"Well what do you know, he’s the full package deal" The black robed woman commented after seeing Ron’s fight, it wasn’t rare to see someone excel in one area however it was something else entirely to see someone excel in multiple areas. The purple robed man nodded his head and added "You’re right and he’s still got the boosting skill in reserve, but the thing I'm more curious about is how he obtained that much power in just a month and a half" The man was trying to piece together how when an idea quickly formed in his head "Could it be dungeons?" He said a little unsure. "It should be dungeons those give a fair amount of points and he must’ve gotten a fair number of achievements to boot" The blue robed woman concurred, dungeons were risky however they would pay out big time.
"Still, this is going to take a while isn’t it?" The yellow robed man said as he grabbed a bottle of wine he had won earlier and began to take sips. The green robed man saw the yellow robed man grab some of his wine and got a little annoyed at the reminder "Sigh, this is so slow I wish I could speed this up" He said as he was looking at these rookies fight, it wouldn’t be until the top 128 until better fights would come out.
Ron on the other hand was experiencing a different problem ('There’s so much to see here but if I wander off there’s a chance I won’t hear the refs') there were too many cool powers and fun fights to see that he felt like a kid in a candy store, but most interestingly of all was the pillar that stretched into the sky. If Ron was a guessing man (which he was) he would guess that pillar is the entrance to the next level of the tower, investigating it was a top priority however he could see it was outside the tournament area thus he wouldn’t hear the refs if he checked it out.
The fights came and went and soon Ron was called for his third fight. Well it wasn’t much of a ‘fight’ as it was pretty much the same as the first match and ended the same way as well, with over 1,000 people here this was to be expected more times than not as only the special ones would be able to pass. Ron could try and find Jacob again to pass some time however he didn’t want to spy on what means Jacob has to fight him, he also didn’t try and find Ryu again as there wasn’t much to talk about anymore.
As such Ron had no way to pass the time and couldn’t wander off far either, going back to his earlier metaphor of a kid in a candy store however he had no money to buy the candy and could only look at it and if he went and got money the store would close. Ron’s eyes suddenly wandered to that one special stand where he could feel eyes on him from, he guessed the black clothed woman from before was sitting there cloaked by some special means. An idea suddenly came to him as to how to pass the time a little better.
"Hm?" The yellow robed man exclaimed "Looks like our little friend wants to join us" he commented as he watched Ron walk towards their stand. "Should we stop him?" The blue robed woman asked the others. "Why? This will be fun to see" The black robed woman said expecting something interesting to come from this. "I’m also interested in seeing how this will play out" The purple robed man agreed with the black robed woman. The blue robed woman only sighed at that answer and hoped this wouldn’t end poorly.
Ron calmly walked towards the stand where the scouts were sitting, at first he wondered why no-one would even sit in the same stand but when he got closer he understood why. It was almost like there was a small voice in the back of his head telling him to turn back constantly, the closer Ron came to stand the stronger this idea became. The stand had multiple rows and Ron decided to not get too arrogant and climb the same row the scouts were sitting, he didn’t want to offend these people by suggesting that he was on the same level as them.
As Ron sat on two rows below the scouts he could feel multiple pairs of eyes on him the moment he sat down, there were obviously the pairs from row upwards but he could also feel other eyes all over him from the rings. Clearly the referees were keeping a close eye on him and Ron could even feel another pair of eyes he couldn’t tell where it came from. With all this attention on Ron even he would feel awkward "I’m not used to being the centre of attention like this" Ron said to no-one as he kept looking forward and tried to keep calm.
No-one answered him, however he could feel the amusement from some of them, thinking back Ron recognised he was a lot more perceptive to these feelings when he assimilated the Belmont bloodline. Trying to keep a straight face in this type of situation wasn’t easy and Ron tried to break the ice with some small talk "So… Nice weather today huh?" He spoke to the wind trying not to feel embarrassed, it wasn’t easy to have a one way conversation with some mysterious people that could turn the entire floor upside down.
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Just when Ron thought he wouldn’t get anywhere with this approach a voice suddenly came out "This stand is reserved, you’re going to have to move" Ron turned to where the voice came from and to his surprise it was the red robed man who started the whole tournament. Ron wasn’t angry at the rude comment but instead gave a disappointed sigh "I guess I can’t talk to those ‘scouts’ easily huh" Ron’s comment surprised the red robed man a bit. "Since you know who they are you should understand they have a job to do and they can’t talk during the job which is why they’re hidden" the red robed man explained a bit.
