The other teams encountered situations similar to Schiller's team as well. Either familiar teammates left to join other teams and explore other universes later on, or there were still business deals under negotiation, knowledge and technology being exchanged. If you kicked them out now, who would be happy about it?
Some particularly suspicious people could not help wondering: the organizers had brought them here without setting especially harsh rules, instead allowing them to interact amicably. Could this really come without any cost? Would there be traps waiting for them later? Would the difficulty suddenly increase? Would it harm their original universes?
That was right. The various Batmen had asked themselves such questions countless times, and some had even voiced them aloud. Owen heard them perfectly clearly.
Put simply, it was like an amusement park with no admission fee. People would inevitably worry about the quality and safety of its rides. But if tickets cost one or two hundred dollars, some might find them expensive and refuse to go. Yet the customers filtered out that way could not provide enough spending to make the amusement park profitable anyway.
Conversely, people who could afford tickets costing one or two hundred dollars would not possibly spend nothing inside the park. One person's spending within the park might equal several times the ticket price.
In Battleworld, anyone with even a little foresight could realize how worthwhile it was to pay a small price to communicate with people from parallel universes. Those unable to recognize that, unwilling to pay the admission fee, were destined not to put on any impressive performances in the game. They could neither provide the organizers with the entertainment they wanted nor offer useful resources to the other participants.
Every circle needed an admission fee. It ensured relative equality among its