My Joker System: From Low Mana Trash to the Mightiest Wizard!
Chapter 59: Calm Before The Storm

Chapter 59: Calm Before The Storm

Hal sat inside his hotel room and stared at the ceramic flooring, deep in thought as a black-furred, cross-eyed cub ate with gusto just a few meters away.

’Damn it...why did I have to be called last...’

He couldn’t help but slightly overthink.

While he didn’t know the exact grade of his Flame Origin Earrings, Hal felt good about them.

He was confident they were at least of the superior grade.

"Did I overestimate myself? Or is the level of the competition just that high? Maybe it’s because I was among those who finished last?"

In the end, Hal could only sigh, as there was no way for him to pinpoint the real reason.

He didn’t like the feeling of not knowing how well he actually did...

"Aihh...what’s the use in overthinking? I’ll just practice more so I can finish earlier next time..."

Hal stood up, left his room, and headed to one of the Artifact Crafting Shops in Azmarin City to improve his mastery in weaving the Chaos Set using the few F-ranked arcane cores he had left.

He also had the funds to purchase more if needed.

The current situation, despite being filled with uncertainty, should work in his favor, as he didn’t want other people to notice his strange, silvery-vermilion links.

The problem was, although developing the mana-woven masking links reduced the risks by a considerable bit, it was inevitable that he would still have to inscribe the stabilizer- and extractor-type links using Chaos Karma.

The faster he could do it, the less experienced eyes that would notice.

The majority wasn’t a problem.

It was just the Arcanists’ gazes that he had to avoid, and Hal had a plan to minimize attention on him.

’Tch, but would my efforts even matter if the organizers abused their power and dared pry?’

In the end, he’s but a poor, countryside youngster, under the mercy of those who are wealthy.

Hal wasn’t in a good mood when he arrived at the artifact crafting shop and rented a room for three hours.

He didn’t plan on making any artifacts; his goal was simply to increase the speed at which he could complete the Chaos Arcane Links.

Just because the rich could do whatever they wanted, it didn’t mean Hal wouldn’t do his best to delay the inevitable, even if his Chaos Link Set was bound to be discovered sooner or later.

Hal spent two hours increasing his mastery over the weaves, lightly trained his body, and then went to sleep.

He still had three days to prepare for the main event.

Besides, he was mentally spent today, so he wouldn’t learn much even if he pushed on.

Over the next two days, Hal continued practicing his Chaos Links as much as he could, deciding to rest on the final day, since he needed a clear mind and a serene heart for the main event.

"Hmm... according to the map, the Azmarin Public Library is on this street..."

Instead, he planned to study a bit about who his opponents were.

Hal was now dead set on becoming both a powerful combat wizard aiming to reach Magna, and a prominent Master Arcanist at the very least.

He had to do his part and study his rivals in both fields.

Soon, he was sitting in front of a Manatech Computer.

He typed in "Manaforge Initiate Competition," hoping to find a list of the official candidates.

To his surprise, the organizers were one of the top three Arcanist Academies and the owners of a prominent Arcanist shop.

Hal was momentarily sidetracked by curiosity.

He ended up wasting thirty minutes studying the Arcoria Arcanist Academy, briefly entertaining the idea of enrolling since he believed he could afford it.

Only when he realized that the strict class schedule would hinder his progress as a combat wizard did he drop the idea and finally refocus on his true objective: gathering intel on the fifty seeded candidates.

There were 109 Master Arcanists in the Arcanum Imperium, and even they weren’t exempted from being ranked from lowest to highest, though only the Imperial Arcanist Guild and the higher-ups of the empire knew how they were ranked.

Mostly the apprentices of the lower-ranked ones among the masters joined.

However, according to the information on the Manatech Network, a handful of disciples from the higher-ranked Arcanists were participating, with Altair Snowcrest designated as the Manaforge Initiate Competition’s first seed due to his master being ranked fourteenth in the Master Arcanist Rankings.

But he wasn’t the only one from a high-ranking master.

There was also Allyson Blaire, the disciple of the nineteenth-ranked master, Cornelius Gray; the student of the twenty-fifth; and Irish Dumont, from the twenty-ninth.

Together with Altair, they were known as the competition’s Big Four.

Naturally, since they were under the protection of prominent masters with hundreds or even thousands of Combat Wizards willing to do their bidding in exchange for a mastercraft-grade artifact, these young Arcanists had no need to hide behind aliases or masks.

They could showcase their skills without worrying about being hunted down by powerful wizard clans or wealthy merchants, as even the prominent clans would think twice before crossing their masters.

Hal and others like him, on the other hand, would be taken advantage of, threatened, or even killed if they showed too much talent without taking care to hide their identities.

Very few would rise to prominence if not for the empire strictly enforcing the alias and mask rule.

"Tch, only their names?" Hal clicked his tongue in frustration.

He had spent over an hour researching who these four were and what rarity and grade their best-recorded works were.

Unfortunately, they were still Novice Arcanists—perhaps secretly Adept at most—so there wasn’t much substantial information about them.

Hal couldn’t care less about their favorite colors or food, so he decided to stop.

’Oh well, guess there’s no use in worrying too much... I’ll just do what I can, and if I lose, then at least I still managed to expand my horizons...’ Hal consoled his uncertain heart, managing to shake off the last bits of worry.

If he couldn’t win, then it simply meant he needed more practice.

He would, at the very least, know where he stood after the competition...