"Dear audience, the fight is nearing its end. Sick Sammy combines his skills beautifully! The red bear is stunned again, forced to endure the arrow storm. That's it. With less than one thousand HP remaining the red bear won't make a comeback!"
"Look at the confident face of our contestant. He nocks his last arrow. Haha, see how he smiles as he sends off the monster. Dear audience, we have a winner, and he is called Siiick Sammyyyy!"
Billowing cheers erupted all around. Sick Sammy stood on the arena floor, looking towards the audience stands, his heart filled with an unprecedented feeling. He smiled gladly and waved in all directions.
However, the game didn't grant him much time. The tournament schedule was packed to the brim. Sick Sammy was quickly sent back to his seat and another contestant appeared.
Up in the sky Fortune took a deep breath. The realization hit her that her job as a caster would be more stressful than anticipated. Communicating with C she learned that she was allowed to take a break any time after casting at least five matches.
However, most people who applied for the job were there to be seen. Would they really be satisfied with taking a break after five fights? Fortune definitely didn't think so. Thus, she steadied herself and continued introducing the second contestant.
In the audience Liam and his friends watched the excitement. Everyone was influenced by the atmosphere to a certain degree. Cyclone and Balm loudly showed their support for the guild members.
Be it coincidence or not but more than half of Dream Avenue's players had their qualification rounds early in the day.
Originally Cyclone suggested to switch between arenas and watch three of their members, but now that Fortune had the job of announcer her friends decided to stay and cheer her on. This only interfered with their plans slightly as the second contestant was also a member of Dream Avenue, yet the third was not.
It didn't take long for the fight in the arena to begin. Cyclone loudly cheered on a young woman battling a crimson tiger.
As Liam watched he gradually came to the conclusion that none of Dream Avenue's members should lose in the qualification round.
Their equipment was sufficient and if they didn't falter under the pressure the monsters shouldn't pose too much of a problem.
As he came to this realization Liam felt a hint of boredom. He looked over the audience, suddenly noticing some strange people. They didn't join the excitement, watching the fight with neutral expressions.
Are other guilds actually observing us? Can you learn enough by studying our individual players?
Liam shook his head as he let his eyes wander between these spies. Suddenly one of them seemed to perceive the gaze and looked back.
It was a woman her age having passed 30. She had short red hair and wore a subdued armor. Locking eyes with Liam she remained calm before turning her head back to the front.
This should be Paw of a Lioness, right? Albeit not in contention for the top players, she is part of The Tribe, who are rated highly for the team contest. Even she is here?
Liam couldn't understand what others were thinking.
At that moment Serena asked him a question about the fight, grabbing his attention. Liam focused back on the arena floor while talking to his sister.
The fight ended soon without any surprises. A new contestant appeared. Liam studied him with interest.
It was a man of about 25 years. Although he chose to play an orc, his face still screamed of ordinariness. He didn't look extremely fearsome, had average teeth, and boring, brown eyes. His figure was muscular for a human but nothing special among orcs.
This player emitted such a regular aura that even the excited audience calmed down.
Looking around the newcomer showed some surprise as he didn't expect such a large audience. Spectators continuously trickled in, slowly growing to about 75.000 people much to Fortune's delight.
Invigorated, the young woman did her job in introducing the newcomer.
"Warmly welcome our next contestant Varge! This proud orc has only joined the game recently, having reached level 14. His class is a Roctra Berserker! Doesn't this sound powerful?!"
Suddenly Liam's eyes lit up. While Fortune only asked a rhetorical question to draw some support for the newcomer, Liam knew that she had hit the nail on the head.
Roctra Berserker was indeed a class with high potential originating from the region where the Red Steppe bordered the Eastern Mountains. There, the orcs fought all year round against all kinds of monsters coming out of the Eastern Mountains, creating powerful, battle-hardened warriors.
Now, Liam was looking forward to seeing what Varge could do, perhaps more so than anyone else in the arena.
