Chapter 56: The list of seeded participants.

Chapter 56: The list of seeded participants.

What happened next was a half an hour-long dressing down about my mistakes. I had to calm elder Rashid down by exaggerating the critique Andross had given me. After a while, his tangent ended. We both drank some lemon tea to calm down.

Youre lucky the skill you got from the merging crystal suits you perfectly. Andross begged me for a week to give it to you.

I smiled.

Did he? Im not surprised. Hes a good guy.

Hah! Of course you would say that. Anyway, back to the matter at hand. Youre participating in the tier 2 bracket of the tournament starting next week, right? Youll be representing our guild at the tournament, so give a good showing, otherwise, Ill feed you to my eyeballs.Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience

I sighed. It seemed that now that he was done chastising me, his sanity had disappeared again.

Of course, I will. Can I ask you something, sir?

He waved his hand at me, gesturing for me to go ahead.

I learned a few months ago that my uncle is the captain of the Royal Guard. I was wondering if the guild only accepted me as a member because of my background?, I asked, twirling my fingers out of nervousness.

Elder Rashid defused the tension by laughing out loud.

Of course not, idiot! Do you think we do background checks for every fop that tries to enter the guild? We only do those on the people that have otherwise been cleared to enter in the first place. We would have accepted you, despite your class, even if you had actually just been a bakers son. I cant promise you another countrys branch wouldve done the same, but at least our Roa branch is open-minded!

What do you mean?, I asked him.

The old man sighed.

Im a [Bestial Empyrean]. I can turn parts of my body into those of beasts Ive killed. Those goat legs from before, for example, used to belong to a tier 4 [Infernal Devil].

And that purple eye you used to stop our momentum last time?

The elder just smiled slyly in response.

I first joined the guild as a tier 3 [Beastmancer]. At the time, the Roa kingdom was at war with a now destroyed kingdom called the Yvolt triarchy. Yvolt had many more class holders that involved beasts and monsters because of their climate, which caused many Roa natives to hate people like me. In the beginning, people in the guild were distrustful of me, but they needed my help to counter our enemies and create counter-strategies. Eventually, though, they learned to trust me based on my character and merits. Since Ive taken over as Roas witch hunter elder, Ive tried to instil more open-mindedness in our members. Its been slow going, but were getting there.

Thats impressive., I praised.

He just smiled slightly in response.

Elder, earlier you mentioned that I would be representing the guild at the tournament. How does that work? I didnt think that many people would pay attention to the lowest tier bracket?

He chuckled.

Quite the opposite, Arthur. More attention is placed on the tier 2 bracket than the other two brackets combined. Tier 3 and 4 tournaments are usually dominated by elders like me that have been stuck at a limit for a long time because of tier trials. As a result, theyre predictable and dont mean much to the respective factions. The tier 2 bracket, on the other hand, is dominated by young talents like you, who all have a chance of reaching tier 5 and 6, becoming the backbone of your organizations in the process. As a result, competition is the heaviest there, and the betting ring is the largest because of its unpredictable nature, even among uninterested parties. Hold on, let me show you something.

He stood up and walked over to a chest, rummaging inside until he pulled out a scroll.

Here it is! This is an analysis of seeded participants for the tournament, made by the best independent information agency around. We have our own information gathering teams, of course, so we have more detailed reports, but this will do well enough to paint a picture to you of the opponents that youll have to watch out for.

He handed the scroll to me.

Hold on, seeded? What does that mean?

Oh, thats not important. Seeded participants dont have to bother with the qualifying rounds. Each major organization can seed a talented youngster or two, though most only bother sending one person, since the singles tournament is what really matters. Anyway, read the scroll!

With a sigh, I rolled it open.

Written below are Omega-teams list of observations and estimates of seeded contenders for the tier 2 bracket of the Royal tournament, held in the year 3456, by the standards of the Roa calendar.

Name: Karon

Age: 23

Background: Karon joined the mercenary guild as a child. He was sponsored to join the Royal Academy, where he stood out as a powerful and tricky caster. He represents the mercenary guild together with his partner.

Battle strength: Estimated tier 2, level 45. Karon is a caster with the oil affinity, a sub-element closely related to the earth affinity and the plant affinity. He traps his opponents in oil, before combusting it. He has used the rarity of his element to his advantage, surprising many opponents with his unique skill-set. That being said, he seems to rely on his affinity too much, to his detriment.

Possible ranking: Victory in the doubles tournament. Quarter finals in the singles tournament.

Character observations: Karon has been described as arrogant to people of lower status than him, while hes very humble in front of his betters. This adaptive nature of his has served him well when it came to getting support from his guild.

Name: ? (tentatively X)

Age: ?

Background: Unknown, beyond the fact that X joined the mercenary guild of Roa one year ago.

He represents the mercenary guild alongside his partner, Karon.

Battle strength: Estimated tier 2, level 40. X uses dual daggers and an array of stealth skills to outsmart his opponents. His strongest points are his movement skills, which give him versatile positioning, though he lacks firepower in comparison to the other seeded candidates.

Possible ranking: Victory in the doubles tournament. Semi-finals in the singles tournament.

Character observations: X remains silent at all times, only communicating in hand gestures.

Name: Reana

Age: 20

Background: A commoner born on a small farm, Reana joined the adventurers guild after awakening. She rose through the ranks quickly with her party, and made a name for herself as the guilds top talent. SHe represents her guild in the tournament.

Battle strength: Estimated tier 2, level 50. Reana uses a wooden axe in combination with a wooden shield. She has the wood affinity, a sub-element related to the plant affinity, which gives her a surprising amount of versatility and offensive power. She seems to lack movement capabilities, however.

Hypothesized ranking: Semi-finals in the singles tournament. Finals in the doubles tournament. Victory in the team tournament.

Character observations: Reana is described as a heroic young lady, that is quick to help those in need and encourage those around her.

Name: Arthur

Age: 18 (awakened three months ago)

Background: The nephew of the captain of the Royal Guard, Arthur instead decided to join the witch hunters guild, which he represents in the tournament. Arthur is said to have grown up outside of the politics of the kingdom. He legally wields a dark affinity thanks to a technicality in the law, that places focus on skills that guarantee insanity, which he avoided thanks to a system error during his awakening, which his uncle is said to have interfered in.

Battle strength: Estimated tier 2, level 50. Arthur wields a bastard sword in combination with the aforementioned dark affinity. He almost exclusively uses skills that use a high amount of mana. This is no issue for him, because he never seems to lack mana. The nature of his fighting style makes him a difficult opponent to overwhelm. With versatile, powerful skills, his only weakness is his lack of battle experience.

Possible ranking: Victory in the singles tournament. Victory in the doubles tournament.

Character observations: Arthur has not interacted much with anyone outside of his friend Cerion, though those that have met him describe him as good-natured, but a bit nave, while ruthless in battle.

They knew about me? Already? Shit...