Picking Up Attributes From Today

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Panda Novel

How many years had it been since the empire last conferred someone a King?

2,000 years? Or 3,000?

Many of them couldn’t help but try to recall… It seemed like the last time someone was conferred a King had been more than 2,000 years ago?

During that time, another dukedom was added to the Dragon God Empire, thereby increasing the number of affiliated dukedoms from a total of 47 to 48.

Even so, there were currently only 63 Kings in the empire, and they were respectively the rulers of the 15 kingdoms and 48 dukedoms.

Apart from them, there were no other rulers.

What? Couldn’t the emperor’s sons be conferred as Kings?

One would be dead wrong if that’s what they thought!

In the Dragon God Empire, the emperor’s sons were but just princes. No matter how outstanding they were, how strong they were, or how favored they were by the emperor, they were still just princes and had nothing whatsoever to do with being a King.

In the Dragon God Empire, the conferment of a King held special meaning—not only did the conferment mean that a new ruler was going to emerge in the empire, but it also meant that a new dukedom—or even a kingdom—would be added to the empire!

The territories occupied by dukedoms and kingdoms were far beyond the other nobles’ territories. Even if the emperor wished to confer someone as a King, he’d need to be able to provide the corresponding amount of land first.

Otherwise, the conferment would exist only in name.

Why is His Majesty suddenly conferring someone as a King?

Many of the high-ranking officials’ minds ran at lightning-quick speed as they mused over the emperor’s intentions. A lot of them were utterly confused, but a small group of officials who were on closer terms with the emperor did manage to guess his intentions.

The reason for His Majesty’s sudden conferment of a King is likely related to the 13th Princess!

Not only is the 13th Princess highly favored by His Majesty, but she’s also amazingly talented and edges out even the most talented Prince Barbarossa. She’s indisputably the strongest among the empire’s youths!

It’s just a shame that she’s half-human, so it’s destined that she’ll never be able to inherit the throne. Therefore, His Majesty intends to settle for the second-best option and confer the 13th Princess as a King?

But the problem is that in order to confer someone as a King, they’d also need to be given their own territory. Although the empire occupies a vast amount of land, all of it is currently presided by their own overlords, so where’s the territory going to come from…

Just as the people let their imaginations run wild, Frederick the 32nd stood, and with a smile, he announced, “Let me tell everyone a piece of good news! Three months ago, a team of adventurers discovered a lost continent in the southeastern waters of the Endless Oceans!”

“A lost continent?” Everyone was greatly shocked by the news.

“The continent hangs isolated above the Endless Oceans to the east of the Dragon God Empire and is obstructed from view by the clouds surrounding it. Thus, prior to this, no one has ever discovered its existence until that team of adventurers entered it by accident.”

Frederick the 32nd went on mirthfully and said, “After the empire’s investigation team’s appraisal, it has been found that the continent occupies a vast territory and has abundant resources.

“The distance from the east to the west spans more than 5,000 kilometers while the distance from the north to the south reaches over 6,000 kilometers. The surface area covers as much as ten million square kilometers. In terms of just territory alone, it’s enough to match up to a dukedom.

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“It can be said that this is yet another plot of land and territory that the great Dragon God has bestowed upon our Dragon God Empire! We thank the Dragon God for his benevolence!”

At this point, Frederick the 32nd looked in the direction of the contestants. There was an almost indiscernible hint of mirth in his eyes as he said, “I hereby promise to confer the person that wins the exchange competition and emerges as the champion as the first ruler of this lost continent!”

The moment he said that all the contestants’ breathing turned heavy and ragged. Every one of their hearts was pounding madly—the emperor had instantly incited their wild ambitions!

Ten million square kilometers! Just how wide and vast of a territory was that?!

As long as one could win the title of the champion, they’d become the ruler of that continent! From then on, they would preside over the region, watch over the area that stretched on for thousands upon thousands of miles, and become an existence on the same level as the Fire Dragon King, the Frost Colossal Dragon King, the Black Dragon King, and so on!

Just how great of an allure did that notion hold?

Who would be able to resist it?

Even a “city boy” like Meng Lei had become tempted by a thought like that, let alone people of this world who possessed even stronger concepts of territory?

“The champion title!”

“The champion title is mine!”

“Don’t anyone dare fight with me for it!”

A good number of the contestants’ eyes had become all red—all of them had decided to make a determined effort to strive for the title.

“Alright! I shall hand the upcoming matters over to Duke Eustace now!”

