Unfortunately, there was no one else worth paying attention to for the next six matches. None of them would be able to stand up to the caliber that Donkor stood on. Some of them had some promising skills that I planned to take. I made note of the people that had the skills that I wanted.
"Ahh… These matches are boring!" Arlo complained. "Hey, Smarus let's dip and find something fun to do!" He turned to me.
"Don't you have wives? Have fun with them," I shot back.
"But they are always with me," He pouted.
"You could have worded that better, Milord," Vida sighed.
"Hmph! You are still as spoiled as ever, Milord," Gricelda spoke up.
She barely said a word since she came here. In the game, she had a stuck-up attitude. It greatly pissed me off. Gricelda crossed her arms.
"Milord, there has to be plenty of better things to do than watch these weaklings."
"Gricelda, I want to hang out with my new best friend!" Arlo complained.
What was he, a child? There was no way this guy was this immature… perhaps it was because only a few people were willing to bump heads with him.
"Come to think of it, how are you able to fight on behalf of both Vida and Gricelda? I thought only one assistant per student was allowed," I looked at Arlo.
"Oh, that's simple! Vida isn't here as a student but as my wife who will be living with me. Gricelda is my assistant," Arlo explained.
Gricelda kept her arms crossed and looked away. I wanted to slap this chick.
"I feel like you only exploited a loophole. From what I can tell, Vida has the same access that a student would. Care to explain?"
"Because I asked the board to give her access!" Arlo smiled at me.
Did he really just ask, or was there more to it? I decided to not push any further and let the matter drop.
"My turn for the questions! How come Lily is your assistant when you are a banished noble?" He tilted his head.
Lily shifted her focus and turned to me. She was also curious.
"Yeah, I've been wondering that too…" She added her thoughts.
"I was banished, but you have to think about what a noble is. Is it someone who obtained a status? If so, then the children of nobles should be considered commoners until they earned it…" I began to explain.
"To sum it all up, between the time I was banished and the time I submitted my application, I raised enough money to match the income of a low-ranking noble," I nodded my head proudly.
"Wow!" Arlo clapped his hands.
"Wait, you're rich!" Lily leaned towards me.
"Why are you surprised? We rode the train to get here… Actually…"
I turned to Irene. She noticed me and looked up at me.
"Yes?"
"I never heard of the name Minifred, and if Bodil is your assistant, that must mean you are a noble or something equivalent," I shared my thoughts.
I tried to read her stats, but it was just a repeat of the same thing that happened last time. It warned me to stop before she noticed.
"Oh, that's becau…"
"It's time for the last fight in the first round of the tournament, ladies and gentlemen!" The announcer interrupted Irene.
She stopped talking and immediately turned her attention to the announcement. It made sense since this upcoming match was Bodil's. I decided to let the matter go for now.
"A tall, redheaded woman that would beat anyone into a pulp, give it up for Bodil!!"
The crowd all cheered. For once, she actually looked calm as she walked onto the stage. However, once people saw her face, some of the students began to mock her.
"That orge?"
"Yeah, she's way too tall and buff for my liking."
"I was hoping she would be cute," Someone sighed.
Some of the cheers turned into mocking and snickers. I looked up to see who was badmouthing her.
"H-hey, that's not…"
I placed my hand on Irene's shoulder to stop her.
"I remembered their faces. They won't be laughing for long so for now, just relax," I told her.
"But they were mocking Big Sis," She looked at me.
"I doubt you want to miss Bodil's fight. Drop it," I sighed.
In the corner of my eye, I saw Arlo smiling at me like an idiot. He gave me a thumbs-up.
"Nice one!" He whispered.
"Shut up."
"Is this gonna be our first shakedown?" He continued.
I couldn't tell if he was serious or not. He seemed to take everything as a joke, but for once I wasn't complaining. I smiled.
"When the tournament goes on break,'' I confirmed it.
I shifted my focus back on the upcoming match, and the crowds began to die down. The introduction of Bodil's opponent started.
"This man is another scholar, but for a special reason. Give it up for the summoner, Duke!"
A mixture of surprise and excitement could be heard from the audience. It made sense. The summoning class was one of the rarest classes to come by. In the game, summoners could make contracts with animals, beasts, and legendary beasts. Depending on the subclass, they could summon beasts from a parallel dimension called the Void. This was greatly expanded upon in one of the DLCs. I smiled to myself as I read his stats.
