The next day in Liyue Harbor. Perhaps because it was the final day of the festival, the entire city boiled with unprecedented fervor.
People of Liyue and the other Seven Nations constantly weaved through the bustling streets and alleys. In just one morning, major shops across Liyue filled their coffers to the brim. The Mora earned today alone likely equaled their total revenue from the past month.
However, the Ministry of Civil Affairs was not pleased.
Truthfully, the officials were rubbing their temples in deep distress. If they couldn't find a way to circulate this massive influx of wealth, prices next year would absolutely explode. Ningguang had already issued a strict order mandating them to regulate the economy within a single month. Thus, while everyone else cheerfully celebrated the Lantern Rite, the Ministry of Civil Affairs remained exceptionally busy.
But this was not an issue Ryen needed to focus on.
Right now, everyone's attention was locked on the Bed Wars finale.
With a seven-day buffer period, the five nations' understanding of Bed Wars had grown extremely profound. Perhaps spurred by the temptation of the Master-tier Necromancer Staff, today's match featured an endless stream of spectacular, high-level plays.
Using fishing rods to pull players off bridges was already an outdated tactic.
Now, the competitors mostly engaged in intense one-on-one duels on single-block bridges. It looked exactly like a match of Fortnite from Ryen's previous world. At the slightest disturbance, the finale arena would go crazy, expanding into a towering fortress in the blink of an eye.
Even Sumeru executed many architectural maneuvers during the match that Zhongli and the others had never even conceived.
The viewing experience was absolutely phenomenal.
The match continued until noon, and the first eliminated nation finally appeared.
Unexpectedly, it was Mondstadt.
The four nations had originally cooperated, planning to prioritize eliminating the highly advantaged Liyue. However, they constantly guarded against each other, leading to poor coordination. Continuously failing to take down Liyue made them increasingly wary of one another.
Finally, Snezhnaya and Inazuma suddenly turned their spears, catching Mondstadt completely off guard.
Mondstadt suffered immediate heavy losses. Liyue and Sumeru did not let this golden opportunity slip away, launching a full-scale assault. In the blink of an eye, Mondstadt's main island was breached.
Jean and the Knights returned to the spectator stand with slumped shoulders. Lumine in particular ground her teeth audibly upon seeing the smug smirk resting on Aether's face.
She lost big this time!
Although Aether wasn't the one who knocked her off the sky island, he had led a strike team to harass her, creating the perfect opening for Miko to land a fatal blow.
"Despicable!"
Lumine slammed her fist hard against the wooden railing.
"If we hadn't played so hard last night, leaving my legs practically trembling, how could I have been knocked down so easily!"
She snapped her head around, pointing an accusing finger.
"This is all your fault, Ryen!"
Ryen rolled his eyes at the sudden, unwarranted blame.
Last night, she was the one tightly gripping the sheets, screaming to keep going. She pushed for every possible method. Even when she was half-dead and gasping for air, she insisted on trying the back door. Heaven as his witness, Lumine initiated it all herself.
Furthermore, he had fed her an Enchanted Golden Apple this morning, so her stamina should have been at its absolute peak.
But Ryen knew Lumine just needed an outlet to vent.
After all, she had consistently kept Aether under her heel in their sibling brawls over the years. This time was a massive, public defeat.
Lumine rested her chin in her hands, her lower lip jutting out.
But soon enough, surrounded by Qiqi and the other girls, her eyes crinkled as a bright smile broke through her frustration. Darling daughters truly possessed the ultimate healing properties.
Having routed Mondstadt, the four nations swiftly carved up their remaining resources.
Having fought so many wars, they understood the greatest taboo in Bed Wars was giving the enemy time to develop. There was no time to carefully sort through the loot.
The four nations immediately plunged back into a chaotic melee.
Each nation only assigned a small fraction of personnel to rush processing the resources while everyone else boarded the center island for a massive brawl. On the main islands, they still had to constantly watch out for enemy sneak attacks and arson.
Compared to the first Bed Wars tournament, this battlefield was far more chaotic and grand.
The results came faster as well.
