All the teams selected for the battle are gathered in front of the testing site.

The spectator seats were arranged back at the Thor Academy grounds and they are witnessing the whole fiasco in a bunch of screens. It seems like no matter how far apart the realms are, most of them are using the same type of technology and methods for competitions like these.

Sam is standing along with the rest of the Gambler's academy team. Dove, the other senior and Chorus are all standing along with the team as well.

This time the whole fiasco is a bit more grand compared to the previous competitions. Every team had a flag in their hands. Turns out, this one is also a Flag capture competition. But unlike before, all the teams will enter the testing area at the same time.

They will all do a lottery and be assigned different spots within the testing field as their bases.

They will establish their bases with the flag as their center. They cannot use any external means to lay down a formation. They cannot even use their own weapons to set up the formation, no formation nodes and no formation discs.

They cannot even bring their own inscription tools.

Of course, there is a way for them to gain all these things. As soon as they establish their bases the competition will start and every five minutes, beasts will be sent into the testing field. Every beast would be at the Middle Stage of Divine Plane Initiation.

The teams can hunt the beasts and within their bodies, they will find some goodies that will help them establish their formations, inscriptions, etc. Of course, these Divine plane cultivators are elites and they have their own ways to create formation nodes, but they are way too traditional in terms of their approach to these things.

They need to use these things to create the formations so the rest of the team can move freely.

Of course, that is not all the competition.

Once the competition starts, the students are welcome to fight each other and capture their flags, and once a flag is captured and brought back to the home base of the captors, the flags will merge. Once all the flags are captured and only one team remains, then win.

The whole game is a tad bit more complicated than regular capture of the Flag.

Not too complicated though, it is straightforward enough.

The lottery is done by the elders and Chorus stepped forward to deal with it. At this time, Dove nudged at Sam and spoke.

"I need to talk to you?

"

"Can it wait? I need to focus on the competition.

"

"Focus on it? The rest of the kids told me that they didn't want to participate in the competition until it is an emergency. What is that all about?

"

Sam looked at the rest of the team with a raised eyebrow. Tattletales.

"So, what if I said so?

"

"That cannot happen. You need to play an active role in the competition. This time the rest of the teams have a grudge against the Gambler's Academy mostly because of you. So, you need to help out.

Take the command and lead the team.

"

She demanded.

Sam looked at her and sighed. The first impression he had of her was very great. She is not the best in fighting, not the best in formations, and not even the best at strategy. But she is the leader of the Grade 4 in Gambler's academy.

He wondered what kind of person she is and even kept a close eye on the wristbands and the hub. She didn't give away anything. She was always cold and calculating. Very reserved and calm. She was mostly handling the administrative duties and helped Crow manage the menial work.

She handled the bullying cases and investigation for the enforcement hall in the Academy and the Judiciary proceedings inside the city.

She was like a robot.

But all of a sudden, she turned into an annoying and nosy neighborhood middle-aged lady.

Sam also noticed that she was literally teaching the rest of the First Grade students like little kids. Even some of the Grade 2 students are no exception. This is really getting to him.

"I don't want to.

"

"I am not asking. It is your responsibility as the strongest to do that. The rest of them don't have the guts to order you around.

"

Sam didn't say anything and just stayed put. She kept on annoying him, but Sam ignored her and just occasionally cursed under his breath. He looked at the rest of the Grade 1 students from his team. He really wanted to beat the crap out of them.

Soon, it was time to get in.

They got their base location and Sam is a bit surprised. They are placed in a central position. They don't have any cover around. Their location is in a small island in the middle of a lake. The lake is very big and it covers a large area around that small island.

Sam wouldn't have thought much.

But the looks he got from the Thor Academy's youngsters as well as the Hel Academy's youngsters made him think otherwise. He knew something is odd about that lake.

It didn't take long for him to figure out the reason though.

As soon as they went into the vicinity of the lake, they understood immediately. First of all, the lake is very deep. Sam could guess that it is at least a couple of hundred meters deep which is unusual for a lake.

And the supposed island they were given is very small. Only a couple of square meters. If that is not all, there is another problem and that came from the water itself. With his observation ability, Sam noticed that the water is unbelievably potent with water elemental energy.

It is very active.

It almost felt like a very diluted form of liquid energy. If that is all, it wouldn't be a problem. The water is polluted with another form of energy. Death energy. It is equally potent along with the water elemental energy.

It is not noticeable at first glance, if not for Sam's vampire part and the observation ability combined, he wouldn't have also noticed this. He could see the effect it would have on the rest. This place is not suitable for most formations and the landmass of the island is very small.

The normal formations wouldn't be able to hold much energy to stop the attacks of Divine plane cultivators.

Sam hardly thought it would be possible to hold normal formations on the lake even if they found the formation discs or nodes that could work on the water. This is going to be tricky. Of course, a bit fun too.

Sam noticed that his teammates were already hard at work. They didn't go too far away, but they started scouting the immediate area around them, where they could set up some traps. A couple of them were about to dive into the lake. But Sam stopped them.

"Check out the surroundings. Leave the water for now. It is not safe.

"

The teammates frowned and wanted to ask some questions. But they decided against it and did as Sam told them. He tried to control the water. But it is not easy.

The resistance is way too much.

He started studying the water. He is not too worried about the flag at the moment. The rest of the team as well, felt reassured about the presence of the flag. In their opinion, the best strategy for every team is to secure the location around themselves first.

It didn't take long for the five minutes to be up.

*ROAR*

All the teams heard the roar of a beast that appeared in the middle of the testing area.

In a way, it is not that far away from Sam's position. He looked at the rest of the team and said.

"I will go take a look. You guys stay here and take a defensive stance. As I said, don't try to interact with the water much. Stay on the island or on the bank of the lake.

Don't get into the water. I will go to the beast and see what the stat…

"

*SWOOSH*

Sam didn't even get to finish what he was saying when he had to dodge an arrow shot right at his face. He frowned and looked around. His energy riled up. He could sense around twenty people around the area.

All of them did not even bother to hide their aura.

And leading them is a familiar face.

Likhma.

There are a few more familiar presences around.

"Quite an entourage, I must say.

"

*ROAR* *ROAR*

Sam could hear the roars of the beast. It is clearly in a fight.

It seems like the teams all came to an agreement and they attacking two things at the same time and that too together.

One is Sam's team and the other is the beast.