This routine meeting gathered magic guilds from across the entire Fiore Kingdom.
As long as they were legitimate magic guilds, they could all come, with over a hundred guild masters assembled in one place.
The "S-Class Promotion Tournament" organized by "Fairy Tail," "Blue Pegasus," and "Quatro Cerberus" had brought considerable fame and economic benefits to the three guilds.
When Fairy Tail hosted the first tournament, it was experimental and therefore handled conservatively, held privately among the three guilds.
However, when Blue Pegasus and Quatro Cerberus began hosting, building on Fairy Tail's successful experience, they expanded further by making the "S-Class Promotion Tournament" completely public, even starting to sell tickets and allow spectators to attend.
After the Quatro Cerberus edition concluded and experiences were summarized, Blue Pegasus followed suit step by step and achieved excellent results.
Selling tickets, souvenirs, and merchandise—they kept adding more flair.
The "S-Class Promotion Tournament" had already become a grand event, a magical carnival capable of generating enormous economic benefits.
Seeing this trend, other guilds naturally became interested.
Some formed their own alliances, with several guilds jointly hosting tournaments, but their appeal was far inferior to the peak showdowns organized by "Fairy Tail," "Blue Pegasus," and "Quatro Cerberus."
Consequently, the matter was eventually brought up at the routine meeting.
Everyone hoped that the three leading guilds—"Fairy Tail," "Blue Pegasus," and "Quatro Cerberus"—could guide them.
The main focus was on Fairy Tail, as the popularity associated with Fairy Tail was in a league of its own, and the popularity tied to Marco was equally unmatched.
Without Fairy Tail and without Marco, the appeal of the "S-Class Promotion Tournament" would plummet.
Not to mention the mixed tournaments organized by other guilds—even the official tournament would see a drop in popularity without Fairy Tail and Marco.
The main reason was that their "brand" hadn't been fully established yet.
After all, only three tournaments had been held so far, with just two open to the public, making it difficult to accumulate a loyal fanbase.
Once more tournaments are held, there will surely be more pure fans who come specifically for the "S-Class Promotion Tournament" itself, rather than solely for the fame of Fairy Tail, Marco, and other mages.
Only then will the brand be firmly established.
"Hosting a national mage combat tournament is certainly no problem. We'd be happy to organize it. But the question is, should we separate this mage combat from the S-Class promotion? This national tournament would be purely about combat."
In the routine meeting venue, Marco, representing Fairy Tail, took the stage to deliver a speech.
Since he had started this initiative, it was only right for him to explain it to everyone.
Marco first raised a question, one he considered quite important.
The "S-Class Promotion Tournament" was now trending toward full commercialization.
Was it still suitable to be used as an "assessment"?
"..."
The crowd fell into silence, looking at each other as they began weighing the pros and cons.
"Are you worried that too many spectators might affect performance?" Goldmine spoke up, having roughly guessed Marco's thoughts.
"That's one aspect. I'm afraid an overly commercial atmosphere might affect their performance and alter the nature of the assessment, making it less pure."
Marco nodded; this was indeed a concern that needed consideration.
Commercialization and entertainment were not what an assessment should embody.
"Actually, this is also a form of test. The work we do is like this—we must communicate with people and face public scrutiny. Powerful Mages are bound to become the focus of attention. If they can't even overcome such difficulties or are easily influenced, they don't deserve to be S-Class Mages."
Old Lady Obaba Babasama of "Lamia Scale" stepped forward, supporting the continued merger of the two events.
The elderly woman believed that resilience and the ability to overcome various influences were essential qualities for an S-Class Mage.
"That makes sense too."
Marco nodded; her words were quite reasonable.
To become an S-Class Mage, strength was one thing, but mental fortitude was equally important.
Strength alone wasn't enough.
"Let's take a vote. Those in favor of continuing the merger, vote 'agree.' Those who prefer separate events, vote 'disagree.' Let's settle this matter first." Makarov spoke up.
As a highly respected elder, he naturally had the authority to make the final decision.
He promptly organized the voting, and the result showed a majority in favor—over ninety out of more than a hundred Magic Guilds agreed to continue the merged format.
There were multiple factors at play, but the main reason was convenience.
Separating the events would require each guild to reorganize their own assessments, and smaller guilds, in particular, were unwilling to deal with the hassle.
"Then it's settled. Those who disagree can still conduct their own S-Class exam back home." Marco nodded.
Those who disagreed could still hold their own S-Class exam independently.
After all, the S-Class standard was set by each guild individually, with no unified criteria.
An S-Class Mage from a small guild might not even defeat an A-Class Mage from a larger one.
With the majority in favor of continuing the merged format, the subsequent procedures wouldn't need major changes, and the final announcement of S-Class exam list segment could be retained.
Who would ultimately advance to S-Class Mage was always a suspenseful part of the assessment, a competition beyond just rankings.
In the past, there had been instances where high-ranked participants failed to advance, while lower-ranked ones succeeded.
The varying evaluation standards of different Magic Guilds were evident here.
Of course, the number of those who advanced was always very small—over the three previous events, only a handful had made it.
From Fairy Tail, Erza, Mirajane, and Mystogan had advanced, all of whom had taken first place.
From Blue Pegasus, it was Hibiki and from Quatro Cerberus, it was Bacchus.
Only five advancements over three events were indeed not many.
"Next, let's finalize the name of this event. Since we're retaining the nature of the S-Class exam, it should at least include relevant information." Marco continued speaking.
In his opinion, continuing to call it the "S-Class Tournament" would be fine, but with more guilds participating now, everyone's opinions needed to be fully respected.
"How about calling it the National S-Class Promotion Tournament?"
Bob suggested with a smile, implying that adding "National" would suffice.
"No problem."
"I think it works."
"Simple and clear."
Soon, the name gained unanimous support from everyone.
In truth, what it was called didn't really matter—what mattered was that everyone had genuinely participated and could all benefit from it.
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