The top five from three different continents arrived little by little, each with their team already formed, heading toward where the participants chosen by each of the thirty would be.
"It seems the first one is the continent of Zandorah."
"Zandorah?"
"It means Eternal Sun, from an ancient forgotten language."
From what he knew, it was a hot continent full of ancient civilizations. It was even said that its lands shone like gold at sunset.
'The land where the sun never fully sets.'
[What an exaggerated title. It's simply a land a god uses for fun, watching them suffer for water.]
That was a secret to everyone, because that idiotic god simply enjoyed watching humans suffer from the lack of essential resources.
'Don't call him a god, system. As long as you're by my side, we'll call him bastard or chicken.'
[I totally agree with those titles.]
This continent was a union of three countries—Egypt, Spain, and Africa—forming an alliance among themselves, unlike others that fought for dominance. The reason was simple: they already had problems with that chicken god, and getting into conflicts now would be foolish, though disputes over territory still existed in certain regions.
"They seem pretty excited," Nicholas said.
Hearing his words, Enrico nodded, because it truly was important for them. The alliance was significant since the King of Sanos had promised to help them, and in the future, the other four would as well.
The next to arrive was the continent of Valtara, which meant "Value and Land." It was a continent focused on improving its Arcane Engineering system, developing and refining magical technology, mainly to reach the position of the strongest territory.
It was inspired by Germany, the United States, and Nigeria, with its greatest power located in a hidden stronghold near the center of the continent.
[Those guys look really serious. They don't seem fun at all.]
'We could say that they're currently in a war between two territories in their continent, so it makes sense some look so grim.'
Those two territories had only stopped because Alaric made a deal that allowed for an exchange of information and alliance, from which they benefited greatly—so the war was "over" for now.
"I hope Alaric finds a way to end it," Enrico murmured.
Turning to the side, he noticed Nicholas looking bored watching them, which made sense since almost everyone there was only at the second circle.
"What's wrong, bored?"
"Completely. I thought they'd be stronger."
"Maybe someone will impress us, so don't underestimate them."
The last continent to arrive was Arkhavana, a land considered ancient and sacred by its own citizens, where mages sought harmony between body, mind, and soul. The countries it was inspired by were South Korea, North Korea, the Netherlands, and India.
"It seems everyone's gathered now. It was good spending time with you, Nicholas, but I have to talk to my teammates."
"It was good for me too. See you later."
Reaching where his classmates were, Enrico stood beside Elaris, keeping his distance from Lira, who looked disappointed that he hadn't come to talk to who should've been the ultimate rival of this competition.
"Very well, everyone's gathered after the eliminations, and I see there've been two changes," Sofia said, glancing at Elowyn and Nicholas, who had taken others' places. She also looked at the competitors from other continents, quite curious to see if any of them would surprise her.
"I see the students from other continents are eager to prove their strength in this competition, but they'd better be careful not to get hurt too badly by stepping into a dragon's mouth without caution—especially if it's as beautiful as the ones from my territory."
Enrico shook his head, seeing she was already starting off like that—proud of her country, even if she found being its queen a nuisance. Those from other continents, and even other territories, narrowed their eyes at her words.
"She sure thinks highly of herself for someone ranked fourth in our territory's standings."
'Who said that?'
Sofia tried to find whoever had said that with a deadly glare. She wouldn't let that go unpunished, and seeing Elowyn looking too innocent for someone who should've been born a demon, she huffed, making a mental note to have Alaric punish her somehow.
'Since we'll be meeting between kings after the first phase, I'll bring it up at the meeting.'
"Anyway, you'll be escorted by guards and meet with the teammates you've chosen."
The surrounding guards opened a door, revealing a vast battlefield with various biomes. On a screen, names were generated randomly, deciding in which part of the field they would fight.
"This doesn't seem natural to Sanos."
"And it's not. From what I heard, it was made by someone."
"That's incredible. It must've been one of their strongest, right?"
The two young men looked at the battlefield with excitement, while Enrico approached the screen, waiting for his name to appear somewhere.
'I hope I land in the cold zone; I can use ice to do a lot of things with my hidden water magic while keeping my fire magic visible. Or maybe the yellow forest—it'd be interesting to use fire magic there.'
[I hope you land in the castle area so you can't use the terrain.]
'Stop rooting against my progress, you—'
As if by destiny's hand, Enrico's name appeared exactly in the castle area. A few veins popped on his face as he stared at the screen with his name.
[...Sorry, it was just a joke.]