Fire Dragon City, War God Temple.
The War God Square—large enough to fit three stadiums—was packed to the brim with people. Not only had numerous experts from every major superpower gathered, but a massive crowd of spectator players had also arrived, quietly awaiting the official start of the Seating Tournament.
"Look! The battle venue is about to be revealed!"
At the prompt of a few players, a faint glow began to coalesce above the War God Temple, gradually forming into a colossal holographic projection. The projection spanned several hundred meters across—large enough for players tens of thousands of yards away to see clearly. It had essentially become a landmark for the entire city of Fire Dragon.
And the appearance of this holographic image didn't just thrill every player in Fire Dragon City—even the city's NPC residents were buzzing with excitement.
"It's finally starting!"
"This tournament will determine the future direction of the entire Divine Realm. A lot of hidden experts from the major superpowers will be showing themselves one by one. Once you get in there, make sure you record the data on every one of those experts. They're all people you absolutely cannot afford to provoke in the future—some of them will become the true giants of the Divine Realm."
"All you rookies, pay attention. The guild spent a fortune to reserve an VIP observation room so you could experience this tournament up close. Cherish this opportunity and learn as much as you can from those top-tier prodigies!"
...
All around the square, the various factions preparing to watch the matches began issuing similar instructions to their guild's talented newcomers, urging them to seize this chance. After all, this was the peak battle of the Divine Realm.
"Prodigies? I want to see just how impressive they really are."
"I heard a lot of the big names on the Tempest Rankings will be appearing. I wonder if we'll get to see them go head-to-head."
The young prodigies from the major factions listened with barely contained excitement, some even feeling the urge to throw themselves into the arena for a bout of their own.
But it wasn't just War God Square in Fire Dragon City that was focused on this event. The entire Fire Dragon Empire—and the entire Divine Realm, for that matter—was watching. The catch was that the number of players who could actually spectate was painfully small, much to the frustration of the masses.
There were only a thousand VIP observation rooms, each holding no more than one hundred people—not a single extra soul. As for the regular spectator seats, there were only ten million spots. Compared to the vast player population of the Divine Realm, that was a drop in the ocean.
But what was truly infuriating was that it wasn't only players buying tickets—NPCs were too. According to information from the War God Temple, over twenty percent of all tickets had been purchased by NPCs. Of the tickets left for players, more than sixty percent had been snapped up by the major factions. Less than twenty percent remained in the hands of independent players...
As time slipped by, the holographic projection above the War God Temple finally revealed this tournament's battle venue.
The image showed a vast ocean. Towering waves crashed beneath skies split by lightning and thunder—a domain no player could casually enter. Scattered across the sea were eighteen islands, each different in size. The smaller ones resembled modest leveling zones, while the largest were more than three times the size of the smallest.
The distances between these islands were considerable as well. Under calm conditions with no wind or waves, it would take at least two hours to reach one by bronze speedboat. With massive swells and storms, doubling that travel time would be perfectly normal.
"No way—is this going to be a naval battle?"
"Wait, there are a bunch of small islands out there too."
"Could it be an island capture scenario?"
Players watching from outside the War God Temple and the participating members of the major superpowers all buzzed with discussion, surprised by the chosen venue. But before they had long to debate, the specific rules of the Seating Tournament appeared one by one.
One: Teams would be randomly teleported to an island. Each team must consist of no fewer than one hundred players and no more than one thousand. Every island featured a different number of resource points—some had as few as twelve, others as many as thirty.
Different resource points yielded different guild point rewards. Occupying a low-tier resource point for one hour granted ten guild points; a mid-tier resource point granted twenty guild points per hour; a high-tier resource point granted thirty guild points per hour.
The match duration was twenty-four hours. The top six guilds in total guild points across all islands would earn the twelve reserved seats.
Two: Among the eighteen island arenas, the larger the island, the greater the restriction on players' mental and physical stamina. Players could not use any burst skills or magical items. The top five guilds in each island arena could travel to other island arenas. Any player who died during the match would be automatically teleported out of the arena and suffer a two-level penalty.
After reading the full rules, every player involuntarily sucked in a sharp breath. This competition placed enormous emphasis on a guild's overall depth and its command structure.
Individual strength would be of extremely limited use in this tournament. And if a guild's combat power wasn't distributed well, a total wipeout was entirely possible.
"These rules are way too favorable for the guilds with large rosters." Mu Lingsha, standing in the War God Square and gazing up at the rules projected overhead, furrowed her slender brows.
The minimum requirement for participation was Tier 3 Class. Even though most superpowers had roughly similar total member counts, the number of Tier 3 players varied drastically between them.
Take their own guild, War Spirit Unfallen—they currently had only around four thousand five hundred Tier 3 players. Meanwhile, a massive guild like Celestial Dragon Manor fielded over eight thousand.
Of course, any guild participating in this tournament generally had at least six thousand Tier 3 players, so the gap wasn't quite as severe as with War Spirit Unfallen.
But even so, the disparity in participating manpower remained enormous. The five great super-guilds each boasted over twenty thousand Tier 3 players—a number no other faction could hope to match. That was precisely why the rest of the Divine Realm's superpowers held no illusions about claiming the remaining five seats.
And a two-fold manpower gap would be amplified even further in this kind of match.