I stretch every part of my body, feeling my muscles stiff after waiting so long for the first event to begin. Today it’s not just Susan speaking—many other influential figures from the Empire and the kingdoms have come for the tournament’s opening day.

  According to all my friends, this is only the beginning. Many important people will arrive after today as well—leaders of all kinds, clans, sects, territories. Many Obsidian-rank figures also appear for the final events, and the most common among them are recruiters. I’ve already seen how they’re approaching other participants—not just guild recruiters, but representatives from many territories roaming around.

  I’ve felt the intent of many of them. Whenever I walk nearby, they all stare at me the way a lion looks at its prey. They haven’t jumped on me only because I’m surrounded by influential people. No one would dare disrespect Brendu—they’d be condemning their entire group if they weren’t connected to one of the four most powerful territories.

  I feel a little depressed and happy at the same time. Joining a guild sounds exciting—I played so many games related to that style in my past life that I at least want to experience that feeling once. At the same time, I’m glad I don’t have to deal with so many people. It’s clearly suffocating.

  There are a few guilds that seem interesting to me. All of them have moral values, they don’t accept every commissioned job, and in some of them you’re free to belong to other organizations as long as you don’t harm the guild. You can belong to these guilds for many years without accepting a job, or join a group and come back the next day if you wish.

  If I see a representative from any of these guilds, I’ll approach them myself to talk. I feel a small hand press against my lower back and push me forward.

  “Stop daydreaming and move.” Brendu pinches my back as she forces me to walk. All my friends and the new members of the group laugh.

  “I got distracted thinking about your beauty, sorry.” I wink at the princess. My reaction makes the group laugh again.

  “Everyone, focus—we’re entering the next group now.” Areci calls out to us. She doesn’t look angry; she just wants us to look like a decent group, not a bunch of airheads.

  I look forward—she’s right. There are sixty schools in total. Five identical dungeons have been constructed for this round. Each school must endure thirty minutes of monster hordes without taking damage—or with as little damage as possible—or the other option is to completely wipe out all the hordes in the shortest time possible.

  The next group finally exits—it’s time to go in. They’re finishing the dungeon adjustments just like they did for the previous schools, calibrating the correct mana level. It only takes a couple of minutes, and they signal us to walk toward the platform to begin the tournament’s first event.

  I feel the familiar sensation of space-type mana, though this time it feels a bit different—less natural. As if the mana were being forced to do what it normally does on its own. In that brief instant, I notice a slight difference.

  The spatial mana isn’t being forced to fulfill its function; it’s simply being pushed in a certain direction to operate through the platform. Quite interesting. I don’t recall ever entering an artificial dungeon built on the foundation of an original dungeon.

  The short teleportation sensation fades a moment later. I open my eyes and look around. We’ve all been teleported to the same village for the first stage. I had already seen this place through the broadcast—it’s exactly the same as in the videos.

  “They look like real people,” Ogine voices what everyone is thinking.

  There are many people running back and forth. Everyone is wearing iron armor or something similar. Shouts come from all directions. Other guards are escorting civilians toward underground shelters.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  It truly looks as if everything were real—the smells, the sounds. Even within my Personal World, they appear exactly like living people, not constructs made of mana.

  We all turn in the same direction. A guard comes running and stops right in front of Areci. “Thank you for answering our call for help.” The guard bows. “Allow me to guide you to the two defense positions—the two gates are quite close.”

  “Thank you, please guide us,” our leader responds decisively.

  This village is relatively small. The most impressive feature is the enchanted stone wall surrounding it—a normal grade 3 monster couldn’t break it even in its wildest dreams. There are only two entrances, each with a massive watch post.

  The guards stay within the village’s range. In the videos, they never went out—they always waited at the boundary. We’re the ones in charge of going out and eradicating those plagues. We’re the village’s first line of defense.

  We talk with the guard a bit longer, clearing up a few doubts. It’s surprising to speak with them knowing they aren’t real, yet their answers are perfect—they even carry emotion in every word.

  We’ve seen many ways other schools have defended the gates. The most common approach was splitting into two groups of five; others were bolder, sending one group of four and another of six. Some had the ability to teleport or fly to support the other team if things got complicated.

  Our case will be different. After discussing it for several hours at night, planning based on previous years, we reached a conclusion thanks to one of Shawu’s suggestions. We’ll divide in a rather peculiar way.

  The first group—where I am—stays behind, while the second group moves quickly to the other gate a few hundred meters away. We hear the city’s siren sound—the monster invasion will begin in one minute.

  “Will the other group be able to hold? If you want, I can stay alone,” I say to my companion beside me.

  “Trust them. They’re all strong,” Areci says, stretching her body as she prepares for battle.

  In the end, we decided to do something logical and crazy at the same time. A group of eight will defend one gate, and only two of us will handle the other. I trust they’ll do well—every one of them is elite among the Sapphire ranks.

  The gate where we’re positioned is impossible to breach. No matter how many monsters come, they all walk straight into death.

  “Shall we flip a coin to decide who goes to destroy the monsters’ source?” Areci suggests. We’ve already decided that one of us will leave their position after five minutes and head into the forest to destroy the orb that keeps summoning monsters endlessly.

  “I’ll toss the coin—you choose. Close your eyes and open them when you decide.” It wouldn’t be fair if I chose, since I can see the coin with my Personal World. Areci’s vision is perfect—it’s more fun if she closes her eyes when the coin is thrown and opens them when she makes her choice.

  “Ready.” She closes her eyes. I toss the coin, and she shouts, “Fish.” One of the local coins in this territory has a fish engraved on one side and the coin’s value on the other. Both local coins have very low value—it’s more like a souvenir to take with you when passing through this territory.

  The coin falls to the ground, bouncing until it finally stops. Areci had already opened her eyes when she shouted. She approaches the coin—her excited expression is visible even from where I stand. Smiling widely, she shows me the coin. I already knew it was fish when it stopped.

  “Do you think you can handle it? If you think it’s too complicated, I can take care of it,” I say as I pull my swords from the cube to face the nearby monsters, enhancing my body just enough to fight grade 3 monsters.

  Areci does the same, drawing her weapon as a light magma armor surrounds her. “I can’t allow my little brother to get hurt—I’ll take care of it.” She winks at me and vanishes in an instant.

  I roll my eyes at her response—that excited smile on Areci’s face says the opposite. She’s happy because eight grade 4 monsters are guarding the orb—the only monsters capable of stirring any real excitement in us.

  The monsters in this first event are undead. I can see hundreds of massive skulls wearing armor and wielding weapons, charging toward us. We’ve decided not to go straight for the orb as a precaution. We trust our companions—we just want to see how the other two fare.

  My first slash sends three skulls flying. Their attacks are very slow—I feel no fear. Areci and I become gods of death. Every strike from us wipes out a ridiculous number of monsters. After the first minute, we pick up the pace. She summons those powerful magma guardians, and I unleash several abilities.

  Everything is going as expected—yet more monsters are arriving than anticipated. There’s always a range for how many monsters can appear at once. We’re annihilating all possible numbers, and still they keep coming. The orb must be consuming more energy than usual.

  Three minutes pass, and Areci finally gets tired of wasting time. “I’m leaving now—I’ll leave the rest to you.” She shouts and rockets into the forest ahead of us.

  “Good luck, Magma Maiden.” We won’t accept anything less than first place.