In the end, Hydrus had won. As Halfthur announced his victory, the audience began to boo once more, however, their hearts weren't in it, resulting in a rather anemic jeering of the tournament winner.

Grouping up, those who had made it to the top thirty-two headed down to the stage, where Halfthur, Wavesun, and Alistair had a.s.sembled to hand out the prizes.

As Eric, the final member of the top thirty-two, appeared, Alistair stepped forward to address the fighters.

"The tournament has now concluded. I'd like to thank you all for partic.i.p.ating. Although I know you each have your own reasons for joining this tournament, in the end, it is Nova.n.a.lba that will benefit from your actions tomorrow once we sweep up the goblin scourge threatening our lands. I'd like to remind you all that you are obligated to join the elite platoon. Any that don't will be blacklisted by the Lunbrengur Militia. Those who are members will be dishonourably discharged, and will find themselves discriminated against across Nova.n.a.lba. We will leave from Vindammer Town tomorrow at noon. You've been warned," Alistair told them stiffly.

Halfthur coughed. "Right. Thank you, Alistair. Now then, what I know you've all been waiting for - prizes! As we showed you earlier, there are thirty-two prizes in total. Prizes will be chosen by each of you in order of your position in the tournament. Tie-breakers will be determined by the rank of whomever defeated you. Shin for example is third place, and gets to pick ahead of Barns as he lost to Hydrus, the tournament winner, while Barns lost to Kyp, who came in second. Now, I know you all really just want your prizes. So, without further ado, let me call the tournament winner, Hydrus Mortang, to the stage."

Walking forward, Hydrus waved to the crowd, earning himself a few more jeers as he walked over towards where Wavesun, Halfthur, and Alistair were standing. Offering their hands, Alistair and Halfthur both shook Hydrus' hand halfheartedly before directing him towards Wavesun to select his prize.

With a flip of his wrist, a glittering arc of items erupted from the bracelet on Wavesun's arm. With deft movements, Wavesun caught the items, somehow managing to catch each item and place it down gently before any of them could hit the ground.

The items truly did seem to be worth having fought for. There was a glowing sword, a breastplate with runes engraved across its front, four different books - whether skillbooks or otherwise, Eric couldn't tell - a mace, a spear, a bow, and many other interesting looking items.

Considering briefly, Hydrus picked the runed breastplate as his prize. With a grim smile, Wavesun offered him his hand to shake. Accepting the handshake, Hydrus' face contorted as Wavesun pulled him in close.

"I know Alistair wants everyone to partic.i.p.ate in the a.s.sault tomorrow. However, I'm warning you now. If I ever see you again outside the walls of Vindammer, I will kill you," Wavesun whispered, still smiling broadly, as if he was just congratulating Hydrus on his victory.

"Doesn't seem very n.o.ble of you," Hydrus replied, ignoring the crushing pain in his hand as he sneered at Wavesun.

"This is your only warning - take your friends and leave Nova.n.a.lba," Wavesun said, releasing Hydrus.

Wringing his hand slightly, Hydrus returned to the group of fighters, inspecting his breastplate as he whispered with Barns and Grott.

"In second place, Erick Kystfyr!" Halfthur called out.

Wondering idly what Hydrus' new armour did, Eric was forced to put his curiosity aside as he was called up.

"Well done, Corporal Kystfyr, you've done Tonbura proud," Alistair muttered as Eric shook his hand.

"Well done," Halfthur echoed, giving Eric a firm handshake as Eric moved towards Wavesun to select his prize.

Looking over the items, Eric debated heavily on what he should take. Each item had a status window that appeared when he looked closely, offering a short description of the item. After a few moments of perusing the various items, Eric managed to narrow his selection down to three choices.

The first was the glowing sword. The description showed that the sword had various enchanted properties, including an increase to the wielder's speed and dexterity, both beneficial properties for Eric's fighting style.

The second was a spellbook with the words, "Flame Trap" emblazoned on the cover.

The third was another spellbook, although this one didn't seem to contain a spell, but rather a mana technique. The cover had no words on it, but merely an image of a wild beast rising from a wave.

Pondering briefly, Eric made his decision, s.n.a.t.c.hing up an item as he turned to face Wavesun.

"You almost had the b.a.s.t.a.r.d," Wavesun said as Eric shook his hand.

"Yeah, sorry..." Eric said. Giving Wavesun an awkward smile, Eric turned and headed back to the group, the mana technique held firmly in his hand.

After a long internal debate, Eric had finally chosen the mana technique, ignoring the sword and the Flame Trap spellbook. Wanting to focus on magic, Eric had decided to ignore the sword, and although the spellbook would directly raise his power for tomorrow's a.s.sault, Eric trusted Lucy when she'd said that he wasn't ready to learn new offensive spells yet.

Clutching the mana technique, Eric returned to where his friends stood, storing the mana technique inside his storage pouch as he watched the other fighters select their prizes.

Jun selected a skillbook with a golden cover. Looking closely, Eric could make out the image of a flickering torch emblazoned on the front cover, however, that was all Eric managed to see before Jun stored it away.

Unfortunately for Astrid, Grott chose the bow as his prize, forcing her to take an enchanted quiver instead. However, the rest of Eric's friends got fairly good prizes. Ryan was the luckiest, managing to pick up the glowing sword when it turned out that none of the other members of the top sixteen used swords. With the exception of Eric, every other swordsman had been knocked out in the round of thirty-two, leaving Ryan to receive one of the top prizes available.

Mark grabbed one of the remaining spellbooks, while Rob ignored the Flame Trap technique, opting instead to take an enchanted robe. As the last member to select his prize, Griffin also got fairly lucky and managed to choose a new shield, finally replacing the shield he'd received as a quest reward on his first day playing.

With that, the tournament finally came to a close. Before they left the stage, Halfthur, Wavesun, and Alistair led the crowd in a round of applause, filling the stadium with applause as they cheered for the fighters who'd made the tournament so exciting.

Bidding goodbye to his friends, Eric promised to meet up with them in a few hours so that they could head out with the elite platoon. Raising his arm high, Eric yelled his logout phrase, watching Vindammer Town transform into shards of light as he left the game to grab some refreshments.