The next morning.
At the Grand Peace Square in the imperial capital.
The Hundred Cities League Tournament was packed with a sea of people!
Thanks to the convenient teleportation arrays, professional fighters from all over the country had flocked here.
Even the sprawling imperial capital seemed to grow cramped.
But at Grand Peace Square, even with the ocean of people, it still managed to hold them all!
When Lu Ran arrived, he was utterly stunned.
As far as he could see, it was nothing but bobbing heads, and it was almost impossible to even move a step.
Lu Ran hadn’t expected the Hundred Cities League to be this popular.
Back when he was in the lower grades, he’d known about upperclassmen participating in the tournament, and he’d heard about its grand scale and the government’s strong support for it.
But he’d never actually been here before.
He never imagined it would be this explosive!
And that pretty much guaranteed that today, Lu Ran was going to become famous nationwide!
Beside him were the four guild leaders. To avoid stirring up chaos and commotion in the crowd, they had all put on cloaks.
This made Lu Ran unconsciously feel that nowadays, if you saw anyone on the street wearing a cloak to hide their face, they had to be an expert—or at the very least, a celebrity!
“Don’t be nervous. Just perform the way you usually do,” Liu Xinxin said gently, patting Lu Ran on the shoulder.
“I’m not really nervous. I just didn’t expect this many people,” Lu Ran replied.
He paused for a moment, thinking.
Then he continued, “So, once the matches start, should I hold back a bit, stall for time, and then make my move?”
Liu Xinxin shook her head. “No need. Things are different now—you’re not a kid anymore. You don’t have to worry about your safety. Just go all out.”
At that moment.
Ye Hongyi leaned in close to Lu Ran and added, “In other words, Xinxin is telling you to play however you like! No matter what you do, your big sister here has your back.”
Lei Tai and Yu Qingcang, meanwhile, stood off to the side, not really able to chime in.
After a while.
Yu Qingcang finally spoke up: “Lu Ran, I’ve arranged for someone to guide you into the venue. Once you’re there, you’ll draw lots to determine your one-on-one opponent. Contestants have their own dedicated passage. Like your sister Xinxin said, feel free to do whatever you want—you’re not going to lose anyway.”
After that.
Liu Xinxin took the time to explain the tournament rules in detail to Lu Ran.
They were actually quite simple.
As the name suggests, a hundred major cities participated.
Each city had only one slot.
In fact, some cities had up-and-coming professional fighters with powerful hidden classes who would even transfer their registration to other cities just to compete.
There were even issues like buying and selling players behind the scenes.
But none of that had anything to do with Lu Ran.
In short, one hundred cities, one hundred contestants.
Day one consisted of two rounds.
They drew lots to determine matchups. It was one-on-one, real-time combat. Once the match began, if either contestant’s health dropped to 1%, they would automatically trigger a loss, and the other would be declared the winner.
Since the arena operated under arena rules, there was no risk of death. Health could only drop to 1% at minimum, so there was no danger to life.
In the first round, the 100 contestants were divided into 50 groups for 1v1 matches, eliminating 50 and leaving 50 to advance to the second round.
The second round worked the same way—draw lots, 1v1—and produced 25 winners.
And that was it for day one: two rounds, with 25 contestants moving on to the third round.
By tomorrow, the third round would start. The 25 would again draw lots to determine opponents, but there would only be 12 groups, with one lucky contestant getting a bye straight into the fourth round.
That meant a total of 13 would enter the fifth round.
That would be the semifinals, held in the latter half of tomorrow afternoon.
In the semifinals, again, one person would get a bye. The remaining 12 would be split into six groups, producing six winners, for a total of seven advancing to day three—the final round the day after tomorrow!
Once more, one person would get a bye, while the other six were split into three groups, producing three winners.
Then, on the afternoon of the day after tomorrow, four contestants would face off, narrowing it down to the final two. Immediately after that, the grand finals would take place to decide the champion!
Of course.
Those were the basic rules—the ideal scenario.
But it didn’t always work out so neatly, because there could always be unexpected issues: contestants dropping out, no-shows, and so on, which meant there wouldn’t always be a bye.
Still, the end result was always the same: they’d eventually crown a champion.
Once Lu Ran had a clear understanding of the rules, the four guild leaders took their leave. They were attending this year’s Hundred Cities League as special guest judges and referees.
Although they received invitations every year, they rarely showed up, because the tournament was always held right before the national war. They simply didn’t have the spare time to watch a bunch of rookie professional fighters bash each other.
It meant nothing to them.
At best, it was a chance for major guilds to scout promising talent—but those picks were mostly predetermined anyway. The guild management handled those decisions, so they didn’t need to intervene.
But this year was different.
This year, Lu Ran was competing, so this Hundred Cities League was bound to be spectacular!
As for the national war, they’d just fight when the time came. There was nothing to worry about, especially with Lu Ran participating.
Finally, the person Yu Qingcang had arranged arrived.
“Hello, my name is Su Ting. I’m from the Sky Alliance management department. Over the next few days, I’ll be coordinating your schedule and everything related to your matches,” said a long-haired girl with a warm smile, standing beside Lu Ran.
As she spoke, her curious gaze swept up and down, sizing him up.
She didn’t know much about Lu Ran either, but as a necromancer who had been personally assigned by Yu Qingcang to take care of him, there had to be something special about this guy!
Even so, Su Ting could never have imagined—what could possibly be so special about a mere necromancer?
The Hundred Cities League was a den of hidden dragons and crouching tigers—this wasn’t a place where someone just a little bit unusual could stand out.
“I’m Lu Ran. Thank you,” Lu Ran said politely.
“Just call me Tingting. I’m not that much older than you anyway,” Su Ting replied with a grin.
Just then.
A surprised voice suddenly rang out from the edge of the crowd.
“Lu Ran! It really is you! You’re here early!”
Lu Ran turned his head.
To his surprise, it was Cong Yu.
Beside Cong Yu was another girl who looked almost identical to her, but with completely different hair color and an entirely different aura.
“Cong Shuang…” Lu Ran wasn’t an idiot—he figured it out immediately.
This was the legendary prodigy girl of the imperial capital, Cong Shuang—Cong Yu’s twin sister!
“I just got here too,” Lu Ran said casually.
“Oh, the Cong family has reserved seating right at the front. Come with me—I saved you a spot so we can get a better view once the matches start!” Cong Yu said excitedly.
It was clear that the Cong family was no ordinary bunch. Behind Cong Yu and Cong Shuang stood a middle-aged man, plus a number of bodyguards and attendants—they certainly had quite the entourage.
Even though the place was packed with people, wherever the Cong family walked, the crowd parted to make way for them.
“That won’t be necessary. I’ll be competing later, so I won’t have time to watch. Contestants have their own dedicated passageways—not the spectator seats,” Lu Ran explained.
Huh?
Cong Yu’s eyes went wide. “Don’t mess with me, the tournament’s about to start, you—”
Before she could finish.
Lu Ran pulled out his certification card.
It was also his proof of identity as a contestant.
