Chapter 1164 The Tournament Haul
Taking in a few deep breaths to calm his thoughts, he then made his way back to where the two were, feeling slightly embarrassed by the fact that he was the only one to get ready for a potential fight.
\'Does she really mean her words?\' thought Valyr to himself as he glanced at Mystia, thinking back to the reasoning she gave Scho\'doxa on why she decided to forfeit on the fight.
In the end, he decided to ask her directly like Scho\'doxa did, knowing that it would be the only way for his mind to be at ease.
Unsurprisingly, Mystia responded more or less the same thing she did to Scho\'doxa the moment Valyr asked his question, telling him that she didn\'t really need to get her hands on the final rewards, even though it was quite alluring.
However, unlike the brief answer she gave to the man earlier, Mystia expounded a bit more on her reasons, talking about how the concoction gave her insight on a new type of potions she could make later down the road.
"Of course, getting my hands on the best set of items that would make the final concoction would definitely help me out in my attempts to emulate it," she told Valyr. "Then again, what I got is more than enough for me to work on for quite a long time."
After that, she told Valyr that she really did not want to fight against him, even though she\'d already seen a glimpse of what he was capable of back in the Mystic Plane.
Though she could have come up with various valid reasons as to why she decided not to do so, Mystia settled on the fact that he was her disciple, framing the fight from the perspective that she\'d be bullying him.
Naturally, with his blood fired up thanks to the fights he\'d been through thus far, it went without saying that Valyr looked forward to fighting against a peak Rank 6 class holder.
After all, even though he already had experience defeating a puppet that had the stats of a peak Rank 6 class holder, it was still vastly different from the experience one would get from fighting an actual peak Rank 6 class holder.
Of course, Valyr was slightly taken aback when he found out that Mystia would be the peak Rank 6 class holder he\'d fight against. Nevertheless, that did not diminish his battle intent whatsoever, initially hoping he could\'ve persuaded her to a spar at least.
Sadly for him, with the tournament now officially over since Scho\'doxa declared his victory, there was no point in doing so.
"Now that I think about it… why are you the winner of the Peak Rank 6 and above tournament?" With his thoughts having more or less returned to what it was before, Valyr eventually glanced at Mystia with a slight frown, realizing that the current situation was somewhat odd.
Seeing his master raise her eyebrow in response to his words, the young man quickly clarified himself. "It\'s not that I\'m skeptical of your strength. It\'s just that… every being in Veldanyr participated in this tournament, right?"
"…Ah." Hearing the question that left Valyr\'s mouth, it did not take long for Scho\'doxa to understand what the young man was trying to ask. "Now I get what you\'re trying to ask."
Noticing that Mystia still looked a bit confused, the man decided to take Valyr\'s place in explaining what was going on. "He\'s talking about the rulers of your races. The potential top contenders for the tournament you were a part of."
"Ahh…" Finally understanding the topic of their conversation, Mystia\'s eyes widened in realization as she mulled over the question for a bit. "…Huh. Now that I think about it, you\'re right."
"As far as I can remember, the rulers of the three sovereignties are more or less at the same class rank as me," murmured the woman as she thought out loud. "The leaders of the other miscellaneous races are around the same rank as well."
"Considering their position… I shouldn\'t have won the tournament." At those words, Mystia looked at Scho\'doxa, getting the feeling that he\'d be able to clarify their confusion.
Unsurprisingly, he did.
"Call it the greatest coincidence ever," replied Scho\'doxa as he beamed a slightly bitter smile at the two. "As to why I say this, let\'s focus our attention back to the fourth round of the tournament. Specifically, the battle royale."
Proceeding with his explanation, the man explained that the opponents people were matched up with during the fourth round were more or less semi-random.
As to what he meant by that, he told both Valyr and Mystia that the range of strength the opponents would face on their platforms would only deviate by one or two stages, while the people chosen at that level of strength would be completely random.
Pondering over the man\'s words for a bit, it did not take long for the two to come to the conclusion themselves, causing them to eventually look at Scho\'doxa with a hint of disbelief.
"Surely… that can\'t be?" As Mystia uttered these words out, the bitter smile on Scho\'doxa deepened as he let out a deep sigh.
"That is indeed the case," said the man to the two, briefly shaking his head at the thought of it. "The rulers and leaders of the various races faced off against each other during the fourth round."
"Unsurprisingly, they all came to the conclusion that none of them should continue onto the next round, lest they wanted to break the delicate balance they\'ve crafted thus far."
16:32
"So, none of them passed the fourth round, then?" asked Valyr in response.
"Pretty much." Scho\'doxa nodded as he slightly shrugged. "It\'s not too much of a problem. They just have to raise their titles the other way once the new version comes out."
"I see."
After finding out why the beings that held the greatest power and authority in Veldanyr didn\'t make an appearance during the final round of the tournament, Valyr decided to ask one last question, wanting to know more in-depth about the challenge Scho\'doxa gave to Mystia.
In response, Mystia explained to him that the challenge she got was more or less similar to him, which involved having to fight the other winners for rewards.
However, as she was the winner of the Peak Rank 6 and above tournament, Scho\'doxa told her that she would only get a reward if she defeated the winners of the other eight tournaments.
Hearing that she would\'ve gotten a set of items similar to what he currently owned, Valyr could not help but feel a bit guilty that he\'d obstructed her path in some way.
After all, she decided to forfeit on the reward after finding out he was her opponent.
Surprisingly, Mystia did not really mind it at all, reassuring the young man that the rewards she got was more than enough for her to make improvements in not only her strength, but also her skills in alchemy.
"And if you still feel bad for me, you could just let me take a look at the rewards you got once we get back," she said at the end, letting out a chuckle as she saw the young man nod at her words soon after.
Feeling like everything that could\'ve been said was all said at that point, Scho\'doxa decided to teleport Mystia back to her arena for the meantime, informing her that she and the others would be returned to Veldanyr shortly.
Nodding in response to those words, she soon bade farewell to the young man, only for her eyes to widen in disbelief just as she disappeared from his field of vision.
Whoosh!
Noticing that she was staring at Scho\'doxa just before she disappeared from his arena, Valyr shifted his gaze towards the man as he raised his eyebrow in curiosity.
"Let\'s just say I gave her a reward of sorts." Letting out a playful chuckle in response to his expression, Scho\'doxa gave Valyr a meaningful smile before shifting the topic of their conversation to something else.
"Well, enough about that. Let\'s proceed with your rewards, shall we?"
Whoosh!
Opening up a screen in front of him, Scho\'doxa interacted with it for a bit before looking back at Valyr. "You asked me earlier if there was a better version of the title you currently have."
"Now, what if I told you that the title I just gave you is still nowhere near the best version possible?"
Ding!
Briefly staring back at the man in response to his words, Valyr immediately shifted his attention towards his notifications after receiving a response from the system, bringing up a screen in front of him not long after.
[You are the ultimate winner of the Rise to Prominence tournament.]
[As proof of your victory, the Arbiter Scho\'doxa has decided to upgrade your title \'Tier V Being\' to \'Apex Being (Veldanyr)\'.]
[As proof of your victory, the Arbiter Scho\'doxa has decided to bestow upon you the title \'Tier I True Being (Tennaril Star System).] n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
[The Arbiter Scho\'doxa wants to remind you that although you stand at the pinnacle of your planet, there is still the vast expanse that awaits you.]
"Aside from that, there\'s also this."
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Just as Valyr was about to bring up the description of the new titles he received, Scho\'doxa threw a couple of bottles at him all of a sudden, forcing the latter to push his thoughts aside as he caught them.
Seeing the young man stow away the two bottles he gave him into his spatial bracelet, the man nodded in satisfaction before flashing a bright grin.
"And I think that\'s all."
"I guess that concludes this entire tournament, then."
With the tournament now over, we\'re nearing the release of the first version of Greater Beyond even more.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter! If you did, please vote for the novel with your power stones and golden tickets! I\'d highly appreciate it!