Crude Tournament Rules

"There really is one..."

When Lan Qingyou arrived at the tree hollow teleportation circle in her habitat to teleport, she noticed that the words "Tournament Venue Teleportation Point" had appeared as a coordinate option.

Good grief.

It had been less than a few months since the teleportation circles were created, and the world consciousness had not only learned how to use them but was already putting them to work?

I have to hand it to you.

After a moment of amazement, Lan Qingyou immediately clicked teleport.

Her vision blurred, and her surroundings shifted from the tree hollow to a spacious spectator stand.

【Welcome, Clan Leader of the Witch race, Witch of the High Tower, Lan Qingyou. This is the Clan Leader Spectator Area. Please choose any seat you like.】

【There is a magic tablet on each seat. We believe you can find the answers to all your questions there.】

As soon as she got a clear view of her surroundings, the voice of the world consciousness rang in her ears.

Well, how very nice. It perfectly matched her stereotype of the world consciousness.

"Tower! Over here!"

Just as she was about to look for a seat, she heard High Priestess Vivian's voice.

Turning her head, she saw that besides Vivian, Gu Xiaobei was also there.

As expected, their earlier exchange hadn't just been bickering; it was a secret code.

These two girls were quite mischievous. On the surface, they seemed to be sniping at each other, but they had actually made plans long ago.

Lan Qingyou flew directly to them on her Magic Broom.

"Does this place look familiar?" Vivian asked with a smile.

"Familiar? I feel... a little, yeah."

Prompted by Vivian's question, Lan Qingyou finally took a proper look around.

The entire spectator stand was U-shaped and divided into three levels.

Lan Qingyou was on the third level, which had the smallest area but featured massive floor-to-ceiling windows.

Above the windows, black boards were suspended every few meters, likely for viewing the matches.

The spectator stand was filled with rows of luxurious red chairs spaced about two meters apart. Beside each chair was a small side table about a meter high.

On the side tables were a fruit platter, a magic tablet, a glass pitcher of water, and a glass cup.

Familiar! It was definitely familiar!

The more Lan Qingyou looked, the more she felt she had seen this somewhere. She frowned and thought for a moment, then turned to look again. It finally clicked.

Of course it was familiar!

Aside from the different number of levels and the lack of private boxes, this was essentially a replica of the grand lecture hall where the Witch race's auction had been held!

No!

To be precise, it was a blatant copy!

"Is there a complaints department? I want to sue the world consciousness for copyright infringement."

Finding a red chair next to Gu Xiaobei, Lan Qingyou reached out and tossed it into her herb bag. Then, she took out a chaise longue and placed it where the chair had been.

As the chaise longue was set down, something magical happened.

The two-meter gaps on either side of the chair originally present instantly expanded as the chaise longue was placed, maintaining the same two-meter distance from the adjacent chairs.

"The space expanded!"

Vivian's jaw dropped in surprise. Beside her, Gu Xiaobei remained unmoved, simply because she didn't understand what had happened.

"Strictly speaking, it's probably something like spatial stasis. I'm not sure."

Lan Qingyou pointed to the steps of the platform where the chaise longue sat.

"Simply put, no matter what you place on it, it will always maintain a distance of two meters from its surroundings. You can never touch the person next to you, but you can never move further away either."

"Anyway, it's just very impressive."

In truth, Lan Qingyou had sensed the distortion in space the moment she arrived.

This so-called tournament venue was, without a doubt, a space forcibly warped into existence by the world consciousness.

As for the items inside, those were real.

She just didn't know who had arranged it or who had made them.

Indeed, even Lan Qingyou's eyes couldn't see through the mechanics.

For instance, she couldn't determine the quality of the magic tablet, something no one had been able to make until now.

She couldn't even see the recipe, which she normally should have been able to.

It had to be said that things produced by the world consciousness were indeed formidable. She just wondered if she could "borrow" one.

With that thought, Lan Qingyou lay down on the chaise longue and picked up the magic tablet—about the size of two palms—from the side table to check it.

"Have you both read it?"

"Yes, it has very detailed information about the tournament."

Vivian nodded, while Gu Xiaobei gave a mischievous grin.

However, Lan Qingyou, focused on the tablet, didn't notice.

【Rules: By choosing to enter the tournament venue, the system defaults your participation in this battle and automatically registers you. Random matching will begin one hour after entering the competition area.】

【Combat Format: Individual Battles】

【Individual Battles: Two members from different races will be randomly selected to fight.】

【When one side forfeits or is unable to continue fighting, the other side is declared the winner.】

Concise.

Crude, even.

It felt like a makeshift stage someone had thrown together on a whim, making one want to laugh.

Even the name of the tournament was the same.

It looked like they hadn't even thought it through.

"It really is quite a rush," Lan Qingyou sighed as she edited a message on her card.

Since the rules were now clear—pure, violent combat—she only needed to have Diana send over those skilled in fighting.

Everyone else could continue their studies and research without any interruption.

"And it really is like gu raising," Vivian agreed, nodding.

"With these combat rules, unless someone surrenders quickly, most will likely end up dead or injured just to ensure nothing goes wrong."

"But it’s also the most direct and fastest way to see which race is actually the strongest."

"That’s true."

Lan Qingyou, Vivian, and Gu Xiaobei continued chatting.

Before long, Lan Qingyou saw Vivian pull several soft cushions from her card and piece them together.

Then, she set out some fruit and melon seeds in the center. Gu Xiaobei even produced a fair amount of food, like dried meat.

"You two certainly thought of everything."

Seeing Vivian and Gu Xiaobei beckoning her over, Lan Qingyou put away her chaise longue, picked up the fruit platter and tablet from the side table, and floated over.

"But when exactly did you prepare all this?" Lan Qingyou asked jokingly as she watched Gu Xiaobei pull an endless stream of food from her card.

Good heavens.

Dried meat, sausages, cold shredded pig ears, various braised meats, snacks to go with drinks, and even pastries—she had everything.

"Haha, I figured since this is a tournament for all evolved beings, there would be at least hundreds of millions of people coming. So I brought along some of the stuff I made before."

Gu Xiaobei spoke while her hands never stopped pulling out items.

Just then, a teasing voice came from behind them.

"Heh! That’s not necessarily true!"