"Ding! Successfully completed the quest ’Victory in the Second Match.’ Reward: 500,000 Experience Value, 1,000 Divine Rune Mastery Proficiency."

He had achieved a perfect victory and secured the flawless reward. The Experience Value was generous, but the proficiency points were what truly mattered. Yi Tianyun smiled with satisfaction. Still, he didn’t get much experience just for drawing a First-Grade Divine Rune.

He could have easily drawn a high-quality Divine Rune, but he enjoyed humiliating his opponents—utterly crushing them! That was his philosophy: keep a low profile, but deliver spectacular results.

’Not bad. If this keeps up, upgrading to Advanced Divine Rune Mastery won’t be a problem at all.’ A glint appeared in Yi Tianyun’s eyes.

Li Tianlong was pleased to see everyone still so eager. "I’m delighted to see you all still have so much fighting spirit," he said, a smile returning to his face. "After that last ordeal, I’m quite pleased that you can maintain this level of endurance."

The sudden change to the previous round’s format had caught many off guard, but they had persevered. After the trial of the last round, most were already showing signs of fatigue. Therefore, this round would be an even greater test of their stamina.

Those with less stamina might fail while drawing the Divine Runes they were usually most proficient with. Changing the second round into a battle of attrition had been a deliberate choice. Everyone was on a level playing field; it all came down to who had the greatest endurance.

"Here’s a rough breakdown of the scoring. For a First-Grade Divine Rune, the scores for low, medium, and high difficulty are one, two, and three points, respectively. For a Second-Grade Divine Rune, it’s four, five, and six points. For a Third-Grade Divine Rune, it’s five, eight, and ten points. And for a Fourth-Grade Divine Rune, the scores are twenty, forty, and sixty points..."

The score jumped exponentially for Fourth-Grade Divine Runes, starting at a whopping twenty points! Medium difficulty was worth a straight forty points. If someone managed to draw a high-difficulty Fourth-Grade Divine Rune, they would get sixty points in one go, enough to completely eclipse any scores from the lower grades.

"This is just the scoring based on difficulty. If any of you can draw Multiple Divine Patterns, the points awarded will be different. These are just the base scores. Once you’ve completed a Multiple Divine Pattern, we will announce its score separately. Rest assured, it will be far higher than you can imagine!"

Li Tianlong said with a faint smile, "So give it your all. The higher the grade you draw, the better. Whether you can stage a comeback depends entirely on this final round!"

There were only three rounds in total—a fitting number, as this was not a martial arts tournament. The drain on one’s Spiritual Power wasn’t something that could be fixed by simply popping an Elixir Pill. Pills that could effectively restore large amounts of Spiritual Power were exceedingly rare and prohibitively expensive. Using one in this competition was clearly not worth the cost.

Everyone nodded, understanding the rules completely. They would give it their all. Their final ranking depended on this last, desperate push.

"Ding! Successfully accepted Chain Quest 3: ’Achieve a Perfect Victory in the Third Round.’ Reward: 500,000 Experience Value, 1,000 Divine Rune Mastery Proficiency."

The reward was the same as before, with no changes, but it was more than enough for him.

"Very good. Since everyone understands, I won’t say any more. The time limit for this round will be a little longer: ten hours. Use that time wisely!" Li Tianlong announced.

Ten hours was a generous amount of time. Even if they failed, they could quickly recover and start again. It also gave them the option to rest for a while before making a careful attempt, which was a viable strategy in itself.

Then, a larger hourglass was brought out. This one was calibrated for ten hours. Once in place, it was decisively flipped over, signaling the official start of the match!

Once the hourglass was flipped, the contestants began their work. Some started drawing immediately, while others sat down in meditation, choosing to rest first.

"Let’s see you try to draw another First-Grade Divine Rune this time, if you’ve got the guts," Lin Li sneered, his gaze icy as he stared at Yi Tianyun. He refused to believe Yi Tianyun would try the same trick again.

