After several more strategy sessions, and bringing Kain and the others to the Arena the day before the competition started in order to register them and their contracts, it was finally time for the National Beast-Taming Tournament to begin.
Kain woke up the morning of the tournament and put on the team uniform. The uniform featured a sleek, skin-tight black athletic shirt crafted from a durable, heat-resistant and moisture-resistant fabric.
The shirt was designed for maximum comfort and flexibility, incorporating silver mesh panels that enhanced breathability during intense activities.
A small Dark Moon crest was prominently displayed on the left side of Kain’s chest. Complementing the shirt were form-fitting black pants that featured silver trim. And lastly, The lightweight black sneakers, adorned with silver accents. freёwebnovel.com
Pleased with his appearance in the mirror, he headed down with Kairos to have breakfast and meet up with the others before they headed to the stadium. In a large dining room on the first floor of the hotel, Kain could see several other groups of college students in uniforms as well as what appeared to be school staffs.
It looks like for the duration of this competition, this hotel was being exclusively used by the various participating colleges.
Kain even saw what appeared to be the representatives of Frozen Sun College, who they knew the least about. Kain couldn’t help but give them an extra glance. Most members of Frozen Sun College are already residents of the northern region, making it difficult to find any detail about them even if you go back to their high school days. After all, the entire northern region is relatively isolated.
However, based on the fact that most of the students of the college are from that region or those whose contracts and affinity would best grow in the northern region, it was safe to assume that most of the representatives of Frozen Sun probably had some type of ice-affinity.
After finishing their breakfast, they headed as a group over to the arena. Kain could see the tourists pointing and whispering at them as they passed. Kain and the other first-years’ back couldn’t help but straighten slightly at the unfamiliar attention. Only now were they fully realizing the name recognition, attention, and expectations placed upon students at the top 5 colleges.
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“Is that them?”
Not only were tourists looking at Kain and the others, but students and staff from rival schools were also taking not of their arrival.
Particularly, Serena and Kain amongst the first-years. Although Serena’s name wasn’t well-known amongst the public, the fact that a member of the famous Storm family had awakened independently a year ago was known to many of the better-informed beast-tamers in the capital.
Despite things having quieted down the last few months, and even Kain himself forgetting about it, Kain’s name and face was actually the most well-known to the general public amongst all of the first-years from the top 5 colleges. This was due to the hundreds of articles written about the “genius young evolutionary planner” right after the evolutionary form of the Lumifin had been publicized.
“Yeah, that’s them” A short freckled boy said while nodding his head towards Kain and Serena. His shoulder-length blonde hair just touching the Supernova ensignia on the red and orange uniform he was wearing.
The boy next to him leaned against the wall in the shadows casually. His blood-red hair and eyes matched well with the predominantly dark red uniform. His extremely pale skin gave him an almost sickly appearance, which was in stark contrast to the smug smile on his face.
“They don’t look that strong…I don’t know why Alexei and Dmitri talk like the points for the champion among the first-years is practically in Dark Moon’s pocket.” His blood red lips twisted into a grimace of dissatisfaction.
“Maybe your cousins are bluffing. Serena has a few months on us because she awoke early, but the importance of that short headstart is probably gone by now. Although I did hear rumours that she managed to also awaken the legendary gift of the Storm family, it’s not like that gift is unbeatable. Kain on the other hand…”
Alexei and Dmitri’s cousin couldn’t help but let out a scoff as he interjected, “he’s nothing special. Sure he’s a talented evolutionary planner, I’ll give him that, but that doesn’t mean anything in a competition like this. From the public information that I read about him, his contracts don’t seem all that impressive.
“He wasted one of his contract spots on a Vespirae Queen. Sure that queen seems pretty unique in that she only has females in her hive, but its not like Vespirae are particularly powerful, just one of my contracts can probably destroy that hive on its own. I also heard he’s got a golem now, again nothing special.
Yeah, their defense is hard, but their weak once you expose and threaten to damage their core.”
“I did hear though that he has one contract that nobody’s been able to identify so far though. Not even a picture of it had managed to be taken. All anyone knows about it is that it’s of the mental attribute, and it seems to require being touched by some threads in order to have an effect.”
“If it requires being touched by a thread, then it’s still not much of a threat…I’d like to see the looks on Alexei’s and Dmitri’s faces when I pummel the first-year they keep bragging about into the ground.” Red eyes staring at Kain narrowed sinisterly.
“Ugh!” Kain couldn’t help but look around at the sudden chill that snaked down his spine. The instincts of beast-tamers is quite sensitive, but unfortunately he was unable to tell where the malicious gaze was coming from.
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‘Not that it matters…I’m sure that there are tons of people here who think of us as a threat. But no matter how much they’re on guard against me it’s useless. I have no intention of losing again to someone my age. I will start with crushing everyone we face here, and then I’ll defeat Serena at the next re-ranking too.’
Kain continued forward casually, while putting the dozens of gazes behind him out of his mind. There was only one person his age worth his vigilance.