123 Annual Youth Pride Lottery

Magnus followed where Hayden was looking and saw Mateo. He tensed up immediately as his face darkened. "Mateo…"

The shrewd aura vanished when Mateo's name was called out by a person. Probably a teammate. Hayden focused on Magnus. "Seems like you know Mateo."

"I beat him during the American Basketball League." Magnus sighed out. "That guy is a tough one to beat. He can anticipate your every movement. He is the first person that I almost lost to. Good thing I had superior physical abilities at the time. Or else, I would've lost."

"A person that can anticipate your every movement, huh?" Hayden mused. "In the present, do you think you'll be able to beat him?"

"I can't say." Magnus laughed and scratched the back of his head. "The two things he was really lacking at the time of his defeat in my hands is skill and physical abilities. Both are a cinch to bridge with hard work. His now toned body is evidence of this. How about you?"

"I can't say too." Hayden shook his head. "Until I face someone myself, or at least watch them up-close and carefully, I will not be able to calculate."

"You're an interesting man, Hayden." Magnus chuckled. "May I request a Communication Link with you, Hayden?"

"Sure." Hayden nodded. He put his phone out for a Communication Link. "Here you go."

Magnus scanned the QR code and Hayden put in his fingerprint. Why did he give away a Communication Link this easily? Well, establishing Communication Links were not that personal as you think.

What's really personal is the amount of privilege an Identity Number has over another Identity Number. An example of this would be Eun-ha, who has complete access to Hayden's properties, bank account, and his location. Hayden also has the same amount of control over her Identity Number, even freely transferring money from her Identity Number to his and vice-versa (1).

"I wish you good luck for the upcoming competition lottery." Magnus stood up. Hayden followed up. The two shook hands. "I hope that I won't meet you till the finals."

"I hope so, too." Hayden executed the typical polite talk technique to conserve an amount of his social energy. Internally, he didn't care for Magnus at all.

Hayden's priorities, in the present, has already changed. All he wanted to do was get back to Foriast and use everything he can to drive himself to Level 3. This Annual Youth Pride transformed into an ordinary second objective.

Watching Magnus walk away, Hayden sat back. He didn't have time to relax as a team of 16-year-old South Koreans passed by him with a domineering and arrogant aura.

This time, the South Korean Basketball team was strong as well. If Philippines has the 'Heavenly Emperor,' South Korea has Kim Jong Hwa, the 'Demonic General.'

Kim Jong Hwa was the team captain of this year's Annual Youth Pride basketball team. He was considered the fifth strongest for the sole reason of his 'lackluster physical abilities.' His number was 23.

Kim Jong Hwa was at the front of the South Koreans wearing tuxes. He had a bowl cut and was handsome. At least in South Korea's terms, with porcelain white skin and a 'soft, yet manly' aura surrounding him. He stood tall at a 187 centimeters.

As if knowing that he was subjected to someone's scrutiny, Kim Jong Hwa ceased his advance and rotated his head to Hayden's direction. His face contorted into that of a sneering, approaching that of mocking, one.

With his sudden stop, his team members all trailed where Kim Jong Hwa's gaze was at. The second they looked, they trembled. They couldn't bring themselves to scorn as they suffocated from the two's contrasting dispositions.

One was that of absolute arrogance and confidence. It was an aura that looked down upon the world. A warlord that conquers everyone that offends him. This was Jong Hwa's.

As for the other, it was serene and unmoving. It was akin to a wise, calm, and silently indomitable king's. It was full of nonchalance, as if he could care less at all. This was Hayden's.

Disregarding the two's vastly different airs, what suffocated them was the strength of it. This escaped to the nearby onlookers, sensing the mental clash of the two.

Well, that was in their perspective. In Hayden's, his attention was simply stolen. Two seconds later, Hayden returned to his phone.

Hayden was going to let them go, but Jong Hwa had to force him. Jong Hwa shouted condescendingly. "Oho, the great 'Heavenly Emperor!' Shall I bow in thy presence?"

This attracted the attention of those who previously didn't pay attention to Hayden. Including some of the remaining Prodigal Kings who were passing by.

As for Hayden, he was annoyed. Absolutely ticked off. Needless to say, Hayden ignored Jong Hwa. Initially, he wasn't here for clout. He was here for the competition.

"Why ignore me, oh great emperor?" Jong Hwa was obviously the kind of person who wanted to see the world burn. "Are you scared?"

