The white flash faded, and Jade's boots hit solid ground.
Dense forest surrounded him. Ancient trees with trunks thick as buildings stretched toward a canopy so dense it choked out most sunlight. The air was humid, carrying the scent of decomposition and blood. Mana saturated everything, chaotic and layered with the residue of countless dungeon breaks.
Jade's eyes swept his surroundings in the half-second after arrival, analyzing terrain and threats with practiced efficiency. Participants materialized all around him in flashes of light, most immediately scanning for danger or forming defensive groups.
Further out, deeper in the forest, he sensed movement. Creatures. Monsters. The continent's inhabitants responding to the sudden influx of prey.
Jade stepped sideways into the shadow of a massive tree trunk and dissolved into darkness. His physical form becoming one with shadow, perception expanding through the network of darkness webbing the forest.
Around him, the forest came alive.
A creature burst from underbrush thirty meters away. It resembled a horse-sized wolf with too many eyes and mandibles instead of a proper mouth. An E-rank Dread Hound, drawn by the sudden presence of so many potential meals.
The creature charged a group of three participants. Two managed to dodge, the third wasn't fast enough. The Dread Hound's mandibles clamped around the participant's torso and tore him in half. Blood sprayed across the forest floor. The other two participants immediately retaliated, one with fire manipulation and the other with enhanced strength. The creature died seconds later, collapsing in a smoking heap.
The participants stood over the corpse, breathing hard, checking their companion's body. Dead. One of them vomited. The other just stared, processing the reality that this wasn't a training exercise.
More creatures emerged throughout the forest, drawn by noise and the scent of fear. Most were E and D-rank threats. Dangerous to unprepared civilians, but these were tournament participants. Elite awakeners who'd survived brutal qualification rounds to get here.
They adapted quickly.
Groups formed, coordinating defenses and combining abilities. Solo fighters who'd arrived alone found defensible positions or began hunting systematically. The initial chaos settled into focused survival as participants remembered their training.
Jade observed through shadow-sense, cataloging participant positions and creature locations while remaining undetected. His wristwatch glowed softly:
PARTICIPANT NUMBER 847,392
POINTS: 0
RANK: UNRANKED
STATUS: ACTIVE
TIME UNTIL OFFICIAL START: 54:23
Fifty-four minutes remained in the grace period. No points would register until the countdown ended, giving participants time to orient themselves and establish initial positions.
Jade moved through shadow-travel, flowing from darkness to darkness like a ghost. He covered half a kilometer in seconds, finding a massive tree with a hollowed base. Its roots created a natural shelter that was defensible and hidden. More importantly, it sat at the intersection of several game trails that creatures clearly used regularly.
Perfect.
He emerged from shadow inside the hollow and settled in to wait, his sensory net spreading outward through the surrounding darkness.
Minutes passed. The forest settled into an uneasy equilibrium as participants found temporary safety and creatures returned to their territories.
A group of four participants ran past Jade's position, moving with purpose rather than panic. They were coordinating through hand signals, clearly from the same delegation or academy. Smart. They'd already figured out that cooperation increased survival odds dramatically.
But cooperation also meant splitting points. In a field of two million participants competing for ten thousand slots, efficiency mattered less than raw accumulation.
Jade's watch showed thirty minutes remaining. He used the time to map the surrounding area, identifying concentrations of mana that suggested dungeon remnants or stronger threats. There. About three kilometers northeast. A massive signature, either a dungeon remnant or something that had emerged from a high-level break. The forest in that direction was denser, darker, older.
Perfect territory for accumulating points once the grace period ended.
The watch chimed softly. Around the continent, two million identical chimes rang simultaneously.
ELIMINATION ROUND: OFFICIAL START
DURATION: 168 HOURS
CURRENT PARTICIPANTS: 1,847,293
REQUIRED RANK FOR ADVANCEMENT: TOP 10,000
They'd lost over 150,000 participants during the grace period. Dead, injured, or eliminated by emergency extraction when their vital signs became critical.
The real tournament had begun.
Jade stood and walked out of his shelter into the darkening forest. A D-rank Spine Ripper prowled nearby, its barbed tail twitching as it scented the air.
Jade didn't break stride. Shadow tendrils erupted from the darkness around the creature and crushed it in less than a second, bone and chitin compressing until the Spine Ripper was nothing but pulp.
His watch flashed.
POINTS: 4
CURRENT RANK: 1,847,289
Jade continued walking, his eyes scanning for the next target. This would be simple enough.
----------------
Meanwhile, back on Kronathis Prime, in the arena observation areas...
The massive holographic displays activated fully as the official start registered. Rankings began populating in real-time, showing the top thousand participants as they accumulated points.
Lio and Niamh sat in the Nexarion delegation's observation section, their eyes on the displays.
"Can you find him now?" Niamh asked.
