SWNOVELS Chapter 44 Preliminaries Begin!
Hearing the young master speak, many high-status nobles who followed his every step celebrated his words.
"Hell yeah!"
"The young master is right! We are the apex predators!"
They yelled, their egos inflated. contemporary romance
"Yeah, you're right! No matter how much of a black sheep you are, you're still a pathetic little sheep born from your sheep parents!" A boy quite close to Lyrian yelled in the heat of the moment.
"What did you say?" Lyrian immediately spoke out, offended by the disrespect towards his parents.
The boy's expression quickly turned worried as he stopped cheering in an instant, not willing to confront Lyrian directly.
As the cheers from others calmed down, Lyrian spoke back, which was something completely unexpected and even rude for a peasant to do.
"If you think that you are an apex predator and I am just your prey, I'd be happy to change your opinion." He grinned, indifferently accepting the challenge as if it meant nothing to him.
Upon hearing this exchange, Julius quickly intervened between the two kids to move on with the preliminaries and prevent any fight from breaking out.
"Alright, alright folks. Let's not get too carried away. These fights are only preliminary duels. There should be no ill will between the duelers. Now, let us get started!" he said, turning around to face the land behind him.
The surroundings were nothing but flat grassland, but suddenly, smooth stone platforms began emerging from the ground, each measuring 10 by 10 meters and spaced 10 meters apart.
In total, nine platforms rose from the ground, creating a 3 by 3 pattern of arenas.
Alongside them, giant stone stands began to emerge as well. They consisted of tiered rows of horizontal seats, with every other step providing access to another row of seats.
Seemingly out of nowhere, the seats were filled with spectators. Upon closer inspection, Lyrian noticed that representatives from other schools were seated there, along with some of the teachers from Anaviotis that he had seen upon his arrival.
However, among the crowd, there were also hundreds of unfamiliar faces, all eagerly anticipating the preliminary fights.
Unbeknownst to Lyrian, these additional spectators in the stands were other nobles who had gathered to witness the preliminary rounds involving their children. It would be the last time they would see their children for a long while, after all.
"Mother! Hey!" a kid suddenly shouted from the crowd where Lyrian stood, as hundreds of other kids began noticing their parents and calling out to them.
Upon hearing all this, Lyrian was okay with not meeting his parents there. They had responsibilities at home and likely couldn't afford to come here, considering the presence of only wealthy nobles.
He had already bid them a final goodbye, so there was no need to see them. All he needed to do was pass the exam.
There were three stands in total, positioned on three sides of the arenas, while the crowd of examinees stood on the final side.
On the side facing away from the kids, there was a balcony overlooking the stages. Atop that balcony were a total of three seats.
In an instant, Julius disappeared from his position near the kids and appeared in the left seat atop the balcony, maintaining a smile on his face.
He was replaced by several announcers who would call out the names of the dueling participants.
After Julius, the seat on the right was filled by an older gentleman whose long white beard signified his wisdom and age.
This man held the esteemed position of head of the royal magistrate, a governing body that stood just below the supreme royal family in the kingdom's hierarchy.
And finally, the seat in the middle was occupied by one of the representatives of the supreme royal family of the kingdom. He was Zysrial Yaltan, the current eldest son of the Yaltan family.
Zysrial stood tall, easily over 6'8" in height, with broad shoulders and a chiseled face, clad in golden armor. His eyes exuded dominance, casting his presence across the entire field as he calmly overlooked the arenas.
Lyrian immediately noticed him, recognizing his power. 'Scan,' he tried out of interest.
[Error! The target's power level is too high to scan]
[Increasing your mastery of the Scan skill will enable you to scan individuals with higher power levels]
'Huh... as I expected.'
Before long, the announcers began calling out the names of the first fighters.
"Ouil Petres and Jennas Nigh, please come to arena 2x3!"
"Sen Kalo and Marumi Tani, please..."
.
.
.
An hour passed, as duels raged on nonstop. In order to see the ability of their opponents, the kids were allowed to walk through the outside portions of the areas and spectate the fighters.
Most of the time, two or three arenas with the most interesting figures would be covered with spectators, leaving out the rest of the kids to fight without any eyes on them, as they were seen as nothing but fodder by most.
As the kids passed their exams, they breathed heavy sighs of relief and moved on spectating themselves, a new smile adorned on their faces.
While spectating, Lyrian noticed a few figures that stood out from the rest as well, some who had red magic potential.
Right now, he was interested in Endra's power the most, as he had never heard of such an ability to transform into a beast-like creature. He caught a glimpse it during the race and wanted to see it in action.
"Endra Yuuin--" A fight announcer near Lyrian suddenly began to speak, catching his attention as he heard those words.
"And Leonidas Serroa, please come to arena 3x3!"
'Hmm? Why does that name sound familiar?' Lyrian thought to himself as he quickly made his way over to the 3x3 arena where almost every other kid was also heading, intrigued mostly by Endra's name.
Lyrian thought that this boy named Leonidas was just another unfortunate peasant, but when he arrived at the arena and made his way past the crowd of students to see the fight, he saw that he recognized his face, quite well actually.
'...My roommate?' He thought to himself, slightly surprised.
done.co