The same person from before ascended the stand and spoke to everyone. "This concludes the first portion of the Mainland gathering. Performances will be scored and tests will be graded. By tomorrow, everything will be done. Please return to your cave homes until then."
Nobody took their time. Within a few minutes, everyone was in their cave homes. A night passed. Skymender discussed the contents of the test and his answers with the other two competitors as well as Mora.
When morning came, they ventured to the top of the mountain. Everyone arrived around the same time.
Atop the mountains, there were two ways to determine their ranking. One could either look at their test and see the grade on it, or look at the top ten steles and see if they had changed. Skymender took a glance at his test. It was a 788/1000.
He then looked at the other two people's tests. One was a 434/1000, and the other was a 467/1000.
It was a bit lackluster, but satisfactory.
When the other two saw his score, they were so shocked that they had no words.
Skymender turned his attention to the steles. They had indeed changed. At the top was the same stele as before, number 355. At second place was also the same stele as before, number 3. The third stele was also the same. It was at fourth where there was a change. Skymender's team took that spot.
Skymender was neither happy nor disappointed. The stele ranking took into account his teams scores as well. At the top, the ruler probably did get a better score than him, but may have also had better teammates. In the second and third spots, he doubted anybody had gotten a score as high as him, but if all three had scored around six hundred, they would have done far better than his team.
It was a surprise that his team had even gotten fourth.
Regardless, his knowledge on the subject of Mainland history was essentially blank, and he didn't mind only getting fourth. It was still 4/357.
The other scholars were ecstatic. This was the honor of a lifetime. They were only average among all of the competitors throughout history, and had only hoped to get in the top hundred. Number four was more than they could have ever dreamed.
Naturally, they had the highest historical ranking among all of the other regions. None of the others had even gotten into the top ten.
They looked at the Scholar Region with a mix of emotions, ranging from slight anger to surprise and awe.
However, the people here were elite among their regions, and would not be petty about this. They quickly regained themselves and calmed down.
The same person ascended to the stand. He began to announce the next section of the Mainland gathering.
"Now, it is on to the next competition. For this, we have split everyone up into three teams. One person from each region has been put on a team. This was assigned randomly. We will play a game akin to king of the hill. I will now ask everyone to set aside any lethal weapons they have and pick up their wooden variants."
Those from the three regions related to weapons all dropped their weapons, while from the Scholar Region, only one of the other scholars took out a pocket knife and set it aside.
The wooden variants were brought up by some masked people. After everyone picked a new weapon, including the scholars, the wooden variants were once again taken away.
"Thank you. Now, for the teams, they are as follows…"
The man on the stand began to list out various names, most of which Skymender had never heard.
After he was finished listing names, he pointed out beyond the mountain.
"Team one to that location. Team two to that location. Team three to that location. When the signal is given, all three teams will race to the mountain. The first team to thoroughly occupy the top of the mountain will be declared the winner. Individual performances will be judged. Set out."
Skymender made his way off the mountain. He did not bring his horse, as anything like that was against the rules. He made his way to stronghold one. His teammates, one from the Sword Region, one from the Spear Region, and one from the Bow Region, shot off fast. Skymender pushed his body to keep up.
They looked at him surprised.
"So you can keep up, huh scholar boy. I heard you were the best performing among the bunch." The man from the Sword Region said.
"You have some physical training. How'd that happen?" The woman from the Bow Region asked.
It was extremely rare to see a physically fit Scholar.
"Before I was a scholar, I was an assassin. With some events, I also gained some unnatural strength." Skymender said.
They seemed both enlightened and interested.
"Have you ever fought a master?" The man from the Sword Region asked.
"I've killed a few." Skymender said.
They laughed. It wasn't because they thought he was lying, but because it was something so unusual they couldn't help but laugh.
"Any first rank?" The woman from the Bow Region asked.
"No." Skymender responded.
"Then make sure you don't fight too much."
Skymender spoke. "Since I am a scholar first and foremost, I should devise a plan to win this."
Although they wouldn't have usually listened to a scholar from the start, Skymender had gained their respect.
"Let's see what you can come up with before deciding." The man from the Spear Region said.
It didn't take long to reach the stronghold. They estimated that they had about an hour before they would get the signal to move.
"So, what plan do you have?"
Skymender began to describe what he had observed over the past weeks about all the individuals, including the other scholars and those on his team.
They were all surprised how accurate he was.