Chapter 660: Magical MOBA & First Kill
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Inside the Dream Arena, Crouch held the freshly delivered game rules from Tom and loudly explained them to the audience.
To ensure the contestants wouldn’t be affected by outside interference, the canyon and spectator stands might appear connected, but they were actually completely separated by magical barriers.
From inside the canyon, if the players looked up, they wouldn’t see the audience at all. Only a vast blue sky.
Originally, the battlefield was supposed to include snow, rain, and other environmental variations, but development time had been too short and Tom had too many other projects demanding attention. For now, the canyon only had sunny weather.
Still, he had already placed weather-control research on the schedule.
As Bagman continued explaining, the audience gradually began to understand the game’s rules.
Things like defensive towers, crystals, and bases were simple enough that they barely needed explanation.
The real focus was the way Tom restricted the contestants’ strength, using those limitations to replace the usual differences in levels and abilities.
Because every contestant had vastly different power levels, creating perfectly precise sealing restrictions would have been extremely difficult.
So Tom simply gave up on restricting the players themselves.
Instead, he restricted their wands.
The moment each contestant entered the canyon, their wand was sealed. Any spell cast would have fixed power and effects, and only leveling up could gradually unlock stronger output.
Want to use wandless magic?
Sure. Break the rules once, and lightning would descend from the sky to paralyze you for thirty seconds.
So... the only thing capable of bypassing these restrictions were the Magic Cards the champions had earned in the previous round.
Now they finally understood just how valuable those Magic Cards truly were. Used properly, they could grant a massive advantage or even turn a hopeless defeat into a comeback.
Uagadou champion Nassim stared blankly at the black walnut wand that had suddenly appeared in his hand. Recalling the rules in his mind, he suddenly felt like he was about to suffer a heart attack.
Wasn’t this rule specifically targeting Uagadou?
But no matter how upset Nassim was, the match still had to continue.
Besides... He was honestly getting excited too.
This actually looked pretty fun.
And he wasn’t the only one thinking that. The other contestants were eager to start as well.
"Let’s sort out the lanes first. There are only three lanes, but we have four people."
Fleur’s words pulled everyone’s attention back to the immediate problem.
The platform they stood on was still blocked by a layer of blue light, while the red side had the same barrier. The match hadn’t officially begun yet.
The current teams were:
Blue Team: Fleur, Daphne, Quinta, Nassim
Red Team: Kamio, Ariana, and Jauncey
The contestants’ original strength differences no longer meant much.
Everyone now needed to level up quickly, save gold to unlock stronger abilities, and purchase special items.
The red side conveniently had one player per lane.
But the blue side had a problem.
Nobody wanted to give up a lane, and nobody wanted to share one either.
In the end, Nassim lost to the cruel reality of gender disadvantage and got shoved into the jungle.
...
"Not the glory of one person, but the glory of a team!"
A majestic female voice echoed across the canyon.
At the same moment, the barriers blocking the contestants vanished.
Everyone immediately rushed forward.
As they reached the high ground towers, three openings suddenly appeared in each base, and three squads of goblins marched out.
These were all alchemical goblins personally created by Tom.
Real living creatures were simply too expensive to use for something like this. Otherwise, after a few rounds of the game, every single one of them would probably become even more cold-blooded than Voldemort.
Whenever a goblin was smashed apart, it would be teleported back inside the base, where automatic repair machines would quickly melt it down, rebuild it, and send it back out for recycling.
Since the rules had already been transmitted into everyone’s minds before entering, the contestants knew defeating goblins granted experience and gold that could later be used to buy equipment in the shop.
Naturally, some people immediately started putting their clever little brains to work.
Daphne headed mid lane first. Looking at her own goblins charging mindlessly toward the enemy’s first defense tower, Daphne was the first to stretch out her sinful hand.
"Locomotor!"
Pebbles rose from the ground and slammed into one of the goblins.
Unfortunately, the attack was too weak and barely did any damage. She attacked several more times before finally managing to kill it with the enemy goblins’ assistance.
But then... The gold counter on her bracelet instantly dropped from zero to negative thirty.
A moment later, Daphne’s horrified scream echoed across the nearby area.
"How the hell does killing them lose money?!"
...
"Pff—hahaha!"
Ariana, on the opposite side of the lane, couldn’t hold back her laughter.
She’d originally wanted to test it herself, but Daphne had acted faster, so Ariana decided to wait and see what happened first.
Even without seeing the exact numbers, Daphne’s reaction told her everything she needed to know.
"Flipendo!"
Right then, Daphne’s two goblins were already low on health. Ariana casually fired off a Knockback Jinx, neatly securing both kills and earning herself experience and gold.
The spectators outside burst into laughter as well, while praising Tom’s game design nonstop.
Just for one tournament, he’d somehow built a project with entertainment value and spectacle far beyond imagination.
Was this what happened when someone had too much money to burn?
Or too much talent?
Either explanation was ridiculous.
...
Since Tom had actual business to deal with today, he wasn’t sitting in his private box. Instead, he’d joined Fudge and the other political elites in their suite, where flattery filled the air from every direction.
Suddenly, the suite doors swung open.
Two figures stood side by side in the entrance, blocking out most of the light.
The room instantly fell silent.
Some people were trembling in fear, sitting stiffly in their seats.
"Wasn’t everyone having such a lively conversation just now?" Grindelwald grinned broadly. "What’s wrong? Aren’t you happy to see me?"
Does this man seriously have zero self-awareness?
The ministers and directors cursed inwardly. If Dumbledore hadn’t been present, some of them would’ve already been considering escape routes.
"Everyone, let’s sit back and enjoy the match."
Tom suddenly spoke with a cheerful smile. "I invited Mr. Grindelwald here personally. Things have been a little unpleasant between everyone lately, but for the future of the magical world, peace is still preferable. So I thought perhaps you all could sit down and talk things out instead of fighting all the time."
"Mr. Riddle is absolutely right. The magical world needs peace." One minister hurriedly agreed, while the others nodded along enthusiastically.
They were secretly delighted.
Excellent.
This time, both Dumbledore and Riddle were standing on their side. Surely Grindelwald wouldn’t be able to stir up any trouble now.
Unfortunately for them... They had no idea what they were actually about to face.
...
"FIRST KILL!"
A sharp female voice suddenly rang out across the sky.
Everyone’s eyes widened.
The first kill had appeared—and the champion who fell was completely unexpected. Even Tom hadn’t seen it coming. Everyone had noticed the clash between the two champions and assumed the outcome was obvious, but the opposite had happened instead.
Life really was full of surprises.
.
.
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