CHAPTER 164: THE GROUP

The next morning, Steward called them to the guild headquarters.

"There are several things we need to know, as today the groups of each of the Guilds participating in the Leveled Leagues were revealed, so our rivals have been revealed."

"So soon?"

"Yes, they are doing it rather quickly to let us enjoy the New Year." After saying this, Steward stepped aside and turned on the TV behind him.

There, the different groups were revealed, which examined all the participating cities: Loen, Agora, Zargo, Xhortz, and Galion.

"Six teams per group. We got..." He pressed the screen and enlarged one of the groups displayed.

The Elemental Academy, from Loen.

The House of Fire, from Agora.

Broken Leaf, from Loen.

Personifications, by Xhortz.

Aquatic Longing, by Galion.

And finally, Angelic Wave, by Loen.

All six guilds looked powerful just by looking at what they had presented.

Aquatic Longing and Personifications were unknown to them. Still, according to Steward, they were quite good in the last Leveled Leagues and could be on the level of Elemental Academy in some respects.

In this case, he ranked House of Fire and Elemental Academy as the most powerful of the group. Although House of Fire seemed to be having trouble lately, they were still dangerous.

Slightly behind were the two unknowns, and Broken Leaf was all the way down the list of concerns.

"Those Aquatic Longing people..." Jenna momentarily paused to discuss them. "If I’m not mistaken, they don’t just have humans, they also have aquatic races among them, right? Generally, their attacks are water-based, but they’re very diverse."

"Yes. All of their participants have something to do with water, so all of their attacks will have something to do with water." Steward confirmed.

Then one of the Thoran Twins spoke up.

"Regarding Personifications, we faced several of them a while back. The dangerous thing about them is that they can create copies of themselves, increasing their power drastically. Battling them will be equal to fighting 10 people." He spoke.

"A copy of themselves? Are they Illusionary Mages?" Elliot asked.

"Yes, they fall into the same category as Illusionary Mages. They are not very powerful in their own right, but being able to replicate themselves, they become a nuisance, for their copy magics are not illusions; they are real to a certain extent."

"To a certain extent?"

"Haha, yes. I don’t think they don’t have a weakness, do they? Surely they’ll have one, it’s just a matter of looking for it. And we all know how useless Illusionary Magicians are once you learn their weakness."

"Right..."

"So, we can say that we have the two opposites in the group: one group dedicated only to Fire and the other dedicated only to Water, and added to them, a group dedicated only to creating copies of themselves, right?" Andrew asked.

"That’s right." Steward confirmed.

Three groups specialized in one type of attack or fighting form. Those guys were usually the most annoying to deal with when fighting in the arena.

"Do you think any of those three will be the most dangerous, Andrew?" Steward asked, curious to know his opinion.

"Yes." He nodded. "We can’t underestimate those who work as a team in every way. Though it will be easier to prepare against them, as they use the same attribute or way of fighting, but they will surely have the best coordination."

"Yes, I agree with you in part." Steward nodded. "To my mind, the most dangerous will be the House of Fire; it’s the one we know the least about, and fire will always be problematic in a battle of attrition."

Chris and Rich favored it; they also thought the same as Andrew.

But Elliot had other considerations. He had recently killed several who were going to participate in the House of Fire guild, so they would not be as coordinated as they should be.

Jenna’s father confirmed a few days ago that they had to replace some members without revealing much, as the original ones had died.

That was why he felt that Elemental Academy or Aquatic Longing would be the most problematic. If the members of Personifications were Illusionary Mages, then they would be finished against his Shadow Raven, so he didn’t consider them a threat.

Steward then proceeded to explain everything about these Leagues.

Basically, each team played each member of the group twice. At the end, the top three advanced to the next phase. If a tie existed, a tiebreaker would be played to see who would advance.

There was not too much to say, but they had to study their teams during the first days of January, as the Leveled Leagues would start soon.

The 5th would be the Ceremony, and the 6th would start without fail, as the World Cup year was getting closer. Before that year starts, all the Local Leagues must be played.

Besides, the next Mundialist year, which will be in three years, is special. Right after it ends, it starts what many have been longing for the last sixteen years.

The Year of Supremacy.

According to history scholars, a new World God could emerge.

--

The rest of the days in December were vacations for them. They did nothing but go out and have fun or stay home and rest.

Elliot and Jenna spent it together, accompanied by Andrew. Chris and Rich apparently returned to where they came from, a distant city on the other side of the Kingdom.

While the Thoran Twins -- well, they were training.

--

The first of January ended their short vacation, though they were given a few more days, as Elliot had things to do before he started studying the rival teams.

That was because right on January 1st... he received all the ingredients needed to create the "Essence Potion".

He had purchased 1 Liter of "Essence of Blood", for a cost of 3.5 million dollars.

Although the rest of the ingredients were less expensive, they cost him 1 million in total for all the quantities he had ordered.

Because Steward was the one who got them in another city, he was able to save shipping costs and additional hassle.

As soon as they arrived, he called Jenna at his apartment.

When she arrived, she found him in the kitchen, preparing things. Her eyes sparkled.

"Are you going to cook for me?" she asked quickly with glee.

He smiled. "Something like that. This time it will be something very special." He spoke.

"What is it, some delicious meat again?" He asked.

"Hahaha, much better. Sit down and tell me a little bit about your skill."

"Hm? My skill?" Though confused by his question, she sat to the side to look at him.

The ingredients he was using were peculiar; they didn’t look like ones she would use to make meat or some kind of delicious dish, but it was Elliot. He has cooking secrets that only he understands, so she waited impatiently.

"My skill is called ’Dark Sword Master’. I don’t remember if I’ve told you before, but it’s a changing skill."

"Changing?"

"Yes. I don’t know what it means, but it allows me to create that dark sword and gives me great sword mastery. It has to slow down and remove poison... Well, you already know that. There’s not much to say that you don’t know, honestly." She thought carefully.

"I’m a swordswoman whose main stats are Strength and Sense, so you can consider me a magical swordswoman."

Elliot nodded.

"Has your ability ever changed or anything? Has it let you see things you’re not used to seeing in it?"

"No? I don’t remember anything like that. It’s always been what it is now."

"I understand."

That was strange. The System wouldn’t put something in there that wouldn’t do any good. That "Changing Ability" thing must mean something.

’Maybe I can do something.’ He thought.

While preparing the potion, he realized he couldn’t create too many this time.

1 liter of Blood Essence was too little. Perhaps he could only make 5 vials, at most.

After pouring all the ingredients into the pot and boiling them, Elliot began to stir them slowly for 15 minutes.

Afterwards, he began to add the Essence of Blood slowly, while stirring with a wooden spoon. The whole process took 30 minutes.

The ingredients inside began to dissolve slowly, and what appeared to be a broth of something soon became a rather thick liquid.

When that happened, he turned off the stove and began stirring it slowly to get the hot stuff out. He didn’t need to blow it out; the breeze coming through the open windows was enough.

After it had already lost a significant part of its heat, he transmitted energy through the wooden spoon and stirred it again, making sure that the spoon went through all the corners of the pot.

This was a slow process, taking 30 minutes, and all the time he was sending energy through the wooden spoon.

Once that time was up, Elliot pulled out several sturdy metal vials, made specifically to hold potions, and poured the contents inside.

Some of the thickness was gone, but it didn’t look appetizing.

’Five fair ones.’ Elliot smiled.