5.2

After climbing a flight of stairs to the second floor of the building with the guide at the front, John arrived at an intersection that led to three paths.

On the left and right were hallways that consisted the rooms for the students who enrolled here. To their front was a pub with glass for its doors, the communal space where people who lived in East Wing would gather and socialize while they ordered food and drinks.

Inside the pub were a handful of waiters and some students.

“Ah, so that’s why they were hurrying, it’s because that one of his companions was hungry,” the guide looked inside and gestured towards a group of five.

John tilted his neck further and sure enough, he spotted the hero and the rest of his party inside, chatting lividly as they ate.

“That’s him? He looks no older than me.”

“Though with years of experience of fighting under their belt, the hero and his party are much younger than many people expect. Alright, I suppose you want to quickly settle in—”

Boom!

A loud noise came from outside, but the guide continued as though it was the most natural thing “—and explore the rest of the campus.”

The guide brought his clipboard to his view once more before walking towards the left of the intersections.

“Uhh, what was that noise?” John asked, concerned at the guide’s nonchalant attitude.

“It’s nothing much. That’s just the noise from the tournament. With each batch of students, there are bound to be those who have immense abilities who were not scouted by the academy. And per Moxnet’s tradition, they would be put into tournaments and the strongest of five would be selected.”

“That makes sense, but how does the academy weed out that many people at once? I reckon many would not back away from this opportunity?”

“Correct. In the beginning phases, the numbers would be reduced in a one for all battle. Then they proceed to 5 person battles, then eventually one to one fights. For the 5 winners who managed to defeat all opponents in their way and achieve victory. They will become scholarship students like you. In essence, they would also be living in East Wing.”

“Why East Wing and not the others?” John ruffled his own hair, curious to the connection that to his residence. There were three student residences, surely not all of them would be allocated to east wing.

The guide gave a quick glance at their surroundings and checked for anyone who could overhear them. When he was sure that their conversation would be private, he spoke to John’s ear, “This is just between you and I, since Mr. Kaldor was the one who brought you here, I suppose you can know this. The truth is, unlike West Wing or North Wing, East Wing is where the academy keeps the better students. That’s why, you and the other 19 scholarship students would be staying in East Wing.”

“Oh…”

“Alright!” the guide perked up as though nothing happened. “Let’s go to your room. I believe that more students will be needing my assistance after attending to you.”

The guide brought John towards the left corridor and came to a stop at a door where a small signboard had the words John Sarvod labeled on it.

Bang!

Another loud noise was sent across East Wing, startling John to cover his ears.

“When will the noise end?” he complained to the guide.

“No worries, you can set your room to cancel out any outside noise once you enter it. Unfortunately, this will keep up until the tournament ends, at best it ends by tonight, so there won’t be anything like this after today. Hopefully.”

“At worse?”

“It lasts for a week.”

“I wonder why. Fights don’t take that long, just knock someone out and you win.”

“If you are interested, the tournament is held in the arena, you might be impressed by the diverse skill sets that the average person can have.”

“Right.”

“That will be all for now. Do you have any more questions before I take my leave?”

“Oh yeah, about the libraries. Do I need permission to access the much more ancient texts? Kaldor said that they have some restrictions on those.”

“They are viewable as long you read them in the library, but you can’t bring them back. You know, in case someone actually tries to summon a devil or something. Even if students wanted to copy any of the rituals of the ancient texts, they would have a hard time translating it outside of the library, let alone understand it.”

After John no longer required the guide, he thanked the guide for his work before resuming to his job of attending to other newcomers.

John turned the knob to his assigned room and entered.

“Nice…” he muttered while closing the door behind him.

His living quarters was nothing short of impressive, from carpeted floors, a king sized bed, a personal bathroom that hosted a bathtub large enough for two, comfy sofa, a sturdy table, to a built in cabinet, all of it in a spacious room that only he had access to.

Without hesitation, he threw himself onto the silky bed and rolled on it, enjoyed the smell of freshly cleaned sheets as much as he could. The luxurious setting, though unnecessary to his needs, almost made it seemed like he was back to his room in A’vetheas, almost.

“This is great, the staff are nice, the quarters are good, I am starting to see why people would kill to be in the academy.”

Crash!

Another loud noise pricked his ears, followed closely by vigorous cheering. It came from the open window. As he got off the bed and move to close it, his eyes were drawn to the sparks and flames from the distance, where arena was. He stopped his hands mid air as his eyes were glued to the different trails of light that sparked in the space above the open air arena.

Then an announcement from the arena reached his ears:

“The contenders are reduced to 30! This us where the excitement begins! Will they survive their next battle?!”

His spine tingled at the passionate announcement. This was the Moxnet academy, and people were fighting against each other with their lives on the line, if he wanted to open his eyes to how proficient people were in their abilities, be it magic, physical or mental, this was the perfect occasion for him witness such a spectacle.