Barely an hour after Mondstadt's elimination, Sumeru fell short and was routed.
The good news was that before falling, Sumeru executed Alhaitham's suicide truck plan. They successfully dragged many players from the other three nations down with them into mutual destruction.
The remaining forces of the three nations plummeted.
Especially Liyue.
Many Sumeru players seized the opportunity, clutching the TNT they had looted from Mondstadt, and charged brainlessly onto Liyue's main island. They ignited the explosives and embraced mutual destruction.
Liyue's main island suffered catastrophic damage. Three of the five Yakshas were blown clean off the map.
For a time, Liyue stood at the brink of ultimate peril.
Under these circumstances, what was there left to think about? Inazuma and Snezhnaya decisively allied to assault Liyue.
Seeing the moment of life and death approaching, Ningguang decisively abandoned a massive amount of resources and manpower. She used sheer numbers to carve out a bloody path, allowing Xiao to risk his life and board Snezhnaya's main island.
He successfully launched a sneak attack and destroyed Snezhnaya's bed.
Seeing Aether's jaw clench tightly in intense frustration brought a wide, satisfied smirk to Lumine's face. Even though she lost early, as long as Aether failed to achieve victory, Lumine felt completely vindicated.
Approaching noon, the final showdown officially began.
This time, Liyue and Inazuma no longer plotted against each other. Taking advantage of the Tsaritsa's carelessness to backstab Snezhnaya had already put Inazuma on high alert.
This time, no further schemes were necessary.
Liyue used Azhdaha as the vanguard, scraping together enough materials to craft a Giant Sword for him. Azhdaha's towering figure, combined with the sweeping Giant Sword, allowed one person to clear the path like a bulldozer.
But soon enough, he ran into the Raiden Shogun.
The Shogun successfully stalled his advance.
The Bed Wars arena completely blossomed. What was originally a two-dimensional battle was forcibly elevated into a three-dimensional mode.
Frequently, the moment both sides clashed, various defensive structures and towers would instantly erect all over the ground.
Ryen chuckled softly. This truly gave off the feeling of Fortnite.
The intensity of this war reached an unprecedented level, causing the spectators to refuse to even blink.
Just as the sun hit its zenith, Ningguang dispatched her final thirty men.
Using the Adepti to forcibly stall Inazuma's numerous soldiers, the Millelith rapidly built upwards into the sky directly above Inazuma's main island.
It started raining Millelith from the sky.
Every Millelith soldier leaped down with the absolute resolve to die. They did not seek to kill the enemy. They only aimed to land a single strike on the enemy's bed before perishing upon impact.
Traces of the Millelith appeared all over Inazuma's main island. Instantly, the rear lines descended into sheer chaos.
Ningguang's suicide assault yielded tremendous results.
Coupled with the Adepti on the front lines fighting with their lives to prevent Inazuma's main force from returning to defend, the pressure was insurmountable.
As the sun reached its absolute peak, Inazuma's bed completely collapsed. The victor of the Bed Wars finale finally emerged.
Liyue secured a hard-fought victory.
Unlike the preliminaries, where Liyue had many players left standing, this finale left Liyue with barely four or five Adepti remaining. Adding Ningguang and Keqing, who stayed back on the main island, they barely numbered ten people in total.
Ningguang let out a long, trembling breath.
This time, they gambled entirely on luck. Had their luck been slightly worse just moments ago, Liyue would have been wiped out.
Fortunately, luck stood firmly on her side.
Glancing at Ganyu, Ningguang covered her lips, her eyes curving in deep amusement.
The reason she kept Ganyu stationary on the main island the entire time was precisely to utilize Ganyu's absurd luck aura.
A giant dragon took to the skies, returning everyone from the arena to the spectator stand above.
Seeing Ningguang and her team return, Ei and the others let out a collective sigh.
"It seems you were just a cut above," Ei stated.
"Merely a stroke of fortune," Ningguang replied truthfully, a fact everyone clearly understood.
After all, right in the heat of battle, when Inazuma was on the verge of breaching the main island, their soldiers suddenly went weak in the knees and tumbled off the edge into the void.
