Atai's sixteen badges once more shocked all the candidates.
If Bloed's fourteen badges were already astonishing, Atai's sixteen badges were even more so.
You must know that to get that number of badges you needed not only very strong combat power but also great tracking abilities. After all, finding a candidate in this huge city was not easy.
King Arlen Firstmane observed Atai for several seconds before grinning satisfied.
"Good, good, you have brought pride to our race."
Bloed raised an eyebrow. For some reason, he felt as though the king was a bit less gloomy than before.
As though he was happy by the fact a human was not the one with the biggest number of badges.
Fortunately, Bloed was mature enough to not pay attention to something like that.
Quite the opposite, Bloed was relieved by Atai's achievement. After all, the fact that he had gotten the biggest number of badges among the candidates could make some beastmen to feel that they lost face.
Atai nodded at the king indifferently and returned to his position.
He did not seem excited or happy by the fact he was praised by the king himself.
It was as though his result was just something normal.
Even the gazes of the other candidates felt like a breeze to him.
Atai was the last beastmen to hand out his badges. Now that every candidate had handed out their badges, it was time to explain the rules for the next segment.
The king coughed slightly and looked at the remaining twenty-two candidates.
"The rules for the next part are simple. The twenty-two of you will fight each other in one-against-one duels, finally selecting twelve of you. Next, the twelve remaining candidates will fight again, finally choosing the final six.
"But there is a problem. There are twenty-two of you. Only enough for eleven battles and eleven winners, but as I said before, there must be twelve of you for the next round.
"That is where the badges come into use. As there are twenty-two of you, we will select the two candidates will the highest number of badges. Atai, Bloed, step forward."
Bloed and the cougarkin nodded and stepped forward.
"You two will be exempt from the first round of battles, directly passing to the next round. As for the remaining twenty, each one of you will face another candidate in a duel to select the other ten candidates that will compete for the six positions."
The candidates were slightly surprised by the king's decision.
However, they easily accepted it.
After all, since the start, it had been specified that acquiring more badges was going to be advantageous in the next round. Bloed and Atai were the two candidates with the most badges, so they earned this advantage.
When the king saw nobody objected to his words, he spoke up again.
"In the case of the remaining twenty of you, your enemies will be determined according to the number of badges you got. The candidate with most badges will fight the candidate with the least badges and so on. Of course, some of you will maybe think this pairing is unfair, but it's a fact the candidates that got more badges have already shown more outstanding abilities, so I think this little advantage is normal."
Once more, no candidate objected to the king's word.
Of course, there were some that seemed uncomfortable with the way the battles were being paired, but owing to the king's firm attitude, no candidate took the initiative to mention it.
The king nodded in satisfaction when he saw that.
"Now that the rules had been explained, you can go to rest and prepare. The battles will start in half an hour and continue until the final six candidates are chosen."
With these words, the king left.
Each candidate then went to see the person in charge of them. In Bloed, Liu Ying, and Rana's case, they went to see Eve.
Eve seemed rather satisfied with Bloed and the others' performance. In fact, of the five candidates she brought, four reached this round.
Bloed, Liu Ying, Rana, and the wolfkin Gorde.
To Moonlight Glow, it was something that gave them a lot of face.
Unfortunately, Bloed could not share her happiness.
Mainly because the wolfkin, Gorde, was looking at him as though he wanted to hit him.
Eve frowned when she saw that, but she said nothing in the end. Although she was a bit dissatisfied with the wolfkin, she did not want to scold him in front of Bloed and the others.
But although Eve said nothing, there was someone else that was unable to continue watching that.
"You. I don't like the way you are looking at my master."
Gorde was startled. His gaze then met the ice-cold gaze of the Valkyrie, that seemed as though she wanted to crush him.
Gorde shivered instinctively, and an enormous fear assaulted his body. But at that moment, Bloed spoke up.
"Regina, stop."
"Master?"
"Let him be. He is just a bit vexed because he was unable to defeat me last time."
Gorde's face darkened. Although Bloed did not have that intention, Gorde felt as though Bloed was mocking him.
But remembering Regina's terrifying gaze, he just clicked his tongue and walked away without saying anything.
Eve shook her head when she saw that.
"… Sorry about that. Gorde is a good boy, he is just a bit arrogant."
Bloed smiled and waved his hand. In all honesty, he did not care about that.
In the end, it was not as though the wolfkin could hurt him in any way. Bloed could only see him as an immature brat too conscious of himself.
The time before the start of the battles passed quickly. Bloed and the others took advantage of it to eat a light meal and drink a bit of water. Then, they got ready for their battles.
The first one to battle was Rana, the rabbitkin.
Her opponent? A lizardkin young man with only one badge.
Rana walked towards the arena with a small smile, completely opposite to the lizardkin stern, wary, and grave expression.
Even although the lizardkin was way taller than Rana, he did not dare to underestimate her. The fact that Rana managed to gather ten badges already showed that she was going to be a very strong opponent.
Once the two of them were in the stage, the referee looked at them.
"Are you ready?"
When Rana and the lizardkin nodded, the referee gave his signal.
"Then start!"
Instantly, the lizardkin kicked the ground and rushed towards Rana.