Plan to obtain CP!

Morales rubbed his hands together in glee.

The ranking battle was here!

He knew he wasn't strong enough to make the list and passively earn a lot of CP but he wasn't worried.

If all went according to plan today and even throughout the week, he would be even richer than those on the ranking list!

Already, he had made quite the fortune recently, backstabbing his buddy Pedro Leon to join those who had similar minds as him.

Together, they had scammed Leon and quite a number of their own mates!

When he heard that Pedro Leon and the other four people whom had been part of those he had scammed had been beaten by first year students, dismissed and committed suicide, he was elated!

Five less people would be after him seeking for revenge.

For the others, he and his new buddies would deal with them one by one.

The scamming of the second years had been a resounding success and now, it was the turn of these first years. 

Morales' grin became even more frenzied as he imagined the amount of CP he was going to make out of these naïve first years!

"I might even make an extra 15k CP or even more!" Morales said with greed.

Still grinning like a maniac, he got out of his room.

It was time to set up with his buddies and relieve the first years of their CP!

**

The morning class ended and everyone rushed towards the Colosseum, where the ranking battles would take place.

Any moment now, the first challenge would be issued and the ranking battles would begin!

"Do you reckon we'll be challenged today? I got 500 CP that says yes," Frank said to Hank.

Hank laughed. "You wanna bet on which one of us gets challenged first?"

"If you put it like that," Frank shrugged.

"I'm game," Hank smirked.

The Colosseum was already packed and those who hadn't come to witness the battle for themselves were watching @Information_minister's livestream!

Instructors and teachers had also come around and set up barriers to prevent any of the residual attacks from hurting those seated and watching the ranking battles.

The whole colosseum was noisy.

Everyone looked around and talked frantically, wondering who would be the first to issue a challenge!

"Do you reckon Noah Turner will claim the first spot this time?" a blond second year student asked her friend.

Her friend pondered and shook her head. "It's not impossible. I heard he has made great improvements over the past two months!"

"Then it means we will get to watch a good fight!" 

In the stands, Ronnie Quentin was also present with his cronies, his gaze calm and unruffled.

It was just a matter of time before he made it into the peak level of the Enlightenment realm. By the time the ranking battles came, he would be the strongest first year student!

He had avoided getting into direct conflicts and spars to prevent the other faction leaders from seeing how strong he had become.

Even if he did, he made sure they weren't around to see.

When the time came, he would definitely surprise them!

The only one who made him uneasy was Damien.

He was the only one who posed a sufficient threat to him.

Already, he had started making plans to deal with him to ensure that Damien would not be able to claim the first spot.

It was going to be his and his alone.

But for now, he was here to watch the second year ranking battles and potentially scout for people whom he could get to join him just like Pedro Leon and the others.

The truly strong students, the top 10 to be precise, all came from very powerful families and backgrounds.

The Liu family in the Eastern sector were one of the three overlords of the Huaxia state in the sector.

[A/N: Huaxia is China. Countries found in sectors are called states so basically it's the China state of the Eastern sector]

Noah Turner was backed by Helmsgate Industries, a powerful company that dealt with the manufacturing and making of military spaceships!

The third ranked person on the list, Xavier, had an uncle who was the Vice president of the Mercenary Association, a large group that oversaw all the mercenaries and freelance awakened hunters on earth!

The others on the lists had similar backgrounds too.

Perhaps it was only the tenth ranked person, a guy called Lyon, who had no known backing.

He had an extremely normal background but even then he was very strong!

Such people like this were out of Ronnie's league for now but those ranked in the eighties and nineties section of the rankings and other unranked second years were all solid pickings for Ronnie.

He just had to observe and select those who had powers that would aid his plans.

Ronnie was interrupted from his thoughts when his comm rang.

He opened it to see the message he had received.

[Betting on the ranking battles has now been opened and will commence after the first challenge!]

The notification contained additional info on how the betting would work alongside other things to take note of. 

