"Wow! This is so awesome!" Julie’s voice rang in excitement as the see-through elevator pod brought them up to the second floor of the arena.

The outside paled in comparison to the interior and did little justice to its true grandeur.

It was a ring-shaped dome, with see-through glass rounding the hallway, allowing them to see the massive field that lay in the center of the building.

White ambient lights lined the hallways, while polished white tiles stretched endlessly beneath their feet. It felt as though they could walk for an entire day without reaching their destination.

Thankfully, with the ultramodern elevators that moved multidirectionally, they didn’t have to worry about that.

(⁠✷⁠‿⁠✷⁠) Hello, good day. I’ll be your guide for today. You can call me GroR.

A bot wheeled to a stop in front of the group, flashing a smile on its display visor.

"OMG!! They’ve got a bot too!" Julie jumped in excitement as she dived straight for GroR, but it pulled back.

ರ⁠_⁠ರ Please do not molest me!

Julie froze on the spot.

"What?! Why would I want to do that! I only want to see!" Julie yelled as she moved forward, but GroR retreated backward.

The others behind her burst into muffled laughter, Selena chuckling lightly, causing Julie to stop in her tracks.

"Seems someone gave the bot PTSD on the first encounter." Thinker had a smug grin on his face as he looked at Julie.

Julie’s face shifted in displeasure.

"Shut up, bot head," she scoffed, walking back to the group as GroR followed behind her at a safe distance.

"Didn’t know you had a thing for robots," Nicholas said as she approached.

"C’mon, not you too! My reputation has been ruined. The first thing you had to say about me was that!" Tears leaked from Julie’s eyes as she joined the group with a squeezed face, her expression turning sore in an instant.

Selena laughed hard, seeing the exchange.

"I didn’t know this was what Tblade would set up for the new feature," she said after a good laugh. "It would react that way with anyone now. We had someone who stole parts from the bots last year, so they must’ve installed this as a new feature. Just didn’t expect that. It was hilarious."

(⁠◔⁠‿⁠◔⁠) Now then, please allow me to provide you with your IDs.

It shifted its gaze to Thinker, its visor blinking for a moment.

[Identity confirmed]

It continued with the others until it was done, and then a drawer pulled out from its surface with a clink sound, revealing five IDs with their faces imprinted on them.

◉⁠‿⁠◉ These IDs are access keys to your rooms and also contain your room numbers. They allow you to exchange room numbers with your friends and acquaintances.

You can scan them on the elevator, and it’ll take you straight to whichever room number you pick! If you wish to visit other places, the elevator already has the cafeteria, gymnasium, and the main field numbers attached for easy access.

’So basically, no one would know your room unless you told them. That way, there’s no unwanted trouble or situations, and if there are any issues, then they can be linked to those you shared your room address with.’ Nicholas was genuinely impressed with the system they had put in place.

It allowed them both privacy and space to do whatever they wanted.

’Judging from how large this place is, the rooms will probably be spaced out well... Why all these security measures, though? It seems there must’ve been some mishaps in the past.’ Nicholas, as much as he appreciated the Association’s system, knew they wouldn’t spend so much simply setting things up like that for no reason.

’Seems the tournament isn’t as simple as I thought it’d be. I’ll ask the supervisor later.’ Nicholas let a sigh, shifting the thoughts to the back of his mind.

"Well, that seems like a handy tool," Light said, taking a closer look at his ID.

"And if we misplace our ID?" Thinker asked while taking a closer look at the silver-plated ID with what seemed to be a small digital screen on the surface showing a room number.

(⁠✷⁠‿⁠✷⁠) Great question! If you misplace your ID, the system is integrated into every part of the building. Just call out for me, and I’ll be there right away to hand you a new one!

"Well, that’s fine by me," Julie said, excitement still visible in her eyes.

"Hmm... Alright," Light said, slipping it into a barely noticeable pocket in his suit.

(⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠) Now that we’re done with that, please follow me to the gathering hall, where the other attendees are. The tournament will be explained in full detail there as well!

"Right about time," Nicholas muttered in a flat tone.

GroR led the way. The gathering room didn’t seem to be far from the main entrance, so it only took them a couple of minutes to walk to the door.

As soon as they got there, GroR shifted to the side.

(⁠◕⁠ᴗ⁠◕⁠✿⁠) It’s been awesome guiding you here. You may proceed to the room. Thank you!

GroR said before leaving the group, probably heading out to escort the others who would be making their way there.

"Alright, guys, let’s go in." Selena took the first step forward, opening the door. As she did, the sound of chatter and whispers exploded right in their faces.

Several groups of people were already inside the room, each discussing their own things.

With a glance, Nicholas could see the different cliques gathered throughout the room.

Around Nectron and Vixen, several heroes had gathered, smiling as they asked questions and chatted as though they’d known each other for years.

Some were noticeably heroes from the other countries.

It was painfully obvious that some were genuine fans, while others smiled just as brightly, secretly hoping to see them fail.

On the other side were heroes who probably didn’t have enough confidence to walk up to the top heroes.

They were simply discussing amongst themselves, sharing their great feats and things they’d accomplished since they began their careers.

But amidst everyone, there was one person who stood away from the rest of the crowd and immediately caught Nicholas’ attention. However, before his gaze could linger...

"Supervisor Selena! Such a pleasant surprise to meet you here today! Oh, and wait, is that who I think it is?" The man, wearing a Victorian shirt with tinted designer glasses, paused and shifted his glasses down to catch a better glimpse of Nicholas.

"Oh my! It’s the famous hero Phantom. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you." The man’s words quickly made almost half the chatter in the room die down as they all turned to look at the group that had just entered upon hearing Phantom’s name.

Small whispers broke out as they stared at him. Nicholas felt a headache forming with everyone looking at him. He’d almost grown an instant grudge against the man who’d called out his name.

But he quickly felt the hairs on his body stand up as he noticed several hostile stares.

’Interesting...’ He turned, looking in the direction of the lady he’d been looking at before, and just as he thought, her gaze was on him, but it was anything but warm.

"Jackson, it’s great to see you here too. How’s it been back in Australia?" Selena replied, a smile beaming on her face.

"Oh, it’s been wonderful. Mercury has been doing a great job. She’s kept everything in check. With her around, I don’t even have to worry about anything," Jackson replied with a light laugh.

"That’s great. And where is she? Didn’t she attend this year?" Selena asked, looking behind him to see if she could spot the said figure, yet there was none.

"Oh, don’t be ridiculous. Do you think we’ll let China take the Emblem this year again? Tianzun caught us by surprise last year, but that won’t happen this year. We came prepared. Look, she’s right over there." Jackson said, pointing in the lady’s direction.

Nicholas’ eyes narrowed.

’So she’s Mercury?’ he thought, his gaze lingering on her a while longer. ’And I’m guessing the other person is Tianzun,’ he thought, shifting his gaze to the figure who stood calmly by the side of the wall, with large beads in his hands, his bald head reflecting the light from the room.

Even with his eyes closed, Nicholas could feel the strongest hostility coming from him.

’So these two are the ones that I’ll be facing.’

"Your attention, everyone."

A slight clap echoed through the room as two figures walked up to the stage in the gathering room.

An old man with white-gray hair covering his face—Nicholas recognized him as the Hero Association president who had handed him the award—and standing slightly behind him with a composed look on his face was Eric.

Seeing the old man appear, the room immediately went quiet.

"I’ll be going over the events for this year’s convention and how the tournament will proceed. So let’s pay close attention," he said in a stern voice.