Chapter 62: The Top 4 Candidates

I gave Jacob the news that he would be able to select a bloodline soon and ran away from him also. I holed up in my chambers until just a couple of hours before the first round of the tournament time limit was up. Alan had not contacted me with any updates so I assumed the list he gave Jacob was the final one. I finally emerged from my rooms and went and grabbed the list from Jacob and quickly teleported about a mile up above the new arena where people were starting to gather. I switched to my dragonkin form and used Master of Shadows to hide my presence. I was going to make another big entrance. I wanted to make sure that those that did not make the top 32 positions would not argue and cause problems.

I circled above the arena for another hour until the time had officially ended. I then switched to dragon form and stopped hiding my presence. On the way down I roared and let out a blast of Primal Dragon Fire into the air to impress those below. Right before I landed I switched to my humanoid form and called out all of my companions. I had set up this little show with them while I was hiding in my room earlier.

Walter quickly raised an intricate throne made from stone. I covered it in Indigo colored primal light causing it to glow eerily but majestically and my 4 dragons curled up around me and my throne. If this was not a good enough show of power to stop stupid people I do not know what would be. Now that I was sitting on top of the throne I pulled out the list of participants. I did the whole announcement thing and read the top 32 names from the list. I admonished everyone to continue to work hard in the future to protect themselves, their loved ones, and the Earth.

“Now that there are only 32 candidates left we will begin the double elimination single’s tournament. You have 1 hour to prepare then you must be back in the arena. Once the tournament starts, it will not stop until the final four have been selected. SO make sure that you get everything you need now." Slowly the 32 candidates left the arena. I had to sit on this throne for the entire time waiting for them to return. I should have had someone bring a cushion.

Soon enough the tournament started. I kept myself amused while watching by creating my own internal announcers voice and narrating stupid things along with the fights. Here comes Sally Slipperytail, she is a strong competitor from Nowheresville that is competing to finally find out who her mysterious father is. Little does she know that the gentleman she is facing in this round is her actual father Bobby BigNutz. Bobby and Sally’s mom hooked up 20 years ago after a drunken barn dance for a quick affair behind the local Piggly Wiggly. Nine months later Sally shows up and Bobby is nowhere in sight. This should be an interesting fight.

The next several hours went this way with me keeping myself amused. Finally, though the final four had been selected. Identify.

Name: Deathwind (Edward Watkins) Race: Human Level: 70

Affinities: Air - 100%

Unique Skills: None

Name: Billy Barber Race: Human Level: 63

Affinities: Fire - 20% Air – 20%

Unique Skills: None

Name: Svetlana Harkinson Race: Beastkin (Wolf) Level: 58

Affinities: Air - 30%

Unique Skills: None

Name: Mistress of the Sword (Akira Tanaka) Race: Elf (Grassland) Level: 50

Affinities: Water - 25% Earth - 25% Air – 25%

Unique Skills: Slice

This is an interesting group. Akira (Mistress of the Sword) and Edward (Deathwind) were undefeated and Billy and Svetlana each had one loss. I was surprised by how well Akira did until I realized it was probably a combination of all her affinities, her unique skill, and her race change that helped her finish even with her lower level. The group overall had great potential.

“The final four have been selected. Deathwind, Billy Barber, Svetlana Harkinson, and Mistress of Sword approach my throne.”

As they got closer I secretly took a short range teleportation scroll out of my inventory. I was using a scroll instead of my own abilities in order to make sure it would target everyone I needed to teleport. The worst thing that could happen now was a mistake that made the whole set of theatrics I went through worthless. Once they got close enough I simply said.

“You will come with me.”

I tore the teleport scroll and had my companions reenter storage so it would just be me and the four competitors that appeared in the throne room of the castle. As soon as we arrived I announced.

"Jacob these are the four candidates. Let them refresh themselves for 15 minutes and then I will start the one on one interviews. The rest can wait in the parlor. If they pass the interview please find them a room to pass the night and take care of any equipment needs they have. I will start out bright and early tomorrow with those who remain."

