Absolute Soul
11. Tournament News

"Okay everyone, can you get together for a minute?" Andre called all his students to gather nearby.

As usual, the students of Grade 1-A were doing regular exercises in the Valhalla Hall. Until now all the disciples had already managed to summon his Soul Arc, except for Haikal who had not even found it. Thanks to that he became the subject of ridicule by his classmates, especially Edward.

Haikal had consulted on the matter several times with Andre and Salvia, but neither of them could help much. Andre could only have Haikal increase his soul energy capacity, while Salvia several times watched him practice soul energy.

The outcome? Well, as can be seen.

"You know about the Welcome Tournament, don't you?" Andre opened the topic to make his students feel enthusiastic.

"Welcome Tournament? Isn't that a tournament held once a year for the new disciples?" Ask a student.

"really so. This tournament is the first opportunity to show your abilities and be recognized by the academy, then there is a possibility that you will be glimpsed by some Guilds present" Andre explained.

Guild, a designation for a Blazer-specific organization recognized by the Blazer Association. Guilds usually worked for the safety of the people and protected the cities from Verg attacks. Although almost in every city there is a special anti-Verg protector, it does not mean that the protector can last forever.

The Blazer is referred to as the Blazer officially when he enters a Guild or joins an association and is useful to the community.

"Will the Ambrosia Guild be present? If so, I'm excited!"

"Your goal is Ambrosia, huh? If I were Night Orchid."

The disciples also began to imagine various kinds of things regarding the Guild. The two Guilds that had just been mentioned were one of the top Guilds in Wulodhasia, it was only natural that many disciples wanted to become part of those Guilds.

"Haikal, which Guild would you enter if given the chance?" Whisper Heru to Haikal secretly.

Haikal closed his eyes and pondered, "Guild, huh? I haven't thought about it yet. But, if given the opportunity..maybe Lost Crescent?"

"Lost Crescent's? You didn't follow in your father's footsteps, did you?" Heru's eyes narrowed when he heard Haikal's reply which shocked him.

"Why should that be? I'm only interested in them, that's all," Haikal explained, not wanting to discuss the Guild.

Heru watched Haikal carefully before finally sighing in surrender to the wishes of his best friend. He also did not want to talk too much about Haikal's father because he knew for himself the incident that made Haikal become like this.

The two also turned their attention back to Andre who was explaining about the Welcome Tournament which will be held about a month from now.

Although it was called the Welcoming Tournament, the goal of the tournament was to find superior seeds among new students so that any Guild and association could recruit them.

Recruiting superior Blazer seedlings is something that is natural in this day and age. Only the strong can survive, it is an absolute law in this world. The enemy of mankind is not only Verg, but also man himself. They often fought for property, power, territory, and so on, even one's life was not a great value for a powerful Blazer.

The welcoming tournament can only be followed by a three-man group and implement a points system for the preliminary round, then the quarter-finals and so on will be followed by the knockout stage.

The team that wins first place will get 10,000 Bold worth of cash and educational allowance until graduation with special facilities, second place can get 7,500 Bold, education allowance for two years, and the second place can get 7,500 Bold, and special facilities during studying at the academy, and third place will be given 5,000 Bold as well as special facilities such as first and second place.

Bold is a currency that is used universally in the present day. Given this age of limited resources due to the threat of Verg, humans cannot carelessly take resources outside the safe area. That is why Bold was introduced as the first universal digital currency to be legalized by the entire country.

The eyes of Haikal, Heru, and most of the disciples sparkled when they heard his championship gift.

"Special facilities can be taken by teams that make it to the top five places and above. In addition to the top five, other teams participating in the tournament will only get 50 Maze points" Andre explained.

Maze Points, one of the systems implemented by the Skymaze academy. This point was applicable like money in society, but Maze points certainly could only be used in Skymaze academy or some places that cooperated with the academy.

Students can collect Maze points from race contributions, complete certain requests made by the academy or association, and score in theory and practice. These points can also be redeemed into money worth 10 Bolds every single point.

"Three team, huh?"

"It's hard to find three people at times like this, because we just know each other."

"Could it be one of the challenges of the academy?"

Andre smiled in silence hearing the results of the discussions of his students. As expected of one of his students, the academy did qualify a three-member team to challenge the students to be able to work with people he just knew.

This is so that when they become Blazers later, they can work together with team mates who may be paired in time mepet.

"We've both, do we need to invite Verna to complete the team?" Heru's whisper asked Haikal.

"no need. After all, wasn't he probably already invited to a team with his classmates? Recalling his open and friendly personality," Haikal replied with a sigh recalling Verna's nature.

Heru also sighed when looking back on the past which is quite often preoccupied by the nature of Verna. Thanks to her kind heart and kind to anyone, Verna is very liked by many people and has always been the idol of many men. That made Heru and Haikal fall into some trouble.

"By the way, are the statistics good?" Haikal asked this time curious about Verna.

"Okay, I don't know either." Heru looks lethargic.

"Why don't you know? Aren't you her boyfriend?" Haikal's curiosity became more heightened than ever.

"When I asked he did not want to answer, but I think the statistics are good to see his face that was quite bright at that time," explained Heru as he rubbed his chin thinking about the statistics of his lover.

Haikal nodded several times hearing it. He had expected him to remember that Verna's background was not an ordinary society like the two, it would be unnatural if Heru's lover's statistics were low.

The Welcoming Tournament was a special tournament for the new students of Skymaze academy, of course every student of the various classes could form a team freely regardless of the class restrictions.

"Wait a minute, why do you want to form a team with me without questioning whether I'm going to the tournament or not?" Haikal raised his eyebrows only to realize this simple thing.

"Why not? Have we not been friends since elementary school and our cooperation is quite good? After all, you're not a quick-kicking type just because you haven't awakened Soul Arc yet, are you? Especially if the prize is that big." Heru's smile widened with a certain meaning, then extended his hand to Haikal, "How?"

"Ohohoho, if you've been my best friend since elementary school, you know my answer, right?" Haikal welcomed Heru's hand with the same smile.

The spirit of the two was burning violently without anyone seeing them.