The Author's POV
chapter-427

Human domain, Ashton city.

The moment it was announced that the conference would be broadcasted throughout the whole human domain, an air of excitement washed over the entire city as everyone fine tuned their devices to stream the entire tournament.

"According to sources, only six humans managed to qualify for the round of thirty-two."

Broadcasted throughout every screen were the faces of two announcers as they talked to each other. Of the two announcers, one was a female announcer with a beautiful face and glossy black hair that gently fall behind her shoulders.

Wearing a beautiful dress, she looked especially dazzling.

Her name was Lorena, and she was a famous <A> ranked Hero.

Next to her, with a straight back, handsome features, and brown hair was her co-host, Zack Middlespaw, also a famed <A> ranked hero.

At the moment the two of them were talking about the upcoming contestants.

"Caeruleum, Aaron Rhinestone, Kevin Voss, Amanda Stern, Jin Horton, and Ava Leafz."

Zack replied with a smile as he crossed his arms on the table before looking straight into the cameras.

"Of the six people, you guys must already know who four of them are, right?"

Smiling, he pressed his finger on the table and four profiles lit up more brightly.

"Aaron Rhinestone, Kevin Voss, Amanda Stern, and Jin Horton."

Underneath their profiles was a brief description of them. Their height, their age, and a brief overview of their past.

"I won't go into much detail regarding these four individuals since you can easily find information about them online, however, what I will do, is go through the remaining two individuals, Ava Leafz and Caeruleum. The two dark horses of the tournament."

The moment his words faded, the screens of everyone present darkened and replays of their fights started to show on everyone's screens.

This persisted for a good five minutes before the screens returned back to normal, and the camera was now angled in the direction of Lorena whose smile enchanted some of the viewers watching.

"As you have seen, the two contests we have showed you did not get to where they were simply by luck. Especially Ava Leafz who has managed to defeat an opponent a whole two minor ranks above her!"

A small square appeared beside her, displayed on it was the last moment when Ava managed to defeat her opponent.

Her gallant figure standing tall in the middle of the platform as she beat her opponent instantly caused the heartbeats of many people to boil with excitement.

"I guess many of you are probably wondering who she is?"

Redirecting the attention of the viewers towards herself, Lorena mysteriously smiled.

"Well, fret not, we've already done an investigation on her."

Pressing onto the table, Ava's profile lit up.

"According to sources, Ava Leafz was someone who used to attend the prestigious Lock, but in her second year suddenly decided to drop out. As for the reason why she dropped, the Lock refused to give us more information."

Shaking her head, Lorena shrugged her shoulders before continuing.

"She is the same age as the other contestants and her profession is 'beast tamer'. An extremely hard class to master. However, don't treat her as any regular beast tamer. p an da no v el Ava over here can actually summon more than one beast at a single time. Something that is almost completely unheard of. A generational talent some might call her."

Lorena paused and turned her attention toward the camera that was pointing toward her.

"There is not much known about her after dropping out from the Lock, but whatever she did, it seemed to have worked out for her as she has now qualified for the top thirty-two."

Brushing her hair back, Lorena grabbed a couple of papers on the table before stacking them neatly.

A more serious look suddenly flashed across her face.

"Now...regarding the other contestant Caeruleum, not much is known about him. As most of you can tell, he's obviously using an alias."

Lorena's delicate brows suddenly knit.

"We don't really know why he chose this alias, but according to what we've found Caeruleum signifies Blue in Latin."

Pursing her lips, Lorena turned to look at Zack who smiled and continued for her.

"Since we couldn't really find anything out about this contestant, all we can do is show you his way of fighting."

As soon as his words faded the screens darkened and replays of Caeruleum started to display on the screen of everyone present. google p an da no v el This continued for the next minute before the screen returned to normal and Lorena and Zack reappeared on the screens.

"As you can see, the way Caeruleum fights is...how should I say, very unique?"

There was some uncertainty in his tone when he said those words, but he quickly followed up by saying.

"Anyways, most of you are interested in what he is using, and I've received reports that the artifact he is using is called 'magic card' and is one of the latest inventions made by Melissa Hall. According to sources, anyone who has mana can use them, and can essentially enable a person to cast a spell like a regular magician."

Once the topic shifted towards the magic cards, all interest regarding Caeruleum faded away as every viewer just wanted to find out more about them.

In fact, it wasn't just the viewers that wanted to find out more about them, but almost all large corporations such as guilds, and businesses all wanted to find out more about them.

The whole idea of magic cards was revolutionary!

***

At the same time, Issanor.

[Anyways, most of you are interested in what he is using, and I've received reports that the artifact he is using is called a 'magic card' and is one of the latest inventions made by Melissa Hall. According to sources, anyone who has mana can use them, and can essentially enable a person to cast a spell like a regular magician.]

"Ugh."

Staring at the screen in front of her, I watched as Melissa's face twisted savagely. Standing beside her, I took a step to the side.

'Better move as far away from her as possible.'

"Where do you think you're going?"

But it seemed as though Melissa was not going to let it go as she turned to glare in my direction. After that, she grabbed onto my clothes and brought her face closer to mine.

Her angry face totally mismatched her beautiful features, making the scene quite comical. It was really hard for me to hold my laugh back.

"What so fucking funny?"

"Nothing?"

I replied whilst turning my face away. However, that didn't seem to work as she increased her pull and brought my face even closer to her as she threatened.

