Four Split Personalities

The Warfire League is a sizable event held every few years, impactful both within and outside Academy City. Although it lacks the notoriety of the Comprehensive Knight Martial Arts Tournament, insiders see it as an event that shouldn’t be missed.

Unlike the Martial Arts Tournament, it’s not a real sword and gun bloodbath. Instead, it conducts large-scale simulations with various random conditions, specifically designed for commanders to hone their skills.

At first glance, it might seem niche, as outsiders view contestants sitting in individual rooms discussing strategies with their counselors, then replicating these thoughts onto the Magic Sand Table through complex methods, followed by a long wait before the next phase based on intelligence, until the battle concludes.

For a commander, the importance of simulation capability is self-evident, especially for young talents who haven’t had the chance to fight real battles, lacking achievements. If they can perform well in simulation contests, a plethora of excellent ’opportunities’ will come knocking, as most forces value an excellent commander immensely.

In the mainstream hardware for simulation in The Realm of Innocence, various styles of Magic Sand Tables are the norm. These remain luxurious items not monopolized by the Gold Coin Commerce Association or Steam Consortium, but are controlled by the Alchemist Association and Mage Guild. Given different technology trees, modern tech outside of the game doesn’t apply here. Comparatively, it’s quite similar to RTS (Real-Time Strategy) games of the early twenty-first century in the real world.

The reason it’s ’similar’ and not ’the same’ is because even the top-notch Magic Sand Table struggles to be truly ’real-time.’ Those integrated with artificial minds like ’Book Spirit’ or ’Tower Spirit’ still possess significant delay. Nonetheless, since both sides are affected, fairness isn’t compromised.

In summary, it’s not entertaining but is a mandatory course for competent commanders, at least for Natives NPCs and most players who wish to lead troops efficiently.

Commanders like Motan and Ramollok, who barely explored simulations early game yet were acknowledged due to various encounters, are exceedingly rare, more priceless than the proverbial ’phoenix feather and unicorn horn.’

Similar to the Comprehensive Knight Martial Arts Tournament, the Warfire League is generally hosted by large military academies within Academy City. However, it casts a wide net for participants, much broader than the former, with no demands on skills, age, background, track record, or race, allowing anyone to participate just by registering.

Of course, the registration fee is required, and two gold coins aren’t cheap. Except for seeded players, even students must pay.

But if they pass the initial selection, the organizers will refund them, so confident contenders aren’t deterred by it.

The initial selection process in the Warfire League is straightforward; registrants battle against teachers or student representatives appointed by the organizers, earning specific scores. Results on whether they advance to the next round are revealed in the evening.

This stage isn’t tough, as the military academies capable of participating in the event are quite proficient. Even with a large number of applicants, there’s no issue in staffing and equipment.

Then, those advancing to the next round repeat the simulation with official personnel to earn another score. As before, those in top ranks advance to the third round of selection.

Once the selection narrows to 256 individuals, the official competition begins.

The official matches take place at the host academy, namely Dan Slave Military Academy where Foster Ward is, akin to solo rounds in the Comprehensive Knight Martial Arts Tournament, essentially a draw to decide opponents for one-on-one eliminations.

Unlike the Martial Arts Tournament, the ambiguity of ’victory and defeat’ in military simulations dictates that advancement depends on ’scores,’ which are awarded based on judges’ assessments of the contestants’ execution ability, responsiveness, strategy implementation, effective damage to enemy units, and other factors. The system is generally robust.

Despite a simulated war’s slower pace than a single combat, with sufficient equipment, the Warfire League follows a tight schedule. Motan notes that historically, the quickest tournament ended completely within two days.

In that event, the competition gaps in strength were enormous, completing 256 to 128, 128 to 64, 64 to 32, and finally 32 to 16 matches on the first day.

The second day, progressing from 16 to 8 until the final was finished by the morning.

Yet it seemed the organizers couldn’t bear it, setting the final battle as an insane large-scale army level clash of ten thousand, where the two championship candidates simulated from noon until the next dawn to determine the winner. Both emerged from their rooms nearly collapsed, with the champion suffering something akin to heart disease, narrowly avoiding fatality.

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