Why does this all sound like sending a daughter off to the imperial palace…?

  Those parting words—it’s the same meaning, isn’t it?

  If you catch their eye, you’ll be dressed in gold and jewels, basking in luxury and honor. But if you don’t… it’s back to instant noodles and moving bricks on a construction site, huh?

  If William weren’t currently just a semi-divine spiritual body floating in the void,

  he might’ve faceplanted right there on the spot, just to show Lex what despair looked like.

  Instead, he managed to steady himself in midair, swallowing down the flood of sarcastic remarks bubbling up inside.

  He cast a resentful glance at Lex, then turned his focus back to his Divine Realm, guiding it toward the enormous divine sphere in the distance.

  All around him, other demigods began moving in the same direction, closing in on the god who had just spoken.

  As William’s Divine Realm drifted close enough to the gathering point,

  he noticed over 700 Divine Realms had already assembled.

  They formed a massive semicircle, each floating a short distance away from the god at the center.

  William used the moment to quickly scan his fellow competitors’ Divine Realms.

  A glance around revealed something surprising—

  only a little over 700 contestants had shown up.

  This number was far lower than he had expected.

  Given that the civilization governed over ten thousand planetary systems,

  and considering the number of habitable planets that must’ve been created through advanced terraforming tech,

  the number of global champions should’ve been far higher.

  Even with the competition divided across three major stellar sectors,

  each sector should still encompass at least 3,000 planetary systems.

  With the tech available in this universe, the number of habitable planets should have easily surpassed that.

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  Yet only 700-plus participants had made it to this Sector Tournament.

  It wasn’t hard to imagine how strict the qualification screening must’ve been.

  Every contestant present was no doubt the cream of the crop from the Third Stellar Sector this year.

  As it turned out, William’s guess wasn’t far off.

  In the outermost regions of this civilization, some planetary systems existed purely for defense—military zones with no schools or academies.

  They were staffed entirely by professional soldiers.

  But within the inner regions, many planetary systems contained far more than one habitable planet each.

  Apart from a small number of global champions who couldn’t participate due to heavy losses in previous matches,

  the rest had simply failed to pass the qualification exam and hadn’t received an invitation to the Sector Tournament.

  As he observed the gathered Divine Realms, William realized that judging strength purely by realm size wasn’t reliable anymore.

  Some Divine Realms here spanned over 20 million square kilometers.

  Others were smaller than 5 million.

  His own Divine Realm, at 15 million square kilometers, looked completely average by comparison.

  Still, just qualifying for the Sector Tournament was proof of power.

  By comparing with his own strength at the end of the Global Tournament—roughly 800 million extraordinary followers—

  he figured that while some contestants might be weaker than that version of himself,

  others were probably stronger.

  With no other indicators to go by, William started studying the expressions of the demigods floating outside their Divine Realms.

  It wasn’t the most accurate method, but confidence—or lack thereof—could say a lot.

  Among the crowd, some looked tense, others calm. Some were focused and serious, while others looked eager and ready to go.

  As the last of the contestants arrived, a strange silence settled over the entire area.

  A faint but growing pressure filled the space—subtle yet undeniable.

  Many contestants began to look visibly more serious.

  Even though every one of them was a champion in their own right and certainly not lacking confidence,

  they all knew the Sector Tournament came with real stakes.

  Seeing so many opponents who had also passed the rigorous screening process…

  it was only natural that everyone began adjusting their mindset, shifting into a more cautious and focused state.

  Looking around at the scene, William suddenly felt a strong sense of déjà vu.

  It reminded him of the martial arts tournaments in those old TV dramas from his past life,

  where all the top fighters from across the land would gather in one place—each with their own unique skills and hidden aces.

  Everyone ready to clash and see who would rise as the new martial arts prodigy of the year.

  As his thoughts wandered, he imagined everyone pulling out their Divine Realm followers like martial arts moves—

  someone unleashing a cavalry charge, another summoning a sea of undead skeletons,

  him calling down a dragon from the sky…

  BOOM! A chaotic brawl erupts—swords flashing, spells flying, special effects cranked to max.

  “Whoa whoa whoa… it’s getting kinda epic in here!”

  “Wait… why does the vibe feel so off?”

  “Ugh, it must be the aftereffects of Old Lex’s pep talk. That ‘good luck’ was cursed, I swear.”