"Don't think for one second that I'm not going to do anything to you for the little stunt you pulled. Do you have any idea of how much trouble you've brought me?"

I shook my head.

"No, not really."

Melissa's face twisted even more at my words. Her pale face turned completely red from anger as I could hear the sound of her teeth grinding together.

"Krrr...krrr"

Hearing the s found of her teeth grinding together, I couldn't help but comment.

"You sound just like an orc."

The moment those words came out of my mouth, I sort of regretted saying them, but as I watched Melissa's face turn from red to purple, all that regret quickly dissipated, and a sense of achievement washed over me.

'Is this how it feels to win over Melissa?'

Not going to lie, it felt addicting. But it appeared as though I was the only one that felt this way, as Melissa's mouth trembled uncontrollably. search p an da no v el Her eyes soon rolled back in anger.

"Y...you!"

"Okay, I'm sorry, please don't be angry, I'll make it up to you somehow."

"You? Make it up to me?"

Melissa suddenly burst out laughing. It was a fake laugh though.

"How in the world are you going to help me?"

She spat.

"Can you let go first?"

"Fine."

Tapping onto her hands which were still grabbing onto my clothes, Melissa released the grip and I fixed them. Warily glancing in her direction, I continued.

"...Remember back at the Lock when I revealed a way to solve mana poisoning?"

Calming herself down, with a thoughtful look on her face, Melissa nodded her head.

"Yes, I do. I don't know if you revealed it on purpose, or you were just being plain stupid."

My mouth twitched at her words, but as the more mature person, I refrained from saying anything.

"Well, what if I told you that there was another way. A faster, and simpler way to solve mana poisoning."

"Oh?"

Melissa's right brow suddenly raised. There was keen interest in her eyes as soon as I said those words.

Staring at her, my brows furrowed.

"Honestly, I don't know if the theory will work or not."

Originally, this was a theory that Melissa was going to figure out herself in the future, but with everything that was going on, I doubted she would have time to figure it out.

Also, I only had a rough idea of how the theory worked.

'Mhh, now that I think about it, is the reason I know so many theories because of the memories implanted inside of my head? So, was Melissa really the one who came up with them?'

This was a good question.

Was she really the one that came up with the theories in the end? ...Or were they something that the mysterious figure implanted inside of me.

I mean, just how could I suddenly pull out so many theories from a novel I wrote? Novels only scratched the surface of most theories, but the knowledge from knowing the novel shouldn't have been able to help me come up with the things I did in the past.

"...So?"

Snapping me out of my thoughts was Melissa's annoyed voice. Scratching the back of my neck, I wrily smiled.

"I don't think this is the right time for me to tell you the theory. I need some time to properly write them down. Plus, it's not like right now is the right time."

Turning my head, I glanced towards the massive crowd that had gathered below the enormous tree.

"Fine."

Realizing the situation as well, Melissa eventually relented, much to my relief. Then, without saying anything else, she left the arena. From the looks of it, she couldn't stand my presence any longer.

Not that I cared.

I won.

"Hm?"

As I was looking around the place, it was then that I suddenly spotted a familiar figure sitting in the distance. It was Amanda.

The moment my eyes paused on her, my brows furrowed.

'What's wrong with her?'

Although Amanda usually had an indifferent look on her face, at the moment, her face was especially chilly, preventing anyone from approaching her.

Well, anyone but me.

Walking up to her, I calmly sat down next to her. Then, turning to look at her, I asked.

"Are you okay?"

Slowly lifting her head, and turning to look at me, Amanda nodded her head.

"Yes."

Staring deeply into her eyes, I lowered my head and gazed at her uniform before sighing.

"...Say, didn't you call me a liar not too long ago?"

"What do you mean?"

Amanda's brows knit.

Instead of answering her, I scooched over a little and bent down. Although I couldn't tell how Amanda reacted to my sudden action, from how her body jerked a little, I could tell that she was shocked by my sudden actions.

Ignoring it, I grabbed her shoe and tied her shoelaces. Once I was done, I gave her an all-knowing look.

"For someone who is as much of a neat freak as you, to forget to tie their shoelaces, something is wrong."

Meeting my eyes, Amanda gently bit her lips before closing her eyes. For the next couple of seconds, her brow relaxed and kit repeatedly. Eventually, staring deeply into my eyes, she softly said.

"...It's about my mother."

"Eh?"

Her sudden words caught me completely off-guard.

'Did I hear wrongly?'

Did she just say something about her mother?

I actually didn't know much about her mother, she never really appeared in the memories implanted inside of my mind.

Apart from the fact that she had left Amanda when she was young, I really didn't know much else.

"Um."

Amanda nodded her head, before softly saying.

"She's here."

"...What?"

The shock within me grew even more, and my back straightened. Unknowingly, my heart sped up a little.

Glancing around, I lowered my head a little and softly asked.

"She's here? Like, here, here?"

"Um."

Amanda once again nodded her head.

But just as she was about to continue speaking, the whole arena erupted with cheers. Following the cheers, I watched as a familiar figure appeared on one of the projections below the tree.

The familiar figure was none other than Ava who stood proudly on the screen with the flute in her hand.

Then, following her appearance, an elf appeared on the screen. With hair of a mix between gold and silver, the elf proudly stood on the opposite end of Ava.

Following his appearance, a referee materialized between the two of them.

"For the first round of thirty-two, the match will be Ava Leafz vs Amelia."

Once his words faded, glancing at both of them to make sure they were ready, the referee raised his hand and lowered it.

"Begin!"