"The real purpose of The Gods Tournament isn't just for it to be a fun event for the participants and the people watching it. The real purpose of the tournament is for the gods to choose their champions by spectating and evaluating the contestants."
Themis sighed and looked Loki dead in the eyes.
"You don't know this, but the other gods were in a deep sleep whilst waiting for the Champions game to begin. And now that they are all awakening from their slumber, the main god behind Second Life announced this event so that the gods would have an easier time choosing their champion."
Finn was stunned to hear this since he had already been told that there would be other gods and other champions, but he didn't know why they hadn't appeared so far, and now he knew why.
"And what does that mean for Finn?"
Loki smiled as if he already knew the answer to his question. He probably only asked this so that he didn't have to explain it to Finn himself.
Themis shook her head.
She knew what Loki was doing, but she let it slide. Turning to look at Finn, her expressionless face became serious.
"If you are as strong as Loki says you are, then that means you will at least get into the bracket tournament and maybe even win the entire thing."
Finn smiled at the fact that Themis believed in him so much.
"But! That also means you will gain the attention of the other gods, and they will want you as their champion. Rejecting them won't be easy since they won't back down until they know that you are already contracted."
She then shook her head.
"Since Loki needs to stay hidden and cannot reveal himself, at least until you are strong enough, you will be pestered by the other gods, and they might even attempt to sabotage you for not choosing them."
"Sabotage me? But aren't gods supposed to be forbidden from directly interfering with the game? I mean, the game has you as its security system, so there should be nothing to be afraid of."
Finn was confused because Themis was the goddess of rules, so if there was a rule, the other gods shouldn't be able to break it.
"That might be true with the majority of the gods, but if you attract the attention of the Top Five, it would be a different story."
Themis continued talking with a grim expression.
"They possess power so great that if they attempted to break the rules of this game, I wouldn't be able to stop all of their attacks. Also, they could attack you without breaking the rules by sponsoring a player and telling him to attack you."
She explained how Finn becoming more famous among the other gods would become a double-edged sword.
On one hand, he would gain fame and solidify his position as a strong player.
But on the other hand, he would be seen as an uncontracted player that would be attacked by the gods he would reject.
The gods all had a great deal of pride, and if Finn just kept rejecting them or ignoring them, they would do their best to make him regret it.
The god behind a champion didn't only serve as their sponsor but also their guardian. Defending against attacks from the other gods was something the god behind a champion would be in charge of.
But Loki's body was imprisoned, and Finn only had a small part of his consciousness, so there was no way for him to protect Finn.
Themis didn't know almost anything about Finn, and the only reason she even talked to him was because he was her friend's champion, but she wouldn't go as far as protecting him from the other gods.
She would help him by enforcing her rules like she always did, but she would also do this with every other player, so Finn wouldn't be a special case.
"So, what do I do? Am I just supposed to sit back and take it?"
Finn was starting to feel helpless.
He knew that fighting gods was impossible, so there was no way for him to protect himself against them.
Themis calmly sipped her tea again and looked at Loki to see if he had any ideas, but all he did was look at her with a carefree smile.
"You are taking it too easy… He is your champion, you should give him some advice."
She glared at him with a frown.
"Oh? Is it my turn now? You were just so passionate about explaining that I thought I didn't even need to be here."
Loki lightly chuckled, which made Themis almost choke on her tea.
He then looked at Finn with a helpless smile.
"I have an idea, but all it does is buy you some time. If you tell the gods that you need to think about which god to choose, you might be in the clear for a bit, and they might also give you more stuff to make you choose them instead of the others."
"How cunning…"
Themis tsked from the side.
"That's a great idea! But… Once they find out I didn't plan to choose any of them, they will become even angrier than if I just rejected them in the beginning."
"Well, let's just decide what to do once we are in that situation."
Loki clapped his hands and smiled, choosing to only think about it once it was already too late.
"Typical…" Themis sighed. "I will try to think of something, and if I do, I will tell Loki through his consciousness that he has left with me, but don't count on it, even gods are not all-knowing, so there is no guarantee that I will think of anything."
