The venue for this competition is a spacious area with a diameter of three hundred meters, enclosed by a three-meter-high stone wall on the periphery. The audience, seated on wooden steps outside the venue, overlooks the event from an elevated position.
The number of spectators is approximately around a thousand, with almost half of Tian Shi City's idle population having gathered. On the other hand, the audience from Lorran City is embarrassingly sparse, making it inconsequential to distinguish between the main and guest stands.
The notary officials are representatives dispatched by the nearby Holy Silver Church, with a special envoy from the Church and an imperial official serving in this capacity. Such an arrangement not only avoids local collusion but also showcases the might of the Empire, following the consistent tradition of the Land Deed Tournament throughout its history.
"Feifei, have you reviewed today's competition lineup? Do you have any opinions you'd like to share with Lord Lei?" nodded the notary official, Xu Muzhi, clad in a red robe, to Liu Feifei.
"Ah? Oh!" After silently casting a tranquility spell on herself and calming the inexplicable excitement of the past few days, Liu Feifei nodded.
"Very well, my lord. In this competition, I believe Tian Shi City can easily emerge victorious. According to the submitted roster, Tian Shi City has a significant number of reserve personnel, and their professional configuration is quite reasonable. In contrast, Lorran City has only five participants, putting them at a significant disadvantage in this round-robin format."
Liu Feifei lowered her head towards the dark-faced man beside her.
"Moreover, as far as I know, most of Lorran City's commoners have already migrated, and it has become an empty city. Rumor has it that among the contestants, there are even forest rangers. Therefore, I think this competition should conclude quickly."
Acknowledging the information, Lord Lei, the man in black armor, nodded as he reviewed the list in his hand.
"It seems the disparity in strength is indeed significant. In that case, let them start as soon as possible. I wonder who will have the privilege of ascending this year."
"Very well, my lord." Xu Muzhi stood up, glanced at the two teams that had entered the arena, muttered for a while, then stretched out his hand. A massive transparent barrier hummed into existence, enveloping the entire competition venue.
"Wow! Amazing! Such a huge shield!"
The audience cheered upon witnessing this scene. With this protective shield in place, they could watch the competition more safely.
"The Bishop Xu's Verbal Fortress is truly admirable. It took only a minute!" Liu Feifei, with a flushed face, exclaimed in awe.
Xu Muzhi chuckled and waved his hand modestly, "It's nothing special. The venue is small this time, so it can be done quickly. If it were larger, I might struggle a bit!"
In magic, regardless of the form, casting generally involves three steps: energy gathering, construction, and empowerment.
Energy gathering involves assessing and collecting the necessary energy for the spell. Gathering too much wastes energy, while too little results in spell failure, making it the most fundamental step in casting.
Construction is a step that truly tests the skill of the caster. Although the magic runes are fixed, how efficiently and stably one can construct and secure those runes is a perennial subject of study in the magical world.
A caster with higher construction skills for the same spell will release it faster. Faster spellcasting implies greater combat effectiveness, and some simple magical constructions have even been researched to approach instantaneous casting.
The final step is empowerment. If energy gathering is likened to collecting molten iron, and construction is creating a mold, then empowerment is like pouring the molten iron into the mold, infusing energy into the constructed magical runes to successfully cast the spell.
However, this is not a simple process. The stability of the runes determines the upper limit of the speed of infusion. Pouring too quickly may cause the magic runes to burst due to the volatile energy, while pouring too slowly will inevitably delay the casting time.
Therefore, only a caster who can balance the relationships between energy gathering, construction, and empowerment can be considered a master.
As for the distinctions between black iron, bronze, and silver in magical realms, they are merely based on the amount of energy reserves.
Thus, a bronze caster, despite having energy reserves a hundred times higher than black iron, may still face a skilled opponent with a chance of victory.
Looking at the transparent shield behind him, Night Triple-More shrugged.
"First participants from both sides, present yourselves!"
There was no warm-up, and no opening address. Xu Muzhi, as the chief notary official for this competition, nodded to the captains of both sides, signaling the immediate start of the match.
This aligns with the consistent approach of the martial-centric Tianwei Empire, which refrains from unnecessary formalities.
The Land Deed Tournament follows a knockout format, with both sides submitting a list of their first participants in advance. The winner continues to challenge the next selected opponent from the losing side until defeated.
This means that the victorious side not only faces a continuous rotation of opponents but may also be selectively targeted by the losing side, employing tactics such as sending a professional counter or sacrificing a cannon fodder to exhaust the opponent.
The competition adopts a best-of-five, three-wins format. The side that secures three victories first wins the overall team competition and gains the land deed contract of the opposing territory.
Additionally, Tian Shi's extra territory includes Baiyan Village, while Lorran's domain is reduced to only Lorran City. This implies that if Night Triple-More and his team fail, Weng Ling will lose her last territory and become a commoner.
Hence, the significance of the first battle is extremely high, and the subsequent lineup and strategy will be adjusted based on the outcome of this initial confrontation. This places a certain strategic demand on the captains of both sides.
Night Triple-More glanced back and raised his hand.
"Go, and be cautious."
Bede nodded and entered the spacious battlefield.
His first nominated combatant for this match was Bede!
"Is it really okay for Bede to be the first one to appear?" Weng Ling, hearing the boos and whistles from the stands, furrowed her brows.
"Rest assured, I have everything arranged." Night Triple-More pulled out a small stool, calmly sitting down.
The three notary officials sensed Bede and the opponent sent by Tian Shi City, confirmed their identities, and nodded.
"Let me reiterate the rules of the competition. Both sides can use any battle techniques and spells below the forbidden curse level. Consumables are limited to five uses for the entire match, shared among the entire team. The maximum battle time is one hour, surrender or loss of combat capability results in defeat, and there is a 15-minute interval between matches. No fatal attacks are allowed on already defeated opponents. Do you understand?"
Bede and the opponent nodded.
"So, in the first round of the Land Deed Tournament, Lorran City's Beast Tamer Bede faces off against Tian Shi City's Hunter Mao Sanzhi."
"Let the match begin!"