The story about Libation Fiesta immediately spread over the Skynet. The people were quite surprised that there was such a strong group consisting of three Tier 2 explorers.
Obviously, they began investigating the entire group.
It didn't take too long for them to find out about Jay and Kanaria due to the nature of their backgrounds.
On the other hand, it was a bit hard for them to figure out Clovis and Melody's identities. Melody had been erasing all her traces from years ago, so no one would find out about her and harm her younger brother. Meanwhile, Clovis's identity was completely empty. It looked like he was an orphan who managed to achieve recent success. He inherited his house from his parents. But that was about it.
Because he had just become an explorer, there wasn't much they could dig up about him.
Hence, their eyes were focused on Ragna. People were familiar with him due to his infamous constitution. A lot of companies had abandoned him, while Clovis actually picked him up.
Some people thought his existence would drag down this team. Some believed he had transformed into a big contender.
Unfortunately, there was no proof. The only thing they could do was wait until they fought in the main competition.
As for the footage of the preliminary matches, all the groups noticed one peculiar thing.
"Hoho! It seems that they haven't gone all out yet. Then again, no one is going all out in the preliminary matches. I wonder how much strength they've been hiding this whole time." Erwin grinned.
"We have gotten the bracket for the main tournament." His friend came into his room while projecting the bracket.
"This is… interesting." Erwin smirked.
Aileen's expression turned a bit grim while watching the footage.
Lana approached her while asking, "Do you find anything?"
"Yeah. This Libation Fiesta should at least hide fifty percent of their true strength."
"Fifty?" Lana looked shocked. "Doesn't that mean…"
"From what I can see, Clovis, the captain of the team, is a super Tier 2. His overall strength is most likely at the peak of Tier 3, even close to Tier 4. Jay Havenson is also extremely good, especially that strength. I don't think anyone in our group, including me, can stop the swing with his full strength."
"I don't have Muscle Affinity, so it's only natural." Aileen shrugged. "I don't know about this Kanaria Renvolt though."
"Ragna's background is very clear, but this Melody is rather mysterious. All the records regarding her from 18 years old to 24 years old are gone. We couldn't find anything."
"She must have hidden it herself for some reason. It's not that weird for an explorer to take a break from their job." Aileen shook her head. ""So, what are you doing here?"
"This is the bracket for the main competition."
"Mhmm?" Aileen frowned. "Is this rigged?"
"Hmm." Lana shrugged.
Aileen seemed to be concerned about it.
Unlike Aileen, Rafael approached it in a different way. In fact, his father actually called him.
"Is there something wrong, Father? I hope that I haven't disappointed you during the preliminary match." Rafael carefully approached his father.
"Have you seen the bracket?"
"Yes. I'm in Group C."
"In that case, I will only tell you one thing. In the semifinal, if you have to fight against the Libation Fiesta, do it as fairly as possible. If you fight the Imemine, do whatever you want."
"Huh?" Rafael was confused. He thought that his father would ask him to do everything possible just to win. "Does Father know something about the Libation Fiesta?"
His father paused for a moment before saying, "Don't ask too much. The only thing I can tell you is that their captain's identity is rather sensitive. If you want to fight him, do it fairly. If you don't… this entire city might be wiped out from the map."
"Huh?" Rafael had never seen his father act this weak. He was the commander of the city, a Tier 7 human. To think that he would be scared of this person.
Still, his father had indirectly implied that he shouldn't learn about Clovis's true identity. Because he was raised as a soldier, his father's words were like a command. He had some curiosity but didn't have the intention to disobey him by investigating Clovis on his own.
Rafael politely nodded his head. "I understand, Father. I'll do my best."
"Go." His father simply waved his hand.
When he left the room, Rafael's expression turned grim. He muttered, "Whoever it is, I'll just crush them with my strength."
Libation Fiesta Group.
"Hahaha. This is insane. To think that we would be facing him this quickly…" Kanaria chuckled.
Melody furrowed her eyebrows. "There are a total of four groups in the bracket. Each group will contain one seeded group. In our group, there is Imemine. But looking at this situation… we'll be facing Imemine in the quarterfinal, Eight Swords in the semifinal, and Bloody Rose or Dragon Fist in the final."
"It's to be expected. We're nobody, so they will definitely do it ." Jay shrugged. "Besides, we will be able to fight three out of four seeded groups. Shouldn't we be thankful to them for giving us this opportunity?"
Jay looked raring to go.
Clovis agreed with his opinion. The bracket shouldn't be rigged, especially since they paired them with Imemine, which ranked fourth among the seeded groups.
"However, don't forget one thing, Jay. Tomorrow, we will be fighting twice, so don't forget to conserve your strength for the second match against Imemine. The semifinal and final will be held the day after. It's going to be extremely exhausting, but I hope that you all will fight with that in mind," said Clovis with a serious expression.
"Fiuh! So we're fighting with the assumption of going to the final? As expected of you, Clovis, very optimistic." Ragna smirked.
Clovis just ignored that remark and glanced at Melody, asking, "That's right. Do we get any information about the main tournament's concept and rules?"