Kian Goldmaul POV

  It is the day after we arrived at the capital and learned about the rules.

  We stayed at my grandfather's house, and I met my grandmother while being here.

  "Kian's age group fight should be at 10 a.m., after the ten-year-olds," my grandpa says. "I have some stuff to do at the academy. Same goes with Sorcha. We will be there at 10:20."

  Sorcha is my grandma's name. My father seems to have inherited her personality, as she is as playful as he is.

  "As for Ronan, he will come with me. I will use my identity to let him in."

  "The emperor and Supreme Marshal also, for this purpose, allowed me to bring anyone who comes with me into a military base."

  "And coupled with me being the Academy vice-principal, it will be easy to bring Ronan in without the need to verify his identity. He just needs to change his looks a little."

  Thaddeus and Ophira nod.

  "We will go first. The ten-year-olds should have started, as it is 9:10 a.m."

  After saying that, we leave and take the monorail. After thirty minutes, we arrive.

  After waiting for twenty minutes, it is finally our turn.

  We enter and arrive in front of the same old guy from yesterday who was on the podium.

  "There are eleven of you," he says after counting us. "An odd number—a bit annoying."

  "In ten minutes, you will enter the VR and start. You will begin with an animal fight."

  "The animal is going to be the same one for all of you. If you lose, you will be eliminated."

  After five minutes, we go to the VR machine and start preparing.

  After another five minutes, the outside camera gets cut off, and I find myself in the same field as yesterday.

  On the other side is a coyote-looking animal fifteen meters away from me, but it is as big as a lion. Other than that, I cannot tell what its mutation or evolution is.

  "This is a mutated coyote. Its skin is tougher, physically stronger, faster speed, and has a strong sense of smell." someone introduces the animal.

  The countdown starts as I withdraw my bow and insert my sword into the grass as usual.

  I take an arrow and wait, while waiting I put a piece of wood using wood magic on the arrowhead.

  "Begin!"

  As the text appears, I use fire magic on the wood and aim it at the coyote.

  As it arrives at nine-meter range, I shoot the arrow toward the coyote.

  The moment I shoot, I drop the bow and pick the sword, rushing at it.

  It fails to dodge the arrow as it was hit by it at seven meters.

  It stumbles a little as it hit its neck.

  After that, I slash at it as it dodges, but I immediately continue with a second attack.

  It fails to dodge this one because the fire heat pain has reached it.

  I attack its legs first. I know from my range that cutting its neck cleanly is not an option.

  After doing that, the coyote falls on the ground, giving me a good position to attack its neck.

  I slash down, cutting its head.

  Hmm? It is around the animals in normal difficulty I fought yesterday, just slightly weaker than the bird. I think to myself.

  After it was killed, the area around me disappeared.

  Thaddeus motioned for me to remove the VR and wait.

  After a minute, the others finished as well.

  Out of the eleven contestants, three of them were eliminated, leaving eight of us left.

  "Eight?" the old guy from before says, looking at us. "Good. No longer an odd number. No need to give a random one a pass."

  "Rest for ten minutes. After this, it is the first round of sparring."

  "It is going to be one versus one matches. Every match is six minutes long."

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  "Alright, the fight is going to go like this."

  "First match is Rhaelor Grymon Altheryn versus Marek Kadlec."

  "Second match is Alistair Thorne versus Crispin Beaumont."

  "Third match is Kian Goldmaul versus Jasper Nightingale."

  "Fourth match is Thibault Marchand versus Lucien Fontenot."

  Grymon? Not a Harthveil. That means he is likely from one of the regional royalties.

  Not sure which region Altheryn is from, as regional names are not known. Besides the main family name, which is Harthveil, only the emperor has been seen in public or on TV. All other regional kings are hidden.

  Not just regional kings—even semi-pillars and pillars are too. I literally do not know any one of them other than the ones Thaddeus and Ophira told me about. There is not a single photo of them even on the internet, not even the names.

  As for why they are hidden, I have no idea.

  After ten minutes, the contestants for the first match enter the virtual arena.

  Both of them seem to be swordsmen.

  The countdown starts.

  As it hits zero, neither of them rushes.

  They start walking toward each other, closing the distance of ten meters to three.

  They start circling each other while being on guard and threatening with their swords.

  After a few seconds, Marek makes the first move.

  He does a strong step, closing the distance and swinging his sword toward Rhaelor's left side from below.

  Rhaelor blocks using the sword flat and makes it slide away before countering with a straight stab.

  Marek steps back while swinging his sword at Rhaelor's sword, hoping to make it fling and create an opening.

  Rhaelor saw through it, so he canceled the straight stab and returned to a guard.

  After another few seconds of standstill, Rhaelor makes a move.

  He first throws a feint by making it seem as if he is going to slash Marek's right shoulder from an upper cut. But instead, he steps closer, swapping his legs' positions and does a sword strike toward Marek's stomach.

