Chapter 43- The Advent of Archimedes
In a hostel, in the room of one of the hostels for the regulars staying on the 30th floor, a young man with light blue hair sat on a chair like a chad with his legs stretched on a long, rectangular table.
On the opposite of him, three people were seated on their own chairs though nobody put on a show like the blue-haired man. However, none of them commented on how he had acted like a chad.
"Rum, can you explain why on earth you called an emergency meeting when we are going to have the Archimedes coming tomorrow?" The blue-haired chad spoke in a heavy voice.
"Relax bro, it's not gonna take long and it's not like you are actually doing anything productive." Rum, another light blue-haired but with smaller stature answered casually.
"You!" The blue-haired chad shouted angrily.
"Stop it, Ray! You are the leader and you two are brothers! You know yourself that Rum won't call for a meeting without any purposes. Let's not waste more time and just let him talk." The situation was about to develop into a mess when a man with short black hair interjected.
The chad, Ray, was still sullen for a while as his companions waited for him to cool his head down.
"Sigh… fine, let's just continue the meeting." He finally calmed down and turned serious as he stared Rum dead in the eye.
A beautiful black-haired woman with pink eyes shook her head and spoke threateningly. "I can't still believe you are the leader! If you can't rein your emotions and ego to your brother you should retire and let your brother become the leader, he is much better than you."
Seeing that the usually quiet woman commented, even Ray had to consider changing. He didn't want to provoke her, she's special after all.
"Alright, I'll change for the better. This time it's for real." He spoke submissively, all of his pretentious acts had been thrown away.
"Just shut up for the moment and let your brother speak." The pink-eyed woman didn't mince her words as she rebuked him.
Seeing the situation calmed down and all of them turned their heads at him, Rum smiled. "Well, have you heard the rumors that popped out yesterday?"
"Huh, is it about a princess of Zahard participating in the following Workshop battle?" The black-haired man asked.
"Yep, you are right. Apparently, the rumor is true. A princess of Zahard will be participating in the battle. However, this isn't the main issue." He stopped to let the words sink in.
"The issue is that she is… a monster. I checked out and bought the information about her on the internet and found out an incredible fact. Her team always scored a perfect evaluation on every test from the 3rd floor to the 30th floor, never less than perfect."
"What, impossible! Even a Zahard princess can't be perfect at everything! She must have at least made some mistakes here and there after climbing for a long time." Van, the black-haired man, exclaimed in disbelief as the others nodded as well.
Seeing this, Rum smiled weakly. "Of course, I got instantly skeptical about the information. I contacted my trustworthy informant to double-check the information. You know what? The information is true all along."
The three almost popped out their eyes at this. It was insane, how could someone have no weaknesses and be talented in all aspects?
Even they, members of the ten great families, had their own shortcomings. That was the reason they teamed up in the first place.
"That's why we have to avoid her in the upcoming battle at all costs. Even though this might seem to be overly careful since she could simply rely on her teammates to get a perfect record, our goal isn't to fight with her but to perform well in the Workshop battle. You know how strong those princesses are. Even against a regular princess, we have to be careful let alone a princess with a very good record."
"We don't have to aim for the biggest reward, and better let those animal lovers fight it out with her. If the situation turns good, we can try to get the grand prize. If not, don't force it and just aim for the second prize."
All of them nodded, acknowledging Rum's suggestion, even Ray. They couldn't become impulsive and get greedy and target the first position's reward. They had a lot at the stake for this battle, they couldn't treat it lightly.
. . . . . .
The daybreak came as the artificial sunlight shined brightly.
On a vast plain surrounded by greeneries, one of the gathering places for regulars, many people gathered and bundled up together. They were all waiting for the people from the Workshop to come and start the Workshop battle. The big event for E-ranked regulars on the 30th that was conducted periodically every five years.
Even though it was early, many regulars had already arrived in anticipation of the battle. They were really excited about it, after all, it wasn't all about the prizes, glory, and fame they could get, but also about the amazing, rare experience they were about to witness with their own eyes.
Those researchers from the Workshop didn't come as usual after all, obviously not. They would come boarding one of the most spectacular Floating Ships ever created in the tower!
The Legendary beautiful ship, Archimedes!
The time passed as the plain became more and more crowded due to the regulars gathering here from all over the 30th floor. Many of them chatted and grouped up with their friends and teammates as they joked around.
After a few hours passed, as suddenly from the horizon, a big structure could be seen flying through the sky as it pierced the clouds.
It was a massive Floating Ship more than a kilometer in length and hundreds of meters in width with as it modeled after the blue whale. The bottom part of the ship was painted white and the upper part of it was painted blue with countless glass windows to see the outside scenery.
There was two enormous Suspendium on both sides of the ship to support its floating. Above the ship, there was a blue circular floating stone that connected the ship to the two enormous chunks of Suspendium.
"The Archimedes... It's here!!!" The regulars shouted with excitement as they saw the majestic ship.