Preliminaries Officially Begin
Without these national leaders, this conference, no matter how sensational, would just be a grassroots event, but now its significance is different.
The World's First Mutant Tournament has now become a globally renowned event, similar to the Olympics, and it was all organized by Stephen Hawking.
Even if he doesn't deliberately increase the influence of the Hero Alliance in the future, Hero Alliance influence will only grow stronger with each triennial tournament.
The stronger the influence, the more superhumans join, the more Super Hero there are, and the more money is made in various industries. The more money there is, the better the treatment of superhumans becomes, thus forming a virtuous cycle.
As long as he focuses on training and improving his skills in the Gravity Chamber, barring any major accidents, Hero Alliance can handle all other miscellaneous matters, thus relieving him of any worries.
"Mr. Hawking, the weather doesn't seem very good today."
Just then, the sky suddenly darkened, a patch of dark cloud blocked out the sun, and it looked like it was about to rain. The Minister of Defense gave a somewhat gloating warning:
"The weather at sea can change in an instant, so sometimes you can't be too hasty in doing things, or you'll inevitably get soaked."
"A minor problem. Even if dark clouds gather overhead, with me Hawking, here, I'll clear the sky for miles!"
Upon hearing this, Hawking raised his hand, and a golden light shot into the sky, but secretly he cast Weather Spell.
In an instant, the dark clouds dispersed, and warm sunlight shone on the entire island.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the World's First Mutant Tournament! I am your host today, Angel!"
Dressed in a black suit, with her golden hair styled in a slicked-back manner and wearing black sunglasses, the Angel made a dazzling entrance, flapping her large, white wings and holding a microphone.
A cheer erupted from the crowd.
How can you hold a major conference without considering the weather?
He deliberately chose this time to start the show because he knew there would be heavy rain this morning.
This kind of opening, which clears away the clouds to reveal the sun, can often stir up the atmosphere at the scene, arouse the emotions of viewers in front of the television, and demonstrate the strength of the organizers.
Amidst the enthusiastic cheers, the Angel began to explain the rules of the preliminary rounds.
"As everyone can see, there are a total of 26 arenas on the field. The preliminary rounds are conducted by drawing lots to divide the field into 26 groups for the competition. Only the final winner of each group will be eligible to advance to the official finals tomorrow."
Each arena is equipped with state-of-the-art filming equipment, allowing for projection onto a large screen for viewers who cannot see from behind. Killing is strictly prohibited during the competition; anyone who kills will be disqualified and immediately arrested and sent to the Jail.
The conditions for winning the match are simple: knock the Teuchi of the game, or have the opponent fall to the ground and the referee count down ten seconds.
In addition, a match is limited to ten minutes. If no winner is determined within ten minutes, the referee will evaluate the players' attacks and decide the winner.
If you rely solely on invisibility, flight, or other abilities to escape the battle from the start, you will be automatically considered to have surrendered after the allotted time.
After the Angel announced the rules, people started discussing them.
They had no problem with the rules of the game, feeling they were quite fair; their only objection was to the referee.
Since the participants in the competition are all superhumans with various abilities, what kind of referee is qualified to assess the strength of these superhumans?
If the referee is not competent enough, how can everyone accept his judgment?
As if anticipating the murmurs below, the Angel, holding the microphone, shouted:
"Now, please welcome our referees to the field!"
"Wood Release: Wood Clone Technique!"
Sitting in the center of the high platform, Hawking clasped his hands together, and twenty-six Wood Release Clone from his body and quickly flew to the top of the twenty-six arena.
Indeed, the referees of these twenty-six arenas are none other than Hawking's Wood Release Clone.
Only he, the self-proclaimed strongest Super Hero, is qualified to be the judge for all the contestants.
His purpose in acting as referee was twofold: to quell the audience's objections and to ensure the safety of the athletes.
Although the rules of the game do not allow killing, when two equally matched people fight, sometimes it is not something that can be controlled just by wanting to.
There are also those superhumans who possess great abilities but are not skilled at controlling them.
The fact that someone died during the first Ability User Conference was not something he wanted to see.
Therefore, with his Wood Release Clone watching over things, any dangerous situations could be prevented or treated in time.
Compared to Shadow Clone, Wood Release Clone not only possess all the abilities of Shadow Clone, but also mitigate one of the Shadow Clone' biggest weaknesses.
The weakness of Shadow Clone is that they have almost no defense; if they are attacked, they will simply disappear.
However, Wood Release Clone are different. Since Wood Release Clone clones are made based on Wood Release, their physical strength is the same as that of Wood Release.
Although not as powerful as the original body, it can still withstand considerable attacks.
However, Wood Release cannot create thousands of clones at once, unlike Shadow Clone Jutsu.
The twenty-six Wood Release Clone, each having shared all of the original body's energy, could be controlled by anyone except Captain Marvel.
Captain Marvel, of course, would not commit murder or lose control of her powers.
"My God, it's Saiyan Superman himself acting as the referee!"
When the audience saw Hawking divide himself into twenty-six rings to guard twenty-six arenas, they immediately shouted excitedly, and all their objections vanished.
With Hawking, the world's greatest Super Hero who saved the world, serving as the referee, it would naturally be the fairest and most impartial decision.
"Next, please welcome all contestants to the arena. According to the draw last night, please wait for your numbers to be called next to the twenty-six arenas to begin your match."
Upon seeing Hawking in place, the Angel shouted again.
As his voice faded, all the contestants lined up and walked out of the passageway from the four directions of the competition venue.
At this moment, the cheers reached their climax.
"Ring One, Loki vs. Kabura."
Ring number two, Natasha versus Vasily.
In ring number three, Thor will face off against Jin Shengxian.
Ring number four: Namor versus Uchimura Takuya.
The battle lists for each arena resounded throughout the venue, and the contestants whose names were called stood on the arena.
The qualifiers have finally officially begun!
Sitting on the high platform, Hawking looked at the contestants fighting on the ring below and couldn't help but smile and stroke his chin.
Last night's preliminary draw was ostensibly a machine-generated random selection, but in reality, it was manipulated behind the scenes by someone he had hired.
To better reflect the competition's effectiveness, he divided the strong competitors into different groups so that they could all advance to the finals.
Otherwise, if the qualifiers are too exciting, the finals will be boring.
Ultimately, the competition gets more exciting as it progresses, which is what makes it more engaging for the audience and pushes the atmosphere to its climax.
Just like those variety shows, most of them are scripted.