Dare

Grand Hall Assembly

A few hours ago, the huge courtyard below the stairs heading up to the purple pillar had been filled with hundreds of second year acolytes. Now, however, it was starting to fill up once again, as beams of lights transported new acolytes as well as other figures. Instead of staying on the floor, they all walked up the stairs, making their way toward the rows of seats on the side. Some of them were in groups, others were alone.

Based on the clothings of these people, they were a mix of third year acolytes as well as magi from all kinds of institutions. After they took their seats, they looked up to watch the big screen broadcasting a live feed of what was happening in the virtual arena.

A young man dressed all in black walked up the stairs and a magus came to greet him. "Ah, Magus Xion, welcome I am glad you can join us."

Magus Xion nodded in response and proceeded to walk straight to the second row of stairs, where only magi were allowed to be seated. This row offered a better view of the multiple cubes' projection of the virtual arena.

In that place, there were dozens of people sitting looking at the ceiling of the central area, which was filled with screens of the battle situation on the bridge.

Magus Xion eventually found an empty spot. After taking a seat, he started watching the large projection. There were about a hundred screens showing every team of acolytes fighting off the waves of creatures heading toward the orb in the middle of the bridge.

At the bottom of the screen in the middle of the courtyard, the blond magus, Serena, who was hosting the game, was giving comments about the happenings inside the game that reverberated throughout the whole stadium.

"The level three of 'Defend the orb' has started! It won't be long until we get some of the unfortunate second year acolytes showing up!" said Magus Serena, holding an object before her, which seemed to amplify her voice. And true to what she had commented on, about ten minutes later, multiple beams of light appeared in the courtyard and spawned out second year acolytes who looked around confused.

"And here it is! Our first set of contestants that failed! Thank you for joining the game. Now go stand to the side… weaklings." The last word was faint, but the voice amplifier Serena was holding still managed to pick it up, hence it was heard throughout the whole hall.

Another set of lights appeared and out came more acolytes. Serena quickly picked up her voice amplifier and said, "Welcome, welcome. Thank you for playing the game. Oh wait, we have someone crying! If you're just going to be sad, then just quit already!"

This time, everyone heard it loud and clear, but her viciousness, masked by her high-pitched upbeat voice and pretty pink outfit, didn't seem to garner any sympathy from the audience. In fact, those older acolytes seemed to have given a laugh instead.

Not long after, more and more of those participants, who had failed, were starting to spawn in the middle of the stage before they were led to the side toward another set of stairs where the failee sat. Only about ten to fifteen minutes had elapsed but looking at the steady stream of acolytes, it appeared there were only less than a hundred teams of acolytes left fighting off the wave of orcs.

Magus Xion wasn't listening to the host as his eyes darted at the diminishing number of screens looking for a particular boy. His focus, however, had gotten distubed when his name had been called by someone.

"Xion! I'm glad to see you here!" a bulky man approached him with a smile, but the other magus beside the bulky man had a very sour expression.

"Hello, Darius. And to you too… Urix…" said Magus Xion returning a bright smile to Darius, while on the other hand, he made sure to sound unhappy when he had mentioned the name of the other person.

Magus Xion always enjoyed Darius' company, but the guy next to him was someone he despised. Magus Urix, a magus instructor, the same as him, only this Urix was from Light Institute.

In terms of appearance, Magus Urix was a bit similar to Magus Xion too. Magus Urix also became a magus at a young age, but he had long blonde hair and was wearing a full-white robe.

Magus Darius sat beside Magus Xion, making the two young magi sit on his two sides.

"It's rare to see you here… Xion. Are you perhaps finally interested in looking for a talent whom you'll be taking care of?" said Magus Urix. His voice sounded a bit light and mellow.

Magus Xion's brows twitched a bit and said, "As matter of fact, yes, I am."

"Wow! Among these acolytes which are not of the elites? Haha, it sounds like you have too much time to spare. Aren't you wasting your time like this?" said Magus Urix.

"What about you? I've noticed how your faction always seems to be looking for more acolytes to join. Tell me, how many has your faction recruited this year?"

