Chapter 564 - Ten Kings

It takes a few minutes longer, but gradually all of the 1st tournament winners gather.

Instead of joining the conversation, I just listen with one ear and let Vic handle it while I observe them one after another.

First up is Jean. There isn’t much to say about that guy. With Vic complimenting him and me observing him even now, I consider him among the very top people in the Earth’s tutorial.

Tacita would probably have an easy time with him, but with whom wouldn’t she? Her build is incredibly oppressive against human-sized opponents.

How about Jean versus Savant? I don’t know, really. [Dawn] is also super busted and could “poison” Jean’s healing.

Savant might be more talented and strategic, but Jean is also weirdly smart when it comes to combat, and with his incredible base I give him a slight edge over Savant. It’s totally not because I like Jean’s personality more. Nope.

Then there is the red-haired woman from the 2nd round. Her name is Klara Novak and, apparently, she is from the Czech Republic, as she introduced herself without worrying about doxxing at all. While her avatar from our 1st tournament wore the armor of the Fallen hero, she now wears a different, even more powerful one. I recognize the techniques lumorans like to use, so I guess it’s from the 7th floor.

She is young, probably around Vic’s age, and has blue eyes that, like Jean’s, look around slightly bored.

Then there's the boy from the third round, who is even younger than Isabella. He has short, wavy brown hair and incredibly piercing blue eyes. According to the information, he combines some shadow skill with primordial void energy. He is from Russia and his name is Maxim Sarov. Unlike most of the others, he sits attentively in his chair and listens to everything said. Even though he’s a child, he stays focused without any special concentration skill, and it just seems to be his personality.

The fourth and fifth rounds are obvious. The best rounds. Yup.

To my right sits the 6th round’s King, someone who goes by Hector Valdez as his Community name. He doesn’t seem too happy to meet me, though he doesn’t take it personally or let his anger control him like a second-grade villain.

I would never be able to do that. I’m sure I would've done some petty shit already if I were him, but this guy handles it much better.

The collected intel says he is from South America, and rumors claim he and his group are some cartel or drug dealers. More wild rumors even say they were smuggling drugs on their homemade submarine.

I really want to ask him if it’s true.

From the 7th round, there is a man who is as tall as me but much wider. I wouldn’t say he looks overweight, just solid and strong. Not in a muscular way like Jean, but strong in a different way. His skin is very tanned and he has long, wavy hair and a light stubble on his beard and introduces himself as Monte. He is likely from Spain or somewhere around there, and there’s a rumor he is a shapeshifter.

Out of all of the people here, he appears to be the oldest, around 55 years old, but who knows, he could easily be 70, before he got into the tutorial.

From the 8th round, and the organizer of this meeting, is Derick Kelley, rumored to be from Ireland or the United Kingdom. He talks more than anyone else and tries to keep the conversation civil. Poor guy. But extroverts like him deserve whatever comes their way.

The 9th King is a woman I see for the first time. She is Chinese, tall and slim, with a calculative bearing. Her black hair flows neatly on her shoulders, and she wears expensive-looking clothes with inscriptions woven in. She appears to be around 40 years old, though she could easily be 50–60. Her real name is unknown, but she goes by the alias Yama.

Curiously, even though she is a tournament winner, she doesn’t sit in the chair but stands behind it like some sort of bodyguard. In the chair, a Chinese girl, probably around 18 years old, sits upright in clean, well-fitted clothes. She listens attentively. She seems weak, only at Normal to Hard difficulty at most, but even so, her bodyguard doesn’t seem to mind and treats her with a lot of respect.

And the last one is the Korean guy I have already met. Baek currently looks like he is sleeping with his head resting on his hand on the table. If Victoria wasn’t here, I could probably sleep as well.

I turn back to the conversation.

“Yes, we are willing to trade information as much as the system’s censorship allows. Even though this tournament is competitive in design, I do not believe it is intended to turn us into enemies,” Victoria says.

Derick quickly agrees, “That’s true. We might fight and compete to show our strength, as this place allows it without dying, but the true enemies we will face are outside the tutorial. These 5 years here are just the beginning of hundreds of years of Earth in the system.”

“If we won’t destroy ourselves before we get that far,” says the 11-year-old Russian boy, speaking for the first time. He shows some nervousness as all eyes turn to him but tries to hide it, and he does it well.

“That’s true,” Derick says, “We have already seen the scenarios that could happen, often on more powerful planets seeped in ambient mana and more durable than our delicate Earth.”

“On Earth, there are multiple countries with atomic bombs far more powerful than anything used during world wars, yet we are still here,” the Chinese lady acting as bodyguard says. Her voice is smooth and soothing; it sounds as if she thought through each word dozens of times before speaking.

“Ha!” Jean snorts but doesn’t say anything else. He returns her gaze easily as if challenging her to do something about that.

“It is very likely we will get to that point as the First Generation as well. But do not forget that humans can be highly emotional and illogical at times. It is not that unreasonable to expect some of them will behave unexpectedly or like tyrants when given these powers,” Victoria answers slowly.

She and that Chinese woman exchange a glance, and the other woman nods in agreement.

“According to what we saw, it is often the Absolute’s job to make sure people like these do not cause too much damage. Or, likely for a powerful Champion until we get our Absolute.”

“And what if our future Absolute becomes one of these tyrants, Miss Victoria?” Derick asks.

Unbothered, she answers right away, “Then there would be multiple options to consider, one of the simplest solutions being killing such an Absolute.”

Jean interrupts, “And you, you don’t want to become Absolute?”

Just as before, she answers immediately, “Currently I see no need to become Absolute, but it is always possible I will change my mind due to circumstances and decide to become one in the future.”

