Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

"Hehe, it'll be problematic if you all get disturbed over just that after all, there are too many surprises left for you people from the Ellesmere Kingdom to see," Oman thought internally.

The final round of the 'Battle Royale' concluded with a slight twist. Out of the initial, 780 participants, only 70 went up to the next stage. Cyrus walked up to the main stage and declared in a loud voice.

"With the conclusion of the last round of the first stage of battle royale, I now announce the end of the first stage of the tournament. The second stage of the Battle of the Finest tournament will begin tomorrow".

"The 480 or so brave participants who will be moving onto the next stage will be divided into 5 groups. All competitors in each group will have to participate in 3 fights and the top ten most outstanding participants from each group that is 50 in total would be selected for the next stage of the tournament".

"In the second stage, you will be ranked based on your performance and the number of your wins. Therefore I suggest you to give your all. Any competitor who is dissatisfied with any of the fifty chosen participants may challenge them in a one on one duel. In the situation that they win, then that participant can take the other's spot".

"The second day of the tournament will conclude with all the fights and the name of the 50 chosen participants that will be moving onto the third stage of the tournament. With everything said, I request the participants to take ample rest and preserve their strength for the upcoming battles tomorrow. That is all from me, the First Day of the Battle of the Finest tournament ends here".

After those words from Cyrus, everybody from the crowd gave a loud cheer for all the participants before moving in an organised way towards the exit.

Simon who was seated in the VIP rows, got up from his seat, the sun was about to set and had painted the sky with its orange hue.

He wasn't surprised that the first day of the 'Battle of the Finest' tournament ended with just the strength assessment and battle royale since he knew that the tournament goes on for multiple days and provided a kind of festival and holiday for the people.

The guilds that have won and the guilds that have lost, each faction sorted out their feelings before exiting the stage. The participants and the VIPs had their own exit gate with soldiers stationed everywhere to ensure no fighting broke out.

Exiting the coliseum, Simon went back directly to his inn. While on his way, all he could hear was the events of the tournament that had happened today and like a wildfire, it was gossiped by one person after another.

Even at the dining hall of the inn, all Simon could hear being discussed was the tournament. After having his dinner, he silently went up to his room and flumped himself on his bed as he recalled the events of today.

Since his dungeon was near the central continent, Simon felt like it wasn't a bad idea to get an understanding of the kingdoms around him. The 'Battle of the Finest' tournament was a good occasion for him to know more about the class system, adventurers, their strengths and how they fight.

It was not like Simon wasn't enjoying the tournament, in all honesty, he was. The tournament was a good testbed for him to see and learn from those higher levelled than him.

There were so many skills and classes that he wasn't aware of, his inquisitive mind naturally wanted to know about them more. Add that with his precautious nature, he had a tendency of wanting to know more about the strength of the people of this kingdom closest to his dungeon.

He knew that one day these adventurers might set their eyes on his dungeon and when that time came, the information that he gathered today, would be extremely useful.

Other than that, Adalinda who had gone off in search of her disciple after Simon had informed her that she was near the capital, was yet to return.

As such, Simon decided to wait and see the conclusion of the ' battle of the finest' tournament. While he was having such thoughts, a sudden voice that came out of nowhere, disturbed his train of thought.

"Hey Simon can you hear me?".

"Wha?!"

Simon jolted up from his seat when he heard Adalinda's voice in his head. He looked all around him and spread his senses everywhere to see if she was around.

"Good, it seems that you can hear me. Listen up, I finally found my disciple; however, she immediately ran the moment she saw me. Hmph, this naïve disciple of mine thinks she can outsmart her master a second time? Anyways, I am currently chasing her, so I want you to wait in that city".

Her transmission ended as abruptly as it started out leaving Simon completely stunned. She had just communicated with him inside his head, leaving him some instructions before quickly disconnecting.

"What was that all about?" Simon thought, at the very least he knew that she had found Lucine and is currently chasing her.

With nowhere to go, he could only attend the tournament to relieve his boredom.

The next day started off early with the inhabitants of the city unable to calm down from the excitement of yesterday. However, the eagerness they had for today's event was even higher.

The inhabitants of the city started waking up and became active even before the sun rose and filled the city with their hustle and bustle. This excitement was contagious and spread onto everyone.

Queues to get inside the coliseum started out very early and was a few kilometres long. Nobody wanted to miss the second day of the tournament and thus wanted seats that had a better view.

The competition unlike yesterday would start early, right after the dawn break. When Simon reached inside the coliseum, he saw that most of the audience and even the VIP seats were mostly packed with people.

They were all waiting for the royal family and Cyrus to initiate the start of individual matchups today. Unlike the 'Battle Royale' from yesterday where they could see the full extent and strength of the winning individuals, they would be able to do so during the individual matches.

Every participant would have to fight a total of three matches which would be scored by the moderators based on their performance and only the top ten from each of the five groups would be selected for the next stage.

That is to say, most of the participants would show their true skills and power today to win their matches. Even without having to think, the crowd knew that they were up for some thrilling moments.

Right when the radiance of the sun started spreading to every corner of the city, the moment that the people were waiting for, finally arrived. The royal family and all the participants had arrived, it was finally time to start the second day of the 'Battle of the finest' tournament.

With the call from the moderators, the participants called out dropped down to their stages and the match finally began.

All 36 secondary stages had eyes dazzling battles going on that only served to foster the hunger of the audience even more. With stars in their eyes, they would erupt in joy when the participant they were rooting for won or sit down dejected when they lost.

The series of events continued, participants after another came down to the 36 secondary stages for their battles.

Some matches were bound to attract more attention from the audience with the matchups than the others. Some crafty people in the audience stand even made a temporary betting counter to profit from the event and the crowd willingly got baited into it.

Gambling was something that cannot be separated from the people especially when they have some money to spare. There was no way they wouldn't bet on the participants they thought had a higher chance of winning.

And so, the second day of the 'Battle of the Finest' tournament, started off with a blast.

"Look at that, it's Vin Borseki from the Assasin's guild vs the guy from the Blackthorn Kingdom. Who do you think will win?" the audience clamoured.

"Hmm, it's hard to say, they both had won their first match and didn't have to put all their efforts into it. I guess, it will all boil down to who has more skills and experience"

"That may not be true. Although that guy from the Kingdom of blackthorn has a few levels higher than Vin Borseki from the assassins guild, it is because he is older. One shouldn't underestimate the top five guilds, I'm sure he has something up his sleeves even if he is not the star participant of his guild"

"I see… wait aren't those two who are going up the eleventh stage members from the top five guilds?".

The attention of the audience was immediately stolen by a particular matchup on another stage of the coliseum that was sooner or later bound to happen. Yes, the participants from the top five guilds of their kingdom were finally clashing against one another. Something that the crowd was intensely waiting for.

The two participants who went up to the eleventh stage, were both below age 40 and around level 390. One was from the Crimson demolition guild, the other from the Sea God's Trident.

Although both of them were not the star participants from their guild, the audience couldn't wait for members of the top five guilds to clash with each other and display their strengths.