Victor’s "Molten Champion" rampaged through the ruins. With every snap of its massive, crimson scorpion pincers, it seared a row of molten holes into the armor of the Alchemy Puppets. The crystal at the tip of its scorpion tail fired lasers, expertly targeting their weak points.

On the projection screens, Victor Iron Flame’s name steadily climbed, and he soon broke into the top ten on the leaderboard.

"Way to go, Victor! Take out those old dogs!"

"Just what you’d expect from the Tieyan Family’s genius! The Molten Champion’s firepower is insane!"

In the spectator stands, the junior apprentices, who had never seen such a spectacle, erupted in cheers. The atmosphere was electric.

For the first hour of the competition, the rules forbade participants from attacking one another.

The various Alchemy Puppets scattered around the arena, regardless of their strength, were worth only one point each when destroyed.

This turned the first hour into a pure "point-grinding" phase.

The thirty-seven Mechanical Bodies, each with a unique design, were all showcasing their power on their respective battlefronts, picking off the easiest targets and racing against the clock to build an advantage.

Amidst the clamor and chaos, almost no one noticed a name at the bottom of the scoreboard—"Allen Wesren"—climbing the ranks at a methodical, almost rigid pace.

"Allen Wesren: 8 Points"

"Allen Wesren: 9 Points"

"Allen Wesren: 10 Points"

There were no earth-shattering explosions, no dazzling displays of light and shadow.

Every time his score ticked up, it meant that somewhere, in some forgotten corner, an Alchemy Puppet had collapsed without warning.

Allen’s "Spider Slayer" was like a patient old Hunter, perched atop a high-rise, using the shadows to carry out one cold-blooded kill after another.

Each attack was precise and efficient, earning a point with minimal energy expenditure.

But its core ability, "Shadow Travel," remained hidden, never once revealed to anyone.

Finally, a few sharp-eyed spectators began to notice something was off.

"Look, another one! How did that heavy-duty puppet just collapse on its own?" an apprentice asked, pointing at one of the split-screens with a baffled expression.

"Yeah, I saw it too. A patrol puppet was just walking along, and then it keeled over. There was just a tiny hole in its body, and I didn’t even see the attack."

"Something’s fishy! Definitely fishy! Somebody’s ambushing them... no, ambushing the puppets!"

More and more people began searching the thirty-seven split-screens for the mysterious "sniper." Soon, their gazes locked onto screen #27, which showed a contestant who had been holding the high ground from the very start, barely moving at all.

On the screen, a black mechanical spider blended seamlessly into the shadows, its outline only faintly visible when it occasionally shifted its position.

"It’s that one! The spider!"

"Damn, hiding up on the highest point and taking potshots? That’s way too sneaky!"

"Sneaky? That’s called tactics! Don’t you get it?"

Just as the crowd was buzzing with discussion, a deafening roar erupted from a corner of the spectator stands.

"ALLEN IS A GOD!!"

"See that? That’s our very own Allen from the Learning Mutual Aid Group!"

"One shot, one kill! So awesome! Now *that’s* real skill!"

It was none other than the seven or eight members of Allen’s Learning Mutual Aid Group.

Unlike the rest of the audience, who were focused on the popular contestants, they had been glued to Allen’s screen from the very beginning.

Now, seeing Allen’s Mechanical Body performing so spectacularly, their faces were flushed with excitement, and their shouts were deafening.

This sudden outburst of fanaticism drew strange looks from the surrounding apprentices.

"Learning Mutual Aid Group? What the heck is that?"

"Allen Wesren? You mean that monster who got perfect scores in fourteen general education courses? Is he about to pull something crazy again?"

"So it’s him! No wonder... The design philosophy behind his Mechanical Body is completely different from everyone else’s!"

On the leaderboard, Allen’s name had quietly climbed to eighth place, overtaking Victor Iron Flame.

The faces of Victor’s friends soured. One of them muttered, "He’s just a coward who only knows how to hide in the shadows and snipe. Nothing to be so smug about."

Victor said nothing. He just stared at the iron spider on the projection screen, his expression growing serious.

’He had a nagging feeling that there was more to Allen’s Mechanical Body than just sniping.’

In the participants’ section, Allen felt the waves of frenzied cheers coming from behind him and couldn’t help but feel incredibly awkward.

’In both his past life and his present one, he had an instinctive aversion to such embarrassing situations.’

The feeling was like sitting on pins and needles.

He discreetly raised a hand. An imperceptible glimmer of Magic Radiance lit up on his fingertip as he gently brushed it across his face.

[Myriad Disguise].

The contours of his face shifted subtly. His hair and eye color dulled a few shades, and in an instant, his face became that of an unremarkable passerby.

Only after doing all this did Allen feel like he could breathe easier. He refocused his attention on the match.

Just then, the sweet, synthetic voice of the Alchemy Puppet host floating in the air once again echoed through the entire arena.

"Ladies and gentlemen! The time for playing house is over!"

Her voice was brimming with excitement.

"What comes next is the true feast! All restrictions between Mechanical Bodies have been lifted! The Battle Royale... officially begins!"

"Participants, remember! Destroying any other competitor’s Mechanical Body will instantly earn you—twenty points!"

OHHHHHHHH!!!!

The atmosphere in the spectator stands changed in an instant.

If before it had been like a technology showcase, it now felt like a full-blown fighting tournament.

The junior apprentices in the crowd, who were under immense academic pressure every day, instantly started whooping and hollering!

"Come on, come on! I want to see a bloodbath!"

"RAAAH!" "YEAH!"

"Wooooo!!!"

Twenty points was enough to change the rankings in an instant!

Inside the arena, nearly all the Mechanical Bodies ceased their attacks on the patrol puppets.

Following their pre-programmed logic, they quickly took cover, trying to avoid being picked off by opportunists.

For a moment, the arena fell eerily silent, and a palpable killing intent filled the air.

Suddenly, the brief silence in the arena was shattered.

A lumbering, bipedal Mechanical Body—the work of a newly promoted Advanced Apprentice—had a Control Core whose logic was clearly still stuck in the rudimentary "acquire target, then fire" stage.

It had just aimed its cannon at a nearby Alchemy Puppet when a metallic cheetah pounced from the shadows on its flank.

The leopard-type Mechanical Body was incredibly fast, leaving a trail of afterimages as it ran. It moved without a hint of mechanical stiffness, clearly a creation far beyond the level of a novice.

It slid low to the ground, avoiding the bipedal Mechanical Body’s direct line of fire as its claws scraped blinding sparks from the pavement.

CRUNCH!

The leopard’s massive metal jaws clamped down precisely on the bipedal Mechanical Body’s relatively fragile leg joint, its enchanted fangs instantly shredding the armor.

Thrown off balance, the bipedal Mechanical Body crashed to the ground. Before it could even struggle, the leopard’s other claw had sliced open its chest cavity and crushed the glowing Control Core within.

On the projection screens, the feed for the bipedal Mechanical Body instantly went gray.

Twenty points, secured.