The next day arrived in the blink of an eye, Kiera made aware of the date’s change by the maid knocking on her door. Taking a shower to wash the little amount of sweat her body exuded from training, she replaced her casual oversized shirt with the Auction House’s tournament uniform.

Escorted by the maid to the carriage, she saw Bethany was already waiting for her inside. Greeting the woman with a “good morning,” she proceeded to sit across from her.

“As only those under 25 years of age are eligible to participate, it means your division is filled with all the monsters the continent has to offer,” Bethany spoke as soon as Kiera made herself comfortable. “But the ones you need to pay attention to the most are the continent’s Six Young Rulers, who are the successors of the strongest magicians on the continent.”

“Blue Rose Crown Princess, Avelot’s Crown Prince, Sword Prince, Martial Prince, Spear Prince, and the Rashmeer’s Crown Prince. All six were born with one of the top ten attributes, and are extremely powerful for their age,” she introduced.

“Oh?” Kiera’s interest rose, if they were so impressive, maybe the tournament wouldn’t be as boring as she thought it would. Although their titles were completely unoriginal, “Aside from the Six Young Rulers... How do the others stand above the rest? It is not difficult to level up as long as you have a powerful magician in your family to help you grind EXP.”

She found it bizarre— calling the Six Young Rulers ‘monsters’ was understandable due to their Rare Attributes, as their ability to ignore level differences to some extent surely helped them level up faster.

But those who possessed Basic Attributes were bound to be aided by the powerful magicians in their family to level up, otherwise, due to the need of EXP to grow in strength, she didn’t see a reason for them to be stronger than others in the same age group.

“Of course not!" Bethany raised her stunning voice, staring at Kiera with slight disbelief in her mesmerizing eyes, confused at the latter’s senseless words. "While your words might hold true to some, differences in talent do exist. Talented magicians would require less experience than their peers to level up, and could level up their skills with less effort, even if their attributes are identical."

"For example, the experience an average magician would need to reach from level 1 to level 10 could level up one of the Young Rulers from level 1 to level 20!"

"Huh, I didn't know about this…" Kiera blinked, "so even magicians with equal ranked attributes can have a difference in strength..."

“As you say, differences in strength exist even in supposed ‘equals.’ Anyway, I should notify you of a certain detail— the Blue Rose Crown Princess is indeed our Auction House’s future leader and the main participant we sponsor. However, don’t hold back your power if you meet her on stage, you won’t be punished.” she covered her mouth with her hand and chuckled deviously, her desire to see the Blue Rose Crown Princess lose clear to all.

“A peculiar woman, she talks shit about her superiors so openly...” Kiera thought, her face expressionless. “I won’t hold back, that reward is too important for me to try and maintain the face of some princess.”

“That’s what I like about you, your indifference to others,” Bethany’s laugh intensified, her seductive voice succeeding in making even Kiera lose her focus for a moment.

It was not because she was attracted to the woman, her current young body and her peculiar personality assured that she wasn’t attracted to anyone at all. Actually, even when she had a mature body, she barely had any urges.

What caused her to lose her senses was the soothing, angelic tone that seemed to naturally relax her brain and melt her guard. She broke in a cold sweat, the notion it was a born ability more than some kind of magic turning the whole situation scarier.

Thinking there was no way she’d not distance herself from Bethany after all of this was over, Kiera leaned back and closed her eyes, collecting herself before speaking up again. “Is it correct to assume you know of the Six Young Rulers’ abilities?”

Bethany’s ears perked as a smile blossomed on her face, “I thought you’d never ask. I do know the majority of their abilities, as it is a given they developed more since the last time I witnessed them fight.”

Words flowed from her mouth like a river as she went into details on their abilities, habits, and weaknesses. Even disclosing the Crown Princess’s abilities, which she knew of the most.

Thirty minutes later, it was time to disembark, with Kiera satisfied with the information that Bethany gave. Upon exiting the carriage, Kiera was both surprised and mildly annoyed at the sea, or rather an ocean of people that walked toward the arena, which reminded Kiera too much of a certain Roman amphitheater, just many times bigger.

"How many people can fit in this arena?" she asked, as the number of people entering the arena easily surpassed several tens of thousands.

"500,000 spectators, why? Are you nervous in front of crowds instead of merely disliking them?" the woman replied, unable to resist making a joke.

As always, Kiera didn't go along with her shenanigans and explained flatly, "just curious."

Bethany merely smiled faintly at the girl's lack of cooperation and opened her mouth again, now for a serious matter. "Come, the announcement of rules is in ten minutes, neither you nor I want to miss it, especially you."

Led by Bethany, the entourage reached a special balcony seat at the topmost row of the arena reserved for competitors and their sponsors.

The seemingly limitless ocean of seats was replaced by a similar ocean of people in a matter of minutes. However, in contrast to the vast amount of spectators, the arena was not bustling with a plethora of voices, there was a complete silence instead.

All of the spectators gazed at one place, without expectation— the arena’s northern wall, where no seats could be found, only a veiled balcony with the insignia of Avelot, crossed swords of golden fire.

Moments later, the veil was lifted, revealing the only imperial family on the Isle of Darium. The emperor was a dignified man, his authoritative and stern bearing befitting his attire and standing, while his blazing golden hair accentuated his handsome features.

Contrary to his dominating manner, his empress possessed a more reserved and gentle presence. However, her striking beauty and tender expression dispelled her otherwise dim aura, causing her to be the first thing one would notice even if she sat next to the Emperor of Avelot himself.

