After the week of combat passed, the final results were finally out. Everyone more or less knew the positions as most stayed to see, and if you looked around, you couldn't see many happy faces. Some even wore scowls.
Angel sat on Yasenia's lap as they waited and chuckled. "It is indeed surprising."
Kali's fox tails moved slowly and she smiled back. "The continent's reaction will be interesting. Oh, he is here."
Soluna who was sitting alone at the side, to not affect anyone with her special constitution, snorted. "Stupid."
Evelyn grinned. "Still upset at the disqualification."
Soluna nodded. "Yes…"
While they spoke, Lornerat appeared, flashing his usual handsome smile, and announced to everyone. "The summit is finally done. There have been as many tragedies as there have been joys. Everyone fought their hardest, and everyone gave their all. And our current positions are the results!"
One person from a low-level ground shouted. "Are you willing to leave the positions as they are?"
Lornerat looked down at the person who spoke and snorted. "As I said many times, I'll just follow the rules as they are, no exceptions. While I'm also surprised by the results, I won't do anything about it."
Lornerat looked around, regaining her refreshing and handsome look. "Those who don't know must be curious, right? While usually, we would announce the top 16 starting from the sixteenth, I'll make an exception this year so that everyone is on the same page. Let's start from the top!"
Lornerat spread his wings, gaining an imposing look, and said loudly. "Creatures of Distancia, the summits' results are the following! There are plenty of changes from last year while a lot of upsets happened. Let's start by showing the winners!"
Most powers looked on with frowns and growls after they saw who was the final winner. Those who didn't know gained a stunned look, while others were incredulous.
"The winner this year of the World Summit is the [Aquafia Human City Sect]!"
Lornerat was smiling, but inside he was still feeling incredulous. 'Humans won, huh?' He had been the judge for the last matches, so he knew full well how strong they were. While he didn't like humans, he couldn't deny that they'd righteously won by their own strength. 'There was that one woman called Tang Xian who completely dominated her matches with her strange powers.'
Lornerat recalled her ways and got a chill going up his spine.
Meanwhile, the leader of the human group, An Meiling, looked around at the gazes she was receiving and smiled coldly. "What, dissatisfied? Fight us."
"You disgusting human should go die in a corner!"
"That's right, your race is evil and doesn't have a place in Distancia!"
"You spawn of aberrations. How could you not be developed enough not to be able to show your beast traits."
"That's right, our hero fought to kill you all. Why are you trying to break our peace by interrupting a sacred tournament!?"
Many of such screams rained on them like droplets of water would.
However, the humans remained nonchalant. An Meiling, especially, looked around with a cold and analytical gaze as if she was calculating and seeing through many plans at once.
Ou Junwei, the other leader of the group, said. "Should we leave, junior sister?"
An Meiling nodded. "Sure. Let's go. There is no need to stay here anymore… Hm."
The group saw her pause for a second, her gaze going through the groups of people and landing somewhere only An Meiling could see because of her position.
On the other side of her gaze, a pair of beautiful golden draconic eyes met with hers. An Meiling's gaze deepened as she saw Yasenia looking their way calmly while hugging a petite, blonde, human girl sitting on her lap. 'It seems that the Astral Sky Clan is a bit different from what Tang Xian told me. I'll need to investigate.'
Because Tang Xian insisted that Yasenia was the evilest creature ever to exist, An Meiling knew that those two had a story. Still, she decided to take Tang Xian's side without looking much into it because Tang Xian was one of the few humans with relatively powerful strength in this entirely forsaken place.
During her stay, she went around to see the human situation more deeply, and to say that she wasn't amused was an understatement.
But against all odds, the place where she thought she would be the worst human discrimination, the cities controlled by the Astral Sky sect, were not only quite welcoming; An Meiling had even seen people enforcing laws to protect humans.
It was the truth that the laws were still somewhat biased, and a similar situation to this one outside Distancia would be considered quite horrendous. However, for Distancia Humans? What Yasenia built was nothing but a paradise on earth.
Plus, after asking around, she had also come to know that there was a very large group of humans inside the sect itself and that everyone from that group was considered the chosen ones, as the happiness felt by liberation was nothing but a dream-like scenario for them.
Plus, An Meiling had clearly realized that some of Yasenia's lovers were human, very strong ones at that. Moreover, the deep feelings of love and trust that had been shown were almost impossible to fake. 'There might be a deeper story between that crazy woman and the dragon. Perhaps I can have a chat with her.'
Yasenia saw An Meiling looking at her meaningfully and blinked. 'What's wrong? Does she want to tell me anything?
