Chapter 165: The Inter-Academy Selection Tournament (Prologue)

The Inter-Academy Selection Tournament was one of New Liberty’s annual events. This tournament was an inter-city program where all academies in cities within New Liberty, from City A to AX, had to participate.

This was a selection program introduced by the government to scout and recruit talented youth into Hunter Guilds and other professional settings worthy of an awakened. The program could take as long as three months, sometimes more.

There were different activities in the Inter-Academy Selection Tournament, starting with tournaments within the cities, before moving out to other cities, till the final, where all the academies would meet in the capital, City AF.

It wasn’t merely a competition. It was the largest talent scouting event in the nation.

Every year, millions of students registered through their respective academies, but only a fraction would stand on the final stage.

The tournament itself was divided into several phases.

The City Qualifiers served as the opening stage. Every academy within the same city competed against one another in a series of events. Depending on the city’s population and number of academies, only the top-ranked schools and the most outstanding individual participants advanced.

For many students, this was already their finish line. Some cities had only four awakened academies. Others had over fifty. City AF, the capital, alone had more than a hundred registered institutions. Advancing from the qualifiers was an achievement worthy of celebration.

The second stage was the Regional Selection.

New Liberty was divided into several competitive regions, each containing multiple neighboring cities. Academies that survived the City Qualifiers would travel across the country, facing schools they had never encountered before.

The standard of competition rose dramatically in this stage.

Abilities that had once dominated local tournaments suddenly became ordinary. It was here that many so-called prodigies realized they were merely talented... not exceptional. Those who survived the Regional Selection earned the right to compete in the National Championship, held once every year in City AF.

This was where legends were born.

Every surviving academy gathered beneath the same sky. Every surviving genius stood upon the same battlefield. The nation’s strongest students fought until only one academy remained standing.

However, the Inter-Academy Selection Tournament was never solely about combat. If it had been, many brilliant awakened would never have had the chance to shine. The government understood that strength alone could not protect humanity.

As such, the tournament evaluated every aspect of an awakened. There were one-on-one duels, where students tested their individual strength and mastery over their abilities.

There were team battles, designed to measure coordination, leadership, and tactical thinking.

There were Rift Simulations, where competitors entered artificially created environments filled with monsters, rescue objectives, traps, and civilians. Success was determined not only by the number of monsters defeated but also by survival rate, efficiency, resource management, and decision-making.

There were Survival Trials, forcing participants into hostile environments where they had to endure for days with limited supplies while competing against both monsters and rival academies.

Support-type awakened participants participated in Medical and Rescue Evaluations, treating simulated casualties under strict time limits.

Researchers, engineers, artificers, and blacksmiths competed in Innovation Assessments, presenting new equipment, mana technology, weapons, and defensive systems that could aid humanity’s fight against the apocalypse.

Archers, scouts, assassins, tanks, healers, summoners, controllers, and close-combat specialists were all judged according to standards unique to their respective roles.

Even leadership itself was tested. Commanders who could inspire a weak team to victory often received higher evaluations than individuals who relied solely on overwhelming strength.

Each performance awarded points to both the individual competitor and their academy. By the tournament’s conclusion, several rankings would be announced.

The Strongest Individual, the Strongest Student, the Best Support-Type Awakened, the Best Team Commander, the Most Outstanding Ability, the Most Valuable Rookie, and finally the title every academy coveted above all else.

The Strongest Academy of New Liberty.

Winning that title brought more than prestige. Government funding increased, research grants flowed in, and the academy received priority access to awakened resources, relics recovered from rifts, and national training facilities.

Its graduates were given preferential recruitment by the country’s largest Hunter Guilds, military divisions, scientific organizations, and corporate powers.

For the students themselves, the rewards were equally extraordinary. Top performers received scholarships worth millions of dollars, exclusive cultivation resources, rare mana crystals, awakened-grade weapons and equipment, direct recommendations to elite Hunter Guilds, special military commissions, employment offers from influential corporations, and for those who stood at the very summit, the opportunity to study under New Liberty’s strongest awakened.

Many of today’s legendary S-Ranks had first made their names during the Inter-Academy Selection Tournament. Their battles were still replayed years later as educational material for future generations.

Because of that, every academy prepared for the tournament as though preparing for war. Teachers pushed their students harder, training schedules doubled, and internal rankings changed almost daily.

Rivalries that had remained dormant throughout the year suddenly erupted into fierce competition. Friendships were forged. Others were broken. Dreams were realized. Others were crushed beneath overwhelming reality.

For some students, the tournament was a stepping stone. For others, it was their final chance to prove they belonged in the world of awakened. For Silas, he didn’t know what was even happening.

This year’s tournament already carried an unusual atmosphere. The appearance of multiple new S-Ranks, the mysterious pink pillar that had shaken the world only a week ago, the fastest Blue Rift clearance in recorded history, and the growing unease surrounding the disappearance of nine prisoners from City A.

Each incident, unrelated on the surface, had drawn unprecedented attention toward this year’s competitors.

For the first time in decades, the government had quietly increased the number of observers. Hunter Guild executives, military generals, corporate chairmen, researchers, and even individuals whose identities remained classified.

They were all waiting, not merely to witness a tournament, but to discover the young monsters who would determine whether humanity survived the coming apocalypse.

***

While the principal stood in front of the students announcing the upcoming Inter-Academy Selection Tournament, Silas was busily trying to keep his expression in check as he checked his current stats.

Over the past days, maybe weeks, he’d been traveling to Gorgath and also entering several other rifts, though sneakily. He had decided to stay low-key for now.

The main thing was that he had grown more powerful, and the system was showing his current progress, which was nothing short of amazing.

’System...’ He called out to the system after checking his level, which was at 26.

[Yes?]

’Is it possible for there to be another SS-Rank like Chloe on Earth?’

[The possibility of that is shockingly 50%. Two potential ones are staying with you already.]

’I know for Alpha. To think it was possible to change your rank with an evolution... but who is the other person?’

[I already gave you a hint sometime ago...]

’Wait! Anna?!’

[Yes. Though for her, the possibility of it happening is around 30% or less.]

’I see...’

[Don’t worry about it. Even an S-Rank would have trouble dealing with her even as an A-Rank, plus I doubt anyone would even succeed.]

’I would like to see anyone try...’

Principal Theodore suddenly shivered as a cold aura fell over the hall. Everyone in the hall felt it, and Chloe and Alpha couldn’t help but look at Silas.