Chapter 618 - (2/2) Quality Battle

Amber disappeared from above the stadium and entered the appraisal room, startling the NPCs. In their eyes, they were in an enclosed private auditorium, whereas in reality, they were seated openly in the center of the stadium's grounds.

"Greetings, esteemed Lords and Ladies of the world. You have been invited here to partake in an event of the highest repute, the Quality Battle appraisal being held by the Gods for the Immortal Adventurers!" Amber began with a smile.

The moment the Gods and Immortal Adventurers were mentioned, the various NPCs broke out in whispers and speculation. They were apprehensive of this task, especially if it involved the Gods, yet not a single one of them got up to leave.

Amber clapped her hands to silence them. "As a mandate from the Gods, you are free to appraise items as strictly and fairly as you wish. In fact, those with the most accurate and unbiased appraisals will be rewarded by the Gods, given either power, longevity, wealth, etc."

The faces of all the NPCs changed greatly, their hearts shaking as they processed the implications of Amber's words. Yet, they also shivered in delight, as they realized that they had a chance to fulfill some of their greatest wishes!

They became incredibly silent as the room darkened, and Amber snapped her finger. An item appeared on the table. It was a sword made by the person in last place from the first Tradeskill event, the Crafting Battle.

(Author's Note: Remember, the Crafting Battle and Writing Battle did not judge the quality of the work, just the technique used and how quickly it was made. Just because someone placed last didn't mean that their work was shit. In fact, many had cut corners on the product to end up in higher places, and the repercussion of this would be shown here.)

The appraisers looked at it and were surprised that a copy of it appeared in their hands. They solemnly inspected it thoroughly before noting their judgments down on a screen that appeared before them.

Afterward, Amber brought out the next item, a small explosive device made by an Engineer who had ended up in the second to last place. They also received clones of his device in their hands, while the main item remained on the pedestal on the podium.

Amber smiled weirdly as she watched the NPCs begin to appraise the new item. There was a glint in her eyes that spelled trouble, but many fellows failed to notice this.

It was only the members of Umbra whose faces changed. They knew Amber somewhat, even though she always stayed in the 7th level of their Rank 7 Shop.

The problem here was that no one took the Quality Battle seriously. Tradeskill events were pretty straightforward with how they gave out their points and the gaps tended to be brutal.

This event, which was a post-completion one, seemed to be just a way to collect extra points. However, it was not like the Technical events where points were unlimited, so many didn't take it seriously.

However… could there be an upset incoming?

Thinking like this, they watched the appraisers do their work seriously. Many cruel fellows like Bella, Sublime Notion, Dreary Traveler Uno, Boyd, Cobra, and Loving Aunt memorized the faces of those appraisers.

If they dared to give their country the short stick, hehehe! They would 'pay them a visit' in Boundless, which usually indicated that a genocide-level clan disaster was incoming.

The appraisal went on, as various items were put out from the Crafting Battle. Since there had only been 200 contestants for that one, there were only 200 items to be appraised.

Still, things started to change when it came time to appraise the creations of those in the top 25 though. From that point on, everyone had used Epic Techniques, which had at least guaranteed the quality of their work. They were the top-tier Expert Tradeskill members of Umbra, just a sliver away from becoming almighty Core Members.

When the appraiser reached the top two, Happy Saint and Intellectual Monkey's work respectively, they started to endlessly marvel and gasp as they inspected them. Some even frothed at the mouth and wished to flee with these items, certain that if they let their descendants study it, they could create a crafting clan on par with the Diad family.

The same thing happened when they went through the products of the Writing Battle and reached that of first place, Noble Writer's epic, the only one to use a Legendary Technique.

As for the Theory Battle and the Performance Battle, neither one had created anything that could be graded in the sense of appraisal. The former had basically been a college exam, whereas the latter had already been graded by the clients in question.

As such, the appraisal ended there.

The Appraisers who had initially believed that this would be an easy job were thoroughly sweating in their seats by now, shocked at the progress the Immortal Adventurers had made in the relatively short time frame since their appearance.

A cruel glint lit in their eyes. Those Immortal Adventures seemed to be Rank 2 on average, with a few at Rank 3. They themselves, who were Rank 4 and above had millions of ways to play them to death and take their creations away.