How could anyone possibly explain such an occurrence?
Once or twice was fine, but four or five times was simply unjustifiable.
Everyone cast long gazes toward Ganyu, who was once again standing quietly by Ryen's side.
"Luck is truly a formidable weapon," Makoto sighed, shaking her head and dropping the matter.
Although losing felt a bit stifling, luck was also a decisive factor in warfare. They could only blame Inazuma for not possessing an anomaly of luck like Ganyu.
Seeing everyone gathered back together, Ryen smiled and set Qiqi down. He pointed the camera toward the spectator stand, broadcasting the feed to the distant stadium.
"After seven days of battles large and small, the victor of this year's Lantern Rite Bed Wars has finally emerged."
"Let us congratulate Liyue for clinching this match by a razor-thin margin!"
The moment his words fell, deafening applause echoed from the distant stadium all the way over to the stands. Though the others felt a pang of regret, they still offered their heartfelt applause and blessings to Ningguang and her team.
"Next up is the highly anticipated award ceremony," Ryen announced with a light chuckle.
"The victors for all the Lantern Rite competitions have been decided. We will now present the winners with their well-deserved rewards."
"First place in the Parkour Tournament, Fengyan of Liyue, rewarded with an additional giant dragon."
"Second place, Deros of Mondstadt, rewarded with five Totems of Undying and a top-tier Slash Blade."
"Third place, Akekia of Snezhnaya, rewarded with three Totems of Undying."
"Will the winners please step forward to claim your rewards."
The three who received their prizes could not contain their beaming expressions. They stepped up to claim their rewards, took a photo with Ryen and the others, and left in high spirits.
The Lantern Rite events did not solely consist of Bed Wars. Parkour Tournaments, Crazy Walls, Sheep Capture, and more were all held. It was just that Bed Wars garnered the most attention and operated on the grandest scale.
Although Ei and the others suffered a narrow defeat here, they still secured numerous victories in other competitions. Basically, every nation produced champion competitors in the various side events.
Distributing these rewards did not take long.
A moment later, only the Bed Wars victor rewards remained.
Ryen clapped his hands loudly.
"Next is the highly anticipated reward for the Bed Wars finale victors. Will all participating Liyue soldiers please step forward!"
Hearing this, the Millelith soldiers stood at rigid attention before Ryen, their chests puffed out and faces glowing with intense excitement.
Ryen waved a hand, and soldiers beside him pulled a pile of radiant staffs out from large chests.
"Bed Wars relies on everyone's collective effort. This match provided us with an absolutely stellar visual feast."
"All participating Millelith will receive a Novice-tier Staff. In addition, you will become the very first members of the Five-Nation Alliance's Thousand-Mage Regiment."
"Congratulations to you all!"
At this, the distant stadium erupted into absolute pandemonium.
While they knew the grandest competition would yield better rewards than the others, they never expected this.
It was actually staffs!
These were divine artifacts currently exclusive to the highest-ranking officials of each nation.
Every single staff represented an unprecedented, extraordinary power.
Unlike other weapons, even if ordinary people wielded enchanted swords and felt extraordinary, they fundamentally understood it wasn't true supernatural power.
But staffs.
This was genuine supernatural power, no different from wielding a Vision.
They provided elemental empowerment and allowed the user to cast actual spells. Furthermore, they could be continuously upgraded all the way to Master-tier.
Was this not just another form of an external magic organ?
Moreover.
The Thousand-Mage Regiment.
Rumor had it this was a top-tier legion the five nations planned to build together, one that would stand above even the Dragon Cavalry.
For a soldier, nothing was more worthy of pride than this.
Distributing the staffs one by one, Ryen looked at the hundred buzzing soldiers before him with a gratified expression, speaking softly.
"Congratulations on becoming true supernaturals. You understand the significance of these staffs, so you must maintain strict discipline."
"In the future, you will serve as the pioneers of the Thousand-Mage Regiment. You must lead by example and hold yourselves to the highest principles."
The Millelith soldiers tightened their expressions, their bodies standing straight as arrows.
"While rock stays hard, the mountain shall never yield!"