Monday, 7:34 AM.
The recurring audiences that support the academy came back to officiate and watch the Triathlon event. It is the first time in history that it manages to gather more than a thousand audience. Completely packed with so many venues to seat on, they marched forward throughout the entire park while the outsiders gradually fenced themselves outside the ring to have a free-watching view of the whole race.
Unlike many other events, the Magic Triathlon is presumed to be one of the most intense and formidable competitions all around the nations and it is supported and sponsored by a lot of third parties members as well as the board who initiated the following speck of the proposal, originally coming from William himself.
On top of that, they also hired multiple field specialists and sports referees to register a fair accommodation of freelance viewing for the sake of the game. They are regularly invited to every Triathlon in order to keep the consistency of the said event and in order to see if there will be any tricks or cheats throughout the course.
The large venue covered four sectors of the map. Extending by at least one thousand and three hundred sixty yards away from the academy. The whole course is so big that it can pretty much handle almost every citizen of the kingdom. It is an all-around location with different paths and routes allocating towards one finish line and goal. Towards the park is the road through the east section of the map. Every little corner is precise and useful.
The entrance for the venue is coming along on the gates from the east district and one towards the vast shaded wooden gate outside the skirts. There are at least thirty people helping on organizing the tickets that are going to be used to validate the person who can assure a position inside the park. Among those twenty were a bunch of scouting legions that will serve as a security opposition in any case of a criminal arrest.
On each side, there were also a bunch of tourists coming from the other nation to watch the game. Fosier Academy's Triathlon event was always on top of everything to be considered as one of the best. It is most likely because of the fun activities that everyone can also participate in after the main event of the whole competition. There are various prizes as well as consolations and fun things to receive as a souvenir in case they are located in a far kingdom or so.
It was still early in the morning and everyone is already busy with their assigned tasks. Multiple guards are stationed on the large portion of the venue while keeping the place in check. The masters as well as Grandmaster Himawari were garnered on the balcony set as a VIP corner for those who wanted to get a good look at the whole competition. The candidates that were not picked during the selections are required to go through the venue in advance in order to facilitate the other people and help with the settling of the chair for the other watchers.
All that aside, those who were picked as a contestant were placed in their room for a while in order to have a focused group discussion and a little bit of meeting. There are 45 candidates, 15 members for each section with their respective coaches for conducting a fluid meeting. For section A, led by one of the most powerful magicians from the history of modern magic named David Mastria. He was also a member of the Magikill Federation, ranking in 49th position.
Section B was coached by a magician and also a teacher working for their division of the academy, her name is Wency Glamora. She's a beauty at heart but also a deadly mage when it comes to the battlefield. Her methods of teaching were also perfect for those who reside with Section B. By implementing both physical attributes with the connection of the magic activation in order to enhance each ability in your stead. It was a magnificent order of teaching.
And as for Section C. William Smith is ordered to stay within their parameters as their coach and as their mentor as well. Provided that he was approved by the council and by Master Himawari, everyone rejoiced with his connection.
As time gradually passes, each seat in the venue was filled up. Everyone desired to watch the whole competition unfolding, most of them are now feeling the chilly nerve strangling their ability to concentrate. It was never a voluntary idea to feel something like this before the match even started.
Inside the room of Section C, they were in an array of positions, kneeling down on their own table while feeling the immense feeling.
"Crap, I am starting to puke again, I'll be right back!" Riggord desperately left the room and headed over to the bathroom.
"Damn it, saying it like that, I feel like I might throw up as well. I need to get my head in the game or else..." Followed by the sudden remark of Rishin, they were stuck in the middle of the predicament. Not knowing what to do and without their confidence bringing up such a miracle in the last minute of their preparation, they went silent while fidgeting on their track.
A few minutes passed, William and Aran went inside the room and they were blasted by the sudden reassurance.
"Yo?" Aran raised his arm and waved at them. They smiled upon seeing his great start. Just the tip of his lips is enough to make them feel safe, but it didn't last because they all sulk in the corner. Eunice and Huck were the only ones who didn't feel the pressure. Nikki is doing her best as well but her head is hung on the table. Upon hearing Aran's voice, she slowly focused her gaze on him and Aran noticed it. He smiled at her and winked, indicating that he fully believes in her.
Nikki felt a slight thump on her heart as soon as she received the wink. Her confidence elated in an instance. Soon after that, William goes over to the podium in the middle of the room. He started to inhale and exhale.
"Y'all... I want you to do the same... Inhale and exhale with me..." He growled at them with a serious expression. Afraid of this demeanor, they started doing the same with the exact rhythm. Aran didn't feel any nervousness but he joined the inhaling and exhaling session as well on his free will. This is probably because he wants to contribute ease to his classmates.
"Right, good job..." William ended the calming down session and they all did the same instantaneously. At some point, they were able to retrace their composition and confidence in a mere few minutes of breathing slowly. It has a direct attack on their nerve.
"Now then, for the past 5 days, all of you were able to enhance each of your golden abilities to an extent within such a short time. I am going to be honest with all of you, I was pretty much impressed that you guys were able to pull that off. Normally, learning magic and building stamina wouldn't be enough in that streak of time but you were able to learn it, and not just that, you were also improving in both physical and mental aspects. It was the greatest improvement I have ever seen in my entire career of teaching. And you guys are fast!" Followed by his barrage comments, the aroma of their character suddenly glistened with hope. Knowing that he is not the type to exaggerate because he is a professional, William gave them a true essence of criticism.
"Thank you very much, Mr. William!" Everyone stood up from their seat, bowed their heads, and paid respect to William and his lasting guidance to them. He was getting emotional by this, though he pleaded with his arms to keep himself composed. A wholesome view indeed.
