Zero to Hero (Prequel/prototype)

Chapter 12. Tournament Part 1

With his passing grades in practical portion and getting close to pass the beginner selections of the written parts while also earning some points from the intermediate and advanced portion of the written exam, he ended the first semester climbing all the way up to rank 888 from dead last.

Lovetta congratulated him on such a big improvement while Ken gave her a hard time about her terrible written scores and the two met up with the rest of the group and the day went by in a blink of an eye with the three girls who are participating in the tournament doing some last day training.

When Ken and Genesis arrived at the dining hall on tournament day, they both got a free breakfast and grabbed a small table to eat their food. Since opening up to Ken, Genesis stopped spending the small amount of money her late mother left her recklessly just to fit in and started to be much more conservative with her spending.

After the two finished their meal, they walked leisurely toward the stadium with plenty of time before the events started while Genesis held Ken's arm tightly.

As the pair arrived at the stadium ground, for a country boy like Ken, it was like a child at a candy store. The sight, the smell, the amount of people just walking, talking, laughing. Everything was so fascinating for Ken that he was too stunned to move.

Looking at all the stalls that sold all sorts of food products and enchanted items that Ken didn't know what they were or would be used for, and stalls with games where kids could play to win prizes. So much was going on that Ken forgot all about the tournament which was starting soon.

"Ken! We can come back out during the lunch intermission." Genesis said loudly to Ken to snap him out of the daze.

Before the two got through the gates, Genesis went and bought them a huge container of something called popcorn and after they got to their seats which were reserved days before in the student selection of the stadium, Genesis ran off and came back with 2 giant mugs of juice.

"What happened to you spending your money more wisely?" Ken asked.

"You got to live a little Ken! You have to spend money sometimes to enjoy life you know! Have you never just spent a little money recklessly? Besides, I am super happy today, so I don't mind." Genesis replied happily while holding onto Ken tightly.

Thinking back on his entire life, Ken remembered the only time he actually had money was the day during the selection and that he was so happy and elated he blew a huge chunk of that with Emma.

"I guess you are right, we are here live for the tournament after all. Never imagined the day would come when I could see it in person instead of watching it at home on that cheap low-quality image and sound artifacts old man John give us where everything was so blurring and sound quality so terrible." Ken said fondly while remembering his family at home and how he would be able to see them again soon and share all of his stories.

At 9 sharp, a cheerful voice started to boom over the stadium filled to the brim with students, family members and the wealthiest of tourists. While he never noticed on his blurry mirror at home, he could clearly see that other than the student section, all the different races are divided into sections separated by the stairs where none have to interact with another race.

The voice that's booming over the crowd noise from the highest of quality sound enhancer artifact belonged to a young woman from the 1994 class, 6 years Ken's senior.

Lucia Conall is a human born of a high-class family from Darrumburgh who is studying language at the academy. With a sweet and soothing voice and vocabulary beyond anything Ken could comprehend, she is able to perfectly articulate the event both in a fancy and high-class manner while including key words that even the commoners with no education could understand what's happening.