"Haha, I am not sure, but I can assure you no one from these bunch of losers. We only take elites and if we're lucky, one or two from the privileged class," replied Magus Urix.

Oblivious to the two magi beside him, Darius pointed at the large floating screen and shouted, "Alright! It seems we are not late! The best moment is almost here!"

Magus Urix first turned his attentioned to the screen, then down to the newly spawned defeated acolytes and lastly to the row of acolytes who had failed before clicking his tongue. "Level three has just started but that many have already been eliminated? Huh, the acolytes are just getting worse each year."

Magus Xion's eyes appeared sharp for a moment and said with a slightly impatient tone, "It's better to judge when the game has finished. We should see their quality from the best of them, not from the worst."

"What quality are you talking about? Look at that team on the top-left most corner, there's only five of them left, I bet they won't last five minutes,'' said Magus Urix.

Following the trail of Magus Urix's finger, Magus Xion finally found the boy he was looking for earlier. He squinted his eyes and smiled inwardly as he said, "I bet they can last until the next level."

Darius suddenly became excited hearing this. "Aha! A bet! Now this is what i am talking about!"

Hearing such commotion, another magus approached them. A blue robed beautiful woman with long hair appeared behind them, together with another magus who had purple robes. They were Magus Carla from the Water Institute and Magus Minerva.

Magus Carla came forward with her hands on her hips and said, "What are the two of you have been bickering about?"

"Ah, our lovely colleagues are here!" said Darius. "It's nothing much, Carla. They're just betting on the acolytes team"

Magus Minerva said, "A bet? I love to bet. What are we betting on spirit stones or artifacts?"

Not wanting to lose face in front of such a beautiful woman, Magus Urix had no choice but to accept Magus Xion's challenge. Magus Urix once more stared at the screen where Emery and his friends were fighting and said, "I don't see anything special among that group. And with only five of them they will not make it to the top 50."

Hearing it Darius suddenly complained "Hey, Urix! Aren't you raising the bar of the bet too much?"

Magus Urix lightly coughed and didn't pay heed to Magus Darius' comment, even though what that person said was true. Passing level three and getting amongst the top 50 teams was indeed much more difficult than lasting for more than five minutes.

"Well, think about it. If that team doesn't make it to the top 50 we won't see them on the next stage. Hence, this bet won't be as exciting as it can be, will it? I'll bet 100 thousand spirit stones they won't make it. Do you dare?"

"Wow Urix, you are so shameless, aren't you?" commented Darius on the side.

"It's fine, Darius. I agree with this bet," said Magus Xion with confidence.

Minerva found the team the two were betting on and realized those were second year acolytes from her class. She decided to join the bet and said, "Me too. I'll join in the bet."

Magus Urix smirked and said, "You both are crazy."

Darius clapped, taking all the attention to him. "Okay, now that's settled, look! The main event is about to start."

The projections on the screens zoomed out and shifted, showing the prospective from the orc's side. It showed the acolytes fighting against the orcs, the orb in the background and, further behind the orb, the stone bridge at the end opening up and showing its light.

The acolytes who were already struggling against the attacks from the orcs on one side suddenly grew panicky to see the door from the other side of the bridge had opened as well. And, very much like the first stone gate, waves of orcs in rows of six started coming out of it!

The two waves of orcs, one from the front and another from the back, including the sudden surprise, meant the challenge difficulty had become thrice as much!

Because of the increased difficulty, more and more teams on-screen were losing and, within minutes, more orbs blew up and more light beams appeared in the courtyard.

Not far from where Magus Xion was seating, a group of magus were talking.

"Now, this is an exciting fight. Too bad it's not real though. Have you heard the last news? they have been talking about using these virtual arenas for the pillars project."

"More virtuals? Damn I hate that thought, what is the council thinking! We all know that the best talents are only born from real life and death battles!"

"Can't argue with that. They even think about making these virtual easier. So not as to make it too difficult for the lower worlds you see."

"That's crazy."