Chapter 353: Chapter 280: Skill Upgrade Summary, the Shovel Assassin Makes a Move
What surprised Su Ze even more was that his Eye of Truth had also become a Tier 5 skill. Although it was only B-grade, it had originally been a Tier 3 skill. Jumping two tiers at once was quite impressive.
’That Tier 5 Wonder, the Eye of Insight, wasn’t wasted after all!’
With a skill of this tier and quality, Su Ze felt he would be letting himself down if he didn’t take first place.
...
「October 20th.」
The day before the three-continent Hegemon exchange, the eight contestants from the three major continents met for the first time.
Today was the day for drawing lots to determine the match order and for the official announcement of the complete competition rules.
Su Ze glanced around but didn’t see any of the Legendary powerhouses from the Snowfield or Flame Emperor Continents. Even the Legendary powerhouses from Lin Hua Continent hadn’t shown up.
He knew that the contestants from the Flame Emperor and Snowfield Continents had been personally escorted by the Legendary powerhouses of their respective continents.
’It seems the Legendary powerhouses will only make their appearance at the official competition tomorrow.’
Of the four contestants from Lin Hua Continent, besides Su Ze and Mr. Ya, one was from the most prominent major family in Lin Hua Continent, the Jiang Family. That’s right—the family of Lin Hua Continent’s ruler, Jiang Pingle.
The other was an official from Lin Hua Country.
Su Ze wasn’t familiar with either of them, nor was he interested. His attention was focused on his opponents from the Snowfield and Flame Emperor Continents.
Both contestants from the Flame Emperor Continent were men. Their skin was so dark that Su Ze couldn’t tell them apart, so he had to rely on their hairstyles to distinguish them. One had short hair, and the other wore long dreadlocks.
The man with short hair was named Bibo. The one with dreadlocks had a name that was too long for Su Ze to bother remembering, so he just mentally dubbed him ’Dreadlocks Guy’.
The two contestants from the Snowfield Continent were a man and a woman. The man was a muscular, middle-aged giant over two meters tall. The woman was under thirty, with delicate features, a tall and slender figure, and skin as white as snow. She radiated a cold, aloof aura.
This female contestant from the Snowfield Continent was the youngest of the eight participants besides Su Ze. Having become a Saint-level Hegemon at the age of 28, she was an absolute prodigy.
The male contestant from the Snowfield Continent was named Taka, and the female contestant was named Reya.
With only eight contestants, the format for this exchange tournament was quite simple: a single-elimination bracket where opponents were determined by drawing lots.
And since Lin Hua Continent had four contestants participating, an internal match was all but inevitable unless they got incredibly lucky.
The drawing ceremony was also being streamed live. The exchange tournament had garnered a terrifyingly high level of attention online, and the officials of Lin Hua Country had decided to broadcast the entire event live across Lin Hua Continent.
The official competition hadn’t even begun, yet the live stream of today’s drawing ceremony alone had already shattered viewership records.
Su Ze and Mr. Ya walked onto the stage and each drew a stick from a container that was shielded from any form of power-based detection.
"Number 3." Su Ze glanced at his stick.
Over on the Flame Emperor Continent’s side, the short-haired Nige Bibo held up his long stick. It was also Number 3.
Su Ze’s opponent for the first round was decided: it was Bibo.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ya had drawn an internal match. His opponent was the Hegemon from the Lin Hua government, a man named Huang Peng.
The contestant from the Jiang Family, named Jiang Yi, drew Taka, the giant from the Snowfield Continent who stood over two meters tall.
’Dreadlocks Guy’s’ opponent, in turn, was Reya from the Snowfield Continent.
All sides found the results of the drawing acceptable, as there was only one internal match among the Lin Hua Continent contestants.
Next, Chen Suifeng, the director in charge of the tournament, took the stage to announce the complete rules for the competition.
The rules were largely the same as a standard arena competition, but with two noteworthy exceptions. First, the use of Wonders was permitted.
In each match, every contestant was allowed to use only one Wonder, and its tier could not exceed their own evolution level.
Therefore, preparing a powerful Tier 4 Wonder was crucial for the contestants. Su Ze guessed that everyone had brought out their most treasured Tier 4 Wonders.
Second, the competition venue was also different from previous tournaments.
Hegemon-level powerhouses were far too destructive for an ordinary arena to withstand. Furthermore, the limited space of an arena would hinder their ability to fight at full strength.
So this time, to allow the contestants to go all out, Lin Hua Country had directly cordoned off a stretch of empty land in the Desolate Desert, west of the Lin Hua Continent, to serve as the competition venue!
Lin Hua Country had already sent personnel to clear all the mutated beasts from the designated area. By fighting in the desert, they wouldn’t have to worry about causing any collateral damage.
Consequently, no tickets were being sold for this competition. There would be no live audience; everyone could only watch via the television and internet live streams.
When the two contestants from the Flame Emperor Continent heard the venue was in a desert, they were visibly pleased. Their own continent was located in an arid, hot region, so they were well-adapted to the sweltering, dry desert environment. Some of their skills might even receive a slight boost there.
The contestants from the Snowfield Continent, however, looked displeased. They lived year-round in a world of ice and snow, and many of their skills were water- or ice-based, which might be slightly hampered in the desert.
Su Ze, for his part, was completely unconcerned about the venue. ’The strong adapt to their environment or even change it; only the weak need the environment to adapt to them.’
After the drawing ceremony ended, all the contestants were immediately sent to a border city in the western part of Lin Hua Country. The city was close to the Desolate Desert and not far from the next day’s competition venue.
Early the next morning, they would head into the desert for their matches.
...
The Desolate Desert was vast and boundless, bordering the Great Desert Kingdom and Lin Hua Country to the east and the Myriad Beast Mountain Range to the west.
Although the Desolate Desert was filled with numerous mutated beasts that constantly threatened the border security of Lin Hua Continent, it also served as a natural barrier, cutting off the Myriad Beast Mountain Range from the continent.
