Yi Qiang darted from tree to tree in an alternating pattern, heading towards the meeting point. He traveled at a speed the marksman previously would have thought impossible to reach without far more time than seven days. At this rate, if Yi Qiang's calculations were correct, he would reach the spot where the Empire Contest had begun within minutes. This proximity was especially useful, considering that the sniper was cutting it close. Though the sun wasn't close enough to the horizon that a few minutes would make any difference, he had still spent as much time as possible hunting.

Now, however, he was going to get experience differently - the first quest he had ever received.

Anticipating both the material and immaterial rewards of his outstanding performance in the first round, Yi Qiang neared the place he would receive his awards.

After a couple of minutes, Yi Qiang broke through a screen of leaves and leaped out of the forest, sailing through the air gently until he landed softly on the ground.

As he stood up, the marksman had to restrain a smirk at the faces he saw all around.

The contestants who had previously had no regard for him now stared out him with a myriad of complicated expressions - wariness, resignment, fear, anger, and surprise.

It was little surprise - other than the tiny minority, perhaps one or two people, everyone there had been robbed not once, but multiple times by Yi Qiang. His overwhelming power and sneak attack tactic must have emblazoned his image into their minds, making their recognition of him instant.

He nodded towards the Absolute and sat down in a golden Qi chair, not seeing any point in spending any time not training his Qi Control when he didn't have to.

After around five minutes, the proctor of the Empire Contest spoke.

"After ten minutes from now, anyone who has yet to arrive will be automatically disqualified. Then, we will count the badges and go from there."

At this, Yi Qiang glanced around to see who had arrived by the set time.

Unsurprisingly, all of the Four he had hunted seemed to have recovered from the setback just fine, standing in the same order and with the same haughty dispositions.

Taren seemed unaware of Yi Qiang's actions in the forest, judging from the familiar disdain in his eyes, different from the newfound respect in Restra, Elias, and Ilien. Ilien, in particular, held some fear in his eyes, but Yi Qiang attributed that to the mage's nature.

In total, of the initial 23 contestants, 19 had returned, meaning the remaining four had 10 minutes to come back. The beasts probably killed at least one of them, Yi Qiang thought. With their strength, it's highly unlikely they could survive a head-on confrontation with even the weakest.

The ten minutes passed quickly. Two contestants returned, each of them significantly worse for wear than the rest of the talents who had arrived earlier.

But they had survived long enough to have at least a chance at moving on to the next round.

The marksman diverted his attention back to the Absolute, who had stood up the second the allotted time passed.

Not waiting for everyone's attention to naturally change to him, the man spoke.

"Form a line in front of me. Take all your badges out, and I'll count them. Oh, by the way, I lied. Given that there are a total of 2944, you need at least 200 badges to pass. I could tell you why, but I don't need to explain myself to you just yet. Earn my respect, and I'll consider it. For now, just get into a line and hurry up."

Not daring to say a word, everyone quickly shuffled into a line. There were a few silent disputes in order, but the first round seemed to have given everyone a good understanding of the others' power. That meant the Four were at the front. Elias took first, likely since nobody wanted to provoke the hothead over something as trivial as this. Taren came after with Ilien following - the mage, unless the situation was grave, seemed reluctant to act with any seriousness, and jovially handed over the position to Taren. Restra hid in the shadows just like Yi Qiang, but as one of the Four, she couldn't avoid the weight of her reputation. Thus, she settled for the fourth closest to the front.

The marksman, on the other hand, was content to act passively. As such, he ended up in sixth, directly behind a red-haired youth with a mace strapped to his back who had fearlessly pushed past the archer.

I'm not anxious about my results, so there's no reason for me to be obsessed with being closer in the line. Though there isn't much of a point for me to try to continue undercover - the number of badges on me will attract attention without a doubt.