The first qualification groups reached their staging sectors.
Across the preserved region, enormous formation gates began closing behind them.
The excitement changed almost immediately.
For hours, the gathering had felt like a festival. Now the competitors were finally standing inside the grounds.
The qualification sectors differed greatly in appearance. Some crossed ruined valleys and broken mountain paths, while others passed through forests, underground chambers, artificial ruins, or vast formation fields built over the preserved terrain.
The underlying objective, however, remained the same.
Reach the endpoint.
Everything between the participant and that endpoint existed to test what happened when the easiest answer stopped working.
There were hostile constructs, environmental obstacles, preserved battlefield pressure, controlled suppression, and restrictions that changed according to the route and the participant's performance.
Defeating everything was unnecessary.
