The next morning…

“Come one, wake up Krog. We have to go for the tournament! Wake up you big oaf, if we get late, they will disqualify us!!” Me and Hein were screaming at Krog, while dishing out some water magic on him.

“Uhm, 5 more minutes mother. Please!” saying this, he went back to sleep

“Ugh! We can’t waste any time here. I’ll carry him, Heim, you carry our weapons and food, for Krog. He hasn’t had breakfast yet.”

“Ok, let’s go!” said Hein as he was scurrying around to room to gate all our weapons.

Ok, let’s do this. I put in some mana into all of my body, strengthening it and improving its endurance. Next I picked up the sleeping Krog and we were off.

Before trying to wake up Krog, we decided to make sure that Shem is safe. So, Hein and I spent an hour to set up both physical, and magical traps. He planned out where the traps and sensors should go, and he also made the physical traps. I also strengthened the door and windows, along with the walls and ceiling with my mana, which would slowly run out over the course of two days.

Securing food for Krog, our weapons, and Shem’s safety we were off.

At the capital arena…

“Come one, come all,

To the king’s tournament,

Where one shall rise and the rest fall.

Come one, come all,

For the greatest event,

Only for you all.

We shall see at the end of the round,

Who shall stand tall and proud.

Without further ado,

I present the ruler of Krothgaurd, High King Erigor!” said the bard

“My dear subjects, following the tradition founded alongside the kingdom of Krothgaurd itself, I, Erigor shall hereby declare the king’s tournament open!” said the king in a rather ambitious tone.

[SM: and may the odds be ever in your favour!]

The tournament was created initially to provide a stage to the youths of unknown or uninfluential backgrounds, to showcase their talents in battles. But as time progressed, it devolved into wat it is today; a stage for the powerful to showcase their power on the weaker individuals, as well as their own competitors. However, this time they will be highly mistaken if they can just win the tournament as if it is nothing. The prize for first place is a mana potion, and a mid-tier lower grade artefact. For reference, The ring of protection which I gave Shem and Krog, is a low-tier high grade artefact, and the shitty lord’s artefact is low-tier mid-grade. In order to make a mid-tier weapon, one needs to be at least a level 6 mage. However, such limitations do not concern me. I could craft the high grade artefact without being a level 3 mage. All I need is mana equivalent to that level, and the corresponding level of materials.

“Hello everyone, I am Nicholas, and I will be the announcer for this tournament. Firstly, the rules of round 1

No offensive magic artefacts. Possession of such artefacts is not prohibited, but usage is. For any status magic, the caster should have a counter spell prepared to the judges No usage of poisons Entry permitted only to those of between 7 and 10 years

…

Usage of any other form of drugs on opponents will result in immediate disqualification

Now, for how round 1 will play out. Round one is an elimination based single person round, where 2 individuals will battle it out on the stage. There will be 5 matches going on simultaneously on the 5 stages in this arena. The only way to win is to either knock out, have your opponent surrender, or remove them from the stage. Killing is prohibited and will result in immediate disqualification as well as being imprisoned for up to 20 years pending an investigation between you and the victim. The winners will earn points based on their position at the end of round one. The one who comes first will receive 100 points, and each position lower will receive 4 points lesser. Since every contestant has entered the tournament using teams of 3, each individuals’ points will be added into the total team score at the end of round 1. The same will apply for the other rounds of the tournament. With that let Round 1 begin!” said the man in luxurious clothes. Not quite noble clothes, but a rich merchant’s clothes.

“The match-ups have been provided on the board over there” said Nicholas as he pointed to a large wooden board with a sheet of paper nailed to it, reading:

Jon v/s Maleceth

Kendel v/s Robin

Krog v/s Raymond

Suprem v/s Bob

Ferb v/s Phineas

Tom v/s Jerry

Kid v/s Cat

Sorce v/s Hein

…

“Okay Krog, remember what we talked about yesterday. Don’t use that focus thing, and don’t let anyone know that I am a magician until I say so. Same for you Hein, don’t show them your true strength until they arrive.”

“Okay”

“Okay”

“Alright, good luck.” I said

…

“Jon and Maleceth, come to stage 3!” exclaimed the judge of stage 3

As I made my way through the crowd around the stages, I could see another boy, around the same age as me, making his way to the same stage. I assumed it was Maleceth and tried to observe him. As soon as I did that, his gave turned straight to me with a ferocious look. Was he able to sense my use of mana to enhance my vision? Or is he just sensitive to spells? Anyways, I can’t have him knowing I am a magician. His gaze was soon replace my a wicked grin, and an arrogant gesture. In the crowd around me, I could here whispers, as I walked past the people.

“Isn’t that the runner up for last year’s tournament? Yes, yes, Maleceth the brutal. He always leaves his opponents in a ruined state, and by not killing them and continuously healing them to maintain conscienceless, he doesn’t go against any rules and has his time to torture his opponents!”

“I feel bad for the poor soul going against him in the first round”

“Yes, he might as well just give-up without entering the ring”

“You know, Maleceth is an excellent swordsman, but can’t even learn the basic everyday magic! He just dodges any spell from magicians and overpowers them with brute strength!”

So it seems like he is one of those thugs! I think that him looking at me was a coincidence. But to be safe, let’s try something else.

I sent a tendril of mana into the air, hoping to see his reaction. But he didn’t respond. I them collected a little bit more mana and aimed it at him. He suddenly started looking around, as if something had frightened him. Oh! So that is it. He uses mana in a very unusual way. Most of his mana is continuously leaking out of him, forming a sea of extremely diluted mana within a 10 meter range. When a large enough force enter that field, he can sense it, but he can only feel that something is there. The direction is not easily found, and he has to concentrate on that. That is why he looked at me after 4 seconds of me activating my eyesight magic. Now that that has been discovered, I can disturb that field very easily.

…

“Are the both of you ready? I am sure You both already know the rules, and I hope none of you will break any of them. We have a level 3 mage waiting on every stage to make sure no one breaks any rules. If caught breaking any rules, you will be immediately disqualified!”

“Yes”

“Sure” said Maleceth

“Alright begin”