Hayden couldn't let this go. Slowly, Hayden raised his head and stared at Jong Hwa. The aura of a domineering and unquestioned king unknowingly seeped out of him. This was enough to shut Jong Hwa up.

This aura was unconsciously sensed by the spectators and Jong Hwa's teammates. They all had the urge to bow towards Hayden. They resisted it.

Putting his phone in his pocket, Hayden breathed in heavily. He spoke, "I have no business with the great 'Demonic General.'"

Hayden indifferently walked up to Jong Hwa. Leaning slightly, Hayden whispered, "Arrogance is equivalent to ignorance."

Jong Hwa's face underwent confusion, realization, embarrassment, and anger within the span of a second. Within that timeframe, Hayden has walked away from him.

"Just wait and see!" Twisting his entire body to Hayden's direction, Jong Hwa shouted. "I will defeat you with my strategies. You will be taken down by me!"

Hayden merely raised his right hand up, coolly waving in response of Jong Hwa's provocations. The spectators murmured.

They weren't surprised of Jong Hwa's nor Hayden's temperaments. After all, Jong Hwa was infamous for this kind of attitude. A youth who throttled upwards with his strategic genius but was famed for his hot-headedness and short fuse.

As for Hayden, he has never lost, yet was never arrogant. He has always been humble in his words and never responded to any kind of provocation from the opponent. He exhibited this in his Streamlink videos as well.

Additionally, Hayden was a great sport. He was amicable to his opponents subsequent to matches and even signs signatures for them if they asked to. What's more, he has never taken a video of this at all. On the contrary, Jong Hwa was the exact opposite.

Of course, the people were all in favor of Hayden. They would be stupid if they favored Jong Hwa in this little exchange. Regardless, they all had the desire if Hayden was as good as he was.

At the end of the day, people's skeptical nature was unchanging. It was normal to be skeptical, wanting to see skills with their own eyes and not from simple videos.

Hayden moved onto a place of quiet. Somewhere in the far corner. Unluckily for him, everywhere he goes, he will be noticed with the naturally charismatic and imposing air around him.

Many people from various countries approached him and got his signature. It seems that, even amongst basketball player rivals, Hayden was popular due to his skill and coolness.

This cycle of quietness and being approached persisted for five minutes. Eventually, it was time for them to go to the venue for the basketball lottery.

…..

Alighting the bus, Hayden admired the ring-like structure of the edifice literally named 'The Ring.' It was a structure specifically built for the purpose of the lotteries for any kind of international event.

The Ring was within the Inner Area, of course. Within it were hundreds of circular halls that can house every team of all 256 countries in every sport, including the largest and most dynamic team sport of Combinaludus. This will be later explained.

For now, everybody on the Annual Youth Pride basketball category went to the assigned circular hall for basketball players. The decoration of the place was that of European royalty, with gold and red being the dominant color.

In the very front was a circular elevated platform with a mic in the middle. There was a lottery ball machine on the side.

Inside were exactly 256 round tables with an orange table cloth and fourteen chairs all around. On top of each table was a number.

Hayden and his team were assigned on table eleven as the eleventh placer last Annual Youth Pride.

The tenth placer was the USA team, with Magnus seizing the chance to position himself adjacent to Hayden the second Hayden sat. Magnus waved at him with a simpleton's smile. Hayden's face twitched. 'Fuck's sake.'

Meanwhile, the twelfth placer was the South African team. Hayden noticed a black man as tall as him. He was handsome and had curly hair styled in a short afro.

Hayden recognized him as Friedrich Sincadu. His number was 78, and his position was the small forward. He is one of the Prodigal Kings that was termed as the 'Spectral Dancer.' Not only was his dribbling technique wonderful akin to dancing, it was swift and efficient.

His dribbling will probably be too fast to be read by Mateo, or it can be read by him, but it cannot be halted. On top of this, his shooting technique was superb. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been named as a Prodigal King.

He was estimated to be the seventh strongest amongst the Prodigal Kings. Hayden took the rankings for granted as he could tell that there was more to Friedrich. In fact, there were more to every Prodigal King that meets the eye.

'Secret weapons, huh?' Hayden deduced all of them as people who hid trump cards. An ace in the hole. 'Well, I have one as well. One that will take this team's capabilities to incredible heights. A person that can do all positions at once. A person that is nearly a seamless replica of my basketball abilities.'

