Damned Healer

It was early in the day when Veyle, Darian, and the twins headed out with Leander toward a central region of the capital. That was the day when all the top rookie Spiritual Guardians from the past four years would be tested.

Leander and Matteo had been through something similar before. It was pretty much the same across all empires. This selection event always happened a few months before the Rookie Tournament, since the empires did everything they could to keep their talents hidden.

Everything would happen behind closed doors, inside the empire, with only top clans and important figures present. But the whole thing would be recorded.

Exactly one day before the Rookie Tournament started, all empires would broadcast their selections to the entire population. That way, everyone could see the new talents and find out who would be representing the empire in the tournament.

It was important for everyone to watch, because soft power was one of the empires’ weapons. It wasn’t enough to be strong — they had to look like powerful people were being born all the time. The talents who stood out in the tournament would be remembered and adored by regular humans.

During the selection, no one could use supreme artifacts to avoid revealing anything too early. With just one day until the tournament, the other empires wouldn’t have time to build countermeasures against the participants’ blessings, making things fairer.

On the way, Leander explained how the last tournament had gone. Even though it was broadcast to the whole empire, Darian and the twins didn’t remember it. That’s because... it happened around the same time their mother died.

But that wasn’t the real reason they didn’t recognize Leander or Matteo. Very few people even remembered them. They had been part of the selection where 15 out of 20 rookies were picked, but they didn’t stand out at all and got knocked out in the first round of the main tournament.

In the end, only the strongest — or those from major clans — were remembered.