Chapter 38: Top 4

In a brightly lit restaurant a group of people were sitting around a large table.

The group had a total of 6 people.

"Ha ha ha my brother-in-law is quite quick to make money" Riss laughed

Teo was on her left and Windle on her right

"Who's your brother-in-law?!" Rowen retorted but smiled

"Ha ha ha, maybe you can donate some blood to your sister-in-law little Teo. This big sister will give you a cut, I need the money for my medical bills!" Riss whispered loudly

Teo didn't know how to respond and only gave her a laugh

After selling a drop of his blood earlier today, they continued to watched the rest of the matches during the second half of the tournament.

During Riss' match, she constantly dodged each incoming blow like an expert. Pretending to be hurt, and even started pleading to her opponent not to hit her. Her opponent became more infuriated from her actions because he felt that was being treated like a joke. In the end, Riss' opponent couldn't even touched her. Although the match only lasted for a minute, her opponent became so exhausted that the judge almost decided to halt the match and announce Riss as the winner, but Riss quickly threw in the towel before that happened.

After that, they invited Riss to their feast as well, and told her what had happened

"I wonder why they wanted your blood so much?" Gina said aloud

Teo was clueless as well as he raised both his shoulders gesturing that he had no clue

A great windfall fell on his lap!

Windle and Lia were a little jealous, but was sincerely very happy for Teo. Besides, they usually ate together. With a rich friend by their side, they would obviously reap some benefits.

Unlike the old man Cien, Teo was generous especially when he had money to spare, but when he is just buying for himself, he becomes very thrifty unless its something important.

Everyone around the table enjoyed themselves. There were so many delicacies on the table, each costing 5 times the amount they usually spend on their regular meals. Although the price was extremely expensive, it was food they have never tasted before. Each and every plate was mouth watering and extremely delicious. The whole group enjoyed the feast as they talked and laughed.

....

The Rizon headquarters was large and very luxurious building. It was located near the academy's central area and only they were allowed to station their faction within the central district. It was one of the better places within the whole academy.

Within one of the guest rooms of the Rizon headquarters, an old man was sitting on a hand carved wooden chair. Deep red velvet cloth covered the seat and backrest as a cushion, and inside the seat cushion was high quality wool. The old man sat in the room alone, sipping a cup of tea from a porcelain white cup. The cup had exquisite design of golden patterns. A large expensive looking carpet laid on the floor covering the whole room. The drapes were made from fine silky cloth with several embroidery of complex designs.

As he was peacefully drinking tea and reading a few documents a sudden knock came from the door

-knock- -knock- -knock-

The old man placed the tea cup on the table and put away the documents.

"Come in"

The door slowly opened.

Daniel, Zachery, William and the 3 other guards entered the room.

"Uncle we have done as you ordered" Daniel said he produced the cloth that Teo gave them

"Good"

He looked towards the guards

"Bring the divination table"

The 3 guards left and quickly fetched a table similar to that of the Emerald Pavilion's table and placed the table in the middle of the room.

The old man nodded and looked at Daniel.

Daniel, who was holding the cloth, understood his uncle's intentions. He placed the cloth in the center of the table and small dim lights lit up.

The result was the same as the rumors. Daniel and the other 2 seeing the result confirmed the rumors felt relieved. If it did not produce the same result, and Teo was an ordinary pure elementalist, then he would clearly be an important person in the future.

Seeing it with his own eyes, the old man's eyes wrinkled. It was the first time he had seen a result like this. He thought deeply about this matter.

A pure generalist normally was someone very important, but with a growth potential being only a measly 1? How should he evaluate a child like that?

"Are you sure this is from his blood?" The old man asked the group of 6

Daniel and the other 2 nodded "It is from his blood indeed, we saw it with our own eyes"

The 3 guards also nodded as well.

Normally when a generalist gets an evaluation of 1 growth potential on a certain element, the generalist would give up on that element and treat it as it didn't exist. It is because it was unfeasible to attempt to make progress with that element.

-SIIGHHH-

The old man gave a long sigh, he decided to give up on this unique pure generalist. Although there was a chance he could be praised and rewarded by the family head if he delivered this pure generalist, there was a larger chance that he would be ridiculed instead after they find out the pathetic growth potential of the person he brought. Not only that he would not rise up within the family's ranks but he might even fall down a bit because of this.

"I see... leave me"

The 6 quietly left the room and closed the door

The old man gazed outside the window. He really hoped to find a diamond within a pile of rocks. This diamond would've been his ticket to climb up higher within the family, but alas, this diamond turned out to be just glass.

....

