CHAPTER 149. Strategize

While gazing past the large crowd of participants, Felarial's attention paused on the Earth's trial zone team.

He wanted to know their decisions regarding his proposal but didn't approach and push them for answers believing the saying 'Haste makes Waste'.

So, he waited patiently for the Earth's Alpha Chosen to come up to him when they eventually make a decision.

In his presence, the noise in the Colosseum soon settled down, and Felarial began giving details on the upcoming Round of the Tournament.

"Now that the wait is over let us begin Round-2. This Round will also be taking place in Reality Emulators. Since there are only a hundred trial zone teams left, this will be done in one go without having to separate you all into batches like in the previous Round. Out of the participating 100 trial zone teams, only the teams with the top 25 scores will be qualified for the Final Round."

Felarial gave a short pause before glancing around, and as if he read some of their thoughts, he said, "This Round will mainly focus on Survival and TeamWork. So, those who were worrying if you had to fight another trial zone teams outright, you all can be at ease...at least for this Round."

Before that piece of information could let most of the trial zone teams breathe a sigh of relief, Felarial's last few words plucked their heartstrings.

After all, his words indirectly suggested the 25 teams that proceed to Round-3 will have to fight against each other rather than face emulated monsters.

Most of the top trial zone teams in Round-1 began to assess the strength and weaknesses of other teams in preparation for the future.

The leading teams in the Top 10 subconsciously turned their heads to look at Earth's trial zone team members.

After all, in Round-1 itself, the Earth's Alpha Chosen established their dominance with the vast Evaluation score difference.

Soon, many began to use the information-type skills in possession to pry at the of Earth's Alpha Chosen.

Although Jay's blocked others from viewing anything other than his Name and Tier, he still found it annoying since it wasn't subtle anymore, with a lot of them using their skills at once.

Just as Jay was about to use to block them off entirely from bothering him, several Alpha Chosen fell to their knees and wailed as they tightly held their heads.

This revelation stunned the others on the podium ground and the audience in the seating area as well.

They wondered who had the power to drop so many Alpha Chosen to their knees, especially since most of them were from the top-10 teams.

Meanwhile, Jay turned around to look at Olivia, whose irises emanated a bright golden glow as she frustratedly eyed those who were wailing in agony.

He right away understood the situation without having to read the thoughts of anyone around.

Just like how Jay was on the receiving end of the information prying skills, Olivia faced a similar situation, except she was the main target of those skills.

Since Olivia's information-type skill wasn't a high-grade skill like the one Jay has, she felt like hundreds of needles pricked her mind at once.

That exasperated Olivia. So as retaliation, she used her Innate Talent to clasp onto the souls of those that targeted her, leading to their miserable conditions.

Jay didn't meddle in and folded his arms as he stood there and watched that go on.

Only those who were at Tier-3 Mid-Phase and exceptional ones like Seath fared better but still couldn't escape from Olivia's grasp.

Due to expending most of his time on exploring 'Thunder Miasma', Jay didn't pay attention to Olivia's , but upon noticing the scale of her powers, he was pleasantly surprised since it was just a slight push away from turning into a Major Mastery without her even having to enter the state of enlightenment.

Jay knew that the higher the grade of one's Innate Talent, the easier it was to cross the mastery bottleneck but to think those with Grade-10 Innate Talent could attain Major Mastery with little to no effort had overtaken his estimation.

Anyway, it was a piece of good news for Jay since he could at any time synchronize with Olivia's Mastery using the to share the progress she made.

He chose not to do it right away as that process would take some time to complete. So, he decided to wait till the 2nd Intermission to synchronize.

Asides from Jay, Felarial caught onto the situation as well. Since that wouldn't lead to their deaths, he chose not to interfere, especially since the one responsible was Olivia.

The wails continued nearly for half a minute before she let go of them, and all those who suffered under Olivia's power were scared to the point they didn't even dare to look at her.

Many around the Earth's trail zone team moved away from them out of fear.

From the prowess Olivia displayed when fighting emulated monsters in the previous Round, everyone had assumed her strengths lie in her high stats and psychokinesis ability.

But experiencing the crushing pressure on their soul left them aghast and, at the same time, made them tremble at Olivia's ability.

