Aster tried to wake up Victor, but suddenly General Cassius started speaking through the microphone.
"Congratulations. Round One is over."
"What? It just started! How is it already over?" Aster said.
"We now have our top twenty contestants. Please return to the hall. The instructors will carry out the injured students," General Cassius continued.
Immediately, an instructor appeared in front of Aster.
Aster got jump scared and screamed a little "AHHH! MONSTER!" Then Aster was surprised. The instructor was standing so close, yet he hadn’t noticed him at all.
"With the instructors watching us from this close, there’s no way anyone could actually die. So all those warnings about death... Aster paused before grinding his teeth. "Damn that general. He tricked us into taking this seriously."
A moment later, he calmed down.
"Well... can’t blame him. He’s just doing his job."
Everyone returned to the hall.
Aster reunited with Nolan.
"Aster! Glad to see you passed Round One!" Nolan looked at him. "Huh? Why don’t you seem happy? Did you get hurt?"
"No, I’m fine. But can you tell me how this round ended so fast?"
"Well, I don’t know much, but it seems someone hunted down most of the students by himself. That’s why it ended so quickly," Nolan replied.
"What? Someone hunted down that many students?!" Aster asked in shock.
"Yeah. Very cruel, right?" Nolan said.
"Yes! Very cruel. How could he do something like that?" Aster replied with a fake smile while scratching his head.
Whoever that bastard is... why didn’t he hunt me down instead? Damn it...
Aster secretly ground his teeth.
Then General Cassius stepped forward and announced,
"Congratulations to all twenty of you. You have successfully advanced to the second round. From here, ten of you will advance to the third round, while the remaining ten will be assigned to Tier 2."
Damn! Tier 2 is the absolute worst. I’d actually have to work hard just to get food. There’s no choice now. If I want an easy life, I have to reach Tier 1.
"The rules are simple. Before every match, two students will be randomly selected to duel. The winner advances to the next round, while the loser will be assigned directly to Tier 2," General Cassius explained.
"The matches will begin in one hour. Best of luck to all of you."
Aster returned to his room and collapsed onto his bed.
"Damn it... Now I have to somehow win a one-on-one fight just to reach Round Three. I came here for an easy life. Why do I have to work this hard?!"
He stared at his system for a few moments.
"Alright... lying here won’t solve anything. If I want an easy life, I’ll just have to work a little hard this one time."
Aster looked over his status.
Right now, my stats are a little below average. It’s probably because of my weak physical condition. Let’s put all my stat points into Attack.
System:
Attack: 15 → 20
"Now, with the little time I have left, I’ll level up my skill. Maybe it’ll unlock something new."
Aster headed toward the training ground.
As usual, only Nolan was there.
Not wanting to disturb him, Aster walked over to the weapon rack, picked up a wooden sword, and stood in front of a practice dummy.
"Slash."
A slash of energy appeared and struck the dummy.
System:
Skill:
Slash Lv.1 (6/1000)
Okay... 994 more.
"Slash."
"Slash."
...
"Slash."
993 seconds later...
Slash Lv.1 (999/1000)
One more.
Most people would have run out of mana after using a skill ten or twelve times.
But because of the Authority of Sloth, as long as Aster remained standing still, his mana consumption was reduced by 99%. "I can literally stand still and level up my skills. I’ve never felt so rewarded for doing absolutely nothing"
Even so, he still felt a little dizzy.
My mana is only 10... Come on, Just one more slash.
"Slash."
One final slash manifested.
System: Congratulations! Skill leveled up!
Slash Lv.2 (0/1500): Manifest one slash per second while holding a sword. Range: 2 meters.
"So the range increased from one meter to two."
"Not exactly what I was hoping for... but it’s still good."
"At least now I can attack from a little farther away."
"I’d better go recover my mana."
Aster turned around to leave, only to find Nolan staring at him.
"You want to ask something?" Aster asked.
"I saw you practicing. The dummy kept getting slashed, but... you never swung your sword," Nolan said with a confused expression.
Right... My class is unique, so nobody has seen a skill like mine before.
But I shouldn’t tell him about it. He could end up being my opponent in this round.
As Aster was thinking, Nolan smiled.
"You must have trained really hard to swing your sword so fast that I can’t even see it."
His innocent smile was so bright that it practically illuminated Aster’s face.
Ah... He’s so innocent.
Now I feel guilty for thinking badly about him.
Aster covered his eyes dramatically, shielding himself from Nolan’s "bright smile."
"Haha... it’s nothing that special. I should get going now. You should get some rest too before the next round."
Nolan nodded.
The two returned to their rooms.
As soon as Aster’s mana fully recovered, an announcement echoed throughout the academy.
All participants were ordered to gather at the duel hall.
Aster immediately headed there.
All twenty students were already present.
"Hope you all had a good rest. Now it’s time to begin Round Two of the Dormitory Ranking Tournament."
"Let’s call our first pair of contestants."
General Cassius looked toward Lyra.
Lyra drew a lottery slip.
"The first duel will be..."
"Kes Pezol..."
"...versus..."
"...Aster Vale."
"Both contestants, please enter the arena."
Aster stepped into the arena.
Kes Pezol followed shortly after.
Aster observed him carefully.
Brown hair.
Brown eyes.
And his weapon of choice...
An axe.
"Both contestants, get ready..."
"The match began in 3...2...1"