บท 9: Preliminary round, starts!
After almost one month of journey, Mays and the rest was only one step away from their destination which was the Mercia kingdom's capital, Merry city. According to Len, it would take only one day to reach Merry city.
The party decided to camp outside since the sun was setting. Mays set up camp like a normal person of this world to avoid suspicion. He had been doing that ever since he joined this group. If he ever wanted to, he could just summon a decent, two storey building out of nowhere. There were several house type mounts inside his archive after all.
"So... Why are you people traveling with us?"
Mays who was smoking his meat asked in his usual indifferent tone. Currently, everyone was done with setting up camps and were busy with preparing dinner.
"No particular reason. I thought it would be interesting. As for you, such a strong person don't usually come by."
Merle replied joyfully. He was clearly not the type to beat around the bush. He saw the aftermath of the battle between Mays and the guardian ancestor. He also knew that Mays was way stronger than him.
"Ah. Haven't you meet anyone as strong as me so far?"
Mays asked out of nowhere. He asked that question just to strike up a conversation since he had nothing else to do.
"I do. During the last tournament, two years ago. He was not even looking at me though, as if I'm not worthy enough to fight him."
"Oh?"
Mays opened his eyes wider as he showed some interest on the topic at hand.
"So you fight him in the tournament two years ago?"
Mays asked eagerly.
"Yep. It was right after the preliminary. I was matched against him and I lost instantly. In the end, he won the tournament."
Merle answered everything honestly. Both his attendants just nodded over his story as if they were there too, reminiscing the scene from two years ago.
"Ah, that so."
As if Mays had lost interest, Mays focused on his meat soon after and stopped talking. He ate silently while the others chatted by themselves. Mays was actually deep in his thought, thinking about the possibility of other players dragged into the game just like him.
Their current location was in the middle of Roalia Forest, one dense rain-forest filled with low level monsters. These low level monsters feared humans so they barely come out unless they were threaten.
Len choose to travel across the forest after factoring Mays's battle strength into the equation. If they decided to walk along the forest, the journey would take longer for sure.
Len's judgement was proven correct as they met no difficulties even after they ventured into the heart of Roalia Forest. Mays's strength was the best deterrent for those monsters living in the forest. Humanoid monster might had better intelligent than beast type, but in term of survival instinct, the beast type won by a huge margin for sure.
"Here we are guys. The capital of Mercia Kingdom, Merry city!"
"Whoaa!"
Len shouted excitedly while Miur, Nova and Aria shouted in amazement. Even Len himself never came this far in his entire life. As for Merle and his two attendance, they already joined the martial art tournament two years ago. Merle even passed the preliminary and fought the previous champion.
"Well guys, since we already arrived here, let's go register for the tournament first."
Merle who was more familiar with the rules offered his help in guiding the party. Mays and the rest just nodded as they followed Merle inside the town.
With Merle present, their party was even exempted from paying the entrance fee. The Mercenary Guild had a deep root within Mercia Kingdom for sure.
The registration process took Mays and his party around an hour before they finished with all the paper works. Mercia's Martial Art Tournament was held every two years, on the day of the full moon of the third month.
Apparently, there were around one week left before the tournament starts.
As a proof of participant, everyone was given a badge with a fixed registration number on them. Since Mays and the others registered at the same time, their badge numbers were in order. Starting with Mays with the number four thousand forty four, followed by Miur as the next number and so on.
The whole party listened to the briefing by the tournament staff while Mays busied himself observing his surroundings. Ever since he stepped into this city, he felt that someone was watching over him. Since he felt that their threat level was minuscule, he ignored them.
Soon after, the briefing finished. Merle and his two attendants parted ways as they needed to report to their headquarters in Merry city. As for Mays and the rest, they needed to find a place to stay for the next couple of weeks.
"That guy with the grey cape was dangerous."
A girl with kitty ears told her companion. Her companion was also a beast girl but with a pair of wolf ears.
"Oh really? I thought they were just a bunch of weaklings. They come together with that weak guy from two years ago after all."
"I'm not sure myself. But since my ring changed color from white to black means that he have more mana than me."
"Well, you are weaker than me. Hahahhaa. Anyways, wanna test him out?"
"Nah, master said not to cause any commotion before the tournament. We better just report it to him."
"Ah okay."
The cat eared girl was totally being looked down by her companion. She couldn't retort to her though because it was a fact. The two of them then immediately left the rooftop swiftly. They were totally familiar with this area.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After walking for several minutes, Mays and the rest finally arrived at the lodging district in Merry city. This lodging district was only opened around this time of the year to accommodate participant for the martial art tournament.
As Len and the rest registered as a participant, Mays decided to join on a whim. He had no intention of winning but he thought it would be fun nonetheless. Len let out a small sigh as he realized his chances to be on top was nil thanks to the existence of Mays.
One week passed in a blink of an eye as the participant of the tournament kept flooding Merry city day after day. There were ruckus here and then but the city guards settled them right away.
Merry city was fit to be called the capital of Mercia kingdom. Even the quality of the guards here were on different level compared to the other cities.
Right now, every participant for the tournament were gathered here at Merry city's grand plaza. This place had been the waiting area for the tournament for years.
