Transmigrated as a Ghost

After Natasha had won the tournament, and the crowd had begun to calm down, the king once again came out onto the podium overlooking the arena and addressed the people.

"I have to say in all my years as king this is the first time, I have ever witnessed a tournament this grand. In fact, there is no doubt that this is the greatest tournament that has been held in the kingdom since its creation. All of the young men and women who participated fought valiantly, but in the end, there could only be one winner. Allow me to personally congratulate you on your victory Natasha."

The king then gave a few moments for the audience to once again cheer all while thinking about how unfortunate it was that Natasha had won.

'To think that an agent from another nation would be the one to win our tournament, and over one of our best and brightest.'

The king could only lament that someone from his kingdom had not won their tournament, but there was nothing he could do now.

Certainly, he could have Natasha discreetly killed, but he did not want to incite a war with the empire she came from.

They were a superpower in the world and while the Kingdom of Borealia was no slouch when it came to military might, if the empire to the east came after them in full force it could spell their end.

Once the audience had begun to settle down again the king began listing the rewards that those that had placed in the top sixteen would receive and ended with the grand reward that Natasha would be getting.

"And from the royal family's personal treasury we have a very rare skill orb for the winner. It was procured over four hundred years ago by our first king Boreas from the dungeon within the Great Gome Woods."

The king then took out the skill orb from within his item box and then loudly said, "The skill contained within this orb is called mana thief. It is a very rare skill that allows its owner to siphon off the mana of those around them and refill their own mana pool."

After the king said this, many people looked up at the skill orb with awe, and even Natasha, looked stunned to be receiving something so valuable.

However, there was one person watching that had different thoughts from everyone else.

'I wonder if I can buy that.' Marcus thought.

Using his advantage as a transmigration he began scrolling through the list of skills he could buy but came up empty.

'Most be a pretty expensive skill if I have never had enough to purchase it.'

Sighing Marcus knew that some skills were still far too expensive for him to obtain right now.

'Maybe I should stockpile a big patch of skill points and purchase it when I can.'

Currently Marcus had plenty of strong skills, but he did not have anything that was overly powerful or rare.

Certainly, he had his unique skills, but each one of them had their limitations, and a skill like mana thief would make him much stronger.

Not only would it constantly resupply his mana but also drain his opponents.

'Well, when I can get it, I will.'

Making a mental note to pick up the powerful skill at the earliest possible time, Marcus then turned his attention back to the king's closing speech.

"Tomorrow as many of you know, we will be hosting a banquet for those that competed in the tournament. We encourage everyone of you to come out and participate and get to know each other better while enjoying the refreshments provided by the kingdom."

The king then continued to talk up this banquet that was being touted as a celebration for the hard fighting participants, but most knew what it really was.

It was the first chance for nobles, merchants, and even the royal family to approach those that had caught their eyes in the tournament.

Many of the participants were free agents with great talent, and even those that were already committed to a lord, were not free from attempts to entice them away from their current masters.

'Ugh I am not looking forward to it tomorrow.'

Marcus already knew he would be approached by a number of high-ranking nobles, and wealthy merchants at the banquet.

Unfortunately, he was being forced to go by Mrazivý, who said she did not want to go alone, and had to attend as a princess.

At least though he had a plan worked out and by sticking with Mrazivý he could claim to have already been recruited by the royal family, which would allow him to easily deny any advances against him.

Of course, there were things he was looking forward to such as the full spread of expensive and delicious food that the royal family would be providing.

'But before that.'

With a mischievous grin Marcus looked over at Mrazivý and said, "Looks like I won our little bet so I wonder what I should have you do."

He then teased Mrazivý a bit, until she started getting a bit angry and began lightly hitting him.

"Okay I think I have decided. What I want you to do is give me a tour around the royal castle. Ever since I first looked at it, I wanted to get a look around the place. And who better to show me than a princess."

A bit surprised by Marcus' request, she had thought he was going to ask her to do something more extravagant or embarrassing.

"Sure, I can do that, but there are of course areas I cannot show you to, like people's personal rooms, or the royal treasury. Though we will have to do it after the banquet tomorrow. So, what day would you like to do it."

The two of them then discussed what day would be best and came to the conclusion that one week from today would be the best.

"Okay so I will come and get you at your manor right at dawn, and then we can go over to the castle. Though I must warn you in advance that the place is really big, and it might take more than one day to explore everything. But you can leave it to me. I was the thorn in the side of all of the castle's staff, and when I was younger, I really explored the place and know all of the secret spots." Mrazivý said with a big smile on her face.

She was pretty happy to have someone she could show around and relive some of her best childhood memories with.

On the other hand, Marcus was feeling exited since he really wanted to see what the castle was like.

He had seen photo's and even watched a few virtual tours of castles back on Earth and he had been really impressed by them.

However, physically going into a still in use castle that was many times larger than any on Earth, was quite thrilling.

After that the two of them chatted for a bit longer about this and that before going their separate ways.

'Now tonight is my last night at the Twisted Cat's Tails and I plan to enjoy it.'