"I must be clear with all of you. These rankings are not final. The current standings reflect only the first stage, and the final ranking, the one that determines who claims the Sacred-Rank Spirit Art, will be decided primarily by your performance in the next and final stage."
Hearing this, Moon could only scoff internally. 'So going into all of those gates and clearing them to get the final reward... was for naught?'
Moon could only blame himself for believing that the association would part with a sacred-rank spirit art for so cheap.
'I should have known better...'
He had known they were exploiting the contestant's circumstances to clear more gates and reduce their own workload, especially since everyone would be spending most of their time inside the sanctuary. What he hadn't anticipated was this particular move.
The Ascender swept his gaze across the assembled candidates, his expression hardening.
