Chapter 68: White Gloves cult and the White Gloves Information Network

The Zoldia family was one that took immense pride in their strength. Cessel was certain of that, given his own long history of clashing with the Zoldia family, especially with Lurker.

Well, being closest in age to each other had naturally made him and Lurker rivals, constantly at odds, to the point where they’d come to know one another remarkably well over the years.

So Cessel could never have imagined a day would come where he’d watch Lurker genuinely hand over his own seat, choosing instead to stand as an ordinary attendant.

"Is he really that desperate to secure that little monster? Desperate enough to do literally anything just to get priority when it comes to who her guardian picks as a sponsor?"

Seemed that way.

Cessel couldn’t believe Lurker would ever genuinely submit to anyone. Especially considering Lurker had always been able to stand perfectly calm even in front of Rank-A legends, well, setting aside the fact that there was exactly one person capable of making Lurker visibly uncomfortable.

With all that, Cessel rationalized his own thinking, concluding that Lurker really must be genuinely desperate here. Which, honestly, made for quite the amusing sight to witness.

"Well, whatever, doesn’t matter to me, even if he gets priority, the final outcome still depends entirely on what we offer as sponsors."

Cessel murmured, a perfectly curved smile spreading across his face. As long as he offered something genuinely impressive, there was no way that little monster’s guardian, some ordinary man from the Slums, would turn it down. He then turned his gaze toward the field below, where the host was busy explaining this and that as part of the opening remarks.

"By the way, Karlu, did you manage to get the information I wanted?"

Cessel’s attendant, a man who looked fairly elderly, named Karlu, bowed his head briefly, leaning in to whisper to Cessel.

"Yes, My Lord. I’ve gathered some information regarding the White Gloves cult and the White Gloves Information Network."

"Oh? Go on, tell me."

"It’s proven fairly difficult to identify their leader. However, there is some rather surprising information suggesting both groups might actually be worshiping the exact same person."

"And?"

"There’s speculation that they might also be a branch of the Church of Ascension."

***

Beyond Zoldia, Remielle, and Mivelo, four other great families had also shown up with their own envoys and attendants. Each of them arrived with the exact same goal, to find a talent worth sponsoring and profit from that investment.

Since this evaluation was meant to surface exceptional talents from Central, the requirements were far from simple or lenient.

Because what the great families wanted to sponsor wasn’t just raw talent, it had to stand notably above average even compared to the students already attending the elite academies.

Of course, that didn’t mean Central’s students had zero chance of entering an elite academy at all. They could still secure sponsorship from mid-tier or lower-tier families who’d come here with the exact same purpose.

What those families offered might not amount to much, but the assistance they provided in gaining entry into an elite academy still carried enormous weight.

As for how this whole process worked, it was fairly simple. Each student would face off against one another in combat. Winning wasn’t necessary, as long as they caught the attention of a particular family and secured sponsorship, that was more than enough.

With five academies currently representing Central, the students who’d actually managed to make it here numbered, surprisingly, exactly five.

Every academy, as it turned out, had brought exactly one student each.

And given that every spectator here was no ordinary person, each coming from an incredibly busy family, the host understood this well and wasted no time.

He clearly had no interest in getting fired over excessive rambling.

"So, let’s get right into it, starting with calling up the first two students to fight."

The host stood in a designated section positioned directly across from the great families’ rooms. Ahead of him was the area reserved for staff.

After taking a brief breath, the host made his announcement, his voice echoing throughout the entire room, brimming with enthusiasm:

"For our first match, we have Siena from Nuvela Academy! And she’ll be facing off against Isaac from Callice Academy!"

A young man and a girl then stepped forward, walking into the center of the field. The difference between them was immediately obvious, Siena being a third-year student, while Isaac was only in his second year.

The gap between them showed clearly, in skill progress, experience, mana control, body control, and finally, rank progress.

That was something that always happened, and not without a solution.

"As you both already know, make sure to let student Isaac give everything he’s got first before you fight back, understood, student Siena?"

To ensure a fair assessment, the stronger party had to give the weaker one a genuine opportunity first. Because winning alone meant absolutely nothing here.

Siena, being referred to, gave a nod.

And with that, the match began.

The fight unfolded simply enough, showing Isaac, a young man trying his hardest to land a hit on Siena, only to be shut down completely, every single time.

Siena kept giving him opportunities, but even after all of that, Isaac still failed to break through. And once Isaac had clearly exhausted everything he had, it was finally Siena’s turn to move forward.

She demonstrated a solid swordsmanship style, showcasing skills that had been well-trained, along with body and mana control noticeably superior to what most Central students typically displayed.

Once the match concluded, the sponsors were given the right to make an offer, or simply stay silent if they had no interest whatsoever.

And the result?

Not a single person spoke up.

No one had held out much hope for Isaac from the start, given that he came from the weakest academy among the group.

As for Siena, given that she was already in her third year, compared to third-year students at the elite academies, she wouldn’t hold any real standing there at all.

So both of them were eliminated just like that. No one cared how they felt about it, whether they were sad, in tears, or not, after all, none of the families present had any intention of bringing talent they considered subpar into an elite academy.

If they forced either of them through anyway, they’d likely just end up bullied there in the end, which meant they were far better off staying in Central, a place where they were still regarded as the best their own academy had to offer.

The next match featured two students, one from Dimelia Academy and one from Crudela Academy.

The match ended in much the same fashion. But this time, the student from Dimelia Academy received a handful of sponsorship offers from several families, and ended up choosing one from a mid-tier household.

Finally, it was Kina’s turn, a student from Canelo Academy who had, lately, drawn a considerable amount of attention.

Enough attention, in fact, that two great families were genuinely interested in her, while five other great families had also shown up simply out of curiosity, wondering whether this particular girl truly lived up to the hype.

Since Kina had no remaining opponent to face, the Association ultimately decided to send in a Rank-F Hunter to serve as her examiner.

A Hunter said to be nearly at Rank-E.