Chapter 344: Balkrow City’s Rookie Adventurer Competition Qualifiers
Chapter 344: Balkrow City’s Rookie Adventurer Competition Qualifiers
As the majestic sun hung proudly in the sky, its warm golden rays illuminated the blue cosmic canvas and the lands beneath, giving the world's inhabitants yet another great day to live and dream.
Today, the skies were especially vibrant as various guilds established in Balkrow launched colorful fireworks—one after the other, violently painting the azure heavens with a myriad of hues.
The beginning of Balkrow City's most exciting time of the year.
The reason for this was that there would be two tournaments to test the mettle of each guild's rookies and decide who the best rookie of the year was.
As per Balkrow City's rules, an adventurer whose active time was less than 730 days would be qualified to join which meant that each rookie would have two chances to join Balkrow City's Rookie Adventurer Competition.
Well, that's assuming one becomes their guild's representative, of course, as only one slot was available per guild, except for Iron Jin, the top-ranked guild in Balkrow City, which could send out two representatives.
There are precisely 127 guilds in Balkrow City, and to simplify the single-elimination tournament format, the City Lord granted the city's top-ranked guild two slots, bringing the total number of participants to 128.
However, the Balkrow City Rookie Adventurer Competition would only commence four days from now, once each guild had already determined their rookie representatives.
Over the next three days, each guild would hold their own rookie representative selection tournament to determine their rookie representatives.
Guilds ranked outside the top ten in Balkrow City's Guild Rankings would conduct their qualifiers inside their guild training halls.
On the other hand, those in the top ten such as Raven's Blade would be granted their schedules inside Balkrow Arena where other guilds would have the option to watch.
Iron Jin, whose qualifiers would determine two representatives with the best chances of winning the Balkrow City's Rookie Adventurer Competition, always garnered the most viewership.
This time though, all eyes were on Raven's Blade.
The reason? Shye Crowley, of course, as his guild contribution points reeked of cheating.
Almost every year, the guilds behind the top three rookies remained the same, hence, Raven Blade's sudden appearance at the top and the seventh spot blew their minds.
Especially when the guy named Shye Crowley's active days were still only in the two-digit mark.
Moreover, his guild contribution points were way above the points of the second-ranked Arthur Vermillion from Iron Jin, leaving him in the dust by over four thousand points.
Although there were a considerable number of people who recognized his illustrious name in Balkrow City, in the end, he was a rookie in his first year.
Thus, his current achievements truly reeked of dishonesty.
As a result, many were eager to see his skills, and the Balkrow Arena would undoubtedly be packed when the Raven's Blade qualifiers took place.
'Hmm…So we're scheduled to fight on the morning of the second day huh?' Shye mused upon seeing the announcement inside the branch headquarters. 'Well, since I have nothing to do, I might as well watch the qualifiers of other guilds.'
Sauntering lazily out of the guild headquarters, Shye heard a voice he hadn't heard in some time.
"Boss! I'm back!" Seira said, evidently way more jolly than she normally was.
"Oh? Seems like my days wouldn't be peaceful again…" Shye jokingly sighed.
"Ahh! You're so cold! By the way, boss. Where are you going?"
"To Balkrow Arena, you want to tag along?"
"Naturally!"
***
The entire day swiftly passed as Shye and Seira watched three qualifiers from three different top-ten guilds: Wack Donalds, Scarlet Angel, and Sandstorm Adventurer Guilds.
Seira was very impressed by the rookies from the three guilds, especially the rookie representative from the tenth-ranked Wack Donalds who she deemed stronger than the two from Scarlet Angel and Sandstorm.
On the other hand, the qualifiers were simply as boring as watching paint dry for Shye.
Even the rookie from Wack Donalds who impressed Seira was no exception.
In his eyes, everyone looked weak as f*ck.
'Well, at least the day passed. Hopefully, many will watch our matches tomorrow…'
Going home with an uncaring expression, Seira couldn't help but ask:
"Boss, that rookie from Wack Donalds was very strong, do you think you can defeat him?"
"Huh? The heck do you mean? Do you think your boss would lose to such random rookies? I can defeat that guy easily with one of my hands tied behind my back!" Shye boasted exaggeratedly, bringing a smile to Seira's face.
"Hahahaha! The boss is still the boss! Sigh…I can only hope for the day of the Rookie Adventurer Competition to arrive faster…"
As evening approached the duo eventually split up.
Seira returned to her rented house in the city, while Shye dined at his favorite seafood restaurant before checking into an inn.
His sleep was so peaceful that one would think the city's current events had nothing to do with him.
Finally, morning came. Your adventure continues at mvl
The city was extra vibrant today as Raven's Blade's rookie qualifiers were scheduled today, allowing everyone to finally see whether Shye Crowley was legit or just a cheat.
If not for other guilds having their qualifiers, there would be way more people than the current 30,000 in attendance.
It was still early, yet, the gates of Balkrow Arena were already teeming with life as onlookers from all over the city queued up at the betting stations.
Most believed that Shye was nothing but a charlatan, hence, they voted for Mateo Flameheart to be Raven's Blade's rookie representative.
Still, there were quite a few people who dared bet on Shye's victory with all of their savings, praying for a miracle that would instantly triple their earnings.
Naturally, Seira was among the people who bet her entire savings of 300 gold coins on her boss' triumph, with the boss himself right behind her in the queue to bet a whopping 1,000 gold coins on his victory.
If he won, which he was confident he would, he'd receive a total of 3,000 gold coins as prize money.
Putting his betting receipt into the system's inventory, Shye glanced at Seira.
"Well then, watch me crush these weaklings," he declared, bidding her farewell and heading directly to the waiting area in the center of the arena to wait for his match.