After learning about the match, Ryan hurried to the venue.
Under the tall statues of the founders, there were six floors for duels.
First floor was usually used for Level 1-3 Awakeners.
Second floor for Level 4.
Third for Level 5.
Sixth for Level 8.
That is, even staff could challenge one another to a duel. There was adequate seating on each floor for every ring.
Ryan, tagged by his three Level 3 followers, was about to press second floor button on the elevator, but paused abruptly.
He glanced around at the crowd on the ground floor and thought of something.
The ground floor was contracted to Trade Union, and it resembled something that of a casino.
Cheering lights. Food. Equipment. Everything was sold here.
But the biggest business was, of course, betting.
Cadets could bet with their merit points. If they won, they'd be rich overnight.
They could afford aura crystals, high-quality star treasures, potions, request one-on-one teaching from high awakeners, and even ask for protection while they venture into dangerous places.
They could also train in advanced facilities like Aura Caves using merit points and progress extremely fast.
More merit points meant more resources.
This allowed a cadet to up his status from Ordinary to Genius.
The classification, though vague, was extremely important.
Usually, all cadets reached Level 5 in the sixth and final semester. These were the ordinary cadets.
Of course, the term 'ordinary' was relative.
Anywhere across federation, a 21 year Level 5 was a veritable genius. But in this academy, they were only ordinary and made up the majority.
Geniuses reached Level 6 in the sixth semester. There were not many, but surely, a sizable number of geniuses appeared in every batch.
After assiduous training for a decade or more, these people went broke the infamous 'bottleneck' and advanced to become High Awakeners.
Eventually, they grew to be the backbone of Human federation.
Then there were monsters. A milder name was Super Genius.
Super geniuses were the ones that reached Level 6 in their fourth semester. Even though it was only a year's difference, one must know that the higher the level, the longer it would take to advance even a sub-realm.
For instance, even for a genius, even advancing from low level 6 to mid-level 6 would take years.
Super geniuses were hard to come by. Even in Imperial Defense Academy which boasts the best talent of Earth, there were only a couple of them.
To be qualified as a super genius, one needed talent as well as resources.
Charles Xander was a super genius. He reached Level 6 in his fourth semester.
Sarah, too, was a super genius. Even more than Charles since she did so in third semester itself. But her being a Dual Awakener meant her potential was limited to a level 9.
But regardless, every ordinary student yearned to be termed as a genius.
They believed they had the talent and only lacked resources. After all, no one would willing embrace the fact their talent was average.
They'd rather believe things would turn great once they gain resources.
Trade Union exploited this weakness and presented a 'quick way' to those resources.
The stellar success of their betting business was a living testament to their success.
Every day, hundreds of thousands of merit points flowed in and out.
Merit points were a criterion to judge a cadet's performance during enlistment. If a cadet's merit points crossed a certain threshold, they'd be enlisted into a higher rank with a shorter training.
Since only cumulative merit points were used to judge a cadet, there was a strong incentive for every cadet to bet.
Even if they lose, their cumulative points would remain the same.
But if they won, they'd have many merit points and they could get all the resources they want for training.
Thankfully, such merit points weren't counted under 'performance'.
All the merit points that were not awarded by the academy due to a cadet's work were termed as 'Floating points'.
On the other hand, the merit points awarded to a cadet due to their contribution were termed as 'Ground points.'
Floating points were alluring for every ordinary cadet.
The problem with betting was that most cadets used their ground points in hopes of gaining floating points.
That meant they used the points they gained from missions for betting.
And as in every betting, only a few would win.
A survey concluded that if the cadets stopped betting altogether, they'd save up to 15% ground points every semester.
It might seem low, but upon deeper inspection, the cadets that save these 15% could actually afford more training resources, making themselves stronger and thus, gain more ground points.
This, in turn, would form a positive feedback loop.
With a high simulation, it was proved that every cadet would be a sub realm or two higher during their graduation.
Then why did the academy not think of just banning the betting?
