Chapter 77: The start of the second round.

Chapter 77: The start of the second round.

A few minutes after I had tiered up my skills, Cerion and I found ourselves in my temporary private underground training yard. Cerion had some skills he wanted to practice as well, since he was in the middle of tiering up some stragglers as well, so we decided to do it all at once.

So how do you want to do this? Cerion asked confidently.

For some reason, acting as a dummy for my new skill hadnt deterred him. In his eyes, the fact that I could handle overloaded mana meant that he could, too.

Despite his confidence, we took some time to buy some expensive health potions, just in case.

Well, the skill description says it will add more mana with each strike, so well start slow. Ill leave some small cuts along your skin and well see if larger wounds insert more mana or not. Then well take a break so you can heal. Ready?

Cerion breathed out, focusing his mind.

Ready. he replied, determined.

I walked up to him and drew my sword, coating it in overloaded mana by using [Overload Aura]. Then, I pulled in Cerions arm and left a small knick. As I pulled back the sword, the wound started to bleed. With my [Dark Sight] skill, I saw some of the mana surrounding the sword entering the wound, turning the nearby skin black.

Cerion pulled back his arm with a hiss, grimacing in pain.

Fuck, that hurts! he said, trying to shake off the pain. He started breathing heavily to distract himself as the flesh around his wound was torn apart by my mana. A few moments later, he settled himself again. I could see the wound turn back to normal, losing its dark coloration, as my mana dissipated.

Still, it took nearly ten seconds for the mana to disappear. For such a small amount of mana, that was pretty incredible.

How did it feel? I asked my friend impatiently.

Cerion took a few gulps from a healing potion before replying.

Like a thousand small ants were eating away at the inside of my wound, before spreading to my veins.

Just like how I remember it then. I responded. While I used Dark form to shut out the pain most of the time, there had been occasions where I had experienced the brunt of what mana overload could do to a man, so I was rather familiar with the feeling Cerion was describing.

As for the part about spreading to your veins, mana naturally travels through ones veins, as you know, so its no surprise the infection would spread there first. I continued.

Cerion nodded along to my explanation. He was far more learned when it came to mana and its behavior, so he knew what I was talking about better than I did, to be honest.

Ready for the second part? I asked.

Cerion didnt bother replying and simply nodded, holding out his other arm this time, just in case unhealed wounds had some effect on the effectiveness of my skill.

I held out my great sword again, and drew a long cut along his arm, as far from his artery as possible.

I could see more dark mana enter the wound, though not enough to clear my hypothesis about how a bigger wound means more mana. Instead, about 50% more mana entered the wound, despite it being far larger than the small knick from before.

Still, 50% was more than enough to cause Cerion to curse in pain, clutching his arm. It took nearly twenty seconds for the pain to stop this time, releasing my friend from his plight.

How did that one feel in comparison to the last one? I asked.

On the other side of the crowd, a finely dressed young man equipped with a bastard sword stood. I hadnt even noticed him earlier, because he was lazily leaning against the arena wall. He was accompanied by an average-looking knight, that stood at attention in his presence. It reminded me of the seeded participant, count Arcellus son, who was described as lazy, but, again, I couldnt be sure.

There were a few more noteworthy classers, but some just looked like they were full of hot air, rather than genuine warriors.

Whether they were a threat or they werent, there was plenty of time to find out once the round started.

As more people filtered into the arena, I thought about todays challenge. The second round was scheduled to take a full day and usually consisted of a challenge of some sort, rather than a standard tournament like the third and final round was.

Previous tournaments had had obstacle courses, mazes and so on, so we couldnt know what we would have to do until the rounds contents were announced.

Right as I pondered this point, a tall, thin man dressed in a black suit took to the stage on one end of the arena. He was carrying a walking cane, which he picked up and brought to his mouth. A moment later, the stadium was filled with his loud voice.

Ladies, gentlemen and everything in between, I would like to welcome you all to the second round of the Royal tournament! he declared bombastically, causing the crowd to erupt in cheers.

The announcer waited for them to calm down again before continuing.

Today, the doubles tournament for our young tier 2 warriors continues! The next challenge will separate the wheat from the chaff! Weed out the weak! Annihilate the cowardly! he continued, riling up the crowd even further.

Indeed! Todays challenge is one never before seen in the tournament! May I introduce the bounty hunt! he finished, as a large blue screen appeared behind him.

Team A1: 100 Team A2: 100 Team A3: 100 Team A4: 100 Team A5: 100 Team A6: 100 Team A7: 100 Team A8: 100 Team A9: 100 Team A10: 100 Team B1: 100 Team B2: 100 Team B3: 100 Team B4: 100 Team B5: 100 Team B6: 100 Team B7: 100 Team B8: 100 Team B9: 100 Team B10: 100 Team C1: 100 Team C2: 100 Team C3: 100 Team C4: 100 Team C5: 100 Team C6: 100 Team C7: 100 Team C8: 100 Team C9: 100 Team C10: 100 ...

This year, 270 teams have qualified to participate in this event. As you can see, each team has been assigned 100 points, and given a team name with a number and a letter. To gain more points, the teams will be sent to an enchanted forest, where they can hunt down other teams to steal their points by defeating them or making them surrender. If an opponent is defeated, they must leave the forest with 0 points. If they surrender, they lose all of their points but are allowed to re-enter the forest after one hour, to gain more points.

After 12 hours, the 16 teams with the most points qualify for the next round.

To top this all off, there will be multiple ways to gain more points throughout the challenge, which will be announced here on the bounty board. Each team has access to this board at all times, so our top competitors will be hunted constantly.

The crowd chanted along to his explanation, like a pack of rabid animals, but I still managed to digest his instructions. Those with the highest number of points would become targets, but that also meant that they would have more opportunities to fight new teams.

The option to surrender was also an interesting one, that could be used tactically in a pinch.

Before I could continue my train of thought, the announcer spoke up again.

Now, with everything explained, its time for the challenge to begin! I wish all participants good luck! Tata! he finished, swinging his cane in a wide motion.

Before I knew it, I found myself falling into the middle of a bush, face first.

As I recovered, a system notification appeared.

Ding! You have joined an event: Bounty hunt!

Ding! You now have access to event-exclusive: Bounty board.

Event notification: You have been separated from your partner. The first team to reunite receives 300 points.

It seemed the challenge had already begun. Luckily, Cerion would recognise the sound of my explosions.