William knew Garlend was a jerk, but he didn't blame him for such psychological warfare. In times of war, anything was permitted to win.
"Time to continue my tour," William threw all of this behind his back. If he was going to meet one of the good teams, one like Ro's for example, then he'd be busy thinking about what to do to win.
However, he got the feeling that Garlend's team was just all talk. They weren't even that good to make him worry about facing them.
As William started touring the place again, he got lucky this time. During that hour, he met ten good teams, and managed to befriend five of them.
"Tsk! There are lots of jerks this time," he couldn't help but curse when he left the last battleground.
There was one good team there whom he tried to befriend. However, their leader was a vulgar outsider gold spirit master who just gave him a weird look before exploding with insults upon his face.
If not for the judge to announce that team's victory, William would have suspected they already lost the battle, and that leader was venting his anger over him.
Words like: 'A mere bronze weakling trying to speak to me?' Was a common phrase that dude used.
William knew that his identity as a bronze spirit master was something that stopped many from befriending him. After all, most would prefer to befriend people on their level, or better be stronger than them.
The only reason for anyone to talk nicely with him was his identity as a disciple of the academy. People didn't know if he came from a nameless family or from a strong and formidable clan or family.
As William took the initiative to approach them, everyone took the impression that he had a big background. And only rare people like Ro got interested in himself and not his background.
William didn't mind any of that. Even if everyone got the wrong impression about him, in a good or a bad way, he was still happy with his gains.
He got to befriend ten good teams, got their Bullets, and he could deal with them later after forming his team.
As for worrying about their reaction, if any discovered his true identity, one without anyone backing him up, it wasn't that kind of a problem to him.
"No one will say no to crystals," he knew their weak spot. Even if he suspected that few of these teams came here to train their members, either sent by big clans, families, or even rivalling academies, most came here to gain free wealth.
William knew after the end of this competition; he'd start to work on two things. First, he'd start assembling his team, and then he'd venture outside, go to the place he wanted, sell as many cores there as he could, then come back and start talking with these teams.
With enough crystals as a reward for their cooperation, not a single team would say no to his offer. And when they'd see how unique and strong his team was, those who sought training their members would take the initiative to come without even getting paid.
"Reputation matters…" William muttered to himself while walking towards the battleground specified by the judge from the last round.
Wealth mattered to most, and reputation also mattered as well. If he managed to make a name for himself here, he'd leave a good impression and might attract the attention of those who refused to talk to him before.
Building up a name for himself, a name for his team later on was a must. Good reputation could solve many problems without the need to think or worry about how to solve them, without the need to spend a single spirit crystal at all.
Thanks to his repeated tours, William got to memorise the entire place like the back of his hand. He arrived at the battleground fast enough, to be met with something he never expected.
"Sorry William, but we can't risk involving you in this fight!"
"...!"
Just when he arrived there, he found all of the red falcon members on the stage, all but Lucas who was left behind to meet him.
Lucas blocked his path and suddenly said that instead of greeting him like usual. From the look on his face, William knew how heavy the pressure that silver spirit master was holding on his shoulders.
"Why?" William never expected such a decision from them at all.
"Garlend isn't that low to target the tenth member of our team, but…"
William could see through the unspoken words of Lucas. "You got something to do to take them down?" William couldn't help but ask, and Lucas slowly nodded.
"It's something we didn't use before… And after that we'll be all weak to defend you…"
William inwardly sighed. To take Garlend down, the red falcons were going to risk using something they couldn't properly handle with their current power.
Even if William didn't get the details of such a fierce move, he could already tell the red falcons weren't able to handle such a move or perfectly execute it.
On the other hand, this move was enough to take down many of Garlend's team, but not all.
Garlend and others would be very enraged by this move, to the extent of wanting to take down the entire red falcon members, including the tenth member.
Seeing how desperate they were, to pull such a move that wasn't even enough to secure their victory, made William unable to decide if Lucas and his friends were idiots or quite brave.
"I will take part in the fight, don't try to stop me," the more William saw his determined face, the more he wanted to go up there and join the fight to save them.
Killing was forbidden in the arena, but mortal wounds and severe injuries weren't. So even if they'd get out with their heads on their shoulders after this fight, there was no guarantee for them to continue being spirit masters after that.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