Sister, You Have to Protect Me!

“Only the two of us left.”

Sitting in the Tarot Villa spectator area, Lan Qingyou looked at Alisa and spoke in a low, haunting tone.

Another two hours had passed, and on the Tier 3 spectator stand—which hadn't been very crowded to begin with—only Lan Qingyou and Alisa remained.

That’s right.

It wasn't just that they were the only ones left in the Tarot Villa and The Masquerade seating areas; they were the only two people left on the entire spectator stand.

Even the two floors below had only a few people remaining. One could only imagine how fast the process was moving.

But then again, being able to open one's own space allowed for total freedom.

The fact that battles across thousands or tens of thousands of arenas simultaneously could last for five hours was already a testament to the sheer number of participants.

Of course, it was inevitable that some pipsqueaks would waste time pecking at each other.

Otherwise, the process could have been accelerated even further.

“Indeed. I hope you don't lose to some random riff-raff before you face me.”

Faced with Lan Qingyou’s remark, Alisa, sitting in The Masquerade spectator area, gave her a cold smirk.

Even though everyone else was gone, they remained in their respective seating areas, showing no intention of approaching each other.

“I’ll return that sentiment to you exactly as it was. The fewer people there are, the more powerful the remaining ones will be. It’s all going to be hard-fought battles from here on out. It would be hilarious if you died before even meeting me.”

Lan Qingyou shot back immediately at Alisa’s provocation.

No way.

She wasn't the kind of foolishly honest person who would just take it on the chin when provoked or bullied.

Since someone was actively looking for trouble to spice up her dull life, she had no reason not to play along.

【The preliminary stage of the racial competition has ended. The official knockout round will now begin. All remaining contestants, please click the dialog box to enter the designated area.】

“Oh boy, a knockout round. Sounds terrifying. Are you scared, Lan Qingyou? If you are, you can always cling to your big sister.”

Alisa crossed her arms and gave a mocking shrug, emphasizing the word 'sister.'

“Scary! So scary! Poor little me is so frightened! Sister, you have to protect me!”

Lan Qingyou didn't snap back this time. Instead, she mimicked the other woman by crossing her arms over her chest and wiggling her body while sitting on her magic broom.

She looked as fake as could be.

“Tch!”

There was nothing more annoying than the other party engaging with you, yet giving you absolutely no sense of satisfaction.

Alisa clicked her tongue at Lan Qingyou’s performance and tapped the air, vanishing instantly.

Seeing this, Lan Qingyou also tapped the air and followed closely into the 'designated area' mentioned by the world consciousness.

When she opened her eyes again, she was already standing on an arena.

Beside her, in addition to Alisa who had arrived a step ahead, there were six other people.

Unsurprisingly, both Ursula and Li Huai were there, but the others were people she had only heard of but never met.

Let’s see...

A Void Knight with deep blue hair that swayed upward like seaweed, emitting a ghostly smoke;

A banshee who was curvaceous and extraordinarily charming, so beautiful she didn't even look real;

A Greater Demon with two curved ram horns above its ears and hooves for feet;

And a member of the Lesser Imp race with a small, delicate horn in the center of its forehead.

Although Lan Qingyou didn't pay much attention to the world channel—or even the affairs of the Kalim continent—she frequently heard the names of these individuals.

Or to put it another way...

Given Lan Qingyou’s completely dull social radar, anyone whose name she could actually remember was essentially a formidable character.

“Not a single one of your white-robed witches is left.”

After a brief scan, Lan Qingyou gave Alisa a radiant, beaming smile.

“Hmph.”

Alisa offered nothing but a cold snort in response to the provocation.

Sigh...

Seeing that the 'big sister' was ignoring her, Lan Qingyou could only let out a mournful sigh and retract her gaze.

“What did you see?”

Li Huai, who was standing nearby, asked.

“You’ll find out in a bit. It’s going to be a fierce battle regardless. By the way, how did you turn into a Wind Elf?”

Lan Qingyou shrugged and asked casually.

“Just a few days ago. Doesn't it suit my talent perfectly?”

A rare, satisfied smile appeared on Li Huai’s face when his race was mentioned.

“It’s a great match. Especially the racial talent—it’s like it was custom-made for you.”

Lan Qingyou nodded, already having a general idea of the basic racial attributes.

“It actually was custom-made.”

Li Huai didn't hide it and directly confirmed Lan Qingyou’s suspicion.

Wow.

So it really was custom-made.

It seemed this guy had been prepared for a long time.

Given his nature as a leveling maniac, he would never have pinned his hopes on something vague and ethereal.

Custom-made meant research, research meant direction, and direction meant a goal and stability.

This was likely why Li Huai had been able to resist the various 'temptations' in the group and persevere.

“You found someone to experiment with?”

Lan Qingyou asked curiously once more.

“Yeah. I spent almost all the ancient blood I had on me before the experiment succeeded.”

Because they had already evolved, any evolution items Lan Qingyou and the others produced would be specific to their own races.

That was why Li Huai had gone outside to find someone else to do it.

Although the commission was high and the experiments hadn't gone smoothly, he had fortunately succeeded in the end.

However, because Li Huai hadn't created it himself, he wasn't considered a Clan Leader.

“You really are persistent,” Lan Qingyou remarked.

This guy was present for almost every dungeon run the group did, so he possessed all the ancient blood obtained from dungeons that featured ancient bloodlines.

One could say that, excluding those who already had a race, he was definitely the transmigrator on the continent who held the most of the hard currency known as ancient blood.

Yet he was still willing to invest so heavily in research. One could only imagine how obsessed he had to be to pull that off.

But in terms of results, it was indeed impressive.

The power of all wind-element magic and attacks was increased by fifty percent.

That was truly terrifying.

Whir—

While the two were chatting privately, a small elemental storm gathered into a tornado directly opposite the eight people, eventually forming a wobbly, irregular, semi-transparent humanoid shape.

Hilariously, this humanoid figure was actually holding a microphone in its 'hand.'

Behind it, a massive screen suddenly appeared.

【Congratulations to all of you for passing this cruel trial and reaching this point.】

【As the cream of the crop among all transmigrators on the Kalim continent, the eight of you will engage in the most brutal and bloody slaughter here to ultimately claim the rewards of this tournament.】

【Without further ado, let us look at the pairings for this knockout round.】

The semi-transparent figure gave the contestants no chance to speak or ask questions. With a wave of its large hand, a tournament bracket appeared on the big screen.