Ajax took the king's request to heart as he fully focused on combat for the upcoming tournament. More than that however he also focused on gathering as much information as he could about his future opponents.

It came as no surprise to find out that of the eight competitors Richard would be the only physical fight and he was the only hybrid fighter. At this point mages simply had an advantage that was hard to beat in a tournament setting.

As for the mages, Ajax was pretty sure that he wouldn’t have to worry about the last of Gryndor’s representatives making it out of the first round so he discarded him. That left him with one rune caster dwarf, a close range caster beastkin and three elves. A fire mage, a wind mage and the ice princess.

Ajax was pulling out all the stops for this. Winning here would most likely give him access to five more dungeons so that was a boost he wouldn’t be passing up. His delve in the Republic’s main dungeon was as straightforward as boosts ever got. The prince wasn’t willing to risk anything so they moved from one forest biome to an open field and back again the entire way. Ajax still gained the +11 to all stats from the dungeon even if the level one hundred final mini-boss didn’t feel all that challenging as the one he fought months ago back in Gryndor.

More than that Ajax even made sure to take some extra potions for another twenty stats that became available from his dungeon gains he was squeezing every once of power he could.

Name : Ajax Hearthbound

Level :51

Experience : 120790/133000

Traits: Divine Witness, Baron

Health: 3650/3650

Mana: 3680/3680

Stamina : 2980/2980

Vitality : 365

Strength :323

Endurance :298

Dexterity : 323

Intellect : 368

Wisdom : 368

Mind : 368

Perception : 298

Stat Points : 0

Besides his Alchemy skills there wasn’t much change to his skills from before the start of this trip but his stats got a solid upgrade. Even with all that Ajax couldn’t help but feel a bit down about how close he was to another level up. So close yet he knew that there wasn’t enough time to push the rest of the way there.

“Why so serious?” the king’s eldest son asked him as he joined him on the training ground. “Don’t worry I’ll show you how it's done before you get out there.”

Ajax had been shocked to his core to find out that the main tournament was just the opening act. It made sense once he thought about it a bit more but the fact that the champions would be the first to fight to warm up the crowd seemed absurd.

“It won’t be much of a show for most people” Shadow had told him when he asked. “Unlike the two limited brackets, champions do have to hold back to ensure they don’t kill their opponent and start a war. More than that however the fights are simply too quick for the spectators to properly take in.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Thinking about it that way it made sense why the main tournament wasn’t the main attraction for the spectators. If the champions were the warm-up the youngsters were the antre. Their fights would be the easiest to follow but would still be grounded in a level of power that was normal as far as common people were concerned.

The level one hundred bracket was the main attraction. Unlike both the champions and youngsters the competitors here weren’t the cream of the crop geniuses. They were dedicated fighters who molded their entire build around fighting in such a tournament, from the low amount of skills taken so they could be pushed further to the low Vitality investment to increase their power. Ajax wouldn’t have been surprised to hear that those competitors could actually delve twenty-five to thirty-five levels up inside dungeons had they been allowed.

“Did you find out if any of them have bonds?” Ajax answered the smug prince.

Bonds were allowed to participate however they weren’t offered the same protection as the participants, meaning they were fair game when it came to getting killed. For that reason most youngsters wouldn’t have any with them as the risk didn’t match the rewards, at their age getting a strong combat bond was too hard and taking in a subpar one would be a liability as the backlash from the bond being killed would take out both.

“The dwarf has a mole and the beastkin a mountain lion.” The prince got serious when he provided the information. “Both are below level sixty so they won’t be making an appearance.”

“What about the elves?” Ajax asked.

“We’ve heard nothing, but they only arrived yesterday, there is still a week until the first round takes place.” The prince shook his head. “We’ve got a party to go to tonight.”

Ajax groaned at the reminder, he wished he could skip the entire event. One thing he knew for sure was that he would take extra care to make sure Archduke Goldenmouth didn’t corner him again, he could already feel the hangover headache coming on just from thinking about it.

“Oh, don’t be like that.” the prince patted him on the back so hard he almost sent him face first in the dirt. “Parties like that are great fun, besides the Archduke will mostly be focusing on the newcomers.”

“If you say so.” Ajax said half heartedly as he turned to walk away and get ready.

________________________________________________________________________

“Are you sure you want to come?” Ajax asked his sister as he, Lexi, Anna and Judy were getting ready to enter the palace.

“You might have convinced me to mix one chance at making connections with a foreign country but no way I am passing up the chance where there are two of them.” Judy gave him a slight glare.

“It’s your funeral.” Ajax mumbled.

“What was that?” Judy still caught his words.

“I said stay away from Archduke Goldenmouth.” All three girls chuckled as they remembered what happened to Ajax last time the Archduke was involved.

For the first time ever humans weren’t the majority as Ajax entered the massive ballroom. While they still had a solid representation it was clear that less people showed up tonight from their convoy and a lot of elves were present.

Different from the last party was also the fact that Ajax wasn’t the last of the tournament participants to show up, none of the elven champions had arrived yet with the exception of their main champion. A seven foot tall elf with wide shoulders, gray eyes and pitch black hair. Much like the first time he saw Shadow, Ajax didn’t need to use his inspection skill on the elf to know not to provoke him. Tempted as he was to try and inspect the elf however Ajax knew better than to set that precedent at the party.

It didn’t take long for the beastkin champion to find Ajax and attach himself to the group. The closer the tournament got the more excited the feline beastkin became. The group moved around the room together greeting all the relevant parties while making sure to not get too entangled in the conversation.

A quiet fell upon the room however when the elven competitors arrived. Ajax’s attention however was quickly taken by the first old elf he’d ever seen. Despite looking as old as Archduke Goldmancer the elf with hair that was such a deep shade of blue you’d think it was black stepped forward with pride and confidence.

The elf was one of the level one hundred participants and despite Ajax having killed level one hundred mini-bosses he wanted no part of fighting the elf, at least not yet. The elf met his eyes across the room and Ajax felt a deep desire for him to live long enough for them to have a fairly matched fight.

“Woah” Judy exclaimed as she switched Ajax’s focus from the old elf to the last participant that was escorted by the elven king.

The ice princess had to be the most beautiful woman Ajax had ever seen. It shocked him for a moment before he shook himself out of it. Ajax made sure to squeeze slightly on Lexi’s hand. Despite the initial shock Ajax still preferred the company of his girlfriend and didn’t want her feeling self conscious.

“Hrrr.” the beastkin purred slightly. “I guess it’s true what they say about Blackthorn women.”

“Blackthorn?” Ajax was sure the family name for the royals was Sylvian.

“Her mother’s side.” Anna explained in a whisper. “The Blackthorns were a notorious bandit group that raided both elven kingdoms at the time of the split. They were nomadic and powerful enough to survive for a few thousand years until they backed the correct family in a coup and had their crimes forgiven and a ducal title granted for their support.”

“They were also known for stealing some of the women of the places they raided.” the beastkin chimed in but he still hadn’t taken his eyes off the princess. “As the old saying goes ‘the Blackthorns didn’t bring back the ugly ones’.”