Kill The Old Ones!

--

The awarding ceremony took place on the same afternoon.

That was only possible because Ren saved time by solving his remaining opponents in a row. If he had followed the schedule, this ceremony would’ve happened by nighttime instead.

Everybody was in attendance. The respective city lords of the representatives attended in person. Everybody was dressed in their best formal attire. Even those who had been eliminated before the finals appeared in the audience stand to watch the awarding ceremony.

Those who didn’t make it to the finals could only lament inwardly. When they were eliminated, most of them felt slighted and unconvinced. They didn’t think they were any worse than the finalists.

They stayed back to watch; they wanted to see personally why they’re in the audience seat instead of being down there.

When the final round began, that’s when they realized their error.

By now, they were more than convinced that they were truly weaker and that their elimination made perfect sense.

Of course, there are some who still complained. And their main target was Sieg.

He became their focus since he was the weakest among the finalists. They wouldn’t say anything about the nine other finalists since they’ve proven themselves, but Sieg? They didn’t think him worthy to be in that arena; they could’ve replaced him instead and actually performed better than he did.

Poor Sieg...still catching strays even after the tournament was over.

As such, the final placement rankings were:

**

1st: Soren Marek Vire—9:0

2nd: Aria Carmichael - 7:2

3rd: Kael Draven Ashcroft - 7:2

4th: Darius Stormholt - 6:3

5th: Aurelia Valentine - 5:4

6th: Adrian Arclight - 4:5

7th: Lily Anne Heartveil - 3:6

8th: Lucian Skyrend - 2:7

9th: Elena Frostmere - 1:8

10th: Sieghart Augustine Fletcher - 1:8

**

Sieg’s only win was when Aria willingly surrendered to him before he could say anything. He couldn’t even beat Elena—who’s the second weakest in this basket. Aria took 2nd place because she was able to defeat Kael, too.

Honestly, it was embarrassing.

Some people whispered that if they had been in Sieg’s shoes, they wouldn’t even know how to show their face to the public. It’s also controversial since there were many in the semi-finals who could’ve given a better performance compared to him, yet it was he who advanced, instead.

He was completely undeserving of his position. He didn’t deserve to be standing in the same breath as the other finalists.

But aside from Sieg’s scandalous and terrible performance, what concerned people more was the city rankings—which was the whole point of this tournament.

The city rankings are what will determine what the next decade will look like for the cities under the Letter Kingdom’s rule.

Some citizens were excited at their future prospects, while others had already accepted their fate and began preparing for the worst.

You see, the city rankings won’t necessarily conform to the individual rankings.

Just because someone took the 1st place, that doesn’t mean that the city they represent automatically jumps to the 1st place too. Sure, the individual result will have an effect, but the main criteria for the city rankings include the overall performance of all of its representatives.

That said, in this particular case, the city that the 1st place was representing was practically guaranteed to be in 1st place, too. Not just because of the individual’s performance, but because this city had 4 of its representatives in the final rounds.

Of course, it’s none other than Central City with its representatives: Soren Marek Vire, Adrian Arclight, Lucian Skyrend, and Elena Frostmere.

Obviously, the results of the other representatives are all taken to account, but these four were the main ones who contributed immensely to the city’s final results.

Gabriel Pierce, Central City’s lord, was smiling widely even before he arrived at the stadium. He was dressed finely and was escorted by his team. The happiness he’s exuding scared his retinue since they rarely see him so happy. They could count how many times they had seen him happy with a single hand, and it unnerved them.

That said, this was, in fact, a joyous event for Central City as a whole, and they can’t wait until the blessings for the next decade finally roll over.

**

The awarding ceremony finally began. And once again, it was Terry Caster who hosted it.

After saying his pleasantries, which bored at least 90% of the audience, he moved on to reciting the individual rewards for the finalists, first.

The top five will be given a choice among five incredible rewards:

1st was the [Physique Tempering Blessing]—it’s a ritual performed through the World System itself that improves one’s potential and talent. The rate of improvement varies depending on how much potential and talent the individual already has. This doesn’t follow one’s martial realm, just those two things: potential and talent.

The 2nd was the [Martial Insight]—a chance for enlightenment. Its duration was a whole day of enlightenment, which they could either use all at once or use sparingly when they needed it until they used all 24 hours available to them.

The 3rd was a choice of a [High-Grade Martial Technique]—they will be presented with options from the world system itself. They could choose from ones that are the most suitable for them through the world system’s judgement, or they could freely choose something they like instead.

The 4th was a choice of one [treasure equipment]—it could be weapons, armor, artifacts, etc. Once again, this comes from the world system, and they’d be presented a list to choose from.

And finally, the 5th was a [Wish Reward], which is the most vague reward in this list. The top five can make a wish to the world system, which it would fulfill to the best of its abilities. Of course, the options aren’t limitless. They can’t just wish to become Martial Gods right then and there and expect it to come true. The world system will straight up reject that!

The wish must be reasonable and within expectations. It could be an overreaching wish that will prove its worth over time or anything within the scope of the world system’s directive. Those who chose this option will be guided by the world system’s AI to get the most out of their wish.

The 5th place can choose one out of these five rewards, the 4th place can choose two, the 3rd place can choose three, the 2nd place chooses four out of five options, and the 1st place?

He gets them all.

Ren smiled at this. These rewards were precisely the reason why he bothered with this tedious tournament. But while his fellow finalists were thinking about what to choose, he was relaxed. There was no time limit for him. He’ll get those rewards when he wants to. No rush.

As for the 6th to 10th place, they will receive a list of options from the world system they can have for their rewards. The quality of their rewards will be less than the top 5 gained, but still good.

The 6th place can choose five among the provided list, and the 10th place can only choose one.

Seeing the disparity between rewards, Sieg—who had looked hollow since his defeat against Ren—clenched his hands and jaws in bitterness. He was trying hard not to show his displeasure. He couldn’t even look at the list because he felt so stifled.

He just wants to leave this place as soon as possible so he can go home.

But what he felt was insignificant to the mood of the whole crowd because after announcing the individual rewards, Terry moved on to the city rankings and rewards.

No surprises here; Central City took 1st place. Followed by Desolate City.

Both cities were in the mid-rankings in the previous tournament, but now, they’ve completely dominated.

Royal City, which were the previous champions, fell to the bottom of the rankings despite one of their representatives making it to the semi-finals. Their performance was graded as atrocious by the judges and the organizers, especially when they lost half of their number within the first few hours of the preliminary round.

As for their rivals, the Popular City—the city they bullied in the previous tournament, whose representatives came out snarling and hunting them throughout the whole tournament—they propelled themselves to the upper half of the rankings, which was a giant leap from their previous rank.

The citizens of Popular City practically hailed their representatives as heroes; they’re about ready to worship them if needed. Nobody could understand how they lived during these past decades, but because of these young heroes, their suffering was finally over.

They couldn’t care less about ranking higher; they just want the punishment to end, and that has been achieved.

The city lord of Popular City was said to practically melt in his chair when he discovered the results; some even said that he wept some tears, but nobody could prove it.

With the city rankings revealed, Terry moved on to the rewards.

The strongest representatives of each city, or the ones that had the most contribution to their ranking, were called up on stage to draw their rewards.

And this brought tension to the crowd and the citizens who were watching.