Mixed Blessing System

The old man, the main referee of this competition, began to talk about the trials. "Starting on Wednesday, we will begin the Province Conference with the trials for spiritual professionals, starting with the alchemy trial. Then, in sequence, we will have..."

"... Finally, at the end of the day, we will have the last two trials, the individual and collective battles."

Regardless of the importance of the spiritual professions to this world, the main point of any competition like this was the fights. So, naturally, the most anticipated moment would be at the end of each day, for the best enjoyment of the competition.

But not only that. Cultivators were busy with their training and duties and could not follow an event like this in its entirety. So, the essential part of this event, which would demonstrate the raw power potential of each organization in the province, was more relevant and needed to be followed.

Knowing who would have the best alchemist or poison master was important. But seeing the most talented fighter was on another level and could not be ignored!

In that way, the division of the tests throughout each day's competition was not just to keep the audience interested in each fight.

"In any case, regardless of the order of the competitions concerning the different professions, we will have random tests for each of them. But they will follow the parameters of the regulatory organizations of each profession."

"The only exception is for warriors, who will have to fight..." He smiled since there were not many ways to test a warrior.

One could test someone's talent, but no one would need to come to a competition to find this out. Such a thing was typically done within families, and either others found out about it in their way, or such families used items to hide the talent of their offspring competing in events like this.

So there was no point in taking a talent test.

As for combat understanding, although relevant and more complex information, this could be accessed through ordinary battle.

Therefore, there were few ways to test a warrior's skills other than a fight.

"Anyway, each competitor with victories in their respective tests will guarantee a point for their families. That score is the same regardless of whether it's for an alchemist test or one for warriors."

"At the same time, each day of the conference is eliminatory. That is, a portion of those competing will be eliminated." He looked thoughtfully at the competitors in different places in that coliseum. "We have 39 families, with 16 spots for each organization."

"On the first day of testing, we will eliminate three-quarters of the candidates. On this day, each competitor will have two matches against different opponents chosen by a draw, and whoever loses a match will be eliminated."

He gestured with two fingers and said. "On the second day, two-thirds will be eliminated, but we will have single contests with three contestants each. The best of them will stay in the contest, and the other two will return home."

"On the third and fourth day, half will be eliminated. So we'll have single contests between two opponents on those days, and the winner will get to the next round." He gestured with his hands. "Then, we will have 13 competitors for the grand final."

"On this day, the competitions will be a little different. Each test will have four contests. In the first two, one contestant will always be chosen by chance and will not need to participate in at least one of these contests to move on in the competition. Meanwhile, the others will compete against each other to determine who continues in the event."

"The last two matches will be played by those remaining, with the fourth determining the overall winner." He smiled as he remembered the prizes for the young competitors, not just their families.

This old man then said to the joy of the main competitors in that coliseum. "For each profession, that individual who finishes first will have unparalleled resources or opportunity as a prize for their performance. In particular, the winning family of the collective match will have two slots to the Secret Realm and the individual winner, one place."

After he finished saying the crucial things that the competitors needed to know, immediately, each of these youths began to talk about their strategies.

The Province Conference was not a competition where it was enough to have the physically strongest or the best experts. No, because of the division of trials and scoring scheme, whoever won the most matches had the best chance of winning.

And as obvious as this seemed, it did not necessarily mean that the family that won the final would be the winner. For example, a family with more people capable of competing in various tests of different professions would have a better chance of winning than one that played fewer matches, even if its competitors did not win the final.

Some families were more focused on specializations and would undoubtedly win many of their battles in those fields. But others might have members participating in tests for, for example, four different professions instead of two or three.

In this case, even if it was difficult for a candidate focused on several areas to win finals, they could bring in several points for their family.

That was what the Frost family intended to do with many of their candidates!

For example, Annaliese was not necessarily the best cook of her age in the province, although she worked hard at it and enjoyed cooking. But depending on her opponents and luck, she could get from 0 to 9 points for her family just from the tests for spiritual cooks.

Meanwhile, she would still compete in the group test with the rest of the family, the individual fight, and the one for sculpture. So, she could bring in from 0 to 36 points for her family, while a competitor who would only participate in tests for two professions could contribute from 0 to 18.

In this case, even if the Frost family or others following this strategy did not have the best competitors, they could still get essential points for the final ranking!

On the other hand, there was a minimum of contesting that a family historically needed to achieve scores necessary to maintain their past results. Since House Frost lost two competitors in this edition of the Province Conference, they had been forced to distribute more responsibilities to their members, among them, Lothur.

That elder who had suggested that he should bear more responsibility had no idea that Lothur had spiritual professions. She only wanted him to engage in group and individual fights, perhaps bringing some surprise to the family.

Even if he or others did not get any points, as long as they could get in the way of the family's opponents, increasing such people's chances of defeat in later trials, it would be worth it!

So, as the conversations in each of the competitor's areas unfolded, the registration of the participants in the exams they wanted to take opened up, preceding the drawings that would take place later.

All this was done publicly for the families to participate and judge the integrity of the competition. But the participants did not need to remain there for the entire process.

In this way, as soon as he had signed up for his areas of interest, Lothur headed towards the exit of this coliseum.

...