Chapter 125: The Second Round
When Helen went up, the entire audience immediately came alive. She did not use large scale explosive flames, but instead used tiny, precise fire lines to control the distance and force her opponent step by step into a dead end.
She won cleanly. There was no unnecessary destruction, and no wasted mana.
The light screen soon gave her evaluation.
[Helen Magnus — Evaluation Result]
[Combat Ability: A]
[Control: A]
[Adaptability: A]
[Battlefield Contribution Potential: A+]
The audience erupted into cheers.
Zich looked over and nodded. Helen was indeed strong, and unlike many fire type players, she wasn’t the kind who only knew how to blow the entire field apart.
Right after that, Jaden was called up as well.
His opponent was a speed type player who had planned to use agile footwork to keep his distance. But the moment Jaden started, he pressed in fiercely, his sword aura relentless, never giving the other side any chance to breathe.
His fighting style was clean and cold.
But Zich could tell that Jaden’s attacks were a little heavier than necessary. Not out of control... it was emotion.
In the end, the speed type player was driven to the edge, barely blocked two strikes, and then directly conceded.
The light screen updated.
[Jaden Smith — Evaluation Result]
[Combat Ability: A]
[Control: B+]
[Adaptability: A-]
[Battlefield Contribution Potential: A]
The score was not low, but it was not perfect either.
Still, the audience gave him loud applause because Jaden’s background and strength were there for everyone to see. However, Jaden, sitting in the contestant area, did not look any better for it.
He was clearly unsatisfied.
Zich thought that was reasonable.
He attacked too urgently; a slightly lower control score was not strange.
A few more matches from ordinary candidates ended one after another.
Some performed well and even got decent combat ability ratings, but none of them brought much surprise. After Mira and Zich’s matches, the audience’s standards had clearly been raised.
Honestly, the scores of the participants, especially Jaden and Helen, were a bit lower than Zich had expected.
He had only intended to look like he wasn’t weak. In the end, the association’s judges seemed to really like the idea of a "low risk victory," which pushed his name up a little more.
"Oh well, it seems the plan backfired..." He couldn’t help but frown.
Mira, sitting beside him, heard it but did not respond.
She was still wearing her farmer’s hat, the brim hiding most of her face, one hand resting on the long handled weapon wrapped in cloth.
The remaining matches of the first stage ended quickly. Although a few players did perform well in between, after Mira and Zich, the audience’s reaction was no longer as intense as it had been at the beginning. After all, once a farmer had earned an S rank control evaluation and a summoner had kicked a combat class opponent out of the arena with a slime, an ordinary victory no longer felt very exciting.
Still, the atmosphere in the arena did not die down. On the contrary, it grew even hotter. Everyone knew the first stage was only a screening process, and the truly interesting part was only just beginning.
The holographic screen flickered in midair, and all the first stage evaluations began to sort themselves rapidly. The names of low scoring candidates were moved downward, and some names even gained a [Reserve] mark.
The host’s voice sounded not long after.
"The basic evaluation of the first stage has ended. This stage was used to test all registered candidates and eliminate players who clearly do not qualify as representatives. Those with lower overall scores will be moved to the reserve list."
A low murmur spread through the audience. Many people understood that although the reserve list sounded respectable, it basically meant they had already lost their chance at being formal representatives. Unless something unexpected happened to the candidates ahead of them, these people would not get many more opportunities.
The host continued, "Next is the second stage: the candidate evaluation battle."
The content on the screen changed accordingly.
[Second Stage: Candidate Evaluation Battle]
[This stage is not an elimination match]
[Wins and losses will affect the score, but defeat will not immediately result in disqualification]
[The association’s judges will conduct a comprehensive evaluation based on performance against strong opponents]
[Evaluation categories: adaptability, battle judgment, pressure resistance, control, battlefield value]
[After the second stage, four official human representatives will be selected]
After these rules were announced, the arena’s noise rose again. For the audience, this was even more interesting than a simple elimination match because they did not have to worry about a favorite candidate disappearing after one loss, and they could also watch strong players test each other.
"Not an elimination match?"
"So even if you lose one match, you still have a chance?"
"Of course. Otherwise, if strong players met too early, wouldn’t that be a shame?"
"This is better. We get to watch them fight each other."
"I want to see Helen against Jaden."
"I want to see Zich against Mira."
"That match is definitely going to be disgusting. One controls the ground, the other controls the field."
The audience’s anticipation was completely ignited. Very soon, the light screen began to display the leading candidates after the first stage.
[Helen Magnus]
[Jaden Smith]
[Mira Vale]
[Zich Grave]
These four names appeared at the very top of the screen.
Below them were a few other candidates who had also performed well, but the gap was already very obvious. Whether judged by score, performance, or audience reaction, the ones truly drawing attention were these four.
"So it really is the four of them."
"Helen is definitely secure."
"Jaden is too, right? The Smith family’s foundation is there."
"Mira is the biggest surprise."
"Zich is the strangest one of all. He got an adaptability S by relying on a slime."
"You say he relied on a slime, but that slime obviously isn’t normal."
"The real question is whether a summoner can represent humanity."
"He survived the Golden Secret Realm, and you’re still hung up on class?"
Sitting in the audience, Zich looked at the names on the light screen with a less than pleasant expression.
The rules of the second stage were much more troublesome than those of the first.
Because it was not an elimination match, he could not simply lose and run.
Losing too badly would reduce his value. Winning too cleanly would increase attention.
Clearly, the association’s scoring system was not based on victory alone. They wanted to see how someone performed in front of a strong opponent, and that was much harder to fool than an ordinary competition.
Zich clicked his tongue softly.
Soon after the rules were made known, the first candidate evaluation battle began.
