Chapter 163 - Watching Battles
Apprentice Town Eight, Underground Market, Sky Tower level one.
Angor’s group came to the market and headed straight to the Sky Tower. Angor and Nausica both planned to challenge the fights so they were here to get a feel of the battles in here and see what kind of opponents they should be expecting.
There were 15 levels in the tower in total. Every level had a standard for promotion. Getting enough points to reach this standard would get the participant to the next level. The participant also had the choice of staying at the same level, but in this case, winning more matches would only yield a very small amount of merit points. This was how the arenas protected low-leveled challengers.
The interior of the Sky Tower was expanded using space-expansion spells, so every level was a giant area consisting of dozens of arenas. Each arena was a platform 40×40 square meters large and came with audience stands around it.
Watching battles on the first level did not require any tickets, so almost every arena was surrounded by audiences, many of whom were mortals. These mortals were basically civilians working in the underground market. With no other ways of entertainment, watching fights in the Sky Tower was their only choice to pass time.
“It’s only crowded at this level. Higher levels ask for tickets, and mortals don’t have magic crystals on them so they can’t get up there. However, level 13 to level 15 will have more people because apprentices tend to stay there.” After becoming an apprentice, Sailum went to the Sky Tower many times out of curiosity in these months so he knew a lot about this place.
“Let’s stay at the first level for now and see how good the fighters are,” Angor said and found an arena with relatively fewer onlookers.
The white kitten already moved inside the range of “Freezing Earth”. The Monarch humphed and chanted something else. An ice blade appeared in the air and went for the kitten. Slowly.
The kitten was fast enough to avoid the ice blade easily. When it jumped into the air, the monarch suddenly moved closer. With the kitten unable to change directions in the air, the Monarch slammed the kitten onto the frost-covered ground with a mighty kick, leaving the kitten yelping helplessly.
“Oh no! My King!” The King of Beasts exclaimed in an emotional tone as if singing an aria and rushed to the white kitten. He held the animal up gently and displayed a painful look.
The audiences were also touched by the scene. Someone wiped tears off their eyes.
The King of Beasts looked up with tears around his eyes. “I surrender. Monarch of Eternal Freeze, you’re very strong.”
The Monarch let out a disdainful “Consider yourself lucky!” and turned to leave.
The glass screen above the arena changed its display: [Winner, Monarch of Eternal Freeze]
Angor’s group was left speechless again.
“Okay. I regret my decision. Let’s go,” Angor said in the end.
Sailum had already covered his eyes. “And quickly. I’m getting embarrassed myself looking at them. Thank god no one knows we’re here.”
…
They switched several arenas to look.
“Master of Sorcery VS Demonic Flame Dragon”, “Unparalleled Warlord VS King of Thunderclouds”, “Philosopher of Time VS Swordmaster Junior”…
Angor realized that every apprentice got him or herself a really outstanding title, but they were only ordinary level-1 apprentices. Even mortals who knew how to fight could easily defeat them.
“This is the Sky Tower, right?” After watching several more matches, Sailum began to doubt reality.
“But when I came last time, they weren’t so bad. Why are there only these losers today?” Nausica wondered.
“You forgot? Phantom Island,” Angor reminded them.
Sailum and Nausica exhaled an “Oh!”. Most apprentice wizards went to Phantom Island for destiny, and only weirdos were left behind.
Besides, the incident around the island killed hundreds of elite apprentices. The Sky Tower would probably only have these terrible people in the predictable future.
Nausica’s eye glimmered. “I think this is a good chance for us.”
“Chance?” Sailum saw Nausica bumping her fists and getting all worked up. “Miss Nausica, you’re not going to…”
She nodded. “Yes, I am. I’ll challenge the tower now! I’ll see how many levels I can beat on the next couple of days so that I don’t have to spend money on magic scrolls.” Nausica was planning to buy her way through. But since there were only weaklings here at the moment, why not go for the opportunity?
Angor agreed. “Good choice. At least Nausica won’t run into any rivals on the first level.”
They already watched enough. Next, they accompanied Nausica to the management section on the first floor and helped Nausica get registered as a challenger.