At this point, Frederick the 32nd looked in the direction of the contestants. There was an almost indiscernible hint of mirth in his eyes as he said, “I hereby promise to confer the person that wins the exchange competition and emerges as the champion as the first ruler of this lost continent!”
The moment he said that all the contestants’ breathing turned heavy and ragged. Every one of their hearts was pounding madly—the emperor had instantly incited their wild ambitions!
Ten million square kilometers! Just how wide and vast of a territory was that?!
As long as one could win the title of the champion, they’d become the ruler of that continent! From then on, they would preside over the region, watch over the area that stretched on for thousands upon thousands of miles, and become an existence on the same level as the Fire Dragon King, the Frost Colossal Dragon King, the Black Dragon King, and so on!
Just how great of an allure did that notion hold?
Who would be able to resist it?
Even a “city boy” like Meng Lei had become tempted by a thought like that, let alone people of this world who possessed even stronger concepts of territory?
“The champion title!”
“The champion title is mine!”
“Don’t anyone dare fight with me for it!”
A good number of the contestants’ eyes had become all red—all of them had decided to make a determined effort to strive for the title.
“Alright! I shall hand the upcoming matters over to Duke Eustace now!”
Frederick the 32nd looked at a skinny middle-aged man standing to his left. With a warm and mild smile, he said, “My brother, I’ll leave the matters of the exchange competition to you now.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
Duke Eustace bowed in response. Then, he turned to the 7,000-odd contestants, and in a loud voice, he announced, “By His Majesty’s order, I am in charge of hosting the exchange competition this year. I hope that every academy president, teacher-in-charge, related crew member, and every contestant…
“…Lastly, this year’s exchange competition is separated into a total of three segments. They are respectively the Lost Continent Elimination Round, the Half-Plane Matches, and the Mount Dragon God Challenge!
“The first segment is the Lost Continent Elimination Round.” Duke Eustace explained, “Here, the ‘Lost Continent’ refers to the place that His Majesty has just introduced to all of you.
“After some investigation, it has been found that Magical Beasts currently occupy the Lost Continent. There is a great variety of them, and they range all the way from as powerful as Saint Domain Magical Beasts to those as weak as first-grade!
“Your mission is to head to the Lost Continent and hunt the Magical Beasts there. Collect their magic cores and use them to redeem corresponding point rewards.
“The time limit is set at one month! The concrete magic core-to-points redemption rate is as follows:
“1 point per first-grade magic cores.
“5 points per second-grade magic cores.
“10 points per third-grade magic cores.
…
“1,000 points per ninth-grade magic core.
“10,000 points per Saint Domain elementary-level magic core.
“20,000 points per Saint Domain mid-level magic core.
“50,000 points per Saint Domain high-level magic core.
“And 100,000 points per Saint Domain limits-level magic core!
“The top 100 contestants with the most points will advance to the next stage. Those that perish or give up mid-way, those that do not have sufficient points, and those that do not stay for the full month will all be eliminated!”
All the contestants held their breath in concentration and listened quietly to the instructions.
“Later on, we’ll distribute to everyone a specially-made magic communication device each. Should you meet with life-threatening danger, you may dial the magic device to request for help. However… In doing so, you shall be seen as having given up mid-way.”
At this point, Duke Eustace looked at the emperor and asked, “Your Majesty, I’ve finished explaining the competition rules. Is there anything you’d like to supplement?”
“I won’t add that much.” Frederick the 32nd stood and said, “All of you are the empire’s geniuses and talents. Every death among you is a loss to the empire!
“Therefore, let’s make a small change to the Elimination Round’s rules. During the Elimination Round, you may snatch magic cores from others, but taking another person’s life is prohibited!
“Remember, every move you make will be under our supervision. Should anyone violate the rules and harm or kill others without authorization, they’ll be eliminated from the competition!”
At this point, Frederick the 32nd heaved a sigh and explained, “The reason why I’m changing the rules at the last moment is only because I hope that all of you won’t end up like the previous years’ contestants, where not even 1/10 of them were left after the competition, causing the empire to suffer the loss of countless elites for nothing!”
Not even 1/10 of them were left?
The contestants’ hearts trembled at the thought.
What a low survival rate that was!
There were a total of 7,848 contestants this year. If not even 1/10 of them were left, then didn’t that mean that there weren’t even 1,000 survivors?
What the hell?
From this, all the contestants could tell just how brutal the past competitions had been.
“Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty!” All the contestants were overflowing with gratitude at once.
“Alright!” Frederick the 32nd nodded lightly.
“His Majesty is kind and benevolent. On account of how cultivation hasn’t been easy for all of you, he has specially altered the competition rules. Nevertheless, all of you mustn’t be careless!”
Duke Eustace reminded them. “There are countless Magical Beasts in the Lost Continent; just the Saint Domain ones alone already number several hundred. The place is fraught with dangers, and a moment of carelessness would lead to one perishing in the jaws of a Magical Beast and dying a terrible death. Do take care!”
“Yes!” All the contestants responded loudly.
“We shall activate the magic circle one hour later and send all of you to the Lost Continent. If there’s anything any of you still
