As the gathered players dispersed, Halfthur turned back to Alistair and Wavesun.

"We should leave too. Novarena needs to prepare the new stage and they can't do that with us up here," Halfthur explained.

Nodding, Alistair and Wavesun followed Halfthur, jumping down from atop the dais they'd been standing on for the last few hours. As they left the arena, a rumbling sound announced the return of the four stages to the earth, descending below the arena floor.

In the audience, the players watched wide-eyed as a brand new stage rose from the ground in the center of the arena, engulfing the dais where Halfthur had previously stood.

As the rumbling came to a halt, a brand new stage now stood in the middle of the arena. Far larger than the four stages used for the first five rounds, the stage was roughly a hundred metres in diameter. A large tunnel had also appeared, leading from one end of the stage, all the way to the arena entrance.

"d.a.m.n, the top thirty-two is going to be way more impressive than the first few rounds were," Eric whistled.

"You planning to start using magic anytime soon, Eric? Not that it wouldn't be hilarious if you were eliminated before you could. But you probably should use your real skills soon," Mark commented.

"Oh you guys noticed?"

"No, we're r.e.t.a.r.ded. Of course we noticed, we literally go questing with you everyday," Mark said sarcastically.

"I actually used magic last match. I just managed to hide it a little," Eric replied with a grin.

"Wait. Was that how you managed to send the viking dude flying last round?" Ryan asked curiously.

"Yeah, it's a modified version of the technique I was telling you about. Of course, I still haven't perfected the real technique, but if I can then winning this tournament should be a piece of cake," Eric replied, giving Ryan a wink.

"Yeah? Mine's a real skill, so good luck," Ryan retorted.

"Neither of you have any real skills," said Jun incisively.

Ignoring the squabbling trio, Mark was craning his head to look at the dormant projection above the stage,

"We've all been pretty lucky to avoid fighting each other so far, hopefully that trend continues," Mark muttered as he looked at the pairings.

Checking the time, the group left Gio behind in the stands, making their way back down to the brand new stage where they regrouped with Halfthur, Alistair, Wavesun, and the other fighters.

Beckoning for them to follow, Halfthur led them down the tunnel, where they emerged into a large, well decorated room. Couches were everywhere, providing comfortable seating to watch the enormous projection on the wall, which was currently showing the empty stage in the middle of the arena.

"This is the partic.i.p.ant lounge. While you're not fighting, feel free to relax in here. There are servers on hand to provide you with food or drink, though I don't recommend overindulging, it would suck to lose after you've come this far just because you stuffed yourself right before the fight," Halfthur said, causing a wave of laughter to sweep through the room.

As Halfthur spoke, the projection on the wall suddenly blurred, the stage disappearing as a bracket appeared. Seeing this, Halfthur smiled.

"Here's the tournament bracket. We'll be conducting fights in order from left to right along the bottom. As such, could I get Gorin Greatarm and Mary Cloudsov to accompany me to the stage for the first fight?" said Halfthur, pointing to an enormous, giant of a fighter with a thick beard, and a pet.i.te woman with long black hair.

Seeing the two step forward, Halfthur nodded, before pointing towards two more fighters, "Hydrus Mortang and Tanix Reveil, you two are on deck so be ready."

Turning to look at the two fighters up next, Eric was surprised to see that he recognized one of the fighters: it was the tall man from Doreen's leather shop. Looking up, he caught Eric's eye and smiled, making his way over to where Eric was standing, accompanied by two other men.

"If it isn't the kid from the leather shop. You're partic.i.p.ating in the tournament as well?" he asked, stopping a few feet from Eric's group.

"Yup," Eric responded. His attention was split between the tall man and his two companions. One was a heavyset man, with large jowls and fists the size of hams. The other was slim, with a cultured look and a calculating face.

"Oh these are my a.s.sistants, Barns and Grott," said the tall man indifferently, seeing Eric's glances. "I'm Walsh, but you can just call me Hydrus."

"I'm Eric, but you can just call me Kyp. These are Griffin, Ryan, Rob, Mark, and d.i.c.k," said Eric, introducing his friends to Hydrus.

"d.i.c.k? Does that stand for Richard?" Hydrus asked with a sneer, looking towards Jun.

"No. It stands for what Eric gets everytime he fights me," Jun responded, shooting Eric a dirty look. Eric just laughed, turning back to Hydrus.

"I thought you were headed back to New York?" Eric asked carefully.

Hydrus smirked, "Nah. Once we found out that you could qualify for the World Championships from anywhere, I told my friends to come join me up here in Nova.n.a.lba. The players around here mostly suck. Even Grott's considered a top player over here," Hydrus explained, pointing to the heavyset man, who'd been fiddling with some arrows in a quiver at his waist.

This drew a smirk from Jun that did not go unnoticed by Hydrus.

"Think I'm kidding, do you? Grott wouldn't stand a chance in New York. He might make the top thirty-two, but he'd be eliminated pretty quickly. Here, I wouldn't be surprised if he makes the top four. I'd say the finals, but he's going to fight me in the semi-finals. The player quality over here is just that poor."

"Your friend," said Jun, putting heavy emphasis on the word friend, "has to fight Eric first. And even Eric is good enough to beat him, let alone the rest of us. You're just lucky you don't have to fight me unless you make the finals. That is, if you're good enough," Jun sneered.

Hydrus' eyes went cold at this, "Make it past Barns first. He's just as good as Grott, and they're both far better than any of you backwater hicks. This tournament is ours."

Turning back to Eric, Hydrus extended his hand, "I'd be careful of the company you keep. Some people are far more trouble than they're worth."

"I think I see what you mean. It's going to be fun crushing you," Eric replied, ignoring the proffered hand.

Going slightly pink, Hydrus withdrew his hand, "So be it."

Hands going to their weapons, Barns and Grott looked ready to attack Eric's group despite the numbers disadvantage. Before they could make a scene, Hydrus reached out his arms, motioning for them to stand down.

"You'd better not fall before you reach Grott, or you before you fight Barns. I don't want to miss seeing the expressions on your faces when you realize just how terrible players like you and the others here are when compared to players from a real city," Hydrus promised darkly, swirling around and departing before Eric or Jun could respond.