Zero to Hero (Prequel/prototype)

Chapter 13. Tournament Part 2

"Ken! Raise and shine! Time to head to the stadium!" Genesis shouted happily while knocking on Ken's dorm room.

A few minutes later, Ken walked out of the room to be greeted by a tight hug from Genesis.

"I wish it's tournament week everyday so I can have you to myself." Genesis said wishfully while holding Ken closely.

For breakfast, instead of heading for the dining hall, the two decided to head to the stadium ground and grab some food there instead.

When they arrived at the stadium, it was already as crowded as ever, and the pair walked around eagerly looking for new foods to try.

After trying some new dishes that tasted great as always, Ken got some more of that popcorn stuff Genesis got the day before as the two headed inside to watch the second day of the tournament.

While day 1 was fun, it was more just a showcase and to get people back into the tournament mood and for the nobles and royals to have a bit of bragging rights. From day 2 onward is when the real excitement begins as actual combat works way differently than performing some spells on stationary objects.

Not only is it more exciting for someone like Ken who is interested in getting stronger and not just here at the academy to make connections. The gambling halls all over the world are definitely keeping a watchful eye on all of the matchups while gamblers bet away their entire lifesaving hoping to strike it rich.

According to Genesis, a lot of the underground bosses that own the gambling establishments have connections with staff members at the school and matchup orders and even the fights are often fixed.

Of course, even the students themselves are fixing matches. It's not uncommon for some commoner students to sign up just so they could get beat to make a noble look good. Amongst the high-class, nobles and royals, the hierarchy comes into play again where it's very likely for those on the lower end to lose on purpose, so they don't become a target for bullying and to have their connections stay in good order.

With thousands of students all signed up for the tournament, to get through all the matches in only two days seemed like a daunting task but with two thousand years of experiences from trial and failures, the academy had mastered the art of holding a large tournament while making sure everything goes according to plan.

Similar to day one where groups of people got introduced and competed before the next group stepped onto the stage, today is no exception. As Lucia got the show started promptly at 9am, the first group of students walked on to the arena.

Unlike during day 1 where the arena is filled with enchanted slabs for the students to blast, it's empty today except for a big white square drawn on the ground that has been divided into equal sized rectangles.

After Lucia introduced the contestants, the group paired off into their individual matchups and each pair stepped into one of the rectangles.

Once all of the contestants got in place, a divine level protection spell was cast along the grid on the ground and each of the pair got enclosed into their separate protected arena where none of their attacks or spells could get through so the arena could be fully utilized and many matches could happen simultaneously.

Each of the contestants also wore an academy provided bracelet artifact that's enchanted with a protection spell where no damage could harm them until the protection magic gets destroyed. The younger students were provided with a bracelet enchanted with a master level protection spell while the older ones had a divine level protection.

Of course, out of fairness for the competitors, those competing against each other will always be wearing spell cast by the same person so that the level of protection will be equal.