novelraw Chapter 75 : Chapter 75
Chapter 75 : Chapter 75
Chapter 75 : Rank
The circular auditorium was filled with first-year students.
Students from ten Cohorts were seated divided by teams, and they kept their seats in tension, forming groups of five.
It was an absurdly early time, but there was no fool who arrived late.
Perhaps it was thanks to Rust’s wake-up alarm bell.
Because a harsh price followed for any student who was late.
Sal shook off those thoughts and waited calmly.
He and Divinity had bought coffee for their team members.
Thanks to that, the two looked more relaxed than anyone else.
Some students shivered in the morning chill, and some looked almost half-asleep.
Sal did not pay attention to those surroundings and fixed his gaze on the stage below.
Rust and Quest stood there, having a quiet conversation.
Soon, they seemed ready to start the competition.
A hologram screen suddenly turned on, and Quest lightly pressed the device in his ear and smiled.
"Good morning, everyone! Today will be one of the toughest days in your academic schedule. Today, you will face each other in a league format. You have to fight nineteen teams within the same Cohort."
At that sound, several dozing students woke up in surprise.
"This confrontation is a place to test your stamina and skills, and we will closely evaluate each individual and the entire team's abilities. We will grade based on various factors such as efficiency, teamwork, leadership, combat ability, etc. After summing up all scores from today, tomorrow you will receive new rankings. After that, we will narrow down the preliminary list for the confrontation between Cohorts for a few weeks. Keep in mind that this whole process becomes an important criterion for Savior Class selection."
Tension hovered among the students.
"Today, especially, various Guild representatives will observe each match. Originally, we wouldn't invite them at this early point, but they participated upon their own strong request. Not only Guilds but also instructors and faculty will observe your matches, and students with outstanding skills will get the opportunity to be invited to advanced classes or modules."
Some students looked around in surprise.
"This place is the best stage where you can show your skills, so do not hesitate, and do not be afraid. Do your best until the end, and show your will to become a hero!"
Quest's expression had changed to a bright smiling face before anyone knew it.
The entire circular auditorium was covered with the sound of applause.
Although it seemed to include unexpected content, his passionate speech played a big role in heating up the atmosphere.
Even the lower-ranking teams with little practical chance of winning began to show eyes full of expectation.
Excited conversations about the new information began to go back and forth among the students.
Just then, Rust's voice rang out, cutting through that atmosphere.
"Focus! Everyone look at the screen. The tournament bracket will be sent to each of you after this announcement ends, so there is no need to take notes now."
At those words, students who were hurriedly trying to take notes put away their tablets.
"You heard the Headmaster just now, right? Today you will fight a total of nineteen times. There will be almost no time to recover between fights. Today is a day to test your endurance and strategic capabilities. If you use up all your Essence in the first few matches, you will be defenseless in the remaining matches."
Sal nodded.
"Basic first aid will be provided between matches, but other preparations should have already been finished by each of you. Anyone who cannot continue the match will immediately drop out of the competition and receive treatment. Designated rest areas for each Cohort are prepared, and simple refreshments are ready too, but there is no set break time. So you will have to manage your time well yourselves. This is also an evaluation testing your efficiency."
Rust pointed to the train station where Sal had first arrived a month ago.
Students' gazes turned in unison following his hand gesture, but Sal did not take his eyes off the screen floating in the air.
The match schedule by Cohort was being displayed sequentially on the screen.
Sal quietly waited for the Silver Cohort to appear.
And finally, when the Silver Cohort's bracket appeared on the screen, a bitter smile spread on his lips.
Not missing that expression, Divinity looked at the screen following Sal's gaze, then burst into laughter and nudged him with her elbow.
"We were going to face each other someday anyway. It might be better to meet in the 1st round. Don't attack too hard. Okay?"
At Divinity's playful words, Sal burst into laughter.
He was just glad that Divinity had returned to her bright self like before.
It was also quite funny that he could see her smiling face again only after smashing a few Commander-rank monsters and a dungeon full of monsters.
Sal glanced at her sideways and said,
"Aren't you tricking me? Are you guys perhaps planning to smash our team?"
Before Divinity could answer, Barry, in the seat next to Sal, leaned forward and spoke.
"Can you two stop flirting? We're listening to something important right now."
Divinity glared sharply at Barry but turned her gaze back to Rust without saying anything.
Barry showed a satisfied smile to Sal as if celebrating a small victory.
Sal also turned his head and focused on Rust's explanation.
Rust was explaining the details of the tournament.
Although Divinity had already summarized and told him the main points, hearing it directly wasn't bad either.
"...It's the train station. For this competition, a total of 20 cars have been divided according to team rankings. Each team will use the same car only with teams of the same rank as them, so there won't be any chance of strategy discussions being overheard by students of the same Cohort. The 1st place teams will be in Car 1, the 2nd place teams in Car 2, and the rest will be assigned in the same order."
When Sal turned his gaze, everyone seemed to be examining the train.
"Simple breakfast is provided during the journey. You might not be able to eat until this competition ends, so I hope you make sure to eat. Whether you eat or not depends on how well you manage your time. Ideally, the goal is to finish all matches within 15 hours today, but we will remain here until the last match is completely finished.... No matter how long it takes."
Fear was cast again on some faces.