Name: Duke
Age: 16
Strength: 2
Intelligence: 5.5
Agility: 2
Charisma: 6
Magic: 6
Class: Summoner
Mana: 3000/3000
Since Duke was a summoner, he didn't have to be strong, so he could focus on training in a few areas. Intelligence was needed to learn the biology of each animal and the technicalities of each individual contract. Charisma helped him persuade higher-leveled beasts to work with him, and magic… well let him summon them.
The reason why I was so invested was that I was planning on stealing his entire class. Everyone leaned forward, but it was due to different reasons. This time around, Bodil only had an axe with her, but it was much larger than the one she used when I sparred with her. Duke only had a staff with him.
"Get ready… Fight!!" The announcer shouted.
"Summon: Stone Golems!" Duke cast as soon as the match started.
Impressive, he was able to skip the casting. Too bad stone golems were the weakest version of golems. I sighed in disappointment.
I looked at Bodil, and she was still unusually quiet. She clutched her axe near the end with both of her hands. I was able to faintly hear her whispering something, but I couldn't make out the words.
"Irene, what is Bodil doing?" I looked over to her.
She was wide-eyed as she stared at her big sis. My words fell dead on her ears. Whatever Bodil was doing, it must have been something to make Irene look so scared.
"What is this!? Bodil has yet to move from her spot!" the announcer commentated.
The two golems were starting to move towards Bodil. They were slow, but they could still do decent damage if she was not careful. Bodil had to win this so that I could steal Duke's class without raising suspicions.
"So in this moment, grant me strength!" Bodil's eye began to spark.
As I watched her, my system was setting off alarms.
Warning! New information about Bodil was received. Displaying updated information.
Name: Bodil Thorson
Age: 16
Strength: 7 (Temporary)
Intelligence: 7 (Temporary)
Agility: 7 (Temporary)
Charisma: 7 (Temporary)
Magic: 7 (Temporary)
Class: Valkyrie
Mana: 5000/5000 (Temporary)
What was I reading!? Her stats just shot up out of nowhere! I never heard of a spell that could create such a level boost in a person's stats! I looked more closely at Bodil's name. Thorson… No shot!
Thorson was the name of an antagonist in the game that received Thor's blessings, causing his name to change! He had a lover, an ice queen who… I looked over at Irene. No wonder they looked familiar, but so many questions ran through my mind.
Were they just people who resembled these villains? Were they somehow related? How did Bodil get Thor's blessing? What was Irene's relation to Bodil? I forced myself to focus on the match.
Bodil's body was covered in lighting as she finally prepared for battle. With a single swing, she destroyed the golems and walked towards Duke. Before she could do anything, Duke went to his knees and begged for mercy. He surrendered.
The crowd was amazed. I saw a few people who resembled Vikings standing in honor of Bodil. I was able to hear the boys who were shit-talking before.
"M-maybe I was wrong."
"She's totally badass!"
That wasn't gonna let them off the hook. Bodil released her spell and went back to normal. The system's alarms stopped. The harder I thought about it, the more I found myself asking questions. One thing I was almost certain about was that Bodil was locking away her true strength. It must have been too much for her body to handle. But why use it in the first round then? I checked her stats.
Name: Bodil ???
Age: 16
Strength: 3
Intelligence: 2
Agility: 4
Charisma: 4
Magic: 3
Class: Valkyrie
Mana: 500/500
Everything was back to how it was before. I sighed as I took in this match. Irene looked like she knew about this, and her face was full of worry. More unsolved mysteries… yay.
Luna looked over to me and pointed at the stage.
"Smarus… What kind of monstrous people are you befriending?" She sounded concerned.
I followed her finger and noticed that Duke had burns all over his body just from being near Bodil. I was amazed but frightened at the same time. First Donkor uses an OP move and now Bodil? The power scaling of this tournament was completely off-balance. Even with our impromptu training, there should not have been this much of a difference in strength. Something was wrong here… Something very, very wrong.
"Smarus," Arlo's voice brought me back to reality. "Have you noticed that despite the majority of upcoming students being declined, this coliseum is still full of students and visitors alike? Ever wondered why?" He spoke in a low and serious tone.
I looked around me as the realization was finally settling in. Both days so far, this place was full of people. What was the true goal behind this tournament? I felt a bead of sweat roll down my chin as I learned that there was an ulterior motive to this so-called exam.