บท 90: The Ten strongest
He was on a hill which declined down in layers, each layer filled with fields that led to the next row. There was water cascading down between each layer, the fields filled with it. There were hundreds of green stalks growing in the fields, each of them around 1m tall.
Up in the sky, there were three suns shining down. The sunlight hit the rice paddies and reflected off into the air, giving quite the surreal feel as the atmosphere was filled with small rainbows.
Due to the heat and large quantity of water, the air was humid and moist. Stanis could feel sweat sticking to his bare skin seconds after arriving, the sun beating down on him all the while. Down in the fields, he could see small shapes moving from each plant to the next, cutting them down while singing.
They sang in call and response, the words too garbled to hear due to how far he was. However, he could still tell from the tune of the song that the people working were happy, and in the least, pleased with the work they were doing.
Stanis's mouth was agape for a few seconds. He needed a moment to take all of this in, to take a possibility of a peaceful, worry-less life in.
On the top of the hill with him were the 9 other highest ranked people. A few of them responded similarly to this scene, but the vast majority viewed the sight with sour expressions.
"Hoi," a voice called out from behind them. At this, Stanis broke away from his dreams and turned around, catching sight of a man a few metres away from him. Although there were no fluctuations coming off the man, Stanis could tell that he was not from Earth just from his fierce aura.
The man wore layered clothing made out of a material that looked like leather. It was obvious from his figure that he was slim underneath the layers, but not muscular. At his waist lay two scabbards, one worn from age and the other without any blemish like unworn shoes.
"Hoi," called out the man once again, only this time his tone harsher. He gestured for the ten to follow him.
On the top of the hill were a large house and a field the size of a football pitch. The man led them towards the centre of the field, before gesturing them to stop. The man then turned around and walked towards the house, entering it and leaving the ten to their own devices on the field. It came as natural that the ten stood around awkwardly, confused as to what they were supposed to do.
They were basically the ten strongest from earth but they were nothing but children compared to an established race like the Hu. In fact, from everything he knew so far, Stanis was almost certain that the Hu were basically humans who had entered the system way earlier than them.
Bored after a few minutes, Stanis began looking at top ten in greater detail. Pete walked over and offered to share drinks, something Stanis had to decline. He half-thought of telling Pete not to get drunk here and now but then decided not to argue against the inevitable.
All of their medallions had been stripped during the teleportation but Stanis remembered their rankings. Number one and two were both girls, nothing too interesting about their appearances. Of course, when compared to a normal person, these two had hundreds of details to describe but compared to a few other oddities in the top ten, they looked almost just like normal people.
Number three was a tall, muscular Asian man. Out of the ten people here, if Stanis was to choose one person best suited to serve as a hero, he wouldn't even need a second to pick number three. He had leather clothes and wielded a steel longsword and a wooden shield. He had shortly-cropped hair, somehow not messily cut, and sharp features.
Number four was a black woman wearing loose robes. She held a long, wooden staff with a bird-skull on the top. From her vibrantly coloured clothes and general feeling, Stanis guessed her class had something to do with shamanism or something similar.
Number five was an emaciated man with sunken skin. The man looked as if he had just knocked on Death's door and was now waiting for it to open. He stood as if he would fall over any second, only to die from that very fall. He had pale skin and thin white hairs on his head.
Number six was by far the simplest person to describe. She looked to be a 14-year-old girl. She had thick clothing and thick armour over her figure but none of that could hide her age.
Number eight was the pony-tail man who looked relaxed even now. It was like he knew something that the rest of them didn't know. After about a minute, the man even stripped a few of his thicker clothes off and stood still in the sun to tan.
Number nine was a blonde woman with blue eyes. She would have been Hollywood material was it not for the lifelessness in her eyes. She looked as if she had just taken drugs hours prior and had only just come down from her high, unable to bring up even the slightest positive emotion.
As was usual, despite describing the others as strange-looking, it was him and Pete who took the biscuits. There was not much needed to say about Pete and why he got so much attention other than the fact that he was currently in the process of getting drunk...
As for Stanis, well, if someone had asked the 1000 people from the arena as to who was the most recognisable figure, it would, without a doubt, be Stanis. He had overpowered the African man in a tyrannical manner in front of the entire arena, before getting punished by Ciae. Even now, his appearance was eye-catching. His hair was messy and his skin was discoloured with dirt and blood. But more than that was his equipment which was at a standard that no-one else on Earth had yet reached.
The rankings were just numbers. The top ten were the strongest Earth had to offer but it said nothing about their ranking in between themselves.
Eventually, Stanis succumbed under the pressure of all the stares he was given and the boredom from standing in the field and started drinking from his own canteen.
It was fifteen minutes after his sporadic departure that the man from before came back, carrying a hand load of books with him. He threw the books in front of ten and told them to read, before going back inside the house. Since there weren't enough books for one each, Stanis was forced to share with Pete.
It was straight after looking at the first page that Stanis realised that the books were similar to the type that Yils used to read. They were filled with scribbles that were saturated in mana. However, he could also tell that these books were a lot easier to read than the ones Yils had been reading, and thus didn't even cause close to a tenth of the headache they had caused.
He quickly finished the first book and grumbled. A few of the others had done similar and were now meditating on what they had just read. Stanis used this opportunity to swap books and read through theirs. Soon enough, he had read through all five of the books. But instead of being pleased, his brow was furrowed.
All of the books were about mana circulation, but all of them detailed features he had already learnt from Yils. In fact, he knew more features and details than said in the books. If this was the reward for reaching the top ten, it was a reward wasted on him.
The man returned a few minutes later with another armful of books, dropping them in the same manner and telling the ten to read through them as well. Most of the ten were still meditating on the first armful of books but the few who weren't moved onto the second armful.
Stanis was finished with these 10 minutes later, just as disappointed as he was the first round. A few minutes later, the man returned with the third armful. Instead of leaving, this time the man stood there and waited.
Stanis was finished with these in similar time and similarly disappointed. All the information from the 15 books was enough to create a good circuit structure. What they didn't talk about were the movements that Yils had taught him to accompany those certain circuits.
The man saw Stanis's expression and wordlessly gestured him to move over to the other side of the field. It was close 6 hours later that all nine of the others were sitting beside him, the man finally opening his mouth then.
"Those will make sure that you have a clean circuit. In a week's time, all Mosytes from tyro to adroite will be allowed on Earth. We have already made the steps and paid the price so that your population moves closer together into a more compact area, however, this will not stop the adroite Mosytes from tearing through your population.
At that time, you must be ready to fight their strongest. That means, in a week's time, you must be at least able to fight adroite Mosytes."
At last, Stanis saw emotion on the man's face. His lips parted and he grinned, his eyebrows angled upwards creating a menacing expression…
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