The villainous young master just wants to live a Buddhist-like life.

　Looking at her smile, Dark felt for a moment that he wanted Devimon to help him draw the Easter egg—of course, he didn't do that.

　After registering, he pulled out an Easter egg the size of a tennis ball from a large jar, set it aside, and let Diana continue registering.

　Some students who had registered first smashed the Easter egg and pulled out an academic credit voucher, immediately shouting excitedly.

　Another student in line next door drew a green mineral. He was stunned for a moment at first, then exclaimed in surprise, unable to contain his excitement.

　The other students in line—especially the first and second year students who were "participating for fun"—excitedly discussed it.

　Before arriving here, no one expected there would be a participation prize.

　"Hey!"

　After Diana finished registering, she immediately took an Easter egg out of the large jar.

　Seeing that Dark hadn't opened it yet, she couldn't help but say, "Together?"

　Dark nodded: "Together."

　So the two of them exerted force at the same time.

　The Easter egg in Diana's hand shattered instantly.

　A circular number plate and a hexagonal gemstone fell out from it.

　Diana picked up the gem and exclaimed in surprise, "Dark, look what I drew!"

　The gemstone emitted a fiery red light, reflecting off her rosy cheeks.

　But upon closer inspection, a dark shadow is hidden in the center of the gemstone.

　The students queuing up were drawn to the gemstone and looked on with envy.

　"congratulations."

　While offering his congratulations, Dak glanced at the Easter egg in his hand, which only had a fingerprint on it, and silently continued to apply force.

　After finally managing to crush the egg, he only got a number plate and a dusty gray stone.

　He picked up the stone and looked at it for a while, but couldn't figure out what it was, so he had to put it away.

　Meanwhile, Victor Gold, who was in the other queue, also finished registering.

　He glanced enviously at the gem in Diana's hand, then pulled the colored egg from the jar and squeezed it open with both hands.

　"This is... a 10-credit credit voucher?"

　Witt exclaimed in surprise.

　"Good luck."

　……

　[4000/12000]

Chapter 379 Darkdemon Doesn't Want to Be a Kept Man (8/233)

　Walk left from the fork in the road for about two or three minutes, and you will see a very spacious waiting room for the athletes.

　Contestants from grades one through three gradually entered the competition.

　After receiving their number plates, Dark and Diana entered one after the other.

　The two found two empty seats inside and sat down, then began to talk quietly.

　The number of participants was displayed in real time on the wall of the waiting room.

　So far, more than 80 students from grades one to three have registered, and it is estimated that the number will soon exceed 100.

　This is already a very large number compared to the total number of less than 500 students across the three grades.

　Such a large number of participants will inevitably lead to temporary adjustments to the competition format.

　Dak looked around and noticed more and more familiar faces appearing in the waiting room.

　All seven first-year duelists have arrived, in addition to many other students who have forcibly gathered forty magic cards to experience the Grand Melee mode.

　Many people from Duolong's small circle squeezed in and were now gathered in a corner, laughing and joking.

　Inside the Knights' Academy, Witt Gold was sitting with another Knights' Academy duelist, Justin Wayne. However, the two seemed to have nothing to talk about, and the atmosphere was somewhat awkward.

　Robert Broheim was not in the waiting room; clearly, he had failed to collect forty magic cards.

　Dark had initially thought highly of him, after all, the magic cards left behind by the vampire Vlad were still in his possession.

　If Robert can successfully summon "Count Vampire" in the preliminary rounds, he will most likely advance easily.

　Unfortunately, he didn't seize this good opportunity to showcase himself.

　Dark's gaze shifted, noticing that Emma Metis was with a group of third-year female students.

　One of the senior students, with her ponytail and dashing appearance, was none other than Herona Tracy, a member of the literature club who was on good terms with Emma.

　In addition, Angela Hudson and Winnie Skadi, both members of the literature club, were also nearby.

　Dark vaguely remembered that Winnie Skadi had accepted the eldest princess's invitation to dance with her on Halloween.

　She also seems to be a descendant of some sage, and her grades are among the best in the third year of the Magic Academy.

　When it came to the descendants of the sages, Dark's gaze inevitably turned to Sara Skadi, the dark-skinned girl who was as eye-catching as ever.

　As he looked around, Dark suddenly felt a sharp gaze.

　He instinctively turned around and saw that in a corner not far behind him, Mike Owen, the senior who had fought him in the street on Valentine's Day, was chatting with a group of men and women.

　"Is he a member of that Noble History Society?"

　In that instant, Dark's eyes met those of one of the boys.

