The appearance of Alvit and Claire surprised Dark, but upon second thought, he could guess the reason. Most likely, it was because St. Marian's rookie showcase for every semester took place on the Saturday morning of the second week, so they had come specially to watch the battle.
This didn't have much of an impact on Dark's mood.
It was just that their arrival made it so Dark couldn't lose easily.
He had to win.
Gazing from afar at Alvit's face, which he hadn't seen in a long time, Dark couldn't help but reveal a trace of a warm smile.
...
The first match of every Saturday started promptly at 8:00.
Unlike the mock battles Dark had experienced before, official matches had both referees and commentators.
Responsible for the commentary today was a member of the Dueling Club—Zach Wilson!
With slightly long cheeks and hooked eyes, Wilson looked a bit sinister when he narrowed his gaze.
However, his popularity within the Dueling Club was quite good. Despite being a pure-blood noble, he was humble, kind, and helpful—a superficial "good guy."
So, when he proposed swapping shifts this morning, he successfully switched with the originally scheduled commentator.
Standing on the commentary platform, Wilson looked around and indeed saw the President of the Noble History Research Society, Angus Jeffrey, as well as the third-year Mike Owen, in the ring-shaped spectator belt.
"Lackey!"
He slandered inwardly, wishing so much that the person standing in Owen's position was himself.
After his gaze swept past those two, Wilson couldn't help but look toward the audience seats.
The strength of the audience lineup this morning also shocked him.
The appearance of the Eldest Princess, the First Prince, the Valkyrie, and the Archbishop gave this session's Rookie Tournament an unusual significance.
If one could have a dazzling performance this morning, whether as a player or a commentator, it would be an opportunity!
Wilson suddenly became energized!
A commentator was not a referee and could not substantially affect the match result. But the commentator also acted as a host, so they could influence public opinion.
Wilson had originally wanted to watch Dark Demon make a fool of himself from the closest distance possible, but now he didn't dare show any bias.
"Hello, friends in the audience! After a week, we have once again arrived at the arena of the St. Marian Rookie Tournament."
"Familiar viewers know that today is a special day. Newly promoted duelists usually conduct their debut battle in the second week of joining the Dueling Club, which is today!"
"But you surely don't know that among this year's rookies, there are a full seven first-year students!"
"As for who these seven young duelists are? We will slowly reveal them in the upcoming matches."
"And now, please welcome the two players for our first Rookie Tournament match of this session."
"The Red Side player is a veteran who joined the Dueling Club in the second half of last year—that is truly old—second-year Knight House, Willie Brontë!"
"Yes, today is another classic fated duel between the Knight House and the Noble House."
"The Blue Side player is one of the seven 'true' rookies, first-year Noble House, Teddy Doron!"
"Let us give the two players a round of warm applause!"
...
"Clap clap clap clap!"
Warm applause and cheers rang out from the ring-shaped belt.
"Doron, Doron!"
The chubby Pistan waved a flag vigorously, cheering and shouting with all his might.
Walking onto the Blue Side player platform, Doron blushed slightly, and the pressure brought by being the first to appear faded somewhat.
But after arriving at the player platform, he looked down at the official field—a full 120 meters long—and felt slightly dizzy.
His opponent, Willie Brontë, was a top student in the second year. Unlike those second-years who only participated in the recruitment tournament this semester, he was already considered a dueling veteran.
And he was just a 'true' rookie dueling on an official field for the first time.
The probability of winning was approximately zero!
"Winning or losing isn't scary; just bring out the momentum!"
Doron slapped his cheeks forcefully to focus his mind.
...
"Why isn't it the Hero?"
The First Prince in the audience seats was somewhat impatient.
The simultaneous arrival of the Eldest Princess made his state of mind a bit chaotic.
The elderly Archbishop glanced at him from the corner of his eye, sighed slightly in his heart, but still spoke unhurriedly, "Teddy Doron, the youngest son of the Doron family, is a force that must be won over."
The First Prince glanced at the player platform and said, "I know. To promote our objectives, military support is very important. The Doron family's prestige in the military is second only to the Great Bear, but what can such a child decide?"
The Archbishop leaned back against the chair, raised his head slightly, closed his eyes, and breathed steadily.
...
In a corner of the audience seats.
A burly man wearing a plain overcoat was looking at the stage with satisfaction. "Not bad, it seems Little Teddy didn't slack off in class. Back in the day, his old man—me—didn't manage to successfully join the Dueling Club in the first year. When I go back to the clan, I can finally show off properly."
...
Doron didn't realize his old dad was secretly hiding in the crowd watching.
He focused his mind, carefully measured the distance between the two sides of the field, and his heart settled slightly.
Discounting the quality of Magic Guide Cards, the biggest gap in pure strength between first-years and second-years lay in summoning speed.
An absolute gap in summoning speed, paired with high-speed Magic Guide Spirits, could form a fatal fast attack in a short-distance field.
But with the field becoming larger, this kind of one-turn-kill fast attack tactic was greatly restricted.
For first-year students, this was actually an advantage.
"Blue Side player, please prepare quickly."
The referee's prompt rang out accompanied by a whistle. Doron froze for a moment, then hurriedly reached for the card table, injecting magic power to activate it.
As the projection of the card table appeared in front of the player platform, Doron's debut battle began.
In the first round, he successfully summoned a 3-star Magic Guide Spirit with an attack power as high as 1500—[Small Rock Dragon].
Immediately after, he summoned quite a few Magic Guide Spirits with high stats, holding out for a long time under the relentless assault of the second-year senior.
Finally, after Willie Brontë successfully Tribute Summoned a 4-star Magic Guide Spirit, his lineup was completely crushed, and he lost helplessly.
...
"Let us congratulate contestant Brontë for upholding the dignity of a senior! Of course, contestant Doron's resilience was also very strong; he is worthy of being a standout among the first-years. Let us also give him a round of applause!"
Wilson announced loudly from the commentary platform. He felt that his commentary, just like the atmosphere at the scene, was also getting into the zone.
...
Doron's defeat was somewhat expected.
Aside from his supporters feeling very disappointed, there were just a few troublemakers from the Knight House who mocked him a few times after he left the field.
It was harmless.
According to Professor Jones, losing the debut battle was not shameful.
Being able to learn from failure and clearly see exactly where the gap between oneself and the opponent lies was the main subject of this tournament.
"I wonder which match Dark's is?"
Doron immediately changed classes to [Spectator].
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