"I figured as much however I’m just so bored, until the top 128 I doubt I will actually get a decent opponent and if I leave to inspect that fancy tower I will get disqualified" Ron complained a bit to the red robed man, it was the only person he could actually talk to a little. The red robed man said "Then how about something special? You fight the remaining seven matches in a row however if one of those people defeat you you’re out and they get your place in the top 128".
This was an interesting proposition from the red robed man, on one hand it would speed up all of Ron’s matches and as a result he could check out the pillar in the distance and come back in time. On the other hand it meant he would fight seven people in a row without a break and Ron had no way of knowing the opponents before the fight as such he could face off against seven people with a gun or seven actual fights. The risks were big for just a look at the staircase of the next floor however Ron was too curious to pass up the opportunity and he didn’t actually think he would lose against seven random people in a row from the tournament.
"Sure, I accept those terms" Ron agreed to the red robed man’s conditions. The red robed man smiled when Ron accepted the terms, this was going to be more fun than he imagined. "Alright, I’ll go and announce it. You just go on down and come forth when I call you up" he told Ron. Ron had a slightly bad feeling about that smile but was still confident about his chances.
The scouts two rows above him however were of different opinion. "Why take this unnecessary risk just to check the pillar? It's just plain foolish, he had top 128 in the bag" The blue robed woman disagreed heavily with Ron’s choices. "Did you not hear him? He just told you he’s bored, it's why he even came here in the first place" The black robed woman shot back at the blue robed woman. The blue robed woman looked at the black robed woman as if she was making a joke "Better bored and secured then take the massive risk" she replied back.
"I wonder if there’s a hidden motive for his actions" The purple robed man began to think that there was an ulterior motive to Ron’s actions. The yellow robed man just laughed and said "He was probably serious, I mean did you hear his attempts at small talk? Hilarious!". The green robed man just sighed a little "I suppose now we have something to look at instead of just waiting around" he commented while watching Ron and the red robed man walk away.
Ron walked back down and waited for the red robed man to make the announcement, he did notice that while he waited there were no new fights called up. Suddenly all the referees gathered in the middle ring and the red robed man flew up once again, the red robed man now had everyone’s attention as he smiled and spoke loudly "I just had someone complain to me that you all were pretty disappointing challengers" he began speaking and Ron already felt aggrieved, this was not what he told him.
The red robed man ignored Ron’s pointed look as he continued "You see he believes no-one here can beat him in a fight, thus he got bored really quickly and nearly left the tournament out of boredom" He let the words sink in for a moment and could see the crowd below getting riled up. "However out of the kindness of my heart me and the complainant have come to an agreement, he will take on his remaining seven matches in a row with no stopping and if someone manages to beat him they will advance directly to the top 128!"
The crowd began to stir even more at those words "Heh, I’ll show that arrogant ass", "Just who does he think he is?" all types of comments were thrown around. Ron was already beginning to regret even talking to the red robed man, who knew he was such a lover of chaos? "Now come on up, our lucky contestant number 486!" The red robed man didn’t give Ron a chance to hide as he immediately called him out. Ron could only sigh and play the role he’s been given as he jumped up on the ring and wore an arrogant expression.
Back in the crowd Jacob was someone shaking his head ('He had the top 128 in the bag and yet he just had to run his mouth') he could already guess what led to this, somewhere else in the crowd was the old man called Ryu who just smiled and shook his head. The entire crowd erupted in boos as Ron jumped on the stage, they all wanted a piece of Ron and the only one standing between them was the red robed man however that wasn’t for long.
"Now whoever wants to take the first swing at him, come on up to the ring!" He shouted and the referees cleared the ring leaving Ron alone in the ring, he felt like the whole world was suddenly against him as tons of people were screaming and yelling. Quickly a man jumped onto the ring and landed with a bang "You think you’re hot stuff huh? I’ll show you who’s boss" the man said. To Ron’s surprise he actually knew the man, it was the earthbender who lost to Jacob in the first round. He knew the man needed to win in order to advance to the top 128 and thus this was a golden opportunity for him. "Then show me if I was wrong" Ron said as focused on the man, he was thrust into the role of a bad guy so he would play the role of a bad guy.