Martial Arts Worlds

With bags in hand, Kiernan and Aoi stepped into the glorious mansion with surprised looks on their faces.

They were very surprised at the sheer size of the mansion.

Outside and inside the mansion, there were people everywhere, mingling, chatting, and laughing.

"Wow, that's April Jones, the champion of the Knuckle Fist tournament. And that's Kong Zhao, the Undefeated King of the Steel Cage. And that's Karmea Reck, the greatest youth boxer in the world whose fists could shatter boulders and mountains!"

Aoi exclaimed with a bright look as she saw all kinds of legendary figures in the mansion.

"You're very knowledgeable. I don't recognize any of them."

Kiernan said with a wry smile.

While he loved martial arts, he realized that he hadn't actually bothered to watch any martial arts tournaments.

"We live with martial arts. Since I regained my hearing, I've been watching television every day now that I can hear.

"It's good to know your generation, as they will be your greatest rivals."

Aoi said.

"Makes sense…"

Kiernan said, and looked at the wooden board that was put in the middle of the front lounge of the mansion.

It had some papers nailed to the wooden board.

"Everyone, the gathering is about to start. Make your way to the great hall! Follow the arrows on the walls!"

A shout came, and everyone started heading down to the great hall, and as Kiernan walked down the hallway, he couldn't see anything except a sea of people.

It was crazy.

…

Within the great hall of the Selection Mansion, the thousands of young men and women from all around the world had gathered.

They looked like an army, and with thousands of people speaking at the same time, it was loud enough for the ceiling almost to tremble from the noise.

Familiar faces, often seen on television and at world-class tournaments, were everywhere in the crowd.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

"…"

With heavy steps of his iron boots, the headmaster of the Selection Mansion walked to the stage.

The crowd quieted down and turned their attention to him.

He walked to the microphone, tapped it with his finger to see that it was working, and then he put his arms behind his back.

"Welcome…"

He spoke, but the voice crackled slightly as the microphone adjusted to his words, and then as he cleared his throat, he continued.

"You all have chosen to be part of the first selection rounds. You've come from every corner of the Martial World, and some even from World Seas.

"I know it's the nationals season, and most of you, if not the big majority of you, were busy training for the nationals before the invitation to the World Martial Arts Draft came…

"The nationals will be delayed and held after the tournament."

The headmaster said.

Many people in the crowd sighed in relief. They had schools to represent. Without them, their schools would be in big trouble.

"After this speech concludes, the selection rounds will officially begin. Some of you might've seen it already, but there is a board in the front lounge.

"It's the mission board. Each mission gives points. There will be points rankings shown in your phone add, which we asked everyone to download, but also there will be screens that show the rankings.

"We've also handed you all the wristwatches, where you can keep check on your current positioning, and points."

Everyone in the crowd looked at the black wristwatch in their wrists, which showed zero points, and their ranking.

"After each day, there will be hundreds of people dropping out of the selection. If you're at the bottom of the ranking, shown in red, you'll be dropping out of the draft.

"Each day, we gather here and announce everyone who dropped out. You'll see that the number of people gathered will drop drastically.

"The way to gain points is simple—with the missions on the board, but beware, there aren't enough missions for everyone; there are just too many of you.

"You can also challenge people to a duel, and if you beat them, you'll get half of their total points.

"The rules of the duel—it must be mutual and agreed upon by both parties. You cannot threaten or force someone into a duel.

"When a duel is agreed upon, no one is allowed to interfere, and if you do, you'll be losing half of your points.

"To lose a combat—you must either forfeit by raising two fingers, be knocked out, or have another losing condition prearranged.

"Before the duel commences, both parties are allowed to discuss the terms of the combat. That's all from me for now."

The headmaster raised two fingers and pressed them against his forehead, which was a symbol of good luck from his home tribe.

"The selection has officially begun. May good fortune be with you today!"

With that said, people started knocking each other over as they rushed out of the great hall to head to the front lounge.

They all heard about that there were only a limited number of the missions, so they had to get there before anyone else.

However, those who planned to take it slowly didn't seem to rush out of the great hall and watched as the running crowd went ahead.

"You're not planning to go do missions?"

Aoi asked curiously as she held Kiernan's hand so they wouldn't get separated, as there were people all around them running.

"I think the man who did the speech left something out when it comes to the missions. I am sure there will be easy and hard missions.

"I am more curious about the losing condition of those missions. If the losing condition is too hard, maybe no one picks them."

Kiernan said.

"If so, you shouldn't take it either, right?"

Aoi asked.

"…Depends really on how difficult it is. If it's difficult, the points you can accumulate from it must also be… quite amazing."

Kiernan said to her, and at that moment, an arm wrapped around his shoulders, which made him tense up.

With a sharp gaze, Aoi looked at the person who just put his arm around her man, and she felt a surge of anger rise up inside of her.

"I thought I saw a familiar face, but that hair surely fooled me. A gray hair, huh? When did you change that?"

Julian asked with the corner of his lip lifted.