Just became an evil god and was summoned by the saint.

Chapter 304: Flags at Their Max
An was able to test the poison on herself, and before long, she developed the corresponding antidote.

"This drug, which was heavily diluted and created for the purpose of concealment, has a very simple structure. If an antidote is found, it will be a piece of cake."

An handed the antidote to Celia, adding, "This antidote contains some ingredients that help with mana circulation. Drinking it will not only make you immune to the effects of the Dream Essence, but also improve mana circulation efficiency and reduce mana waste when using spells. I checked the rules of the Sorcerer's League, and long-lasting potions that accelerate mana circulation can be used before the competition."

"How long will the immunity last?" Celia asked.

"Other doses are unclear due to a lack of samples, but the concentration you gave me should provide immunity for at least 24 hours."

Celia said, "I feel like someone might use Ghostly Essence during the match. If possible, I hope we can make more for everyone to use in self-defense."

Anke nodded. "Leave it to me."

Aside from this, Ross didn't give Celia any further hints.

Time flew by and the preliminary rounds began.

Professor Nicodimers, who was leading the team, brought everyone to the backstage area of ​​the competition and instructed them: "The draw was completed yesterday. You should have all seen your opponents in the preliminary round. Remember the competition time and make sure you don't miss it."

Someone asked, "Professor, didn't the tutor remind us before the competition started?"

Nicodimus looked at him and said, "If you are confident that you can achieve a ranking, either the top 16 in the team competition or the top 32 in the individual competition, the school can provide you with a wake-up service. Of course, a contract needs to be signed. If you cannot achieve that, you will need to pay the school 100 gold coins as payment for the wake-up service."

Everyone fell silent, afraid to speak.

100 gold coins is not a small amount.

Although most third-tier mages can produce decent work, being decent doesn't mean they're willing to waste money on this.

If you sign a betting agreement and lose, you'll truly lose everything.

No one questioned it. Nicodimus continued, "The rules for the preliminary rounds are a bit different for the individual competition. The individual competition format is six battle opportunities, and you need to win four to advance. The team competition is also drawn by lot, and you only need to win three. The difference is that in the team competition, the winners fight against each other and the losers fight against each other until you win three to advance. If you lose three consecutive matches, you will be eliminated early."

As Celia listened intently and pondered the situation, Ross's voice came from beside her: "Swiss format, huh? That's a good format."

Celia didn't understand the meaning of the Swiss system, but as a mage, she quickly grasped the format, which would eventually eliminate half of the teams.

The entire team competition has 64 teams. After this competition, 32 teams are eliminated, and the remaining teams enter the knockout stage, where the winner is decided in one round.

In the knockout stage, the eight teams that have a 3-0 record will not meet in the first two rounds, meaning they will not meet in the round of 32 to 16 and the round of 16 to 8, ensuring that the strong teams can enter the top ten.

Although she had some understanding of the tournament format, after hearing Nicodimers reiterate it, Celia felt that there were too many matches to play.

If all goes well, these matches will last for about a month, ending in August.

Of course, teams that lose 0-3 can go home early.

However, more than the match itself, Celia was concerned about one question: "Professor Nicodimus, what if something unexpected happens during the match, such as a heretical attack on Koster? How will the match proceed?"

Nicodimus looked at Celia and smiled slightly: "That's a good question. A hundred years ago, when the competition system was not very mature, we encountered this situation. When the quadrennial Mage League was about to begin, the empire that had obtained the right to host it went to war with another country, which led to the suspension of the league."

"After that, with the support of the five great empires, the Mage League Committee formulated a series of emergency plans, including explanations for situations caused by natural disasters and man-made calamities such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and flash floods."

"Take the example you gave, for instance. If it happens, the Northern League will be fully responsible and will need to deal with the heretics as soon as possible before resuming the interrupted matches. If the heretics' attack results in the death of a player, the Northern League will provide substantial compensation."

Nico Dimers paused for a moment, then chuckled, "However, there are two possible contingencies: either the Northern Alliance is unable to resist the infidel attack, or the Northern Alliance reneges on the compensation or stops altogether. There's not much that can be done about the former, but the latter would likely reignite the war. Don't worry about it too much; with me here, you don't need to worry about safety outside the arena." "Alright."

Celia asked no more questions.

After answering some of the students' questions, Nicodimus told everyone to get ready to begin the first round.

Before everyone left, he asked, "I don't think any of you are participating in both the team and individual competitions at the same time, right?"

Everyone shook their heads.

Nicodimus said, "That's good."

……

Soon, the first match began. Celia and her team's first opponent was a team that had won the national selection from the Southern Blue Dragon Empire. The entire Saintess Squad took the match very seriously. At the start, Phil used the Divine Link to share everyone's mental energy, and then the whole team launched a fierce attack. They then decided whether to use the Judgment Battle Strategy based on the opponent's fighting style.

However, they soon discovered that the team was quite weak, and they knocked them off the field in less than three minutes.

After the fight, Doris commented, "Not as good as Therizinda."

Celia rolled her eyes: "Don't forget you were asleep the whole time we fought Therxi."

Doris put her hands on her hips: "That's why I said I'm not as good as the Terks. I could beat them even in my sleep."

Benovia laughed and said, "Don't underestimate a team just because it's weak. Maybe we'll meet a formidable opponent in the next match."

Anke nodded in agreement: "Benovia is right. We'll have to study it later and see how the other teams are doing, and which team is the biggest enemy."

"Let's go back first, and wait for our mentor to send us the other teams' competition results before we watch them."

"The second game doesn't start until tomorrow, so there's no rush."

The girls left while discussing, and Nicodimus and the other mentors gave them their praise.

Shortly after they returned, the school's other two teams also came back.

One team is happy, the other is frustrated.

I don't know if it was bad luck to run into a strong team, or if their own strength was insufficient.

Regardless of which one it was, Celia probably already knew why the Holy Magic Academy hadn't achieved any rankings in a long time.

"Anyway, don't worry about it too much, just focus on the competition the next day."

After returning home, and receiving the competition records from her mentor, Celia and the others began to study them carefully.

But the plans couldn't keep up with the changes.

The next day, when they were on high alert, they discovered—

The team they were facing was absent.

　Thank you to Yuxuan for the donation!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)