"Oh? There's this part too?"
Lin Yuan looked around. Sure enough, the platform was full of Players who had competed.
At the center of the platform stood a huge raised stage, with colored light forming the words "Champion's Prize Claiming Stage" in the air above it.
The system really had put together a proper event for this Instance Tournament.
Lin Yuan smiled and made his way through the crowd onto the stage.
The crowd gathered in a circle below the stage as well.
Foolish Old Man and the others stood at the very front, while everyone else waited outside the stage area in order of their rankings.
Only after the champion had claimed his prizes would it be their turn to collect theirs according to rank.
Below the stage were the other Players who had not participated in the Instance Tournament, along with residents of the Endless Sea.
The residents stood aboard ships on the sea, gazing up at the platform in the sky.
Everyone on the platform, in turn, gazed up at Lin Yuan on the stage.
At that moment, standing on the stage and looking down at the dense crowd below, Lin Yuan felt as though he had become the center of the world.
But what rose with that feeling was not pride or complacency, but a sense of weight and worry.
He thought again of the stretch of history he had traveled through, and the Sanctum Founders' words echoed in his heart.
"The world is on the brink of disaster."
"Those who stand at the forefront must open a path for those who follow."
Lin Yuan was not yet someone standing at the forefront of humanity.
But sooner or later, he would be.
When that time came...
Lin Yuan shook his head, reining in his wandering thoughts.