Bruised and bloodied, she grinned with fierce satisfaction as the announcement echoed through the tower. The victory felt raw and earned, the sound ringing like a triumphant anthem in the hollow expanse.
"Wow, that was actually entertaining to watch," Haruo said, his eyes fixed on the screen as Ena's triumphant grin filled the display. She basked in the moment, soaking up her well-earned victory with an air of satisfaction.
"See? I told ya." Kilian said, a playful glint in his eye and a satisfied smile spreading across his face.
"What's her next test?" Haruo asked.
Kilian stood up from his seat, brushing popcorn off his clothes. Suddenly, Haruo's seat vanished with a cartoonish poof, leaving him to blink in mild confusion. He thought about questioning it but decided against it—he'd already reached his daily quota for weird questions.
"So what is it?" Haruo asked while munching on popcorn while sitting on the ground.
"I can't tell you; the last test is personalized just for them. If I spill the beans, it's like revealing their personal info."
Kilian shrug glancing down at Haruo. With a quick snap of his fingers, he grabbed his popcorn and made the screen vanish, leaving only the lingering tension in the air.
"Go ask her; it's her choice if she wants to share it. Anyway, get ready for the second half. Try for first place—the reward's worth it."
Kilian said before leaving. Haruo sat in silence, waiting for the next test. While waiting around might seem dull to most, it didn't bother him. Like Ena, he was already worn out, so this downtime felt like a rare luxury.
"Wait! Is Taiyo eating properly? I only made breakfast—what if he's not eating?"
He sighed and lay down on the ground. It was 7 p.m., which meant it was probably closer to 9 or 10 p.m. on their home planet. The thought didn't worry him too much; Taiyo was at the Castle, likely receiving royal treatment. With that in mind, Haruo allowed himself to rest for a while.
'Honestly, I think getting contracted was for the best. At least we're guaranteed a little bit of peace. Everything felt way too short like my butler job.'
'Well since i have nano machines might as well use it for the time being.'
Haruo tapped his ring, and a soft glow emanated as it displayed his total points from the first half. The numbers shimmered before him, reflecting his performance up to this point.
[Name: Haruo Chiharu]
[Performance Evaluation]
Mock Fight test: 21,469
Team Test: 41,875
Royale Test: 85,000
Test 4: —
Test 5: —
Test 6: —
Overall Score: 138,344
Ranking: 2nd place.
'Second place? There's someone with over 130 thousand points? That's surprising, but meh, 2nd place gets rewards too, right?'
Haruo then realized something he had kind of forgotten about.
'Oh right, Master once told me nanomachines can be used to check your overall stats, and how Oscar can be transferred into the body.'
'How did I forget about this? This could've saved me a lot of time. I guess I'll just use this for now.'
"status window"
He waited and waited, but the window didn't appear. He repeated the command to ensure it had been heard correctly. He wanted to feel irritated, but he just couldn't summon the energy for it.
'I should've expected that. I guess this nanomachine is only designed for tests and isn't as advanced as Oscar.'
Haruo heard a door open, causing him to sit up from the ground. He turned his head toward the sound and saw the side of the door, noting that there was nothing at the back of it as someone stepped through.
The door disappeared into thin air, just like any other door I've mentioned over the past seven chapters. After the door disappeared he saw a boy coming through.
He had pure blonde hair that fell in wavy layers, styled in a wolf cut. A long earring dangled from his ear, and from Haruo's view of his side profile, it looked like he had blue eyes. His jawline was sharp yet soft.
The boy looked around till he had a confused expression to him, Then he turned to Haruo. His skin was pale but lively at the same time and his nose looked straight despite being up turned in the side profile.
But Haruo was surprised to see that his eyes were mismatched—one blue and the other gold. His bangs were messy yet attractive. He wore an oversized black long-sleeve polo, tucked into formal white trousers, along with laced boots.
He had a lean build and stood around 169 cm tall. On his shoulder was an emblem identical to Tatiana's and Leo's, giving Haruo a rough idea of who he was.
'Oh its Tatiana's brother, he finished second after me. I thought he'd look more intimidating i never expected him to be so... Short.'
They stared at each other for a moment before he broke eye contact and looked up, his expression unreadable. Haruo continued to watch him, confused and trying to figure out what had caught his attention.
'I don't need to focus on him. Ena and the other participants are about to finish their test. Might as well use this time to check out the other artifacts in the fortune wheel.'
He opened his mana storage and pulled out the ultimate-ranked artifact, its glow catching his eye. He also retrieved his Monarch-13—how else was he going to scan it without Oscar?
"Oscar, what are the attributes of this artifact?" Haruo asked.
Oscar then began to scan the artifact, a blue ray enveloping it for a brief moment before fading away, revealing the details Haruo needed. A status window then appeared on the Monarch-13, displaying the information.
[Analysis Complete]
Attribute: Ouroboros Blessings
Attribute Description: This artifact bestows a unique enchantment that can produce either positive or negative effects when received. Regardless of the outcome, any skill acquired from the artifact ensures an advantageous enchantment or bonus stats. You can obtain the same item only 2 or 3 times, but this effect is limited to rare ranks or below. Be warned: once all mythics are claimed, the artifact will be irrevocably destroyed.
