After a long while of training with Kaecha and Luck, Cinister is in class taking notes about the basics of Nexus and Curses
"Man, my brain is hurting from all of this studying" Pluto said as he's leaning in his chair
"I hate masteries they make no damn sense" Ivy said as she started doodling in her notebook
Then they looked at Cinister taking perfects notes of both of the subjects
"Cinister!!" Pluto yelled as he went to his left side
"Eldritch!" Ivy also looked with pleading eyes
"Please give us your notes" They both pleaded to him
"Fine fine just shut up I wanna focus since the Class 2 tournament is starting soon" Cinister said
"When did the first one finish?" Pluto asked as he started copying Cinister's notes
"Nah it hasn't started" Cinister replied
"What do you mean it hasn't started yet!" Ivy said as he pushed Pluto to copy down the page
"Well apparently most of the 1st year students got sick and they cancelled the tournament so today they will announce the minigames part for the tourney" Cinister said as he took back his notebook
"Speaking of which you two are my main people I will worry about in the tournament" he continued on
"Yeah I can't wait to beat you again!" Pluto laughed as he walked back to his seat
"Stupid Prick" Cinister shot back at him
"You don't have to worry about me" Ivy chimed in "I probably won't qualify but I need to warn you about someone"
"Who?"
"Well in the 3rd Class there is a Commander who is able to go to the 27th floor" Ivy responded
"What does that mean?" Cinister quickly thought out loud
"He already got a Blessing of Breathing not to mention actual experience in fighting in the floors after the Academy. I don't know much about his other nickname" Ivy explained "The Manipulator"
"Sounds kinda corny" Cinister replied
"Other names you should be careful of are Guns-o, Ranga, Choi, Scrappy and Ben" she said
"Wait, why are you helping me?" Cinister stated
"Because I want to" Ivy responded as she walked away
Ring Ring
"Shit it's starting I better hurry up and watch Alya" Cinister thought to himself as he ran quickly outside
After 10 minutes
Cinister ran outside to see a lot of students gathered around a podium where Draen is holding a mic
Then in the corner of his eye he sees Ragna and Alya looking at him
"Hey Cinister they're about to announce the games" Ragna shouted with a bucket of popcorn in his left hand while Alya just waved
"Aren't you supposed to be mad at me?" Cinister asked as he grabbed a handful of popcorn
"Oh come on we fought like this all the time in the orphanage plus we're best friends I can never be that angry at you" Ragna exclaimed with a big smile on his face
Cinister sighs "I wish I had your simple mindedness for a day"
"Are you insulting me?" Ragna looked mad for a second
"Excuse me, Dear Students!!" Draen yelled in the mic making his voice be heard in the whole Academy
"Today I will reveal the minigames that you will be playing!!" Draen said as ground spikes go up in the air and explode like fireworks
"I can't wait to see what they will be" a random student said
"Don't be discouraged Alya" Cinister stated as he massaged her shoulders
"Thanks Cini! I will try to win!" Alya replied
"The First game will be!!" Draen said "A 3,959 km sprint across the border of the country!"
"3,959 km!!" A lot of students yelled
"Come on most of us are close to lighting speed 4k km is nothing" A random class 2 student said
"Well there's a twist!" Draen said with a happy look on his face "You guys will be wearing 1 ton ankle weights during the whole race and will have only 10 minutes!!"
"1 ton!!" All of the students yelled at the top of their lungs
"1 ton, huh?" Ragna thought to himself "What do you think about it, Cinister?"
'Well as long as you move steadily you should be fine" Cinister said as he looked at Alya to see her sweating a lot "You have never worn weights in your life, right?"
"W-Well I n-never practiced it" Alya replied as she shakes like crazy
"CALM DOWN!" Draen shouted and the whole commotion ended "Let me explain. During the race you will have to defeat golems that I have placed around the border"
"In 32 of them there is a white ribbon that you will have to wear when you finish the race!"
"If you finish the race without a ribbon you are eliminated or if you have a ribbon and you aren't able to finish the race in the 10 minutes, you are also eliminated"
"Now the second game!!" Draen continued "King of the Hill!"
"King of the Hill?" Alya asked as she placed a finger on her chin
"It's a-" Cinister began explaining
"Oh! I know this one it's a children's game where you have to occupy a specific area and whoever stays the longest wins!" Ragna quickly blabbed about it
"Yeah me and Ragna played it a lot when we were little" Cinister said
"So it would be easy!" Alya said with bright shining eyes
"Four of you that qualified from the race will be put in a huge box where in the middle there will be a throne with a crown on top of it" Draen explained
"Your goal will be to grab the crown and keep it as long as possible! It doesn't matter if you leave the throne the crown will be the only thing that matters if you're holding the crown"
"A game about stamina and strength then a game about spacing and strategy. Two completely different games yet both are things you will need since after floor 26 they start getting as big as moons and planets" Cinister thought to himself
"And the Final Game is the Tournament itself! The 32 of you will be cut down to 8 and you will compete in a standard tournament fashion. The winner this year will get an additional legendary scroll!!"
"A legendary scroll!!" The student body erupts in cheers
"How many times will they scream?" Cinister asked as a certain somebody got behind him
"As much times as they need" The mysterious girl wearing a blue fox mask
"AHH! Who are you!" Cinister jumped up as Ragna and Alya prepare for battle
"Calm down Cini it's me~" Kaecha said as she removed the mask
"Where did you get that mask from" Cinister asked still rather shook from the encounter
"Did she just call him Cini!?" Alya thought to herself
"I got it from the 4th Council member~~" she said as she spun around "But let's cut to the chase we found out that someone poisoned all the food in the cafeteria for the 1st Class students"
"Huh? What do you mean by that" Alya asked as she got behind Cinister
"Well we only know that someone is trying to betray the Academy so be careful who you trust~~!!" She said with a smile as she left
"She's too hapy for her own good" Cinister replied