“So here are the pairs!” Vex decreed in her host voice. She truly immersed herself in the role it seemed. Her hand was gesturing toward the sky where a magical projector wrote letters in the air. All pairs were detailed.
Kaelira got the masked Cryomancer classed person because they were the 3rd and 4th on the list, but no other notable person was matched up with my allies. The twin-bladed masked person and the guy with the big cleaver got matched with backliners I didn’t care much about.
Selene drew the short end of the stick because she was low on the rat list – meaning she was deemed to be less ratty than the ones higher up – so she was matched with a person low on the champions list, also known as a weaker combatant.
Abudha was also rather low due to his pacifist style of attitude, and Cedric wasn’t too high either because he didn’t do much in the first round beyond saving Selene after she murdered their allies. He at least put up a good fight against us at the end of it, though. I almost killed them then and there, they only managed to live to tell the tale because of his feats of power.
Vex spoke up once again, “now then, it’s time for some good news! First, you are all going to survive today. There shall be no more deaths. We will provide you with the extensions of an artifact that will activate when your life is in danger and teleport you to safety where you will be attended to with a squad of healers! It’s a mighty artifact, one of the Consortium’s greatest treasures. Before you ask, no, it’s not capable of saving you from anywhere in the world, it has a rather short range. I know what your second question will be, ‘but Extremely Beautiful Lady Vex, why didn’t you use it thus far in the tournament?’ a good question and my answer to it is that those who died today were not worthy!
You’re all worthy, which brings me to my second good news. Out of all contestants, only a select few will be Vesper Phenoms, but we decided to offer the top 100 finishers the Lunar Adept rank! The third rank in the syndicate’s hierarchy if you count from the bottom and the fourth if you count from the top! It usually takes normal members about 30 to 50 years of duty to get that rank, so you will enjoy a nice headstart to your budding careers! Those who don’t finish in the top 100 will receive the Twilight Apprentice rank, which is the second counting from the bottom. It usually takes around 5 to 15 years for our Dawn Initiates to receive this promotion, so it’s still a good boost to your careers!”
Her statements caused a lot of murmurs in the crowd, letting me know that it was an unexpected turn of events. I didn’t hear of previous finalists who didn’t become Vesper Phenoms receiving this big of a boost to their ranks. The top 100 finalists might become the youngest Dusk Adepts in the history of the Consortium, because as Vex stated, it usually takes more than 30 years to get that rank, and everyone here is below 30 years of age – save for Kaelira who is over a 100 and used an obscure method to craft an artifact that hid her real age.
“Now then, the last thing to do is explain the next event, which is! Capture! The! Flag! With a unique twist. You see, our duchy of Greenvale is suffering a bit from the pesky monsters invading our lands and destroying everything in their path. As great and responsible citizens, we decided to help the duchy out!
‘But Extremely Beautiful Lady Vex, what do you mean capture the flag?’ The backliners are the flag! The frontliners will have to protect them. Each time you send a backliner to the healers, that team has been eliminated. We will fill this giant arena with greenskins, war trolls, and whatever other hideous creatures we decided to capture, and throw the teams into the mix!
The monsters are not just obstacles, though! If you kill them, you receive points! Monsters below level 10 are worth 1 point, between 11 and 15 are 3 points, between 16 and 20 are 10 points, and above level 20 give you 25! Eliminating another team is worth 10 points! Those that rank high on the scoreboard will enjoy great benefits in the next event! The 25 last-standing teams will advance, meaning fifty people.”
It was a truly big arena, so two hundred people could fit easily. However, adding monsters to the mix? It’s going to be a clusterfuck for sure. The point system favored AoE specialists, but the fact that the 25 last-standing teams will advance, not the 25 top scorers meant that they valued survival higher killing lots of monsters but getting eliminated in the process.
I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d be welcomed by Selene’s giant AoE attack which took her alliance out – the act that made her into a rat girl. It would eliminate her from the fight, though, because she becomes incapacitated afterward. There will be no Cedric saving her with his specially made water shield artifact, so probably she will refrain from unleashing that.
However, she was not the only AoE specialist in our midst.
What class is better at AoE than a Pyromancer?
Anemomancer? Geomancer? Cryomancer?
Beep!
All wrong answers.
Elemental Sovereign.
The king of AoE is none other than the Elemental Sovereign, and I’ll make sure to let the people know of it as well.
…
While Quinlan got ready for the next event, seven people were conversing in a hidden observation room that allowed them a perfect view of the arena.
“How about we make a bet? I put 1000 gold on Selene Cross being the highest scorer.” The Obsidian Circle Member responsible for heading the army of the Consortium decreed boisterously.
