Brand-New Technology

"Starting, starting—the competition's starting today."

Du Lingxuan cheerfully opened the competition livestream.

Jiang Han saw several clean, commentary-free feeds displayed in the computer mist, specifically for tournament commentators like Xuan Bao to use. It had to be said, Xuan Bao really had pull—even Anjie's dedicated feed had been opened to her. Incidentally, Jiang Han could also see Teacher Yu and the others' names in the room where feeds were assigned. These commentary channels were run by the witches themselves, and other witches had to pay admission to watch.

A second round of charges.

Jiang Han helped operate things while Chen Ligu adjusted the equipment beside her, feeding spell mist into the large screen so there would be an image.

A huge Nether Festival emblem appeared on-screen, along with an introduction to the event:

"...Nether Festival Eve Solo Invitational. Prize pool as high as 3.2 million, with twenty invitation slots and four qualifier slots in total. Double-elimination format. The top eight enter the money circle—the term for placements that receive prize money."

The prize money was so generous! Jiang Han thought. Witch currency was remarkably durable, and it had always been tied to Witch Gold. Amid witches' enormous demand for and consumption of Witch Gold, the currency's value had consistently trended toward stability. This year, it had even risen somewhat, because Gaia had no large-scale Witch Gold reserves—only vast reserves of ore and mithril.

Incidentally, mithril ore had crashed, plunging from 8,900 per ounce all the way to 6,400. Plenty of witches had cried themselves unconscious in their living rooms.

But for Jiang Han, it was good news. Mist Immortal Cat Lamp's training plan would consume a massive amount of mithril. With prices this low, it was absolutely fantastic news. She wished mithril would crash another 50%! Then she could go