The dust settled, revealing the stunned faces of the Western team. Their gold shield, once a beacon of impregnable defense, shimmered weakly, cracks spidering across its surface. The Archbishop, his eyes wide with a mixture of awe and apprehension, slowly rose from his seat.
"An… impressive display," he finally conceded, his voice a low rumble. "Such raw power. But at what cost?"
Jake, still panting from the exertion, grinned. "A small price for victory, Your Grace. Besides," he added, glancing at Jim who maintained an unsettlingly calm demeanor, "we wouldn't want to make things too easy, now would we?" Jake kept a false show of fatigue to not raise any suspicion.
Jake, finally acknowledging the Archbishop's gaze, offered a slight bow. "Apologies for the… unorthodox methods, Your Grace. But the rules did not explicitly prohibit… unconventional tactics."
The Archbishop, his expression unreadable, waved a dismissive hand. "Indeed. The Northern team has proven their ingenuity and strength. They are the victors."
A wave of jubilation erupted from the Northern team. Link, his face flushed, roared with laughter, while Giant Axe, despite his exhaustion, flexed his massive arms in triumph. Grandis, ever so silent smiled with grace.
But the celebration was short-lived. The second challenge was set to begin in an hour allowing all teams to rest. Priests were stationed to each to heal everyone back to their prime condition.
The northern team all looked toward the Bishop Carl to ascertain what the next challenge would be. Unfortunately, the organizers were tight lipped about the competition and would only reveal itself in due time. Bishop Carl promised each contestant personal training as their individual rewards for winning the team battles and representing the northern region.
As the hour passed, all of the contestants returned to the arena. The archbishop was stern as usual and announced the second challenge. “The first challenge demonstrated team work, the second challenge will test your talent”. As he stopped talking, the archbishop opened a chest and a holy cross was revealed. In an instant the holy cross sent pulses of holy mana throughout the arena. The center of the arena was filled with dense holy mana with the edge of the arena having the lowest density of holy mana.
The archbishop spoke “This challenge will test your compatibility with holy mana. Everyone has 10 minutes to get as close to the cross. The ring was 100 yards in diameter with a radius of 50 yards. Everyone will start at the edge of the arena and make their way through the mana. The challenge will begin now”
As soon as the Archbishop spoke, everyone started running toward the center. Jim, Grandis and one member from the southern region didn’t move and observed everyone else. This wasn’t a race and there was 10 minutes to get to the center. Everyone who ran for 10 seconds slowed down considerably and stopped after 20 yards. Jim surmised that about every 10 yards represented mana density that correlates to 1 tier. So 10 yards would represent about tier 1, 20 yards about tier 2 … up to 50 yards which would roughly be tier 5. Everyone struggled to take more than a few yards after 20 yards putting them relatively comfortable with tier 2 mana density. This did not correlate directly to combat standards but it does represent the player’s ability to handle denser mana. After one minute passed, all the contestants stopped. The average players stopped around 20 yards while above average players landed around 25 yards. Jim, Grandis and the southern player started walking toward the center of the arena. 5, 10 ,15, 20 yards quickly passed by as all three players started to slow down. Jim stopped around 28 yards matching Grandis and the southern player. The three players were locked in a stalemate unable to move past 28 yards. After 5 minutes passed, everyone was locked in sitting down as they could feel their limits were reached. Only the exceptionally strong willed individuals kept challenging the extra yard with no avail. Jim had an idea and activated supersight. He checked the arena for areas of less dense mana. To the average eye, it appears that the holy cross is equally distributing mana but Jim was able to see slight gaps where mana density was moderately lower. The only problem was the area that was parallel to where Jim was standing. He would have to walk in a bizarre manner taking a few steps back and forth to get to the area with less mana. He surmised that this would take about 3 minutes to get to 30 yards leaving him about 1 minute left for the challenge to end. Jim decided to take the risk and started walking back and forth in a strange directions. The audience did not understand what was going on and though he was having a mental breakdown. Only the strange guest the Archbishop brought had a subtle smile unnoticed by all.
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After 2 minutes, Jim was back to 28 yards and started moving to 29 then 30 yards. This was the closest anyone has gotten so far. With one minute left, Jim could have easily won the competition just standing at 30 yards. This opportunity to experiment with dense holy mana would not likely happen for another couple of years. Jim utilized him ability to create mana threads as thin as hair and started moving toward the holy cross. After 20 seconds he was able to connect with the holy cross.
System Notification: You have connected with an ancient relic “Holy Cross of Damien” Maintain connection for 10 seconds to receive a hidden reward.
Keeping the mana strand connected to the relic already started to take its toll with Jim as he started sweating after 1 second. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 ,3 ,2 ,1. After lasting 10 seconds with the relic Jim used up all of the remaining mana in his body which pushed him back to 0 yards at the edge of the arena. Despite Jim taking some damage from the knockback, he slumped on the edge of the arena with a smile. Jim did not have enough time or strength to move back to the center of the arena and let the remaining minute pass.
The archbishop announced that the second challenge is over with a tie between the southern player and Grandis as the champions for this event. Jim was not mentioned as his final place was 0 yards, the lowest of the all players. This did not deter Jim as he had received a prize that might be priceless. With the end of the second challenge, the Archbishop announced that the third challenge will be postponed until the summer bowl as something urgent came up. With that, the Archbishop, Monk Gyatso and the clocked figure left the arena.
As everyone was healed by the priests on site each team mingled with all four regions before heading back to their regions. The northern team returned to the Church of Damien in the northern region of Apple town and received individual rewards from Bishop Carl. With a week left, Jim received permission to stay at the Church of Damien with Bishop Carl’s blessing. As the server counted down, the end of season 1 concluded as Jim logged off.