Chapter 16 - The Guild's Tournament

Different from the stadium where he had obtained the entry-level badge, this new arena was significantly larger. It contained five battlegrounds, each with its battles broadcasted on enormous crystal mirrors throughout the stadium.

A weak spiritual barrier encircled the five battlegrounds, protecting the spectators from the participants' attacks. Edward was astonished by the complexity and advancement of the tournament's battle system, considering the apparent lack of technological advancement in this world.

"The Mystic Guild is responsible for all of this," Julius noticed Edward's curiosity and explained the tournament's arrangement. "Well, them and the Royal Court envoy overseeing the competition."

"Oh? The mystic element is truly magical; they can even construct things like this." Edward recollected two of Whitey's skills: Hypnosis and Impact Barrier, which were from the Mystic Element. "I can't wait to see how powerful the Mystic Guild is."

"They won't be participating in this tournament. In the entire history of Amberhold, the Mystic Guild has only taken part in three competitions." Julius looked at the group of elders of the Mystic Guild with a mixture of fear and awe. "Of those three times, they won first place in two of them, with their only defeat a few years ago at the hands of the Earth Guild."

Edward had seen some posters displaying the guild's rankings, and the Earth Guild occupied the top spot. However, the Mystic Guild came in at a close second, and their absence in the tournament was a disappointment for many spectators.

"Are they really that strong?" Edward knew that the Earth Guild was powerful, but, he still couldn't understand how much.

"Strong is an understatement... In (name of the city), there are only four Lord Realm monsters and one of them is owned by the Earth Guild's Leader."

Edward felt a tinge of excitement as he imagined how powerful a monster of this level would be. Whitey, who was only at the Apprentice Realm, displayed strength, agility, and dexterity that seemed unbelievable, so monsters of such a caliber were sure to possess city-destroying levels of power.

"So? Who owns the other three?" Edward's eyes shone with curiosity as the topic fascinated him, and he swiftly asked Julius about the remaining Lord Realm Monsters.

"The leader of the Mystic Guild, the city's governor, and the president of the Monster's Association branch," Julius answered with a bored expression, waiting for the next round of battles to begin. "They are all at the apex of power in the city, and almost no decision is made without their approval."

Edward felt a shiver run down his spine as he realized the magnitude of influence these four individuals held over the city and its inhabitants. He wondered if someday he would ever be able to stand in such a position.

Since arriving in this world, Edward had never had a clear goal or mission, and had simply lived his life day by day. But now, he felt the urge to stand among those giants of men. He continued to daydream about this until the battle commenced once again.

The tournament format was a single-elimination combat, with each participant trying their hardest to win their first battle. Only the top fifty would be awarded points for the final ranking.

Most of the competitors were at the beginner's stage of the Gold Rank, while the monsters were generally at the beginner's stage of the General Realm, with very few of them at the Peak Stage General Realm. Those who had Peak Stage General Realm monsters easily crushed their opponents and secured their spot on the next day of the competition. However, the vast majority of the battles were long and exciting. Monsters and Tamers fought bravely, to the point of grave injuries.

The audience was on the edge of their seats as they watched the battles unfold, cheering for their favorite Tamers and gasping at the impressive moves of the monsters. Despite the intense competition, there was a sense of camaraderie among the participants, with many offering words of encouragement and support to their fellow Tamers after each battle.

Edward had a blast enjoying the battles, but things suddenly took a dark turn as he watched one Tamer sacrifice one of his pets to secure a win. The thought of killing one of your pets just for some tournament win made Edward furious. However, thankfully, Julius explained that the monster didn't truly die.

Tamers had access to spells capable of preserving monsters' lives, but the time and spiritual energy required by the spell made it hard for Tamers to use it often. As a result, only the weakest competitors wasted the spell on the first round.

"Darn! I need to learn this..." Edward was dumbstruck by the spell's effect. Initially, he felt apprehensive about joining battles as the thought of a pet dying terrified him. But with this spell, he could be more at ease.

"Sorry to break it to you, but it's only possible to learn it at the Silver Rank," Julius said, surprised that Edward didn't even know this much. "Not to mention the several downsides that the spell brings."

"Downsides?" Edward asked, preparing to jot down everything Julius was about to say in his memory.

"Well, you can only use it on one pet at a time. So while it's pretty useful in tournaments and guild challenges, in real battles, you never know which of your monsters might perish." Julius' face darkened as he spoke. "And the tamer is also weakened after the spell. The duration of the effects is dependent on the monster's power."