Nonetheless, their young, thirty-year-old appearance couldn't fool Kiera, as the extreme pressure she felt from both of them was far above anything she encountered until now, far above the Western Archduke of Corinth.

Beside them, on three smaller thrones, sat their three children. The Crown Prince, who heavily resembled his father. And the Second Prince and the First Princess, who were twins and had the same black hair as their mother.

“Greetings,” the emperor rose from his seat and began speaking, his imposing voice reaching to every corner of the enormous arena. “It is my, Alderin Cyrus Eginhard de Avelot’s, honor to see you all, precious citizens and guests from afar, have come to commemorate Avelot’s prime day!”

“This day marks the first millennium since Avelot’s transformation from the Union of the Five Regal Kingdoms— to the greatest nation on the continent. As such, the 1,000th tournament shall have a unique addition to its phases— the Elimination Games Phase!”

“This unique phase will be separated into two parts— the Token Games and the Battle Royale games. The Token Games are to be held in the Avelot Forest surrounding the capital and will involve hunting Mana Beasts for tokens for the length of three days. Thus, it is the first tournament where most participants can enhance their strength during the tournament and increase their chances to win!”

“The three Divisions will be separated into several groups based on the number of participants, each group having an equal number of participants. Then, the groups will be sent to a special, bounded area in the forest filled with Mana Beasts according to their level. While the Mana Beasts will have a token displaying Avelot’s insignia etched to their skin.”

“The tokens shall be separated into three simple categories: normal, superior and special. Normal tokens could be harvested from a Mana Beast equal to a Circulation below you, and a superior token could be harvested from a Mana Beast equal to your Circulation. While a special token could be harvested from Mana Beasts of level 10 or above in your Circulation.”

“Each superior token is equal to fifty normal tokens, while each special token is equal to three superior tokens. Tokens could be stolen from other participants to increase your arsenal! Be aware that only the top ten participants from each group can advance to the next games, where their numbers will be further reduced in the Battle Royale. Also, due to the addition of another phase, the participant who acquires the most tokens in each division will be given a special prize!”

“The rules are as always— Mana Evolution or Circulation, killing, direct crippling of mana veins, or other such offenses are all strictly forbidden and will result in immediate disqualification. Now, the overseers of each division will invite the participants to the arena grounds, I wish you good luck!” the emperor finished his words, taking a seat on his golden throne.

An instant later, three men appeared on the silver stage, an identical scroll in each of their hands. The silver division’s overseer started first, reading the participants’ names and arranging them into twenty groups which had thirty participants each.

The golden division’s overseer did the same, arranging the participants into fifteen groups with thirty participants each.

Finally, the diamond division’s overseer opened his mouth, “Leywin Conleth Gilmore de Avelot, Group A. Eira Yule, group B. Zain Audra, Group C. Ferris Harlow, Group D. Corrin Neil, Group E. Tyron Kamus Nario von Rashmeer, Group F…”

“As expected, the Six Young Rulers will never be in the same group so early,” Bethany suddenly spoke in a casual tone. “It will be a disgrace for them to be ranked below one another in such a phase and in the nearly impossible case they don’t even pass, they would become a continental laughing stock. Something the Emperor would want to avoid considering who backs each of them.”

Kiera nodded in understanding, it didn’t matter to her who was in each group anyway.

She then moved her gaze to the second participant the overseer summoned—a young woman, no more than 18 or 19 years old. She was rather tall, standing at 170 centimeters, her oversized icy blue robes failing to hide her plentiful assets and long, fit legs.

Her lustrous black hair was tied into a ponytail, placing her immensely beautiful yet utterly cold face in full view.

“Eira Yule is the Blue Rose Crown Princess,” Kiera stated, sensing the woman’s rather powerful strength. Well, the blue rose on her outfit also pointed it out.

“Yes, and like every Blue Rose Queen and their successors, she’s a user of the Ice Attribute,” Bethany replied and then chuckled at Kiera’s mildly surprised expression. “Indeed, the wealthiest magician in each generation is also the coldest, unexpected isn’t it?”

Kiera nodded in agreement, she was naturally confused to hear the supposed embodiments of greed who controlled most of the money on Darium were actually Ice Attributed Magicians.

According to her research of attributes, bearers of Rare and Unique Attributes would be influenced by their attribute’s natural prospects. An Ice Attributed Magician would be naturally colder, and a Golden Flame Attributed Magician would naturally be hot-headed.

So an Ice Attributed Magician who should have little to no desires wasn’t what Kiera had in mind when she thought about the Blue Rose Queen, the wealthiest of all.

“Well, it is a surprise to be sure but not an absurd one,” Bethany continued with an explanation, “due to their cold nature, Ice Attributed Magicians are the greatest businessmen because greed can’t blind them, causing them to make the best business decisions in the long run! Ice Attributed Magicians naturally also want to progress, so having all that money is indeed important to the Blue Rose Queens.”

“Oh, it’s logical,” Kiera’s eyes filled with realization, a small smile of amusement creeping on her face. Funnily enough, the Blue Rose Auction House’s absolute dominating success leaned on its owner’s lack of greed, it seemed surreal to an Earthling like her.

“Kiera Ashborn, Group F,” her name suddenly reverberated in the arena, prompting her to stand up from her seat.

“Good luck Ms. Ashborn, I’ll cheer for you from here,” Bethany waved her hand as Kiera jumped from the balcony to the stairs, walking straight to the stage.