The barrier disappeared, revealing the participants who were standing on the stage.
"WOAHHHHH!!!"
"That's my son!" shouted one woman.
The audience started cheering for the participants on stage, but the participants were still not able to see the audience or other participants who were grouped in different rooms.
"What is happening? Why can't we see the audience and others?" asked a boy.
"I don't know. First the format changed and now this," another participant replied.
"Now, now, don't panic. This smokescreen barrier allows us to see you participants completely, but you can't see us or other participants from other rooms," said Gazil.
"And you may ask why?" Gazil raised an eyebrow.
"Because we made the rules, that's why," Gazil laughed with his hands on his stomach.
"This bas--" A boy nearly screamed, but somebody else held him back.
"Calm down. It's not worth it, my friend," another boy shook his head.
Asher, on the other side, was calm. In the past, he had not participated in the tournament, but he knew about this change of format. He also knew who had won the previous tournament.
"Okay, okay. Before Professor Arman gets angry, let me explain more about the teleportation gate, which you guys can see in front of you," Gazil said quickly, feeling a dark shadow around his legs on the floating platform.
"This teleportation gate will randomly place you guys in the location we have arranged for you. In 2 hours, you have to collect the most tokens and arrive at the final location. After the time limit is up, the one with the most tokens will be the winner of this tournament," Gazil said.
"So, best of luck to you guys. And I will always say it's never too late to qui- umm umm," Gazil was speaking, but a black shadow covered his mouth.
A shadow grew bigger and took the shape of a person, and from the shadow, Professor Arman appeared.
"Woah, is that the famous Professor Arman?" One of the women spoke, and several people started chatting at the sight of Arman.
"You can take the weapon of your choice from the staff members who are present in front of the teleportation gate, and each participant can only choose one weapon," Arman spoke.
"All of you will enter the teleportation gate one by one, and after the bracelet changes its color from bright red to green, you will be allowed to move," Arman spoke and looked to his right.
BANG
A colorful stream of mana started appearing all around the stadium, joining all together to form something in the sky.
"Woah," many people looked at the beautiful sight in front of their eyes with their mouths open.
"Wow," Livia, who was in the Greville VIP Room, stood near the glass window and looked up at the sky.
"Five...two, fifty-two!!" Livia saw the number 52 form in the sky.
"This marks the 52nd year of the World Academy," Arman spoke, and people loudly cheered.
And after the disappearance of the number, the staff members made the participants enter the teleportation gate one by one.
"Umm, are you sure you can participate?" a staff member awkwardly asked Alyssa.
"I can," Alyssa spoke.
"But you cannot take this wheelchair with you. It is mana-fueled, and this can count as an artificial artifact," the staff member explained.
"Why is she even participating?" one of the girls quietly said.
"Yeah, my mood got worse just by looking at her face," another girl replied.
"Why even participate when you can't even walk?" another girl spoke, but with a louder voice that Alyssa could hear.
The staff member couldn't help it, as the rules were clear and no exceptions were allowed.
"How did she even get in?" some girls started talking, completely disregarding the fact that Alyssa could hear them.
Alyssa clenched her fist, but she did not lose her composure. She started flaring her mana.
"Don't worry, I was not going to take this in anyways," Alyssa said to the staff member.
Alyssa stood up, but not exactly. Her body weight was not on her legs. She was almost floating with her feet touching the ground, but they were not carrying her weight.
This surprised the staff member, but he regained his composure.
"Do you need a weapon?" the staff member asked.
"No," Alyssa replied. As a mage, she did not need any weapons.
"Okay, you may enter now," the staff member moved out of her way.
"Two hours, I need to hold on for two hours," Alyssa said to herself as she stepped into the teleportation gate.
"If she could stand up, why use a wheelchair? Is she an attention seeker?" the next girl spoke with an annoyed face.
The staff member did not comment because he knew that a young kid like her would not know what Alyssa did just now. Moreover, he had no obligation to tell her, so he kept silent.
On another teleportation gate,
"What weapon do you need?" the staff member respectfully asked.