’First-Grade Divine Runes were worth so few points. The score would only be significant if it were a Multiple Divine Pattern—a Quadruple Divine Pattern or higher, at that. If he just drew another Triple Divine Pattern, based on the scoring, he’d get ten points at most.’

"What grade of Divine Rune I draw is none of your business," Yi Tianyun replied without bothering to look at him. He simply sat down on the spot, closed his eyes, and began to meditate, showing no intention of drawing a Divine Rune right away.

Lin Li fumed, but he had no way to vent his anger. If there weren’t so many people around, he would have already erupted.

He couldn’t be bothered to say anything more and also sat down to meditate and recover, not planning to start immediately. The previous round had been taxing, so most participants chose to meditate and regain their strength. Their plan was to recover a bit, then inscribe the highest-grade Divine Rune they were capable of in one go.

In the blink of an eye, four hours passed. Many contestants had already gotten up and begun drawing their Divine Runes. Others waited until six hours had passed before starting. Lin Li was among the latter; he only rose to his feet after the sixth hour to begin.

His movements quickly drew everyone’s attention. They were all eager to see what grade of Divine Rune Lin Li would attempt to create.

By waiting six hours before starting, they ensured that even if they failed, they would still have enough time to try again.

The few contestants who had performed well in the previous rounds were all under close watch. However, the most eye-catching performance this time wasn’t from Lin Li, but from a woman off to the side!

"Quick, look! The expert hired by the Hua Family... isn’t the Divine Rune she’s drawing a bit strange?"

"Yeah, everyone else’s is emitting a golden light, but hers is glowing red. It doesn’t look like an ordinary Divine Rune, does it?"

...

Many people shifted their gazes to the woman, noticing that the Divine Rune she was drawing was peculiar. The light it emitted was clearly different from everyone else’s. More and more eyes turned toward her; after all, this Divine Rune was rather special.

Beads of sweat covered the woman’s forehead. She gritted her teeth, her hand drawing nonstop. The Divine Rune Pen she clutched seemed on the verge of snapping as the red light grew increasingly brilliant.

Yi Tianyun focused his gaze on her. The woman wasn’t stunningly beautiful, but she had a certain delicate charm, giving off a very clean and clear impression. Her slender, fair hands moved across the Divine Rune Paper at a steady, even pace.

’If I remember correctly, her name is He Qianhan?’ Yi Tianyun had heard someone call her name earlier. She was the expert hired by the Hua Family, though he didn’t know where she was from. ’Her skill level looks quite high.’

She had scored fifteen points in the previous round, tying with Lin Li.

"Oh, now this is interesting. A Third-Grade Multi-Attribute Divine Pattern, and a modified version at that. A rare sight indeed." Li Tianlong’s eyes lit up. He had full authority to judge this round and had already left his seat to walk among the contestants. When he saw what He Qianhan was drawing, he paid special attention.

The flickering red light wasn’t just for show; it was the power of the Fire Attribute. This was an Attribute Divine Pattern. When applied to a weapon, it would directly imbue it with the Fire Attribute. It was a high-difficulty, Third-Grade Divine Rune. Moreover, it wasn’t just a simple Third-Grade Divine Rune, but a multiple one! It looked like she was trying to stack it to two layers, which would at least enhance the Fire Attribute by one whole level.

Multiple Divine Patterns are precious because a weapon can only have one Divine Rune inscribed upon it, making the choice of which one to use absolutely critical. One not only needed a good Divine Rune, but a Multiple Divine Pattern, to truly maximize a weapon’s value.

He Qianhan’s performance was now the center of attention. It truly looked like she was about to complete a Third-Grade Dual Attribute Divine Pattern. The score for such a feat would be on par with a Fourth-Grade Divine Rune, meaning if she succeeded, she would earn a score in the twenty-point range!

Whether she would get exactly that many points was hard to say; everything depended on Li Tianlong’s final judgment. But one thing was certain: He Qianhan’s skill was by no means low!