Chapter 779: Qualifiers Round
At the centre of the Coliseum, Asher and every student from each Academy stood, their eardrums almost rupturing from the constant chants of the spectators as they placed their bets. The moment a minute passed, Thomasinho and AlyxAtlas resumed their work, drawing everyone’s attention back to the centre of the arena.
"Now, since we’ve all locked in on our geniuses and Empires, it’s time for the rules," Thomasinho stated, his voice echoing through the speakers.
"But before that, we shall be stating how many you all are," AlyxAtlas spoke as she flew around in the air, "the students from the Vandross Empire are three hundred and ninety (390) in total, the students of the Velkarin Empire are four hundred (400) in total, the students from the Thalvorn Empire are five hundred (500) in total, and the students from the Zarethorne Empire are four hundred and fifty (450) in total," she stated calmly.
Thomasinho immediately followed up, "which brings the grand total to a staggering one thousand seven hundred and forty students (1740)," he shouted into the microphone.
"Such numbers, such odds, such a number of ways to bet and make money," AlyxAtlas followed up.
With that, they began the rules. "The first round of this Inter-Empire Competition shall be the Qualifiers Round, meaning, out of all of you, only fifty (50) of you will make it to the next round," Thomasinho stated with a bright, wicked smile.
Anyone who made a bet on anyone who wasn’t amongst those fifty had obviously automatically lost their money. It was only the first round, and people were already losing money before the competition had properly begun.
The Coliseum had already quieted down as no one made a sound. No one wanted to miss the rules, both the spectators and the participants, so they all listened with rapt attention.
"This round of the Inter-Empire Competition will last for four days, and the Overlord has taken it upon herself to supply pills to the live spectators to keep them awake throughout these four days, so they wouldn’t miss any bit of action," AlyxAtlas announced, "meals would also be served during this time, so you don’t need to worry about anything, the Overlord has you all covered," the female host explained in one go as she knew people would start asking questions about how they were supposed to stay awake for four whole days.
The students were different, their minds only focused on the first aspect of the detail. Four days. That meant what was supposed to come would be a type of survival trial. Which meant only one thing; immense danger.
Although normally they could go as long as four days without sleep, that was when they were in their peak condition. Not after they’d run around injured, moving from one battle to another, mentally and physically exhausted from continuous fighting and movement.
Besides, there was also the issue of food and water. Clearly, they wouldn’t be given any, and with this survival-style battle, the hunger and thirst they could maybe ignore for a day or two would come back to bite them. For all of them, proper resource management would become just as important as combat ability.
Some of them couldn’t help but click their tongues, after all, almost all of them hadn’t had dinner and breakfast before they came. Only Asher at least had dinner, which he ate to his utter satisfaction as he trusted his Absolute Physique to digest everything without issues and convert it efficiently into energy.
"Now, as for how the ranking would work, it’s a point-based system which all of you are familiar with. Kill Monsters, Beasts, and Emovirae, earn points, stay on the rankings, simple right?" Thomasinho asked with a smile.
"Wrong!!" AlyxAtlas answered, as it wasn’t going to be that simple.
"The weakest Monsters, Beasts, and Emovirae that offer points would be at the Viel-Class for Monsters, and Rank 3 for Emovirae, and as for the strongest, well, that would be a surprise," Thomasinho stated with an evil smile as though he was suggesting what awaited them was a Rank 10 Emovira or an End-Class Beast and Monster.
(Monster and Beast classification; Whisper — Echo — Viel — Fang — Mark — Grave — Crown — Myth — Void — End)
"The stronger whatever you kill is, the higher the points you receive," AlyxAtlas explained, "but not all Monsters or Emovirae that are of the same rank possess the same combat power, so a particular Monster or Emovira might give a higher or lower point value, depending on its power level," she stated, making sure they understood, but not bothering to explain generally how many points each Emovira Rank and Monster Class would give.
"Now, here comes the twist," Thomasinho stated.
The moment those words left his lips, Asher, Ryaen, Thalric, and the rest of the students immediately snapped their eyes to the side, and from there, various staff members could be seen walking with trays in their hands, and within these trays were numerous black bracelets.
"The bracelets before you shall be worn on your wrists throughout the first round, their functions are simple," Thomasinho paused as though letting the suspense peak in the students’ and spectators’ chests and minds.
"Suppression," he finally spoke, "the bracelets will seal your Astra Energy, your affinities and elements, your innate abilities, and all that," his smile still remaining on his lips as he watched the students’ expressions with visible amusement.
The moment the students heard this, their faces twisted into frowns, they were told to survive for four days, and now they were being told that everything within their arsenal would be sealed off. Weren’t they being sent to die at this point?
Yes, they all possessed supernatural physiques, but so did their opponents, who also possessed their own abilities intact. Although many frowned, many others remained nonchalant as though the limitations didn’t matter to them. Some were calm as they simply waited for the hosts to continue with the rules, unwilling to jump to conclusions before hearing everything.
"But some of you are in luck, those of you who possess soul-bound weapons, at least your weapons wouldn’t be sealed," Thomasinho added as though that would soften the blow somewhat.
But it was still useless, for example, someone like FatelessPen, while he would be able to summon his soul-bound pen, he wouldn’t be able to draw anything into reality as he needed Astra Energy for that.
But people like Finch didn’t need Astra Energy for their own soul-bound weapons to begin with. Neither did Asher need Astra Energy to use Virelass’ Crimson Pact ability or the Position Marker. Compared to others, the restriction affected them far less severely.
"But you don’t need to worry too much," AlyxAtlas spoke, following up where Thomasinho stopped, "as said earlier, you will be able to gain points the more you fight. Now, while these points are used to record the top fifty people who would qualify, they are also used for another thing," she paused for a moment, "which is to unlock your abilities, affinities, Astra Energy, and whatnot," she smiled as she spoke.
The moment those words left her mouth, quite a number of students immediately understood that the point system was far more complicated than they had initially assumed.
"But be advised, if you have five hundred points, and unlocking something costs four hundred points, and you unlock it, you will be debited, and your ranking on the system will drop, based on the point difference between you and the people below you," she added, making sure to clear any form of misunderstanding and prevent future complaints from the participants.
