A Magic to Melt A Heart (TinCan)

Chapter 15 - First Day of Competition

(unedited)

Today was the day of the Beast Summoner Guild Ranking Competition. The university grounds were covered with a huge flow of people: competitors, students, different factions' members, the media, and many others. The atmosphere in the campus was bustling with noise and excitement since this kind of competition is one of the biggest events in the prestigious university. According to many students, this year's competition will be fiercer than last year. New powerful challengers have emerged and registered for the event. Beast summoners in the top 100 have worked hard and trained harder too.

While everyone talks enthusiastically about the event and betting who from the top 10 will be replaced as they entered the open coliseum where the competition will take place, Can was currently in line with the other participants in a blue portable gazebo that stood up outside of the coliseum. In order for the participants to challenge someone from the top 100 today, they have to list through a computer the people who they would like to challenge. These participants do not have any limit on how many people they could challenge. If they want to challenge everyone from the top 100, they are free to do so, but no one is that arrogant and stupid. They will strategically issue a challenge to a person who they are confident enough that they will be able to defeat.

For the beast summoners in the top 100, they could also challenge others who are in the current ranking to attempt to attain a higher place in the system. Still, they have to defend their current ranks from the participants. Unfortunately, they do not have the right to refuse the challenges from them. The only option that they have is to choose which of the challengers they would like to duel first. This might seem an unfair system, but this is actually quite beneficial to the people of the top 100. The more challengers that they face, the more experience they would gain which would help them level up.

While waiting in line, Can looked around to look for a certain someone who has been bothering his mind since his first kiss was stolen. Unfortunately, due to the huge crowd that kept flooding the university grounds, he was unable to locate him. Last night, this person texted Can through his new phone and told him that he was going to watch his performance in today's competition. Before this person gave the smartphone that he bought for Can, he took the initiative to put his phone number on it so he could contact the little beast summoner. Since then, he has been texting Can although the messages that he has been sending were only brief messages and greetings such as "Goodmorning" and "Goodnight." He does not seem to really know how to strike a conversation with Can through his phone, so he could only come up with such brief text messages. As for Can, when he received these messages, he could only stare at his phone screen and think about different responses. To be exact, Can does not know how he should even talk to him after he stole his first kiss! He wanted to ask him about it, but he could not gather the courage to do so. He was too embarrassed to ask. In the end, he could only text the same greeting as Tin. When Tin texted him about attending the competition to watch him, it made Can nervous. He does not know if it is because he did not want to disappoint him or it is due to him being there physically. This text made him restless the entire night.

When his friends, Techno and Kengkla, saw the dark circles that formed around his eyes, they thought that Can was just nervous about the competition. It is his first competition after all. Techno who was also in line behind Can tried to comfort and motivate him.

"You're going to be fine Can, trust me! You can do this," Techno said as he tapped his right hand against Can's shoulders.

"He's right Can," Kengkla who was next to Techno reassured while smiling.

When it was time for Can to choose his opponents, Techno said confidently, "You should choose someone from the top 10. If you were able to almost defeat me and Kengkla who are currently in 6th and 7th place, you will have no problem taking someone below our ranks." During the tough training that the three of them had in Techno's specialized training ground with their summoned beasts, Can showed unexpected great potential. Even though he just recently broke through the higher level, he was able to keep up with Kengkla and Techno's who were both a Green High-Level Beast Summoners. Even though Can is one grade level below from the two, the gap of power between him and them should have been huge, yet it was not the case. Can was able to put himself in equal footing with them. If given more time, he might have surpassed them. It made Kengkla and Techno amazed and proud. (A/N: Refer to index for more info about levels...)