Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 64

“The Great Hyenas team inadvertently made a great sacrifice for the Dark Hyenas team, which advanced to the World League two years ago. To console the Lima City gladiatorial fans, we plan to heavily reinforce the gladiators and invest funds to develop Great Hyena into the best prestigious team in this region. We have already leased two gladiators from the Dark Hyenas team’s reserves and second string [backup players], and five gladiators who were active as starters in the Wide League will be newly incorporated into the Great Hyenas team starting from this promotion tournament. We also plan to invest 300 million Krang separately to equip state-of-the-art training facilities and various amenities.”

Ian PD [Production Director] was so surprised that he couldn’t close his mouth. The Dark Hyenas team was a World League team, and even their second string and reserves had skills similar to those of Central League starters. With the addition of five Wide League starting gladiators, their power was enormous. It was no exaggeration to call them the strongest amateur team ever.

“Th-that’s great news. But I can’t believe it, so I’m asking, is that really true?”

“Of course. So, as part of that, I came here first as the Great Hyenas team leader.”

Ian PD had the cameraman focus on Beomseok’s appearance. His constipated expression was quite a sight to see.

“How do you, Oh Beomseok gladiator, of the derby team, evaluate the power of the Great Hyenas team?”

“Ahem. If Julian’s bold words are true, it will be quite a powerful force.”

The PD continued to pepper Beomseok with questions, not giving him time to collect his thoughts.

“Since the power of both teams is expected to clash at least once during the promotion tournament, are you confident?”

He couldn’t come up with any brilliant countermeasures right away. With two Central League starting gladiators and five Wide League starting gladiators joining the existing Great Hyena team, they were practically invincible. If they were to face off, it was clear that they would be miserably defeated in nine out of ten cases.

However, he couldn’t show a discouraged appearance on the broadcast screen. Fans never liked seeing their cheering team admit defeat in advance. He barely composed his expression and said confidently.

“Heh heh. As you know, our Gods Knights team is not easy either. We’ll have to see, but I believe our team will win.”

“Oh, your confidence is great. I’ll look forward to it.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the announcer’s voice flowed from the arena speakers.

– Well, well. Now that the draw will be held, representatives from each team except the seeded teams, please come up to the podium.

Broadcasting staff who expressed regret left their seats. No matter how much it was for the sake of broadcasting, they couldn’t interfere with the progress of public events. And the group draw was also an important subject for filming.

Wow! Ahh~

As the draw began, joy and sorrow were evident in various places. Those who cheered were members of gladiator teams that landed in favorable groups, while those with blank or sullen faces were teams assigned to groups with relatively strong opponents. However, there were quite a few who watched the group draw in a calm atmosphere. These were teams that unfortunately didn’t make it as seeded teams, but considered themselves strong contenders.

After a while, as the draw for the general teams was almost over, the arena broadcast announced again.

– Well. There will be a draw for the seeded teams soon. Please come out and wait in advance.

“Diana, it’s our turn.”

“Jeremiah, it’s our turn.”

Beomseok, who was just getting up from his seat, turned around when he heard Julian’s voice. He didn’t want to acknowledge him, but he was intrigued by the female name, Jeremiah. He looked at an elf sitting a few seats away from Julian and his eyes widened.

‘Oh. Not bad.’

Jeremiah was a beautiful elf with striking long pink hair. She was a little over 175cm tall, and her haughty demeanor and confident heterochromatic [different colored] eyes were very attractive. Her face was a perfect oval, her eyebrows were thick and sharp, and she had a perfect body with obvious curves.

Beomseok, swallowing nervously, opened her information window. Since they might face off at some point in the future, it was necessary to check her stats.

————————————————-

Name: Jeremiah.

Classification: Elf (8 years).

Affiliation: Great Hyenas GC (on loan).

Fame: 3714.

Notoriety: 0.

H Status: None.

Stamina: 9212/9400.

Sociability: 72, Strength: 96, Stamina: 94.

Agility: 88, Balance: 86, Intelligence: 72.

Mental Strength: 75. Judgment: 76, Skill: 70.

Luck: 74.

Current Skill/Potential: 803/948.

————————————————

Characteristic: Goddess of the Sun.

Special Note: A promising player from the Dark Hyenas GC team and a gladiator belonging to the second team. Sold to the Dark Hyenas team as soon as she was born, she received early swordsmanship education before attending elf school. She mainly uses a two-handed sword and plays the position of a mid-level player. She really likes hot dogs sold on the street.

————————————————

Her stats were incredible. All physical abilities exceeded the mid-80s, and mental abilities were also around the mid-70s on average. In addition, the Goddess of the Sun characteristic granted a +10 bonus to all stats during the summer months of June to September and on clear days. In other words, she was even more powerful than Oscar in summer or on clear days.

Of course, considering that she was a promising player of only 8 years old, her swordsmanship skills might be slightly lacking, but since she was said to have received early education as soon as she was born, they wouldn’t be too low.

‘I’m going to die having to deal with two of these kids.’

