”Uh, okay,” Ning said and brought back the screens. “Can you see anything?”

”No,” Derel said with a confused look. What was she supposed to see?

”I can see all the different groups in front of me. Hmm… Become Visible!” Ning said with a loud voice.𝗈𝚟𝐿xt.𝗇𝓔t

He looked back. “Did it work?” he asked.

”No, I still can’t see. Dammit, little worm. You should have given me the leader role. Here, let me take it,” Derel moved her hand to touch the crown, but Ning caught it before that.

”I am already the leader. It was chosen amongst us. Please don’t try to steal it,” he said.

”Tsk, fine,” she said.

”As you may see, there are many upgrades you can do in front of you,” Genesis started speaking up in the air.

’Oh right, upgrades,’ Ning thought and a panel opened in front of him.

The panel had two columns of information. One the left side, it said Tower. On the right side, it said Monster.

Increase Tower Health Point: 5 Points (1000->1100)

Increase Turret Damage: 5 points (100->110)

Increase Turret Attack Rate: 5 points (1.0->1.1)

Increase Turret Attack Range: 50 points (50 to 60)

Add A Second Turret: 500 Points

Those were the 5 options provided for turrets.

On the monster side, things were far simpler than Ning could have expected. There were only 2 options for monsters.

Reduce Spawn Rate by 10 seconds: 10 points

Increase Monster Level: 20 points

Ning looked at the monster half of the panel with a bit of confusion. He could understand why one would improve their turret, but what was the point of improving the monster? Did it give more points?

Even if he did get more points from that, what was the point? The objective of the competition was to last as long as they could. Making it harder on one self didn’t seem like a smart plan to him.

”As you can see, you can improve your turret or make the monster stronger,” Genesis said.

”Now, you might be wondering what the points are or how you could obtain them. Its easy.”

”Kill the monster.”

Ning nodded as that was expected.

”However, since this is a competition, its not that simple,” Genesis said. “The points you will get will be from 2 to 20 depending on who kills the monster first,” Genesis said.

”If you kill it first, you get 20 points. If you kill it last, you get 2 points. So, I suggest you kill it as quickly as you can,” he said.

”The way to win the competition is after one of the group loses against a monster, that monster will go to the center of the circle where you all are in. Whoever kills that monster gets the gem that was on the leader’s head.”

”When all 5 of your teammates have a gem on their empty crown, you advance. No single person can wear 2 gems. If any of your teammate dies, you can still use their crown to place a gem on it. It’s the crown that matters, not the participant,” Genesis said.

”Now, that is all I shall tell you for now. For the rest, figure it out on your own,” Genesis said. As he disappeared, a clock hung in the sky where he was previously.

No, more accurately, it was a timer.

Ning stared at the timer as it ticked down from 50.

”The round starts in 50 minutes,” Ning said as he tried to use his Aether. “Still no powers. I guess we will get it after the match starts.”

”Brother Ning, I hope you don’t expect much from me,” Drake said. “At least not for another good 6 hours.”

Ning looked at the sky and nodded. “I hope you can do well afterwards,” he said.

”How is someone with a name like yours a coward?” Derel said.

”Huh?” Drake asked.

Issi simply shook his head and looked away, not trying to get into the business of it all.

”Right, what is it you can see and we can’t?” Issi asked.

”Oh right, its like this,” Ning said as he explained everything he could see and do on both sides of the panel.

”We get harder monsters to fight? Great,” Derel said excitedly. Ning stared at her and was secretly relieved that he didn’t let her be the leader of the group.

Who knew what sort of troubles she would bring by recklessly using the points.

”I think we should improve the tower as much as we can. If we can get a double turret, that would be amazing,” Issi said.

”Little worms, You have me fighting for you. There is no need for the turrets,” Derel said.

Ning was about to say something when he noticed Nova fidgeting rather badly while staring at the timer hanging in the sky.

Ning looked at the timer again and noticed that 10 minutes had already passed since he began explaining about what he could do and what they meant.

”What’s wrong, Nova?” he asked her, making her jump a little in fright.

”I… I’m sorry, but I cannot be of help to you here,” she said in a quivering voice.

Ning expected that. The girl had trauma the likes of which he hadn’t see before. Just merely remembering what she had done was enough to send her mind crashing down.

”It’s okay,” Ning said. “We won’t need you to fight until the very end.”

”No,” Nova said. “You don’t understand. I can not fight or stay here. I can tell from the first round. I cannot do anything to the monster.”

”And I can’t control my powers either. If I stay here, they will affect you too,” she said.

”I’m so sorry, but I will have to leave,” she said and started walking away.

Issi stepped forward and blocked Nova’s path. “I don’t really mind you leaving, but I can’t let you leave with that,” he pointed to her head where a crown lay.