Hayden turned to Daniel, whom he trained in all aspects excluding shooting. 'And I'm sure you trained that in your free time, you idiot.'

And even if Daniel didn't, there was always flashy dunks. Dunks are still one way of scoring for people with enough jumping power, skill, and speed who didn't train to shoot.

Imagine two Haydens in the basketball court. That will be the case when Hayden lets Daniel play. It will be nothing short of a disaster for the opponent team.

Within three minutes, the venue was full. Immediately, a man in a showman suit came out to the stage. His high-pitched enthusiastic voice boomed out of the sound system lucidly. "Welcome, everyone! And to the watchers at home, welcome as well! I am your friendly Iranian host, Gilgamesh Ghatshiri!"

It should be mentioned that this event, alongside every other lottery events in The Ring, was being streamed in Streamlink, Worldwide Cable, and local channels.

Gilgamesh touched his earpiece with a rather surprised look. "Oho, I've been informed just now that the current amount of people watching our sport has surpassed a billion! It seems that the world of basketball today is heating up!"

This was a given as the 11 Prodigal Kings are a must-watch during the Annual Youth Pride. The advent of the 11 Prodigal Kings is considered the sign of the golden age of basketball. Also, Hayden was there.

"Although it is widely known, it is required to explain the rules of this lottery!" Gilgamesh jokingly verbalized. Gilgamesh explained the competition format.

In the first phase, the 256 participant countries will all be divided into 64 blocks, with each block having four teams. The first day is already hectic as each team will have three matches, scheduled at 6:00 AM, 10:00 AM, and 2:00 PM.

The team with the highest wins will advance into the second phase, which is basically the first phase with fewer numbers. Howbeit, there will be no lotteries this time, instead, you will be grouped based on your block numbers. Every four blocks are grouped into one block, i.e., the winners of Block 1, 2, 3, and 4 is in a single block during the second phase. The second phase is held in the second day.

The third and final phase of the Annual Youth Pride transitions into an Olympic-Style Format, with the Top 16 cementing all of their positions in a single-elimination format.

Wednesday was reserved for the first Top 16 matches, at 10:00 AM. The first defeated teams will enter the Lower 8, and they will all compete for the lower eight positions (Top 9-16), with them cementing their positions at Thursday.

Thursday, the first matches of the day will be opened by the Lower 8 simultaneously. Afterwards, the Upper 8 teams will fight at varying times, with each team of the Upper 8 competing for a total of two times.

Friday, the last four matches are played, with the battle for seventh place being the first, and at 6:00 PM is the battle for the first place.

"Now that that's out of the way." Gilgamesh formed a fist, appearing excited. "We will now pick the first teams in Block 1!"

…..

"Now, the first one in Block 33…" Gilgamesh placed his hands inside the lottery machine. Catching one, he put it outwards. It was number 11. "It is Philippines! The current favorite team to win because of the anticipated mightiest Prodigal King, Hayden 'Heavenly Emperor' Emperador!"

The moment his name was mentioned, the spotlight focused on Hayden. Hayden simply smiled, waved, and bowed to the camera.

This plain show of respect blew up in the Streamlink comments. Apparently, 6% of the people who watched were young female around Hayden's age that were his fans.

The live comment section blew up with cheers for Hayden. Not just from the female fans, but also from the Streamlink, basketball, and Filipino fans, making up a total of 11% of the billion people watching.

"It appears that Mr. Hayden's fandom has flooded the Streamlink chat." Gilgamesh joked lightheartedly. Hayden forced a chuckle that didn't sound like forced at all. "Next, let's see the unlucky few who will face the Philippine team."

"China!" Gilgamesh exclaimed. "A feared team that contains the considered greatest passer in high school-level basketball, The Wizard! Two Prodigal Kings fighting right off the bat! What an exciting turn of events! Who will be the next to face these two teams?"

Everybody in the venue shivered. The Chinese Team's Prodigal King was Long Jinhai. As aforementioned, Long Jinhai was 'The Wizard.' A person whose passes are magical enough to increase the capabilities of his own team.

Unlike the South Korea's Kim Jong Hwa, who focused on macro-strategy, Long Jinhai specialized in mechanics. In other words, Long Jinhai was great at setting up points instead of big picture strategies.

In spite of his great expertise in this field, due to his inability to score three-pointers all that much, he was calculated to be the tenth strongest Prodigal King.

"What's this?" Gilgamesh didn't show the next number first. "It's the Mexican team that contains Jorge 'Demolishing Catapult' Rodriguez!"

