After the match Sticks was taken away to have his injuries tended to. Jason had his membership status revoked and was locked out of the arena.
Azure and Tamra chatted for a bit about Sticks' shocking strength before Tamra was called to fight.
She was scheduled to fight someone from the Micheal squad named Finn. Azure shuddered when Tamra told him the name resulting in the later chuckling.
It turns out that Finn wasn't nearly as dangerous as Azure had anticipated. In a few minutes, Tamra made light work of him and went back to Azure.
After a few more matches, the first round of the tournament had come to a close.
The middle-aged man walked inside the waiting room, Sticks following closely behind.
"Alrighty!" The middle-aged man exclaimed drawing everyone's attention to himself. "The first round is over already! Out of nine hundred squad members we only have four hundred and fifty!"
"Three hundred from every squad". Tamra muttered to Azure who smiled bitterly. Did she really think him that dumb?
"The second round isn't at all like the first round. You will need your wits and cunning as much as your battle prowess". The middle-aged man continued. "You will be taken to a training simulation realm designed for ministers, filled to the brim with demon beasts of all classes excluding supreme demons". He paused to hear the gasps and mumblings which never came. He continued with his speech, albeit feeling sour as he spoke. "Now there are some rules that you need to follow while you're in this realm. If you kill a person with zero demon cores then you'll be eliminated and your demon cores will be transferred to the person that you tried to kill. You can kill people in possession of demon cores, you'll get the demon cores in their possession if you kill them successfully and vice versa. There will be a golden ring above your heads to serve as in indicator. The more demon cores you have, the brighter the golden ring".
Azure smirked as he heard the conditions. What the middle aged man said basically meant that he could kill as many ordinary demons as he wanted and he would get the same kind of reward that someone gets when he kills an elemental.
He wasn't the only one thinking along that line, because few seconds later somebody spoke.
"Are there different points allocated to different demon cores?"
The middle aged man seemed stunned for some seconds before using his hand to hit his forehead as if just remembering something. "For a ordinary demon core, you get one point. For a low level elemental demon core, you get five points. For a mid level elemental demon core, you get five points. For a high level elemental demon core, you get one thousand points. For a supreme elemental demon core…" The middle aged man let out a hoarse chuckle. "If you can kill it then you win the entire second round".
Everyone sucked in some air when they heard what the middle aged man said. They win, just for one demon core. How insane was that?
Azure was the only one thinking logically at that moment. And while everyone was preparing to form groups to hunt down supreme level elemental demons, Azure wondered how powerful they would have to be for the entire second round to be awarded to the person who obtained the demon core.
Tamra saw Azure in deep thoughts and chuckled. "Don't tell me you're thinking about going for the supreme level elemental demon". She snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Even pastors have a hard time dealing with them".
Azure chuckled and shook his head. He wasn't as dumb as the rest of them. He wasn't thinking about taking on a supreme level elemental beast, he only wondered what kind of strength one needed to defeat one. His question was already answered.
"You guys want to form a group?" Sticks asked while walking towards Azure and Tamra. His injuries and cuts were all recovered and he was given a new set of clothes with some protective armor sewn into it. Azure regarded his new clothes with mild jealousy. If he knew that he would've gotten such a reward then he would've made his win against Damon slightly more dramatic.
"Sure". Azure said before Tamra could voice out the objection that she had.
"You know that if we register as a group we'd have to split the loot, right?" Tamra said, reminding Azure about the main point of conflict.
"Shouldn't be hard enough". Azure muttered.
"No we'd actually have to share the loot". This time it was Sticks that spoke. He held a palm sized flat crystalline device on his hand. "According to this, the loot is automatically split between the parties". Sticks read seemingly from the crystalline thingy on his hand.
"And we can't split up for any reason at all". Tamra added.
Azure seemed to turn a deaf ear to all the 'warnings' thrown at him. Instead his focus was on the crystalline device in Sticks' hand.
"What's that". Azure asked instantly. As soon as this question came out of his lips, he regretted asking it. Tamra and Sticks both looked at him as if he was an idiot. They exchanged looks as if deciding the person that would explain tk Azure making Azure rub his nose awkwardly.
"That is a transmitter". Tamra said, gesturing at the crystalline device in Sticks' hand. "The thing that I've been telling you so much about".
"How'd you get one?" Azure asked Sticks. He was fairly certain that he hadn't seen such in Sticks' possession before the audition.
Sticks shrugged as he answered. "I stole it from Mary after the audition". His lips rose to form a smirk. "I decided that she needed to be punished after trying to screw the both of us".
Azure laughed at his statement and flashed him an approving smile. Tamra was confused as to what was happening and decided not to ask. Instead, she left the two boys and went to register them as a group for the second round.