Damn it, I am also relieved to hear that! Aran leaned on the wall with his arms crossed.
"Now then, we still have a lot of things to talk about regarding the game for today. Right now, we still have half of the empty seats and it is going to take some time before the whole event starts. Probably an hour or so, I want all of you to use the leisure time to compress yourselves, feel the heat, get your head in the game and relax. You guys should also eat breakfast for a while and try not to participate without an empty stomach. Remember, this event is gradually focused on your energy and stamina. Everything might fall under the worst-case scenario if you are bound to cross the rules. Make sure to keep that in mind even when you are in the state of losing." He began to announce his instructions.
After that brief introduction, Eunice raised her hand.
"Yes?"
"Where are the other candidates? Are they also on the venue?" She asked.
"Ah yes, I forgot to mention. Yes, you're correct. Those who were not picked are required to watch the game as well and they are now stationed in the venue to help the other knights to guide the audiences. I also want to tell you guys about the voting system." William answered.
"Voting system?"
"Yeah, this year's Triathlon will switch things up with the voting mechanics in order to plus points. As you can see, even if you are the first one to reach the finish line, the judges and referees will still have to value your performance and try to analyze if you did well or not. These three criteria for scoring and evaluating the performance. Number 1: Physical regulation or how you execute the movement perfectly. Two: Magic composition and solitary activation, they will try to detect if you were able to cast the right amount of magic. And then the third one will be the votes coming from the audience. The voting is just a free-will decision of those who are watching. There will be biased operations on this one which makes the game a little bit too pesky and stupid. I really hate those board members." He added.
Everyone listened carefully to what he was saying. But at the same time, they were reluctant to hear the rest after knowing that a major bias of scores might severe the concept of the whole race. After all, winning is not by speed, it is by the performance itself so the track and field point of view is getting tampered with by the board members' delusional thoughts and consideration.
"But then again, it is not that quite hard to earn points in the votes. You just have to entertain the audience by showing what you can do within the race and aim for a higher spot in the ranking. It is an extra detail anyway. I doubt that they will actually make a conference for this stupid idea they have implemented." Soured by this decision, he dropped a sigh.
So if we win first place at the start of each bout, we may have the chance to gain the supporter's vote. That is quite a perilous task but it is affordable. Well, for them anyway. Aran also sighed from this unfair treatment.
"If you still have any more questions, I will be in the faculty room. All of you should actually prepare now while waiting. This is the big moment that you guys are waiting for... Oh yeah, by the way, I think your real leader should actually say something first before we end this discussion." William pressed his calm manner and started gazing through the distance, eventually meeting Aran's location.
Aran heard him but he has no idea that he was talking about him. He opened his eyes and noticed that everyone is staring at him.
"Heh? Umm? What?" He wondered.
"Aran, come here..." William instructed him. By stepping down, he reached the center of the board near the front of the podium. And just by that, everyone's attention suddenly sank onto his aura, strictly limiting his access. Aran tried to visualize the things that William might say in order to motivate them.
This guy... He literally pushed me to do all of these things... He took a single glance and glared back at William. But then after that, he sighed and started speaking.
"Umm... I don't know if I am the right guy to say all of this but I just want to say that everyone really worked hard up to this day. You guys are the best and you have managed to dethrone the negativity that you felt when you first came here. I am really glad that I have managed to introduce you guys to Mr. William. So umm... On that note, for this day, I don't want everyone to stress themselves..." He paused for a bit.
Everyone was surprised by the sudden improvement of Aran's communication. They were still merging all of their thought about his words and finally after exhaling...
"Let's have some fun, shall we?" Aran did a smug with a confident tone. The latter had become the outcome. Everyone's soul fired up in an instant, making their way on top of the soaring summit. It was the perfect speech that inhabits the lifeless center of the individual.
"YEAHH!! LET'S GO!" The boys from Huck's team imbued a phoenix type of cheering and the others did the same. Echoing throughout the entire room were their screams and excitement.
Aran slowly turned his head to William and they both nodded and smiled.
Half an hour have passed, they were able to eat breakfast without any problem. The entire venue is almost covered with many audiences. It was the biggest event of all time, now with the board members and the council that was progressing the match, the uneasiness of the whole game turned out to be more intense than usual.
William stalled on top of the seats of the audience particularly on the VIP area next to the center of the masters. He was the only one up there. Suddenly, the door opened, a familiar person came to check on him.
"Heh... this spot is nice, you could see the whole field from up here..." It was commander Henry with his body armor off.
"How unusual that you would take your armor off," William remarked.
"Well, I came here to watch the game and there was no work anyway so..." He replied.
"I see that you are also a fan of these things. Once I thought that you are just a stuck-up workaholic in your office." William giggled.
"Hey, that's rude but I mean... That's true." He can't deny that.
"But then again, perhaps you were here to deal with something other than the game, does it?" William asked.
"I see that you're still as keen as ever. Nothing has changed. You are right." He replied with a serious tone but he was smiling.
"Up to this point, I was hoping for a solution yesterday. It is a good thing that you guys came."
"A job is a job, I just can't let this pass you know? I don't want to happen what happened last time when we came late. It is something that I have been wondering ever since I have become the commander."
"Well, I will leave it you..."
The roaring of the massive people circulated on the whole venue. The loudest scream in the world. The fireworks blew off and the magical particles have started designing the field. An indication that the game will finally start.
***
Back in the deep forest with the mist covering it, Thalia walked slowly towards the latter of the location.
"Time for a little surprise... Mmm..." She giggled.