As a formal competition, the Eileen Cup preliminary group draw naturally could not do without the obligatory round of Elsa being booed.
This was probably just habit becoming second nature.
Ms. Elsa stepped onto the main podium and waited for the boos to die down before continuing her announcement:
"The preliminary stage group draw for the Eileen Cup's 95–96 season officially begins. Praise the blood of witches."
"Praise the blood of witches."
Imitating the witches around her, Jiang Han raised her glass and cheered, then drained the Green Fungus Grass sparkling wine in one gulp.
The taste was tart and unripe, but it carried a hint of strawberry.
Elsa invited Eileen onto the stage.
The petite First Witch stood at the podium with both hands braced against the table.
"I am honored to serve as the organizer of this event, and honored to receive the Witch Agency's recognition and become a guest for the group draw. I believe this cup, which brings together the finest witches from all over the world, will be incomparably exciting."
She said softly:
"Then let us begin, Ms. Elsa."
The rules for the Eileen Cup preliminaries were very simple. Eight witches per group; each person would face every other person twice. In other words, each person fought fourteen matches. A win earned one point, a loss earned zero, and the top two advanced. If there was a tie in points, there would be playoffs—brutal playoffs. There was no head-to-head tiebreaker; in theory, three witches tied on points could fight until the end of time.
The group draw was also simple. Witches with no historical record, no high points, and no prior achievements would be mixed directly into the "general pool" and randomly assigned to groups.
Those with historical results and a few points, but