The headless armor just sat in the throne menacingly, as if waiting for Zane to make the first move, and he won’t hesitate to do so. This monster was the reason he rushed to the top of the tower. Since this was a contest of contribution, there should be no better way to get the most points than taking care of the boss.
“Crush it! Dark Revel Dragon!”
Zane pumped all the dragon energy he could muster from his dragon heart and unleashed his attack. The black dragon let out a mighty roar as it manifested, tearing up the floor as it charged toward the monster.
The dragon tore the monster to shreds with its claws before disappearing. Zane cringed at the sight of the destruction he caused, but he immediately jumped back when a sword almost decapitated him.
The headless knight had not died... again.
“The fuck?” Zane stared at the knight in confusion as it took a stance.
“A Dullahan,” Averin spoke.
“A what?” Zane responded as he avoided the Dullahan’s attacks.
“A powerful undead that can only be killed by destroying its head. Search for the head.”
Zane looked around the floor, searching for a head, but the only other thing in the whole floor was them and the throne.
Zane’s eyes widened. “The throne!”
He rushed towards the throne, the undead right on his tail. As he got closer to the throne, he spotted what looked like a skull imbedded on the top of the throne.
Zane’s hand turned draconic. “Say goodbye to your head!” he jumped, aiming a punch at the skull.
But before Zane could break the skull, he got hit with a blast of energy on his side. He crashed into the ground and barely rolled out of the way of the Dullahan’s sword. With a swing of his hand, the Dullahan was smacked away, so Zane got the opportunity to go look for his attackers.
It didn’t take him long to find a group of four women at the stairs. The one that had attacked him still had her staff pointed at him.
“Motherfuckers!” Zane yelled as he manifested a black dragon once more.
The dragon smashed through the throne and continued towards his attackers, but before the Dark Revel dragon could reach them, another dragon appeared from above and crashed down on Zane’s dragon manifestation.
“The fuck?” Zane watched the scene in confusion as the Dullahan near him turned into dust.
Hovering above the room was a man wearing the Karama family’s combat uniform. He floated down as the two dragon manifestations vanished. “The points for defeating the boss monster will be awarded to you,” the man told Zane.
Back at the staircase, other people wearing the Karama family’s combat uniform guided the other competitors away.
“We could not allow your attack to proceed as it would have led to an actual death,” the man stated. “You have gained enough points to move on to the next event, but you’re still allowed to continue gathering points.”
Zane dusted himself. “Enough points? Isn’t the goal to gather as many as possible?”
“Taking down the boss guarantees you the top spot,” the man informed.
Zane nodded. “I’m done then,” Zane looked around the floor. “Where’s the corrupted mana?”
“It has already been cleared,” the man answered.
“Without killing the monsters?”
“We didn’t kill all the monsters just for this event,” the man replied.
“I see...”
Zane wanted to absorb the corrupted mana since there was a chance to gain another dragon manifestation.
Zane didn’t get the chance to dwell on it further as he was transported back to the arena and in a waiting room. Thankfully this time, there weren’t any people waiting outside. Zane slipped out of the arena without anyone bothering.
Even outside the arena, Zane could hear the cheers of the crowd. He hadn’t noticed it earlier, but the tournament seemed to be a really big deal.
“I probably would have known about this if the refugee base had a TV or even a radio,” Zane muttered as he began walking back to the hotel.
“Yow!”
Zane turned to find Astrid wearing a school uniform. “Astrid?” Zane looked at Astrid in confusion.
“You were a beast out there,” Astrid patted him on the shoulder. “People started calling you the dragon conqueror.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“Which people?” Zane asked in curiosity.
“The students at the academy,” Astrid answered. “You’re a pretty hot topic recently.”
The two of them had begun walking. Zane was still heading to the hotel and Astrid seemed to just be going along for the walk.
“Speaking of the academy... could you tell me about it?” Zane asked.
His education consisted of lectures during captivity in the Albertian labs and the refugee foundation, so Zane was genuinely curious about what a normal school is like.
“Well... Albertian academy is heavily focused on technology, so most of the students are academically obsessed and overly competitive,” Astrid answered. “It’s not the best example of a school...”
Zane didn’t know what he expected from a school owned from the same organization that kept him captive for over a decade. “Fair point...”
“Anyways, good luck on the tournament,” Astrid slapped him on the back. “Make sure to win. I got a money on you,” she said as she ran away.
