A few months flashed by.
The Duel Arena operated at full capacity from dawn to dusk.
Wizards from the Four Great Factions lined up to enter and lined up to leave. Some emerged beaming, while others came out bruised and battered—the latter usually having encountered a counterpart of similar strength.
Such unlucky souls were a minority, after all.
The parallel-world wizards had gone from wary resistance at the start, to eager anticipation later on, to now taking their families with them and showing up of their own accord. The change in attitude had come so quickly that even Benjamin found it somewhat moving.
The change had begun with the first batch of wizards to sign contracts.
Those parallel-world wizards with withered faces and crazed eyes had seemed like entirely different people the day after signing.
They wore the new Wizard Robes given to them by their counterparts, and their physical condition had visibly improved. They ate the free food provided by the Duel Arena and sat in the stands, cheering for people they knew.
When someone asked what the contracts contained, they did not hide anything. They simply pulled out the contract documents and let them look.
The high-level wizards of the Four Great Factions had little pressure in their lives and enough room to exercise their own morality, so their moral standards far surpassed those of their parallel-world counterparts.
Moreover, all wizards understood that only if their other selves became strong enough could they help in research or support one another along the same path.
Thus, the contracts they offered their other selves were not harsh. They were essentially variations of an Academy-style cooperation agreement:
Party A provided knowledge and resources to help Party B increase their strength; Party B served as Party A's research assistant for the agreed