After the gazes of the hopefuls cleared beneath the blinding rays of sunlight, many found themselves overwhelmed by the sheer number of eyes on them.
Some shook, a few found a corner to puke, and some simply froze in place, staring into the distance as though their souls had been sucked from their bodies.
Rosemary seemed to fall into the nervous crowd herself, grabbing at and holding onto Sofia's hand tightly. She had been confident leading up until this point, but this atmosphere very quickly reminded her of just what kind of place she was in.
She subconsciously looked toward Ryker, somewhat worried for him as well. He was just a sculptor, when had he ever seen such a scene before?
But, the appearance of the very same calm and handsome smile entered her vision. It was as though Ryker couldn't feel the scrutiny at all.
As a commoner, the pressure Ryker should have been feeling must have been far beyond her own. In fact, many of those who reacted the worst were of this class of people.
To the crowd above, whether consciously or unconsciously, the noble youths were meant to be here, this was their stage.
As for the commoner youths? They were just dregs overestimating themselves. Maybe only their own family members might have a small sliver of belief in them, but even they would know that they were clinging onto a tiny and fleeting hope.
"As per usual customs, the first round will be simple. Step to the platform and your aptitude will be tested. So long as you reach the minimum 1st Circle requirement, you will be allowed to continue onto the next round. However, as for whether a next round will be necessary will depend.
"In exchange for your efforts, Smoking Tower City has been granted 20 spots this year, 10 of which are reserved for each gender. If either gender is lacking, the rest of the numbers will be made up by their counterparts."
Up above, near the seating arrangements of who Ryker assumed were the big-shots organizing this event, an overseer's voice boomed.
In the center, sitting on the largest and most elaborate throne, was a woman adorned in silver and gold armor, her curvaceous body sitting upon the red cape she wore.
Well, it was just Ryker's assumption that she was curvaceous, it was a bit difficult to tell because unlike many women he had seen, she wore true armor and not those bikini sets some tried to pass off as armor.
Though, it was quite lamentable. What must have been an impressive bosom was hidden beneath the chest plate of a roaring lion.
That said, none of this mattered much to Ryker purely because the face of this woman spoke a thousand words. The only slight blemish it carried was a light scar that split her left eyebrow in two, but Ryker felt that this only added to her charm.
A beauty indeed.
He couldn't help but be distracted, almost forgetting that he should have been listening to this meandering explanation.
It was only after a long while, and just before the woman turned her head toward him, that Ryker turned his own attention to the much less interesting old man who had taken a stand forward.
Ryker didn't think much of the earlier announcement of a gender split. It made sense to try and keep it even because it took talented Mythical Masters to birth talented Mythical Masters.
That was until he noticed several women clenching their fists in excitement. He couldn't help but raise an internal eyebrow.
In his home world, there was no division of talent between men and women, but it seemed that women with Mythical Master talent were rarer here?
'That's unlikely to be the case, there's definitely another explanation I'm ignorant about.'
If there were any divisions between genders, men tended to have larger reserves of Spirit Energy, but women tended to have purer souls and better communication with their Spirit Beasts.
Without getting into the weeds of what this meant, the ultimate result was an even balance.
Plus, the truth was that the deviations were so small that they were negligible to begin with.
Regardless, it seemed that for the women of Smoking Tower City, so long as they passed the first round, they would have 10 spots reserved for them.
As for the men, it was likely that more than 10 would pass this first round. If the sum was 20 in the end, there wouldn't be a problem. But, if the sum was more than 20, they would have to fight it out.
It was simple enough, until the overseer opened their mouth once again.
"This year, there will be a slight difference. After the quotas are decided, there will be a further selection for Seeded Heroes. For this quota, Smoking Tower City has been given one.
"A Seeded Hero will receive special care and nurturing, and will also be allowed to join the legion behind her Highness, Patience."
A rush of exclamations surged through the coliseum. It seemed that even the commoners were aware of the magnitude of such a thing.
Joining a legion was the highest honor, and something one would usually need to work for years to achieve!
A legion was personally bestowed a special title by Chief Minister Golden Lion. They were different from the normal army as they had the right to act without first receiving approval of the higher-ups.
This allowed faster accumulation of merit, which led to greater glory and faster growth.
In addition, being part of a legion was as good as gaining a minor nobility status in the Federation. For the commoners, this would be like taking a leap from the earth to the heavens in a single bound. And, for the rich nobility of Smoking Tower City, it would actually not be much different!
They might be high and mighty in this small city, but they who held power were also aware of information others weren't.
A frog at the bottom of a well was happiest. But, a frog that knew it was at the bottom of a well was the most restrained.
Ryker didn't care about any of this, though.
A chance to get closer to the beauty up there? Count him in.
"We will begin now."