The nameless girl let out a dramatic sigh of relief as she patted her small belly.

"Stomach happy, me happy."

David himself couldn't disagree with that. After days of roaming, getting arrested and then dragged into a recruitment program was exhausting. And just for that moment, he really believed they deserved the hearty meal.

"Alright, let's go or else the matches shall start."

It didn't take them that long to reach the field where a lot of crowd had gathered to witness the last rounds of qualifications.

The guard at the open gate nodded at both of them as they entered the field with their new weapons.

Today, the number of contestants David could see were no more than a thousand. Even though the area still looked quite crowded.

As usual, the pavilion was crowded as well but something was different.

At one of the corners of the pavilion, close enough to the stage, all the people had been cleared away from there. Many soldiers, wearing elegant armour posed as guards around the area.

'Damn, those are the Legions. The highest ranked group of soldiers in the Windsor Army.'

Even among the nobles, they had insane respect. Although their numbers were quite low compared to the rest of subdivisions in the army, each of their warrior could take on multiple normal soldiers without breaking a sweat.

Though the gaps among the Legions standing guard, he saw a man sitting costly on a plush chair with a decorative table in front of him, served with a jug of water and a bowl of fresh fruits.

After a short while, the Masters from the Isikolo entered the venue as they all bowed to the man guarded by the Legions, respectfully before getting up the stage and sitting at their respective seats.

"Wow, even the Masters had to bow...who is he?" An astounded contestant said, gazing intensely at the man sitting behind the walls of the Legion unit.

The question was answered soon enough when the Host stepped up on the stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen, today we have with us an unexpected guest - the Field Marshal, Lord Bastion Serace. Pay him your respects!"

Gasps echoed and hushed whispers took over the entire field until the Host cleared his throat. As if on unison, everyone in the pavilion got up from their seats.

Then together, every single person bowed. Seeing how he woukr stand out of he didn't, David bowed his head as well.

But internally, he was shaking in palpitation. Wasn't this Marshal the one with that rough voice?

His thoughts warped into nervousness, debating internally if the Marshal was really here just as an honourary guest.

'Or did he somehow track me from last night?'

Even though to him, that sounded unlikely. Why wouldn't he have just killed him while he was still on the road, completely isolated from the public. But still, his cautious nature made him stay tense.

The Host, oblivious to the chaotic mess inside David's mind, continued. "Especially you, the contestants who are all standing here, after having survived for the first two days - know that man. Afterall, he is the head of the Sihapis and all the lower ranked soldiers. Aside from that, he is responsible for maintaining few claws of Legions under him and serves as an important member in the Royal Council."

The contestants around David again bowed lightly, as if acknowledging the Host's words.

Having done that, the Host's voice changed back to his usual cheerful one.

"Alright, moving forward...let the fights for the last day of the competition start."

As if on cue, the crowd of audience cheered, matching the energy of the Host.

As papers were drawn from a bowl and matches made according to the numbers, David summoned his system screen.

Stats

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Class: Mage(Aspiring), Assassin(Aspiring)

Abilities: Vision

Pathway:

Elements: Wind

Tier: I (153/300 soul fragments)

----------

'Yeah, I have somehow now become an assassin-mage. A nice combo if I say so myself.'

But then he questioned himself: what use were these classes of? Were they just an indication of what branch of abilities he was eligible for? Or did they have some passive buffs he still couldn't see?

Because for all he knew, he wasn't getting any benefits from these two classes.

'It is no wonder that the Aspiring mark is a rank of these classes. What I want to know is how do you trigger your class? I have fighting my opponents from the last two days and I have yet to get a Fighter class. But just stealthily killing two individuals yesterday gained me the Assassin class.'

A primary question struck him at the back of his head: Is killing the part that unlocks these classes?

Even with the mage class, he had only gotten it when he killed the Tier I wraiths.

'But going by that logic, shouldn't most of the awakened people have unlocked all the possible classes by now?'

He shook his head, realising there was something more to these than just mindlessly killing. But what it was would be something David needed to figure out.

Soon his name was called, which made sense given he still had six matches to fight.

Hsu opponent was a middle aged man, carrying a sword and a shield.

"Hello, I am Eric." The man introduced himself once they had bowed to each other.

"I am just a nameless guy." David muttered with a tight smile.

The man raised his shield and positioned the sword at his chest level. Then grinning slightly, he said. "Eighth match!"

David too took a stance, watching for his opponent's footwork.

"It's my fifth match." He replied while thinking internally, 'This man sure talks a lot.'

"Fight!" Soon, the call came for the showdown as David and the man named Eric stepped forward, slashing at each other before moving back.

The fight soon descended into a match of pure swordplay, with David losing his calmness every time the man blocked his strikes with his great shield.

'This guy is also abusing the rules of the contest. As a side rule, we aren't allowed to use two offensive weapons together inside the ring, meaning one cannot be fighting with two swords even if that's their style. But a shield? Yeah, they allowed him to use it....since it's a defensive item.'

And now David was facing the consequences. On terms of strength and technique, David estimated both of them at the same rank. But his opponent's option to defend and assault at the same time was slowly pushing David backwards.

"Two minutes more!"

The veteran announced, his voice holding an undertone of urgency. And there was a good reason for that.

The two men inaide the ring were yet to score a single point.

David's chest heaved heavily as he dodged a counterstrike from the man's sword.

'How am I supposed to strike this guy if he simply covers his entire body with this goddamn large shield?'

As he kept on getting pushed towards the border of the ring, he realised that the man in front of him wasn't actually counting on scoring against him. Instead his shiked was held in such a position that it seemed he would strike with the shield all of a sudden and push David out of the ring, thus winning an automatic victory.

'Alright, let's play your game then.' He grinned internally as a sudden plan weaved inside his mind.

He voluntarily pretended to stumble backwards and ground his feet just at the edge of the ring.

Elated, Eric leaped forward, his shield speeding at the 'disoriented' David.

But just like almost half of his matches, just at the last moment, David leaped high in the air as he held onto the rim of the shield, pushing it before performing a leap and landing behind Eric.

Eric's eyes widened as he accidentally went out of the ring, unable to stop his own momentum.

David didn't even looked back as an announcement followed. "Contestant 1024 wins the match!"

A smile graced his lips as he walked away from the ring. "Good match there, Eric! May you prosper in your future opportunities."

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