More than a year passed in the Higher Plane in the blink of an eye.
In the Human Community's conference hall, Baroque Krov looked at the others gathered around the conference table.
"There are only three months left until the Monster Screening Competition. The participant slots in the regions under your management should have more or less been finalized, right?"
"Across the twenty divisions, the top five have already been selected through live-combat trials. We reviewed every battle recording, and they were all fairly good." A bald middle-aged man seated to Baroque Krov's right replied, "I sent you the list yesterday, Mr. Speaker."
"Lock in the top four from each division first. Have the remaining twenty hold a round-robin tournament. A win earns one point, a draw earns zero, and a loss deducts one point. Rank them by points, then take the top six and add them to the list." Baroque Krov looked toward the bald man beside him.
"Mr. Speaker, do you mean to reserve fourteen slots?" The bald man understood Baroque Krov's intention.
"That's right." Baroque Krov nodded.
"Reserving slots is fine, but could you tell us why? After all, our human race only has one hundred participant slots in total. Taking away fourteen of them is no small matter. The managers of each division certainly won't want one fewer participant from their jurisdiction." The bald man addressed Baroque Krov.
"The fourteen slots I am reserving are for the Gu Ding Pirate Crew. Do you have any other questions, Deputy Speaker Jason?" Baroque Krov revealed why he was reserving the slots.
"We have also investigated the Gu Ding Pirate Crew. As far as I know, their pirate crew only has twelve members, plus two pet beasts. Mr. Speaker, are you counting their pet beasts as participants in the