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nEldrian read through the announcements, the servers having been frozen while the developers now did the last bit of tweaks necessary for the tournament to start. It felt really weird to not be able to go online, Eldrian having become extremely used to his routine.

nThe announcements focused on how players had to go about signing up, how the virtual homes worked, and how the tournament would actually work.

nIn essence, the virtual homes would be similar to that which players entered upon first using a headset, a floating room in the abyss of space. From there they could decide what they wanted their 'home' to look like. They were given a total of one hectare of land(100x100m), which they could make a garden, house, forest, or whatever they wanted.

nWhile these things would be simulated, if players wanted to actually interact with these things, they would need to go through a few loops. For the most part, the plants were not given their chemical compounds, and hence their usefulness in being used for anything other than being plants.

nFor their house, they would be given certain items and allowed to construct them or just choose default layouts. Quickly reminding people of games were living a virtual life, and building houses was the focus. Quite a number of players were massively excited about this, hoping to make the house of their dreams.

nEldrian himself was also quite excited for the headsets to come online again so he could actually experience what this was going to feel like. For some reason, he kept feeling that it would be similar to when he entered his soul-space.

nThe tournament itself was set to start in two days, or at least the preliminaries. Players had to sign up before it started. There was no limit to the number of categories they could sign up for. At the start players will be randomly assigned to fight others, this will hold for a few days. A ranking system will be made from these wins and losses, which will determine who would actually participate in the tournament that will be streamed live across the world.

nInteresting, so we are allowed to take everything from our game. I wonder how they managed to actually get this to work, seeing as they don't know how magic actually works. Eldrian mumbled as he read through the announcements, finding another piece of interesting news not too long after.

nFor the finals, the players would need to come to the city. The precise location had yet to be announced, though most players felt it would be Miracle's headquarters. The trip will be all-inclusive, with the players offered a headset on-site. Naturally, this also made a number of players very excited.

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"Are you really going to sign up?

" Constantin came and asked after a few hours of Eldrian having signed up. The system having informed them that a residence in the company wanted to partake in the tournament.

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"Of course, I am a player. It isn't like you have really taught or given me any advantages that I can misuse.

" Eldrian replied, truly feeling that this was indeed the case. While he was working with Miracle, it was not like they had really changed anything in his game life, only his real-life had changed.

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"True, but it is complicated.

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"What do you mean it is complicated, the players from the Empires gained much more than was fair. Basically, anyone who didn't take their offer, now has no chance of winning.

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nConstantin just sighed as he heard this, it truly was true. All the players who had decided to go to the empires had been given every resource they could want. The only thing limiting them was that they were not given magical weapons since they first needed to prove themselves worthy, and more importantly loyal.

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"Just don't go saying that you work for us. And limit the number of competitions you take part in.

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"Why?

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"Because with dynamic magic, you are almost certain to win. Hence, you shouldn't take all the first prizes.

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nOh... That's fair enough. Eldrian thought, thinking back to the conversation he had had with Erik.

"I think I am just going to partake in the team match and the polearm one. That should be fine, right.

" If he managed to win both then that should be enough money to get Erik out of Vruntis.

nConstantin sighed with relief, even if Eldrian won both of these, there wouldn't be much wrong with it. The spear match was one that prohibits the use of magic, purely relying on a person's skill with the weapon. This was why the rewards were so much less, and hence it was fine if Eldrian tried to win it. Though Constantin actually thought Eldrian would certainly lose, simply due to the fact that his technique without magic was actually quite poor.

nWhile Eldrian had improved by leaps and bounds, both thanks to the training IRL and his experiences in-game. He was nowhere close to what martial artists could do, normally he bridged the gap by relying on magic. Hence Constantin felt it unlikely Eldrian would win without his normal clutch.

nThe team match would also not be bad, as teams could be up to eight players. As such one player shouldn't make too much of a difference, especially with everyone still under Tier 4. Though Constantin felt this rule wouldn't hold for Eldrian, it was fine even if it didn't. The reward would be split between the team in any case, hence again there shouldn't come much backlash even if he took first place.

nA few hours later the virtual homes were finally uploaded. Excitedly Eldrian placed the headset on his head and logged in. This worked exactly as he remembered, he even arrived in the same room as when he had to make his character and chase some wisps.

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"Please choose the area you wish to live in.

" A message popped into his head, or rather sounded in the entire area. As it finished Eldrian was given a wide variety of decorations to choose from.

nMost of the themes were gardens, with different flowers or plants the focus, or in some cases even just stones. Thereafter came forest areas, plains, ponds, deserts. Basically, anything one could think of, though only one hectare of it would actually appear in the virtual home. The rest would just be a mirage, like a greenscreen.

nAfter a while of thinking, Eldrian decided on a nice cozy place that reminded him of the Avgi forest. While not all in-sight would be real, Eldrian had confirmed that the mirage would still at least give sounds too. Hence if someone chose a place at the beach, while the sea wouldn't be created, they could hear it.

nHe was not sure if smells were also going to be simulated, but for now, he didn't care much. He was curious though on how the company managed to add all these things. It felt like an extreme amount to him, one hectare was not a small space. Giving this to just over ten million players must place a massive drain on their systems.

nAfter choosing the area, he moved on to chose his home. He didn't want a mansion or even a big house at all, he just wanted a cozy living room that would also serve as his kitchen. Just for looks he also wanted two bedrooms and a library, the bedrooms on a second floor. He had no idea if the library would be just for looks, but he liked the idea of having a small one in his house.

nAfter finishing this Eldrain quickly zoomed out his focus to look at the entire area and smiled. A small hunting cabin was located between the trees, with a waterfall off in the distance of the mirage. The waterfall fell into a pond, half of which was actually simulated.

nIn front of the hunting cabin was a small clearing, where Eldrian thought he could continue to practice with his weapons. This area was around ten to twenty meters in diameter, the house around the same.

nMost of the rest of the area was simply trees, which Eldrian wanted to learn to navigate through. As such he quickly started tweaking the settings to make the forest further from his house denser. Adding foliage, vines, roots, and other nasty pieces so he would have to learn how to not trip. Though he added them in ways where he could practice each type on its own for the most case.

nThat's nice. It isn't really a home, so much as a place I can train in peace in. I should ask Gengxin if training in this space would also cause my body to feel disconnected. Eldrian thought as he looked at the area. He wondered what the others were going to make, and quickly tried calling up the interface again to take a picture.

nThe interface he connected with now was much more basic than the one in the game. For now, it still had quite an amount of interactions as he was in developer mode to create his home. Once that was done he would basically just have the ability to connect to the internet and to log off.

nI am happy with this. There should already be a thread for sharing your home. I think I'll share mine.

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