novelraw Chapter 1437 - 1436 - Tournament Begins
Chapter 1437 - 1436 - Tournament Begins
The halls, stadium seats, and the various stalls were now stormed by crowds. Bodies pressed together but no one was stuck or waiting in that chaos.
Even the stalls that held food or trinkets were just recessed enough to let the main halls remain free flowing.
Lind sat in one of the many offices to oversee the arena in its entirety. Those VIP areas occupied had protections in place that even he could not watch but it still had security weavings ready to react if they were in danger.
They were warned that no cruelty would be allowed and a few had already tested his patience.
Not even a week and he had to eject people. The contestants were not affected but their backers were now gone in a few cases. Any objections were silenced by the proof stored in the weavings.
He may not see a live feed, but the interior retained sounds and images that could be stored once a security feature was triggered. If they gave him no issue, those same recordings would be purged once the suite was vacated for the day.
Thanks to all guests being cultivators, no inns were needed but he had made a tea house and bar to let people gather if they wished.
Those had pushed his ability to manipulate space to the very limit.
Still, he was happy to see everything working better than expected. The last 5 years the staff had strained and tested everything they could but nothing matched the actual event.
He already heard of several cliche altercations but none had risen to a true issue safe one. Poor bastard thought being part of a supreme power allowed him to command the staff to do whatever he wanted.
Each staff member had an artifact in the shape of a small emerald flame pinned to their robes. If their lives were ever in danger or if the pin was attempted to be removed by anyone other than himself or themselves, it would instantly activate several nasty surprises.
A defensive barrier would envelope the employee while a snare would strike down the enemy. The final thing would only activate if there was a vast chasm of difference in cultivation realms, the artifact would literally summon a Sovereign Tier Immortal to the scene.
Lind had seen that it worked in that one instance.
The young man that instigated had done the stereotypical attempt to snatch away a cute girl helping man the tavern. The young 'master' in question was not even drunk, just used to abusing people around him it seemed.
The young man was now imprisoned and screaming about who his father was but Lind honestly did not care. If it were up to him, the boy would be crippled but there was a limit.
The other 2 True Lords were relaxing in special suites looking over the arena. Both had been shocked how the suites could adapt to their needs. Such versatility was unheard of and they were further confused how such a massive structure could be sustained without a nation crippling amount of Qi stones.
Lind never revealed his secrets in that regard. His new ships were also a mystery to others. They did not have the power core of the starships and no one knew how they stayed empowered like the original skyships could.
Ambient absorption was not enough to explain it! He sneered at the many experts that tried to strip down his designs but to no avail.
The real secret was being a Triple Maester that crossed his professions so much he found interesting ways to achieve the effects he desired.
"All the powers have finally arrived. The production areas are preparing for the start of their first contests." The young man, Eric, spoke up from his own desk. Lind had decided to keep him as an assistant, one of many, for the tournament.
Lind had his own slots to attend to eventually so he wanted people that understood what had to be done answering to one of his wives while he was busy.
"Very good, I will get to it then." He smiled and then vanished from his office. He reappeared at the top most level of the open arena.
He saw not only the vast sea of people seated around the open area but also the contestants.
The main separation was 5 sections. Heaven Realm, Sliver, Shard, Radiant, and Sovereign Tier.
The Heaven Realm was the smallest with exponential leaps for the Immortal Tiers.
Lind saw both duel and group battle areas were ready to go. Duelists were primarily those that specialized in that style of combat but the group battles were 2 fold.
One side was straight up cooperation but the other was testing tactical and strategic planning. The arrays and weavings allowed for custom terrains to be employed. It also allowed for swift repairs of the smaller stages so the next battles could commence.
In essence, the tournament was like several smaller branches eventually leading to the larger show.
He sat in the simple stone chair he had made for himself and then its dark surface lit up with sigils.
He felt a shift in the air in front of him and knew it was ready.
The first thing he did, however, was to touch a glowing orange sigil. Instantly, a fireworks show went off. It silenced the rowdy crowd and drew all eyes upward.
Lind finally spoke once the last thunderous firework stopped echoing.
[Welcome to our Inaugural Harmonic Tournament! The various rules have all been reviewed and explained but a final reminder for the audience:]
{No fighting or killing will be tolerated in the audience at all}
{No attacks on contestants will be allowed outside of the battle rings.}
{Staff are authorized to give commands regardless of realms and you are expected to obey if given an order.}
That last line caused several murmurs to echo but Lind did not care. It was pointless to hold a tournament if the staff were ignored simply for being weaker than whoever they met.
The staff had similar warnings about abusing their power and had seen clearly how he would treat such abuse.
The embezzlers had been crippled and left out as an example for all to see before they were sent back to their respective powers with proof and testimonies.
[Finally, the preliminaries will move swiftly for the Heaven Realm and Sliver Tier sections but above that, things may take some time. You are free to move about the arena facilities but do not disrupt its operations at any time.!]
He dismissed the weaving and gave a signal. A horn blared to start things off.
He saw men and women launch themselves in the battle rings at each other. The duelists were exciting since it was fairly easy to track them but the group battles were a slow burn.
The various terrains and even goals could make things boring at first but once contact was made, it would get blood pumping.
The various categories could be brought up through the weavings and jade slates he had made for the various seating areas. The commons had to share so they had to agree on something to watch or at least could let it randomly switch from one battle to another.
Lind observed his weavings and was happy with what he saw but he had to go. Starting the battles was easy but now he had to go to the other side of things.
He disappeared once more and came to another large circular arena but this one was vastly different. Various areas had been set up with furnaces, cauldrons, and other tools of trade. Unlike the previously simple separation, the current one was like a complex origami crane.
It was not realm but grade that separated everyone and further their profession. In other words, it was 6 grade 5 areas instead of just 1 grade 5 area. Each numbered grade also contained the next step up so Heaven Grade, Immortal Grade, and Law Grade were also there.
The reason being was that someone could have a breakthrough during the contest so it was better to just combine them immediately. It also saved on space.
Lind assured that only similar grade experts faced each other later but the current start was not an issue.
[I know you all heard me earlier but there is one addition to these contests:]
{No one will interfere with the production process of another contestant or they will be immediately disqualified.}
Lind then had them start with a very different kind of elimination round.
For each profession, they had to create a pre-selected item to the best of their ability of their group. Reaching 100% quality was not a guarantee that they would win as before they passed, it would then have to face off against an identical quality item.
In other words, if 2 formation masters specialized in barriers, then 2 100% quality results would be tested against each other.
The reason he did that was Lind well knew testing quality was only 1 aspect of the result. Only in use could the faults be found.
Thus testing areas were set up for various abilities as well as cultivators willing to simply empower the items.
It was not a duel or anything else but a straightforward way to truly determine who wins.
It put pressure on them but it also pushed them to fully grasp what they attempted to make.
The acrid smell of herbs burning reached him as he made his way to the Law Grade area. Other Sovereign Tier experts nodded at him as their elimination rounds would take the longest.
A jade slip and area awaited him but any sane person would bet he would make it through. Afterwards, he would have to go to his battle slot but it would be several days before his battle ring opened.
Unlike the lower tiers, a battle between Sovereign Tiers could take years to resolve!
It was part of why things were all happening at once. The lower grades and tiers would produce results far faster and thus keep things going for the audience. They would actually wrap up their entire bracket long before the Radiant and Sovereign Tiers got to the end of their elimination rounds.
That was when the main tournament would start in earnest. The battles between peak Immortals and production masters would be when the Harmonic Tournament truly shined!