  Marek reacts hastily, blocking the cut, but Rhaelor continues with a stab toward Marek's front leg, which cuts him slightly as he withdraws his leg in time.

  Even as he steps back, Rhaelor follows right after him, pressuring him, as it is obvious Marek is now having a hard time because of the leg injury, as it is simulated realistically in the digital world.

  After another two minutes, Rhaelor was able to win by making Marek over-bleed with only getting a few scratches himself.

  "First match result: Rhaelor Grymon Altheryn wins!"

  He is good. I think to myself.

  He removes the VR, obviously tired from the fight.

  Right after, the next match contestants start wearing the VR gear.

  Second match starts.

  It is between a swordsman and an archer. The distance is fifteen meters.

  The swordsman, Alistair, is getting pressured, as it seems he is not used to fighting archers.

  As for Crispin, he is keeping distance while shooting at him.

  It continued like that for a minute until an arrow hit Alistair's left leg, making him stumble.

  Crispin does not waste the opportunity and shoots his head, hitting him and ending the match.

  "Second match result: Crispin Beaumont wins!"

  He removes the VR, more tired than Rhaelor, as he had to keep distance at all times and never stopped running.

  I go into the VR treadmill and put the clothes on.

  I look at my opponent, Jasper.

  Another swordsman. Swordsmanship seems to be popular. I will keep my distance and finish it as fast as possible. And he does not seem nervous. It seems like he has fought archers before.

  As the match starts, I immediately shoot the arrow toward his body instead of the head.

  He, too, after the match starts, dodged away to the high right and starts rushing toward me after dodging.

  I keep my distance, running away as I prepare the second arrow.

  After I finish preparing, I abruptly stop and, at the same time, do not put the arrow on the bowstring yet to trick him into getting closer.

  Noticing that, he rushes me, closing the distance to five meters.

  I use water magic two meters away from him, causing him to slip.

  As he slips, I shoot the arrow, hitting his shoulder on the right arm, making him drop his sword.

  I was aiming for the head. What a hassle.

  After doing that, I throw the bow at him and unsheathe my sword, cutting his head and ending the match.

  "Third match result: Kian Goldmaul wins!"

  I will not be able to use this tactic in the other fights, as they would be expecting it.

  The fourth match starts. It is between Thibault, a spearman, and Lucien, a swordsman.

  Expected much. Mages should not exist at our age, or it would have been more interesting.

  After fighting for over 2 minutes Lucien was able to close the distance on Thibault, but as he was about to cut him, Thibault let go of his spear, making Lucien slightly confused.

  He then ducked and side-stepped to the right and withdrew a knife from his waist.

  Lucien, noticing that, tried to step back, but Thibault kicked his knee and stabbed the knife in his neck, ending the match at two minutes and forty-three seconds.

  "Fourth match result: Thibault Marchand wins!"

  After that, we leave the military base and meet up with my parents and grandparents.

  "Not bad, kid. You can use archery and swordsmanship? Who taught you how to use a sword?" my grandpa says.

  "It is Helmut," Thaddeus answers for me.

  "Helmut? That old guy? No wonder," he says, slightly surprised before frowning a little. "What about his archery? Helmut knows nothing about it. Did you lear…"

  "Kian has a natural talent for it. Even when he was two years old, he was able to hit the bullseye." my father cuts my grandpa off mid-sentence.

  Grandpa slaps my father on the back of the head. "Do not cut me off next time, you brat!"

  "But a natural talent, huh..." He says, looking at my father and me before nodding.

  "Will you be watching Nico fight?" Thaddeus asks my grandpa.

  "No can do. I have work at 12 p.m. Record a video and send it to me and Ronan."

  After that, we leave the military base. We explore the capital a bit more and eat lunch before returning at 11:55 a.m.

  Nicolas went through the same process. The only difference is that no one lost against the animal, and there are six people in total.

  At the second match, Nicolas enters the VR.

  He is fighting an archer, Loyar.

  He rushes toward him first thing.

  Loyar shoots an arrow, boosting it, as Nicolas uses shield magic to slow it down. Yes, the shield was somehow not enough to stop the arrow exploding on impact.

  He dodged and continued rushing toward him.

  He used light magic, blinding the other party temporarily.

  Loyar continues running even though he can barely see.

  He closes the distance and attacks him.

  Loyar withdraws his sword and starts fighting but falls into an obvious disadvantage, as he is inferior in sword art.

  Nicolas does a slash coming from below to Loyar's waist.

  Loyar blocks it, but Nicolas throws a kick toward his kneecap, making him lose balance before cutting his neck.

  Nicolas improved a lot.

  I look at Thaddeus. "How was the arrow able to break the shield?" I ask.

  "The arrow had a tiny explosion magic at the tip, working a bit like a missile. And when it exploded, that kid boosted the arrow again to let it continue shooting instead of falling down."

  I nod, hearing that explanation.

  "Well then, let us go to your grandparents' house now."

  Chapter End