Edward looked at the ground, noticing Julius' somber mood. He still had some questions, but he decided not to bother him with more questions about this matter. "Thanks for the information...sorry to ask about this."

"Don't worry, it's just that in last year's tournament, our leader lost a pet..." Julius clenched his fists as he looked at the stand where all the guild leaders were gathered. "During the first round, our leader met the Earth Guild Leader, and he ended up losing two pets: his strongest pet, who had been saved by the Life Grace spell, and one of his weakest pets."

"That's saddening..." Edward sighed, unable to imagine how much suffering the leader of the Fire Guild must have gone through.

"You tell me. To add salt to the injury, our leader had to forfeit the rest of the battles," Julius said, now that he had entered this topic, showing no sign of stopping. "For us of the Fire Guild, who were considered one of the three strongest decades ago, to be ranked last is an insult. So we are trying our hardest to reclaim our spot."

Edward let out an awkward grin as Julius continued to linger on the topic. He had chosen to be brief in his words to not fuel Julius' negative emotions, but who would have thought that Julius himself would continue to speak about this?

"The Earth Guild is just a bunch of lucky bastards! I admit their leader is very strong and capable, but if not for that Evolutionist who discovered a new evolution path for one of their pets, they would never be so strong!" Julius' voice grew louder and louder as he continued to blurt out everything he had kept bottled inside. "Sooner or later, they will pay for all this pride and scorn they give us all!"

"Evolutionist? For them to get this strong, the race he discovered must be really strong..." Edward felt relieved that the conversation topic had finally changed.

"See that Rhino? It's the evolutions I'm talking about," Julius said, only feeling more anger as he looked at the big monster. "That damned evolutionist actually made the Crystal Horned Rhino, a Low-grade Uncommon bloodline, into a low-grade rare bloodline!"

"A rare bloodline?" Edward almost jumped from his seat as he heard Julius' words and immediately opened the information index of the Rhino.

[Info Window]

Name: Diamond Horned Rhino | Realm: General | Level: 5 | Bloodline: Low-Grade Rare | Elemental Affinity: Earth | Talent Rating: 6/10 | Tamer: ???? ????? (Subjugation Bond)

Physical Attributes: Dexterity: ??? | Strength: ??? | Agility: ??? | Endurance: ???| Mental Attributes: Intelligence: ???| Awareness: ???| Spiritual Power: ???| Spiritual Energy: ???

Evolution: There is no evolution path left.

Hidden Evolutions: There are no lost or hidden evolution paths.

[Info Window]

This was the first monster of the tournament that Edward had decided to check in the information index, and he was surprised to learn that he couldn't see its stats. He quickly attributed this to the difference in realms between him and the monster.

"A rare bloodline, huh?" Edward said. Since he didn't know the base stats of monsters at the General Realm, he couldn't truly understand the power of the Diamond Horned Rhino. "It should be quite strong then…"

"Quite strong? Those things are incredible!" Julius' face reddened in anger as he gazed at the Diamond Horned Rhino. "If not for them, the Earth Guild's power would only be thanks to their leader!"

Edward grinned as he watched the Diamond Horned Rhinos rampage around the stage, completely dominating the battles they took part in. "Well, why don't the other guilds try to do the same?" he asked, curious about why the others didn't invest in such a rewarding method.

"It's not that simple," Julius sneered as he continued. "A renowned evolutionist would cost way too much money, especially when it entails them to come to such a backyard place. Besides, inviting an evolutionist doesn't even guarantee payback… Discovering a new evolution path of this level is very hard, and most Evolutionists won't ever come closer to succeeding in it."

Edward scratched his head. While he couldn't say that he had discovered a new evolution yet, he was at least able to understand the fundamental principles behind the phenomenon. "So? Why did that Evolutionist come to help the Earth guild? Don't tell me they were always that rich…"

"It was just a coincidence," Julius replied. "That guy had already studied a similar species, but after hitting a dead end on his research, he came here to see if he could find new clues…" Julius cursed softly as he remembered the day that the news of the evolution of the Crystal Horned Rhino broke out. "Who would have known that his research, which was useless to other species, would be a success when applied to the Crystal Horned Rhino."

Edward grinned as he continued to watch the tournament, but half of his attention was preoccupied with scheming ways to become an Evolutionist. He was already interested in monster evolutions, but now, knowing how sought-after they were, he was dead set on following this path.