Seeing William’s opportunistic attitude, Lex twitched the corner of his mouth and said, “Look at you, acting like you’ve never seen real benefits before. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it once we get back. The divine power stored in the school isn’t going anywhere.”

  “Also, since you’ve secured first place in our city, that means you’ve qualified to participate in the Global Tournament of Aelvia.”

  “For the next month in reality—equivalent to ten years in the Divine Realm—you must make good use of this divine power to prepare yourself for the tournament and aim for a great performance.”

  However, as Lex spoke, he noticed that William wasn’t even paying close attention.

  “Yeah, yeah, I got it,” William responded absentmindedly, grinning. “Lex, since we don’t have anything else to do, can we head back now?” He was already urging Lex to return to the school’s base.

  “Did you even listen to what I just said about the Global Tournament?” Lex looked at him suspiciously.

  “The Global Tournament? Of course, I heard you. But it’s still a long way off—we’ve got ten whole years! No need to rush. Right now, I think the best course of action is to head back to the school and collect my reward. That way, I can truly focus on developing my Divine Domain.” As he spoke, William rubbed his hands together eagerly, making it obvious where his true priorities lay—the school’s 1-million divine power reward.

  Seeing William so obsessed with rewards, Lex narrowed his eyes. “Oh? You’re really not taking this seriously? Are you underestimating me as your mentor? Or do you think my guidance is unnecessary?”

  An idea popped into Lex’s mind, and his expression remained neutral, but his voice carried a deep sigh. “Sigh… It seems you don’t care much about the Global Tournament. I suppose that makes sense. After all, the level of competition in the Global Tournament is far beyond these small city-level matches.”

  “Every year, the planet produces a handful of absolute monsters. The intensity of those battles is probably too much for you.”

  “I was going to tell you about the details of the tournament, but perhaps it’s not necessary. After all, you’ve only just discovered the path for your subordinates to ascend to Transcendence. You probably don’t even have a way to mass-produce Transcendent subordinates yet.”

  “Looks like the 50-million divine power reward for the first-place winner of the Global Tournament is out of your reach.” Lex shook his head regretfully and patted William on the shoulder.

  Before he could retract his hand, William suddenly grabbed his wrist with a firm grip.

  The playful grin had vanished from William’s face, replaced by a serious expression. His eyes locked onto Lex’s, his hands gripping tightly.

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  “Lex, I believe there is a way to mass-produce Transcendent subordinates. Please, I need you to tell me everything about the Global Tournament. The tournament is right around the corner, and I need a mentor like you to guide me toward my future success.”

  The fire of ambition burned in William’s eyes, his determination unmistakable.

  Lex maintained a calm exterior, but inside, he was thoroughly amused. Hah! Gotcha, kid. You really think you can slip past me?

  Seeing William’s eagerness, Lex smirked slightly and said, “Since you’re so interested, I’ll give you a brief introduction so you can have a general idea of what to expect.”

  “The Global Tournament usually has less than 600 participants, but these are the strongest students from our entire planet.”

  “Achieving a high ranking in this competition is almost impossible without powerful Transcendent subordinates.”

  “For example, last year’s champion had subordinates known as Greater Flame Demons. They are a naturally Transcendent race, boasting immense physical size, powerful vitality, and mastery of both magic and physical combat. With tens of thousands of them—all Transcendent level—and even several thousand elite-tier units, plus a single Hero-tier subordinate… Well, you can imagine what kind of strength that is.”

  Hearing this, William’s expression turned serious. He was now truly concerned about the competition.

  If he encountered an army of Flame Demons—especially a Hero-tier one—he wasn’t confident his current Exploding Zerg could take it down, even with sheer numbers.

  The name Flame Demon alone implied high fire resistance. And as a Hero-tier entity, it wouldn’t just stand there and take the hits. If it tried to escape, his swarm might not even be able to stop it.

  Noticing William’s shift in attitude, Lex smiled and said, “That’s why you need to carefully plan how you use your 6 million divine power over the next ten years. Don’t waste it recklessly—you need to maximize your combat strength.”

  “Understood, Lex. I’ll be very careful with how I use this divine power. There’s no way I’m giving up on the Global Tournament’s resource rewards.” William’s face was solemn as he spoke.

  With Lex’s words lingering in his mind, the initial excitement over his 6 million divine power had faded. After all, with a grand prize of 50 million divine power hanging in front of him, what he had now suddenly didn’t seem like that much.

  “Lex, do the Global Tournament’s rules follow the same format as this competition?” Now fully engaged, William wasted no time asking about the details.

  “You wish,” Lex said with a smirk. “These one-on-one battles are just an initial screening process. How do you think they compare to real combat?”

  “They’re helpful in some ways,” William replied after some thought. “They help identify weaknesses in our subordinates and speed up a beginner demigod’s adaptation to combat. But they’re still quite basic. Compared to real battles, they don’t account for many of the complex variables we’d encounter in actual warfare.”

  “Well said. But you missed the most important point—this format is too forgiving. It provides both sides with a relatively fair environment, stripping away the brutal realities of the Divine Realm.” Lex paused, smiling at William.

  “Lex… are you saying that the Global Tournament’s rules will be more realistic?” William’s eyes sharpened with realization.

  “Exactly. Our civilization invests vast amounts of resources into nurturing talent, but not to raise a bunch of delicate greenhouse flowers.”

  “The purpose of the tournament is to find promising young elites and direct resources toward them to accelerate their growth.”

  “Of course, the Global Tournament won’t be as ruthless as real-world warfare, but it definitely won’t be as mild as your city’s school competition.”