Unexpected Guest
"In the first stage of the contest, you will be fighting in duos. The total number of contestants is 48, so you would be put into four different groups and duo partners would have to battle duo opponents in their groups. This is the group stage and the two duos from each group with the best result would proceed to the next stage."
"To win, both opponents should either be rendered unconscious or give up. Natural weapons and magic of all kinds are accepted. You would be allowed to meet and discuss with your partner 30 minutes before your match begins. That would be all for now."
The voice stopped there as Art let out a sigh.
'So they're keeping us in the dark on who our partners are until shortly before the match. That's not very nice.
Thirty minutes won't be enough to get to know how to sync with your partner's ability much less come up with a strategy. And we also have to be careful not to give much information to our partners as they can end up as our enemies later on.'
A smile appeared on his face as he lay down on his bed.
"Let's see how they'll handle it."
*****************
A lady with long wavy silver hair, yellow eyes, and an expressionless face could be seen walking through a hallway with several people escorting her. She and her escorts walked between two rows of people who had their heads bent down.
They breathed with caution not to cause anything to get on her bad side.
Someone would think that the men around her probably acted as bodyguards but those who were well-informed knew how wrong this was as this young beautiful lady needed nothing like that.
She halted her step when she arrived in front of 2 men and a woman. These people were the highest-ranked silvers here and we're in charge of this event with one of them being Lord Gajeel but yet they bowed their heads to this lady who looked much younger.
"It's an honour to be graced with the presence of one of the eight pillars. I hope that this contest would be enough to entertain you," the man in the middle voiced out as they raised their heads.
"It better," her voice was indifferent but they knew better than not to take it seriously.
The man in the middle wasn't happy with this at all. He wanted things to go well for him the way he wants them to during the contest, but now, someone he never expected had shown up unannounced.
If he wasn't quick and smart enough to make immediate preparations for her, where would he have run to? For one of the eight pillars of the Silvers who are rarely seen to come to a contest such as this then there must be something up, but he was in no position to ask.
The pillars are the most powerful members of a family and not just the Silvers, other great families also have pillars ranging from 8 to 10.
Their Strength was on another level and usually didn't bother themselves with little things such as this.
So you can imagine his shock when he found out that someone like this had arrived. Even he had only seen a pillar twice during all his years of service.
If it wasn't for the person who delivered the information as he believed that she couldn't joke with something like that, he would've discarded it as bullshit and would be grateful if he still had his life.
Without a doubt, someone in a higher position must've sent her but he wondered who.
"Shea, make sure she's comfortable in the VIP spot," he voiced out as the woman on his right guided the pillar away.
"Wonder why she's here," Lord Gajeel sighed. Even he had gotten tensed up.
"Maybe we'll be finding out later."
******************************
Shea cursed internally at why she was the one to act as a guide. With her rank in the family, this was not supposed to be so but what could she do?
She felt nervous but suppressed those feelings as they would increase her chances of making a mistake which was something that she could not afford.
"So," she heard the voice of the lady behind her causing her to tense up with her heart beating faster. She turned to face her with her head bowed slightly.
"You must be the one in charge of the Ron's."
"Yes."
"What would you say about this set?"
Shea calmed herself before replying.
"Honestly, this set has shown an amount of potential which has been lost in a while and I'm sure that most of them would become mages just as powerful as your eminence."
It took her a lot of courage to say the last part and the silence which followed made her believe that she had made the wrong decision but just before she could plead, the lady voiced out.
"I guess I'll soon see if that's true."
Relieved, she lead the way and it took some seconds for them to arrive in front of a door. This wasn't like any other door as with a gesture from her hand, some parts began moving away from the center soon after creating an opening into the room.
The air within it was pure and filled with mana. After all, people like them were sensitive about their surroundings. The chairs were spread out across the room.
The room was surrounded by a transparent glass-like material so they could see all around them including the battle arena which was directly in front, with the exemption of behind which had metal walls along with the door which closed after she walked in.
She proceeded to one of the three empty chairs which was at the left end before taking a seat. They were already four people seated here, all VIPs like her so without a doubt they were important figures but she didn't spare them a glance.
She closed her eyes waiting for the contest to begin when an irritating voice drifted into her ears.
"Hi, nice to meet you," a young man about 23 said with a stretched hand towards her. He had spiky green hair and eyes with a handsome face and smile. He had always been a ladies' man not just because of his looks but due to his family being one of the greatest merchants in the Kingdom and also special allies with the Silvers, which was why he was given a VIP seat.
He honestly didn't want to come since he had other things which he deemed more important to do but now, he was glad he came.
Right beside him was a rare beauty, how could he let her slip? He believed that she must be representing someone just like him.
Just how wrong could he be?
'Playing hard to get huh?' a smile formed on his lips.
"It is an honour to be acquainted with a beautiful goddess like you. My name is Riguan but my friends call me Don Juan. Maybe you would love to leave this child show and go to a place that would bring joy to your pure heart, and I, Don Juan would make sure that…"
The pressure around the room suddenly increased several folds as blood spurted from his mouth and it was a miracle how he didn't collapse to the ground.
He raised his slightly blurry gaze to the transparent material that would take him several months of continuous attack to scratch, now having crack marks from a slight display of annoyance by this young lady.
What the hell did he get himself into? She hadn't even opened her eyes all this time.
He arranged himself on the chair not even breathing properly so as not to annoy her any further while promising to be more conscious from now onwards.
The glass repaired itself as a man who had watched all this also seated here chuckled.
********************************
After practicing something for some time now, he decided to pause so as not to wear himself down and it wasn't long after that another announcement came.
"The first battle would be in thirty minutes."
The faces of the contestants appeared on the window screen.
"To think he would be first," Art muttered.
*********************************
A/N:
I'm glad that you've all accompanied Art to this point.
This book has now been moved to another link so updates would be discontinued here.
You can search for the new version using this link https://www.webnovel.com/book/the-successor-system_26149364406439405.
Or you can just search the name.
For now I only have 8 chapters published but within 24 hours all chapters would be uploaded there and updates would continue.
I hope you can still show the motivation you've given till now and make your presence know through reviews power stones and golden tickets.
Thanks for reading.