Leonel held onto Aina's small hand as they walked forward. This was the second time that Leonel had been to this open arena. The first time he had been forced to step in to save Sael. This time, however, he would take center stage.
The participating members were mostly white belts and blue belts. Though there were some black belts that wanted to try their luck, they were mostly here for experience and nothing else.
The members of Polished Glass weren't too keen on joining. They weren't confident in their combat prowess and were focused on their Crafting. With all the knowledge Leonel had taught them over the past several weeks, they felt like they had enough to study for a lifetime.
None of this was too surprising by Leonel's estimation. What was, though, was the fact that Radlis was among these participating black belts.
The pale skinned and lanky jokester had disappeared from Polished Glass for a long while. But, at this moment, Leonel could see him up ahead, registering himself for the selection. The result made Leonel's brows arch upward.
It had to be known that much like Aina and Leonel, Radlis had only been here for about three months. A part of Leonel wanted to dismiss this as Radlis being like the other black belts, simply looking to gain experience. But, for some reason, Leonel didn't feel this way.
In order to join the Selection, one needed to accumulate a certain amount of merits. Though the black belts that had been here for years could just barely scrap together such an amount, what about Radlis who had only been here for such a short time?
'Interesting…'
Radlis, seemingly sensing Leonel's gaze, turned his neck and gave him a wide grin before walking off with his registration plaque.
Not long later, it was Leonel and Aina's turn. To their surprise, though, the one handling these registration affairs was a familiar old lady.
"Hello, Elder Magnaril." Leonel said with a warm smile.
The old lady snorted, clearly still not liking the shape of Leonel's face. The fact he was smiling now only made her feel even worse. And, he just had to still be holding her precious student's hand in public like this, right in front of her, no less.
Over the past month, Aina hadn't come to the lab even a single time. Magnaril knew that she had done nothing but train and train. Seeing such a talent waste away their potential like this truly made her intestines feel as though they were being twisted.
At this point, though, Magnaril could only obediently register the couple.
"Break a leg." She said while giving Leonel a fake smile.
"Sure. But it won't be mine."
Leonel's casual response made Magnaril freeze. In the end, she just sneered. She had no idea where this brat got his confidence from.
'Hm…?'
Magnaril frowned. She had hardly finished her thought when she realized something.
Was he wearing white?
…
Leonel and Aina found a seat amongst the competitors. Ironically, this was the same place Leonel had been forced to sit as a freshmen before.
This time, though, sitting on the ground floor, he felt as though his vision was far wider.
"Are you nervous?" Leonel asked.
"Nervous?" Aina was stunned by the question.
Leonel laughed seeing how baffled she was. "I guess the answer to that is no."
Aina shook her head, realizing that Leonel was just trying to tease her.
Was she nervous? Of course not. If there was anything she was feeling, it was a hope that these battles wouldn't be too easy or else there wouldn't be much of a point.
Unfortunately, though, there were many seeded participants who already had their entries locked in. The rest of them were essentially fighting for the remaining four spots.
Leonel was probably the most disappointed by this, though. He had waited long enough to teach Aphestus a lesson, only to find out that the latter didn't even have to participate. In fact, he was probably not even in attendance today.
Still, these seeded positions hadn't been monopolized by Hero Peak. Even they couldn't get away with something like that.
From Leonel's understanding, there were eight spots already taken. Two for the Hero Faction. Two for the Bear Rose Faction. Two for the Severed Heart Faction. The last two were listed as miscellaneous, but considering one of them was Sael, Leonel assumed that these two were reserved for the former Valiant Hall members.
Compared to the idle chatter of the two, the atmosphere hovering around the rest was quite heavy.
The time continued to tick by until the final individual was registered and the elders convened a small meeting.
Finally, Magnaril stepped forward to explain, standing on the very podium Raylion had used to flip Valiant Heart Mountain on its head. However, the message she disseminated was simpler and far less contentious.... At least in the beginning.
"The rules for this Selection will be simple and straight forward.
"Today, we will open up four battle platforms. The Selection will begin when the sun officially rises and will end when the sun officially sets. Whichever four manage to hold on to the very end will be given the four remaining spots to enter the Valiant Heart Zone.
"Each participant will have unlimited challenges. However, this comes with its own set of rules.
"First, you cannot challenge a platform defender more than once unless said defender loses and reclaims their spot. Only then can you challenge this individual a second time.
"Second, you can only challenge once every half hour.
"Third, a defender is allowed ten minutes of rest between every challenge.
"Fourth, a defender than has failed to defend three times will no longer be allowed to challenge.
"Now, the rules of challenges aside, this Selection will be unlike the past. Valiant Heart is currently in the midst of struggle and what we need are warriors, not cowards.
"In the past, there was a prohibition on crippling. This has been removed.
"There was a prohibition on killing. This has been removed.
"Those who join but fail to issue at least one challenge or defend a platform at least once, will be expelled from Valiant Heart.
"Those who want to withdraw, do so now or bear the consequences later."
Many of the participants turned a deathly shade of pale. What was going on? When had the Selection become like this?
There was no surprise that many of the black belts that had come to test their luck immediately stood up and withdrew. In fact, from numbering in the hundreds, there weren't even 200 participants left after Magnaril's words fell.
The elders remained expressionless as they watched this scene. At this point, seeing the lack of backbone many of these students had, they felt that maybe Raylion had been correct.
There were no shortage of elders dissatisfied with Raylion's approach, but seeing how much they were rotting from the inside out … It was hard to continue to fuel hatred for his methods. If things continued like this for too long and they continued to weaken with each successive generation, very soon, there wouldn't be any Valiant Heart Mountain left to be spoken of.
Long before their enemies got to them, they would crumbled from the inside.
Magnaril waited patiently until just about 180 were left. Finally, when it seemed like no one else was intent on leaving, Magnaril nodded.
Even though 180 was less than she had hoped for, it still wasn't to the point that they had no good seedlings left. Though she was certain that many of those who remained believed they could just concede quickly enough to not be harmed, this was still good enough for now. Maybe with Raylion's methods, they'd soon breed even more warriors.
On the ground below, Leonel didn't really feel much about the sudden allowance of killing. He had already deduced this much. He could see through Raylion's plan quite well.
What he was surprised about, though, was that, once again, Radlis didn't show any signs of backing down. It was quite baffling indeed…
"Now we will begin." Magnaril said coldly. "Four defenders, come forward. For every ten minutes four defenders haven't been chosen, the quota for entry remaining will be sliced by one. If you deem to waste all forty minutes, not only will there be no spots remaining for the lot of you, but you will all be expelled."
Everyone knew one would be at a disadvantage being amongst the first defenders and challengers, especially since everyone only got three chances to defend. However, if everyone wanted to hold back from taking a small loss, then everyone would lose!
Surprisingly, though, there was a couple that looked toward each other with knowing smiles.
In a flash, Leonel and Aina shot forward. Before anyone could react, they had already taken one platform each, their auras steady and even somewhat overbearing.
No one had expected for the first two defenders to appear to be a pair of white belts. And, they definitely wouldn't have expected them to be white belts who had only just joined Valiant Heart!