Zane just shook his head with a sigh as he entered the hotel.
------
“What is this?!” a man whose appearance was shrouded in darkness yelled in frustration. “We’re losing control over all of them!”
The man was referring to all the cryo subjects that they were forced to release from containment due to the warning of the divine beings.
All of the cryo subjects had been growing stronger at an alarming pace. For others, that wouldn’t be much of a problem. But for the Albertian faction, it was cause for major concern. The cryo subjects had negative impressions of the Albertian faction with some of them even being hostile.
“How many of them are still in our territories?” the man asked.
“Five, sir,” his secretary answered. “All of them are in territories mutually governed with the Karama family.”
“We need to deal with them before they become a problem,” stated. “Contact the Blood swords.”
“Understood sir.”
-------
Zane didn’t expect to be doing research at this time. “Shouldn’t I be focusing on the tournament?”
“This also involves the tournament,” Averin replied. “You will be studying the other competitors.”
Zane scratched his head. “Fine... where do I start?”
“The betting pool. The female human you encountered on your way home mentioned something about a bet.”
“I think that’s just a thing in their school.”
“Look it up.”
Zane rolled his eyes and did as he was told. Using Melissa’s laptop, Zane searched for a betting pool for the tournament. To his surprised, there was indeed a website where bets are placed for the tournament.
Zane found out that he had the fifth highest vote to win. “With all the hype, I expected to be first.”
“Look up the others.”
The one with the fourth highest vote was a tall woman with long blonde hair named Sylvinia, also known as “The Rose”. Reading the details about her abilities caused Zane’s eyes to widen in realization.
“This bitch...”
Sylvinia was the person that attacked him with roots. She had an affinity for earth magic, but her core ability was conjuring roots that cover a wide range and move according to her wishes.
Sylvinia was part of a mercenary duo called the Gun and Rose. Coincidentally, the third highest vote to win the tournament was her duo, a woman with short black hair named Reyna, also known as “The Gun”.
Her affinity is unknown, but her core ability is quite known. She calls it Arsenal. She can conjure any type of gun and ammo that she wants as long as she knows its composition.
“That’s a prime example of a core ability,” Averin commented.
“Seriously?”
“To you, it might look simple, but their core abilities can easily adapt to a multitude of situations.”
“Alright then...”
The person with the second highest vote to win was a man whose name wasn’t provided. But it states that he’s from a magic tower and uses wind magic. That was all the information provided.
The person with the highest votes to win was already from the Karama family and their young lady, Tasha Karama. All information about her was restricted.
“Damn...”
“No matter. You’ve already seen to examples of a core ability.”
“Are we in a rush?” Zane asked.
“Yes. The foundation for your core ability needs to be established in 2nd stage of your mana core and I had not considered the rate of your growth.”
“Huh?” Zane tilted his head in confusion.
“You’re growing too fast. The mana in your core is already nearing the 3rd stage.”
Zane smirked. “I’m a prodigy,” he said proudly.
Averin chose to ignore him. “You need to decide on the foundation of your core ability, then I will adjust your mana control to support it.”
Zane slightly felt pressured with the situation. Considering he was pretty oblivious to the outside world until recently, the sudden changes he needed to adapt was starting to get frustrating.
Now, he needed to decide on something life changing.
“Averin... I think I’ll just go with practicality on this,” Zane said. “What do you think I need the most in the future?”
Zane waited for a while, but there was no reply from Averin. He was slightly getting concerned since the sudden silence was nerve-wracking.
Thankfully, Averin answered. “Allies.”
The answer caught him off-guard. “Huh?”
“The stronger you become, the more dangerous your future will be,” Averin stated. “You will need allies you can fight alongside with that you can trust to not betray you. But that’s something you can’t compensate with using a core ability.”
Zane rubbed his chin in thought. “What if it is?”
“If you’re thinking of using summoning as the foundation of your core ability, that would be foolish,” Averin immediately figured out.
“Why not?”
“Summoned creatures require a base structure, so you would need an external source for the form of your summoned creature. That’s impossible when the activation of the ability is directly from your mana core.”
Zane grinned. “Why don’t we make a bet?”
Zane was hit with another long moment of silence.
“Speak.”
Zane smirked. “I’ll study summoning magic. If I figure out a way, we’ll do it my way.”
“If you can’t?”
“You will decide what my core ability will be. No questions asked.”
Another moment of silence.
“I’ll take that bet, human.”