Lio was scrolling through feeds on his datapad. "The system prioritizes top-ranked participants. Everyone else is just background footage unless we specifically search for his number." He typed rapidly. "I'm trying to pull up 847,392 but there are too many feeds processing simultaneously."
Around them, other Nexarion supporters were having similar struggles. Family members of the other participants, all trying to locate their fighters in the chaos.
"There!" Someone shouted. "That's Revik's group!"
The feed showed the four Nexarion alpha participants moving as a unit through dense forest. They'd already eliminated several creatures and were coordinating well, their ranking climbing steadily into the top fifty thousand.
But still no sign of Jade.
...
Back on Nexarion, in the Governor's mansion...
The main viewing room had been converted into a watch party. Multiple holographic displays showed different feeds. Selene had insisted on inviting all the shop apprentices, Gorvoth, and various staff members.
Kael stood behind Selene's chair, one hand on her shoulder, trying to provide comfort as his mate stared at the displays with manic intensity.
"Where is he?" Selene demanded. "Why can't I see him? Kael, I need to see my boy!"
"The feeds focus on ranked participants," Kael explained gently. "Once Jade starts accumulating points and his ranking establishes, we'll be able to find him more easily."
"But what if something happens and we don't see it?!"
"Jade is strong," Kael reminded her. "Stronger than almost anyone on that continent. He'll be fine."
"You don't know that!"
Gorvoth spoke up from the back of the room. "The boy survived worse in the slums. He'll survive this."
Selene shot him a glare. "He better."
The apprentices clustered together, watching feeds anxiously. Mira had her hands pressed to her chest in worry. Several of the younger ones looked close to crying.
On screen, another participant went down to a C-rank creature. Selene flinched.
"Change the feed," Kael said quietly to a staff member. "Show the successful groups."
The feeds shifted to show participants doing well. Coordinated teams taking down creatures efficiently. Solo fighters demonstrating impressive skills.
Still no Jade.
"He'll definitely be fine," Gorvoth said with certainty. "Maybe he's waiting to make his move. Or probably waiting the initial rush out."
Selene latched onto that explanation. "Yes. He's being strategic. He's not reckless." She repeated it like a mantra. "He's fine. He's fine."
.....
On Herculio Prime, in Aurelien's quarters...
Rowan had the holographic display showing multiple feeds simultaneously. He sprawled in a chair, watching with obvious enthusiasm.
"Look at that coordination!" He pointed at one feed showing military academy participants. "Proper training right there." He switched feeds. "And that one just took down a C-rank solo. Impressive."
"Rowan." Aurelien's voice carried mild warning.
"Right. Analyzing, not celebrating." But Rowan grinned. "Still better than tactical reports."
Aurelien sat in his own chair, posture perfect, expression neutral, reviewing a datapad while the feeds played nearby. He wasn't watching, exactly. Just aware.
The feeds cycled through various participants. Most showed solid fundamentals. Some demonstrated impressive power. Others were forming effective alliances.
None particularly interesting.
"See anyone worth your attention yet?" Rowan asked.
"No."
"Give it time, my lord. Once people start really competing, we'll see who's actually impressive."
Aurelien made a noncommittal sound, returning his attention to his datapad.
But part of his awareness remained on the feeds, tracking movements, analyzing combat styles, waiting for something to catch his interest.
He doubted it would happen.
...
...
Back on the continent...
Jade moved through the forest systematically, eliminating creatures as he encountered them. E-ranks died to shadow suffocation before they registered his presence. D-ranks were crushed by compressed darkness. The occasional C-rank required slightly more effort but nothing that made him slow his pace. His system continued to chime in his head , notifying him of the experience gain:
[EXP+10]
[EXP+10]
.....
....
His watch updated continuously.
POINTS: 147
CURRENT RANK: 743,821
Still nowhere near the top thousand that the feeds prioritized. Exactly as intended.
He reached the area he'd identified earlier, where mana concentration suggested either a dungeon remnant or high-level threats. The forest here was older, darker. Trees so ancient their roots had broken through and reformed multiple times.
And the creatures here were stronger.
Jade's eyes caught movement in the canopy above. Something large, serpentine, covered in scales that absorbed light. A B-rank Shadow Viper, judging by the mana signature.
Now that was more interesting.
The Viper struck, dropping from the canopy with its jaws wide enough to swallow a person whole. Jade stepped sideways into shadow-travel, letting the creature's momentum carry it past him. He emerged behind it and drove a spike of compressed ice through the base of its skull.
The Viper thrashed once and went still.
[EXP+49]
POINTS: 163
CURRENT RANK: 621,445
Better. But still not enough to draw attention. Jade needed to maintain this balance for the entire week, accumulating points at a rate that kept him comfortably in the top ten thousand without climbing high enough to appear on the priority feeds.
Let everyone else fight for glory and attention. He'd take survival and efficiency. The only thing he needed was to win, not glory.
Jade dissolved back into shadow and continued deeper into the forest, hunting systematically.
The Tenday Tournament had begun, and he intended to win.
...