The judge didn't know what to say.
Everything moved too fast, and before she knew it, someone had died. 'Is she really a human?'
Her blue eyes moved toward the places where the formations had appeared, and her eyes and lips twitched widely. 'Leaving the death of that brainless person aside… Why is someone who can create Earth-ranked Formations at will in this competition!? Aren't you the one who should be in my position? I have the urge to call you Master!'
Angel tilted her head and asked softly. "Miss, did I do something wrong?"
The lamia suddenly felt the urge to hug her. "No, nothing is wrong. However, killing a competitor is not something we are agreeable with."
Angel nodded. "I know. I'm sorry, he attacked me, and nobody stepped forward, so I had no other choice."
The judge suddenly couldn't say anything more. 'Well, it is true that because she is a human, I failed to react properly.'
"That's true. I also haven't received any notice from my superiors, so let's stop here and move on."
"Really? Thank you, miss. I would be very sad if I couldn't participate and gain things for my Matriarch."
Angel continued shyly, looking at the lamia softly. "Also, miss. Your blue tail is super beautiful. It shines like the beautiful gems in the ocean. I really like it."
Everyone swore they could see a metaphorical arrow pierce the judge's heart.
The lamia slithered beside Angel and hugged her tightly, even coiling around Angel. "Ah! You are such a cute girl! What's your name? What's your age? If your Master is mistreating you, you should come to my house, darling. I am going to pamper you to the sky and beyond!"
'Are all lamia gifted in this area? Selena is also very big in this area.' Angel blushed as her face landed in a new pair of breasts, and the warm and scaly lamia surrounded her body.
The scent was soft and lingering, very pleasant.
Yasenia, on the stands, felt her eyebrow twitching. 'I can't let my baby free, or someone will eventually kidnap her.'
Yasenia coughed, using her energy to gather the judge's attention.
While suffocating Angel with her breasts, the judge blinked twice and turned toward the sound. After spotting the dragon beauty hidden in the stands, the lamia and everyone else froze momentarily.
"Miss, please let my girl go. I know she is cute, but you should restrain yourself. We are in the middle of a tournament." Yasenia smiled and commented in a steady and calm voice.
'Right, I almost forgot. This human is dangerously cute!'
After placing Angel on the ground reluctantly, she began thinking of a way to have this cute human close.
An idea came to mind, so she patted her head and commented softly. "Come to the first row, darling. I'll protect you this time if bad guys like him want to attack you again. You've proven yourself more than worthy of participating in this competition."
Angel didn't answer and turned to look at Yasenia. The dragoness nodded, so Angel looked at the blue lamia and smiled. "Then, I'll be in your care, big sister."
The nickname has gone from "judge" to "miss" to "big sister" in the span of a few sentences. However, the lamia was more than happy with it.
Angel grabbed the lamia's hand and was carried to the front row. Everyone else had seen the person who spoke too much vanish without a trace, so nobody said anything, even though a few didn't like having a human nearby.
After that minor setback, the judge returned to her position, and her expression switched from smiling to a serious and professional one. "For those who didn't know, Humans have always been allowed to participate. It's just that talented humans are scarce, and those with talent are usually killed or hidden by their masters. Hence, the lack of human participants. It is not only rare, and I would even venture myself to say it is the first time we see strong human participants."
The lamia slithered back and forth, her scales reflecting the light charmingly, and continued speaking.
"The rules for the Formation Competition are relatively simple. We'll ask for a certain effect to manifest in the Formation. The better, more complex, and more durable, the higher your points. Evaluation is from zero to a hundred, and there are a total of ten formations. By the end of the evaluation, those with higher than nine hundred points will pass to the second part."
One woman asked. "Is there a time limit?"
The lamia nodded. "Yes. Once half the participants complete the Formation, we'll allow another five extra minutes before asking everyone to stop. The formations are relatively simple, but they all have tricky parts you must pay attention to."
The lamia lifted an eyebrow and warned. "I'm strict, and I'll take away many points with minimal error. Only perfect formations can get a hundred out of me."
The lamia looked around and saw a few who had frowned. "Also, this is a competition, not your clan or sect. If you have any complaints, I'll hear them, but that doesn't mean I'll answer anything. The seniors from the tournament have given me full authority for the evaluation, so if I say you have a zero, then you have a zero."
"Any more questions?"
Angel asked. "Big Sister Judge, what is the maximum quality for formations?"
The lamia blinked twice and smiled. "Little darling, did you mean the minimum? Do not worry. The Formation per se has a quality, so the result will be around that quality as long as you do it right."
Angel shook her head. "No, the maximum. The highest rank."
The lamia was startled for a moment, but remembering the previous events, she somehow didn't question her.
The judge took out a thick rule book and read it for a minute. Then, she commented. "There isn't a maximum. Just do your best, okay? I have high expectations of you, so work hard."
Angel smiled, her eyes bending, and nodded. "Okay!"
