CHAPTER 143: DEADLINE TO THE CONVERGENCE

The crowd hushed immediately, and even the other champions frowned their faces evidently.

Arcadius was especially flabbergasted.

If Yeneffer’s addition had surprised him, then this was something else. He was utterly confused. Was the Exalted One playing a joke?

Even if Florian had some kind of special origin, he had only been in the capital for barely two weeks so far... What about those who had been here for years? Other more direct family members? With more powerful bloodlines?

Sylas—the Exalted One’s second brother, still had more children.

Could it be that they really couldn’t compare to Florian when it came to connection to origin...?

That was the criteria they all knew they were being chosen based on. But this was privy only to them. The public did not know this fact, and simply thought the Exalted One was selecting his children and sibling’s children simply because he was confident.

No.

The champions were carefully selected based on the level of their connection to origin, which was inferred from the level of talent they had displayed so far. There were a few other Exalted who would’ve been chosen if it was simply up to the Exalted One’s whims, but he had no say in this.

This was why a Half-Exalted—Elara, the red haired girl, was able to squeeze her way into the list of the champions-select. They had no choice but to allow her. Something that never would’ve happened otherwise.

The main reason being that they wanted the announced Champions to be perfectly aligned with those who would later on be selected by ’The Voice Of The World’... as influenced by origin.

It would be a stain on the Exalted One’s Godly image if he announced one thing, only for the world to select another.

So, the reason why the Champions were doubly surprised was also because they were aware of this fact. The Exalted One couldn’t afford favoritism in this...

And that meant Florian was definitely qualified... which shocked them greatly.

Arcadius stared fiercely at Florian like he could burn a hole through his head, making Yeneffer, who stood at the opposite end of the line, laugh.

She nodded in encouragement as Florian came to stand right next to her, taking the seventh and final position.

The Exalted One did not bother to explain further to satisfy the pious’ curiosity about Florian’s origin, simply moving on like normal. "These seven champions, chosen by my divine will, of which my direct bloodline—my children, are a part of, will lead our world to victory! They will forge Apraxis’s path among the stars!"

The crowd erupted crazily, shouting cheers of victory that shook the whole city.

"And this time, unlike any other convergence trial before it, I will allow five more champions the opportunity to be chosen!" he announced, shocking the crowd even further, "by my divine grace, their talent, effort and perseverance before the convergence trial would decide those I shall name as the five champions. And all together, there shall be twelve champions to represent our Apraxis on the grand stage!"

Hurrahhh!!!

The Exalted One reigns!!

Praise the Exalted One’s Grace!!

Manic shouts thundered from the crowd below at the Exalted One’s words. They fully believed their victory was certain already, and any previous trace of fear or trepidation had totally disappeared.

The champions kept a stoic face, but deep down they marveled at the Exalted One’s wit.

They were all aware of the fact that there were going to be twelve champions selected by the voice of the world instead of seven like usual.

This move by the Exalted One—making it seem like it was of his own doing that twelve champions would be selected, tackled two main issues.

The first was obviously the issue of who had the most connection to origin.

With the first seven selected, because of their level of talent, at least one could surely say they would very likely be a part of the twelve that Origin would select. These seven were certain... But the remaining five... not so much.

There was the risk of announcing them, only for origin to choose another... and that was something the Exalted One would like to avoid.

The second point was the Pathfinder—Zephyr.

His existence meant that one of their slots was gone already, leaving them with only eleven. So long as he wasn’t found yet, this fact would remain true.

So to address both issues, what better way was there for the Exalted One than to naturally leave the other five slots to Origin, and simply use ’his grace’ and ’opportunity’ as blanket terms to explain the delay in announcement.

The champions couldn’t help but let out wry smiles as the cheers reached a peak.

The Exalted One raised a hand to silence them again before he continued, guiding their fervour like an experienced musical conductor.

"The time for the convergence draws nigh. The secret of its timing has tried to hide from my sight, but I am the Exalted One! I have discerned its truth... In less than a year, the Convergence shall begin!" He declared, causing a shock murmur to ripple through the crowd, the Champions behind him, and even the Exalted below.

The crowd of pious were simply shocked by how close the time was, and nothing more than that. But the Champions and Exalted were shocked for another reason.

Just a month or so ago, the Oracle had estimated the timing of the Convergence to be within two years. And even that was after recalibrating from its previous four years estimate.

But yet now, they were hearing another closer estimate from the Exalted One again. Had the Oracle recalibrated yet again? If it did, this would be the third time. How were they to be sure that the estimate this time wouldn’t be reduced even further...?

They took note of the Exalted One’s open-ended declaration. "In less than a year..."

It meant that the Convergence could happen anytime within a year. It could be towards the end of the one year period... It could be within six months, or three months... maybe even a few weeks...

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A/N: Don’t forget to show your support by dropping some power stones, golden tickets, gifts and reviews...

I really appreciate you all that have been doing this. And I’ll be giving special shout-outs on every Chapter to acknowledge you from now on. xD

This Chapter’s special thanks goes to Krios_BR for always supporting with power stones immediately after reset. You’re a real one!

Cheers

Astrl