Death Mage with an SS-Rank Talent-Chapter 146

Staton Mountains...

Staton Mountains are to the north of the Capital. They stretch to the sea in the east and to the Valent Forest in the west, which is thousands of miles away from the capital.

The Capital City, Valora, was built here because, with the sea to the East, sea trade can be done, and at the same time, various sea resources can be obtained. With the Staton Mountains in the North, there is no lack of monsters and resources.

Since it was the capital, many powerhouses reside in the city, making it secure from any probable monster tides.

Of course, the monster tides that do occur are limited to low-ranking ones. High-ranking ones develop intelligence and wouldn’t bother with the capital, as they knew it would be sure death if they went to the capital.

With the presence of two of the top five academies here, the protection of the capital is secured. There was not much worry about that.

With such protection, the capital grew faster than anticipated, but the alliance made sure that the city grew only in the south and west directions. To the east is the sea, which is impossible and to the north, there are the mountains.

Though there is a considerable gap between the mountains and the city, if the city grows too close to the mountains, the death rate of the citizens would increase. The only two institutions that were allowed in the north were the academies themselves.

Other than these two, no other institute can expand in that direction.

Of course, that doesn’t mean the north is banned. Adventurers and Mercenaries can go as much as they want. There was no block for them, except now.

The path to the mountains was shut off days ago due to the tournament. It will remain so until whatever is planned to happen in the mountains is done.

Except for the students who would be participating, along with their chaperones and the alliance coordinators who are responsible for the tournament, there are a few guards present, so that nothing bad would happen to the students in the tournament.

Though they all got death waivers beforehand, it was just to cover their base, but that doesn’t mean the alliance doesn’t care about the death of the future pillars.

How can they neglect the future pillars of society, when with already lurking dangers, a new crisis was about to emerge with the upgradation of the world?

They were sure that many would die during that period, and wanted to make sure that there would be sufficient protectors to make sure the world was not destroyed and humans would survive.

---

A burly man walked to the temporary stage that was built for the occasion and started to speak, "Everyone is here and that means we can officially start the tournament".

"First, there are too many students, which makes it impossible for us to have duels between the students. So, the first stage is where mass eliminations happen. The stage was simple. Out there in the mountains, the monsters were tagged with tokens. There are four colours, White, Red, Blue and Black".

"Each colour represents a different number of points. White is one point, while Red denotes 10, Blue denotes 100, and finally Black denotes 1,000 points. You have today and tomorrow to obtain as many points as you can".

"To survive this elimination, one has to obtain at least 1,000 points in total. Remember, these are individual points and have nothing to do with your team. So, if you want all five to survive this round and move to the next stage, they have to earn 5,000 points in total".

"Whether you want to try alone or team up, it wouldn’t matter as you would be teleported to various areas. Yes, you would walk into the teleportation circle one by one and would be teleported to a random place in these mountains".

"You would have two days to return. If you fail to return or collect 1,000 by evening tomorrow, then you have lost. Oh, you must have already been briefed by your academies that your performance would determine the rank of the academy".

"That is true. The winners would obviously get more points, but even if you were lost, depending on your performance, your academy would be allocated some points. How? You don’t need to wonder about that. Perform well, that’s all you should care about".

"Hmm, is there anything I forgot?" the man wondered for a second, then looked at the man in front of the circle.

"Ah, yes, the man in front of the circle would hand you a bracelet, which can act as a GPS and the red button on the top to send out a distress signal if you are in danger. Though there are protectors, they could be far away or saving someone else. So, make sure that you don’t just push that button when you are seconds away from death. As soon as you feel you are in danger, push it and run away from the danger".

"Remember, as long as you push the button, that would mean you exited the stage. The points you gained by that point would be the final count for you. Oh, I forgot something else. You can take tokens from not just the monsters but also from other students, but remember crippling someone permanently or killing other students is prohibited and would incur severe punishments".

"Now, as I said before, one by one walk to the circle. You would be first", the man pointed to a student who was near the circle.

Being pointed out among a group was never a good thing, and that to for doing a task first. Though the boy has no idea how it works, he was sure that the alliance wouldn’t want to kill the students. So, it should be safe.

He put on a false bravado on the outside and walked towards the circle. He took the bracelet from the man, and enetered the circle. The circle lit up, and the next second, the student disappeared.

After that one, other students started to enter the teleportation circle one by one, and would disappear from the place. Soon, it was Aaron and the other four’s turn.

As soon as Aaron stepped in, a bright light flashed, which made in close his eyes involuntarily.

---

When Aaron opened his eyes, he was on the peak of a mountain.

"Why the hell was I teleported to the peak of the mountain?" Aaron cursed while shivering.

The mountain peaks are covered in snow all year round and are dangerous to survive even for Rank-5 and Rank-6 professionals if they have no protection.

One may think that with magic they should be able to survive in cold, but they were wrong as the cold here is also made from magic, and is much more powerful than the professional’s magic.

Even awakeners would catch cold and every disease that there is. Just because magic appeared, it didn’t mean common diseases disappeared; they too were changed, along with humans, plants and animals present in the world.

With no other choice, Aaron started to go down the mountain, though he didn’t know whether there was a path to leave the mountainous area. He had to take the chance and hope his luck was good enough that he would find a path to leave.