Strong gust of wind blew relentlessly onto his body as Ery flew in the air above the thick mist, heading towards the Hyperion centre.
As he got closer toward the C wing of the centre, Ery could sense through his Spirit Reading that there were more people in the centre right now than the previous ti he visited here.
When he descended to the ground and walked into the centre, Ery was quickly welcod by Magus Ramora who seed to have been waiting for him.
"Wow! Where have you been? You are very late!"
Ery beam an apologetic smile at her. "Yes, I got held up by sothing. I apologize for my tardiness."
Unfortunately, it seed like those words were not enough to appease her as Ery could still see the disgruntlent on her face.
"Ambrose, if you are really serious about competing during your ti here in the privileged class, then you need to step up your ga! There is no excuse to be late, unless you are dead!"
"Well, actually.."
"No excuses, Ambrose. Moreover, we don't have much ti. Because you are ranking 99, you will be the one who goes first! Let's hurry up and sign up for the arena!"
Ery wasn't even given a ti to go to the lab, as Magus Ramora basically dragged him right away toward the building centre where there was a large arena in sight. She quickly led the forr to see one of the senior staff, who proceeded to confirm his identification.
"The first match begins in 15 minutes! You should head up there now!" the senior staff said after confirming Ery's registration.
Hearing that, the blue haired female magus turned to Ery and said, "Alright, Ambrose. Go and show what you are capable of! I am definitely gonna cheer for you from the audience seat! Fighting!"
Ery nodded and entered the door the senior staff gestured to. The mont he pushed the closed door open and stepped inside, he was imdiately greeted by the sight of an oval-shaped arena surrounded by rows of seats that could probably easily accommodate a few thousands people.
At the mont, he could see at least two hundred figures had co to watch the upcoming competition. Many were magus level figures, with a few dozen of them were privileged acolytes cladded in the privilege class' signature white uniform.
Ery noticed how many eyes turned their attention to him, but what was on his mind right now was the fact that he did not know anything about the rules of the competition Magus Ramora threw him into.
At the sa ti, the huge holographic screen that was floating above the arena suddenly lit up and showed a list of nas, attracting everyone's attention including Ery. He turned his gaze to the screen and saw that his na was at the very bottom.
[First month privilege ranking challenger]
[32 participants]
....
[Rank 78 - Trish (84)]
[Rank 82 - Jordi Nephilim (85)]
[Rank 85 - dian (79)]
[Rank 86 - Rift Callr (82)]
[Rank 91 - Giovani (90)]
[Rank 99 - Ery Ambrose (68)]
Ery focused his attention on the few nas that were above him. He noticed the number in brackets and it didn't take him long to guess that it might be the ranking results they had gotten in the test he had previously done.
Seeing those numbers, Ery could quickly connect them with his own result. He rembered that Magus Ramora told him that he was allowed to challenge up to rank 68, of which there were currently five of them on the list.
Knowing the next tier of rewards was the top 80, Ery naturally placed his target toward Trish, the first year champion ranking.
However, Ery still had absolutely no clue about how the match would proceed and its rules. As if that wasn't bad enough, he seed to be the one to fight first. Not wanting to be completely clueless and accidentally breaking so rules he didn't know, Ery quickly willed the bracelet on his arm to show the rules he needed to pay attention to.
As he studied the information the bracelet provided from the database, Ery noticed a group of acolytes walking towards him.
"Well, well, well, well.. If it's not the champ!"
The familiar voice made Ery shift his eyes from the rules he read to soone he really didn't want to see nor get close to, Armand the Nephilim.
Following behind him were three other privileged acolytes, all wearing a similar golden-colored cloak with the Nephilim Faction insignia on its back.
Ery finally turned his attention to the group. He naturally recognized Armand and the other two as they were in the forr's team in the previous Magus Ga. However, there was soone unfamiliar to him with them, a girl wearing the sa attire as the other three.
"This is the one who won the ga, isn't he?" said the girl, staring directly at Ery but talking as if he wasn't there.
Unexpectedly, Armand didn't adopt his usual pompous attitude as he answered her question. "Yes, Sister Jinkan. But he's just a lower realm scum, nothing to worry about."
It was obvious that Armand was trying to undermine Ery, but it seed to have no effect on the girl.
"Ah, yes, yes.. I rember that he's the one who beat you before, isn't he Armand? Hahaha," said Jinkan with a light laugh.
The four then walked away without waiting for Ery's reaction, as if he was so insequential that they didn't need to hear him.
Ery knew he shouldn't be annoyed by their antics as such action was below him, but he couldn't help but feel that the way they acted surprisingly managed to annoy him more than he needed to.
He turned around and was about to throw a jab of his own, when it was at this mont that a figure ca and called him from behind.
"Don't mind them, Ery. They act like that even to . They are just a bunch of clowns."
"Roran!"
It was the Harlight protege, Roran, who approached Ery with a smile on his face.
Now that Roran was here, Ery asked the forr about the upcoming competition and the always knowledgeable man quickly gave him a crash course about the matter.
First, apparently, not every privileged acolyte would co to the arena as most of them preferred to spend their ti on training and improving themselves. Those planning to enter the competition, on the other hand, would usually co to study their competitors and watch their potential opponents first, unlike Ery who jumped in head-on without knowing anything.
However, there were also so who ca because they were being challenged by those ranking below them. The best example of this was Trish who had high real ranking, but low test ranking.
She was also on the border of the next tier of reward, hence the four others on the list ca for her position.
With this, she was forced and had to be present to defend her rank. But with them participating in this month's arena, which was the last day of the month, they would also be forced to defend their rank against those ranking below them.
Now that all of these people were present, Ery, being the lowest on the list, had the chance to fight all of them without even issuing a challenge.
As for the match, its format was pretty much the sa as the third Magus Ga of previous year; it was a duel held on real not virtual arena, with tier 4 as the maximum limit of weapon and equipnt.
Because of this, there were magus and dozens of staff stationed to keep an eye on the arena, in order to prevent real casualties to the acolytes.
This was the arrangent prepared to make sure the acolytes would have the best ntality in a fight but also to make sure the young prodigies could still have a safe battle.
"Also Ery, you are not allowed to challenge those ranks on top of your ranking test result, but they are still able to challenge you.. So I am hoping to see an interesting match today, " Roran said with a smile.
Roran's words seed to expect that Ery would not just fight those at his rank, and honestly, Ery truly was fired up for a fight hence he didn't refute the forr's words. In his opinion, the more the rrier.
"Ery Ambrose! Please enter the arena!"
The judge announced Ery's na loudly, and he quickly went up to the arena. There, his opponent was already waiting for him/
"The first match of the day will be Ery Ambrose versus Giovanni!"
Ery looked curiously at his opponent who was standing a few ters in front of him. A large young man with a huge blade resting on his shoulder; at first glance, he looked really similar to Orycon.
Thanks to that, Ery couldn't help but wonder how strong he really was.
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Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,
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