If the first round of the preliminaries was considered to be a round aimed at removing the weeds and weaklings, then the second round of the preliminaries was designed to eliminate the average from the elite.
From thousands of participants in the first preliminary round, only a few hundred survived to the second preliminary round, however, only 7-10% of them were going to move forward into round three, with roughly only 128 candidates moving forward, total.
Four testing arenas were created to hold round two qualifiers, in the four biggest open grounds in the city, with a spectator limit of 15,000 individuals each.
Approximately 250-300 candidates were assigned to each testing arena, with Leo's arena being the West End Arena, near the Knight's Academy.
Thankfully, with Cervantez being assigned to the North End Arena and Jerome wishing to keep an eye on him, Luke and Jerome had gone to the North End to watch the second round preliminaries, leaving Leo alone.
" The second round is nothing much, boy, it's a simple display of physical prowess.
The tests here are, strength punch test, standing long jump, standing high jump, weapon mastery, etc.
There is no immediate success or failure here, you just have to be better than the rest with the top compiled scores moving onto the next round.
You can either take the test this way, or if you consider yourself to be a special talent that doesn't specialize in physical aspects, then you can take a judge's evaluation test, where they will score you based off your abilities and candidates with an 8/10 or higher score shall move onto the third round.
For you, both the tests are open for the taking, however, I'd suggest the physical attributes test as it's more low-key" Ben said, as he suggested that Leo take the physical attributes test to keep his skills hidden.
Leo scanned the arena and looked at all the testing apparatus that the officials were setting up as he nodded towards Ben, acknowledging his advice to go for the physical prowess qualification.
With there being proper viewing stands for the second round audience, the atmosphere was starting to get rowdy as Ben took a seat in the front row after knocking out a guy who was clapping amusedly.
There was still about an hour left till the second round testing started, however, the 15,000 strong arena was already filled 90% with the remaining seats sure to be filled within the next 5-10 minutes as the craze amongst the masses for the grand tournament was just that strong.
This was also the stage where media attention was brought to players as amongst the crowd were many common players who were posting screenshots and comments live on the global chat.
As Leo patiently waited in the contestant stands, sitting with every inch of his body covered in black, he drew a little attention, but nothing compared to the big guy sitting with bright blue robes, with a golden embroidery behind saying the words 'DarkSky'.
Although Leo did not personally know him, He knew that the man was 'Tor', the berserker that Cervantez had hired for his guild, a core member of the faction.
It was a genius marketing move, to brand the guild members in luxurious guild robes as Leo appreciated the chosen color and design, however, attention was a double edged sword, as if Tor did not perform as expected, the guild name could also go down the drain.
What Amazed Leo was how many players recognised the name 'DarkSky' , as he personally saw over 50 players who had qualified for round two, striking up a conversation with Tor, asking him what the requirements for entering his guild were.
Apparently, the guild that Cervantez had built was a much bigger deal than what Leo could have imagined as everyone seemed desperate to get in even though the guild had not achieved anything significant yet.
'If the guild's hype is so strong now, I wonder how strong it will become as time passes?' Leo wondered as he felt proud of his elder brother to be the vice guild master of such a guild.
***********
An hour passed by in the blink of an eye and the officials were done setting up all the testing equipment, ready to begin the second round selections right on time.
There were a total of five tests in this round, should a contestant go for physical assessment, which included, punch force strength, standing long jump, standing high jump, 100 meters dash and finally weapons proficiency.
A total of five contestants were called at once for testing, with one contestant being assigned to every test as the second round commenced with five random contestants being called up at first.
" First up, on the punch strength test, we have 'Goyle!' "
" Up on the 100 meters sprint, give it up for 'HornyYash' "
" Up on the standing long jump pit, we have 'FeyNord' "
.
.
.
" Up on the standing high jump, we have high elf, 'Jareem' "
An announcer announced the names of all participants as they walked up to their testing sites as the crowd roared in approval.
Two of them were players, whose player name was called up while the others were NPC whose real name was called up.
Leo gulped when he saw this, as he understood that if an announcer was taking names, then his gaming ID as 'TheBoss' was bound to be called out, which meant that it was game-on from this very round itself.
Initially, he had planned to observe the scores of each category carefully and only put in the effort that was needed at bare-minimum to qualify, but with his reputation on the line, he could not do that anymore.
He now had to give his 100% in round two itself as he could not afford a single question to his identity as the number one player.
As the first group of contestants took their positions, the crowd's anticipation visibly thickened, a mix of excitement and scrutiny in the air, as everyone wanted to see what the level of competition was this time around.
The arena, now fully packed, echoed with the sounds of cheers and chatter, a palpable sense of expectation hanging over the proceedings.
### Punch Strength Test: Goyle
Goyle, a burly figure with muscles that seemed to bulge out of his skin, stepped up to the punch strength machine.
With a roar that matched the intensity of the crowd, he delivered a thunderous punch.
*BAM*
The machine's readings skyrocketed before settling at an impressive figure of 180, which Leo had no idea whether was good or bad as he politely clapped at the display.
The crowd's reaction was immediate, a mixture of awe and loud applause, setting a high benchmark for the contestants to follow.
### 100 Meters Sprint: HornyYash
On the track, HornyYash positioned himself, his expression a blend of focus and determination.
He looked like a lean build type player, but his running stance was all wrong and his muscles were too stiff.
With a single glance, Leo could determine that his body's muscles were not in balance as he identified him as an average player.
As the signal was given, he exploded forward with his best speed, his legs pumping furiously as he covered the distance.
The timer stopped at a sort of impressive time of 10.05.21, eliciting a wave of excitement and disbelief from the audience.
Cheers and whistles filled the air, marking the opening performance with praises.
### Standing Long Jump: FeyNord
FeyNord approached the long jump pit with a calm demeanor that belied his inner focus.
Taking a deep breath, he surged forward, converting his speed into a powerful leap that carried him an incredible distance across the pit.
4.5 meters.
A very average performance from Feynord, as compared to the others he received barely any praise at all.
### Standing High Jump: Jareem
Jareem, the high elf, brought a different kind of attention to the field.
Unlike the human contestants he was not widely liked or supported, however, the women in the crowd seemed to go crazy over his good looks and fair skin, which was probably the reason behind why the men disliked him.
With a graceful squat contracting his muscles, he pushed up with power as he took to the air, his form perfect as he slammed his hand on the height stick above, with the final stick he hit being at an impressive height of 9.1 meter.
The elegance and efficiency of his jump left little room for Leo to criticize him as he truly thought this was an impressive performance.
### Weapons Proficiency
Finally, over at the weapons proficiency display, the young NPC holding a sword was asked to cut through as many wooden poles as he could with one slash, as of the 20 poles lined up for him, he managed to cut 4, displaying a disappointing performance.
His score was noted by a judge and once everyone was done taking their tests, they were asked to switch positions as the same five contestants took positions at other tests, whose equipment was reset by the testing officials.
Within fifteen minutes, all contestants completed all five tests, as a massive leaderboard screen came to life within the testing arena, as the compiled scores of all five tests were displayed on the board.
At this stage, the highest rating was held by Jareem who was given a score of 8.2/10 overall, whereas the lowest was HornyYash with 6.9/10.
However, Leo understood that this was only the start as soon the next 5 contestants were called over for the test, with each now having an understanding of what benchmark they needed to beat.