"And one important point! This competition involves both individual evaluation and team evaluation. Never forget! You are not an army that solves everything alone, nor are you an existence that is just a burden on the team. Keep in mind that each one of you is being watched in this competition. Everyone makes mistakes. It's okay even if you lose a few matches! Since we will calculate grades based on the best 10 matches out of the total 19 matches, never give up and do your best! We are looking for opportunities to give you high scores."
Quest lightly nodded to Rust and tapped his wrist.
It was a signal that it was time.
Understanding that gesture, Rust clapped his hands and shouted toward the students.
"It's troublesome if a thousand people swarm in all at once, so let's move in order. 1st and 2nd place teams go to the train station first. Then the 3rd and 4th place teams will depart following them."
Rust frowned at the students who had become noisy.
"You punks, you can chat inside the train!"
Due to the lack of control, Rust shook his head.
"Let's just go!"
***
Sal had imagined something about the train to some extent, but reality was completely different.
When he first came to the Academy a month ago, he came in first class, so it was quite luxurious.
But the train he entered now was on a completely different level from back then.
It was a structure focused on the number of seats like a regular commuter train.
Inside the car, there were stairs leading to the upper floor, and because of that, the ceilings on both the upper and lower floors were absurdly low.
The seats were all worn out, and years of graffiti and knife marks were engraved as is on the tables.
Some windows were cracked.
Sal hoped that those were broken by passengers, not caused while passing through the Red Zone.
Looking back, other teams were also entering the car one by one.
None of them showed much reaction to this old train.
Feeling awkward for being the only one feeling uncomfortable for no reason, Sal shook his head and plopped down on an empty seat.
Barry sat opposite him, and Jack, Blanid, and Anthony also took their seats afterwards.
Sal shared the situation immediately, pointing out only the key points without delay.
"Everyone knows our first match is against Divinity's team, right? Fighting while using up all our Essence has no meaning. So after discussion, Divinity's team decided to forfeit. We judged that would be best."
Sal saw Jack and Blanid's surprised expressions and smirked.
And he added to help their understanding.
"We need to have even a slightly more advantageous condition than other teams. Just taking a break for one match and entering the 2nd round in a fully recovered state is a pretty big advantage. Since Anthony has a sword now and I'm wearing armor, we decided to hand over two sets of equipment to Divinity's team. The Power Gauntlet, Shield Guard, and Jump Boots. Our team's equipment will be worn by Jack, Blanid, and Barry."
Sal stopped speaking and examined everyone's reactions.
It was because he wondered if there were any immediate questions.
It was Blanid who carefully raised her hand.
She opened her mouth with a somewhat hesitating expression.
"But... wouldn't it look a bit strange if Divinity's team just forfeits? Of course, I know that only the best ten matches out of nineteen are evaluated in this competition but... to people, that team might look like they have no motivation or look weak. Just my thought, though."
Then Barry, who was sitting across the table, waved his hand and spoke.
"Don't worry. I'll handle that. The audience will be seeing a scene of a tremendous battle between our team and Divinity's team. I'm going to pick only the highlights from the scenes we trained for in the past few weeks and show them!"
Blanid looked at Barry with a bewildered expression, then turned her gaze to Sal, but the explanation was given by Barry.
As Barry moved his arm as if twisting it, the entire table became transparent like crystal, and small combat dolls appeared on top of it.
Sal also raised his eyebrows at the elaborately depicted combat scene, and Blanid even poked one of the dolls with her finger.
However, the finger passed straight through empty air.
Sal sent a signal to Barry with a hand gesture to withdraw the illusion, and Barry obediently deactivated it.
Blanid looked at the spot where the illusion disappeared as if regretting it, then focused again on the schedule table Sal had spread out in the center of the table.
"The first match starts with Divinity's team, and next is Lucia and the 4th place team. Lucia is a powerful body manipulation user, so it's expected to be quite tough. Since there are some records about Lucia's attacks in the Future Sight note we have, everyone should know to some extent."
Everyone looked at Sal and nodded.
"The next opponent is Evan and the 6th place team. They have teleportation abilities, but the team's overall combat power is on the low side. If we confuse them with illusions and trap them, we can end it easily."
Sal scanned the combat schedule list and checked the notes he and Divinity had prepared over the past few weeks.
The data was composed based on the combat evaluation assignments Rust gave and parts of the precognition Divinity saw.
Divinity was still keeping the final result of the competition a secret, but she shared detailed analysis on how to target each team.
Of course, some of that data was old information not updated due to the monster incident, but it was much better than nothing.
Sal scanned the list and laughed quietly.
"Next are Michael Welling and Zachary Lowe. The 8th and 10th place teams respectively. According to the future Divinity saw, they are opponents we can sufficiently beat if we push with full power. This is up to our first five matches.... But why do I keep feeling like that terrible guy will be left until the end?"
He looked further down the bracket to find Gerard Kilsey's name.
"Ah, he's our 10th match.... And Victoria is the 15th. Both are tricky opponents, but we have a secret weapon prepared for one of them."
At those words, everyone's gaze focused on one person.
It was Blanid. At the sudden attention, her face turned bright red.
Sal smiled and opened his arms wide.
"This match is a fight that rests on your shoulders. You absolutely don't need to feel burdened!"