"The rewards as the first place will be a peak-level Heaven-ranked material, 30% of the shares of the largest Parus Mine near their power, a spot reserved in the Nine Sects if they want to take it, a sport reserved as one of the Three Empires if they want to take it, a spot reserved as the highest in the Thirty-Three clans if they want it ownership of 20,000,000 square kilometers around their main headquarters, the ability to participate in any secret realm without being impeded, a mid-level Heaven-Ranked Formation Core with a Defensive formation already written, ten years of a non-attack agreement from all individuals, and a one-time use to buy any product in any auction."
An Meiling nodded, finding the rewards attractive. 'It was good that I paused to listen to them, while hearing them later wouldn't be that bad, knowing earlier will help us plan.'
What she needed the most was "legitimacy" and time. Having ownership of the land already gave her an edge to work with, while the ten years were enough to set up some defenses at least.
With that ownership and protection won before the entire world, there was no one who could tell them to move or attack them in a righteous way. If they did, they would be disrespecting the World Summit's validity.
Moreover, as the lords, if they wanted to tax the living beings around them, it was possible. Sadly, the place Tang Xian chose as a headquarters was not close to any people as it was in the middle of a desert, and she had used it for hiding. 'I hope we can swallow ten or twenty towns at least. We can fill them with humans; in around 500 years, our population should be able to skyrocket to a few billion as long as we can keep the land mostly safe.'
Lornerat didn't linger on them much and continued the announcements. "In the second place, we have the [Divine Salvation Sect]! They fought hard, almost cornering the winners to their demise. However, they were not strong enough and eventually lost 4-3."
Selioranis smiled and looked at An Meiling's group retreating back. "We would've won if you didn't use that demonic skill."
An Meiling didn't even pause her steps. "Bad luck, I guess."
Selioranis, the Divine with blue and white feathered wings, felt the corner of his eye twitch. Auriel looked at him and smiled. "Does it matter, senior brother? We could be considered the winners, as no matter how much land and resources they have, many sects will probably attack them after that 10-year protection is gone. What can they do in ten years? There are, being generous with my guess, 20 powerful humans in Distancia. They are doomed."
Selioranis paused and found logic in her words. "Even then, leaving a weakened enemy to recover even a little is not a wise decision."
Auriel shrugged. "While I agree, there is really nothing we can do. If we break the World Summit rules, the allies we've made could probably stop supporting us."
Selioranis nodded. "I guess that's true."
Lornerat commented. "The rewards as the second place will be a high-level Heaven-ranked material, 15% of the shares of the largest Parus Mine near their power, a spot reserved in the Nine Sects if they want to take it, a sport reserved as one of the Three Empires if they want to take it, a spot reserved as the highest in the Thirty-Three clans unless the first place took it if they want it, ownership of 10,000,000 square kilometers around their main headquarters, the ability to participate in any secret realm without being impeded, a mid-level Heaven-Ranked Formation Core with a Defensive formation already written, five years of a non-attack agreement from all individuals, and a one-time use to buy any product in any auction."
Wyrin, the female Divine who led the participating group to almost victory, commented in an upset tone. "That's much less than them! We are in the second place!"
Selioranis smiled and patted her head. "Don't be upset. It is more than enough. Moreover, that Nine Sect title will come in handy."
Lornerat didn't stop there and continued with his announcements. "On the third place, the [Hellura Demon Sect] stands proud!"
His words sparked conversation while the Demons snorted. One of them sneered. "Those divines were lucky that our pairing was completely against our favor. If our succubus weren't paired with Wyrin and was instead paired with a male Divine, we would've won."
Kyril stopped them. "We got third, that's enough. Moreover, our rewards are not that much worse. It seems that first place gets the biggest slice, but second, third, and so on have similar rewards."
Lornerat then began speaking at a quicker cadence.
"On the fourth place, the [Ocean Swallowing Mermaids]…"
"On the Fifth place, the [Corpse King Ghost Sect]…"
"On the Sixth place, the [Tinaror Beast Kingdom]…"
"On the Seventh place, the [Holy Beast Empire]…"
"On the Eighth place, the [Ocean Chasm Empire]…"
"On the Ninth place, the [Jade Thunderbirds]…"
"On the Tenth place, the [Nine Golden Body Sect]…"
The announcements moved one by one until the 16th.
After that, Lornerat presented them as groups. Everyone in the top 32 would receive a certain reward, those in the top 64 would as well receive the same reward, etc.
Our girls, who had reached the top 64, received the following. "For the top 64, the powers will receive the right to claim a Parus mine as theirs, 100 kg of peak-level Earth Rank materials of choice, the rightful ownership of the lands they surround, and a reward of 100,000 Flawless Parus."
Yasenia heard it and shrugged. "Not bad."