figures, adventurers, and adventurer parties. 

The reason the auction got people of such caliber and power excited during this time of the year was that the items were of the best quality. Very rare items ranging from weapons, herbs to even rare artworks could be found in this auction.

The auctions held by the adventurer association were known to be the best all around the world. The rarity of the items found in the auctions was dependent on the level of the city, meaning you would most likely find rarer items at capitals than in normal cities.

As for the reason how the association could get their hands on so many artifacts and items in order to be considered the best auctions were quite simple. 

Unlike the 3 empires that occupied certain parts of the world map, the adventurer association was deeply rooted in the 3 empires, meaning they had more reach than the empires that were unable to act outside their jurisdiction. 

Also, the adventurer association employed the citizens of the 3 empires, and since adventures carried out 70% of the worlds exploration, the association would get info about the artifact or in cases where the adventurers decided to sell the found artifact, their hands on the artifacts before the 3 empires.

They now decide to hold the auction close to the time of the beast tide, when families and adventurers would require stronger weapons to make sure they came out on top in the battle of reputation point from killing beasts. Thus increasing the price of the artifacts and making a whole lot of gains.

The attendees knew about this, but they couldn't do anything about it because if they decide not to take part in the auction, their competition would only get an upper hand in the competition.. Besides, it wasn't as if they wouldn't do the same if they were in the associations' position.