The first round has ended with the sound of the gong. The one thousand participants who made it to the next stage have been determined. The arena floor returns to its original position.
Inside, back to the podium. "Congratulations to the one thousand participants who passed the first round!" he shouted. "The initial competition is over, the next round will be held in two days. Those who passed, please follow the organizers who will show you the new rooms. As for those unlucky ones, please gather at the exit gate to receive a souvenir as a token of participating in the competition!"The organizers guide the participants who made it to the next round. This time, participants are grouped into 10 people per room. However, each person in the group now shares a room with one other person. It's a coincidence that Zorka shares a room again with Arwin, while Paroo is in a different room. This time, Paroo's roommate is a woman from the far east named Xǐ lín Mǔdān, who preferThe second round begins! Zorka's body improved after Azurks brought water from the magical spring using teleportation. This time, he felt more energetic and no longer sleepy. The one thousand participants gathered again on the competition field. Daralam returned to the podium."Welcome, participants, to the second round. In this round, you must retrieve artifacts scattered in the Kathina forest. You need to collect one hundred artifacts and defend them, as other participants might try to take them from you. The second round lasts for a week as the artifacts are randomly spread throughout the Kathina forest.Apart from facing competitors for the artifacts, remember that Kathina forest is not a safe place. You'll encounter high-level monsters and beastmasters above level 5.So, fight on!The second round will commence after teleporting all one thousand participants to the edge of the Kathina forest!Teleportation begins!"Blaz!Teleportation magic runes appeared on the field beneath the
Zorka witnessed the sorcerer lying defeated, while the bear that attacked him had already left the battle. Moments later, the organizers, who had been discreetly observing, emerged to assist the injured man."This guy can't continue in the competition. His body is seriously injured. Let's take him to the medical facility!"Using teleportation runes, the man was swiftly transported by the organizers. Zorka was impressed by the organizers' efforts to minimize casualties. The competition aimed to find a winner without any loss of life. Hence, if there were injuries, the organizers acted quickly to provide aid and treatment.Zorka had heard about the rules in the land of Prabhatpura, where they disliked violence leading to fatalities. Therefore, the competition rules strictly prohibited any deaths. In critical situations, the organizers promptly intervened to prevent any casualties.As Zorka admired the agility of the Prabhatpura people in saving lives, his admiration was short-lived. Sud
On the fifth day, Zorka started exploring the Kathina forest. He bumped into high-level monsters a few times. Zorka tried to avoid facing them – better to save energy than waste it fighting these Kathina forest monsters.Not only did Zorka try to avoid using up his energy, but he also protected himself by using herbs with scents and tastes that monsters in the Kathina forest probably didn't like. These monsters looked like wild animals from his past world. Zorka also crafted poison for extra protection, using it when things got really tough.Zorka sensed three artifacts close by, but unfortunately, others had already found two when he arrived at the spot where they were placed. Only one artifact was left.Unfortunately, the artifact's location is extremely dangerous. That's why nobody has taken it yet. The artifact is in the middle of a swamp inhabited by combat-shelled crocodile-like monsters. They look like regular crocodiles but have shells on their backs.What makes these crocodil
Zorka has obtained his artifact, now just waiting for the second round to conclude. Only two more days, and he can advance to the next round without any disturbances.After acquiring the artifact, he remains within the crevice, keeping a watchful eye and observing the situation. Zorka is aware that even with the artifact, it doesn't guarantee safety, and he still needs to navigate the next round cautiously.The proof is, a few hours after obtaining the artifact from the Kathina forest swamp, some participants came to seize his artifact. However, due to the precautions taken before acquiring the artifact in the crevice of stacked rocks, the participants withdrew on their own.Some were daring, and they fell victim to the rune magic that Zorka had set around the large pile of rocks.Even some of them fell victim to the itching poison from the potion crafted by Zorka. On average, those who came to seize Zorka's artifact were at the beginner king and intermediate king levels. It's relativ
Arwin falls to his knees, struggling to stay upright. He gasps, doubting the strength of the child in front of him. Arwin feels that Zorka's level is beneath his own, yet Zorka manages attacks that almost conquer him."You're impressive, Zorka. If it weren't for the competition, we could have been close friends," Arwin says with a sly smile.Zorka gives a disgusted look, refusing to be friends with someone aiming to exploit the competition."Disgusting!" Zorka exclaims."I've never been interested in being close to you, especially in this competition. I knew what kind of person you are from the beginning, Arwin!"This time Zorka attacks first, creating a rune with ice magic."Agkístri!"The heavy rain suddenly slows down, turning each drop into sharp ice thorns. Zorka's spell transforms raindrops into ice thorns created from his magic rune.Then, the ice thorns, originally directed towards the ground, change course towards Arwin."Attack!" with a single command, the ice thorns strike
"How come I didn't encounter the attackers?" mumbled Zorka. "Earlier, they said 'they,' implying there's more than one person."Zorka tossed a log into the crackling fire, the sound echoing in the quiet night. He couldn't head to the Kathina committee's post near the forest, worried about the condition of the victims.Suddenly, Zorka felt a surge of magic energy and heard distant cries from the west. He faintly saw smoke rising.He thought of heading toward the smoke but worried about those who might still be alive. He decided to wait until morning to go to the committee's post. Nights are riskier, and he needed to be extra cautious. Unexpected attacks could come from monsters or other participants aiming to seize the artifact.For Arwin's fate, Zorka relied on the committee to help him, unaware that Arwin had turned into ashes.Meanwhile, Azurks kept a close watch, testing whether the kid was worthy of being his partner. If Zorka failed, Azurks wouldn't just let him suffer; he'd even
Momentarily caught off guard, a beast grabbed Zorka's leg, slamming his body forcefully onto the ground. The impact scattered the earth, leaving imprints of Zorka's body on the surface."Argh. Cough, cough," Zorka coughed, spitting fresh blood.Another ape raised its hand, ready to strike Zorka with a powerful blow.Bam!Luckily, Zorka swiftly dodged the ape beastmaster's punch. His eyes widened, seeing the sizable hole left in the ground from the strike."Oh no, if I took that hit, my body would have shattered into pieces!" exclaimed Zorka in his thoughts.Despite this, Zorka couldn't relax in his fight against Erlan, especially with the beastmasters now closing in on him. Moreover, Erlan seemed to be casting magic.The rune beneath Erlan's feet glowed a dark red, containing elements of fire."kaftós meteōrítēs!" Erlan directed his magic towards Zorka as his target.A shadow of a rune identical to the one beneath Erlan's feet appeared floating above Zorka's head. It was quite close,
Erlan's sudden competition was halted by the royal committee. He's now in jail, awaiting trial for using illegal drugs, participating despite disqualification, and facing serious charges for assaulting participants and the competition committee.Meanwhile, Zorka is in recovery, and Azurks visits at night to help. On the third day, Zorka wakes up to find a dragon, now cat-sized, curled up near his shoulder.Daralam, the competition committee head, checks on Zorka after his fight with Erlan."Feeling better?" Daralam asks, concerned, seeing Zorka sitting in the hospital bed.Zorka nods slowly."You should've reported directly to the committee instead of facing Erlan and his beastmasters," Daralam says with worry in his eyes. "If the committee you helped didn't report in time, who knows what could've happened to Erlan."Zorka looks puzzled. He remembers wanting to kill Erlan but blacked out after that."What was I supposed to do to him? Last I recall, I wanted to kill him, but honestly,