The main reason for this was precisely because the Gate of Truth was located right in front of this plaza. That gate was illogically large, around four meter of length and width. It had an ancient feeling to it which couldn't be described by words.
"Mays, you won't go all out right?"
Miur asked with a worried face. She knew how monstrously strong Mays was. If she were to fight against Mays, even a thousand of her wouldn't stand a chance.
Currently, there were around five thousand participant for this tournament. The preliminary method were not announced to the masses yet.
As Mays looked around, he realized that there were several group of people who were eyeing him from a far. He didn't know why but for some reason, he was targeted by others he knew nothing of.
Since he couldn't sense any danger from either of these people, he wouldn't bother himself to give it any thought. It was the same case as when he was stalked during the registration day last time. He just need to destroy anyone who obstructed his path. Simple as that.
"Ladiesssssssss and gentlemaaaaaaaaaaan!!!"
A loud shout immediately stole everyone's attention. Almost every participant knew that battle skill was used to shout that loud. The announcer was at least a silver ranked fighter for sure.
"Today is the most awaited day for all of us. The Mercia Martial Arts Tournament. The preliminary for this year is simple. Defeat everyone beside yourself. You guys would be teleported to the battle area after you walked pass the Gate of Truth."
"There were no set rules for this round. You can form a team, use trickery or even kill other participant. Just make sure to destroy their badges so that we can keep tract on how many participant were left. Only when there were sixty four intact badges left then the preliminary would be over. Good luck warriors!"
"Also, if you guys wanted to forfeit, just destroy your own badges then you will be teleported outside automatically!"
Right after the announcer finished with the rules for the tournament, the whole area turned chaotic with noisy chatter all over. Since the preliminary round this year had the same rules as previous one, there were faction which already prepared countermeasure for this round.
Several summoners were getting ready beside the huge gate. They started chanting verses in ancient language and the Gate of Truth started glowing intensely. The previously hollow gate which was unremarkable suddenly had a silver layered miasma all over it.
"The Gate of Truth has been activated. Warriors all across the kingdom, you may enter now. Last reminder for those over thirty of age, don't pretend not to know the rules and give up on entering if you still value your life."
This ancient Gate of Truth really could detect the age of people who entered. Even right now, there were several people who ignored the reminder and tried to walk pass the gate despite their age already passed thirty. They were burned instantly without any reminder.
"Heh fools."
Several people who saw that outcome smirked.
More and more people rushed toward the gate as they wanted to familiar themselves with the battle area as fast as they could. There were those who entered by holding hands to make sure they stayed together even after being teleported into the battle area. Nobody knew if that really worked or not.
"Mays, I'm scared."
Miur who was in front of the gate suddenly spoke. She was sheltered by her father her whole life. She never had any experience doing something by herself prior to this. Now that she could see the bewitching gate covered by miasma, she started having a cold feet.
"It's okay. I'm here with you."
Mays smiled as he held her hand. He tried to make it looked natural as possible. It would be super awkward for him if the girl suddenly told him to release her hand in front of the crowd. The minds of young girls were delicate after all.
He let out a relieved sigh as he saw Miur put up a brave front and stepped into the gate. Mays followed right away and soon after, Len and the others also walked in.
The scenery twisted right after they walked through the gate. An invisible force sent everyone their separate ways as it pushed everyone deep inside the cyclone of nothingness. At first, all five of them linked their hand together with Mays holding Miur's, Miur holding Len's and so on.
The force field was too strong that almost everyone lost consciousness and loosen their handgrip. Except for one person, Mays. This kind of force field was just child's play to him. But since he couldn't see anything inside the cyclone, he couldn't figure out where Len and the others were sent to. He still held Miur's hand firmly on one hand though.
"Maaan, this is boring."
Mays was stuck in that dimensional cyclone for almost one hour. He was awake the whole time but he couldn't do anything. Everything he saw was the same. Black and white spiral over and over. It was quite similar to those hypnotic tools back on earth.
Finally, Mays could feel his feet on some solid ground. Even his sight gradually changed from those chaotic spiral into a normal grassland scene. He checked on Miur and she was still unconscious. Mays put Miur down as he surveyed his surrounding briefly.
"This place is huge. I bet we are in a different plane. Magic really is a wonder."
Back in earth, something like teleport was totally impossible. Science couldn't prove those illogical thing could be done. There were some scientist who still believed in it though. But with magic, everything was possible. Mays who just experienced teleportation couldn't refute that fact.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Where am I?"
Miur had just woke up. She saw Mays sat nearby, preparing foods by the campfire. She also realized that it was already dark.
"Ah you finally wake up. Come here, the fish is almost ready."
Mays immediately asked Miur to come and sit beside him. He even patted the round rock as he signaled Miur to sit there.
"Ahh… wait. I'm coming."
Miur snatched the fish Mays shoved to her and gave it a bite. The food which Mays prepared always tasted different than normal. It was not that good but it was unique. She realized that Mays did put something on them every time he prepared foods but nobody ever asked what it was.
Seasoning was not yet invented in this world after all. There were only plain salt to change the taste of food but she knew what Mays used was not just salt.