Nimbly, he ran out of his room and went downstairs, running all the way to the teleporter as his boyish heart could no longer his curiosity to what went on in the tournament.

Once John arrived at the arena he quickly made his way to the spectator area where the cheering and shouting was the most prominent.

The arena was build in a circular fashion, where a ring of people surrounded an empty ground. He moved closer to the rails to get a better view.

“Oh nice, the fight has not started yet.”

Just as he said those words, five figures began to move into the fighting grounds. A half-giant was 3 meters in height, a cloaked figure, a guy who busied sharpening his two daggers, a woman had a translucent body, and a man who grew spikes on his body. Though differing in appearance, their common goal of entering Moxnet academy was what brought them here today.

The announcer then spoke.

“As we get closer to finding out who the top 5 candidates are, the battles are now changed from a free-for-all to battles of five. In this five-man battle, the rules are simple, pairs are allowed to be formed, and the remaining two who still stands after everyone else is defeated will continue on to the one on one battles.”

In a battle of five, if two pairs were formed from four people, the fifth person would be singled out, making elimination easier.

But the question is, “What would happen if the fifth person survived?”

As if to answer John’s monologue, the announcer continued.

“And, if only one remains until the very end of the battle, that person would have a direct entry to Moxnet Academy.”

When the announcement came to a halt, a massive wave of cheering came from the crowd, it was though they lost their mind at the final statement.

If pairs could be formed, they could break apart just as easily, if one was willing to give in to their greed, they could easily betray others in order to secure themselves a spot in the academy.

The contestants were given time to make up their minds to who they want to work with. Though pairing up was not mandatory, but it gave the best chance of victory.

Below the spectators, the dagger wielder and half giant already shook their hands with the other, they came to an agreement that they would fight and move on to the one on one battles.

Instead of being enticed by the prospect of a direct entry that only serves to weaken one’s standing when surrounded by four others, they prioritized surviving this round.

“Let’s make it together,” the half giant nodded to his partner.

“You said it, big guy. With your gigantic body and my daggers, we shall win this in no time.”

“Fear not, for I will prove it to everyone today what it means to be a pure half-giant. You only have to watch my back for me and victory will be ours.”

On the opposite side, the translucent woman and the spiked skin guy glanced at each other and nodded, leaving not much words in between them. Another pair had formed.

From behind him, John heard a complain, “Tsk, just because she is a good looking slime doesn’t mean that she isn’t deadly. I have been watching that slime woman earlier, and she gives no mercy. One moment she is a beauty and the next thing an unfortunate man gets dissolved, armor and all.”

If she is a slime, then the spiked skin guy stands no chance against her, what if she turns on her partner at the last moment? Would he even be able to win against her? Slimes are hard to defeat with physical force. John added in his mind.

“Hey, do you have any idea why that person isn’t moving one bit? The others have already paired up,” said another voice in reply to the first person.

“Oh that hooded person? I haven’t see her face but from what I might recall, I think she keeps herself out of battle if possible. But I don’t know how will she handle going against four people… Maybe she control an elemental power? I have no idea.”

On the battleground below, the said hooded figure stood still at her position, remained calm despite the two newly formed pairs.

John who thought something was oddly familiar with the scene in front of him lowered his brows and inspected further at the hooded figure.

Is that…?

Upon further observations, she had the same pair of blue eyes as the girl he encountered in Purefold Town. No, it was the same person who took on the two lizardmen that day.

Just as John tried to make sense of what he was seeing, the impatien crowd thumped their chests violently, gripped their fists and shook them in the air, screamed for the fight to begin.

“And let the battle begin!”

“Ha!” wasting no time, the dagger wielder dashed towards the hooded girl and threw his left dagger into her direction, intending to finish her with that swift movement of his. “Today is your unlucky day that you have met… Me?”

The dagger flew as straight as an arrow and hit her, but the moment his dagger made contact, it was only clear to the dagger wielder that it was an illusion.

“Do you honestly think that anyone would wait for their enemies to kill them?” the half giant mocked, craning his head from left to right. “Let me show you, my friend, petty tricks like illusions and mind games don’t work before true power!” the half-giant squatted low, and then jumped 5 meters high, clasped his hands together mid-air and smashed the ground.

Boom!

The ground shuddered, sent a violent shockwave across the ground, leaving a giant crater on the ground.

“Please warn me next time you do something like that!” the dagger wielder held a hand to his head, suppressed the feeling of nausea.

“Has she revealed herself yet?”

Looking around with squinted eyes, the dagger wielder shook his head and replied, “Looks like she cast an invisibility spell, which means we have to deal with her later. It won’t be long until she wears out. Magic casters like her can only last for so long,” he flashed a cruel smile and picked up his dagger which hit the illusion from the ground.

“Argghhh!!!” the half giant suddenly moaned in pain. “Get! This! Thing! Off! Me!” he reached for his back relentlessly, fingers dug deep and pulled at the skin on his bare back.

“What are you saying, there is nothing—” the dagger wielder stopped short when he saw the half-giant’s back.