Because what was a better choice for every cadet wasn't a better choice for the academy.
Even if the strength of average cadet rises, none of them would reach Level 6.
After all, an average cadet was an ordinary. They'd most likely never cross the moat between mid and high awakeners.
However, the geniuses that were created through this brutal betting would one day be a high awakener.
A high awakener was much more valuable than a hundred mid awakeners.
Thus, the betting was allowed.
To create geniuses from the crowds, even at the expense of them all.
'Such is life.' Ryan thought as he sauntered to the betting counter.
His lackeys followed. Their parents were the subordinates of his grandfather. Their children would naturally become his subordinates.
Of course, every military officer in the Inner Zone — Mercury, Venus, and Earth, were his grandfather's subordinates.
He had no qualms about people gossiping. He didn't give a fuck, unlike Narcis, who was pissed off at comments of every random passerby.
Because unlike Narcis, who struggled to prove his superiority, Ryan knew he was destined to be a Sovereign.
Still, "This guy is too arrogant." Ryan shook his head as he glanced at the holograms displaying duels in second floor.
Narcis and that guy just landed on the stage. That meant betting would be closing soon.
Ryan wanted to bet, not because he was short of merit points. Of course not. He had plenty of resources. Even though he couldn't break the rules to get more ground points, he could gain as many as floating points he wanted.
He decided to bet just to make things bigger. To turn more eyeballs to this piece of news.
Even though Ryan also felt that Charles was more talented, he wanted to support his only friend.
So when the counter manager told him the bets for Narcis were 1 to 1.1, he spent the thousand ground points on him without hesitation.
For Varian, however, the bets were 1 to 9.
Of course, he'd only get back a hundred floating points after Narcis won. But that was fine.
Only an idiot would bet on the Varian guy in hopes of winning that bet.
Ryan gestured, and the manager ran to him and smiled. "Young Master Ryan, what do you want me to do?"
Ryan smirked. "Broadcast the battle. Let everyone learn why there are only a few geniuses."
"As you say." The manager clicked a few buttons and soon, every cadet who subscribed to the Trade Union in the academy, which was almost 100% of the cadets, got a notification.
{Narcis Xander of Xander Family vs Varian, disciple of Dean Evander}
Watching Ryan bet, the cadets flocked the betting stall.
The betting options were based on how long Varian could hold on.
A few hundred bet to be under 20 seconds. Only a couple believed he'd last for a minute.
"Boss, should we go up and watch?" Mila asked.
Ryan nodded. "Even though Narcis can end the match soon, I know he'll take his time beating the guy up."
They soon reached the second floor and seated themselves in the forefront.
Mila fidgeted and opened her mouth, but didn't speak.
The match was about to begin, so Ryan signalled for her to speak.
"Isn't that guy disciple of D-Dean? I-I don't think he's—" Mila stopped right after Ryan raised his palm.
It's over.
Ryan looked at her in disappointment and then eyes his two other lackeys. "What do you guys think?"
Mila paled while the two guys answered in practiced tandem. "Of course, Young Master Narcis would win. I think Dean accepted him as a disciple only because this… Varan or something saved his daughter."
Ryan nodded in approval and waved his hand at Mila.
She paled, but didn't protest. Silently, she left the audience. From today on, she was no longer a part of Ryan's subordinates.
As tears rolled down her cheeks, she recalled her mother's words.
'Evander Albert… after the death of his wife, he changed. He still has gratitude and grudges. But you cannot force him to do what he deems wrong. Even if you are a Sovereign.'
Mila paused at the exit and glanced at the ring with stubborn hope.
"Dean E-Evander would never accept a disciple simply because of gratitude. Perhaps before Pluto war, but now, no way in Abyss." Mila clutched her hands.
As everyone held their breaths in anticipation of watching Narcis thrash the guy, she eyed the unfamiliar figure on the ring.
Varian.
"You must have something special in you." She murmured in hope.
"Prove them wrong. For yourself. For myself." Mila leaned against the crystal wall and raised her head.
{The match begins}