The thirteen finalists immediately sat down on the ground of the main disc, each within their space delimited by the invisible lines of containment.
There was no hesitation, no conversation. Only the soft sound of bodies settling onto the polished black stone and the faint clinking of spirit stones being positioned.
Some began working at the very same instant.
Wei Chang, the disciple of the Cloud Academy, picked up the first reinforced iron plate and began carving runes with the spiritual ink, fast and precise strokes, as if he had already decided what to do hours earlier.
His fingers moved with the cadence of someone who had memorized every detail of the ancient plate.
Lan Xue, on the other hand, remained with her eyes closed for nearly five minutes, breathing slowly, as if mentally reorganizing the entire flow of information she had absorbed.
