Chapter 665 Start of the competition
[OP: ]
The stadium was something that was a large structure that covered a ninth of the total area of the capital city of Lakmer.
Made in not a coliseum-like structure but in a unique triangular manner, this stadium had the capacity to store more than a hundred and fifty thousand audience and up to nine thousand people along with their tables and supplies required for the alchemy creations.
However, if necessary, the area for the participants could be specially expanded with spatial magic of the top grade and it can fill people of higher numbers.
It was a unique structure, and, everyone who saw it for the first time was fascinated by the sheer scale of the place…
"Wow…"
"That's the (Arena of Alchemy) for you. None couldn't possibly be surprised after seeing it."
"Damn. That's totally different from what I saw in the images and the videos. This is amazing!"
"Wow! Hey look at those walls! And so many people!"
"Ugghhhh… mommy. I am afraid…"
"THEN! WE WILL START THE EXPLANATION ON THE FIRST ROUND OF THE COMPETITION!"
Tall walls made with the same materials that made the walls of the capital city of the Roxanna empire, something even the great mages would have difficulty harming. However, these walls were more attractive than the ones that the cities had.
There were carvings all around the walls depicting many unique things, stories that only those who knew about them could interpret, things that were special, and things that were waiting for the moment to be interpreted by someone.
Spells, artifacts for security, protections from the divine, blessings of the holy, the Arena where the greatest of the alchemists showcased their prowess was not some simple place that lacked in any aspect.
It was the perfect place that couldn't only be compared to some forts with the highest specs, but with a venue for the greatest of the competitions where the masters, the best of the best faced each other.
[ "The first round would be the simple testing of the basic knowledge of the individuals and it would creation of one alchemical product that anyone with the basic knowledge of the alchemy could produce without much difficulty.
It is a simple test that will test the basic understanding of the participants however, those who fail to produce a satisfactory product will be declared failed.
We will introduce the judges after the end of this explanation however, we urge everyone to listen carefully!
This information is crucial for everyone who is participating in this competition for the first time and does not know much about the conditions or is intimidated by the sheer scale of the crowd." ]
The city that was made for hosting this one competition had the arena of the competition as its heart.
The other features of the city were the same as any normal city however, when it came to the composition, the center of attractions, and the annual alchemy competition, everything took a sharp turn.
The city that becomes the hub of trade, the city that makes the most in three days than any medium-sized nation in any of the continents takes months to produce, the city that is the center of attraction in the entire world, that's what becomes of the Principality of Lakmer's capital city.
The atmosphere inside the very place that attracts so much attention from all over the world, is something not even some of the masters who know about the alchemy better than many others of this world but have never been in a crowded place such as this, could possibly bear.
"There are more participants than last year this time, or does it look like this because it is the year where all the young children from the different schools participate in the competition as well?"
"Ah! Look! Aren't those children from the Great Academy?! I recognize some of them!"
"Hohoho, look over their children. Your grandma is waving at you!"
"Mama! Here! Mama! Looooook!"
"She can't see you baby. How about we just cheer for her?"
There was a magic screen floating all around the area that showed the life footage of the participants on the ground listening to the words of the announcer.
The magic screens were the only way to have a proper look at the participants in a place where the participants had filled the ground like some entrance of an ant colony.
Aside from the people looking from the special seats down there, the others who sat on the higher seats could barely make out of one person from the other. Recognizing someone specific in a crowd like this? Well, it wasn't something impossible the good eyesight it required was not something many possessed in this place.
There certainly was a cheap artifact that the vendors sold that let them see the faraway things and a cheaper version of these artifacts so the people could at least make out of what was what.
Not that it was required, truthfully.
This place was a specially created area that the headmaster had heavily invested in.
Actually, the headmaster was a friend of the founder of Lakmer and he helped in the creation of this place, and, he wasn't the only one to lend a hand to them.
The smart prince had many special connections, strong bonds with the people whose names have gone down in the history books, as well as beings that were considered transcendental beings or even gods.
This entire place was blessed by the divinities so it was safe, certainly, but, the special features of this place, the specialness of this very soil, was something not just anyone could fathom with their limited understanding of this world.
