Chapter 55: The Department Tournament begins
’This is a good time to act. Especially now that this family is hiding so many things,’ he thought as he waited in an abandoned building for the messengers to arrive.
They appeared from opposite directions, driving into the building in their black cars with tinted windows.
They stopped right in front of Lucius.
Each one rolled down one of the car windows. There were eight people in total, covered from head to toe in black, armed with magical tools resembling firearms—the most dangerous kind for a wizard at point-blank range.
’They’re prepared,’ Lucius thought.
The group of eight nodded to him, and Lucius nodded back.
Each of them got out of their respective cars. From one of the cars, they pulled out a reinforced box wrapped in gift-like ribbons; it even had a bow on top to decorate it.
They threw it on the ground and nodded to Lucius once more. "The password is the date from four days ago at 12:01," they said, before getting back into their cars and driving away.
Lucius looked at the box. He glanced around, then grabbed it. He put it away and left the area, dressed in black.
There were a few people in the building watching him, but thanks to Lucius’s cunning—moving in black clothing in the darkness—they lost sight of him in an instant.
The next time Lucius was seen, he was at old Garen’s dilapidated house.
No one saw him go in.
But once inside, he was able to open the safe, which was password-protected. When he entered the password, it unlocked without a hitch.
Inside were a variety of documents, information in the form of videos and images, and so on.
He picked up several documents... They were all about the Asturias family, but focused on two people: Casius Asturias and Darius Asturias.
There wasn’t much recent information on Casius, but there was some older information.
On the other hand, there was practically everything on Darius.
’That guy is way too arrogant. So much so that he doesn’t even realize when he’s causing trouble.’ He sighed.
Fortunately, he’d gathered a lot of information. The videos, images, and other content were very well done and laid out the entire framework for what he was going to use very soon.
’I’ll have to make my move during the Tournament. Darius will be busy with his own tournament, so he’ll be more likely to make mistakes.’
He put everything back in the suitcase and stored the suitcase in his storage ring. Finally, he left the house and returned to the workshop.
--
Monday morning.
The New Creation Academy of Awakened Ones, across all its branches, was bustling with activity today.
In the regular classes, everything was business as usual, although most of the students in those classes who weren’t participating in the Department Tournament had chosen to go watch the various tournaments.
The ones that drew the most attention, naturally, were the combat-focused ones.
Those involving swords or weapons in general.
The pure magic tournaments are always the most famous.
Meanwhile, the utility tournaments aren’t very popular among students. That’s why they attract few spectators.
And in this case, the F, E, and D-Class tournaments in the Tool Creation Department naturally drew no spectators—other than those who had a relative or someone they wanted to make fun of and came to watch.
In this case, because Lucius Asturias was in Rank F, it somehow attracted much more attention than usual. Especially since a rumor—as yet unconfirmed—had spread that Lucius had won a high-stakes bet against Darius.
But the people who came to watch him fell into two groups: the haters, who were only there to mock him; and his supporters, who wanted to see him defeat the strong competitors.
His supporters were all from Rank F—there wasn’t even a single person from Rank E.
The Academy assigned only one stadium to Classes F, E, and D for their competition. It’s called "The Gray Stadium" because of its peculiar ashen gray color.
It didn’t exude grandeur; in fact, its color scheme was so depressing that it conveyed an air of ridiculousness rather than seriousness.
However, there was nothing they could do about it.
The biggest problem with this is that Classes D and E have at least one additional class. They aren’t limited to a single class like in Rank F.
This means that if you want to stage battles between classes of the same rank—which is the most common way to choose a leader class—you have to wait for that battle to end before you can start another one.
One battle at a time!
And the most problematic part of that... is that Classes E and D have priority over Class F.
Therefore, Lucius and his group had to wait for those classes to fight each other. And if Class E wanted to fight Class D, they also had priority.
’Fortunately, the tournament lasts seven days; there will be time,’ he thought as he watched the first battle between Class Ds unfold slowly.
The rules weren’t the same for everyone. They were announced at the start of each match, since they varied depending on the type of match.
After all, it’s not the same for a class to want to move up in rank as it is for them to want to become leaders of their group of classes.
As they looked out the window of the dressing rooms, they noticed that many people were talking about Lucius and Class F, with their ambitious plan.
"This is the first time the Lower Ranks Stadium has been so full," said Professor Jake. "And it’s not because of the D Ranks."
One of the students, Zachary, nodded. "I was listening earlier, and it’s because of Lucius and our ambitious plan to move up in rank. Even more so because our first match won’t be a trial match—it’ll be a ranking match against Class E. Those guys came in droves to mock us," he complained.
Other students shared their opinions as well. Jake let them speak; he thought Lucius or Clara might say something, but it wasn’t even necessary.
"They come here to mock us, but they’ll leave with a slap in the face. Isn’t that great?" Joao interjected, speaking confidently.
That unwavering confidence coming from a guy like Joao made everyone present doubt their own hearing.
They all turned to look at him.
The always pessimistic Joao... Was he suddenly so confident? Had he become arrogant or something?
Joao smiled at them. "Isn’t that great?" he repeated his question.
Zachary and the other students nodded. "Yeah... I guess it is great," they said.
Lucius smiled slightly and nodded at Joao’s confidence. He looked up and gazed through the window at the crowd of people talking about him.
’I feel exactly the same way you do, Joao,’ he thought. ’Even if they’re just little things, it bothers me to hear people saying stupid things about me.’
And the hours passed.
There were three matches among the Rank D teams, which ultimately determined the Class D Leader: Class D-3.
Among the Rank E teams, there was only one match. Between Rank E-1 and E-2 to determine a leader... E-1 won, as always. There were no surprises.
Then Class D-3 decided to do something astonishing: they challenged Class C-1, which was the leader of the C Classes, because they wanted to move up in rank.
That rarely happened, but thanks to this, the stadium could finally be used by Class F.
There was only one Class F, and it had already been decided that their goal was to move up to Class E.
To move up a class, the leading class in a given rank must face off against the leading class of the next higher rank, so that there is exactly a "one-rank difference," as stipulated in the rules. That’s why people say it’s almost impossible to move up a class. There’s too much of a difference between the leaders.
Class E-1 had been the leader of the E Classes for many years, so all of its students—despite being new—felt a sense of pride after having reaffirmed to the other classes that they were the best.
That’s why, when they saw Class F standing before them, they mocked them.
Their leader stepped forward.
"I accepted this battle because I have no other choice but to do so. But I want you to know that none of us considers you worthy of even trying. Class F will never have any real academic value. You’re nothing but trash," he exclaimed grandly.
Lucius stared at him and shrugged.
"Just accept the challenge through the Academy System. Why waste your time talking so much with us?" he said.
The leader was annoyed by his words, but nodded mockingly. "True. I have no reason to waste my breath on you."
First, he accepted the challenge through the Academy System. Then he looked at his group.
"Since they want to challenge us, it’s time to show them what it means to face a higher class." His expression was murderous.
His group laughed, each with a different look of mockery. "All right, leader. Time to teach those youngsters a lesson, then."
Before the match began, a teacher stepped forward from his position and stood between the two groups.
"I will be the head referee for this Class F vs. Class E Qualifying Battle. However, the final results will be determined by the 10 Independent Judge Teachers. So do your very best, because even if you win your battle, if the Judges don’t rate you highly, it will be difficult to achieve your goal," said the teacher.
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