Chapter 293: Tourney Quest (1/2)

Like in the first round, Isaac led his squadron toward the designated venue as instructed by their bangles.

If he had underestimated the first stage a little, he was now giving the second round every bit of focus he had following his baptism of fire.

Over the last three days, the magic mirrors at Lancaster Square was not turned off, but instead replayed some of the most exciting moments in the first round. Naturally, the most frequently replayed clips were a compilation of betrayals. Even if the average citizen wouldn’t dare to point their fingers at the unscrupulous behavior of believers from other churches, since clearing the first round meant that those underhanded individuals actually have some extent of ability-it didn’t stop them from spreading the word in secret.

Moreover, the other religious factions who were already at odds with those factions would jump on the chance of making them a laughing stock, and in just a few days, the reputation of several churches fell rock-bottom.

And for Isaac, captain of the wyvern knights squadron, dying in battle didn’t matter—but embarrassing themselves was a big deal.

For better or worse, he was someone with stature in the Temple of Glory, a believer of the God of War who valued honor. If he were to face such outrageous humiliation, he would have committed ritual suicide in public even if he had won.

And that sentiment wasn’t limited to his squadron either. The believers of other churches had more or less felt the terrific power of becoming the topic of conversation, although they weren’t aware of how vital such things were and had no intention of wrestling control of public opinion from Lancaster city or the Church of Games.

In fact, it wouldn’t mean a thing even if they wanted to since not all gods had the free time to make videos for them.

And without anything as proof apart from their word, they were naturally less convincing than the Church of Games. Even in this era without the Internet, the principle of ‘pictures or it didn’t happen’ still applied—with Xi Wei’s exquisite edited video compilation, it didn’t matter if everyone else tried to explain themselves away over three days and nights…

*

*

*

It appeared that the starting point of the second round wasn’t limited to one: on the way to his destination, Isaac had noticed two other roll-call locations for members of other churches.

He found that others had already gathered at his own designated location when he arrived as well, including two familiar faces: Jom and

Terry.

‘Could it be that we’re grouped according to the time when we cleared the last round?’ Isaac thought while greeting the pair of youths.

“Hey, kiddos. Have you thought about my offer?”

“Our leader has given his approval, although we would have to wait until the match is over before we go into specifics.” Jom relayed Angora’s reply word-for-word. “But of course.” Isaac nodded, knowing then that the leader of the Church of Games wasn’t an unreasonable fool while coming up with some theories on the Church of Games development strategy. Some might feel confused since Isaac’s suggestion was clearly a win-win and benefits the Church of Games to some extent, so why refuse him?

Even so, such offers were actually often refused.