Chapter 80: Tournament Rules

The students braced, ready for whatever came next when Crane spoke again.

"You have the full document," she said, "You will not be made to read all of it now as it is quite lengthy. With that being said, I’ll only put you all through three of those rules that are the most important. If you fail to properly understand these rules and end up disqualified, that’s your problem."

She tapped on the tablet and on the projector, the pdf spread out on it.

There were three highlighted blocks in the file. Three blocks that she made visible herself as she walked towards it and spoke.

"First." Crane tapped. "Ability use only are allowed only within the ring. Any ability that drifts away from the caster towards the crowds will result in automatic disqualification. I’m not saying that accidents don’t happen. With that being said, you will be penalized and repeat offenses will lead to disqualification."

’So basically, she wants us to have complete control of our abilities by then,’ Ethan thought. As far as he knew, that wasn’t something he should be worried about. He was already rank C; undead control was the least of his problems...

A low murmur moved through the class, and Marcus made a satisfied noise, as if the rules had nothing to do with him.

Professor Crane let the noise settle before she moved to the second rule.

"Second." Another tap. "A student’s victory is guaranteed by knockout or if the opponent surrenders. If you refuse to stop after your opponent yields, you will be disqualified. This is a competition, not a battlefield."

Ethan turned the rule over in his mind. Useful, he thought, but that wasn’t really what he wanted to know about.

"Third." She tapped again. "This is mainly for restricted class students."

Ethan sat up. This was what he was waiting for. He wanted to know if there would be any rule that he would need to plan carefully around, any loophole he could exploit, or any important thing he needed to know...

"Restricted class competitors remain under enhanced monitoring throughout the tournament. Which means, the rules will be enforced a little bit more strictly on you."

Ethan’s eyes narrowed. What would ’a little bit more’ actually mean?

"Seeing as there are only two of you," she continued, "you should know what that mean." He gaze moved towards Ethan, then Nora. "If you let your undead run too wild too long, disqualification. If you attempt to use the blood of your opponents against them, disqualification. If you refuse to comply—" she cut went silent deliberately there, but Ethan had a few ideas of what she was about to say...

Disqualification or arrest...

Ethan waited for worst it, expecting to hear something that could put him in a tight spot....

But nothing came. She just told them that they would be under heavier monitoring and that was it. So far, there was no rule that would make using his ability hard....

He felt weight lift off his shoulders. Though he was relieved, he would still need to thoroughly look through the rules later.

"Alright," Crane closed the projection. "That would be all. Those three should be enough to keep you from doing anything stupid. The remaining pages are there to keep you informed on what the tournament actually is. Read them, prepare based on it, and if your preparations will lead you to breaking them, revise it."

Crane let what she said settle for a few moments, then spoke again. "Class dismissed."

The students began filing out in a noisy wave. Some were worried, others were excited, and the rest were already boasting on how strong they are...

When they walked back to the dorm, Lila studied him for a long moment.

"You’re not panicking," she said, "I half expected you to be lost in thought trying to figure out how to get around the rules."

"So far, none of those rules are a problem to me." Ethan replied. "Stay in control, stop when my opponent can’t continue, extra onitoring. I can work with that." A pause, "unless there’s a loophole somewhere that’ll come back and bite me. Other than that, I should be fine."

They reached the dorm and went inside. Lila moved to the kitchenette and opened the fridge. "If you say so." She took some time to check out what was left in the fridge and spoke without looking at him. "I’m gonna start cooking now," She waved him off. "Go stare at your system like a nerd."

***

Later that night, Ethan sat on the edge of his bed, opened his system and checked his full stats for the first time in a while

```

[Name: Ethan Shaw]

[Age: 19]

[Awakened Class: Necromancer]

[Rank: C]

[Level: 5]

[Title: Corpse Hunter]

[EXP: 97 / 1500]

[Death Energy: 1200/1200]

[Control Capacity: 72]

[Undead Storage: Available]

[Stored Undead:]

- Basic Undead (Beowolf) — Rank E [Bef]

- Basic Undead (Beowolf) — Rank E [x2]

- Rank D Undead (Crawler) [x2]

- Rank C Undead (Blood Raven)

- Rank D Undead (Iron Golem)

- Rank B Undead (Cyclops) — Devil-class

[Skills:]

- Raise Undead

- Death Sense

- Command Undead

- Death Link

- Death Control

- Undead Recovery

[Undead Legion: 9/72]

```

He stared at it for a moment. His stats have increased from the lasf time he checked. He had more information and stronger skills now. He had come a long way...

Looking at his stats filled him with a sense of pride. Then again, he wouldn’t even have had this jump if his system hadn’t given him that objective in the first place.

It provided the boost he didn’t know he needed because who knew how long it would take to train his body and undead?

So far, he had the highest gains whenever he went to a dungeon but it wasn’t like he would always have the opportunity see one as they were only visited one for class exercises and evaluation runs.

That’s why the system objectives had become desirable. He could complete an objective, get the rewards and train to master them later. That sounded like a better approach.

He lay on the bed and stared towards the ceiling. ’I wonder if I’ll get one again.’ he thought. A part of him was worried that it would be a one time thing.

’If it was, i should have done more after the cyclops to see if would get bonus rewards...’

He closed the system, and waited for sleep to take him. However, just before he closed his eyes, a screen appeared again.

```

[Ding!]

[New Objective Unlocked]

[Host is required to clear a dungeon.]

```

Ethan stared. He blinked a few times to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. It was when another screen unfolded that he knew he wasn’t.

```

[Exit conditions will be updated as soon as Host begins.]

```

Just then, a rift appeared in his room just like the time before it and excited, he threw a hoodie on and crossed.

When he emerged on the other side, he expected to see cave wall, blue veins and the scent of ozone. Instead he saw buildings, a walkway, and night air touching his skin.

"Huh?"

His eyes fixed on the water fountain in front of him and his eyes widened as he realised:

This wasn’t a dungeon...