"A dagger," Amelia replied.
"Whoa, I hope we are placed far from her." One of the girls spoke.
"Yeah, she is so elegant and strong, but I will try my best," another girl replied.
Amelia could hear some of the chatter, but she didn't care. She entered the teleportation gate with her calm and indifferent face.
While on another teleportation gate,
"What weapon do you want?" the staff asked.
"A spear," Kevin replied with his confident gaze.
"You may enter now," the staff member said.
Kevin stepped in, and behind him was Sam Allister, who also chose a spear.
"Do we even have a chance with people like Kevin Whiteheart and Sam Allister participating?" one guy spoke. He was a student who came through World Association recommendation.
"Well, even we have talent among us common people," another guy who seemed like his friend spoke.
"I might as well help him win this rather than have one of those sheltered geniuses win," he replied.
"Who are guys talking about?" another person who probably didn't enter through World Association asked.
"Oh, there was one guy during our tryouts who had monstrous talent as well. He even signed a deal with World Association before coming here. His name is-" He was speaking, but the staff member called his name.
"Yo, tell me the name at least," the guy who asked shouted as he saw this guy rushing towards the teleportation gate.
"His name is Matthew," he spoke in a rush.
"Yeah, he doesn't have a last name. Apparently, he's an orphan, but we don't know much about him," the other guy explained further.
"Oh, thanks," the guy who asked said.
One by one, all the participants entered the teleportation gate, and both boys and girls arrived at their locations.
The screen switched from showing Professor Arman and Gazil to showcasing various participants standing still at their locations because the barrier in their suits was still activated.
One of the screens split into two, showcasing the leaderboard, which was still empty.
"We have chosen a forest environment for the locations of this tournament, as you can see," Gazil, who was now freed from Arman's magic, said.
"On the third screen, you can see the leaderboard, and the names will start appearing here as the participants collect more tokens," Gazil said with his joyful voice.
"Now let's watch the tournament unfold!!" He said as he pointed at the screens.
After teleporting to some unknown location which seemed like a forest Asher looked down at his hand and found that his bracelet was still red. He noticed a barrier that made him unable to move from his position, but he waited for the light to turn green.
He was wearing a black-colored suit, which was another function of the bracelet, and it was designed well to not restrict any sort of movements. After waiting about five minutes, he noticed that the barrier disappeared, and the bracelet turned green, and a timer appeared on it.
[01:59:58]
Asher looked at the timer and performed some light stretches for two minutes, and after he was done, he heard some movements behind him.
"Hmm," Asher's head turned, and he dashed towards the direction of the noise.
"Arrgh, these vines are so thick. How am I supposed to walk on them without losing my balance?" a guy in a black-colored suit spoke.
He walked around, but his steps made noises as he was inexperienced walking in such terrains.
He looked as far as he saw a black-haired boy with crimson red-eyes coming towards him.
"Red eyes... Fuck, damn my luck," he raised his sword at Asher's direction.
"Don't you think I am an easy target!" he shouted as he dashed towards Asher.
Asher, who looked at a boy who was carelessly coming towards him with so many openings in his stance, muttered, "Weak."
He was stepping on various thick tree roots to increase his speed as he approached the boy.
"AAAAAHHHHHH," the boy shouted as he did a wide swing at Asher.
*Slash*
"What?" he exclaimed as he performed a slash, but Asher had already side-stepped and dodged after seeing the trajectory of his attack.
Asher looked at the wide-open right side of the boy as he raised his kick and brought it downwards, knocking him out as he hit his skull, immediately activating the barrier.
*Ding*
The bracelet showed a count of +1, making his total token come up to 2 in the first 3 minutes.
"Hmm," Asher looked at the bracelet with his foot still being on top of the face of the boy who was knocked out cold with his mouth open.
Leaderboard
1. Asher Von Greville - 2
2. Empty
3. Empty
A name appeared on the leaderboard as the audience was still watching other participants exploring the forest from their initial positions.
"That's right, brat, show them," an old man laughed as he saw Asher's name on the leaderboard.
