The Author's POV

After the incident with Emma, the tournament was put on hold for a couple of days.

The reason why it was put on hold had nothing to do with Emma, in truth. Instead, it was because the preparations for broadcasting the tournament throughout each domain were ready.

Since it required a lot of mana to broadcast the events, the leaders only chose to start broadcasting them at the round of thirty-two.

With radio frequencies being blocked by the barrier enveloping Issanor, normal broadcasting means couldn't be used. Hence, the long waiting time.

At least this applied to the human side as they needed to make the proper arrangements. They weren't as advanced as the other races after all.

"Congrats on passing the round."

Meeting up with Ava and Hein, I first congratulated Ava who had actually passed the round.

Because of the incident that happened, I was unable to watch her fight live. But after gaining access to replays of the video, I spent a good couple of hours analyzing her fight. And I had to say, I was impressed.

At first, I thought that she wouldn't have made it this far as, like Hein, her specialty didn't lie in 1 v 1. But, I was quickly proven wrong.

With her now improved flute, she could summon up to eight beasts, with all of them ranked at around <C> rank.

Typically, this many beasts wouldn't have been able to deal with a <B> rank, but the synergy that Ava was able to create between each beast made her a known threat, enough to bridge a rank gap.

Watching her fight in the video I was really left amazed and made a mental note to myself to pay close attention to her next fight. Perhaps she would once again surprise me.

"Thank you."

At my words, Ava replied with a smile.

"I wasn't really confident in my chances, but I guess I got lucky."

"No."

I shook my head.

"Luck can only get you so far. This was all you."

Turning to look behind Ava, my eyes paused on Hein.

"You seem to be doing a lot better than before. You managed to get over your loss."

"Not really…"

Hein replied with a bitter smile on his face.

"Although I always knew that I wasn't going to win… I at least wanted to make it past the round of thirty two."

"There, there."

Turning around, Ava patted Hein on the shoulder… Or at least tried to. She was too short to reach him.

Eventually, after realising that she couldn't reach him, she gave up.

"Whatever."

She softly mumbled as she crossed her arms and pouted. Hein, who was already used to such a scene, didn't seem to mind it and continued.

"I don't know, I just feel like I still have a lot that is lacking."

"Don't we all?"

Honestly, I felt gratified that Hein felt this way.

If someone did not think they were lacking in anything then their growth would just stunt. Even Kevin whom I had talked to last night realized just how many flaws he had.

No one was perfect.

That included me. I was nowhere near perfect. But, just because one had flaws didn't mean that they were weak.

"Well, since you realized that you have many flaws, just work on them. The less they become apparent, the more you know you're doing something right."

I was honestly not the best person with regard to giving advice, but I firmly believed what I just said.

Fortunately, Hein understood the intent behind my words and nodded his head in understanding.

"Yeah."

"That's good."

With a smile on my face, I glanced around.

"By the way, where are the others?"

"You mean Smallsnake and the others?" Ava asked. I nodded in response.

"Yeah."

Did they perhaps go around to explore the city? It was understandable, after all, since they weren't participating and perhaps got bored.

But Ava's next sentence completely caught me off-guard.

"Oh, they went back to the human domain for a bit."

"…Eh?"

Unable to process her words, I blinked repeatedly.

"What did you just say?"

With a strange look on her face, Ava replied.

"…I said that they went to the human domain."

"You can do that?"

The confusion within me grew even further.

"Ah, right. You were probably busy with everything that happened so you didn't know the portals have been opened up. Unfortunately, only those who are not participating can leave. The cost is expensive, too."

"I see…"

'They could've told me beforehand.'

I was a bit salty about this development, but I wasn't too mad. After all, once the tournament ended, I was planning on settling back in the human domain.

Well, of course, that depended on whether everything that I had set up beforehand worked.

I did message Donna and Monica regarding it, too. They said that they would help me, but I hadn't heard back from them since then.

"Well, whatever. I guess I should use this time to relax."

I eventually shrugged my shoulders. Since the only people that could go back were the ones that weren't participating in the tournament, I couldn't go back and visit my family.

Either way, it didn't really matter. I was going to meet them soon enough.

"The two of us will go now. Hein said that he will help me train for my next opponent.

Snapping me out of my thoughts was Ava who waved goodbye to me.

Raising my head and glancing in their direction, I waved back.

"Bye."

Following my words, the two of them left, leaving me alone, standing in the middle of the city.

'Hmmm, what should I do?'

There wasn't really much for me to do at the moment. I couldn't really talk to Kevin since he was probably sorting his stuff out, and Melissa probably headed back for a bit. Amanda had said that there was something for her to do and she will contact me later.

There really wasn't any- actually, there was someone.

As my thoughts paused there, scratching the back of my head, I let out a sigh after a while.

"Whatever, I'm that bored. It won't make a difference."