“Decide to become one?”

“Yes.”

“Fucking crazy. Let’s go fight!”

“I apologize, but I currently cannot. You can send someone my way to ask me later, and I won’t mind dueling you once I have more time. It should be possible within a day or two.”

“You, fight me.” Jean turns to me this time; he doesn’t shout, and he seems to be lacking energy in his voice. Must be hard, to be constantly rejected.

Victoria answers on my behalf, “Mister Jean, for a certain reason my brother is very busy during this tournament. If you really have to, we can spar right after this meeting, if you will have me instead of him.”

“I can live with that.”

“Thank you, but allow me to give you a warning. This time I have decided to step back because of the promise my brother made and because I would prefer having a good relationship with you. I consider you strong and someone who keeps his word, valuable to keep around. But there are limits that I have. If you decide to push further despite my warning, I will react in an appropriate fashion.”

It takes a moment for Jean to understand that threat. Everyone around the table looks at Victoria in a way that makes me want to slam the palm of my hand against the table just to see if any of them would jump up in fear.

“Please, let’s keep this meeting civil,” Derick says. “Even though all of us have our own goals. Some might just want to be left alone and enjoy luxuries, others might want to influence the trajectory of their country or have their names written in history. But in the end, we’re all in this together, especially if our planet ends up in a Pairing. And we’ve seen how dangerous that can become. The First Generation working together is a must.”

Klara asks, “From what we’ve seen, Pairings happen only to planets with Absolutes and Champions. If early Champions appear five to twenty years after the tutorial and Absolutes take decades, don’t we have plenty of time?”

“It’s very likely,” Derick agrees. “But imagine if we all cooperate. Hell difficulty can take disciples from lower difficulties or teach the most talented from Earth. Hard difficulty could train large numbers of people. We can create a system to strengthen our planet or even find a way to travel to others and join Coalitions to help us face our first Pairing.”

“Ask me again closer to the end of the tutorial. I’ll know then,” Klara replies. “For now, this kind of planning is too early for me.”

“I will,” Derick promises, but it’s clear his words are meant for everyone.

Following this, the conversation moves.

It seems like it is the Hell difficulty attendees’ custom to remain mostly quiet to collect information before acting and to avoid accidentally insulting someone powerful. A skill you need to gain in the tutorial if you don’t want to end up splattered against the wall by someone strong.

Most of them are quiet. Yama, Monte, Baek, and even I are among the quietest of all. Most of the conversation is carried out by Derick, Victoria, Jean, and Klara.

So many new names, but I make sure to try to remember them all. These people should be among the strongest in the Earth’s tutorial and future Champions, so it’s worth it.

While they converse, I turn to Hector on my right and ask quietly, “What the hell was that spear of yours?”

He glances at me, leans closer, and lowers his voice, “I found it on the 6th floor.”

“Low Arcane?”

“Yes, your sword?”

"Mid Arcane."

“Bullshit.”

“I didn’t lie. Where did you get the spear? Somewhere further north? Mind Mage City?”

“Mind Mage City? We didn’t go to that cursed place, but yes, it was up north where the snow started appearing. There were ruins of an old castle and, below it, a huge labyrinth.”

“Damn, that sounds cool. I never went there.”

“There are a lot of places we have missed out on. What was that skill that fucked up my mana control? Even my internal mana, it shouldn’t be possible to do that easily.”

“I brute forced it. I won’t tell you the name, but it started as [Disruption] and went through some evolution and skill combination. Look, man, I know it’s a shitty feeling when someone disrupts or takes over your mana, so I recommend trying to defend it more, even if you spend months on it. It’s worth it.”

“I guess,” Hector says, looking around as the conversation continues.

For a moment, I listen and then hear Derick say to the people around the table, “There is a goddamned lynthari moving between the camps and bothering people. She is also taking some smaller Earth items from lower difficulties. How is it even possible for a lynthari to be here?"

I filter it out and ask Hector, “And get rid of that invisibility bullshit.

“No.” He grins and returns my gaze.

So, he has chosen death.

Klara from the 2nd round also raises her voice, “We also had an incredibly quick woman in our camp. She stole a lot of blankets and plenty of daggers. Even tried to take one from my waist.”

I have noticed it before but Klara’s voice is energetic and sounds as if it belongs to a great singer, a mixture of energetic liveliness, contained laughter, and confidence.

I ignore the content of her words and turn back to Hector, “Is it true you used to be a drug dealer and that you guys made your own homemade submarine?”

“What the fuck are you talking about? I ran an Import and Export Business,” he says with a deadpan expression.

Someone shoves me from my left and I turn to Vic, who did that. Looking up, all eyes are on us.

“Yes?” I ask her.

“Derick was asking what our plans are after the tutorial.”

“What did you say?”

“I said I cannot be sure at the moment, as things might change before the tutorial ends. I also made it clear that I won’t go out of my way to interfere in geopolitics or spark major conflicts without a very strong reason.”

“Oh, I see,” I nod and address the rest, “I plan to take an island for myself. I don't mind stealing it from some rich guy after threatening him. Maybe I’ll make a moon base or create a floating island or something. I fully intend to use my power or my group's power to get some nice things. If we choose to keep things “legal,” our healer could shave a few decades off a billionaire’s age for a few hundred million, and we could live off that.”

In shocked silence it's Klara who laughs first and, with a big smile, asks, “I think things will change too much for it to be that easy.”

“I agree, but a man can dream.”

“If that moon base happens, count me in for a visit. I want to see the view.”

“No girls allowed in my secret base.”

She laughs again and Derick takes over the conversation.

***

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