"Thank you, Lady Themis."
Finn thanked her with a bow, and after some small talk, he was transported by her back into the cathedral.
He then opened his friend list and saw that all of his friends were online, so he messaged them to meet up in the bar they were in last time and also took the carriage there.
On the way there, he tried to think of a way to escape from the gods' grasp, but every idea he thought of would always end with Finn angering the gods.
The time quickly went by, and before he knew it, he was already at his stop.
He quickly got off, not wanting to be thrown out of the carriage by a patrolling guard for not getting off fast enough, and went to the bar.
It was the afternoon, just like last time, so there was only one table taken, and it was the one where his friends were already sitting.
James was slowly sipping on his drink, trying to be as silent as a mouse.
Mia was sitting with her head resting on Leo's shoulder while he was looking around, hoping to spot Finn, and Sophie was looking at Mia with an expressionless face that looked a lot colder than usual.
'Looks like their date went well.'
Finn thought with a smile and went to sit down between Sophie and James.
"Hey guys. How have you been these last few days?" he asked as he sat down.
"Great! I chose my class to be a magician and did some quests for the wizard NPCs."
James excitedly started describing his experiences to Finn when he saw him sit down.
He was sitting silently to not anger the already angry-looking Sophie, but with Finn here, he immediately began narrating everything he had been doing in the days they hadn't seen each other.
"But is it okay for you not to be wearing a mask? What if someone recognizes you…"
James worriedly looked around, but the only person he saw was the barman NPC, who was wiping a beer mug.
"It's alright, most people have already forgotten about me, so as long as I wear it on the streets, it should be enough."
"I have big news for you, Finn! I have started dating Mia!"
Leo suddenly shouted with a puffed-out chest while confidently smiling, but that only made Mia blush and look away.
"Haha... yeah, I already noticed when I came in, but thanks for the heads up."
Finn chuckled as he felt the room get colder.
He then looked at Sophie, who was glaring a hole into Leo.
"What about you, Sophie? What were you doing?"
"I had to deal with some family matters and didn't have time to play."
She brushed off Finn's question without even looking at him, and he felt his heart sting a little.
James quickly tried to save the situation by talking about the upcoming tournament.
"A- Anyway, Leo and Finn will be in the tournament, right? So, you should team up to have higher chances of winning it since you are stronger together."
Everyone in Finn's group leveled up, but only Leo and Finn made it into the tournament.
Finn nodded and decided to talk about the tournament since that was the main reason he wanted to meet up.
"Actually, we can't do that since teaming isn't allowed."
"Oh…"
James disappointedly looked down because he was hoping he could see his friends play together even if only one person could win the tournament.
"Also, one reason I called you here was to see you guys, but the other was to talk about the tournament. I have acquired some information from listening to other players, and there are some things I want to share with you."
There were no "other players," but since Finn had his past life's memories, he wanted Leo to also benefit from them, so he planned to tell him some things that might come in handy.
"The tournament will be about survival, meaning you'll have to hunt your own food, find a place to sleep, etc., and the inventory function will be turned off during the tournament so you can't just stock up on food beforehand."
Finn could have told him more, but the more he said, the more suspicious it would become, so he chose to only give the basic information, which would still help Leo a lot now that he knew what to expect.
James was a little suspicious of Finn's information, so he tried asking Finn where he had heard it, but Finn kept sticking to his "other players said it," so James was forced to accept it.
After that, they all left the bar since the tournament would begin in a few hours and Leo still needed to research some survival tips that would help him in the tournament.
Finn also logged off and did his best to watch as many "survival in the wild" videos that he would find useful, and since he had Loki in his head who could refresh his memory for him, he only needed to watch a video once and immediately start watching another.
He now had better skills, new equipment, and knowledge about surviving in the wild, so he logged back in and waited for the tournament to begin.
Soon, a system message popped up in front of every player that was currently online in Second Life.
[A global event, The God's Tournament, has officially begun!]