Everyone had also received such notifications too and immediately the eyes of the first years lit up. 

Didn't this mean that they could earn CP from betting on the battles?

If they were lucky, they would make a lot more CP than they had!

There was one problem though. 

They had seen the ranking list of the second years. It was displayed boldly near the training centers and everyone who passed by saw the blank bronze list, the silver second year list and the gold second year list.

The thing was, they didn't really know the strength of the truly powerful seniors!

If they staked a bet blindly and lost, they would lose CP instead of gain CP!

That was when the first years heard a loud voice near where they sat.

"We are selling information on the strength, realm and level, notable techniques and powers of those on the ranking list!

You can obtain this at only 20 CP!" 

The first years turned to see who it was.

A group of second year students had set up a stall and were using megaphones to advertise their product!

At the mention of the word info on the top 100 on the ranking list, the interests of the first year students peaked!

If this was true, their problem would be solved!

They would be able to evaluate and choose those who would win just by having this information!

"Is this true?" one of the first years called out to the group of seniors.

"Why would we lie? If you don't believe it, come and see it for yourself! As the first person to inquire about this, you'll be given a discount so you'll pay only 5 CP!

Come check it out for yourself. 

If you think we are lying, we can sign a contract being watched over by the school that if we're lying to you we would be penalized severely!" Morales called out.

If students wanted to ensure they weren't ripped off, one way was to sign an agreement with the school as a witness!

Thus, if anyone breached the contract, the school would be able to punish them!

On hearing this, the boy became convinced and walked over to Morales on the other second year seniors.

Most of the first years watched what was going on with interest.

If it was true, they wouldn't hesitate to buy some for themselves!

The boy transferred 5 CP to Morales and handed him a datachip.

The boy careful inserted the chip into his comm and after some time, his eyes widened in shock.

"It's true!" he blurted out in surprise.

With this, he wouldn't have to worry about losing his CP when he staked a bet!

Seeing his surprised gaze, the other first years exchanged glances and the atmosphere quickly exploded!

"Senior, senior! I want one of these chips!"

"Me too!"

"Piss off! I got here before you!"

Many first years ran over to the stall of the seniors.

"Calm down, calm down! As long as you're interested in buying it, it will be yours for only 20 CP!

Once you buy the chip, it can't be used by anyone else and no one would be able to see the contents even if you put it on public mode!" Morales said.

At the mention of that, even more people rushed over.

Obviously, they were waiting for their friends to buy it so they could share but Morales had halted that idea in an instant!

The chips began to sell like hotcakes as even other second year students were tempted to buy some.

Morales grinned. 

The first part of his plan was already in place.

The students didn't know that they were merely pawns in an elaborate plot!

The data chips did contain general information about those on the ranking list which was common knowledge for any observant second year student.

Obviously, all the hundred and even those not on the list had rapidly improved which meant this information was heavily outdated.

This didn't deter Morales and his cronies though.

This was because some of the ranking matches had been rigged by them!

They had paid quite a substantial amount of CP they had made to a few people.

With them, they would convince the first year students that the information in those data chips were gospel truth and truly contained everything about the combatants!

Even those who hadn't been tempted to buy it now would buy it later.

Some instructors were also in on the plan.

Though the school allowed betting, it was controlled by the students and monitored by the instructors!

 Yes!

Morales and his cronies obviously had ties with the students who ran the betting company in the Imperial Institute.

They had set it up with the school's permission, that was why the school did the announcement on their behalf.

After lulling the students into a state of confidence that their stakes were certainly going to rake in profits, then some seniors would mix in with them and coax them into betting higher amounts, even all their CP!

After all, it was 'certain' that they would make a lot of CP so why not take advantage of it?

By the time the students realized, their CP would be long gone and there would be nothing they could do about it!

With a dishonest smile, Morales made a loud announcement. "Do take note that in combat, many factors and unseen things may happen.

Some combatants may have even hidden their strength very deeply!

So if your prediction fails, please don't blame us!"