'So cute~.' Many big sisters that had been silently observing at the side thought.
Elder Song asked Yasenia curiously. "What is the highest-ranked Formation Angels has ever built, Yasenia?"
Yasenia shook her head. "Trade secret. But I can confidently say that you'll be impressed."
Jorey. "Now that I think about it. When I visited your Astral Sky Shop, I saw an item called limited-use formations. They were a new concept for me, so I bought a few. They were quite powerful. Did she make them?"
Yasenia smiles. "I will also refrain from answering that question. However, those limited-use Formations come from our formation masters. They are a formation that can be instantly deployed but can't be undeployed, and they don't last very long. They sacrifice the usual durability and stability for a burst of power."
Elder Mao asked curiously. "Aren't you afraid of telling us those ideas and we telling them to our formation masters."
Yasenia laughed. "Go ahead. If they can create useful formations with what I told you, I can only bow and admit your formations masters are monsters."
"So confident?" Jorey asked.
Yasenia calmly nodded. "You can't imagine how much time it took to develop those. It's not a thing of a generation or two."
Yasenia wasn't lying. It was a relatively recent breakthrough in the Sky Continent, a place with more than tens of millions of years of cultivation history.
The judge used a device to project the name and recipe for the first Formation on a white wall.
"The first Formation to make is an energy-gathering formation. A basic and simple one that's used from the lowest cultivators to the leaders of our continent. Its complexity and history are intricate and rich. Some say that when Formation making was invented first, this Formation was the one that brought life to the profession. It's like the adding and subtracting of mathematics. One of the classical formations every formation master must learn."
The spectators listened to the added details with interest.
Formation making is not as famous in Distancia Continent as alchemy or blacksmithing may be because it is a profession that needs many generations to bloom.
Formations encompassed many areas of energy understanding, and a few of them were difficult for Body Cultivators.
Angel got thoughtful and frowned.
The lamia saw everyone start except Angel and was curious. She slithered beside her and looked at her. "What's wrong, darling? Do you have any troubles with this one?"
A person nearby couldn't help but say a snarky comment. "Maybe she doesn't know it. She is just a human, after all."
The judge was about to glare at him again, but Angel spoke first. "The concept is too vague, big sister judge. What kind of energy do you want to gather? The range? For what realm of cultivation? A gathering formation for a senior or a junior is different."
Angel frowned and continued asking. "Moreover, should it take one square meter, ten, a hundred? What about the longevity of the Formation? Should it last a day, a month, a year, or be a sustainable formation?"
Those listening were already dizzy at so many questions.
The person who had spoken before felt like a hand slapped him swiftly and hard, making his cheeks feel like they were stinging with embarrassment. 'I should keep my mouth shut.'
Some of the more proficient Junior Formation Masters, however, listened from the side and looked at the judge. They realized that what Angel asked was not entirely out of the question.
However, they didn't want to be asked such a complicated thing, so they all refocused on creating the best energy-gathering Formation they knew while also being the most proficient at it.
The lamia was surprised and asked. "You can decide all those characteristics while creating the Formation, darling? Even I would have difficulty doing it."
Angel looked at the lamia strangely but nodded nonetheless. She thought to herself. 'Aren't all these things basic? How can a cultivator use the energy-gathering Formation if it doesn't gather the element they are cultivating?'
Thankfully, Angel only thought about it and didn't vocalize it, or else the formation masters listening would have hit their heads on tofu until they died.
Angel's common sense in formations was skewed to such high degrees only Tatyana and seniors from the Sky Continent would nod at her train of thought.
Usually, energy-gathering formations gathered everything, and the cultivator would absorb the elements they are proficient at. It's like increasing the energy concentration and letting the cultivator do the extra step of choosing which energies to absorb and process.
After thinking for a few seconds, the lamia smiled badly and spoke. "Since darling is so confident, I'll be ruthless and show my love for you! I want a Sun and Moon energy gathering formation with twenty-five square meters of space that can be used for a week and is suitable for Epoch Core Body cultivators."
The people listening almost spat blood. 'Sun and Moon!? Those are the two most conflicting attributes besides Death and Life! Moreover, for Epoch Core Body Cultivators!? This lamia wants the human girl to fail!'
Naturally, that wasn't the case at all.
While the lamia would demand perfection from the others, Angel just had to make something functional for her to score 100 points.
Although the judge didn't doubt Angel's ability to create it, the problem was time. Even the lamia didn't think she would be up to the task, so her requirements naturally lowered a lot.
She had complete authority over the evaluation, so doing such things wouldn't be out of turn as long as she was fair and the seniors didn't interfere.
Until now, they didn't say anything, so the lamia would continue to do as she pleased.
After all, this lamia was a rogue cultivator that made a name for herself in Distancia thanks to her formation mastery.
She looked at the pensive Angel and smiled softly. 'Who knew I would find someone like her here? Astral Sky Clan… I may have to pay a visit to Koran City.'