“Yes sire, it will be as you command.”

With this last part done. Jacob led the four bewildered people out of the throne room and I prepared for the next step.

“Randolph where are you hiding?”

“I am right here sire, I kept out of sight like you asked.”

“Wonderful, well what do you think?”

“I do not know them enough yet my lord to make an educated guess.”

“I realize that, but just from their levels, what do you think? I know you identified them.”

“Well lord, I am intrigued by the Mistress of the Sword. She is 20 levels lower than the leading contestant yet is also undefeated. There must be a reason that I am not seeing. Other than that, I am just amazed that this many people are this high leveled after just a year in the Great Game.”

“I know what you mean Randolph, this is getting interesting. By the way the Mistress of the Swords name is Akira and she is the only one with a Unique Skill, so that probably has something to do with it.”

“That would explain much my Lord.”

I double checked that I still had the truth gem as part of the throne and that it was still functional. With the huge level gap there was no way that these candidates could lie and get away with it. The questions were very simple.

Where are you from? Why do you want to be Planetary Leader? Have you ever had dealings with slavers or kidnapping people other than being a victim yourself? Would you abuse the power of the position? Do you accept that fact that you must put the planet’s well-being in front of your own?

These 5 simple questions and how they answered them would establish their rankings in my mind. I can power level whoever I needed to so that was a non-factor as far as I was concerned. I was more worried about their moral character. That seems a little strange coming from me. I have made some questionable decisions morally in the past. However, any decision I made was what I thought was the best answer at the time with the knowledge that I had. Circumstances later sometimes showed me that I could have done things differently, but I cannot honestly say that at the time I would have made a different decision.

“Jacob, send in Deathwind. Randolph stand next to me.”

Edward, a.k.a. Deathwind walked in confidently.

“Alright candidate Deathwind, answer each of the following questions truthfully and to the best of your ability.”

“I will Planetary Leader.”

“First where are you from?”

“I am from the Miami area of Florida sir, you claimed the area not long ago for your kingdom.”

That rang true through the stone. So this was what could be considered a local boy huh.

“Next, why do you want to be planetary leader?”

Deathwind, kept going on and on about duty, responsibility, and probably any other buzzword he thought I would like. The problem was the truth gem kept reading parts of his speech as false. Something was not right.

“Third Question, Have you ever had dealings with slavers or kidnapping people other than being a victim yourself?”

“Never Mr. Anderson, I think the practice is horrible and should be punished severely.

The gem was telling me this punk was lying through his teeth.

“So you think that those involved with slavery should be punished to the full severity of the law?”

“Yes sir.”

“Well that is convenient. Did I mention that you are covered in a truth aura and I know when you are lying?”

Deathwind’s eyes got big, and he turned to run. I blinked in front of him and grabbed him by the neck.

“This is why I wanted you here Randolph. Take this scum and find out details so we can fix the situation. I am disgusted that it was someone from my own kingdom. Bruce you accompany Randolph in case Edward here tried anything.”

Bruce and Randolph marched the soon to be not very happy Edward out of the throne room. I calmed myself down and asked Jacob to send in the next one. As the only other undefeated participant Akira came in next.

“Mistress of the Sword, answer each of the following questions truthfully and to the best of your ability.”

“Yes Sir.”

“First where are you from?”

“I am from a small village outside of Tokyo sir.”

That rang true through the stone. She had really travelled far, this showed dedication.

“Next. Why do you want to be planetary leader?”

“I lost my family in the change over sir. My parents did not come back from the tutorial and my sister did not survive an Oni attack a couple of weeks later. Since then I have dedicated myself to getting stronger so I can protect those that cannot protect themselves.”

The truth stone showed that she meant every word. This was fantastic. Not the part where she lost her family, I mean the dedication she was showing. This was what I was hoping to find in the tournament.

“Have you ever had dealings with slavers or kidnapping people other than being a victim yourself?”

“No sir, I protect people not harm them.”

Truth again.

“I am sorry I have to ask these questions. I am not accusing you of anything young lady. Would you abuse the power of the position?”

