The Golem Mage

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After a few minutes, the three envoys who had acted as judges throughout the tournament returned to the stage, their hands clasped behind their backs.

But this time, they were no longer carrying themselves like the ones in charge. Instead, they stood behind an older-looking mage whose face appeared no older than a man in his forties.

“I hope you are all ready, because we have finally come to announce the finalized list, after naming everyone on it, we ask that you all be prepared, as we will be taking you to the Origin Realm.”

When the apparent leader of the judges began to speak, he was facing the crowd, but by the time he finished, he had already turned toward the third level of the VIP section, as that was where all the mages who had participated in the tournament were currently seated.

Unlike on most battle days, when many of them would not have shown up unless their own team was competing, however; today was different as they would finally figure out who and who was among the top 100, many sat there with unease in their hearts, hoping their names would be called.

There were also a few who sat with complete confidence, that was how sure they were of themselves, they were certain they would be chosen or those who just pretended to be confident because they didn’t want to be ranked lower than any one they deemed a rival, just for their confidence.

“Keep this in mind before I begin listing the top hundred, those who are chosen will not be graded here, but in the Origin World. And those selected were not picked based only on how far they advanced in the tournament, but also on other factors such as potential, cultivation talent, and current realm.”

As soon as the man said that, a small seed of hope began to grow in the hearts of those who had not qualified very far.

“Number 100, Liam Tudor...”

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#after an eternity of names calling

“5. Damien Sorin, 4.Hoshino Ren, 3. Alec Gordons, 2. Dragov Dragonmir, 1. Ryunosuke Takeda.”

The judge finally finished calling out all the names.

Instantly, the northern crowd erupted into an uproar, unable to understand why Alec, who had won the entire competition for his team, had only been placed third, instead of the first place they were expecting, they were literally tired of having their no.1 get overlooked.

The leading envoy understood exactly why they were so irked by what he had done. However, this was precisely why he had already made it clear that the final placement of the teams would not determine their positions in the competition.

He truly admired Alec’s fighting spirit and unyielding strength, but he was not searching for a fighter, he was searching for a leader, and in his eyes, Alec was not someone who would one day become a great lord in the Origin World.

The main reason for that was talent, to him, he was not being biased, he was being practical, every year, lords were sent into the Origin World to support the other human kings and emperors maintain the lands under their control, yet the number of human lords who died there was so overwhelming that it was almost impossible to keep count.

The ones who managed to survive were those with truly exceptional talents, and in his view, no one possessed a stronger talent than Takeda, he was betting that after just one more year in the Origin World, a place filled with far greater cultivation resources than the Five Kingdom Continents—Takeda would rise to an even higher status.

If Takeda was lucky enough to find proper masters for each of his avatars, his combat prowess would climb to an entirely new level.

But for Alec, the envoy believed it would be far more difficult for him to keep progressing due to his Golem path, though his golems were powerful, but it was still notoriously difficult for golems to reach extremely high levels after they entered the High ranks because of the sheer amount of resources required.

At the moment, the head envoy believed that War God Mage Academy had been the one to help Alec raise his golems to their current stage just so they could win, not even once did he give Alec the benefit of the doubt , that he was responsible for his own strength, due to how clouded his judgement is.

He viewed Alec more like the spoiled poster boy of War God Mage Academy. In fact, he had formed that impression the moment he saw him bringing out mental pills to give a teammate, he believed no one who worked hard to gain mental pills would use them casually as they would realise how rare it was to get them.

And these were among the few reasons he ranked Alec lower. In fact, if not for the fact that Alec had won the competition and seemed to possess a hybrid bloodline, he would have placed him below Hoshino Ren.

That was how lowly he regarded Alec.

The Northern Kingdom’s king had also played a slight role in this feeling he had about Alec, since the tournament began, he had been trying to suppress War God Mage Academy.

Though the head envoy had told King Charles that he would not be swayed by personal resentment, he had still, in a way, tried to give face to the Northern Kingdom king since he was the host of the tournament.

Because of that, he too had placed War God Mage Academy in a difficult position.

At first, he had wanted to eliminate them quickly because he had heard they were not that impressive. However, after his first attempt failed and War God Mage Academy still qualified, it stopped being something he took lightly and became something personal.

Though he would never admit it, but his ego had taken a hit, knowing that he had tried to get rid of a team and failed did not sit well with him.

Since then, it had become personal, and right now he was allowing that feeling to influence his judgment once again, and regardless of how much the northern crowd protested against his choice, he did not care in the slightest, because he held the power.

“From positions fifty-one to one hundred, not only will they be going to the Origin World with us, but they will also each receive twenty Tier 7 cultivation pills, five Tier 7 healing pills, and one mental pill to aid their ascension into the Tier 7 realm and help them stabilize that status.”

The moment the head envoy began listing the rewards, the entire place fell silent.

A smile appeared on his face after announcing the first set of prizes, he was pleased to see how easily he had managed to divert their attention away from Alec.

Those who ranked within the positions he had just mentioned had already begun celebrating inwardly, except for the group of mages around Alec.

It was not because they were unhappy with the rewards, but because they had expected more.

Alec had already given them rewards close to that just by allowing them to stay close to him, and it only made their reverence for him grow stronger.

Every member of the War God Mage team had made the top hundred. In fact, people like Agnes and Knight hadn’t even expected to be selected, and the same went for Sophia and Maria.

Then again, it felt like something the envoy group had done to compensate for not placing Alec first, not that he cared much about rank, he was only waiting to hear the rewards for the others so he could decide whether it was something he could easily obtain himself or if it was truly worth being upset over.

Because even though he did not care about being ranked number one, he had already begun to develop an unpleasant feeling toward the envoys of the competition.