Chapter 316: The First Round of Competition Ends
Looking at the Crimson Fireball prostrating itself before him in submission, Sean exhaled and showed a slight smile. With all six dragons now subdued, he had finally completed his task.
Wait, what was the task for this competition again?
Sean's expression became somewhat strange. He suddenly realised a problem. His task was to obtain all six golden eggs. When had it become subduing all six dragons?
What was the point of expending so much effort to subdue these dragons one by one? If he simply wanted to extract abilities, defeating them would have been enough. Why did he need to subdue them all!
Just as Sean was feeling helpless, the Australian Opaleye and the other three dragons brought the defeated Hungarian Horntail before Sean and threw it beside him.
Seeing the Crimson Fireball that had already submitted to Sean, the Hungarian Horntail very decisively prostrated itself on the ground, head lowered to the earth, expressing its submission.
Just kidding. If her mate had already submitted, why would she wait? Better submit quickly!
Drawing his wand, Sean provided basic healing for the wounds on the Crimson Fireball and Hungarian Horntail, then had the Australian Opaleye and Common Welsh Green bring him the golden eggs guarded by the two lovers.
Before long, the Australian Opaleye and Common Welsh Green respectfully placed the two golden eggs before Sean.
Reaching out to put the eggs into his pouch, all six golden eggs were now in hand.
Just then, the purple number 2 on Sean's hand began glowing with faint light.
Looking at the purple number on his hand, Sean knew his competition was over. He looked at the six dragons and said directly, "Alright, my competition is finished. You're free to move about. I won't restrict you in the future. Go on."
As Sean's words ended, purple light completely burst from his hand, turning him into a whirlpool that disappeared before the six dragons.
The six dragons looked at each other, completely bewildered.
That's it? Then why did you go through all that trouble to subdue us? If you'd just said you only wanted the golden eggs, why would we have resisted?
Sean naturally had no idea about the dragons' complex psychological activities.
At this moment, he was brought by that purple light to before the judges' stand outside the competition arena. The instant Sean arrived, he immediately heard cheers and enthusiastic applause from the spectator stands.
Bowing slightly to the audience in the stands, Sean looked up at the judging panel positioned above, waiting for their scores.
Soon, the scoring ended. The judges each raised their wands, shooting purple smoke that formed their scores.
From left to right:
Madame Maxime gave Sean 9 points. The audience was obviously not very satisfied with this score, but it was understandable.
Karkaroff gave 6 points. This was the base score for Sean obtaining six golden eggs. Everyone knew very well that if not for the base score requirement, Karkaroff might have given an even lower score. Because of this, when the audience saw Karkaroff's score, the venue immediately filled with boos. In that instant, Karkaroff became the most unpopular person in Hogwarts and even the entire British magical world.
Dumbledore gave a score of 10 points, immediately causing the audience to cheer.
Barty Crouch followed Dumbledore and gave Sean 9 points. Sean wasn't too surprised by this. Old Crouch had that kind of personality, strict with himself and others.
The final judge, Ludo Bagman, was obviously someone who knew how to please the audience. He clearly understood he was a British Ministry official, knew who the audience was, and knew Sean's influence. So without any surprise, he gave Sean 10 points, again causing cheers from the venue. He puffed out his chest with a proud expression, and the audience indeed appreciated this. Many people shouted loudly that Ludo Bagman was great, making him even more proud.
Sean's total score was 44 points, quite a high score.
With this, Sean's first round competition ended. Immediately a Ministry official came forward to escort Sean to rest.
Since Sean wasn't injured, he didn't go to the medical station like Fleur. He sat in the temporary rest area and soon heard Ludo Bagman's commentary. Krum had also begun his competition.
Krum's venue was hilly terrain with many mountains and forests. Compared to Sean's desert and Fleur's forest, Krum's hills were the most suitable environment for performing well.
Sure enough, Krum ultimately obtained four golden eggs. When he was preparing to challenge the fifth, the one-hour time limit was reached, and Krum was directly transported out of the arena to before the judging panel.
Soon the judges began scoring.
Madame Maxime gave 6 points, only one more than what Karkaroff had given Fleur, and that was because Krum had obtained one more golden egg.
Karkaroff gave Krum 9 points. Not giving 10 points showed Karkaroff still had some rationality, but even so, the audience booed loudly. Krum's performance was certainly not as good as Sean's, yet he received 9 points. Cries of unfairness echoed throughout the spectator stands, but Karkaroff acted as if he heard nothing, continuously giving Krum thumbs up.
Dumbledore gave Krum 7 points, nothing much to say about that.
Barty Crouch gave 7 points.
Ludo Bagman also gave 7 points.
Krum's total score was 36 points, two more than Fleur's.
The first round ended with Sean in first place with 44 points, Krum in second with 36 points, and Fleur in third with 34 points. Their scores determined the order of appearance and priority start times for the next round.
At the same time, the champions were notified that clues for the next round were inside the golden eggs. The more eggs obtained, the more clues available. In other words, Sean, who obtained all six golden eggs, could get all six clues. Fleur, with three golden eggs, could only get three clues. Krum could get four clues.
This snowball-like competition system meant that unless Sean performed poorly in the second round, or Krum and Fleur performed exceptionally well in the second round, Sean's advantage would only grow larger.
"Sean, congratulations. I watched your competition. It was truly outstanding."
Looking at Fleur and confirming she showed no signs of discouragement, Sean replied, "Your performance was also excellent, just a bit unlucky."
This wasn't wrong. Fleur had actually encountered three dragons that were all quite strong, much stronger than the Common Welsh Green and Swedish Short-Snout that Sean faced, and roughly equivalent to the Romanian Longhorn. That's why Fleur only obtained three golden eggs.
Hearing Sean's words, Fleur smiled mysteriously. "Don't think you've already won. I've already solved the secret of the golden eggs. We'll settle the score when the time comes."