A few days passed and the tournament proceeded as scheduled

Rumors of Teo's windfall spread throughout the academy. Almost everyone knew who he was and even the visitors who came to watch the tournament learned of him.

"His blood was bought for 20 gold?! How lucky is this kid?"

"Maybe we should take some of his blood and sell it?"

"Nah, someone already tried to do it!"

"Someone already did? Who?"

"Its that Riss from the Emerald Pavilion, she went to the Rizon headquarters and tried to sell more blood. She even had that kid's signed letter confirming that it was his blood but in the end, she was rejected. Apparently they don't need his blood any more"

"I wonder why his blood was bought with such a high price"

"No clue, but the blood became worthless soon after"

"Other people bought some blood from Riss to examine whats so special but no one found out anything and the price quickly dropped to being worthless"

"Damn, that kid is so lucky, getting 20 gold for free.. I don't even have that much"

Rumors spread quickly and many people became jealous.

William and Zachery on the other hand became very angry. Daniel had yet to pay they back for the money. They did not dare ask for it and could only wait patiently, after all their positions were much lower than Daniel's.

Since they could not take their anger out of Daniel, it was completely redirected towards Teo. As for Daniel, he embezzled funds of the Rizon faction to recover his loss. Even if people knew about it, no one could say anything.

....

As the 6th day ended, the top 128 students from each year was set to compete.

Only one day was given to the participants so they can rest and prepare.

Majority of the participant's goal was 3 wins. With 3 wins, they would be placed top 16 and would get some benefits from the academy. But for others, their goal was top 3.

The first 3 days of the second week were used to cut down the number to top 64 participants for year.

Quickly following, on the fourth day, the participants were cut down to 32 participants for each year

On the fifth day, the matches became more intense. The participants became more desperate. It was because the top 16 spot was important. The academy gave extra benefits for people who were on the top 16. These benefits include access to certain facilities normal students could not. Discount on purchases or fees throughout the whole academy; exclusive opportunities and special treatments.

After the fifth day, only 16 people remained.

On the sixth day, a new rule was introduced. Each match would last only for 20 minutes, if they could not win within 20 minutes, who ever had the most points would win. In an event that they have exactly the same number of points, the 3 judges who watched over each match would take a vote. Also, participants can forfeit even before the match started.

The tournament on the 6th day was held for 15 hours, but only 1 match per 20 minutes. Unlike before, some participants readily forfeited. Their goal of being the top 16 was already fulfilled and thus they could see no point in participating any longer.

On the 7th day, only 8 participants for each year remained. On the first half of the day, a total of 40 participants was reduced to 20, only having 4 participants for each year. The top 4 for each year!

Teo, Windle and Lia watched intently throughout the week. On the 7th day, Gina lost and could only reach the best of 8, but she didn't lose focus, because she still had a match outside the Colosseum to determine exactly which rank she was in later today.

As for Rowen, she made it to top 4 along with Daniel. She barely won her match against last year's third place and entered the top 4. Of the top 4 among the eighth year, Daniel was probably weakest, then Rowen, then the other two who was placed first and second place last year. She might have a chance fighting against the last year's second place but had no chance of winning against the last year's first place.

On the second half of the day, the top 4 would be reduced to the top 2.

Rowen expected that Daniel would be matched against her, and as she predicted it, the situation manifested itself. Within the academy, the Rizon faction being favored was like an open secret. They all knew about it but no one dared to question it aloud.

Although Teo was happy with his large profit of gold, Rowen was not as pleased. She still bears a grudge against Daniel, but although Daniel have gotten to top 4 through "lucky" matches, he was still a strong contender.

Rowen did not take Daniel lightly and prepared a battle plan against him. Both of them were elementalists, Rowen was an elementalist of the metal and Daniel was an elementalist of earth.

She pulled out a small bag and tied it on her waist and meditated. Her match would start within a few minutes

[Author's note: I wasn't planning on writing up this chapter yet, but I was motivated to do so. This is not a sponsored chapter, but I would like to thank my first donator ever. Thank you Mr. Cody L.

Secondly, I have posted my work on reddit yesterday and I found that there is a real problem with my "synopsis", something I just wrote because I don't know what else to write without spoiling the story. I plan on changing and upgrading soon.

Third, I am also slowly revising the earlier chapters. If you have not noticed yet, I have revised Chapter 1 and 2 a few days ago. The story is still the same, but I have added some foreshadowing and "polished" it a bit (at least I think its fancier now]. But it will be a slow thing as I want to consistently release at least a chapter a day, since my chapters are shorter than other novel's chapters, while I edit/proof read my earlier chapters

I hope you enjoyed the chapter!]