Chapter 500: Stories in the other world
Silvaria...
It's been a day since the grand tournament ended.
in Silvaria World Institute, the students and faculty members are still very much impressed by what they had seen yesterday. They can't stop talking about the fights that happened. They talked with such vigor that it's like they personally fought in the arena.
The grand tournament is still in everyone's mind. The hottest topic would be the new top 10 rankers.
Two things happened that students in Silvaria World Institute think are important milestones. 5 of the new top 10 students are newcomers, less than 2 months in and they are already top students.
Any student who boasts about making it to the top 10 in just 1 month would be asking for a beatdown in the nearest toilet. Silvaria World Institute is the only school made from the cooperation between all 3 empires in Silvaria. It is a place to nurture all the geniuses gathered from all corners of Silvaria.
With all the geniuses gathered here, the strongest 10 students could be said to be the 10 most talented individuals in Silvaria. It's not a random title, it's a status. The 5 who made the top 10 rankings are already well-known even before the grand tournament due to several high-profile events that transpired soon after they enrolled in the school.
Even more surprising, the 5 of them belonged to the same faction.
There are 12 factions in the academy, representing the strongest forces in each of the 3 empires. Their influence is great just like their political power. However, all the political clout and influence they have still couldn't get them a spot in the top 10 rankings except for the stronger factions.
A single faction has 5 top 10 rankers. It's only natural that students can't stop talking about them. At least, that's what the students want to believe, they are speculating that the sudden appearance of so many strong students who are incidentally very close to each other probably means that they belong to the same faction.
A lot of them started laughing at themselves for speculating about something so ridiculous. If any faction had the resources to raise 5 extraordinary talents like them, that faction would have been held with the highest regards.
A lot of people started investigating the background of the newcomers but every faction that tried couldn't find anything on them. Not even the royal family or large noble family can dig up anything on them.
The newcomers are very mysterious individuals to the students of Silvaria World Institute. It didn't reduce their enigmatic factor when the council of Silvaria World Institute, basically, a board presided over by the world's rulers and movers, ordered with very terse tone and implication that any investigation should stop immediately. Attempts at inviting them should stop at flattery and forceful methods are to be avoided at all costs or bear all the consequences themselves.
Anyone who dared to ignore the warnings won't go far. As such, when the 12 factions stopped investigating, the others followed suit, they didn't want to start something they can't finish.
The newcomers are a hot topic in the families and extended families of the twelve greatest factions, even outside of Silvaria World Institute.
To top it off, the previous champion got replaced by a newcomer. Sylph who stood at the top of everyone got promptly defeated by one of the newcomers.
The news of a new champion rocked Silvaria World Institute. A newcomer attaining the title of champion is something nobody has heard of. It's probably as shocking as an alien coming down to earth and replacing a nation's leader.
Astrea became a trending word in Silvaria World Institute. Even if someone didn't go to the tournament at all, they would still be aware of Astrea since everybody just can't stop talking about her.
The twelve factions are afraid that the newcomers would form a formal faction that would supersede the factions as a super faction. It's not hard to imagine their star students leaving their factions for this formal faction.
The balance of power would be totally shifted and the boat would tip.
Luckily for them, the newcomers directly or indirectly claimed that they have no interest in forming a faction much to the leaders' reliefs.
Only one of the newcomers formed a faction. She's Shokuhou Misaki, the leader of Starlight Queen. She's the only one who went against the grain.
In less than a month, she built up quite a reputation not just as one of the new top 10 rankers. She also had Astrea as a member before the tournament started.
The star roster had students lining up to register for this faction. Everyone wanted in on Starlight Queen, this contributed to Starlight Queen's rapid growth as the thirteenth faction.
But, Starlight Queen only accepts female students. This limitation didn't stop Starlight Queen from rivaling if not outright surpassing the other twelve factions though.