Healing System

All of them finally arrived at the Cloudflower Sect, and to everyone's surprise, it had undergone a ridiculous change.

Not in a way that would make it unrecognizable, but enough to make Michael's eyes narrow.

What was just a simple sect a week prior was now turned into some sort of amusement park.

There were stalls all around, yet each one of them had weird symbols—some of which made even him confused.

Is this some sort of joke? he thought inwardly, glancing at each of the stalls.

That was when he noticed something—each of the stalls had a person who was decently strong, while at the same time, the text on the symbols said "Points."

He couldn't have found that out without the help of the system. Nonetheless, it was good that he knew.

Since now, Michael could better prepare himself for this ridiculous tournament.

It was odd of him to think that each and every single tournament was going to be related to fighting, which he would obviously win.

But if it was something like this—an arcade-style tournament where it's mostly based on luck—then things were bound to be different.

And soon, each of the sects gathered, with the Cloudflower Sect's elder stepping forth.

"Welcome, everyone. We decided to do something different this year. Instead of our previous musical performances, we will be competing in a game of chance," the female elder said before adding, "That's why each of the teams has the same chance of winning, with the only skill involved being your luck."

There was a certain smirk on the female elder's face that Michael did not like, but it was obvious after all.

It was their game, and each of the people standing by the stalls was from the Cloudflower Sect.

If they did not take this chance to rig the games, then they would be stupid.

"Now then, the format of this tournament is simple. Each of the sects will participate in a series of games of your choosing until, eventually, a sect reaches 50 points in total and is deemed the winner," she explained.

Once the information sunk into everyone's minds, she continued, "The rules are as follows: No meddling with the other teams. No cheating. No usage of Qi. Respect the game overseers. And lastly, the most important one—you can only play the same game five times before you are locked out of earning points from it."

'Sounds pretty simple to me.' Michael nodded.

[Simple, but the odds of the overseers overlooking the Cloudflower Sect's cheating are extremely high, so unless you pull something out of your ass, you won't be winning this one,] the system commented.

Michael rolled his eyes. 'Obviously. I'll see what I can do. Also...' he turned toward Chu Dong.

However, it was a bit peculiar since the person standing there was no longer Sect Leader Ji.

And from the looks of it, the sect leader was even closer to Michael than he had anticipated.

As he glanced to the side—specifically at one of the Azure Dragon Sect's disciples—

Shi Feng, the same person Hu Rong had fought, had now surprisingly gotten decently stronger.

Perhaps by chance—obviously not—he was also holding his sword on the right side instead of the left.

'I wonder if people tend to simply go from right-handed to left-handed within the span of a couple of hours,' Michael thought with amusement.
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But it was a bit of an ominous thought.

This Sect Leader Ji was able to become anyone he wanted without the others finding out.

Not unless they used some high-level Qi technique or had access to abundant mana like Michael, of course.

[Yeah, it's demonic faction stuff. This sect leader was likely corrupted by the potential power you could gain by tainting your dantian with demonic energy or something,] the system commented.

'Mhm. Michael nodded in response before turning to Shi Feng. I have no clue what the fuck you just said, but I understand.'

[...] The system was speechless.

Nonetheless, it was about time the Cloudflower Sect's elder continued their explanation.

And this time, it was regarding the games.

"Each and every single team has an equal opportunity to win, as I have already said. Therefore, there is a chance to play a more difficult game, and in exchange, you would gain more points doing so."

"There are three difficulties in total, and each is marked by a flag with a specific color on top of the booth. Green games are one point, orange games are two points, and lastly, red games are four points," the elder said, earning a nod from each and every single person present.

"Now then, since we are making this fair, each team has ten minutes to have a look around. Make sure to memorize the games in that time, or at the very least, familiarize yourself with them. Since if you don't, I don't want you complaining about your loss," the elder finally finished, and with a wave of her hand, allowed everyone to enter the game courtyard.

Michael decided to take his time, for the most part, since even though there were around twenty games, the difficulties did not matter much.

In total, there were ten green booths, seven orange booths, and lastly, three red booths.

Therefore, he opted for checking out the red games first.

Walking up to one of the red booths, he noticed a familiar sight right off the bat.

A blindfold, followed by a wooden sword off to the side.

'A blindfolded duel, perhaps? This is something I can cheat at without using a bit of mana,' Michael thought with a small smile and proceeded toward the next red booth.

The next one, however, was not related to combat in the slightest.

There was a small puzzle on the table, and it had some weird patterns that did not fit each other at all.

But once he focused closer, he noticed something interesting.

The patterns were actually some kind of stones made out of mana, and at a single glance, they looked much different.

In reality, however, they were equally the same as one another.

All except a single stone.

'Aha... he immediately understood the game. It's "Odd One Out," so the people have to find the correct stone in a given time. Interesting...'

He couldn't exactly confirm his suspicions as none of the overseers were even looking at him, let alone talking.

But in the end, it didn't exactly matter since he could deduce the games pretty easily.

And now, the final red game.

At a glance, it seemed the most ordinary out of all.

There were stones scattered all across the table, yet he could notice they had one thing in common.

A single spot where it would be possible to balance them perfectly.

Yet just as he thought that, the table suddenly shook, the tremor making the stones wobble to the side, one of which even fell off the table.

However, the overseer soon picked it up and placed it back onto the table, not giving Michael even a single look.

'Hmm...' he pondered for a moment. 'So all I have to do is stack the stones and reach the top, while also avoiding the interval where the table shakes... another interesting one.'

Out of all of them, however, the ones he was most interested in were the "Odd One Out" game, as well as the blindfolded duel.

Since those two, he was 100% sure he could win.

Nonetheless, 50 points were necessary in total. That's why he decided to check out the orange games as well.

Yet they were much simpler than he had imagined.

Some even seemed a tad bit fun.

The first booth he arrived at had an archery range with a single shabby-looking bow placed on the table ahead.

Off in the distance, at the edge of the archery range, was a single red target that he likely had to hit.

'Archery seems pretty fun. I might actually try it,' he remarked inwardly with a smile and proceeded toward the next game.

Yet this one seemed a bit ridiculous.

There was a die with a lot of corners, which he couldn't even necessarily count.

But in the very end, the highest number on it was 100.

At the same time, there was an ink pen, followed by a piece of parchment on the table.

And if he had to guess, this was entirely a game of chance—something he was unsure if he wanted to try in the first place.

That's why he put it on hold for now, heading over to another booth that seemed a bit more interesting.

There was a stone on the table, and from what he could see, a decently sized scale off to the side.

However, upon closer look, he noticed there wasn't only a single stone, as right behind the giant stone were a couple of much smaller stones.

Thus, it didn't take long to deduce the game, which Michael was 99% sure he was correct about.

'Guess the weight. A simple game as well.' A smile beamed on his face as he glanced at the sects gathering together once again.

'Finally... something fun.'