It was expected that Jeremiah was slightly below his level. Her swordsmanship skills were slightly lacking because she was a promising player, but her stats were beyond imagination. Of course, if they were to compete, he seemed to be able to block it with difficulty, but since there was one more World League team reserve-level player, he could never be a match for him alone. Without the help of a teammate, there was a high probability that he would be unilaterally pushed back and miserably defeated.

‘Who would be good? Only Oscar or Erfina.’

He thought of the two most skilled players on the team, but the situation was still bleak. Oscar had strong physical abilities, but his mental abilities and swordsmanship were poor, and Erfina had excellent swordsmanship skills, but her physical abilities were very low. And if one of them is partnered, who will stop the remaining five Wide League starting gladiators? For now, he could only hope that they would not meet before the semi-finals.

‘By the way. It would be great if a gladiator like Jeremiah joined our team.’

He was worried about meeting her as an enemy, but Beomseok was very interested in Jeremiah. Even though she had the stats to play a big role even if she advanced to the Central League right away, her potential was 948, so there were still 145 points left to develop. If she was trained to some extent, she could play as a key gladiator in the World League. If such a gladiator joined the Gods Knights team, it would contribute significantly to the grand dream of advancing to the World League.

He hurriedly took out his electronic notepad and searched the Dark Hyenas team’s player list, intending to check her market value.

‘What? 410 million Krang!’

410 million Krang was a huge sum of money that could buy about 70 Raymi-class gladiators. Moreover, considering the professional perception that they put a premium on players going to competing teams, the amount would likely increase rather than decrease. Beomseok, deciding there was no need to look further, closed his electronic notepad and walked to the podium where the draw was in progress with Diana. He couldn’t even afford Jeremiah’s shoelaces with his current financial power, as the saying goes.

Julian, who followed them, smirked and threw out a taunt.

“Heh heh heh. I hope you don’t have the misfortune of meeting us early on.”

Beomseok, completely ignoring him, patted Diana’s shoulder, who was visibly nervous.

“Take it easy. There aren’t many teams here that can compete with us anyway.”

“Ha, but… If we meet the Great Hyenas team in the middle, there’s nothing worse than that.”

“That’s not our choice. It’s up to them to draw later. So don’t worry about it.”

“Yes, yes, I understand. I’ll take it easy.”

– The Black Snakes team has drawn the Ab group seed. Congratulations. Next is the Gods Knights team’s group draw.

Unlike the host’s congratulatory comment, the representative of Black Snakes was making a face like he was dying. This was because Ab group was a quite difficult group. There were two semi-gladiator teams that unfortunately did not make it to the seed in the semi-pro cup competition held last fall, and there were some quite difficult teams among the rest. It was very unlikely they would advance from the round of 16 to the quarter-finals and semi-finals in this group.

“Okay, Diana. Let’s go.”

Beomseok and Diana pushed past the Black Snakes representative and moved forward. It was their turn to draw this time. Soon, Diana took a deep breath to relieve her tension and placed her thumb on the random draw machine button. And when the screen was spinning wildly and she couldn’t distinguish the letters with her eyes, she boldly put strength into her finger.

Beep beep. Beep!

When the screen stopped, the words ‘Cc Group Seed’ were clearly displayed on the hologram electronic display screen.

– The Gods Knights team is the Cc group seed. Congratulations.

Cc group was the best possible draw. There were no teams with professional experience at all, and there was only one semi-pro team with decent skills. Looking at this, it could be said that they would pass safely until the quarter-finals.

Seeing this, Diana jumped up and down in place, expressing her joy. The simple act of pressing a button had brought great fortune to the owner and the team.

“Hehehe. How’s my luck? It’s not bad, is it?”

“Yeah, well done. Thanks to you, we can comfortably settle into the quarter-finals.”

The Black Snakes team, who had been watching them slyly, erased their disappointed expression and walked towards their team members with a somewhat relieved face. This was because the Cc group, which they had desperately wanted until just now, had instantly turned into a group of hell. According to the world’s evaluation, there was no team in the Avon Amateur League that could compete with the Gods Knights.

This is why no one can predict the outcome of the group draw.

“Well, well. Gods Knights team officials, don’t celebrate too much and go back to your seats. Other teams have to keep drawing.”

Beomseok and Diana, following the event staff’s advice, walked towards the cheering Gods Knights team members to share the good news. He put his arm around Diana and raised one hand for a high-five.

– The Great Hyenas team is the Ca group seed. Congratulations.

Beomseok’s face turned sullen on the arena broadcast, and he lowered his raised hand. If they were in Ca group, that meant they would face them in the quarter-finals. He didn’t know if he was just unlucky, but it was a very worrying situation, especially since they needed to reach at least the semi-finals to aim for promotion. Of course, he wanted to meet them and flatten that hateful nose of Julian’s, but he really wanted to avoid meeting such a strong team right before the road to promotion.

He turned around and looked at Julian and Jeremiah, who were still standing at the draw table. Julian was smirking, sending him a mocking look as if he had expected this.

‘Damn it. That Julian bastard. I’m going to tear his mouth apart!’