Rebirth: Supreme Soul Master

"No, this is far from the number of teams that usually participate in most of the competitions we play in."

When Lucas said those words, William knew there was only one reason to explain all these coincidences... someone must have been bribed to ensure the two teams would meet at some point in the game.

If they had arranged to meet earlier, things would have been suspicious. But meeting every time they came to a competition as a team is indeed suspicious.

However, even if William knew there was a problem, even if all the team members knew, there was nothing they could do.

Without any evidence, they cannot go around accusing the organizers of such serious manipulation.

“We won’t be in the top 50 this year,” another teammate sighed deeply. William looked around and saw bitterness, frustration, and disappointment on their faces.

"Alas! Power cannot make everything right," William knew this was the result of Galend and his team's underhanded tactics, "but power can solve any problem."

He doesn't really care what happens to this team. However, he doesn't like winning through dirty tricks.

“Then let’s do our best,” William said, trying to boost morale.

“By the fifth round, we should be able to get around three thousand crystals,” Lucas suddenly said, bringing up the matter.

William realized that even with the team facing such a dead end, Lucas was still thinking about his own well-being.

“That doesn’t matter to me,” William shrugged. He knew what Lucas was thinking. Lucas had recruited him on the condition that he receive one-tenth of the final reward. The difference between receiving a thousand and three hundred crystals was enormous.

“I was walking around when you stopped me,” William said, putting the matter to rest once and for all. “So 1,300 is fine. It’s free wealth, and I got it without even thinking about it.”

“Alright.” Lucas knew William was saying this to reassure him. But since the man had already said it himself, he didn’t say anything more.

For William, this meant nothing. Even if he won first place, the amount of spirit crystals he received would be insignificant to him.

What he wants to experience is the arena and the true essence of the competition. If it's really worth it, he'll change the whole plan and have his team compete here.

"The good news is that the first two teams are relatively weak," one player said.

“We’ve seen both of these teams before and won against them,” Lucas explained. “We faced a first-round team two years ago, and we faced a second-round team last year.”

"How do you know which team we'll be facing?" William thought it was strange to designate certain teams by name. There were too many teams on the list to remember them all. Not to mention that many of them were from outside the academy, there were probably very few outside soul masters even within the academy.

“The small numbers next to each team’s name,” Lucas pointed again to the paper in his hand, “are the expected odds determined by the experts.”

"A tie?" William could hardly believe that they decided who won and who lost based on such an assessment.

William knew without a doubt that these numbers didn't represent the odds of winning or losing, but rather the odds of these teams bidding for the contracts.

In any battle, bidding is always an unreliable method to determine victory or defeat.

“We use this as a general way to assess the team’s performance each round,” Lucas said, a statement William disliked hearing. “For teams we are already familiar with, we can better determine their performance, whether against their opponents or against us.”

"I understand…"

“Don’t worry about anything,” one of the team members gave William a thumbs up. “We’ll take you all the way to round five.”

William said nothing. He wasn't weak. And he knew that if he participated in the competition, his performance would be much better than many of the Silver Soul Masters around him.

But he remained silent and followed them into the arena. "The arena is divided into one large arena, called the Grand Arena, which consists of twenty small arenas, five medium-sized arenas, and one large central arena..."

As the team entered the stadium, Lucas began explaining the stadium's grand design to William. They weren't the only ones entering; a large crowd poured in as well.

William learned that the arena comprised three general-purpose fighting arenas for anyone to use. Both big-day matches and regular battles took place in these three locations.

In addition, there are about one hundred small private arenas available for rent at different prices.

From Lucas's words, William learned that the price difference was for certain things, such as the approximate size of the private arena, the strength of the hidden formations used, or even hiring a master of at least the Gold rank to teach anyone he wanted. One day.

It seems to be a place for learning and gaining experience, rather than just a place for fighting and winning wealth.

"...The central stage of the Grand Arena is reserved for the final three matches of each level. As for the other twenty-three stages, we will hold the matches there until the final two rounds."

Upon hearing this, the group arrived at a vast space within the Grand Arena. William noticed that there were many areas here, not exactly private, not rooms, but composed of three walls, with a fourth wall opening onto this magnificent space.

“Let’s go there,” one of the teams said, pointing to a spot. Before the team moved there, William discovered that Galend and his team were doing the same sport and accepted it.