After the first round of the auditions, more than half of the contestants were eliminated in the brutal screening system of the judges.
And of those who survived the first screening and made it to the next stage, for the second round of auditions, they were divided into batches and each batch was led to different waiting rooms.
Max was in Batch C, the same thing with Jalen Cross.
The waiting room where they waited for further instructions didn't feel like a lounge at all, instead it felt more like a battlefield.
There were nearly 50 contestants filling the space. Out of the almost a thousand participants that came earlier in the morning to take part in the audition, this was a part of those who remained after the first round of auditions.
Hundreds were eliminated!
Max could feel the electric energy of competition in the air.
Everyone in this room knew the truth that they were rivals. Though they didn't know what format would be used for the second round of auditions, none of them were deluded, they still saw each other as rivals.
Afterall, if everyone else was eliminated, then the last survivor was the ultimate winner of the contest.
Max felt like he was playing in a Culling Game.
In his last life, he always loved singing and public performance but that was only when he was not scared and battling his anxiety. And most times, he hated the competition aspect of building a successful music career.
Not anymore though.
Now, he embraced competition.
The events of his past life and how it all ended taught Max now that hating competition was weakness.
Life itself was competition, and it started all the way from the womb.
Racing against other sperms for fertilization, fighting to survive the 9 months of gestation to be born healthy, and again fighting germs and diseases as a baby to survive to become an adult.
That was just the prelude though, the true competition starts after becoming a young adult.
And this time, it was fighting to build the life that you always wanted, it was the greatest competition of all to be successful.
To be the best singer in the world, you have to crush every other singer with your innate talent, ability, and your dominance.
In the process, you would inevitably go through a lot of ups and downs. Rivals may even slander you and diss you to bring you down, but it was your ability to rise above it all and win as the last man standing is what made a truly great competitor.
This analogy reminded him of the infamous Drake vs Kendrick Lamar rivalry.
Max grinned. 'I guess to win, I'll have to channel my own hidden inner Kendrick Lamar'.
There were 50 contestants filling the space in this room.
Some were warming up their voices while others tapped their feet rhythmically like they were already performing in their heads, the quiet competition for dominance already started.
There were television screens on the walls of the room, and each of them replayed clips from earlier auditions.
Max spotted himself briefly on one of them.
His performance looked different from the outside, it looked more intense and focused. He leaned against a table and watched the screen.
Rewatching it, even he could not help but be mesmerized by his performance.
"Damn! That's me?" He let it slip.
A girl standing nearby glanced at him. "You're Max, right?"
Max turned and looked at her.
This was a girl that looked as beautiful as her voice. She had bright red hair that was tied in a loose ponytail, and she wore a leather jacket that was covered in tiny silver pins that were shaped like guitars.
"Yeah". Max replied.
"I'm Lila Hart". She said and extended a hand confidently.
Max shook it. "Nice to meet you".
Lila tilted her head. "You've got interesting Resonance".
Max blinked. "You can feel that too?"
She smiled. "All singers can, true singers once you awaken".
At some point, Jalen already noticed the both of them as he walked over from the other side of the room. "Told ya". He winked at Max.
Max rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "So it's like..., sensing energy?"
"More like sensing emotion," Lila said.
"When someone sings with real Artifice energy behind it and empowering it, the air changes. Or better still, the world changes". Lila continued.
By now, Max already understood why both Singers approached him. He could already tell that true Singers like Lila and Jalen had a particular interest in only socializing with other Singers just like them.
If he wasn't yet awakened, he doubted that neither of them would have approached him.
'These are the privileges of awakening a Main Class'. He thought quietly.
Lila continued explaining as she gestured toward the room. "Right now, more than half the people here are barely producing anything".
Jalen pointed toward a guy doing loud vocal runs near the corner. "That dude's been yelling scales for minutes, yet nothing tangible is produced".
Max listened carefully.
The guy's voice was technically strong, far better than anything the old him was capable of but when he focused with his newly awakened sense, he realized that it felt hollow in a strange way.
The only analogy that he could use for it was that it felt like a beautifully wrapped empty box.
"Damn!" Max muttered. "So technique ain't everything over here".
Lila laughed at his reaction. "Welcome to Artifice, noob". She said with a slight, playful chuckle.
Before Max could respond, the system suddenly flashed.
DING!
["New mission detected."]
["Mission Title: First Stage Victory!"]
["Objective: Reach the Top 20 contestants in the Golden Stage preliminary rounds."]
["Reward: +500 Artifice Points and a Random skill token."]
Max nearly whistled. 'Now we talking!'
Jalen noticed his expression. "What?"
Max waved it off casually. "Nothing dawg, just thinking 'bout the competition".
Lila crossed her arms. "You should"
She pointed toward the far side of the room. "See that guy?"
Max followed her gaze to a corner where a young man sat calmly in a chair while several contestants whispered nearby.
"Name's Victor Kane," Jalen said. "Dude already has a million followers online even before the auditions".
Max raised an eyebrow. "A mill?"
Lila nodded. "People say he has Pop Idol subclass potential".
Victor suddenly looked up and immediately his eyes met Max's. For a moment, the air between them tightened like a taut string.
DING!
["Singer Artificer Detected!"]
["Intermediate Rank potential."]
Max didn't back away from the stare off though, instead he grinned slowly.
"Oh yeah..." he muttered.
Now the whole thing really felt like competition.
Victor looked him up and down before turning away dismissively. In response, Max just chuckled under his breath.
"Dude already acting like he's famous".
Jalen laughed. "Welcome to showbiz dawg".
The host's voice finally echoed through the speakers.
"Contestants please prepare, the group stage performances begin in thirty minutes!"
Immediately, the room exploded into activity as people rushed to warm up while managers and assistants appeared.
Max leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes briefly.
'Ok Max'.
'Round two coming up, don't you dare mess this up!'
His fingers tapped rhythmically against his guitar case.
Inside his chest, the newly awakened Singer Class pulsed softly and for the first time in two lifetimes, he felt like he truly belonged on this stage.
He felt like he could truly compete.