He examined the attribute with his finger resting on his chin, contemplating whether this was a blessing or a curse, especially considering his track record with luck.
'So, more gambling? Wait, this might actually be a good thing. An enchanted S-rank artifact could be useful. Anyway, let's see what I can get from it.'
"Oscar, show me the list of items I could get from the fortune wheel."
Haruo quickly waved his hand to dismiss the window.
"Certainly sire!"
Another window appeared, displaying the list of all the items contained within the artifact.
[List of artifacts inside the fortune wheel]
Total items: 3,476
Crimson / Mythic: 3 ...
Gold / Legendary: 50 ...
green / Epic: 200 ...
Blue / Rare: 400 ...
Purple / Average: 500 ...
Silver / Novice: 800 ...
Bronze / Weak: 900 ...
Gray / Poor: 123 ...
'Let's see the mythics first.'
Haruo then tapped the three dots in the mythic section, eager to discover the items he could potentially obtain. He felt a mix of anticipation and curiosity as the window began to reveal the coveted artifacts that awaited him.
Haruo looked at the screen, only to be left feeling even more confused by what he saw.
'I can't see anything but their silhouettes and names marked with three question marks. Thankfully, it's limited to just visuals and names; above, I can see the type of items they are.'
He changed his sitting position to an half lotus position with his hands on the status window.
'One skill, one artifact, and one object. Okay, let me check the description.'
He then clicked on the mythic artifact to view its description, only to be met with disappointment, as it was also obscured, displaying yet another set of three question marks that offered no further information.
'Of course. It looks like I won't be able to see the mythics until I actually get them. Let me try checking the legendary ranks to see if it's any better.'
He exited the mythics tab and navigated to the legendary tab, but, to his dismay, he still couldn't see anything. It was only to be expected from an ultimate rank artifact. Getting angry would only feel petty and greedy, so he chose to move on to the next tab instead.
No luck with the epic tab either, but in the rare tab, he actually saw what he could get. A curl formed on his lips as he scrolled through the list, excitement building as he realized the possibilities before him. He examined each artifact one by one.
He realized he had forgotten to hide the artifact. Since he no longer needed to scan it, he quickly stored it back in his mana storage before turning his attention back to the list.
With each artifact he examined, another participant completed their test. Finally, Ena emerged from her trial, scanning the area until she spotted Haruo seated away from the stage and the gathering crowd. She walked over to him.
Haruo noticed her making her way toward him, weaving through the crowd with ease. He gave her a fleeting glance before shifting his focus back to the screen, dismissing her presence and concentrating on the list of artifacts in front of him.
It wasn't long till Ena arrived to his side, she was slightly confused on what he was doing.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Y'know the artifact we got from the mechanical tomb? Well, I'm checking out its list," he replied, eyes still fixed on the screen.
"Can't you just do that later?"
"Well, I have nothing better to do anyway. Besides, maybe I'll spot something useful for the second half."
She sat down beside him, taking a deep breath before turning her head toward Haruo.
"How do you still have that much energy left? Also, what rank did you get? I got 5th place with 114 thousand points."
He turned to her before closing the screen.
"I don't but I did skip like three tests. And what ranked i got it was 2nd with 138 thousand points"
Haruo cracked his neck and glanced ahead at the other participants, taking in the scene around him.
"You got second and got to skip three tests!? Well, that's not fair! Did you have any idea what I had to go through?!"
Ena's expression darkened as she heard those words escape his mouth, her frustration evident in her furrowed brows.
"I do, actually. I literally watched you complete the third, fourth, and fifth tests. Well, I couldn't see the sixth one, but you get the point."
Ena's expression shifted, surprise flickering across her face as Haruo spoke.
"What? You can do that?"
"Well, not really. It was Kilian's suggestion. We watched you fight, then cry, and then fight again. To prove it, you touched my cheek earlier during the mental phase before it turned to dust."
She blushed while gritting her teeth.
"Don't you know what privacy is!?"
She shouted, irritation flashing across her face before it shifted to a serious expression.
"But wait, how did you even skip three tests? Was there some kind of stone that lets you skip tests, like the pent stone?" Ena added.
"Well, I had to fight the main butler of the royal family, who turned out to be the headmaster of the castle dimension." Haruo replied
"Wait, the castle was an entire dimension? I knew it was strange, but an entire dimension???"
"Yeah, well, I had to solve like ten riddles first before fighting him. The system was a bit complicated."
"How did you pass?" She said with a confused tone.
"Well to pass the test I needed to solve ten riddles to get a cane, I needed to touch the cane to pass. After finishing the riddles i was face to face with the butler with him holding the cane."
Haruo changed his sitting position before continuing.
"He shifted the dimension to make it so the more I ran, the farther away he got. It got to the point where I had to freeze his entire dimension just to reach him. I don't think I can do it again, but who knows?"
Suddenly, a crack echoed through the air, drawing Ena and Haruo's attention. It was a council member back on stage, ready to address the participants.
"How are you, fellow participants? It looks like most of you are already here. Without further ado, I'll explain the second half."