The time had finally arrived.

Two days of hard work training had passed like a blur, and while Yi Qiang couldn't say he hated it - it was rare he found the time for simple, straightforward exercise anymore - he did itch for the battle and tribulation that, hopefully, the tournament would bring him. Also, he was quite sure the value of the prizes would far surpass the effect of a meager two days of training.

So it was with energy that Yi Qiang found himself waiting in the long line to speak to the people stationed at the multitude of entrances to the arena.

He assumed that the majority of people waiting were there to spectate, but looking at some of those in line, Yi Qiang could pick out just who was here to fight.

Unfortunately, none of them seemed lie they would be able to offer any satisfying battles, but hidden strength was hard to gauge, so Yi Qiang hesitated to dismiss anyone right off the bat.

Idly chatting with Shenyu, Yi Qiang finally got to the front of the line.

"Hello, I registered for the tournament."

The bulky attendant perked up, clearly having been bored by the swathes of loud spectators pouring into the building.

"Sure! May I have your name?"

"Yi Qiang."

He was waved through in short order, told to take the door on the right(at each entrance, there was a dividing column of stone that differentiated two different doors), and the marksman was one step closer to whatever amazing awards would be offered up.

After he followed the hallway up until it led him into a large lobby of sorts, it was about an hour of waiting before the tournament really started.

He supposed they wanted to give everyone a chance to arrive and settle down, both the spectators and the participants, but Yi Qiang thought starting at around 1:00 PM was still just lazy. Maybe it was his fault for arriving so early in the time window(the attendant had told him the approximate times for entrance into the audience or participants when he first registered). Still, the marksman simply wanted to beat the crowds - he did not enjoy idly standing about in a neverending line going nowhere.

Regardless, the tournament was beginning now, and that was what mattered. So, as employees started beckoning everyone out of the arena, Yi Qiang also stood up, Shenyu, surprisingly, much more excited than he was.

The first thing he noticed when he stepped out of the lobby was the sound — the overwhelming cacophony of voices that was the cheering. Yi Qiang couldn't help but feel assaulted by this raging sound, and judging from their facial expressions, nor could almost every new contestant that stepped out into the sunlight.

The second thing was the stage.

It was huge.

Instead of the route most arenas went for, seeking efficiency and thus building multiple raised platforms to hold numerous battles at once, this place went for something different.

Their one stage was so big it could hold all those battles on that surface. And, when that wasn't needed, it could provide an even more expansive combat area on that one platform.

It took around five minutes for everyone participating to gather on that stage. Just the fact that it was able to hold so many people at once was immensely impressive, but Yi Qiang was willing to bet that at least half of those many, many people were to be eliminated in short order - they were cannon fodder.

When everyone had formed a rough, cohesive blob of fighters, a judge dressed in eye-catching garments walked up. His robe held intricate, embroidered golden patterns, and the cloth it was made up of was red, sporting very attention-drawing juxtaposition.

Soon, he began to speak.

"Attention! I will elaborate on the rules of the tournament once! I will not take any questions or clarifications - we're past elementary school, there's no reason for you to need the same information pounded into your head multiple times."

Although the man's methods were brusque, Yi Qiang had to admit they were effective - the gaudily-dressed judge was able to quickly stop the chatter and fasten everyone's attention onto him.

"Good. First off, there will be three stages to the tournament here. First are the preliminaries. Here, we will eliminate anyone not qualified to participate further. Think of it as weeding out the weak."

"Next, there will be one-on-one battles until the number of total participants falls to 16. After that, we will have... special rules. You'll find out about those eventually."

"Now, I'll tell you a little bit about the rewards. Those below the top three don't get anything, because this isn't a charity. Third place gets a Spatial Stone," the judge had to stop given the overwhelming surge of chatter brought on by this statement. Though Yi Qiang didn't know what it was, this Spatial Stone had to be a rather useful object if it could evoke such a reaction. He had to wonder what the other prizes were... Not for long, though, as the judge continued. "Second place gets a Spatial Stone and a royal weapon of their choice."

Again, the response was tremendous. This time, it was a little louder. Since the existence of the Spatial Stone had already been announced, Yi Qiang assumed the royal weapon was of equal or higher value to it.

"Finally," the judge smirked. "The first place winner gets... a Divine Reformation Elixir."

His confident and arrogant facial expression contorted, however, when he saw the crowd's reaction.

Complete silence.

"I don't like him." Shenyu felt the need to input his opinion about the ostentatious judge in this lapse of any activity.

I don't think anyone does, Shenyu. Yi Qiang responded, finding the universal gazes of dislike and contempt quite remarkable.

The judge coughed. "For those who don't know what that is, I won't explain much, but I'll just tell you the Divine Reformation Elixir is capable of changing a person's talent."

The uproar brought on by that finally mended the man's aggrieved expression, a sight Yi Qiang didn't know if he was sad or happy to witness. On the one hand, a satisfied judge is a less biased judge. On the other hand, I can't say I like how much he's pandering to the crowd; that could have a severe impact on battles later on. Crowd favorites, if this judge is so interested in how the masses react, will definitely have a huge advantage here.

I can't believe how such an obviously successful arena allowed this immature judge to play such an important role...

The marksman's complaints were cut short by the judge's final words as he retreated, walking off the stage as his lofty voice drifted towards the contestants.

"The preliminaries will now begin..."