Cthulhu Gonfalon

“Master Roger, Master Roger, wake up! It’s your turn!”

Roger awoke and kneaded his face with his hands until his mind cleared again.

Today was a big day: the young people who came from the different branches of the Green Family would finally compete with each other. This competition was held once every 20 years.

Over four centuries ago, the great legendary wizard, the Green Sea Dweller, created the Green Family all by himself. Now, the Green Family had become a group of over 200 people, divided into six branches.

This legendary wizard was indeed powerful. Still, it was impossible to discipline all his offspring at once. Among his offspring, there were people who were not talented enough. About 200 years ago, he made a rule: anyone who wanted to be rich and live a stable life, as well as take the path to become a legendary wizard, should take part in the competition and show their strength. Only the winner in this competition could be carefully trained by the Green Sea Dweller.

The competition was held every 20 years. Unless someone had really achieved greatness in their life, they could only take part in this competition once. Most members of the Green Family had done just that.

Suppose someone was only ten years old when he took part in the competition for the first time. When they took part in the competition for the second time, they might be 30. A man of thirty was not a young man!

Roger was just 27 years old, although he was going to be 30 soon enough. He had already reached the highest level that one could in their youth. His opponents were much younger than him; the eldest just 25 years old.

He was quite satisfied with this. Maybe someone would just consider him lucky, but still, one should remember that not everyone could be lucky.

He looked at the court that was not very far from him. There were two young Greens competing with each other, but they were not fighting. Instead they were talking about their knowledge of magic spells with each other. This “civilized” way of competing was not only safe, but left room to show off knowledge they had acquired. In fact, if one showed more knowledge about magic spells during this discussion, it meant he was stronger than the other.

Clearly, there was a big gap between the two young men. Soon, one of the two could talk no more, and lost.

“Next round, Roger of branch two and Donald of branch three!” the old wizard who was in charge of the competition said in a booming voice. “You two shall leave the court now!”

Roger sorted himself out, calmed down, and walked into the court. He was walking very slowly and steadily, in case something unexpected happened

His opponent, Donald, was unpredictable. Although he was just 19 years old, he could already practice an intermediate spell: “portal”. Via this spell, he could move very quickly, and appear anywhere in the court. Earlier, while rehearsing for this competition, Donald suddenly appeared behind his opponent and defeated him on the spot. His opponent didn’t even see what he looked like.

Roger was talented in a way. When he was 12 years old, he came back to the Green Family. Since then, he had spent around 15 years studying spells. He hadn’t mastered any intermediate spells, but he managed to acquire more than 20 of the primary level, including some he had really mastered. During his rehearsals, he defeated many with his magic.

That was why he dared to take part in the competition. As long as he could defeat Donald, he would be able to get more resources. Since he had already made it to the quarter-final, he could show off his skills in front of the great legendary wizard. As for whether he won or in this competition, it was not that important to him anymore. For him, this was a good chance, and he was prepared to seize it.

Roger was walking toward the court, with Donald standing opposite him.

“I am going to win this competition!” Donald said, not mincing his words. “I’,m sorry to say so, but I have to win.”

“So do I,” Roger said coldly. He raised up his hand and began to chant a spell before Donald even realized.

According to the rule of the competition set by the Green Family, neither opponent could initiate an attack before the host gave the order. However, chanting and attacking were two different things. As long as Roger hadn’t activated a spell, it would not be count as an attack.

This was part of Roger’s master plan. He was not as powerful as the real talents, and knew he’d never defeat Donald without using a trick or two.

The old wizard muttered to himself, but didn’t stop Roger from chanting. Instead of interfering, the wizard instantly gave the order for the competition to start.

At that moment, Roger had almost activated his spell.

Immediately, Donald realized Roger had practiced a vicious Smelly Cloud spell, and frowned. The Smelly Cloud spell was not the most dangerous one, but the disgusting and excruciating smell could make one suffer. Someone even got cibophobia, a fear of food, and had to get treatment in the temple after being hit by the spell.

Among all the spells that Roger had acquired, this spell could both hit the wizard himself as well as his enemies on a large scale. Once one was hit by it, it would be very difficult for them to recover. Roger had made some effort to enhance his resistance to the smell, so he could do a spell without being affected. Roger thought that although Donald could do some more advanced spells, the smell could at least make Donald dizzy enough to fail at casting any. That way, Donald was bound to lose.