"Hehe this taste good as always. You're good at this, Mays."
"Nah its nothing. I just happened to have good seasoning is all."
As always, Mays never explained what a seasoning was. As long as she get to eat good food, nothing else mattered. As Mays diligently ate his food, he realized that Miur was looking at him instead of eating.
"Something on my face?"
"Ah no no… Nothing at all."
Mays was no fool. He ain't dense either. He knew that Miur might be interested in him. He was just unsure of how deep her feeling was. He wouldn't have much to do with her after the tournament was over later so it was better for them not to be too close.
"This is the first time we are alone right? Hehe."
"Well yep."
Mays replied nonchalantly.
"Where are you from Mays? You're too awesome, such strength when you're so young."
Miur tried to keep the conversation going. She knew that opportunities like this was hard to come by.
"Somewhere far away. I don't even know if I can get back home."
The happy mood died right after Mays replied. His face was sullen as he remembered his old world, a place where he spent his whole life before he suddenly appeared here. Miur felt guilty as she was the one who touched upon this taboo topic.
"Sorry."
Miur apologized. She didn't even know what to do anymore.
"It's okay. It's not your fault anyways. I will be going home for sure."
Mays never told anyone in the party about his past. Since everyone knew how powerful he was, everyone avoided asking anything which would accidentally touched his sore spot.
The gloomy mood continued for some times before Mays put one of his finger toward his lip, signalling Miur to be silent. Mays detected someone approaching them as he had keener senses. The both of them immediately hide themselves in a bush nearby after Mays extinguished the bonfire.
"I swear I saw someone here."
"Yeah, someone was just here. That bonfire was the proof."
Smoke still came out from the remains of the bonfire. There really was people here until a while ago.
"If that's the case then they may not be far. Let's go hunt them."
There were three of them in total. Every single one of them were around their teens, late teens to be exact. They might be young lords who came to gather battle experience here in this trial. Just from a glance, Mays knew that these people were more or less the same as Miur. People with zero fighting experience.
"So Miur, you wanna try taking them on?"
Mays asked. He saw Miur was looking at those people attentively while clenching her fist.
"Eeeeeeeh? I… I... I don't think I can."
Miur stuttered. She never thought that Mays would suggest that. This trip was indeed a place for her to gain fighting experience. Her father wanted her to mature. But when she was told to do it right away, she just couldn't.
"It's okay. I'll take the other two. Good luck fighting the last one."
"I… I'll try my best!"
Mays smiled as Miur agreed to his suggestion. Just when the three of them was about to go away from their current location, Mays leapt forward and kicked one of the three right at his back. He did control his power accordingly hence the guy was just knocked unconscious, nothing major.
"Jason!!!"
"So you were hiding nearby. Clever!!"
One of the guy immediately kneeled down and checked their companion while the other one confronted Mays. He was obviously trying to measure Mays up.
"Miur come out. That kneeling guy is yours."
"Uu... urm!"
Miur who was about to get out from the bush answered hesitantly. At least she showed a good spirit despite her nervousness. The kneeling guy from earlier already stood beside his companion after making sure that his other companion was alive.
"Whoa… A girl! How lucky we are hehe."
One of the two guy exclaimed. He even licked his lips slowly. Without any notice, he ran toward Miur right away. He was blocked by Mays midway though.
"Your opponent is me. Don't sweat it!"
Mays interrupted in a cool manner. Miur smiled as she focused her gaze on the enemy in front of her. She didn't plan to embarrass herself in front of Mays. Bratty as she might be, she was still a proud daughter who embarked on the path of martial arts.
These three were just small fry. Mays knocked the second one unconscious almost instantly. He then sat on the unconscious body as he watched Miur fight. Miur was indeed trained in martial arts. Her movement was solid. She managed to evade and return attack swiftly while her attacker seemed to be having a hard time keeping up.
After around five minutes of intense fight, the winning side was clearly apparent. Miur who stood there in the fight was like a mountain, totally unmoving and calm while her opponent was at his limits. He was even swaying as he tried to keep his consciousness intact.
One solid palm toward his stomach and he finally passed out. Miur who was serious in the middle of a battle really looked different from her usual self. Right after her opponent fell, Miur let out a relieved sigh as the fight was finally over.
"I won. I won."
Miur looked at both her hand and the collapsed guy alternatively.
"Mays! I won!"
She ran toward Mays and hugged him on the spot. She just couldn't hide her excitement any longer. This was her first real fight after all. She gave it her all and won the fight fair and square.
"Yeah, yeah you won. Congrats!"
Mays smiled wryly. He observed the whole fight from the start. Miur immediately backed away from Mays when she realized she had just hugged him on impulse. Her face turned red right away and she immediately shifted her gaze elsewhere.
Mays leisurely walked toward their fallen attacker and he immediately destroyed the badges belonged to those three. Right after their badges were destroyed, they turned into blurry image before they completely disappeared. They got teleported outside of the battle zone immediately.
Exactly at midnight that day, an announcement echoed throughout the battle zone. It was announced that the number of survivor up till that moment was four thousand one hundred and thirty two. Almost one thousand contestant were already disqualified after just one day.
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง