I was up early in the morning, and soon the others slowly joined me for breakfast around a campfire. Around us, other C ranked adventures began to crawl out of their tents. It was easy to tell who had stayed a long time at the party last night. Of course the ones who really partied might not even be able to wake up in time for the qualifiers.
Everyone else had the luxury of sleeping in. The C ranked qualifiers were going to be the largest and would take most of the day. The A and B ranked qualifiers would take place in the evening.
We arrived at the festival grounds where last night's celebrations had been cleaned up and dozens of small roped off areas were set up. Raginhard and the other junior representatives had worked hard through the night.
Borhildr had registered us at the beginning of the festival and when we arrived she was waiting with tokens. They each had a series of numbers that indicated which sparring area we needed to head to. The qualifiers were a round robin set of timed matches. Those who did well would be placed in a tournament that would take place over the next two days.
"Just remember that even if you don't make it into the tournament, your overall score will be added together for a team score that will help place you in the team competitions. So even if you lose the first few, just keep fighting to help each other out." Borhildr said.
"And help her advance in the Union." Lariss whispered to me.
After wishing each other good luck we split up. I made my way over to ring 3 for my first duel. The area wasn't terribly large since everyone involved would be melee combatants. A few other adventurers started to gather and when it was time, a Union senior representative called us to order. A witch stood next to them.
"Alright, I know you're all excited but try and keep it in check. These are only the qualifiers and while you should do your best, it's not the end of the world if you lose. Killing or maiming your opponent will be grounds for automatic disqualification from the festival. And if it's found to be intentional, expulsion from the Union and possible imprisonment. Every ring will have a witch assigned to it to heal your injuries." The senior representative said.
"Can we have a priest of the Holy Light heal us instead?" A Holy Knight asked.
"If you really want to ask a fellow contestant or run back to your camp, sure." The senior representative didn't try to hold his contempt at the question.
"Also keep in mind that you don't have to defeat your opponent. The senior representative and witch at each ring will be assigning you a score based on your abilities. That has more to do with who makes it into the tournament than your wins and loses. I'll end the match after five minutes regardless of if there is a solid winner or not. If there aren't any questions, let's get started." They then called out two names and the combatants entered the ring.
A young woman with a whip on her hip and a rapier in her hand squared off against a larger man with an axe that had a large maul as its other end. At the representatives' signal they started. The woman was faster and would use her whip to keep the man at bay until she felt there was an opening. He ended up being able to block her advance but wasn't able to properly counter.
Their exchange went on for the entire five minutes without a clear winner. I could tell they were both trying hard but weren't going all out. All around us I could see the other matches taking place in the nearby rings. Some ended in draws but most seemed to end with clear winners.
Three more matches took place before mine, including the one with the Holy Knight. The adventurer they were paired with didn't go easy on them and after three minutes he had to limp to a nearby priest for healing.
At first I thought the priest was just waiting for their own match, but then realized there were few priests around the sparring rings that were just there to heal other Followers and even a few adventurers that turned down the aid of the witches. That felt like a slap in the face to the festival for some reason.
"Wilmaer and Bernhard."
I stepped into the ring with a middle aged man in rough leather armor that was carrying a longsword and buckler. His face was covered in scars and he had the disposition of a seasoned fighter that didn't know when to give up.
At the signal to start neither of us moved right away. He had less patience than me and charged forward, his blade left a trail of frost floating in the air as he began his attacks. In my defensive stance it wasn't too hard for me to keep him at bay. Since there was a time limit I couldn't spend too long getting used to his fighting style and switched to my aggressive stance early on.
He ended up being good with his shield and I wasn't able to get any solid hits in. As soon as he was given the opportunity he went back on the offensive but this time I started to use my Lightning Rebuke. After being struck a few times, he made sure to only take the best strikes to maximize his success as he was being electrocuted.
This was when I entered my counter stance and made sure he had the perfect opening. He took the bait and I used my Moonlight Lightning Slash to finish him off. Unfortunately he had good battle sense and was able to defend himself.
I had only been using my Speed spell at half my usual rate in order to conserve energy but pumped it up to try and over power him. I no longer held back using my Lydos Lineage and pressed him hard.
He responded by increasing his speed along with mine. It seemed that we both had the same idea about conserving our strength for the rest of the matches. In the end the senior representative called the time for us.
"Good fight kid. I've been doing this long enough to know when I'm fighting someone with potential." Bernhard said.
"Thank you. I hope to have your battle sense one day." I replied.
"Ha, when you reach my age you'll at least be an A ranker, so it should be better. We'll have to get a drink then." He said.
We parted after that and I ended up at ring 14. My next two fights I won within the first two minutes never having to use my Lightning Rebuke, full Speed, or my Moonlight Lightning Slash.
Around noon there was a pause for lunch. I gathered with the others to learn that Thelora had won all her matches and Kay was win, draw, and lose for his matches. Lariss was very happy and was sure she had already secured her spot in the coming tournament. I wasn't too sure what Sundri's qualifiers were like but he said he doubted he'd make it into the next round. Not that he seemed to care.
My fourth match was a little more difficult and I had to use my abilities to win within four minutes. The next two were a little easier and I only had to use a few of my abilities.
By now I had begun to notice a few D and E ranked adventures following me around. No doubt trying to learn the fighting styles of those who were standing out with the goal of reporting back to their guild members.
When I showed up for my seventh match I saw a familiar face. Kalfr stood on the far side of the ring and gave me a dead stare. I could tell he was hoping to face me again. He ended up disappointed as his name was called before mine.
I could tell he didn't hold back and ended his match within a minute. The witch had to rush in and heal the other adventurer right away. Since their injuries could be healed in a day or so, the Union senior representative just gave him a firm talking to. Kalfr just nodded along while giving me a wicked grin that said, 'You're next.'
"Alright for our next match, Wilmaer and Hakon."
I stepped into the ring and saw another familiar face that had been hiding back in the crowd. The subordinate of Gunnar of the Burnished Axes also gave me a look that said he was going to take pleasure in making me suffer.
"Let's see how long you can play turtle" Hakon said just before the match started.
His statement came from him observing my training at the Union off and on over the past few months. So when he rushed me with his large battle axe, I didn't bother to block with my shield but put all my mana into my Speed spell. This was the last match of the day and I wasn't concerned with wasting energy any more.
I rolled under his attack and let out my strongest Moonlight Lighting Slash at his back. Rather than start in my defensive stance, I immediately pressed him with my aggressive stance. He was the type of person that didn't adjust quickly and I threw him off by not fighting as expected.
He kept up with a few of my attacks but started to falter quickly. I even started to use a few Firebolts at close range, not to deal damage but to keep him from getting used to me. In the end it only took me a little over two minutes to drop him.
I saw a few of those that had been following me give me curious looks. Whatever reports they had prepared for tomorrow's tournament would have to be adjusted. Was I hiding any other tactics?
My attention was then drawn to someone vigorously clapping for me. There had been mild cheers throughout the day as people displayed their talents but this seemed more than that. I had to keep myself from tensing when I saw it was the heir to the Togeir duchy with the black armored man as his bodyguard.
"I'm impressed. My name is Erlandr Togeir. Could I ask yours?" He said.
"I'm Wilmaer." Guess I wasn't going to be very successful at avoiding being fully noticed by the Togeir family.