CHAPTER 167: COASTAL CITIES LEVELED LEAGUES OPENING CEREMONY

January 5th arrived quickly. The first days of January were busy for all the guilds.

From researching their rivals to introducing their members. Extensive practice and training in all the strategies they couldn’t do before the holidays.

Everyone is trying to catch up, even though the holidays only last two or three weeks.

That’s why everyone was busy.

In addition, preparation for the January 5th Ceremony is important. All guilds must be present and help in any way they can so that it can take place without any problems.

Luckily for Loen and unluckily for the other cities, this year’s Ceremony will take place in Loen City, specifically at the Mountain of a Thousand Battles.

It is similar to the Combat Arena and is one of the places where they will be battling this time.

To be precise, Leveled Leagues do not take place in a single city. Each team plays one "home" game and one away game.

To this end, each city usually has three locations where guilds can face off. For example, Loen City has the Combat Arena, the Mountain of a Thousand Battles, and the Mountains of Death.

The system determines the exact location of the battles, but it always follows the rule of one home game and one away game for each guild.

And today, January 5, the opening ceremony for the Leveled Leagues, which pit the Five Coastal Cities against each other, will take place at the Mountain of a Thousand Battles.

Therefore, that place, which is just behind Loen City, was crowded with people today.

The Mountain of a Thousand Battles is a giant mountain, the largest in the area, almost completely flattened at the top. It is enormous and towers high above the tall buildings of Loen, which could lead one to believe that it is a tepui mistakenly.

But it is not. The forks and rocky uplifts with strange formations at the top reveal that this mountain was once like the others—perhaps pointed, perhaps very rocky with grass growing on it, and so on. It was not flattened.

It was some battle that made it that way. But it is so large that part of the city of Loen is built on its slopes.

Thanks to the forks and small rocky hills on top of it, bleachers have been built so that people can watch the fights, and in the center of it there are three large divided combat arenas, each with a capacity of more than 20,000 people.

Although one of them is built downwards, almost behind the mountain, it is completely stable. Even powerful people above Master Rank have fought here, and it hasn’t even been scratched.

This mountain also has a high concentration of metals inside it, but since they’re low-grade metals, it’s more profitable to use them for this purpose. In addition, every year, even when no one fights here, it still attracts many people to visit because the view of the city from here is beautiful.

Furthermore, a small town is built on top of it, right at the beginning of the mountain peak. Well, to be exact, it is not a town.

It has buildings that manage the mountain and tourists, important hotels, and so on, but it is small. It is barely the size of a village, so it can be considered a village with sturdy walls.

It doesn’t have much capacity, barely enough for 80,000 people, but it’s sufficient for ceremonies, so it was used without hesitation.

And thanks to that, it was packed. People from all over had rushed here to have the joy of raising their guild flags.

In the city, many groups of fans waved their flags in the wind, wearing the uniforms or colors characteristic of the teams they supported.

In the city center, people gathered before a man who introduced and called out the guilds to the crowds.

Whenever he called out a different guild, the respective guild fans went wild, waving their flags, jumping, singing, or beating drums to cheer them on.

Meanwhile, the guild members walked among them until they stood on the stage.

He had already called out most of them.

"Right now, the presentation will be a little special. Two friendly guilds have asked us to call them at the same time. So, get ready."

"For many, they are not so well known, but they are still very powerful. One of the newest guilds created in our great Kingdom, the great members of "Mighty Falcon," along with our great friends from the Rhino Guild, please step forward and make your fans proud. Both allied guilds, I hope you will continue to work together as you have until now. Glory will be with you."

After a lengthy introduction, because he had to introduce two guilds simultaneously, they finally emerged from behind the curtains of a building and walked towards them.

It was clear to see that the Rhino Guild had many more fans than the Mighty Falcon.

This was unsurprising, as the latter were new and the Rhino Guild had been in the business for years.

They did so clearly due to Rhino’s good work helping their colleagues with whom they had worked for many years, even before they became a guild.

This was well received by fans of other guilds who noticed it and stood up to applaud, thanks to which the final presentations attracted more attention than usual.

Being the last to perform, the most famous guilds of today

"Now, representing the beauty of winter and the beauty of its gray clouds, the Rain Academy. It doesn’t need much introduction. You all know it, right? So give it a warm welcome."

-

"It’s no surprise to anyone who we’re about to introduce. They have always been respected by the world and admired by the masses; even the guilds respect them. Please welcome the most respected guild in our territories. The most respectful and admirable in their own right are Art lovers. The Cats!"

"WOOOOOH!"

From inside one of the buildings, Elliot looked out the window and was surprised by the loud cheer.

"Do they have that many fans?" In shock, he looked at the Thoran Twins. Among the fans’ banners, several read: I Love Thoran Twins. Others even asked them to marry them.

They smiled helplessly.

"The Cats will always be The Cats. If the kingdom that sponsors you all ever wants to have millions of fans suddenly, they should look to annex The Cats’ territories. It would be the smartest thing they could do." They both replied.

And seeing how the fans on the other side were acting, Elliot felt he understood why he said that.

That’s probably the guild that receives the most donations from their die-hard fans.

-

"A black sheep has infiltrated our ranks, hasn’t it?" The presenter smiled, as if talking to someone else, while looking at the crowd. "Yes. A little black sheep, but one that has always been the talk of the town. From "Feel Boy" to "Mountain Rock," through the darkness, to the grand SkyDome and later the brilliant Tyler... This little black sheep is too big. That’s right, I’m talking about the legendary Clark Family, The Clark Group!"

Possibly the most emotional presentation and perhaps the guild with the most fans from the older generation.

From the mention of the legendary "Feel Boy" and "Mountain Rock," two historical figures from the Clark Family hundreds of years ago, to the mention of SkyDome itself, all the old faces were thrilled.

Talking about those greats gave everyone goosebumps.

Even though they lately seem like a black sheep that has lost its luster, they still have many fans.

The group had also attracted a lot of attention, although they didn’t have many Clarks.

Certainly, this family was fading away and only maintained its greatness because of the fans of past generations.

-

"After exhaustive research that has taken us days without sleep... You can see my dark circles because of that," said the presenter, showing clearly fake dark circles, which brought laughter to those present.

"We have concluded that we do not know whom to present. Perhaps it is not because of fame, but rather because of their impact in recent months. To present oneself first is to insult the other. For this reason, after discussing it with all of them, we will make a joint presentation."

"We know you know who we are referring to, as only three guilds are left to introduce. That’s right. I am talking about the one that naturally attracts the masses, the largest academy on the coast: The Zargo Academy."

"And in the same way, I am talking about the great ones who represent the face of the Kingdom every time, the Great Ones of the Elemental Academy."

"And finally... I know many of you have been waiting. To be honest, so have I. I met them backstage. The beauty of that girl overwhelmed me, too bad I’m 50 years old. And the greatness of that boy made me want to kneel down."

"But they still have two more surprises. Who would have thought?! The representatives of the Runic Kingdom, Angelic Wave! Let’s welcome our Summoner, the King of the Field, and the Lady of Beauty, his Queen!"

"A match made in heaven. Accompanied by two Mythical Players, the Thoran Twins!"