Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

What surprised him was the fact that his attempts at analysis was repeatedly blocked by the beast. If Adalinda was here, she would have been able to give him a detailed information with some words of condescension in the mix.

"Including the royal captain and the people who had just arrived, all of them possess a strong aura" Simon noted, the place was filled with crouching tigers and hidden dragons.

As he was observing the new entrants, he spotted two familiar faces within the group. One of them was Cynthia who stood prettily and whose appearance was enough to evoke a burning emotion within the hearts of all the men, the other was the guard captain, both of whom he was acquainted with.

After the new entrants took the seats of honour, Cyrus and the old man that seemed to be the king of this kingdom, exchanged knowing glances with each other.

"On behalf of everyone, it is my greatest honour to welcome Sir Davis Hall, an officer of the Adventurer's Association" Cyrus declared.

All the attention of the audience was now focused on a thin middle-aged man who had no remarkable features about him other than the luxurious suit he was wearing.

Davis laughed and waved his hands for the crowd, his gesture evoked a huge roar and applause from the crowd. The man was from the Adventurer's Association, an organisation that was like a behemoth that had its foot all across the central continent.

Another reason for his warm welcome was because the audience knew that the reward set for this year's competition, was presented by this man. All the top guilds of the kingdom, foreign nations participating etc all of this was because of the reward this man had provided. How could the audience not show their appreciation?

"Ladies and gentlemen, let us start this event by revealing the rewards for this tournament". Cyrus's words made everyone focus their gaze on him once again and listen earnestly.

Every decade, the prize for the tournament was different. This time though it was a little unique with the headquarters of the Adventurers Association providing the reward. Rumours was still rumours, the audience wanted to hear it with their own ears.

"The top ten participants will each receive hundred grade [2] mana crystals and three bronze grimoire. Third place of the individual ranking of this 'Battle of the Finest'tournament will recieve ten grade [3] mana crystals, one Silver Grimore".

"Second place in the individual ranking will receive refinement [5] [C] tier weapon Trembling Earth and one Gold grimoire…"

As Cyrus said till here, the audience below was already filled with cries of shock, they couldn't believe what they just heard.

The grade [3] mana crystals, refinement [5] tier [C] weapon, not to mention the gold grimoire were each objects that were difficult to obtain even when one had enormous wealth.

Grade [3] mana crystals were something that could only be found near an adult Mana Crystal tree which is very hard to find in the first place because they only grow in places abundant in mana. They contain the pure, unpolluted mystical energy.

A grade [3] mana crystal can raise a person's level even if they were above level 400. It could be imagine how much allure it had for those who were stuck around this level for ages. Tens of them could be seen as an amazing reward.

As for the weapon, although a [C] tier was not extremely difficult to acquire, getting a master craftsman to refine it to refinement five was the difficult part. Professions such as alchemist and craftsmen is highly valued in the world of Althaea and only a Master Craftsman who is very rare to find even in their kingdom of Ellesmere, can refine a weapon to refinement five.

From this it could be seen how rare and valuable the weapon was, it would be surprising in itself if the crowd wasn't surprised. Especially for the still budding heroes of the realm, these rewards are something that can drastically increase their power and raise their ceiling.

All of the participants present, including those from major guilds, were staring blankly as they imagined themselves winning the tournament and holding the rewards in their hands.

However, this dream of theirs was short-lived when they stared at the participants around them. Each decade the participants in the tournament would increase and winning it would become harder and harder.

This year though, because of the extremely lucrative rewards given by the headquarters of the Adventurer's Association, the level of the participants had gone up marginally. It would be a steep dream for them if they thought that they could win this tournament easily.

The entire crowd intensely held their breath as they waited for the moment when the first price reward would be declared.

Feeling the anticipation of the crowd, Cyrus smiled and widened his hands in a grand fashion to declare the first price reward of this 'Battle of the Finest' tournament that every people in this coliseum were eager to know.

"The First place ranking for the 'Battle of the Finest' tournament that is held in the capital city of Ellesmere every decade, will receive one grade [4] mana crystal, one [B] rank artefact and one platinum skill grimoire".

His words like thunder, reverberated at the still silent coliseum. There was no sound nothing for a few seconds as the crowd was busy comprehending the lines of words the royal knight captain had just uttered.

WHOA… Soon after, like an erupting volcano, the audience stood up cheering, their clamour like a hot oil on a pan, refused to cool down even after a while.

One Grade [4] mana crystals and One platinum grimoire… what kind of concept was that?

"Goodness gracious, I thought it was just an exaggeration, a rumour for the first price reward to be something so precious that it had never been offered in the history of the tournament. However, now that I hear it with my own ears, I cannot not believe it"

"Idiot, did you think the kingdom of Blackthorn and Ingolf, not to mention the Sanguine Empire would participate in this tournament for nothing? Had it not been for the reason that they had their eyes on the first price reward from the start, they wouldn't have bothered showing up. Even the royal family wouldn't have put so much effort grooming their young generation for this tournament."

The group of merchants seated near Simon, discussed.

"A grade [4] mana crystal and a platinum grimoire. The Adventurers Association is really humongous titan far beyond the understanding of anyone to grant something so valuable so freely" Benny Beckerman, the guild master of the Sea God's Trident said.

"A grade [4] mana crystal is something that has not appeared in the kingdom of Ellesmere for centuries. Every single grade [4] crystal is the condensation of an extreme amount of pure mystical energy capable of even raising the level of someone stuck in the level 500 barrier for years. Thus allowing them to reach a height far greater than what they thought was previously possible."

"Not to mention a platinum skill grimoire is even rare in that it can permanently grant a person rare or even a lost skill of Ancient tier or higher depending on the competence and aptitude of the user" Karina Lowell remarked.

"Listen up Marcus, the reward as the informant told is something even your father wouldn't dare use on himself. However, you are different and your limits are much higher than your father's. That is to say, there is no candidate that I can think of who is better suited to use these items other than you. You must give it your 200% to win this tournament and get the first prize reward".

Brutus sarge, the guild master of the Savannah Beast Guild said looking at his son who was seated beside him on the seats booked for his guild.

Marcus glanced at the main stage which was more than three hundred meters big, a fire blazed in his eyes as he said.

"Don't worry father, this son of yours won't lose to anyone even if my opponents are from the top five guild, the royal family or the foreign nations. I will give more than my hundred percent in every match".

Hearing his declaration, Brutus nodded.

At a glance, there were more than five thousand participants out of which all the dregs will be filtered out and only the best of the best would be allowed to stay and fight their way through the Battle royale round until the final winner is decided.

Sensing the excitement of the crowd reaching a boiling point, Cyrus waved his hand and declared the start of the tournament.

"This session's 'Battle of the Finest' tournament has a total of seven hundred and forty guilds and families participating each bringing maximum of seven of their best talents. Which makes up for an astounding five thousand and one hundred eighty participants".

"The age of every single participant must not be greater than fifty and their levels below two hundred. Failing to meet these conditions, the participants would be immediately kicked out. Now we will draw out the lots and check the strength of every participating individual through the help of this Perusal Mirror provided by the adventurer's association. Those individuals whose name I call out, come to the stage for the assessment and lot drawing".

Perusal Mirror was a device that the whole audience was familiar with, it is something that accurately accesses a person's Age, Name, Level, Class and their Talent.

Even if a person has a [Analysis] blocking skill, they still wouldn't be able to fool an ancient device that had been in the care of the Adventurers association for eons.