Their reactions gave away clues to the spectators, who soon connected the dots and were astonished beyond belief upon realizing that it was Olivia, who had temporarily incapacitated close to a 100 Alpha Chosen with just a look alone.

They began to pity those who would have to face Earth's trial zone team in Round-3. The other participants on the podium ground had no different thoughts from them.

The lower-ranked teams among the Top-100 just hoped to score well enough in Round-2 even if they couldn't make it to the Final Round.

Soon the commotion settled down, and Felarial made hundreds of Reality Emulators appear on the podium ground.

"Each Reality Emulator here was assigned to a particular team number. Only enter those respective to your allotted team number, or you would enter an independent virtual space along with another team.

In this round, each team will be facing hordes of monsters and the longer you survive, the merrier the Evaluation Score. Do mind that the monster horde in each 'Wave' will be stronger than the last.

You will all learn further details on Round-2 in the Reality Emulators. If there are any preparations left, be quick with them. The Reality Emulators will open in three minutes. Good Luck to you all."

After announcing that, Felarial brought a Throne chair out of nowhere and sat on it comfortably as it floated in the position he previously stood.

The participating 100 trial zone teams began to discuss with each other, trying to form strategies for Round-2 in the little time they had left.

The Atlans and Rock Magmoids weren't an exception, as they did the same. But Akor didn't join his group's discussion and instead asked Jay for a suggestion.

Both groups halted what they were doing and expectantly waited for Jay's reply. Even the Earth's Alpha Chosen wanted to hear what Jay would say since he somehow had prior knowledge of the details of the Tournament.

Jay didn't answer and instead called out for MJ, who appeared with a pop as the jingle bell at the corner of his little Santa hat on his head rang cheerfully.

"MJ, Calculate the best possible strategy based on the strength of various monster hordes and the combat capabilities of each individual Atlan."

MJ's voice followed suit before a second could pass by, "Master, it is done."

Before instructing MJ to explain the strategy to them, Jay created a barrier of wind and enveloped the Earth's Alpha Chosen, Atlans and Rock Magmoids to block others from eavesdropping.

Baby MJ explained the strategy, where the Atlans would be divided into two groups.

Instead of attacking the horde of monsters all at once, the two groups will take turns. The Sea Lord will be the lead attacker within the first group, and the other five in that group will have to support him.

Whereas the second group only consisted of two members, with Akor as the main attacker and the female Atlan, Ah'na as the supporter.

When a group attacks, the other group should focus on recovering Spirit Energy and Stamina or support the combat-active group if the situation demands it.

The Atlans paid utmost attention to words rolled out of Baby MJ’s little mouth.

Once MJ was done with his explanation, Jay concluded with some important points, "Although this Round focuses on survival, doing just that wouldn't be of much help in achieving a high Evaluation Score.

Only killing as many monsters as possible is the way to go, and if you could clear the entire horde, the final score would be even better.

Using the strategy MJ just explained will only let you all sail smoothly till the 7th Wave, but from then on, it will become a struggle for survival. So, try to clear all the monsters before that."

The Atlans nodded in understanding, and Akor repeatedly thanked Jay for his advice. After all, Jay didn't have to reveal anything to the Atlans but still helped them just because of Akor.

Observing this, the Rock Magmoids nudged forward Halbor in hopes of receiving something helpful.

Halbor, on the other hand, hesitated. After learning from Min-soo that the barriers separating each Trial Zone within every Trial Region will disappear after the First Tournament, Halbor was well aware that the Tournament's final rankings will unofficially determine the power structure of the 35th Trial Region.

Halbor would have asked for it if it was just a strategy, but with their limited overall team strength, any strategy couldn't help them place in the Top 25.

Requesting anything more would be too much to ask. So, Halbor fell into a dilemma, whether to ask Jay for help or not.

All this didn't go unnoticed by Jay, who read all his thoughts.

Instead of waiting for Halbor to ask, Jay himself took the initiative to approach the Rock Magmoids, "At this point, no strategy could help your team qualify for Round-3. But fortunately for you lot, I can present your team with two choices that could resolve the problem at hand. Although the cost you would have to pay will be different for both choices, either of them could make your team qualify for Round-3."

Hearing that didn't just pique the interest of Rock Magmoids but the Atlans and the Earth's Alpha Chosen as well. They all wanted to know how Jay could make a team that was ranked 100th enter the Top-25 in Round-2.