The preselection had ended.
The arena finals would take place a month later.
During that month, many factions came knocking because of Lu Yan'an's ultimate battle against Illusion Dream on the final day of the preselection. They included not only local factions from the Black Dragon Mountain Empire, but also powerful organizations from across Ganwu Universe Country, all hoping he would join them and take up a position in their organizations.
It gave him a terrible headache. All he could do was say that he was going into seclusion to focus on preparing for the upcoming arena finals and refuse to meet them. To avoid their recruitment efforts after that, Lu Yan'an simply handed his call privileges over to Lord Shen and had him deal with them.
"You sure know how to put people to work, kid! But those factions are offering some pretty good terms. Are you sure you don't want to think it over?" Lord Shen teased him.
"My goal is to rank in the top ten in the entire universe! You think I'd sell myself for a few measly benefits?" Lu Yan'an rolled his eyes at Lord Shen, exasperated. He knew Lord Shen was just teasing him, but did he really seem like someone who'd be that brainless?
"Fine, fine, you're so noble! I'll turn them down for you." Lord Shen nodded and stopped wasting time, sending out a mass of Virtual Universe messages declining the offers.
Twelve days after the preselection ended.
Virtual Universe, Black Dragon Mountain Island, Haoyue Courtyard.
Lu Yan'an smiled as he saw the Black Dragon Mountain Empire's envoy out the door. Then he returned to the place where he'd been entertaining him, picked up the tea on the table, and downed it in one go. It tasted much like fruit juice, but left a sweet aftertaste that lingered in the mouth. It was the popular Qian Guo Drink.
"Lu, aren't you even a little tempted by the gift that envoy mentioned? He's offering you territory across ten star systems!" Lord Shen asked with interest. In his mind, Lu Yan'an was a pauper who needed to rely on him for support. When a poor man suddenly got rich, his outlook would inevitably change a little. But Lu Yan'an didn't seem to care at all.
The Silver Blue Empire was a vassal state of the Black Dragon Mountain Empire. It had originally been a junior cosmic civilization made up of eight neighboring star systems, including the Milky Way Galaxy and the Beta Galaxy.
A star system generally cost between 100 billion and an unspecified number of Universe Coins. A case like the Silver Blue Empire's, where the star systems were fairly ordinary but bordered one another and formed a whole, would probably be worth around ten mixed units if sold together. Add three nearby star systems, and the total value would surely reach around fifteen mixed units.
The Black Dragon Mountain Empire was offering all this just like that, without even attaching any conditions! For a "poor man" like Lu Yan'an, whose pockets rarely held more than 200,000 Ganwu Coins, it was undoubtedly a fortune! The Black Dragon Mountain Empire had also made a point of saying that it would never interfere in Lu Yan'an's administration of the new Silver Blue Empire or collect taxes. Its imperial army would still be responsible for protecting the new Silver Blue Empire's territory, however.
"Heh, they're just betting on my potential to join the Virtual Universe Company! If I fail to turn that potential into results, do you think they won't find some excuse to take the territory back?"
Lu Yan'an saw right through the situation. It was nothing more than territory worth over ten mixed units. If you had enough potential, they could hand it out as a favor without a second thought. But if your growth failed to meet their expectations, heh, the territory wasn't going anywhere!
"Putting those practical matters aside, the Black Dragon Mountain Empire's representative also brought the information they'd gathered. It includes records on the super geniuses from Ganwu Universe Country who passed the preselection, as well as some video clips. Let's take a look. After all, knowing yourself and your enemy is the key to winning every battle, right?"
One video after another played, along with plenty of written records. The Black Dragon Mountain Empire had gathered information on many of the super geniuses. Many of them had already been famous before this Genius Tournament, and some had even been eagerly recruited by powerful organizations.
"Oh, Ganwu Universe Country is pretty impressive!" Lu Yan'an exclaimed in admiration now and then as he looked through the records. There were hundreds who had comprehended a Lower Origin Law in Ganwu Universe Country alone, not to mention those with special professions, such as beast tamers and apothecaries. Illusionists were one such profession, of course.
