The third day of the tournament began with a lively atmosphere. The crowd was pumped and ready for more action. Emma and Vergil's battle was still fresh in their minds and today's spectators were hoping to see something similar in intensity.
While the emotions of the spectators and guests were at a high, the students' aura was somewhat off. This was because, during the previous night, a piece of strange information was released to them. This information detailed the schedule for the tournament, including all the various match-ups and which day they would take place.
Normally, the officiating mage in charge of the tournament would call each student to a stage together with their opponent on the day of the battle. In other words, the students were unaware of who their opponents were until they were called up to the stage. However, the information that was spread last night was a supposed detailed arrangement of the match-ups.
If this information were accurate, it could affect the tournament quite well. The students would get a heads-up of their opponent and could make the proper research and inquiry before then. At the same time, if they realized that their opponent was stronger, they would quit the match and save their strength for a weaker opponent.
In summary, while this leak wouldn't seem like much to some, for the students of the First and Second Dawn Academies, it would allow them to make proper arrangements in hopes that they could get through this stage.
However, while the leak mattered to many, it didn't matter to all. This was especially so for the extremely confident individuals who believed that even without the new leak, they could still attain a position in the next round. They included Asher, Emma, Aurora, Lyn, and Hanru.
At the moment, most of the students were sceptical[1] about the leak and decided to wait until the tournament began for the day. Chances were that the two academies had found out about the leak and reshuffled the schedule. If that were the case, then the leak would be pointless, hence the reason why they didn't stress too much about it.
"Today marks the third day of this magnificent event but the second day of the tournament's first stage. Let's begin."
With Dean Fogre's opening speech, the third day kicked off in full bloom. Groups A and B were called to stages and it turned out that their match-up was exactly the same as the leak.
"What's the meaning of this? It can't be those leaks were real?"
Some of the students murmured while someone couldn't help but express their surprise with their eyes.
Wendel, who was facing a student from the First Dawn Academy, frowned. It would be a lie to say that the two academies were not aware of the leaks, so why did they let it be? Did the leaks not affect their plans or were they too lazy to draw up a new schedule?
Meanwhile, Roland, who viewed the scene from his office thanks to the magical display screen there, smiled as he noticed how some of the students were acting.
In truth, he was already aware of the leaks after all, Roland was the one who ordered it.
The purpose of the leaked schedule was to test the students' analytical ability. With the schedules in their hands, they could make choices regarding which matches they want to lose or win and not aim for an unrealistic goal like a 100% win record. As long as they made the right decision with the leaked schedule as a guide, it was possible for even the low-rating students to make a noteworthy performance.
"Let's see who's smart enough to use this knowledge." Roland took a sip from a glass as he turned his focus away from the screen.
For the director of the First Dawn Academy, his interest would only be from the second stage of the tournament which would commence after this mini-tournament.
Groups A and B concluded soon enough and after twelve minutes, the next two groups went onto the stage. Right after them, were the next and so on.
For the most part of the tournament, there were no tough match-ups, at least not yet. Even Asher had things easy and completed his battle within a minute, and while this might seem impressive, it felt natural to the crowd.
When the last two groups, groups O and P came up, the crowd finally got a nice match. Emma vs the fourth duke descendant in her group. It should be known that group O was the toughest group, having four direct duke descendants. Emma Saunters, Alex Sutton, Vergil Forster, and Emma's first opponent for the day.
The second cycle began soon after and the students had to come back onto the stage. This time around, while most of the favourites still didn't face a challenge, Asher and Alex Sutton did. In Alex Sutton's case, he was up against Emma Saunters whereas Asher had to face the only direct descendant of a duke in his group, the son of Duke Klein, Ezra Klein.
To the public, this was Asher's second massive challenge, but the very first real test to prove whether he was indeed worthy of being a member of the Seven Pillars, a ranking of duke descendants that favoured those from the six great families. A loss in this match would see Asher's standing in the eyes of the people drop, and even some of the nobles would begin looking down on him.
To be honest, a loss would have more value to Asher. It would allow him to return to the shadows and the royals wouldn't see him as anything special. This in itself, was a boon for Asher, considering his plans for the latter could be considered as treason, hence operating from the shadows was advantageous to him. Losing to the son of a duke was explainable and so, the Castellans wouldn't see it as something strange and instead attribute it to his null physique.
Although winning this battle would strengthen Asher's public appearance and make the citizens rate him more, it would also have the Castellans increase his risk rating as well. This could in turn push them to make a move against him. All in all, the benefits of a loss somewhat outweighed the gains.