Taking out my communication device, I quickly dialed a number.

After a couple of rings, someone finally picked up. It was Jin.

—…What do you want?

"Cough."

Heading Jin's voice, and recalling the past we had with each other, my voice raised a bit.

"Well, Jin, it's been a while. You free?"

***

At the same time, in a different place.

"Khrrr…khrrr…"

Inside a large room, a rough nasal sound resounded throughout the whole place.

Seated at a large table were over ten figures, each of which was an orc.

In the middle of the table were multiple projections, depicting the image of all the contestants remaining.

"Vaalyun, Borerlig, Ignar, Amelia, and Kevin Voss. These are the most likely candidates for the top spots."

One of the orcs seated said while sorting out the images.

A deep silence ensued in the room as everyone gazed at a certain individual. The moment their eyes landed on him, their breathing became rough, and unknowingly lowered their head in submission.

The individual before them was called Kimor, and he was the strongest orc amongst the younger generation. With a rank of <A->, he was one of the individuals with the highest chances of winning the tournament.

Staring at the hologram, Kimor finally opened his mouth.

"Khhrrr…khrrr… Who is the biggest threat?"

Although he spoke softly, his voice rang throughout the whole room like thunder, alerting everyone present.

The only one that seemed to be unfazed by this was the orc who had previously spoken. His name was Artian, and he was the strongest orc in the room, at <B+> rank.

"Khrr..khrrr… If we directly look at it from what we've seen, Vaalyun, Borerlig, Ignar, and Amelia are the only ones that truly pose a threat. Maybe the human Kevin can be dangerous, but he's only <B> ranked."

"<B> ranked?"

Disgust flashed across Kimor's face as soon as he heard that Kevin was only <B> ranked.

"Is he the strongest amongst the humans?"

"Yes."

Artian nodded. Closing his eyes, Kimor leaned his head over on his hand that was clenched into a fist.

"… How weak." He spat.

"The purpose of this non-essential tournament was to test whether humans are worth entering our alliance?"

"That's correct."

Artian once again nodded.

"What about the other humans? How strong are they?"

Tapping on the hologram, Amelia opened up several other profiles.

"Ava Leafz. Her rank is the lowest amongst the contestants present, at <C+> rank. However, with the aid of some weird artifact, she is able to summon multiple beasts, making her a sizable threat."

Swiping right, another profile appeared.

"Amanda Stern, <B-> rank. Long-range attacker uses a bow."

"Jin Horton, <B-> rank. Assassin type, uses daggers."

"Aaron Rhinestone; <B-> rank, speed type, uses daggers and has a technique that allows him to switch places with people. Data regarding his skill is incomplete."

"Lastly, Caerileum. Believed to be using an alias, he's a <B> rank swordsman. The fighting style seems to depend on special car-like artifacts. Despite being the same rank as Kevin, it is believed that his combat power is far below his."

Listening to Artian's narration of the human contestants, Kimor gradually frowned.

In the end, after a while, he shook his head in disappointment.

"Worthless. None of them are worth taking note of. Skip towards the other contestants."

"As you wish."

Swiping his hand, another series of profiles appeared and Artian went through the same process again.

***

Similar scenes took place on the elven side, as the strongest elven contestant Vaalyn showed the same reaction as Kimor upon looking through the list of remaining contestants.

Seated at the head of the table, his silver-colored hair gently cascaded down his shoulders as an air of nobility exuded from his body. Accompanying the noble air was a cold and arrogant one.

"Apart from that human named Kevin Voss, there is no one worthy of note."

His voice gently traveled throughout the room.

Lifting his head and staring at the other elves seated in the room, he casually said, "You guys will be in charge of taking care of the other humans. They may be the same rank as you, but you shouldn't have trouble beating them."

"Yes."

All the elves simultaneously nodded upon hearing Vaalyn's words.

"Good." Vaalyun nodded.

Looking back at the human profiles, traces of disappointment flashed across his eyes.

As a royal blood of the elves, he naturally understood the purpose behind this tournament, and to say that he was disappointed was an understatement.

He had been paying close attention to the humans, and honestly, he was quite irritated by them.

To think that this was the best they had to offer.

Embarrassing and appalling.

"I think we've sorted everything out already. I will be taking my leave."

The more he thought about it, the greater the anger within him rose. Standing up, he brushed his silver hair behind him and left the room. Following him from behind were five other elven figures.

As he left the room, Vaalyun's face twisted slightly.

To him, the only way humans could join the alliance would be through being their cannon fodder.

They simply weren't worth the time.

As his thoughts paused there, he muttered inside of his mind.

'You want to join our alliance with that level of strength? Fine, so be it. I will let you guys understand just how big the difference between our races are.'

His words weren't merely out of superiority but based on what he had seen so far in the tournament.

Clank—