Frederick the 32nd looked at a skinny middle-aged man standing to his left. With a warm and mild smile, he said, “My brother, I’ll leave the matters of the exchange competition to you now.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

Duke Eustace bowed in response. Then, he turned to the 7,000-odd contestants, and in a loud voice, he announced, “By His Majesty’s order, I am in charge of hosting the exchange competition this year. I hope that every academy president, teacher-in-charge, related crew member, and every contestant…

“…Lastly, this year’s exchange competition is separated into a total of three segments. They are respectively the Lost Continent Elimination Round, the Half-Plane Matches, and the Mount Dragon God Challenge!

“The first segment is the Lost Continent Elimination Round.” Duke Eustace explained, “Here, the ‘Lost Continent’ refers to the place that His Majesty has just introduced to all of you.

“After some investigation, it has been found that Magical Beasts currently occupy the Lost Continent. There is a great variety of them, and they range all the way from as powerful as Saint Domain Magical Beasts to those as weak as first-grade!

“Your mission is to head to the Lost Continent and hunt the Magical Beasts there. Collect their magic cores and use them to redeem corresponding point rewards.

“The time limit is set at one month! The concrete magic core-to-points redemption rate is as follows:

“1 point per first-grade magic cores.

“5 points per second-grade magic cores.

“10 points per third-grade magic cores.

…

“1,000 points per ninth-grade magic core.

“10,000 points per Saint Domain elementary-level magic core.

“20,000 points per Saint Domain mid-level magic core.

“50,000 points per Saint Domain high-level magic core.

“And 100,000 points per Saint Domain limits-level magic core!

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“The top 100 contestants with the most points will advance to the next stage. Those that perish or give up mid-way, those that do not have sufficient points, and those that do not stay for the full month will all be eliminated!”

All the contestants held their breath in concentration and listened quietly to the instructions.

“Later on, we’ll distribute to everyone a specially-made magic communication device each. Should you meet with life-threatening danger, you may dial the magic device to request for help. However… In doing so, you shall be seen as having given up mid-way.”

At this point, Duke Eustace looked at the emperor and asked, “Your Majesty, I’ve finished explaining the competition rules. Is there anything you’d like to supplement?”

“I won’t add that much.” Frederick the 32nd stood and said, “All of you are the empire’s geniuses and talents. Every death among you is a loss to the empire!

“Therefore, let’s make a small change to the Elimination Round’s rules. During the Elimination Round, you may snatch magic cores from others, but taking another person’s life is prohibited!

“Remember, every move you make will be under our supervision. Should anyone violate the rules and harm or kill others without authorization, they’ll be eliminated from the competition!”

At this point, Frederick the 32nd heaved a sigh and explained, “The reason why I’m changing the rules at the last moment is only because I hope that all of you won’t end up like the previous years’ contestants, where not even 1/10 of them were left after the competition, causing the empire to suffer the loss of countless elites for nothing!”

Not even 1/10 of them were left?

The contestants’ hearts trembled at the thought.

What a low survival rate that was!

There were a total of 7,848 contestants this year. If not even 1/10 of them were left, then didn’t that mean that there weren’t even 1,000 survivors?

What the hell?

From this, all the contestants could tell just how brutal the past competitions had been.

“Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty!” All the contestants were overflowing with gratitude at once.

“Alright!” Frederick the 32nd nodded lightly.

“His Majesty is kind and benevolent. On account of how cultivation hasn’t been easy for all of you, he has specially altered the competition rules. Nevertheless, all of you mustn’t be careless!”

Duke Eustace reminded them. “There are countless Magical Beasts in the Lost Continent; just the Saint Domain ones alone already number several hundred. The place is fraught with dangers, and a moment of carelessness would lead to one perishing in the jaws of a Magical Beast and dying a terrible death. Do take care!”

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“Yes!” All the contestants responded loudly.

“We shall activate the magic circle one hour later and send all of you to the Lost Continent. If there’s anything any of you still needs to say, instruct, or prepare, then have it done immediately!”

Whoaaa!!

The contestants went into a furor at once, and all of them approached their own respective teachers-in-charge.

“Contestants from the Black Dragon Kingdom, come this way!”

“Those from the Frost Kingdom…”

Meng Lei, Joel, Francis, and the rest of the 52 Fire Dragon Kingdom contestants were also summoned by President Fred and the other five academy presidents.

“The sudden change in the competition rules this time is something that we didn’t expect.”

The six academy presidents looked stern as they said, “With regard to the Lost Continent, we also hadn’t heard even a peep about it prior to this. However, since His Majesty has set that place as the competition ground…”

After a slew of instructions and reminders, the six academy presidents finally asked, “Is there anything else that any of you needs to hand over or prepare? If so, hurry and tell us now so that we can get someone to get it done.”

“No, we’re all prepared!”

“Presidents, do any of you have spare spatial magic devices lying around? Can I borrow them for the time being? The more, the better, and the bigger, the better. I want to use them to store Magical Beast carcasses!”