"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the second day of Balkrow City's Rookie Qualifiers! I'm your host, Corey. Today, we're about to begin the highly anticipated Raven's Blade Rookie Representative Selection!"
Corey's vibrant voice boomed across the entire arena, increasing everyone's excitement and anticipation towards the upcoming matches.
"Will the recently famous Shye Crowley, ace representative of this year's champion academy, live up to his legend?! Or will he prove to be yet another disappointment?! Sit back and relax as the 32 rookies with the highest contribution points in Raven's Blade battle it out for a spot in Balkrow City's Rookie Adventurer Competition!"
Hearing Corey's masterful opening, Shye was impressed.
'This guy's almost as good as that Bart guy from Valenzia!' He mused as he watched the host walk with a professional smile towards a staff member who was holding a mana-powered device.
*BLEEP!*
A bleep sounded after Corey pressed a certain button on the device, prompting a huge holographic screen to appear above the stage—visible no matter which side of the arena one was watching from.
Displayed on the screen were the matchups, causing a few overeager individuals to sigh in disappointment upon seeing that Shye and Mateo were on both ends of the brackets, meaning that they probably wouldn't meet until the finals.
Well, if Shye was the real deal, that is.
After all, the majority of the chosen rookies were from the previous year's batch, with only about six rookies from Shye's generation making it to the top 32.
Once the matchups were decided, Corey descended from the stage and sat at the commentator's desk.
It seemed that he would also be the one who would cast the matches.
Shortly after Corey settled down on his desk, a staff member, who was also the referee, raised his arms, seemingly motioning for someone to do something.
Shockingly, a blue dome then appeared and enveloped the stage, causing Shye's eyes to widen in surprise.
'Balkrow has one too?' He thought as he reminisced about the blue dome that ensured the safety of the representatives in the Adventurer Academy Competition. 'This one is way smaller than the one in Valenzia though...'
Neil felt that the crowd's cheers affirmed his suspicions of Shye resorting to dishonesty in exchange for fame. Explore new worlds at mvl
'I'll expose this fraud...' He thought as he waited for Shye in the middle of the stage.
"Now, from the right side of the stage, the rookie everyone's been watching, the ace representative of this year's champion academy, Balkrow's top-ranked rookie! Please welcome... Shye Crowley!"
As Shye took the stage, a good number of people cheered for him—mostly those who had bet on him and guild members who had witnessed his skills firsthand.
However, for "Balkrow City's top-ranked rookie", such cheers seemed rather lackluster.
Shye didn't care though.
In the end, all of them would give him system points.
As Shye arrived in the middle of the stage donning mage equipment, a considerable number of people who were watching were utterly confused—a single thought resonating in their minds:
'Wasn't this guy a warrior?!'
The people in the audience who watched Shye's matches in the Adventurer Academy Competition were 110% sure that he was a warrior.
However, since they were curious about what his plans were for donning mage equipment, they temporarily kept their mouths shut and watched how the duel would unfold.
"Heh, Shye Crowley, the top-ranked rookie. It would be an honor to be the one to reveal how much of a fraud you are." Neil mocked, staring right at Shye's eyes as though he could see the "fear and panic" in Shye's heart.
"Delusional. Honor my ass. Once this match is done, you will have zero honor left."
The short trash-talk session further intensified the crowd's enthusiasm for this match, prompting the referee to jerk his arms upwards as it would be unwise to make such an eager crowd wait.
"Begin!"