However, what Donald did next was completely unexpected.

Donald took out a space bag, and a crossbow from it.

This court was not big enough, and once the Smelly Cloud spell was activated, the air could cover a large area of the court. Likewise, within this small court, Roger couldn’t get away from being shot by Donald. For a weak wizard like him, what would happen when he was shot by the arrow? He was bound to lose.

Roger was so terrified that he failed to fully activate his Smelly Cloud spell. Then something occurred to him. He shouted, “You have broken the rules!”

Roger turned around and complained to the old wizard, “Master, Donald had broken the rules! He used a crossbow!”

Meanwhile, the old wizard had a long sigh and shook his head.

Roger was confused. When he turned around, he found that the crossbow on Donald’s hand had disappeared, and one could see some magical light sparkling. A few seconds later, a few magic bullets appeared in Donald’s hand and began fly toward Roger.

Crack! As if a piece of glass had broken, Roger was hit by Donald’s spell. He lost.

The old wizard said, “It is fine for one to walk the line in a competition. You activated a spell first. But you were hit by Donald. It clearly shows that the gap between you two is too large. You only focus on yourself without paying any attention to others; you failed to see Donald practicing a Silent Phantom spell. It was a primary spell, and still you were tricked by it.

“Besides, when you were being targeted by the crossbow, you didn’t choose to find a way to dodge it or stand it. Instead you complained to me. If Donald indeed had broken the rules, do you think I wouldn’t stop him? Moreover, in the real world, when you are in a fight with another wizard, do you think you could stop to complain to me?

“Look at Donald. When he saw you activating a spell, he instantly chose to attack, and made sure he would win this competition. This is the quality that a proper wizard should have!

“Roger, not only have you lost in the regard of practicing the spell, you have also lost in the regard of your vision and psychological quality. You have lost completely!”

Roger stood there in a daze, without knowing what to do.

How could this be possible? How could I lose in the first ground?!

“It’s impossible!” Roger screamed. Suddenly the scene in front of him disappeared. Roger returned to the real world and sat on the ground, completely stunned. Sui Xiong stood in front of him.

“Even without Kahn, the person preventing you from getting what you want, you are still be a loser,” Sui Xiong said coldly. “You could not even defeat Donald, who is much weaker than Kahn.”

“Nonsense! The reason I lost this time is due to my lack of practice and education from those masters when I was young!” Roger screamed. “I came back to the Green Family when I was 12, and I have already wasted too much time. I am just a b*stard. Even if my ability was recognized by others, I could never get more resources than if I was entitled. If I could have been cultivated by those powerful figures and got as much as resources as Kahn in the first place, I could definitely win!”

Hearing this, Sui Xiong sneered. “Really? Okay, let’s see what would have happened if you got all the help you could have.”

The magical light flashed again, and Roger was back in the illusion. This time, he became the legal son of the second branch of the Green Family. From a very young age, he had been educated by an excellent teacher and got many resources. He quickly grew into a strong wizard when he was 20 years old, and began to study magic at the intermediate level. While in his family, there were a few other brilliant young men, who were almost as competent as he was. Some were even stronger than him.

To win the competition that was held every 20 years, Roger recruited some adventurers and went to explore in the Ancient Forest, hoping to find famous historical remains as well as some treasured objects that could enhance his ability. But he failed to do so. Since he had been so carefully nurtured from a young age, he wasn’t capable of dealing with an emergency. He only managed to survive with the help of his subordinates; and even then he was severely traumatized. His ability to practice spells weakened.

To heal him, his family spent a lot of money and energy. But when they were sure he could no longer recover, they gave him up. Later his family decided to cultivate another young man that was a bit younger than him. This young man was a b*stard and less talented than him, but he was a harder worker and had a stronger psyche than Roger.

At last, Roger could only sit in the spectator’s seat, watching that bastard who he always treated like a piece of garbage defeating his enemies one by one. That b*stard won the competition at last.

Roger became more and more pessimistic and degenerated. He started to drink, call prostitutes, and do drugs, hoping to forget all the bad things that happened in his life.

The magical light flashed, and Roger was back to the real world. This time, he didn’t open his eyes. He died in his desperation. Maybe he realized that even if he got all the resources and cultivation that a legal son was entitled to, he still would have failed. All this time, the abilities he had been proud of was his own delusion.

He was not, in fact, talented at all.

When he realized this, he couldn’t go on.