‘You will be playing Crystals. Teams must be anywhere from two to twenty Players. The match will begin in twenty minutes.'

He read up on the game he was supposed to be playing. For the first half, their crystal was going to be in their base, where they were supposed to protect it from invaders. At the same time, they were also expected to invade other bases and take their crystals as well. As the value of a team’s crystal increases, the quality of the base decreases, making it more difficult to defend their crystal. Once the crystal was taken the entire team was disqualified, and once there are only four teams in a zone they will move on to the second half. When that happens, they then have to race their crystals to the altar.

Ideally, he would’ve preferred for his team to be comprised of only himself and Seru. She could be the vanguard while he stayed behind to protect the crystal. He wasn’t sure exactly how strong everyone was, but she was at least strong enough to be considered above average amongst his peers.

He was approached by many potential teammates. They generally fell into two distinct categories. There were those that ranked lower than himself in the first round that searched him up and probably thought that 30th place was a safe bet. He was strong, but not so strong that he’d be some kind of elitist and reject them. The other type of person that approached him was more scarce, seeing as only so many people ranked above him. There were only two people that attempted to recruit him as some kind of subordinate, a girl with a black bob and a man with long green hair and glasses.

They arrived at the same time and exchanged charged glances before introducing themselves to him. The woman was Atira, the person currently ranked 7th in the entire tutorial. The man was Shinya, currently in 9th place. Two members of the top ten wanted to take him into their teams. This would be the easiest carry of his life.

He didn’t speak to either of them though. He couldn’t be anyone else’s subordinate.

“Sensei is not interested in collaborating with someone as weak as you two,” said Seru, rather bluntly at that. Was she trying to provoke them? She spoke to both of them, but she locked her eyes on Atira, as if she were singling the other woman out.

“You even have your first summon, and you’re only rank 30? It’s not your fault, goblins are relatively weak common summons. They’re not bad for a first start. If you had something like my unique kitsune, you’d definitely be in the top 10. I can get you something suitable if you produce satisfactory results in this round.” As Atira spoke, she mostly locked eyes with Seru. This woman had not only taken the bait, but she returned the energy tenfold.

He personally wasn’t all too interested in the catfight, but he did pay attention to what was said. They couldn’t tell that Seru was actually a legendary, and a unique was enough to get top 10? What did Nykal have?

Seru’s patience had worn thin. She stepped to Atira, who didn’t cower in the slightest. He could see that they were going to get physical soon. He only had a few seconds before a fight broke out, but he honestly wasn’t sure if he wanted to stop it. Could Seru win this fight? What about one against the Kitsune? He wanted to know exactly how strong they were in comparison to everyone else, but what if they were so severely outclassed that they were killed without a second thought?

“Stop it, Atira.” said a third woman in a firm tone. She stepped into the scene, curly pink hair forming a shape akin to a lion’s mane.

“Rea? I thought you were dead since you weren’t in the top 3, let alone 10. What happened to you?” said Shinya.

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Atira hadn’t taken her eyes off Seru, but she had at least calmed down. Her shoulders relaxed and her posture was no longer primed for combat. She had even taken a tentative step back, even though Seru was still ready to go.

“It’s only the first round, is it not? I had something else to do, so I only had a day to hunt. Nevertheless, 50th isn’t terrible, is it?” she let out a forced laugh, apparently trying to lighten the mood and put some happiness in the air. Tensions had been rather tense, after all. “This man is my partner already though. If you want to take him from me, feel free to do so, but don’t expect me to give him up without a fight.” As she spoke her last few words, she released a bit of concentrated mana into the air. Sparks crackled in the air around her as her afro frizzed up at the ends and her eyes locked on Atira and Shinya.

They both backed down and walked away. Once that was situated, everything returned to normal and she turned to face him.

“Hello, I’m Rea. We’ve met already but we haven’t spoken. Would you like to be partners?”

He didn’t need to think too hard about it. She was clearly strong. The fact that she had made it into the tree with him meant she was decently smart. She wanted to be partners instead of creating some subordinate relationship. Plus, she had the sword from the treasure room. He wanted to see what it was like so he knew if he chose the wrong item or not.

He nodded softly, which elicited a soft growl from Seru. Rea turned to her with a smile and offered the goblin her hand.

“Excuse my rudeness, what’s your name? It was wrong of me to address your Master without first going through you.”

“It’s Seru. Thank you for recognizing your folly.”

He noted Rea’s skill at handling people. She had completely disarmed Seru, dissolved the previous conflict, and become his partner all in a few minutes' time.

“And yours?” she said, looking over at him.

This was it. His first time properly introducing himself. He had considered entire speeches, poems, and prose to set the scene for the mere utterance of his name. They were all a bit too grandiose for his liking though. He wanted his name to strike fear and trepidation into the hearts of those he did not consider allies, and to evoke a sense of admiration from those that had earned his approval.

“Amon.” he said flatly, holding steady eye contact with Rea but intentionally trying to make his gaze distant. He wanted her to feel as though he were looking through her rather than directly at her.

“Lord Amon…” muttered Seru softly.

“Well, Amon, I’m Rea. I can tell you’re not from the Tower.” She noticed the curiosity on his face and continued speaking. “You and Seru are both strong. It’s unlikely that someone as strong as you two could’ve been raised in the Tower and prepared for this competition without anyone in the top ten knowing who you are. We’ve had the list for our Tutorial for a year now and everyone powerful has identified everyone of concern on that list. You also summoned a goblin in front of a member of the Tri family. That means you’re either ignorant of customs, or you’re strong enough to ignore that. Luckily for you, that boy was killed, so maybe you’ll be able to act like it didn’t happen. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”

This girl talked a lot, but he didn’t mind since it was mostly useful information. That blue haired kid was from the Tri family? Why did they hate goblins? He didn’t see himself going to any lengths to hide Seru’s presence in the future, so maybe it would be simpler for him to just go to war with them. Not at his current strength, of course, but sometime in the future?

“I chose you to be my partner because you’re an outsider, a strong one at that. There are a lot of politics in the Tower that cause a lot of friction, but none of that should matter to you. All I need you to do is stay behind and protect the crystal and I’ll handle the rest. Is that okay?”

He nodded once again. She was strong enough to scare away members of the top ten. If he sent Seru to fight with her, there was probably nothing they couldn’t handle. His current moveset was also more suited for defense, so he had no complaints.