Seeing that everyone had arrived, Lex introduced William:

  "This is Elizabeth from Class 2, also a representative of our school in the competition."

  At this point, Lex paused, glanced at William with a subtle expression, and then continued, "You two should communicate well and get to know each other's strengths. If you happen to run into each other in the competition, it's best to avoid internal conflict. I'll go get our competition number plates now."

  After saying this, Lex drifted toward the center area, likely to handle the registration process and collect the competition number plates.

  Hearing Lex's words, William only needed a moment to understand his implication.

  He wanted him to demonstrate his strength so that if he ended up facing Elizabeth in the competition, she might surrender instead of fighting, thus preventing unnecessary losses and internal strife within their school.

  "Scholar, how have you been developing these past few years? My progress has been immense! I already have over ten thousand extraordinary followers, hehe," Richard eagerly boasted the moment Lex left, completely oblivious to the underlying meaning of Lex’s words.

  "Not bad," William replied briefly before turning to Elizabeth. "Hello, Elizabeth. I've heard about you at school. Could you tell me about your current strength?"

  Elizabeth gave William a cold glance and replied indifferently, "Strength isn’t just about words. If we do run into each other, who surrenders will be determined by real power."

  Hearing her response, William smiled helplessly. It seemed that Lex didn’t have a great reputation among Class 2 students—Elizabeth had clearly picked up on his underlying message.

  "You’ve misunderstood. Lex simply wants to avoid internal conflict within the school. Personally, I don’t really care. I just hope we don’t run into each other in the competition," William said casually.

  He wasn’t interested in explaining further. After all, the battlefield was visible to everyone outside, and once they witnessed the terrifying power of his swarm, no one would be foolish enough to challenge him head-on.

  With his current strength, this competition was nothing more than a playground for him. It was as if he were fighting against children—it posed no real challenge. Just by observing the divine domain sizes of the other contestants from different academies, he could tell that none of them even exceeded a million square kilometers.

  Ignoring Elizabeth, William turned to chat with Richard to pass the time.

  After about ten minutes, Lex returned with three number plates in hand and handed them out.

  "These are your competition numbers. Keep them safe. Once the matches start, the competition arena will display the numbers of the opponents."

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  Elizabeth was the first to take a plate, followed by Richard. By the time William reached for one, only the last plate remained.

  With a nonchalant attitude, William took it and casually glanced at the number displayed on it—996.

  His mouth twitched, and internally, he raged: Is this fate? Is this divine retribution?

  Ever since he had transmigrated to this world, he felt like he had never truly rested—it was even more exhausting than his previous life.

  Before transmigrating, he had been the administrative supervisor of a pharmaceutical laboratory. In order to push the lab employees harder, he constantly hyped them up, sometimes even personally assisting them.

  To maximize performance for the annual evaluation, he voluntarily worked overtime, occasionally taking on small tasks himself to set an example. His relentless work ethic drove the entire lab into an overworked frenzy.

  As an administrator, he didn’t actually have that much work to do. With no reason to go home, he stayed at the office just to keep the lab in high spirits. He secretly played Starcraft ladder matches in his downtime, squeezing in a game before making his rounds to check on everyone.

  After three days of this non-stop cycle, he overworked himself to death in his office.

  Seems like I can’t escape the fate of endless work, even in this life. But at least this time, I’m working for myself. Perseverance is key.

  Adjusting his mindset, William silently stored the number plate within his body.

  After waiting at the competition grounds for two days, the city-wide league finally commenced as all participants arrived.

  Three colossal divine domains, each spanning over a hundred million square kilometers, stood at the center of the venue. Three demigod projections appeared above them, sending waves of consciousness sweeping outward.

  William sensed the energy and realized it was nothing more than a passionate opening speech before they officially announced the start of the competition.

  Above the ten divine domains designated for the matches, two large numbers appeared on each, representing the competitors for each round. The first batch of contestants quickly stepped forward.

  Entry passages extended from the divine domains of the contestants, linking to the competition domains, allowing various types of followers to enter the battlefield.

  William watched the battles unfold, but to him, these fights were unimpressive.

  The competing students had only a few thousand to tens of thousands of extraordinary followers, supported by armies of ordinary followers. Their battles were cautious and careful, as they tried to minimize losses.

  For someone like William, who had extensive experience in invasions and warfare, watching them fight was incredibly dull.

  If he had to describe it, "lackluster" was the only word that came to mind.

  Compared to him, these students were far too weak—but this was normal for the early stages of divine domain development.

  Even with resource support, students only had a limited number of core followers at this stage. Expanding the number of ordinary followers recklessly or haphazardly building reproduction areas for similar species could be disastrous.

  If the core followers’ bloodline wasn’t strong enough or if an accident occurred, entire generations could be lost, resulting in no core followers for several cycles. This was a common occurrence.

  Establishing a strong foundation and nurturing core followers was a long-term process. Not all species were as easy to cultivate as his Zerg, which required only an active queen to maintain a steady supply of fanatical believers.

  Time passed quickly as William waited in boredom. One match followed another, each lacking any real intensity or excitement.

  On the second day, after another match concluded and the competition field was reset, new numbers appeared on the screens.

  "Hehe, it’s finally my turn! Scholar, watch me perform! You have to cheer me on!" Richard grinned excitedly at William before moving toward the competition field.

  "Good luck! I’ll be waiting for your victorious return!" William smiled and gave him a thumbs-up.

  "Richard, don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Just perform at your normal level. You got this!" Lex encouraged his students enthusiastically.