The day before the arena competition arrived.
In the Virtual Universe, on one of the floating continents above Ganwu Continent, there was a massive conference hall.
The conference hall was enormous, with rows upon rows of seats, easily accommodating over one hundred thousand people.
"So many people," Lanka, who was sitting beside Ender, exclaimed, "There are also many Geniuses who have comprehended Law, nearly Eleven hundred."
"Indeed, a lot." Ender nodded, looking ahead from his position at the dense crowd of people.
A participant, upon seeing Ender, couldn't help but whisper, "It's Green Demon!"
"What? Green Demon!" Hearing this, the participants looked over, each taking a sharp breath.
What they saw was not only Green Demon, who was hailed as the number one Genius of the Ganwu Universe Country in this Pinnacle Genius Battle, but also Eleven Geniuses who had comprehended Law surrounding him, making people exclaim that he was truly worthy of being the number one Genius!
"Quiet!"
A deep voice rang out, and immediately the entire conference hall fell silent. A man in a silver robe appeared on the high platform at the front of the conference hall. His gaze swept over the one hundred thousand and one hundred people below, all of whom were Geniuses who had passed the preliminary selection.
"One hundred thousand and one hundred people from Ganwu Universe Country have passed the preliminary selection." The silver-robed man pointed to his side, where a screen immediately appeared, displaying images of individuals. "These 100, who achieved first place in their respective world regions, directly receive the final quota and are qualified to represent Ganwu Universe Country in the Pinnacle showdowns of the many Universe Countries."
"The remaining one hundred thousand will compete for 900 quotas."
"The arena battles… are divided into 'Arena Melee' and 'Arena One-on-One Battle'." The silver-robed man continued, "First, ninety thousand people will be eliminated through the Arena Melee! You one hundred thousand people will be divided into one thousand groups, with one hundred people per group. Each group will fight on the same arena, and the ten who survive will be considered to have passed the melee."
"After the Arena Melee, only ten thousand people will remain!"
"The 900 quotas will be decided among these ten thousand people! Now, the one-on-one arena battles will begin."
The silver-robed man's gaze swept over the one hundred thousand and one hundred Geniuses below, where a buzz of discussion arose.
The Arena Melee would eliminate ninety thousand people at once.
Too brutal!
Although many people understood the competition format, they couldn't help but discuss it when it was actually announced.
Moreover, the competition in this Genius Battle's Ganwu Universe Country was exceptionally fierce. Excluding the 100 participants who ranked first in their worlds, the 900 quotas were being contended by nearly one thousand Geniuses who had comprehended Law, which naturally led to their fervent discussions.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, in the entire conference hall, a light screen appeared before each Genius expert. The light screen displayed a number, ranging from 1 to 1000.
"Do you see the number in front of you? That is your group!" The silver-robed man said in a booming voice, "Tomorrow, groups one to two hundred will begin. The entire Arena Melee will last for five days, ending after five days."
Ender looked at the light screen in front of him. The number on the screen was "985", an auspicious number.
As for Lanka, who was beside him, his number was "997", which was very inauspicious!
"I wish everyone success in passing the Arena Melee." The silver-robed man's voice echoed throughout the conference hall. "Now, everyone will be teleported out. Please prepare."
Buzz…
The one hundred thousand and one hundred Geniuses in the entire conference hall instantly vanished.
...
One day later, the arena competition officially began.
In the Virtual Universe, within a specially created planar space, a vast and boundless river surged. Within this river, which traversed the entire space, lay islands, each with a fighting arena.
This arena battle was held in these fighting arenas.
Previously, the preliminary selections in the one hundred world regions were not broadcast live; one could only rent a spaceship to watch the battles from above the selection worlds.
The Ganwu Universe Country has over thirteen thousand Starfields, and countless Universe citizens who could only see the ranking list of the world preliminary elimination rounds, but couldn't directly watch the exciting battles, were naturally anxious and impatient!
However, the upcoming arena competition could be truly watched live, which made the tickets for the arena competition sell incredibly fast!
If it weren't for the participants of the arena competition having priority in purchasing tickets, Ender would not have been able to get one at all.
The Arena Melee was divided into one thousand groups, with 200 groups competing each day.
The first day was for groups 1 to 200.
A participant from Molten Rock Empire was in group 82, and Ender came this time to watch the competition and experience this national event that drove countless Universe citizens wild.
"It's a bit of a shame, it would be great if my family could come and watch my competition."
In fact, he wanted to bring his family to watch, but unfortunately, the Virtual Universe of the cultivation planet was a customized version and not fully connected to the Virtual Universe Network, preventing them from entering the fighting arena to watch the competition.
As the virtual projection host began to call out names, starting with those with lower rankings from the world preliminary elimination rounds, each introduction was met with cheers from a specific area. Those were the citizens of the Starfield to which the participant belonged, cheering for the Genius of their Starfield.
"It's truly cruel; four Geniuses who have comprehended Law are placed in one group." Watching the participants of group 88 being called out, Ender shook his head, feeling sorrow for the participants in that group.
With four Geniuses who had comprehended Law in the same group, if all four Geniuses were to kill simultaneously, some participants who had a chance to pass the Arena Melee might very likely be eliminated.
And the result was just as he had predicted: a participant with Domain Level Nine, who clearly had a chance to pass the Arena Melee, was eliminated by a Law Genius.
After watching this match, Ender left the fighting arena. Watching the competition alone wasn't very interesting, so he went back to conduct simulated battles.
...
Thus, the fifth day of the Arena Melee arrived.
In the Virtual Universe, within the planar space where numerous fighting arenas were located, inside the preparation hall of the fighting arena on Island number 9527, participants sat on chairs, waiting for the impending Arena Melee.
Whoosh!
Ender, dressed in black battle attire, appeared out of thin air. He scanned the surrounding participants, found no Law Geniuses, and prepared to casually find a seat.
As Ender sat down, a participant not far away turned his head and found the newcomer's face to be surprisingly familiar.
"This person is…" The participant recalled for a moment, then was immediately startled. "It's Green Demon! I'm actually in the same group as Green Demon!"
"It's Green Demon!"
"Green Demon is in this group too!"
"This is bad. With Green Demon here, we can only compete for the remaining nine spots."
Not only that participant, but other participants also recognized Ender.
And when someone muttered to themselves, their voice was not soft, immediately letting all the participants in the preparation hall know that Green Demon, who was hailed as the number one Genius of the Ganwu Universe Country in this Pinnacle Genius Battle, was also in this group.
As all the participants were lost in thought about Green Demon being in their group, a man with four arms entered the preparation hall. As soon as he entered, he heard all the participants discussing a certain title.
Green Demon!