Chapter 201 (1/2)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
It was overwhelming, to look out over the more than ten thousand people, who were all standing in the plaza! However, Sui Xiong only yawned. It was extremely crowded and noisy, but nothing that he considered as being spectacular.
On the other hand, the bunch of country bumpkins, who had come from the Void Mask Church, were stunned! Every one of them had their eyes wide open. Even Snowflake was impressed.
“This is really magnificent!” she whispered to herself.
“This is just a gathering of a bunch of jobless people,” Sui Xiong mumbled to himself. He then waved his tentacle, signaling Deacon Igor to begin the first round of eliminations.
The competition would take too long, if they did not run this round of elimination soon. After all, there were more than ten thousand people taking part in this. Leon Igor nodded,as he stood up and walked towards the front of the main stage.
“Now, the first round begins.”
He stated this straightforwardly, then drew his sword out from its sheath, before swinging it across the air. A coerced force of a legendary expert purged through the crowd.
Upon seeing this, more than one-third of the contestants could not stand still. They fell down, one after another. Some even had suspicious wet spots that appeared on the crotch area of their pants!
“Those who cannot stand still, you are out!”
The eliminated contestants did not dare to protest against the imposing manner of the legendary expert. They could only mumble their grudges to themselves, while the staff ushered them out.
Sui Xiong scanned the crowd, then counted the number of remaining participants. He could not help but secretly pout at the outcome. There were still over six thousand of them left! It was still way too many!
When the contestant list had been first presented to him, there was more than ten thousand names on it. He even once suspected that Gerald and the team were trying to please him, so that he would allow everyone to enroll, without examining them all carefully.
But then, it seemed that Gerald had not let them through as easily as he had first imagined. This was because the standard of the participants actually had seemed pretty high overall thus far.
One would have to have the capability of at least a qualified adventurer, to be able to withstand Leon’s strength. So, in order to have made it this far, to break into this competition, no one could be just an ordinary adventurer!
And, there were six thousand plus adventurers, still! Could it be that all of the adventurers across the world had come here?!
After the first round of elimination, the preliminary round officially commenced. Sui Xiong had prepared an insane preliminary test, just for the sake of convenience.
“There will be a massive battle in this huge arena, with one thousand contestants per battle. Each battle will last for half an hour, and there will be only ten people that will pass through to the end.” Deacon Leon could not help but shiver at the rules of the game. “There will be many deaths…”
“No, there won’t. There will be four Gods overlooking the battles. The contestants will most likely have bruises, or they might break a bone or two, but they will not die,” Sui Xiong said indifferently. “Look, there are six thousand contestants. It will only take six rounds of battle to reduce that number to sixty. Alright, let’s just make this easier. We will have sixty four of them, and then we will let them draw lots, in order to form pairs. They will then run through a single elimination tournament, twice. Then, the remaining sixteen contestants will draw lots in order to be grouped up again. Then, a double-elimination tournament will be carried out, until we have a winner. It’s as simple as that.”
“What do single elimination and double elimination even mean?!” A few murmurs from the crowd could be heard.
Sui Xiong was stunned for a while. He then recalled that his believers had never come across any battles on earth. So, of course they would not understand any of those rules or terms that he was talking about. So, he decided to try to explain it again.
After the second, more simple explanation was given, the crowd understood. Then, since the insane preliminary match would not get anyone killed, no one had any further comments about it.
“It’s a pity that legendary experts cannot partake in this competition,” Leon sighed. “Or else, I would have joined the fight!”
“The power of a legendary expert cannot be simply defined by his strength alone,” Wor, who already had become the God of Knowledge, replied with a smile. “Every legendary expert has a different path. Those who can fight are not necessarily smarter, whereas those who cannot fight, might be journeymen, focused on traveling further than the others. As a matter of fact, their combat skills are irrelevant at this point.”
He saw that the crowd still did not understand completely, so he explained further. “What is the key to moving from the advanced to legendary status? The key is to find your own path. And what is the purpose of this path? It is not to get physically stronger, but to exceed being just an ordinary human, thus becoming an immortal God at the end of the day. That is why the most important thing for a legendary expert is not his combat skill, but whether or not his path will lead him to becoming immortal. Everything else is just incidental.”
Everyone nodded, while they were listening to him, especially those who had already reached the advanced level and were looking for a way to move onto legendary status. Their faces grew grave, their minds drowning in deep thoughts.
“Well, you do not have to think too much about that right now. The path to advancement in the legendary realm cannot be accomplished within a day or two. Let’s just complete our task at hand!” Sui Xiong broke everyone’s trains of thought, while proclaiming, “Also, if there is anyone else, who wants to join the competition, you can still enroll now!”
Everyone looked at each other, smiling over the idea. Of course they were interested!
On the very next day, the preliminary rounds began.
Bam!
A loud noise came from a wide and long blade, as it slammed onto the floor, which then caused the magically fortified floor to crack. At the same time, it caused a huge impact, which made the contestants nearby fall. The impact even threw some of them out of the battle ring entirely!
The person who dealt that blow was none other than the armored creature, Phil! He was one of the four members of the Arctic Tyrant, and was also the only member, who was not a giant dragon himself.