Thus, while almost no one expected much from the low-level fight, Varge's enemy appeared. It was a fearsome snow tiger with two sword-like teeth growing form his mouth downwards, but its body didn't look fully matured yet.
The fight began and Fortune's voice echoed through the arena.
"The two fighters stare each other down like hunters searching for a weakness. Varge's presence seems to intimidate the level 14 elite tiger."
"Don't look down on elite enemies, dear audience. We all have struggled against them before. Their skills can definitely catch new players off guard.
Mister Varge can prove himself now. Did he bring extensive experience from other games? Or is he a haven-sent talent? Let's find out together!"
Fortune clearly tried to hype the player up fearing that the audience would dismiss him. Simultaneously she also hoped for exciting battles, or the bored audience might leave.
Imagining herself talking before an empty arena Fortune thought it would be too sad.
Right now, the mood was somewhat low but at least Varge took the initiative in the fight. He dashed towards the tiger, swinging the weighty great sword he had been wearing on his back.
Suddenly the player's eyes hardened. A faint red light emitted from his skin. His sword came down and slammed heavily into the tiger's skull.
Naturally the monster retaliated immediately. Its silvery gleaming claw slashed across the player's chest.
"Ah!"
"Move!"
"What is he doing?!"
Everyone was startled as Varge showed no signs of dodging. The powerful claw cut deep lines in his chest, drawing blood.
Only Liam nodded his head with a faint grin. He knew what was going on.
When Roctra Berserkers received damage, they gained a stack of Wildness. Wildness increased their attack speed. Simultaneously they received stance through damaging enemies. And this stance could be used to heal.
Thus, Liam was looking favourably upon Varge. If he had wasted his stance to dodge, he would have been doing his class a disservice, losing his qualification in Liam's eyes.
The veteran watched with ever increasing interest. Varge turned out to be an undiscovered treasure.
Finally, the snow tiger unleashed its powerful skill. It summoned a fearsome ice spike which fell from the sky. Most players, even Roctra Berserkers would be tempted to use their stance to dodge. Their healing was not almighty after all.
However, Varge had smartly held back two of his skills, now using one of them. With a deafening shout red energy erupted from his body, obliterating all attacks in a certain range around him. The young man timed it well and destroyed the tiger's skill.
Finally, Liam came to a decision, tapping Cyclone's shoulder.
"Huh? Expert?"
"You should try to recruit that guy into the guild."
"Eh? I mean, that move was not bad but to catch even your eyes..."
"He has potential."
"Well, I will send him a message."
Cyclone didn't hesitate and immediately turned her words into actions. Right now, Varge was still caught up in the fight but as soon as he finished, he would definitely read the message.
Cyclone was confident that they were the first to discover Varge and that their prestige was enough to attract the man. Especially since he was from Falva Star where Dream Avenue's reputation was definitely resounding enough.
Gradually the excitement in the arena also began to rekindle. Just as his class suggested, Varge became increasingly ferocious the longer the fight lasted.
His sword turned into a blur, attacking with mighty swings, unfortunately reaching a limit of attack speed.
The elite tiger even seemed to show fear faced with Varge's blood red eyes. No one expected the unassuming orc to have such a violent side to him.
The audience cheered on the unknown player, their fervour ever increasing until it culminated in a peak when Varge finally emerged victorious.
Only a few noticed that Minister Kidd had randomly appeared at some point, staying at the back of the crowd with a satisfied smile.
That's what the tournament should be all about!
Gratified, the minister left again, eager to watch more hidden gems revealing their sheen to the world.
The audience didn't know about the visiting bigshot. They were preoccupied with cheering on Varge. The low-levelled player stood at the centre of the arena showing no sign of his earlier violent behaviour.
Varge smiled with a faint nervousness, waved a few times and disappeared. If it weren't for his special fighting style no one would have remembered the man.