The week passed by quickly and Kotori soon found herself in front of the massive dungeon entrance along with her companion. Next to her was Fawks who was busy fussing over them like a mother to a child.

“Did you pack everything? You have enough food, right? You’ll come back right?”

To be quite honest it felt more like he was trying to assure himself rather than assuring Kotori and her party.

There was a large crowf gathered at the Plaza and Kotori could see the other contestants

They were too far to use [Status] so would have to wait.

Zachariah and Delia were standing with Hectaire and several other imposing figures all of whom were wearing top-tier gear and glittering armor. His party consisted of the top platinum-ranked adventurers and it seemed like he even funded their equipment.

Mathias and Yenoba had a larger party but the quality of adventurers among them was markedly lower. It seems like they were going for a numbers approach rather than a quality approach.

Although, their groups paled in comparison to the size of Ryla’s groups. Ryla’s group consisted of silver-ranked adventurers exclusively. While, silver-ranked adventurers were actually pretty strong, just a little weaker than Yooma, it was a pitiful sight compared to Zacariah’s and Mathia’s groups. Still, there was an old man standing next to her who was wearing golden armor. He gave off a different aura than the other adventurers that gave Kotori the impression that he shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Kotori in contrast to the others only had her group. It was a sight that was less than pitiful and simply laughable.

The people in the crowd were murmuring and making last-minute bets on who would win. She smiled grimly as people looked at her and scoffed.

[Tough crowd] She thought.

Each group was accompanied by a cadre queen’s guard who was there to make sure contestants didn’t fight each other on the first day. Any fighting was grounds for instant disqualification. Attacking the queen’s guard to prevent them from coming back would also not work. If any of the queen’s guards failed to make it back after the first day or were reported to have been attacked the candidate would also be disqualified.

Kotori’s group was followed by Amah, and Tyrella, something that assured her greatly.

A voice crystal podium had been set up and the Kotori saw the queen walk forward

She outstretched her arms.

“My people!”

The entire crowd cheered in response

“The day you have waited for has long arrived! We will begin the trial for the picking of the new queen shortly!” The queen shouted.

The entire crowd roared in response. A deafening sound, that could be felt in one’s bones

[Is this what it means to lead a country?] Kotori thought.

The queen pulled out a small wand.

Projected onto the sky was a shining number.

“60”

“As soon as this time reaches “0” the trial shall start!” The queen proclaimed. The crowd instantly quieted down and soon the numbers began to tick down.

[It’s time] Kotori thought

She took her lizard horn, and rung a mana buff on her party, along with the Queen’s guard. The low note resounded across the plaza, capturing the attention of the people

[More,] Kotori cast gesturing to Umi who also cast [Mana Flow] empowering Kotori’s mana buff even further.

The total amount of stats that was raised was over 300 points.

Kotori grinned as the familiar sensation of mana washed over her. Amah and Tyrella look surprised at the sense of power that filled them.

The forms of Umi and Shu grew and folded on themselves evidently it seemed like their [Spirit Form Manifestation] weakened when power up to such an extent.

Soon two large beasts were next to Kotori’s each one the size of the house.

Shu’s body was brown like dirt and covered in rocky scales that pepper his back and arms. He looked like a more lizard-like Pangolin. Each movement would shower dirt across the floor. Shu gave a menacing roar that echoes across the plaza.

Umi in contrast was a little smaller but had a lithe snake-like form. She had small delicate pale blue scales that covered her entire body and tufts of white downy fur around her neck.

The people of the crowd gasped in shocked as they saw Kotori’s spirits. She could see several people making panicked bets in her favor, and the queen seemed to be smirking slightly as if saying “So you had that up your sleeve?”

Layla in contrast was still in her human form. It seemed like she was more adept at controlling her form.

“Mou, they are getting hyped up, I wanna play too,” Layla said grinning.

Her body morphed and soon she was two-tailed white kitsune with pointed red rings*. There were several spirit fires surround her body that seemed to radiate mana. It was a form that almost seemed like a mini Okateratsu.

Amelie seemed sheepish

“Do you think they’ve grown a bit?” She asked Kotori.

“Mhmmm, probably,” Kotori said. It had been a while since she had seen the forms of her spirits and her mana capacity had grown since then, it was no surprise that they would grow in tandem.

*pointed is a term that referred to a certain animal pattern.

The number in the sky was soon approaching zero and Kotori’s party began to tense themselves

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"Let the trial begin!"

Kitsura

Went to play pokemon go today.