However…
[ "Then! We will now welcome the great judges of the competition and their special guests!" ]
This was a competition, and, a competition was made up of the competitors, the people with varied proficiencies in the arts of alchemy, the Judges who had a deep enough understanding of the ability to judge something, the vendors who sold food items throughout the venue where the most important component of this competition resided.
"Wooohoooooooo!"
"Yessssssssss!"
"WHAHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"WOWWWWWWWWW!"
"LONGGGGGGG LIVEEEEEE!"
The audience, the people who made the competition the truly exciting thing that made them come to this otherwise not-so-special faraway land.
People came from far away just to watch the whole three-day event, to watch the people who produced miracles in the name of competition, to watch the things that they could not otherwise watch anywhere else in this world.
This was a far more special event for the public than it was for the participants who were down there actually standing among the people whom one could only see in the pictures or hear about in the stories of the newsletters.
Just watching them was an experience they would happily spend their fortune for, however, to obtain a chance to witness this competition themselves, they would have to either have a powerful backing, a powerful connection with someone on the inside of the management, or a stroke of incredible luck to obtain the limited tickets of the event that few could ever get their hands on.
The special alchemy competition…
[ "NOW! Please greet the suns of this blessed land, as well as the operator who has increased the quality of our lives to a higher degree in the previous few years he had been with us!
Also!
Alongside them would be entering the specially handpicked judges whom you all might already know about alongside the Great judge of divinity who we all know!
Also! Envy those who have been specially gotten the chance to join them in this special place!" ]
Rein and Eon made their appearance alongside the rulers of Lakmer, the emperors and queens of some prominent nations, along with the judgment panel that, different from the nobles who appeared in the higher place specially created for them, appeared on the ground on the stage from where the announcer was announcing everything.
The judges were on the ground, the rulers, alongside the judge of the goddess of judgment in a higher position that not many could see from their angle, and the participants were on the ground before the large tables filled with common equipment and materials before them, were watching all of this happening with a wildly beating hearts.
Some were excited, some were calm, many were here for the victory and the rewards, while most like the students of the different schools, were here to learn something from people whom they all admired.
However…
"Captain? Can we really win against all these people?"
"Ho? You are questioning something like that after coming this far? Don't worry everyone. We don't have to win against these people. In this competition, our opponents are the other houses…"
The students of the Grand Academy of Hope.
The students of different houses that were participating in the competition as individuals at the moment mostly had a common goal before them: passing the first two rounds, regrouping as a team, and doing their best as they had practiced.
They didn't have to try and win against these old, experienced, and talented people. They just had to do their best and do better than the other houses. Doing that would give them the higher house points and put their house in a higher position on the scoreboard.
Their opponents were the seven other houses, and, the members of these houses that they had to defeat.
At least, for the seven of the houses of the academy, it was the case.
For one house though, things were different.
"Huuuuu. Everyone, don't get intimidated by something as simple as the people's gazes. We have experienced a gaze several times worse than all these people combined. Just remember your experience and trust your teachings."
Wisdom Phoenix. When Eon declared his desire to go for the win, he wasn't just bluffing, the house captains knew this fact.
They even knew there might have also been a chance of them winning if Eon was here, however, with just the students that he trained for a few weeks, even with Miss Mia in their team, winning this competition where a total of fifteen grandmasters were participating this time was not something they thought had too high chances to come true.
However, the members of the Wisdom Pheonix had only one goal…
The true judge of the event sitting with the rulers of this land, rulers of some of other lands, special people that they had only ever seen in photos, and, young people like them that many people in their countries knew about, that will have the final say in most of the judgments that will be declared from tomorrow.
They just had to get past the first two rounds today and then follow the path their vice-captain had shown them.
And, since it would be a test of the knowledge that had already made home in their minds, they were not as anxious as the other students.
Eon and Rein knew their house members were going to do just fine as they looked at them from a higher position. They could see their confidence, their scared, confused, but, calm.
The two of them did not have to worry about the two of their teams, but, instead… they had to worry about the person who was the center of attraction among those thousands of people, as well as an unexpected kind of person that Eon never thought he would see in a place like this.
Not with so many people present here.
Not when Rein was sitting right beside him, trying her best to control her anger, hatred, and resentment.
There was a being here that though only someone with eyes as sharp as hers could recognise in that impeccable disguise, was not something that should exist on this land, among humans, among the race that despised their very existence…
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