But that was for later. Now, it was time to claim their rewards from the Gods and they began to make plans on how to subdue those weaklings for their own benefits!

Amber smiled at the NPC appraisers. "We are grateful for your hard work here, dear Sirs and Madams. You may now return to what you were doing before."

The smiles they wore froze as they realized what Amber was trying to say. Before they could roar out their anger, Amber waved her hands and sent them back into the game world, deleting their memories of the event as well.

"Now, let's see the results of the Quality Battle!" She declared with a mischievous grin.

1st – Central Country: 2 Contestants, SSS grading and SS grading. 9,500 points.

2nd – England: 2 Contestants, S grading and SSS grading. 9,000 points.

3rd – France: 2 Contestants, SSS grading and A grading. 8,500 points.

4th – Russia: 2 Contestants, S grading and A grading. 7,500 points.

5th – Japan: 2 Contestants, A grading and S grading. 7,500 points.

6th – Germany: 2 Contestants, A grading and A grading. 7,500 points.

7th – Italy: 2 Contestants, S grading and B grading. 7,000 points.

8th – Mexico: 2 Contestants, A grading and A grading. 7,000 points.

9th – Canada: 2 Contestants, A grading and A grading. 7,000 points.

10th – Brazil: 2 Contestants, S grading and C grading. 6,500 points.

The Grading Scheme was; SSS = 5,000 points, SS = 4,500 points, S = 4,000 points, A = 3,500 points, B = 3,000 points, C = 2,500 points, D = 2,000 points, E = 1,500 points and F = 1,000 points.

Many eyes narrowed as they took in these details. Many noticed that there was something strange going on, but they couldn't exactly put their finger on it. It was the fellows with high IQ that went black, then red with anger.

They couldn't believe that such a dastardly ploy had been played!

It wasn't that bad for the top 10, as the grading was fair since most of them had used Legendary/Epic Techniques, so the quality of their work had been indubitable. However, the further down one went on the table, the more outrageous it became!

Amber noticed the unrest the crowd was experiencing, and as usually, soaked it all in calmly. She then drove the point home for the other non-clever ones to see by calling up the country rankings and showing the new placements.

｢First Inter-Player International Competition

Country Rankings Top 15 (Overall):

1. England – 73,010 points (-)

2. Central Country – 69,317 points (-)

3. Canada – 65,524 points (-)

4. France – 65,099 points (-)

5. Mexico – 59,888 points (-)

6. Japan – 58,583 points (-)

7. India – 57,005 points (-)

8. Italy – 49,573 points (+1)

9. Ghana – 48,809 points (-1)

10. China – 47,396 points (-)

11. Brazil – 45,145 points (-)

12. Russia – 44,428 points (-)

13. Germany – 41,243 points (-)

14. Scotland – 37,155 points (-)

15. Spain – 34,297 points (-)｣

Many eyes widened as they understood what matter of rapacious act had gone on! The gaps… were closing!!

The top 4 were fine, the gaps there had already solidified and would be extremely hard to change up unless something truly chaotic occurred during the Raid.

You could say that they had solidified their position and the only thing left for them was to claim their respective trophies and move on.

However, 5th to 7th place now resembled a Mexican standoff between three titans, all of them fighting each other brutally, none teaming up with the other.

Nevertheless, it had nothing on the intensity that existed between 8th to 13th place. They were all within the same general bracket, and the level of ass-sniffing was insane.

Just the slightest awkward distribution of points could totally change the names on the list from that part in any way. No one could easily predict what would happen next anymore.

"And that brings an end to the Quality Battle! Next up, we have the final Technical Event for the competition, the Picking Game!" Amber declared as she clapped her hands, changing the open auditorium into an arena once more.

The crowd became tense. Many fellows clenched their fists, their hearts beating as they had long become invested in the results of the competition. Some because of pride, some due to seeing the effort the contestants of their home country had put in, others just because maintaining ownership of their houses relied on their country's performance.

Amber snapped here and the contestants for the Picking Game made themselves known to the world!

It was time for the penultimate event to start!