First Challenge!

"I'm going to buy one of those datachips," Zane said decisively, standing up to go over to where the seniors were.

"I don't think it's a good idea. Since when did obtaining information on all those on the ranking list become so easy?" Mindy said, frowning at the seniors who were now swarmed by the first year students.

"Aw c'mon! There's no harm in trying!" Zane whined.

"Damien, what do you think?" Mindy asked Damien.

The others turned to look at Damien whose focus was on the barrier encompassing the fighting area.

"Hm?" he turned to them and quickly understood what they were asking.

He glanced at the first year students surrounding the seniors. "Sounds fishy to me," he said and he returned his focus onto the blue barrier.

"See? Even Damien agrees that it's suspicious! Things which come too easily are always suspicious!" Mindy turned to Zane.

"Fine," Zane sighed and took his seat.

Damien took one last glance at the stall.

He couldn't deny that he was tempted to buy one of those datachips but his short stay here had shone him that things weren't so simple, especially when it came to the seniors.

He would rather be cautious and sit this one out than rush head on into this and suffer losses.

"Why hasn't anyone given a challenge yet?" Brianna asked in exasperation.

Everyone shared her sentiments. 

They were anxious to see the start of the ranking battle!

_ _ _

Ronnie eyed the stall of the seniors as he also contemplated on what to do.

"Master Ronnie should I go and buy one of the datachips?" Danny asked.

It was obvious that he wanted to get one for himself. If the information on it turned out to be pretty accurate, it was just a matter of using it to predict who would win!

"Hm. Hold off for now. Let's see how it goes," Ronnie replied after some thought.

At another part of the first year stands, Silas Spears commanded his lackey. "Quick! Go and get me one of those datachips!

"Yes boss," his lackey replied and quickly departed, headed for the stall.

Silas rubbed his palms together.

He had a lot of CP to spare and he wanted to try his luck today!

Who knew?

Perhaps he might get lucky and make a lot of CP from staking bets!

With the information in hand, he was confident that he would be able to evaluate and choose the one most definite to win.

Very soon, his lackey returned with the chip and he gleefully inserted it into his comm.

A display screen opened in front of him, showing many names arranged neatly in folders. He quickly selected a random folder and opened it.

The picture of a fatty was displayed and below the picture was the information he wanted!

The information was so detailed that it stated five of the fatty's most used techniques, his power, his realm and level and even his weakness!

Silas grinned like a maniac.

With this in hand he was going to make a shitload of CP!

The only thing he hoped for that others made the wrong decisions so his profit wouldn't be too low. 

If all those who bought the chips and even those who didn't all staked on the winner, the amount of CP he made will be negligible and Silas didn't want it to be like that!

"A lot of them have finally bought the chips. Let's move on to the next phase of the plan," Morales said.

He was extremely happy that the chips had sold out like hotcakes.

It was only a matter of time before he made a lot of CP!

He and his cronies were not worried about losing too much if the students staked on the winner and made CP.

In the end, the CP would return back to their pockets!

This was because the datachips that they had sold didn't contain only information on those on the ranking list.

It also contained a sinister virus!

By unknowingly placing the chips in their comms, the students had inadvertently allowed a virus into their comms.

Morales and his gang weren't stupid enough to tamper with the calls and messages on the comms. Their only interest was in the CP stored in it!

The comms were connected to the school bracelet and through it, they would siphon CP from the accounts of the first year students and back to their pockets!

The first year students wouldn't even notice till it was too late.

What made Morales and his gang even more confident in their plan was that they were certain that the Vice Chancellor wouldn't interfere with their large scale fraud.

The only thing which mattered to her was having stronger students!

Everything else which happened wasn't of concern to her.

If the students were stupid enough to be defrauded, she wouldn't waste her time helping stupid people out.

This plan wouldn't even affect their betting business too as the chips sold were not connected with the betting company.

There were no relatable ties which the students could use to complain that the betting company was in cahoots with the datachip sellers.

It was a completely foolproof plan!

**

A second year student holding a mace walked into the arena, drawing attention to him.

"Boris! Come out! I've come to challenge you for the 90th spot!" roared the second year student.

He was tall and superbly built, having dark hair and a fierce looking face. He wore a plain black armor.

The crowd immediately jumped into an uproar.

The first challenge had come!

An instructor stepped inside the arena. "Boris, ranked 90th, a challenge has been issued! Do you accept it or not?" he asked loudly.

A hush came over the crowd as everyone looked around to catch a glimpse of Boris.

A lanky guy with orange hair came out, wearing grey nano armor and holding a bow. "I accept!' He answered firmly.

"Very well! You will be seen as having lost this battle if you are heavily injured by your opponent, forfeit, knocked out and ran out of mana!

Weapons and armor are allowed to be used with the exception of the school's nano armor. 

You can only use two pills or potions or you will be disqualified.

Bomb like artifacts are also restricted.

If you have no objections, this fight can begin!" said the instructor.

Boris and his mace wielding opponent nodded to the instructor that they understood the rules. They walked out into the far edges of the arena, waiting for the command to start.

[You can now place bets on the fight between Boris, ranked 90th and Elias, ranked 98th!] came a notification on everyone's comm.

Those who had bought the datachip immediately looked up the information on Boris and Elias.

With the information given, they were confident they would choose rightly!

Boris, ranked 90th, had the power to form arrows out of mana. His style was to stay at a distance and pepper his opponents with a shower of mana arrows till he won!

It was an effective tactic against body path awakened who needed to close the distance between them and their opponents to fight!

Elias on the other hand was a body path awakened whose power allowed him to increase and decrease the force behind his strikes!

Against an opponent like him, basic shields and defenses were almost futile.

He could freely control the force and power behind his strikes. If he gave it his all and got close to his opponent in melee, he could finish them in one move!

Both were at the peak of the Enlightenment realm.

Who would win?

"Who are you betting on?" Austin asked Zane who was fiddling with his comm.

"I'm placing my hopes on the archer. As long as he keeps his distance, this would be an easy win for him," Zane replied.

Damien glanced over and shook his head inwardly.

Victory was always easy to determine on a paper, when people could see and know their powers but reality wasn't so easy to determine.

"Damien, who do you think will win? The archer or the mace guy?" Brianna asked.

"How would I know? The fight hasn't even started yet," he smiled wryly.

Ever since he had beaten up those seniors, they indirectly looked up to him and listened to whatever he said carefully.

As long as he pointed out the person he had confidence in to win, he had no doubt that they would firmly accept his decision and bet on that person.

He didn't want to make wrong predictions for them to lose CP nor was he going to place a bet on who would win.

He was here to learn and observe.

It was only a matter of time before he too would be a combatant in that arena and he had to make sure he knew the ins and outs of it.

The instructor checked the two opponents to see if they had brought in anything they weren't supposed to. 

Satisfied, he moved back and gave the command.

"Start!"