Before me was the white-golden gate of Saint Helena Martial Arts College. The gate was humongous, and the college name was written with a top-tier shiny material. The college was named after the founder of this college, Saint Helena. Last year this college became the final winner of the college ranking tournament. Because of that, this year’s tournament was held at their college.
Aster stared at the gate with a stunned expression. He was thinking, "If this was my previous world, no one would do something this dumb. But this is another indication that I’m in a different world."
Aster with his team and everyone from other martial arts colleges entered the college. The college itself was as big as the gate, even bigger than the military college. We were greeted by one of the instructors of Saint Helena Martial Arts College. He guided everyone into the auditorium. There were students from the five martial arts colleges who participated in the tournament, and their principals and our general were present.
Every college has a different color uniform. Ours is black, Saint Helena white, Broad River blue, Lincoln red, and Pine Hill pink.
The principal of Saint Helena came to the stage. He picked up the microphone and started explaining the rules of this tournament.
The tournament will last for 4 days in two parts. The first part is a team vs. team battle. It will run for 2 days with 2 rounds.
Each match will be fought between two teams. Rather than sending everyone into battle at once, each team will send out one student at a time to compete in a one-on-one duel.
The winner of each duel will remain in the arena, while the defeated student will be replaced by another member of their team. This process will continue until one team has lost all four students.
The first team to lose all four of its members will be eliminated, while the opposing team will advance to the next round.
And since there are five teams participating in the tournament, the number of teams is odd, so one team will be chosen at random to receive a bye and advance directly to the second round.
The remaining four teams will compete in two matches. The winners of those matches will join the team that received the bye, leaving three teams in the next stage.
On the other day, in round two, two of the three teams will face each other first. The losing team won’t be eliminated immediately. Instead, it will fight the third team that was waiting.
The winner of that match will secure the second spot in the finals. Finally, the two remaining teams will compete in the championship match, and the victor will be crowned the champion of the first part 1.
According to the Part 1 ranking, each team will receive ranking points.
1st place — 20 Ranking Points
2nd place — 10 Ranking Points
3rd place — 7 Ranking Points
4th place — 5 Ranking Points
5th place — 2 Ranking Points
Then Part 2 will start the next day.
Part 2 – Hunting Competition
For the second part, all participating students will be transported into a vast jungle. The monsters inside have been gathered by the participating colleges specifically for this event.
The monsters are divided into four tiers based on their levels:
Low Tier (Level 1–10): Defeating one monster awards 1 Hunting Point.
Mid Tier (Level 10–20): Defeating one monster awards 5 Hunting Points.
High Tier (Level 20–30): Defeating one monster awards 10 Hunting Points.
Highest Tier (Level 30–40): Defeating one monster awards 20 Hunting Points.
At the end of the round, every 100 Hunting Points will automatically be converted into 1 Ranking Point. Then whichever team has the highest total number of Ranking Points will be the champion of this year’s College Ranking Tournament.
After explaining the rules, the principal said with a gentle smile "All these matches will begin tomorrow. For now, we have arranged special meals for the students and their instructors. Please enjoy today exploring our beautiful Saint Helena Martial Arts College.".
One by one everyone was leaving the auditorium. We were also leaving, and we met up with some white-uniformed students. "White? So they are from this college," Aster thought.
One boy caught my eye. White spiky hair, red eyes.
System Window
Name: Veyl Seraphine
Class: Celestial Vanguard
Level: 20 (Advancement Due)
"After every 20 levels each class has to go through a class advancement. It’s like cultivators in a novel breaking through a realm. After class advancement users get a boost in their stats, and some people unlock new talents. He’s already at level 20. He must have worked hard too," Aster thought.
Veyl noticed Aster was staring at him. Seeing his lazy expression, Veyl misunderstood it, thinking Aster was looking down on him. "You damn!!" Veyl said with anger, but one of his teammates stopped him and they went their way.
"What was that? Why did he do that?" Adrian asked.
Alas replied, "Maybe he got offended by your ugly face! HAHAHA," he said sarcastically.
"What did you say!" Now Adrian got angry with Alas.
"These two meatheads are always fighting each other, sigh...." Yor sighed with irritation.
Aster, without understanding anything, just smiled and scratched his head.
After the meal Aster explored the college a little. Unlike the military college, these colleges have many halls to choose from like the Alchemist Hall, Artifact Refinement Hall, Martial Arts Hall, Spirit Summoning Hall, Healer Hall, and many others.
He arrived in front of the Artifact Refinement Hall. There were many stores arranged by the students of the Artifact Refinement Hall, where they sold and showcased their ideas and creations. Among all of the things Aster noticed something interesting in one of the stores where no one was buying anything.
Aster went there. One messy-haired boy was the owner of that store. He greeted Aster, "Please, look at these artifacts."
System Window:
Name: Leoric Wynne
Class: Blacksmith
Aster looked closely at the thing that caught his eye. "Can I touch it?" Aster asked.
"Yes, yes, sure!" Leoric replied.
Aster touched the artifact. It was a Grappling Gun.
"You have chosen one interesting creation of mine. This artifact can shoot a rope anywhere you target, then the gun retracts the rope. As a result, you get pulled toward the area where you shot the rope," Leoric explained.
"So this is the same as a grappling gun," Aster thought and asked, "What is the name of it?"
Leoric replied, "Right now it has no name. I’ll let the person who buys it name it. It’s very cheap. I’ll only ask for the material cost, which is 30,000 credits."
Hearing the price, Aster sighed... he’d been eating for free, so he didn’t do anything to earn any money.
Aster was about to return it. Leoric’s smile also vanished seeing him return the thing, and suddenly—
"I’ll pay for it."
Aster looked back. It was Captain Lyra.
"Captain! No, no, you don’t have to buy it for me." Aster said, flustered.
But Captain Lyra still insisted and bought it.
Aster held it, and Leoric said, "Make a name for it."
Aster looked at it for a moment and said, "I’ll name it Grappling Gun."
System Window
Skill:
Grapple Level 1: Manifest 1 Grapple per second if holding a Grappling Gun. Range: 1 m