It was now covered by a patch of gooey slime, slowly melting away his flesh. It was the slime woman, she made her move before the two of them have noticed and clung herself onto the half giant

The dagger wielder ran to help the half giant, intending to scrape the slime woman off his partner’s back before the acid melts his partner completely.

Like giants, half giants were renowned for their size and resistance against multitude of attacks, even something like acid on their skin would do so little to hurt them. But this was no ordinary acid, it came from a great slime, one that was capable of human form. If the slime woman had latched onto him instead of the half giant, he would be dead by now

Just as he was within 3 meters of the half giant, the dagger wielder caught a grey blur flying towards his face. With his experience as a cutthroat over his twenty five years of life, he reflexively swayed his body to the right of his original path and used one of his daggers to counter the blow that aimed at his left cheek.

“You think I’d fall for a trick like that? You must be new to fighting.”

His assailant, the spiked skin guy had a bare arm against his razor sharp dagger, skin not ruptured in the slightest.

“Looks like everyone of us here likes to get up close and personal to deal with their enemies. Big guy, hang in there, I’ll help you when I am done with this grey freak.”

“…”

His opponent jumped backwards, straightened his palms, ready to jab the dagger wielder.

“Here I go! Ahahaha!” the dagger wielder crossed his blades in front of him and exploded from where he stood, plunging forward with all his might and charged at his grey friend, leaving a cloud of dust behind him. “Very good, Tarkez. We just have to keep this façade up until the half giant or the slime bitch dies.”

John watched the pairs went against each other with intention to kill the other. The half giant who screeched in pain was now banging his back on the ground as hard as he can in attempts to make the slime woman stop her melting his flesh away.

Squish.

At that distinct noise, the half giant stopped his rampant movements and got up to his feet. The slime woman that attached herself to him was now gone, leaving raw flesh in her place.

“Hahaha! Take that—!!!” the moment he declared his victory, blood spurted from his mouth. His left eye socket sizzled and gave off smoke, a few seconds later his left eye dropped from its socket and a translucent goop jiggled from the opening.

The half-giant collapsed to the ground, and the goop crawled out of him—from his eye socket, of course—and transformed into the beautiful woman that she was before the battle started.

“Ah, I truly am sorry about your back, and your eye,” she said unapologetically to the collapsed half-giant. “I guess you won’t be waking up anytime soon,” she smirked and waved her hand in front of him. “Now, I wonder how is my partner doing.”

In front of her, she spotted her partner busy dodging flying projectiles from the dagger wielder, arching his body in unusual angles that even she as a slime had a hard time shapeshifting herself into.

She folded her hands as she watched the dagger wielder furiously slashing at her partner’s abdomen.

“Come on! Why are you scared! All I have to do is leave a little cut on your stomach! And you will bleeeeeeeeed!” the dagger wielder howled like a starving wolf.

As he got closer to the spiked skin guy, the slime woman aimed at him but missed as the dagger wielder took a step back from her assault.

“Shit, that didn’t get him!”

“Oi, oi!” the dagger wielder had stopped chasing her partner and was now walking towards the slime woman slowly. “Here I was having fun with my little grey friend here, and you have to interrupt me?”

The slime woman kept a neutral face, not moving an inch from her spot as she allowed the dagger wielder, her prey, to approach her head on.

Just a little more, and I will have a tasty meal all to myself, she thought.

“You are pretty good, if I didn’t notice you earlier, my face might be gone forever.”

“Are you sure this is the time to be complimenting your opponents? Especially when I just took down your pair?”

The dagger wielder gave a hearty laugh and shook his head, “At first, I thought the half-giant was going to be a pain to deal with, considering his size, but I trusted you to take care of him for me. Entering his body and melting him on the inside? That’s genius!”

“Words won’t save you from losing to me,” the slime woman readied herself to launch another attack at the arrogant. “Prepare for defeat—"

“Hey, wanna pair up with me? Instead of this grey freak, I can be your partner.” He then sheathed his two daggers and put his empty hands in the air and approached her, “Here, as a show of trust, I will keep my weapons away as we shake on it.”

“Interesting proposal. But what can you do to guarantee that you aren’t plotting with the hooded girl against me?”

“If I am with her, she would be fighting against you now. But so far, she hasn’t make her appearance has she?”

“That is true…”

In the first place, she had planned to defeat everyone else along, she pretended to pair up with the spiked skin guy initially was so that she could remain under the radar of the fifth contestant, that and he was an easy target to eliminate, if she so wished. Once they dealt with the other three contestants, she would defeat the so called ‘partner’ before the announcer could declare victory has achieved by the two of them and take the spotlight herself.

And now the person who posed the most threat to her inevitable victory offered his alliance to her and in his attempts to win her to his side, he put away the only weapons that could harm her, his mythril coated daggers. Her slime innards swirled as she could almost taste her own victory.

“Alright, let’s win this together, partner.”