The Demolishing Catapult was nicknamed as the Demolishing Catapult thanks to his capability of shooting three-pointers anywhere in the field. He was estimated to be the weakest among the Prodigal Kings.

This caused an uproar in the venue and to those spectators. Three Prodigal Kings in one block during the first phase was surprising.

"What unlucky team will face three teams containing Prodigal Kings be?" Placing his hand back in the lottery machine, Gilgamesh closed his eyes. "Aaaannnndddd…."

The suspense put the venue in still silence. Gilgamesh caught a ball. It was number 1, the Finnish team with no Prodigal King. "What is this? Four of the strongest teams in an instant? The Finnish team will surely not back down without a fight. As one of the countries that produces the best basketball players in the international league, Finland is one of the few countries that stands a chance against the teams with Prodigal Kings! Block 33 is a must-watch this year."

Hayden didn't have external reactions. Internally, he was in dismay. His bad luck struck again! 'Well, in the worst case, I'll have to reveal Daniel. Not like he can be countered that easily. And we have a few more trump cards than Daniel alone.'

The event continued on without any mishaps. Well, for the rest anyways. Hayden was currently the center of attention. And with Magnus and Daniel conversing with him, Hayden was a little besieged.

In due course, the event ended. Hayden's social energy was quickly emptied. He was too impatient and was desiring to go back to Foriast. He preferred to acquire strength more than to play basketball.

Hayden, with his team, returned to the bus. Surprisingly, nobody else intercepted the Philippine team. Well, that was until they got out.

He was immediately swamped by reporters who came early. "Mr. Hayden, what are your thoughts being one of the Prodigal Kings?"

"I think the term 'Prodigal King' in of itself is childish." Hayden answered truthfully and composedly. "We're prodigies. No need to make it overly complicated. Nonetheless, it is an honor being called as one and being recognized by the community."

"How about your thoughts on being the strongest Prodigal King?" Another reporter chimed in. "Are you that confident in your abilities?"

"Please keep in mind that I am not the one who named myself as the strongest." Hayden cleared the misunderstanding with a few words. "As for me being confident, I have never acted confident. I play with everything that I can, that's all I do."

Somebody, a French, then contributed. "You've been trending in France and French fans have been calling themselves as 'Cour du Roi.' (King's Court), what can you say to your French fans?"

Hayden talked in French in a humble manner. "It is a great honor for the fans admiring me. I love you all, and I hope to meet you when the time comes."

This time, somebody, a woman, asked him in Japanese. "Will you be participating in War of Honor's Pro Assembly in South Korea this year?"

"Wouldn't want to spoil the surprise." Hayden smiled enigmatically at the female reporter. The female reporter blushed and couldn't get another word in.

"What do you think of your match ups?" A hostile voice, as if looking to incite chaos, entered Hayden's ears. The man switched to Chinese Mandarin. "Do you think you can beat the Chinese Annual Youth Pride team this year?"

"I don't have an answer to that." Hayden shook his head. "I would have to meet them in the court first before I can say for myself."

Somebody went through the gaps, as a woman, an incredibly beautiful woman, wearing simple fashion and probably American, spoke to him. She had her blonde hair tied up in a bun. "Do you think you'll be able to win the Annual Youth Pride this year?"

"I really don't know." Hayden answered politely. "As long as there are skilled people out there, I can't guarantee that I will win until I've fought them for myself. That is the last question I will answer. Please excuse me."

Seemingly satisfied of Hayden entertaining them, they let Hayden pass through easily. Hayden looked back, meeting the gaze of the last woman who asked him a question.

…..

1 World Lore Time: The Trustee System is a function of Identity Numbers that allows a trusted person to have access to things registered to another's Identity Number. There are three levels on the Trustee System, each granting different privileges. The first level is that Person A can track Person B's Identity Number positions through devices, view Person B's properties owned, and unlock select properties of Person B. At level two, Person A will be able to view the bank account and assets of Person B, step on most properties of Person B without trespassing, and access their phones. The last level is usually reserved for those most trusted people by Person B. Person A will have all the access of every previous levels, can step on all properties without being accused of trespassing, access social media accounts of Person B, and even have some degree of control over Person B's assets. The Trustee System is mutual, with some exceptions.

There's also a higher order of the Trustee System that basically merges two or more Identity Numbers into one, yet, is still simultaneously separate. It's only for those that are legally married.