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"Greetings, Tower Master!"
A chorus of respectful and solemn welcome greeted the ancient fey; amongst these voices, only four could be heard physically; the rest came from the broadcast through the system.
The Tower Master nodded to them in acknowledgement before making his way to his seat. He was accompanied by two of his guards, who stood behind him. He was seated in the middle of the five seats; he crossed his legs and gazed at the broadcast with a small smile on his face.
"Thank you for attending this little event; I appreciate you lending me some of your precious time for this," the Tower Master said in a soft voice.
His words flowed like water; it was pleasant to hear; it's as if his voice carried some kind of magic that could calm down anybody.
"You jest, Tower Master." One of the four people who came to the tower to attend this even personally commented. "How could we ever miss this Inter-Prodigy Tournament? I personally am excited to see how the children will perform."
"That's right. It's us that should thank you, Tower Master, for giving us the pleasure of seeing your talented children."
This was then followed by more pleasantries. Most of these people are either simply thankful for the invitation to watch the tournament or attempting to curry favor from the Tower Master.
Everybody here had a purpose for attending. Though this was unsaid, everybody could understand that, and nobody could deny it. After all, the Tower of Prodigies held a stellar reputation throughout the entire alliance, and it's not solely because it was created by 'The Six'.
"Alright, everybody. Settle down; the event is about to start." The Tower Master stated, "As usual, the profiles of my tower's prodigies are available for your viewing, but their private information is kept confidential still, so if some of you recognize someone, please refrain from revealing any of their sensitive information."
The Tower Master's eyes narrowed as he continued, "This is non-negotiable; I hope you all understand that."
Some people felt chills and didn't dare to be negligent. A chorus of agreement returned to the Tower Master, and his face turned amicable again. He then rested on his seat and focused on the event.
"August, you may begin," the Tower Master ordered.
[As you wish, Tower Master.] The tower's main system AI responded.
Shortly after, the broadcast changed. Those who were watching wherever they were saw a new system window appearing; this one displayed all of the lobby teams.
Those who were watching immediately strained their eyes to inspect every single challenger that they could see. They easily discovered that the lobby teams are imbalanced in number. Some lobbies had at least ten challengers that formed a team, while others had fewer than that.
They also sensed the cultivation levels of the participants. Some of them could even sense the depth of the participants' foundations through the system broadcast as if they could see them in person.
'It's as impressive as always.'
This was their universal thought. Seeing all the talented prodigies of the tower and their youthful vigor was a sight that just never gets old. The means to the tower were truly mystical since they're able to scour the vast expanse of the Primeval Scarlet Dust Realm to gather these unpolished gems and give them a platform to display their brilliance.
At some point, every single one of these prodigies will be released and join the alliance in one way or another, assuming that they don't experience any accidents. And with their talents, they will surely be a welcomed addition to the growing numbers of any sect or organization out there.
"Well, there you have it. Sounds simple enough." Howler shrugged at his teammates as he surveyed their surroundings.
"It does sound simple enough, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it's easy." Backpack Fatty replied, "I mean, there's too many implications that I don't even know where to start."
"Well, how about we start at something obvious?" Moss Lady offered. "How are we going to protect the island core?"
"Ooh, good question." Hawkeye chimed in, "Can we move it somewhere or, like, build some fortifications around it?"
"Let me try," Morning Wood offered.
"Be careful and don't accidentally break it," Eunuch Wei warned.
"I know." The treant replied.
He then approached the crystal and summoned vines in attempts to move it. To his surprise, he easily did it, confirming that it can indeed be moved.
"Yeah, we can move it. But it's also incredibly fragile. I think even some stray projectile can easily shatter this thing," Morning Wood said to the team.
"That fragile, huh?" Eunuch Wei frowned. "What do we do then? We only have a couple of hours before the tournament starts."
It was at this point that Cedric finally offered a potential solution.
"Hey, Fatty. I remember you saying that you Mountain Giants have an innate talent for Earth Laws, right?" He asked while looking at the core.
"Mhm, yeah. We do. Why?"
"Can you try and see if you could reinforce the structure of the core to become tougher through Earth Laws?" He asked. "If that doesn't work, then at the very least, we can encase it with metal alloys to protect it and hide it underground. At least that would make it more difficult for others to locate and destroy it. The rules should allow that since we can move the core."
His suggestion caused their eyes to lighten up. Backpack Fatty immediately moved next to Morning Wood and felt the core up. He focused and tried what Cedric suggested, and to his pleasant surprise...
"Yeah, I can definitely make it tougher."
"How about we make it tougher AND also hide underground, wouldn't that be better?" Howler excitedly suggested.
"Yeah, I think that's a good idea." Moss Lady readily agreed. "If they want to eliminate us, they'd have to work for it."
And to their luck, Cedric's unique ideas didn't stop here.
"Wei, are you interested in piloting a weaponized island?"
"Fuck, yes!"