Seeing Emery and Julian approaching the residence, Anas' expression couldn't help but turn ugly. He then deliberately 'announced' the arrival of the two of them loudly, so as to catch the attention of everyone here.
"The two of them have graced us with their presence!"
Glancing towards the source of the voice, Emery spotted Anas, the Kaleos acolytes and his groups. Emery also noticed there was one of the acolytes from Zaieuo, who he was familiar with among them, Zana. The man nodded towards Emery and Julian as a greeting.
Emery and Julian calmly walked to the front of the crowd of dozens of people, unbothered with the various gazes they received. Judging from the way Anas smiled at them, which was an annoying one, it seemed he had just spoken unkind things about the two of them.
"Pardon us for the late. So, what did we miss?" Julian asked with a smile.
Glancing at Julian, Anas replied, "Nothing much. We are here just wondering where our miracle team was. And here you are!" Throwing his gaze away, he added in a mockery tone, "Commoner turned into a champion. Heh, how miraculous is that?"
Emery and Julian decided to be the civilized one and ignored the blabbering. After all, no one wanted to keep trash, right? But to their surprise, a man suddenly defended them.
A man with brown hair and average build snarled at Anas. "Can you just quit, Anas? Stop with all the provocation and mockery, we are here for serious matters."
Apart from being surprised by the unexpected help, Emery was interested in this man. What was interesting for Emery was not the content of the man's words, that exactly he had in his heart, but how the prideful Anas fell silent and did not retort the man.
Turning his gaze to the surroundings, Emery also noticed everyone's attention seemed to gather at this man. The words spoken by the man seemed to have a substantial weight within all the hundred acolytes gathered here.
Observing the man closely, Emery couldn't notice anything extraordinary about him. He had an average build and brown hair, he was the epitome of ordinariness. Therefore, Emery was truly curious and wondered who this man was.
After staring at Anas for a while, the man walked over to Emery and Julian, and then introduced himself.
"Hello, I am Roran from class 72. Thank you for joining this gathering. Your support will help us all." the man said with a friendly smile.
Upon hearing that, Emery finally remembered about the gathering. He was still puzzled about the purpose of this meeting. Thus, Emery asked the man about it.
"Let us wait for the others. Just wait a bit more." Roran answered. He then left the two of them and greeted those who were coming.
Emery nodded his head and noticed there were several more people arriving. Emery was quite sure all those who were in the top 50 were invited to the gathering, but who would have known these many were interested to attend.
Not long after, Emery spotted Klea arriving at the residence. She glanced left to right trying to find her friends, only to be greeted by the sight of acolytes from the 10 classes of group 7. Seeing her flustered look, Emery immediately waved his hand at her. Klea noticed the wave and immediately approached Emery.
"Emery! There you are." She then leaned closer to Emery and whispered. " I must say, this is quite a gathering."
Emery hummed in agreement. And then, Roran came again and graciously welcomed Klea.
Seeing the man walking away, Klea nudged Emery and said. "That guy Roran is quite charming, isn't he? Well, still not as charming as you obviously."
Emery could only smile wryly when he heard the tease. He then heard someone saying that Roran came from a very famous family, and not just any important faction, but also being related to one of the ministers and to members of the human council. Thus, the reason why many of the acolytes respected him. Emery kept this information in mind and continued to seek information.
...
A while later, nearly 150 people had gathered and it looked like Roran was about to get started. Walking to the stone podium, Roran then tapped his glass to attract everyone's attention.
"First of all, let me thank all of you for coming. My name is Roran, some of you might have heard of my Harlight family." He then proceeded to show the symbol on his shoulder. "That's right, my family is one of the most influential families in the academy. Because of that, I decided to share all detailed information regarding the next game."
"Our group, all 320 acolytes from the top 50 teams of group 7, will be placed together with 50 elite acolytes in an area covering 20 kilometers.The objective of the game will be to get the most points and then, the top 50 individuals will be chosen to participate in the next stage."
Most acolytes already knew about this information. However, the next words Roran said made them rowdy.
"Now, I will share how the points will be given. I'm sure that not all of you know this."
He then proceeded to scribble the information on the large stone wall before them.
[Points for regular class acolytes]
[Kill of a regular acolyte: 1000 points]
[Kill of an elite acolyte: 5000 points]
[Points for elite class acolytes]
[Kill of a regular acolyte: 2000 points]
[Kill of an elite acolyte: 0 points]
[Extra point for the last 50 survivors]
[Each acolyte receive 10.000 points]
Turning around, Roran continued his words. "Now all of you can see here. We get rewarded with more points for killing the elite class acolytes.
Seeing the information, Emery, as well as all the acolytes present immediately analyzed and estimated the situation that would occur in the game.
Noticing everyone was busy with their own thoughts, Roran spoke again. "You should already know about the rule which prohibits equipment. Actually, the rule itself is not completely true. There will be one spot in the game area called 'the center', where there will be a limited number of equipment that are free to take."
One acolyte from the crowd said, "I'm sure that will be the place where the elite acolytes will go. That place will definitely become the killing zone."
Glancing at the acolytes, Roran replied, "That's right. But the weapons themselves outweigh the risk, and eventually, the center will become the last location to decide the top 50."
"There is one more fact you should all know and this is the crucial point that would benefit us all. At the end of the game, the top 50 highest points dead or alive during the game will be chosen to the next stage, but if out of those top 50, more points are from us the regular class then we will be announced as the winner of the game. The regular class defeated the elite class. And the best of it all is that the whole 320 regular acolytes will receive a bonus reward as the winning class."
Everyone was surprised by the extra reward, "Is that information accurate?" Being asked this question, Roran stared towards Anas, the Kalios acolytes. "You can ask the Kalios. I am sure with your connection, you know about this rule as well."
Everyone's gaze immediately turned towards where Roran's gaze was. Anas, the target of everyone, currently didn't look enthusiastic, but he nodded to confirm the fact nonetheless. Anas then walked forward and said "It is indeed true. However, for your information, the last time a regular Class ever won the game against the Elite Class was 10 years ago."
The revelation startled quite a few people. This showed that the difference between the two classes was massive, despite the sheer advantage of numbers.
Roran then stepped off the podium and walked towards the group from his class, class 72.
"This time all 38 of us have decided to work together to win this game and the more of us work together the better chance for us to get the bonus reward and better, make history".
It turned out that not only this guy named Roran had an impressive background, he even had the support of all top acolytes of class 72. Again, Emery also heard other acolytes talk about how class 72 managed to get the most members to reach the top 50, compared to the other classes and how Roran and his 3 teams managed to beat the ogre, the last boss of Magus Game's first stage.
Upon hearing that, Emery believed this was the reason why Roran was so confident to win the second stage game.
Sweeping his eyes across everyone, Roran opened his mouth again. "Now, we invite you all to join our cause. Will you join us?"