<strong>Day 1 of the annual tournament;</strong>
The next day morning, as if there's a festival going on, the streets nearby the Academy were filled with people.
Parents who live all over the nation are arriving one by one to watch the tournament. The civilians living in the city were also welcomed.
Meanwhile, Local media got busy at the gate, recording everything.
Along with them, several Arcana Masters also joined the queue.
Most of them are scouts of various special Arcana Academies that provide advanced education.
A few of them were scouts of various organizations from good to evil.
The rest were interested in the students of other Arcana Academies that arrived for the Champion League.
Even though several people eyeing talents from these strong Academies, the main highlight of the tournament is still Leonard Light, the national champion and fifth prince of their Northern Qudour nation. Almost every scout from top academies intends to scout him.
Local Police officers were also stationed there for security purposes. With such a huge crowd, some people are bound to cause trouble. So, they intend to make sure no such thing occurs, especially with the presence of esteemed guests in the academy.
Under the orders of the Principal, the teachers were also patrolling the academy to make sure no one causes trouble.
Principal Barton thought the Heavenly Academy might purposely cause trouble to revoke their qualifications to host the tournament. Upon hearing his worry, the rest of the teachers thought he was just being skeptical but still, followed his orders.
Amid all of this, Neal entered the gates while suppressing his aura to rank-4 to not attract the attention of anyone.
Instead of going straight to the Arena, he was touring around the Academy like a curious tourist.
No one knows that he wasn't curious but was reminiscing his past.
This Academy is where he studied for ten long years. "Sigh… Sixty two years passed by but nothing changed. The Academy looks exactly the same when I left."
If any student or civilian would have heard it, they would be incredibly shocked to see that this young man who looks like he's in his twenties was actually 78-years-old.
The expert will also be shocked as the aging will slow down tremendously when one reaches rank-7. It is the stop where the mediocre experts and true experts will be divided.
Neal continued to roam.
No one also found it is suspicious as there were people like him who are looking around.
After reminiscing enough, Neal proceeds to the Arena. He thought he would meet the Principal in the evening when the day is over. Until then, he can enjoy watching the battles.
Although he's a guy who will fool around even on official missions, the main reason is because of reluctance to meet his old master.
The Academy has a total of four Arenas. Three smaller Arenas, each one with just ten-fifteen thousand seat capacity, and one large Arena that can hold a hundred thousand members of the audience.
Due to the upcoming Champions League, the Principal decided to only hold the finals in the bigger arena.
Neal chose the smaller arena where usually battle challenges between fellow students take place. It was located in the training grounds-2.
There are boards placed everywhere to show what battles will take place at this Arena. This particular Arena is allotted for Advanced division which is grade 8, grade 9, and grade 10.
After all, it would be unfair if a grade-10 will face a student from grade-3 or grade-4.
To maintain fairness, they divided it into three divisions. Grade 3 and 4 is called the Beginner division. Grade 5, 6, and, 7 are allotted to the Intermediate division. And Grade 8, 9, and 10 are allotted to the Advanced division.
Just like their names, it clearly states their soul ranks too.
For example, all the students in the beginner division are either rank-2 or rank-3. The students in the intermediate division are either rank-3 or rank-4 and the students in the Advanced division are of rank-4 and rank-5.
"I guess many people are eager to choose this Arena," Neal mumbled as he saw the huge line.
He peacefully entered the Arena and chose a random seat in the middle row that appeared empty.
In no time, the rest of the audience filled in.
As the event hasn't started yet, Neal closed his eyes and started to scan the people in the arena to see if there are any fellow rank-7 experts. He also wanted to play a little game with himself by counting the number of rank-6 experts.
"Azrael, there are seats available here." He was momentarily distracted by a loud excited tone belong to a girl nearby.
Neal sensed two rank-5 experts sat beside him. Since they are just rank -5, he ignored the two of them and busy with his calculation.
Meanwhile, the participants were waiting in their waiting rooms, arranged according to their grades.
By 9 o'clock, the stadium is completely filled except for the VIP section which was reserved for the high officials of the nation and the royal family.
Then, Exea entered the stadium with a mic. Standing on the platform, she started speaking.
While speaking, she unleashed her unique ability and all the lower rank people who heard her voice immediately got attracted towards her.
A lot of civilian males started to cheer her name while the ladies looked at her in disdain.
Amid all of this, Exea continued with her introductory speech. After finishing with explaining the rules, she widely smiled as she announced, "Now, let's invite the participants who you all are waiting to see."
As the students of grade-8 to grade-10 entered the Arena along with their classmates, the audience started to cheer around. Some with children's names, some with their favorite contestant names, and some for Exea.
However, amid all cheers, Neal found out that cheering for Leonard light stood out.
He wondered who this guy is.
Just then, he heard the excited voice of the girl that sat beside him. "Wow, this Leonard really has a lot of popularity, huh!"
In response to her, he heard a male voice with a plain tone replied, "He won the national tournament. So, it's obvious."
"National Tournament?" Neal's ears perked up as he heard it. He's someone who is busy with Wars and doing Covet Operations to ensure peace at a particular location.
So, he knows nothing about the rules of the Champion League. However, he did know that winning the national tournament is a big thing. After all, he was also once a national champion, twice in a row.
Unless one has a capability of peak-rank-5, it is very difficult for one to win, not to mention, competing with the students of Egrein Academy from the capital city.
Neal became curious to see this Leonard Light.
Just then, he heard her complaining, "You should have participated in this annual tournament and get select for the Champions League. Your Master is too ruthless…"
"Barbara…" As the guy raised his voice, the girl apologized for her loose tongue.
Meanwhile, Neal's eyes widened in surprise as he immediately opened his eyes and turned his head.
"Kids?" He didn't expect this rank-5 couple were only little kids. "They don't even look like tenth graders either."
"Excuse me…" He called out to them.
Barbara and Azzy looked at him.
"I don't mean to eavesdrop but I accidentally heard that you are the students of this Academy. Are you?" He asked her while observing the both of them.
Strangely, for some reason, he found the two of them familiar as if he had seen them somewhere, although he wasn't able to put his finger on it.
Upon hearing his question, Barbara answered, "I'm not. My friend is… I'm actually from the Moon Academy."
Azzy immediately nudged her, implying whether it is necessary for her to reveal it to a stranger.
However, Neal looked clueless. He doesn't know the name of the Moon Academy. However, he does know Moon city, which is located in the level-3 region.
Neal didn't place much importance on it and smiled, "You two must be a genius to achieve rank-5 in this young age." As an alumnus, he was pleased that his Academy got a talented kid.
"Aren't we?" Barbara grinned in return. "But, you can't place the both of us in one place. Azrael is far better than me."
Meanwhile, Azzy was stunned as he earlier sensed this guy's rank is only 4. Then, how come he sensed his rank.
"Cuz this man is a mid-rank-7, Azrael." The Reaper said to him in his head.
"Mid-rank-7?" Azzy blurted out in shock as he stared at Neal.
"Hmm?" A frown appeared on Neal upon hearing Azzy.
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