"But judging by what they've shown so far, basically no one can surpass me. The question is whether any of them are hiding their true strength!" As he said this, Lu Yan'an couldn't help thinking of Illusion Dream. In their final battle, both of them had known that the other hadn't shown his true strength!
"These records have some value, but not much. We'll have to wait and see how the arena battles go." Lu Yan'an chuckled.
Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, the day of the arena battles arrived.
The day before the arena battles, a vast conference hall stood atop one of the floating continents in the skies above Ganwu Continent in the Virtual Universe.
The conference hall was enormous, with row upon row of seats stretching into the distance.
"The space inside the conference hall is huge. It didn't look all that big from the outside, but I can't believe it can seat a hundred thousand people." Lu Yan'an marveled. "There's plenty of space, too. It doesn't feel crowded at all!"
"Silence!"
A deep voice rang out, and the entire conference hall fell silent. A man in purple battle armor appeared on the raised platform at the front. His gaze swept over the 100,100 people below—all of them geniuses who had passed the preselection.
"Ganwu Universe Country had 100,100 contestants pass the preselection." The man in purple battle armor pointed to his side, where a screen appeared, displaying portraits one by one. "These hundred, who ranked first in their respective World Zones, have directly secured a place in the finals. They're qualified to represent Ganwu Universe Country in the showdown between the top geniuses of countless Universe Countries." As he spoke, he pointed right at Lu Yan'an's portrait.
"The remaining hundred thousand will compete for 900 places."
"The arena battles... are divided into the Arena Melee and one-on-one arena matches," the man in purple battle armor continued. "First, the Arena Melee will eliminate ninety thousand of you! The hundred thousand of you will be divided into a thousand groups, with a hundred people in each group. Each group will fight on the same arena, and the last ten standing will pass the melee."
"After the Arena Melee, only ten thousand will remain!"
"The 900 places will be decided among those ten thousand! How will the 900 places be awarded? Simple: one-on-one matches. The winner advances, and the loser is sent to the 'losers' group.' The ten thousand contestants will be paired off into five thousand matches. After the first round, five thousand winners will advance, while the five thousand losers will be sent to the losers' group. The process continues until, after four rounds, the 625 remaining winners secure 625 of the 900 places."
The man in purple battle armor paused, then continued:
"The remaining 275 places will be decided among the losers! Of the ten thousand contestants, 625 will be winners, leaving 9,375 in the losers' group. Those 9,375 will face a brutal and drawn-out Reincarnation Battle to determine the final 275 places."
"The Reincarnation Battle means that each of the 9,375 contestants in the losers' group must fight one-on-one against each of the other 9,374! In other words... each person in the losers' group will have to fight 9,374 matches! A win earns one point; a loss or a draw where both contestants die earns zero! At the end, the contestants will be ranked by points. The top 275 will claim the last 275 places!"
"All of this was posted on the official website before registration. If you still don't understand the format, you can go back and read it! Now, the one-on-one arena battles are about to begin!"
The man in purple battle armor swept his gaze over the 100,100 geniuses below, who were buzzing with discussion.
The Arena Melee would eliminate ninety thousand people in one go! The 625 winners would advance directly, while the Reincarnation Battle would pick the final 275 contestants from the losers' group. It was all far too brutal!
"Whoosh!"
Suddenly, a screen appeared in front of every powerful young genius in the conference hall. A number from 1 to 1,000 appeared on each screen.
"See the number in front of you? That's your group!" the man in purple battle armor called out. "The first day will cover Groups 1 through 200. The Arena Melee will last five days and end on the fifth day. Of course, if you can't even make it through the arena battles, you won't qualify for the subsequent Reincarnation Battle!"
Illusion Dream stood among the crowd and looked at the number "66" in front of him. A knowing smile appeared on his face. "This group assignment's pretty lucky, huh?" As one of the main figures in the showdown in World Zone 44, Illusion Dream would have an overwhelming advantage in the Arena Melee!
"I hope you all pass the Arena Melee," the man in purple battle armor said, his voice echoing throughout the conference hall. "The Virtual Universe System will now teleport you away. Make sure you're all well prepared."
Hum...
In an instant, all 100,100 geniuses in the conference hall disappeared.
Before you continue