Somewhere in the Eastern Part of the Outer RingAbout an hour later

“So have you had any luck yet?” Belle asks for the third time as Michael stands there with his eyes glowing green, simply looking through the eyes of his hawk as it flies above the outer ring of the forest searching for Scarlet. And this time – unlike the last two times he answered politely – he grumbles, “Could you stop asking please? The answer hasn’t changed.”

Belle lets out a groan before walking up to a random tree and punching it. Then immediately regretting it as she holds her fist to her chest due to the pain of slamming it into whatever material that tree is made out of.

Because it certainly wasn’t bark.

She turns back to him while complaining, “But I’m worried about her! I know she did well in the first round, but won’t that make her a target for the other combat category students? Won’t she need help?” The nineteen-year-old girl lowers her head to look at the ground for a second before raising it again as she finishes, “I’m just worried that she’ll end up being ganged up on by the other students or something… you can’t just go doing that well and embarrassing everyone in the first round and expecting to get out of that scot-free!”

Michael’s eyes eventually return to normal as he glances at Denise, who was in the same dome as Scarlet before asking, “Do you think she needs help?”

Denise shakes her head immediately and says, “In all honesty, she scared me just from watching her duel with the other students. So how do you think they feel? She tore them all apart without a shred of guilt after the first one!” She turns to look at Belle who appears to be building up an argument, only to add, “Look, I know you’re worried about her, but you should be more worried about yourself.” Belle’s eyes widen in shock. “Scarlet is a combat focused Guardian with blood magic and can work alone and fulfil all of the parts of a team by herself. But you don’t have any offensive skills, right? And you’re still a brand new Guardian who only squeaked into the university right before the signup period closed.”

Damnit. She’s right. The only reason I got in was because dad had already prepared all the documentation needed and gotten everything ready in case I did contract when he took me to that Fracture before…

Belle lets out a sigh and nods her head, looking down at the ground in the process.

“Don’t forget we need to find my sister as well,” Michael suddenly says as he begins walking through the trees again, the two girls following after him a second later.

No one says anything for nearly an entire minute.

Then Belle suddenly whispers to Denise loudly enough that Michael is able to hear her through his hawk’s ears, “By the way, why is our team full of nothing but girls and only one guy?”

Michael almost stumbles at that.

Denise just shrugs and answers without lowering her voice, “Not sure. Michael’s the one who started the team, so maybe you should ask him?”

“Oh,” Belle mutters before frowning at Michael.

Is he that type of person? No, I don’t think so… he seems nice at least.

Belle continues staring at the man’s back as he tries very hard to ignore her.

Well, whatever. Doesn’t matter. Our team is set up quite well, so he did a good job in that area at least.

She finally turns her gaze away from him to look around the forest again. But after a few seconds, she mutters, “I wonder what you’re doing right now, Scarlet?”

A few more seconds pass before she shakes her head.

If what dad says is true, it’s probably something reckless…

ScarletOn the Opposite Side of the Outer Ring

I let out another sigh as I simply lie on my back on the branch of one of the large trees of the forest with both of my hands resting behind my head in between it and the tree’s bark that isn’t bark. Just enjoying the nice chilly breeze as it passes through, rustling the leaves and smaller branches in its wake.

Although I can’t help but wonder just what these trees are made of, because despite looking like trees, they really do feel more like the hide of a creature instead of bark. Which is kind of creepy, but after who knows how much testing, they really are trees. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if these trees may be what the huntsmen make their armor from.

“I still can’t believe you’re getting away with this,” Tar mutters as he no doubt watches me from that ‘in between’ place of his. Which I’m surprised extends to a magical reality.

At some point I basically ran out of most of my mana, so I decided to take a break. Moved to a less conspicuous location closer to the outer edge of the outer ring and found a nice spot to relax while I let my mana regen.

I also realized that my mana is regenerating by about 1.5 times the speed it was regenerating before getting Blood Regeneration. Which automatically makes that skill wonderful in my eyes, even at level 1.

Just too bad that this tournament won’t count for leveling the skill.

Because then I’d have leveled it quite a few times by now. Hopefully.

“Probably not,” Tar suddenly says, making me frown. “Inherent skills, even if they’re purchase unlocked, are harder to level up, remember?”

Oh. Right. That’s annoying.

Anyways, I mutter out loud, “Tell me my current points.”

[Your total points currently equal 2652 points.]

Preeetty good, if I do say so myself. Although the ranking tournaments change every year, so I don’t really know how much the higher Class students have at this point. But I’d at least like to think I’m in the top hundred.

“There’s a good chance you are, since the others don’t likely have a mana regeneration boosting skill,” Tar says, inflating my pride ever so slightly in the process. Until he adds, “Although they’re also dying and having their mana reset at fifty percent of their capacity. Even if they’re losing a fifth of their points in doing so.”

Yeah, but I doubt the older students at higher Classes are dying much if at all. Especially the Class IIIs. Meaning they’ll likely be running out of mana eventually.

Hopefully.

“How long do you plan to laze around here anyways?” Tar asks, and I just yawn in response before answering him in my head.

After I regenerate back to about sixty percent of my mana, since that’s likely about the amount I’ll need for the remaining couple hours of the tournament.

Then I just shift around slightly to get a good view of the blood moon, which sends a very calming feeling through me just at the sight of it.

Very relaxing.