The first Magical Beast and Magic Plant Competition, which had lasted more than two months, finally drew to a close.
To be honest, Kroya was not particularly satisfied with it.
Although the Golden Apple Dream came very close to reality, it was ultimately not real, and plenty of things had held it back.
Overall, though, it was satisfactory.
"This competition increased the dream's realism by a full percentage point."
The tower spirit said excitedly, "Master, if you hold a few more competitions like this, could you turn the dream into a real world completely?"
It was genuinely delighted. It even set off fireworks around them to celebrate, bursts of multicolored light blooming one after another until the corners of Kroya's mouth twitched.
"...What are you thinking?" Kroya shook his head helplessly. "Progress was so fast this time because it was the first competition, and because so many people came to watch.
"If the second competition uses the same dream, progress probably won't be nearly as fast."
The tower spirit immediately looked disappointed.
But it did not dwell on that, bringing up another matter instead. "I've finished all the investigations you requested."
As it spoke, a magical screen unfolded before Kroya with a swish.
It displayed the identities of the winners in each division.
In the magical beast divisions: Flame-Tailed Dog, Azure Pigeon, short-tailed cat, and burrowing mouse.
In the magic plant divisions: soothing lily, impact pea, pure white lavender, dwarf pine, and midnight bellflower.
Each division had one champion.
These were all people Kroya intended to recruit. Naturally, he had to investigate their backgrounds first. They needed to be reasonably clean, at least, or things would become troublesome.
He had already spent money opening numerous little taverns in various places. Taverns attracted all sorts of people, making them ideal places