Strong gust of wind blew relentlessly onto his body as Emery flew in the air above the thick mist, heading towards the Hyperion centre.
As he got closer toward the C wing of the centre, Emery could sense through his Spirit Reading that there were more people in the centre right now than the previous time he visited here.
When he descended to the ground and walked into the centre, Emery was quickly welcomed by Magus Ramora who seemed to have been waiting for him.
"Wow! Where have you been? You are very late!"
Emery beam an apologetic smile at her. "Yes, I got held up by something. I apologize for my tardiness."
Unfortunately, it seemed like those words were not enough to appease her as Emery could still see the disgruntlement on her face.
"Ambrose, if you are really serious about competing during your time here in the privileged class, then you need to step up your game! There is no excuse to be late, unless you are dead!"
"Well, actually.."
"No excuses, Ambrose. Moreover, we don't have much time. Because you are ranking 99, you will be the one who goes first! Let's hurry up and sign up for the arena!"
Emery wasn't even given a time to go to the lab, as Magus Ramora basically dragged him right away toward the building centre where there was a large arena in sight. She quickly led the former to see one of the senior staff, who proceeded to confirm his identification.
"The first match begins in 15 minutes! You should head up there now!" the senior staff said after confirming Emery's registration.
Hearing that, the blue haired female magus turned to Emery and said, "Alright, Ambrose. Go and show what you are capable of! I am definitely gonna cheer for you from the audience seat! Fighting!"
Emery nodded and entered the door the senior staff gestured to. The moment he pushed the closed door open and stepped inside, he was immediately greeted by the sight of an oval-shaped arena surrounded by rows of seats that could probably easily accommodate a few thousands people.
At the moment, he could see at least two hundred figures had come to watch the upcoming competition. Many were magus level figures, with a few dozen of them were privileged acolytes cladded in the privilege class' signature white uniform.
Emery noticed how many eyes turned their attention to him, but what was on his mind right now was the fact that he did not know anything about the rules of the competition Magus Ramora threw him into.
At the same time, the huge holographic screen that was floating above the arena suddenly lit up and showed a list of names, attracting everyone's attention including Emery. He turned his gaze to the screen and saw that his name was at the very bottom.
[First month privilege ranking challenger]
[32 participants]
….
[Rank 78 – Trish (84)]
[Rank 82 – Jordi Nephilim (85)]
[Rank 85 – Median (79)]
[Rank 86 – Rift Callr (82)]
[Rank 91 – Giovani (90)]
[Rank 99 – Emery Ambrose (68)]
Emery focused his attention on the few names that were above him. He noticed the number in brackets and it didn't take him long to guess that it might be the ranking results they had gotten in the test he had previously done.
Seeing those numbers, Emery could quickly connect them with his own result. He remembered that Magus Ramora told him that he was allowed to challenge up to rank 68, of which there were currently five of them on the list.
Knowing the next tier of rewards was the top 80, Emery naturally placed his target toward Trish, the first year champion ranking.
However, Emery still had absolutely no clue about how the match would proceed and its rules. As if that wasn't bad enough, he seemed to be the one to fight first. Not wanting to be completely clueless and accidentally breaking some rules he didn't know, Emery quickly willed the bracelet on his arm to show the rules he needed to pay attention to.
As he studied the information the bracelet provided from the database, Emery noticed a group of acolytes walking towards him.
"Well, well, well, well.. If it's not the champ!"
The familiar voice made Emery shift his eyes from the rules he read to someone he really didn't want to see nor get close to, Armand the Nephilim.
Following behind him were three other privileged acolytes, all wearing a similar golden-colored cloak with the Nephilim Faction insignia on its back.
Emery finally turned his attention to the group. He naturally recognized Armand and the other two as they were in the former's team in the previous Magus Game. However, there was someone unfamiliar to him with them, a girl wearing the same attire as the other three.
"This is the one who won the game, isn't he?" said the girl, staring directly at Emery but talking as if he wasn't there.
Unexpectedly, Armand didn't adopt his usual pompous attitude as he answered her question. "Yes, Sister Jinkan. But he's just a lower realm scum, nothing to worry about."
It was obvious that Armand was trying to undermine Emery, but it seemed to have no effect on the girl.
"Ah, yes, yes.. I remember that he's the one who beat you before, isn't he Armand? Hahaha," said Jinkan with a light laugh.
The four then walked away without waiting for Emery's reaction, as if he was so insequential that they didn't need to hear him.
Emery knew he shouldn't be annoyed by their antics as such action was below him, but he couldn't help but feel that the way they acted surprisingly managed to annoy him more than he needed to.
He turned around and was about to throw a jab of his own, when it was at this moment that a figure came and called him from behind.
"Don't mind them, Emery. They act like that even to me. They are just a bunch of clowns."
"Roran!"
It was the Harlight protege, Roran, who approached Emery with a smile on his face.
Now that Roran was here, Emery asked the former about the upcoming competition and the always knowledgeable man quickly gave him a crash course about the matter.
First, apparently, not every privileged acolyte would come to the arena as most of them preferred to spend their time on training and improving themselves. Those planning to enter the competition, on the other hand, would usually come to study their competitors and watch their potential opponents first, unlike Emery who jumped in head-on without knowing anything.
However, there were also some who came because they were being challenged by those ranking below them. The best example of this was Trish who had high real ranking, but low test ranking.
She was also on the border of the next tier of reward, hence the four others on the list came for her position.
With this, she was forced and had to be present to defend her rank. But with them participating in this month's arena, which was the last day of the month, they would also be forced to defend their rank against those ranking below them.
Now that all of these people were present, Emery, being the lowest on the list, had the chance to fight all of them without even issuing a challenge.
As for the match, its format was pretty much the same as the third Magus Game of previous year; it was a duel held on real not virtual arena, with tier 4 as the maximum limit of weapon and equipment.
Because of this, there were magus and dozens of staff stationed to keep an eye on the arena, in order to prevent real casualties to the acolytes.
This was the arrangement prepared to make sure the acolytes would have the best mentality in a fight but also to make sure the young prodigies could still have a safe battle.
"Also Emery, you are not allowed to challenge those ranks on top of your ranking test result, but they are still able to challenge you.. So I am hoping to see an interesting match today, " Roran said with a smile.
Roran's words seemed to expect that Emery would not just fight those at his rank, and honestly, Emery truly was fired up for a fight hence he didn't refute the former's words. In his opinion, the more the merrier.
"Emery Ambrose! Please enter the arena!"
The judge announced Emery's name loudly, and he quickly went up to the arena. There, his opponent was already waiting for him/
"The first match of the day will be Emery Ambrose versus Giovanni!"
Emery looked curiously at his opponent who was standing a few meters in front of him. A large young man with a huge blade resting on his shoulder; at first glance, he looked really similar to Orycon.
Thanks to that, Emery couldn't help but wonder how strong he really was.
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Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,