Chapter 454: Fighting for Main Street
"I’ll join that parade," he declared.
He hoped that the arrival of those mermen would bring him one step closer to obtaining more and more Soo for his Drone upgrades. He couldn’t help but let his imagination run wild as he thought of all the upgrades he could buy if he had more Soo drops.
But for him to accomplish that, he had to play the game Alaric made. The parade would focus all the tourists into one specific route. And if he got a spot at one of those prestigious lands, then he could get their attention and hopefully more.
"You want a location on Main Street?" Claudia asked.
"Yes. That’s where the route will go, right?"
It was the only place that he had a chance to obtain. Most of the territory in the parade route was already owned by other companies. He wouldn’t even be surprised if a majority was owned by Gilderaan, Alaric’s company.
And with the rules of duel prohibiting him from challenging someone in a higher class than him, he would be pressed to find a location he could obtain.
His only chance was Main Street.
Unfortunately though, he wasn’t the only one thinking that. The fact that it was uninhabited due to Flarecorp’s dismissal made it possible for all the companies in the Upperwood district to vie for a spot.
"You have to register for the tournament now," Claudia advised. "You’re lucky you woke up today because the registration would have ended today."
"You’re issuing a tournament?" Yuna asked, surprised.
"Yes. Due to the amount of companies fighting for a spot in Main Street, we had no choice but to start an all-around tournament to accommodate all duelers."
"What’s the tournament about?" he asked them.
"My aunt told you about duels, right? Usually, duels only have two parties fighting against each other. However, there are times when there are more than two participants in a duel. Sometimes there’s three, rarely there’s four, but there are some extreme cases in which more than ten companies fight for a single prize.
Because of the sheer number of participants, the only way to settle the duel is through a tournament. It is as it’s stated. It’s a single elimination tournament. If you win, you advance to the next round, if you lose, you lose.
The company that wins the entire tournament will receive the ultimate prize," Yuna explained.
"That is exactly right," confirmed Claudia.
"These kinds of tournaments are so rare that I’ve only ever seen a few documented cases throughout history. It’s surprising that you’re doing it for this" Yuna added.
Claudia sighed. "You see now why I’m having a headache? The agreement between two major world leaders has consequences that affect the whole world. It’s only now that we’re feeling it."
The Ocean King and the Draconic Queen’s agreement was unprecedented, leading to more unprecedented results.
"So if I win this tournament? I’ll get Main Street?" Michael asked.
"Well...not exactly. Main Street is being fought over by all companies in the Upperwood District. However, those companies don’t have the same statuses as other companies. This means that I can’t put you in the same tournament as the Quench company.
We’ve divided the tournaments into three sections.
There’s the high-class tournaments, which are participated in by companies like the Quench company, the Pyramidic Cuisine, and other big names. The prize for this tournament will be 60% of the territory in Main Street.
Then there’s the mid-class tournament made for companies that are successful, but not at the highest degree. They’re fighting for 30% of Main Street.
And last, there’s the low-class tournament. These are the companies that are struggling and barely able to maintain their business in Metropolis. There’s a lot more companies in this category than the upper two combined, and they’re all fighting for 10% of Main Street."
Even before the tournament started, Michael had already lost a majority of the territory to the other companies. However, such was the fate of an unknown company who had just received their permit one day ago. So, he couldn’t really complain.
"I’m guessing I’m in the low-class tournament."
"Yes. But this is not an indication of your strength, but simply the result of rules. Any company that receives their permit starts at the very bottom, regardless how well they did during their permit test."
Claudia found it very unfair to Michael and the Reborn company, especially since they were the only company able to pass the test in such a short time.
His performance was enough to put him in the mid-class tournament. Unfortunately, the Association rules didn’t account for someone performing so well during their permit test.
"Oooh! A tournament? Can I join?!" Zion asked.
"Unfortunately, only the leaders are allowed to participate in the low-class tournament," Claudia said.
"Hohoho...that would have been fun. But I’m sure Michael doesn’t need our help," Grieve chuckled.
"Of course! My boy will sweep through all the tournaments! Beating everyone and taking control of the entire Main Street!" Lydia proclaimed.
"Mom, it doesn’t work that way," he reminded her.
"Anyway, you have to prepare for the tournament tomorrow," Claudia said. "As for me, I’ll have to prepare so much paperwork for this damned tournament. I’ll have to excuse myself for now."
Once Claudia left, Michael immediately went to work on preparations. There were a lot of things to prepare for their expansion here in Metropolis like the Golden Road and other such features.
And since they had nowhere to stay here in Metropolis, they all decided to return to Angora City for now to start the preparations. His mom wanted to stay and cheer him on, but he told her that he needed some time alone to mentally prepare himself for the duels to come.
Eventually, they all left with Fudge using his shadow transport skill to teleport them all out of here in an instant.
Yuna, on the other hand, chose to stay behind to help Claudia with the paperworks she had to finish.
This left him all alone in his room.
He took out the Drone from his pockets and held it in his hands.
After hearing about the arrival of the Wyverns, Michael correctly deduced that there would be so much more duels now than in the past. As business became more competitive in Metropolis, it would be inevitable that he would have to participate in a few of those duels himself.
This tournament would just be the first of many duels.
Because of this, Michael’s decision for the Drone upgrade became obvious.
He needed firepower. He needed something that would help him win duels.
Because of that, he decided to take the [Unity Grenade] option to upgrade.
There wasn’t much need for him to upgrade to the [Unity Gun Mk.2] since the Drone already had two barrels of Unity Gun. And if need be, he could fire off his own [Unity Gun] from his finger.
Now, Unity Gun was very powerful, don’t get it wrong. However, it’s destruction was only limited to a single ray like a bullet. With its near instantaneous arrival, it could create a lot of devastation.
However, Michael wanted to have a little more oomph for his firepower. That’s where the [Unity Grenade] came in. It could be treated as a last resort.