Today, a rare drizzle fell from the sky, but it could not douse the hunters' enthusiasm in any way.
The construction of the auditorium progressed quickly. Tang Yu used custom construction to build the skeleton, and the engineering team and some metal and earth ability users worked overtime.
And in just a few days, the construction of the half-moon shaped audience seats, which could accommodate two thousand spectators, was completed.
The number of seats seemed to be a lot, but it was nothing compared to the number of people who poured into the Tree Shade in the past few days.
The entire auditorium was filled to the brim, with half of the seats allocated to the major forces invited to the event.
For example, a few of Lindong's top executives didn't come personally, but many of their men came, and some also ordered their subordinates to send gifts.
In addition to the large mercenary regiments, the original top squad, the top ranking of the Tree Shade Shelter Adventurer's Guild, and the surrounding shelters with strong strength also came along.
The Department of Municipal Affairs responsible for matters of the martial arts tournament sent a varying number of tickets to the audience according to the size of the power
The other half of the seats have long been snatched up by the Tree Shade Shelter survivors.
There were still many people standing in the open space where no spectator seats were built, watching from a distance, even if the sky was raining, yet not many people intended to leave.
In front of the audience, the 50 square meters fighting ring was surrounded by a few smaller 25 square meters rings.
At the moment, what standing on the ring was not the competitors with cold faces fighting their opponent. But a performance team wearing bright clothes.
It was a written rule anywhere that the opening ceremony should have some performance.
There was a lot of singing and dancing and a lot of drumming.
Although it wasn't the hunters who showed their strength, this kind of performance can also highlight the living standard of the Tree Shade survivors.
On the stage, in addition to the performance team, Shay, who once again got a spot as the host, was talking about the history of the development of the Tree Shade Shelter and the rules of the preliminary rounds of the Martial Arts Tournament in a lively voice.
"The preliminary round is divided into two stages: the 100-player battle royale stage and the other is the loser challenge stage."
"A total of 2,789 hunters participated in this martial arts tournament. Each participant, please pay attention to the serial number card you have received. The first stage of the 100-player battle royal will last until the last person emerges as the winner."
"Down for more than ten seconds, fall out of the ring, the initiative to admit defeat, enter the loser group. In the second stage, each person in the loser group has a chance to purchase the right to challenge. The hunters who have purchased the right to challenge can challenge anyone in the first stage winners. The winner will take their place. The last hundred people who remain in the winner group will participate in the final…"
Tang Yu's strategy to make the loser purchase the right to challenge was not entirely based on the fact that he wants to make money. It was just a way to limit the loser and a swarm of people to purchase challenges.
However, the number of participants this time was still far beyond his expectations. He had no choice but to cancel the initial preparation of one-on-one combat preliminary mode.
......
Time was gradually approaching the beginning of the preliminary round of 9 a.m., and the hunters in the room looked more and more excited.
The drizzle gradually stopped, the dark clouds dispersed, and a ray of sunlight came down.
"Here, I would like to introduce to you the two commentators for this competition. The one on my left, Captain Roger of the Patrols, and the one on my right is our special guest, the leader of the Ancestral Dragon Special Warfare Regiment from Lindong, Zhou Zhenglei."
Compared to Captain Roger, who was known to many hunters. Zhou Zhenglei, the former captain of Lu Jianjun's guard unit, was unknown to many hunters, even in Lindong.
But once the identity of the Ancestral Dragon Special Combat Regiment leader was announced, people were all astonished.
To be able to secure this position in Lindong, his strength was undoubtedly one of the strongest.
But such a strong person would appear as a special guest of the tournament… a small part of the audience doesn't know what to say.
With the sound of the drums, the first group of participants, number 001-100, walked onto the central main ring.
The 50 meters square ring-although not small, was still crowded with so many people standing on it.
Each participant was only a few meters away from each other; all looked vigilantly staring at each other.
The match soon began, and the scene was unexpectedly chaotic.
Perhaps because most of the hunters had never experienced this kind of melee combat, and many people were punched and spit out blood before they could react or were kicked out of the ring.
Before the match began, some of the weaker participants glanced at each other, intending to work together to eliminate the masters. But once they got down on the field, it was not the same thing at all.
The hunters were mostly First and Double Awakening. Their auras entangled with each other; it was impossible to sense the master and the ordinary ones.
In just a few minutes, two-third of the hunters have been cleared out of the field. Some fell out of the ring, and some couldn't move. But the patrols responsible for rescue dragged down from the field.
Those who suffered severe injuries were quickly sent to the Tree Shade Shelter hospital.
There, their injuries will be treated. But if they want to heal quickly, they will be required to pay an extra price.
After all, you get what you paid for.
"Everyone, please see, the left Player 023 made a series of sidekicks, while the back Player 077 blocked them with two hands. His stance is very stable. It seems to belong to the previous one that had the upper wind, but in fact, the fight is stable and steady. The victory is still difficult to predict."
"I wonder what Chief Zhou and Captain Roger have to say." Shay handed the microphone to the two commentators.
"Player 023 has a slight advantage, but the winner is hard to predict." Zhou Zhenglei said.
"That's right." Roger succinctly summarized what the last two had said.
The corners of the mouths of the others in the audience twitched a little. Instead of the two special guest commentators, it seems the host talked a bit more. But his commentary was entirely reasonable.
At this time, the first group of the preliminary round had reached the end.
The one left at the ring was two Fifth Awakening Stage experts, but not just any hunter; one was a Tree Shade Shelter veteran adventurer who used Body Hardening Potion, while the other was a transformation ability user.
The two sides fought so fast that many spectators' eyes could not keep up. They could only wait for the cameras to play back the highlights and the commentators' commentary.
Then the whole arena was in the "oh", "ah", "awesome" awe. Soon, the first group of matches came to an end.
The second group followed, and the third group…
The pace of the preliminary rounds was swift.
A group of winners and losers quickly emerged. The members of patrols on the stage immediately carried away the fallen players.
The blood on the ring hasn't been cleaned up yet, but the next group had already ascended the stage.
Is this preliminary selection method fair? Definitely not.
The Department of Municipal Affairs didn't deliberately separate people with a high aura in the grouping.
They just randomly assigned them. Some groups had nearly ten Fifth Awakening stage hunters on stage, while some groups only had a Fourth Awakening stage at most.
Some participants in the groups contacted each other before they took the field. Unlike the first group, they had more time to unite and develop tactics.
However, there were also groups where even if the weakest hunters grouped together, they were still pushed out from the rings by the Sixth Stage hunters super masters with strong and unparalleled stances.