　But once the boy realized what was happening, he immediately turned his head, pretended to laugh, and avoided eye contact.

　Such a guilty act immediately made Dark a little wary.

　"On Valentine's Day, Senior Ou Wen challenged me to a duel with a series of flimsy excuses, and now someone else has ill intentions. Could it be that my refusal to join their club triggered their retaliation? But that was over a month ago. Besides, if it were really for that reason, wouldn't that be too petty?"

　Dak shook his head, indicating that he couldn't figure it out and was too lazy to figure it out.

　……

　A few minutes later, the number of people displayed on the wall finally stopped.

　Grades 1-3: 132 students

　Grades 4-6: 171 students

　……

　In the end, it turned out there were indeed more than three hundred people!

　Among grades one through three, the main reason for the lower number of students is the lower number of first-grade students, which is why the overall number is lower than that of grades four through six.

　The students' enthusiasm for the open audition battle exceeded expectations.

　The final competition format was also adjusted after the number of participants was determined.

　Inya Knight, the vice-president of the Duel Club in charge of grades one through three, clearly explained the final tournament format.

　"This Easter Duel Festival is divided into upper and lower grade groups. Grades one through three are the lower grade group, and there are a total of 132 people so far."

　"The competition is divided into two rounds: the first round is the preliminary round, and the second round is the main competition."

　"As you all know, the open selection used a chaotic free-for-all mode that has never worked before."

　"Based on the number plates you received, you will be assigned to designated positions around the perimeter of the circular playing area. Please proceed to your assigned position according to your number and wait for the competition to begin."

　"The rules for the preliminary rounds are very simple."

　"With the circular arena as the boundary, you may summon any magical spirit and use magical cards. However, you cannot go outside the boundary or attack players outside the boundary. If you accidentally injure a player outside the boundary, you will lose immediately."

　"The score is based on the number of magical spirits killed. One point is added for each magical spirit killed and one point is deducted for each magical spirit killed. Magical spirits that can be divided together are counted as one point."

　"The scores of all players will be displayed in real time on the big screen."

　"A normal match lasts for half an hour."

　"Change from a points-based system to a time-based system."

　Read the full text for free here

　"Finally, the ranking will be based on points."

　"The top eight players with the most points will directly advance to the main competition!"

　"The main competition adopts a single-elimination system, where losers are eliminated and winners advance."

　"The matches in the two groups will be held alternately."

　"Only one contestant will win this group in this competition, and the academy has prepared an Easter golden egg for the winner!"

　"do you understand?"

　……

　The rules of the competition are indeed very simple and easy to understand.

　Darke had already guessed the whole set of rules even after hearing only half of them.

　He was merely surprised that the points-based system had been changed to a time-based system.

　The point limit system means that a certain score is required to advance to the next round.

　This effectively allows high-scoring players to leave the competition during breaks, giving the remaining players more opportunities to earn hunting points.

　The time-limited system will gradually become a hunting ground for high-scoring players!

　This leads high-scoring players to keep hunting in order to get even higher scores.

　This will also make the whole game more intense.

　To win, you must seize every second from the very beginning.

　As for which competition format is better?

　It's hard to say who's good or bad.

　As one of the 303 contestants, all Dark can do at this point is to follow the competition rules and perform within those rules.

　The appearance of the number plates caused the students' positions to be disrupted and separated.

　This has reduced the impact of off-field team formation to some extent.

　It also has a real-time scoring system, which caters to both players and viewers, which is great.

　Another point to note is the reduction in the number of qualifying spots.

　Originally, there were 32 players from the two groups who would advance, but now there are only eight players from each group.

　This will intensify the competition.

　It will be even more difficult for them to qualify!

　The reason for reducing the number of contestants is easy to guess.

　Since this is a festival-like competition, the schedule should not be too tight.

　A schedule of one match every half hour would be more suitable.

　Two matches are held every hour, with a break in between, which allows for interviews and introductions of the contestants, giving the audience a better understanding of them and making it easier... well, to gain fans.

　In total, there are twelve matches in the main competition, lasting six hours.

　In addition to the opening and closing ceremonies, there were two chaotic preliminary rounds.

　It also frees up lunch time.

　The game will end at dusk.

　perfect!

　……

　After a moment's thought, Dak understood the general situation of the competition.

　When he looked up after finishing his thoughts, fourth-year student Inya Knight was already calling the contestants to enter.

　Because it was organized rather hastily, the opening ceremony of the Easter Duel Festival was very simple, consisting of only a few minutes of speech and a war dance performance by students from the school, totaling less than fifteen minutes.