“I would never intentionally abuse the power sir. However, I will be honest with you. I have made some decisions that others might not agree with. I made them to protect others and I feel confident that I made the right ones. Some people might interpret it differently.”

Truth once more. One more question and its home free.

“That is fine I have done the same and will probably do so again in the future. Now, do you accept the fact that you must put the planet’s well-being in front of your own?”

“I always place the needs of the many in front of mine.”

Truth for the final time. I think we have a winner. I hope that the other interviews go this well. However, now that she passed I can ask questions to satisfy my curiosity.

“Mistress of the Sword, you have answered my questions honestly and well. I have no others that pertain to the position of Planetary Leader. However, I am curious about a few things. You do not have to answer if you do not want too.”

“Thank you sir, ask away and I will decide.”

“Very well, first why did you change your name Akira, second how did you pick up the Grassland Elf race, and finally what exactly does the Unique Skill Slice do?”

I could see that I had overwhelmed her with my questions. I quickly tried to ease her feelings.

“I can see much more than most when I look at other people. Your information will not spread without your permission. I am just curious is all.”

I could see her pull herself together.

“That is fine sir. I chose a new name when I decided to become a protector. I received the bloodline from a dungeon where I chose to save as many trapped elves as possible. My skill slice allows me to ignore 100% of the armor or magic shield of someone within 25 levels of me or lower and 50% of someone higher level than that.”

“So basically with slice you can always at least hit someone for ½ damage no matter their personal strength or shielding?”

“Yes sir.”

“That is an awesome skill. I wonder why I did not see it in the list. Oh well maybe you had already picked it at that time.”

“You also have a Unique Skill sir?”

“Well I have 20 of them, it’s a long story. I will tell you all about it when we are out leveling.”

I could see her eyes go big when I mentioned 20 Unique Skills. It takes someone that has one to appreciate how difficult it must be to collect 20 of them. If I had not found the bug in the system, I never would have come close to that many.

I interviewed the next two candidates Billy and Svetlana one after another. Both were fine, but not outstanding. Billy who was from South Africa would be my second choice. Svetlana, who was actually from Oregon in the United States, her parents were immigrants, did not give the feeling of being that dedicated to the proposed job. She did not give any false answers, but she just did not seem to care that much about being the Planetary Leader. She seemed to be more interested in becoming strong so no one else would bother her. While I could appreciate that fact as it was a driving force behind myself, I was looking for a responsible person to take on the mantle of planetary leader.

The plan had changed with the arrest and soon to be not part of the living Deathwind the Slaver. I would take all three remaining out to level in different dungeons. I would get Svetlana above level 75, but not to level 100. My goal for Billy is right around level 125. Finally, Akira would spend 4 weeks with me. I think that I could easily get her to level 200. This means that when she first appears in 3 years at the tournament she should easily be able to win the New Comer’s Tournament. This will give the Earth more world perks and if she bets like I will recommend then she should have extra just like I did.

Billy as the back-up, should probably be close to level 135 – 150 around the same time. This should be high enough that if something should happen to Akira he would have a very high chance of also winning the New Comer’s Tournament. Finally, Svetlana will probably be around level 100 and be a normal candidate if it should somehow all go wrong and she ends up the planetary leader. With the new respawn points I just do not see that situation happening.

Everything went well during the first part of my plan to level up the candidates. Svetlana had reached level 80 after a good run through a level 150 dungeon with the others. Billy by the time we were done actually made it to Level 132. Using this opportunity, I was starting to figure out or at least come to a closer approximation of some of the mechanics behind the Great Game. I was using only Walter in the dungeon so he would level up quicker. That gave us a party of five. The experience earned seemed to be a function of combined levels and then the percentage of your level partitioned out to you. For example, if a level 100 and Level 50 person were to team up, their combined levels would be 150. The level 100 person would take 2/3 of the experience because they owned 2/3 of the combined levels and the level 50 person would get 1/3 of the experience. Not a bad division. This meant that smaller parties for leveling would be rewarded more.