100\% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full? Chapter 723 - Team of Four

The next trial would teach the Thousand Races what they could accomplish using a power that was not their own.

By the following morning, the Interweaving Grounds were already open.

Unlike the individual competition, participation was not limited to those who had survived all three previous stages.

Anyone registered for the Grand Intercontinental Competition could enter.

Those eliminated during qualification could return.

Participants who had skipped the individual events entirely could join as well.

That was deliberate.

The individual competition had measured what someone could accomplish alone.

The Interweaving Grounds existed for a different purpose.

Lucien wanted as many people as possible to learn how to remain useful when their own Law was no longer available.

•••

The first surprise came when Lootwell announced the team size.

Four.

Some participants understood the reason immediately.

Every standard Law Interweaver contained three reservoir slots.

That meant a four-person team created an unusually clean arrangement.

Each person possessed one Law of their own. Their three teammates supplied the other three.

A swordsman using the Law of Severance might enter with Motion, Stone, and Mist stored in the three reservoirs because those were the Laws wielded by the people beside him.

The Motion practitioner would carry Severance, Stone, and Mist.

The Stone practitioner would carry the other three.

The same principle continued throughout the team.

Nobody needed a separate group of specialists following them merely to keep three reservoirs useful.

The team itself became the supply network.

When the announcement explained that part, reactions changed noticeably.

People began looking at the three others standing beside them with entirely new interest.

For some teams, that was encouraging.

For others, it produced immediate concern.

Having three additional Laws sounded wonderful until someone realized that one of those Laws belonged to the teammate they had spent the entire morning insulting.

•••

Lucien watched the formation areas fill.

This stage had required more preparation than many outsiders realized.

The Law Interweaver had spread rapidly after its blueprint became public, but there was no longer one universal appearance.

Lootwell’s certified versions remained bracelets because the form was simple, reliable, and convenient.

Many of the earliest copies had followed that design.

Then craftsmen began experimenting.

A swordsman integrated the Interweaver structure into the guard of his sword.

A mage placed it inside a floating sphere.

Some beast races built the formation into collars, armor plates, horns, or equipment suited to their bodies.

Archers incorporated the structure into bracers.

One particularly large beast had apparently built all three gemstones into a metal plate fitted over one shoulder.

Lucien had seen stranger things.

The important part had not changed.

The interlayered formation remained the same.

Three reservoirs. Core safeguards. The ability to receive finite Law authority from another bearer and temporarily interweave it with one’s own pathways.

Changing the shell did not change what the device actually did.

Quality, however, mattered.

A fully charged Lootwell Interweaver could maintain useful operation for more than an hour under ordinary conditions.

Public versions varied enormously.

Excellent materials could approach Lootwell’s performance.

Cheap construction meant smaller reservoirs and shorter operating periods.

That was perfectly acceptable outside the competition.

Inside it, that difference would have been a problem.

Lucien had no intention of holding a competition where someone won because their family could afford three gemstones worth more than another participant’s entire hometown.

So Lootwell normalized the devices.

•••

Participants were allowed to use their own Interweavers.

That mattered because many had already adapted the shape to their combat habits.

Nobody wanted a swordsman who had trained for months with an Interweaver inside his weapon suddenly forced to wear an unfamiliar bracelet simply for administrative neatness.

Instead, every device passed through an inspection formation before entering the Interweaving Grounds.

The competition network identified its reservoirs, safeguards, activation structure, and effective output.

Then it imposed a temporary competition limit.

High-quality devices were not weakened permanently.

Low-quality devices were not magically improved forever.

Inside the trial, however, every approved Interweaver operated within the same standardized reservoir capacity and output limits for its classification.

The moment the participant left the competition grounds, their device returned to normal.

Anyone without an Interweaver could borrow a certified Lootwell version.

That settled the fairness issue almost immediately.

Several wealthy factions were visibly disappointed.

Lucien considered that another good sign.

•••

The teams were formed next.

Participants could participate with three companions of their choice, provided their combined classification fell within the permitted range.

Those without teams were matched through Lootwell’s compatibility system.

Realm, Law interaction, body type, combat role, and known compatibility risks were considered before a group was approved.

Lootwell did not insist that every team possess perfectly harmonious Laws.

That would defeat much of the training.

But it also refused to place combinations together that the registry considered dangerously unstable.

Stable combinations entered freely.

Conditional combinations received additional monitoring.

High Risk combinations could only activate when the user’s control met the required threshold.

Forbidden combinations simply refused activation.

No amount of enthusiasm could persuade the formation otherwise.

Several participants tested that rule.

The Interweaver ignored them.

The audience enjoyed that considerably more than they did.

•••

Vivian’s projection appeared above the Interweaving Grounds.

By now, her nervousness had faded into familiarity.

"The Interweaving Trial will be conducted in teams of four."

Maps appeared behind her.

The trial grounds resembled fragmented battlefields divided by valleys, ruined settlements, rivers, defensive positions, and several marked relay stations.

"Each member may begin with one Law supplied by each of their three teammates."

Three gemstones illuminated on the projection.

Then the next rule appeared.

"Your own Law will not remain available throughout the trial."

The reaction was immediate.

Vivian continued before the noise could grow.

"Suppression periods will occur at different times and under different conditions. When your original Law becomes unavailable, you may continue using the Laws stored within your Interweaver."

That changed the excitement into something more serious.

Now people understood what Lootwell was actually testing.

They would not become helpless. They would have three alternatives.

Whether they could use those alternatives effectively was another matter.

Vivian continued.

"The Interweaver does not grant your teammate’s comprehension, techniques, Domain, instincts, or experience. It gives you access to their Law authority."

That clarification mattered.

Some participants had already learned the difference through ordinary Interweaver use.

Many had not.

"You will decide how to use what you are given."

The maps changed again.

Three relay stations illuminated between the starting position and the final objective.

"Your reservoirs are finite. Relay stations will allow teammates to refill one another’s Law reservoirs during the trial."

Now the reason for the battlefield layout became obvious.

Teams were not merely four people carrying borrowed Laws.

They had to keep those Laws supplied.

If someone burned through a reservoir carelessly, they would need the corresponding teammate to recharge it.

If that teammate was separated, incapacitated, or extracted, that particular Law became much harder to restore.

Protecting one another was no longer merely polite teamwork.

Each member literally carried something the others might need later.

Lucien liked that part most.

•••

The objective itself remained simple.

Every team received an authority beacon.

They had to carry it across the battlefield and activate it at the final position.

The beacon could not be stored inside spatial equipment.

It could be passed between teammates.

Dropping it did not immediately eliminate the team, but leaving it behind certainly would.

Along the route were hostile constructs, environmental changes, suppression zones, rival teams, and relay stations.

Direct combat between teams was permitted in designated sectors.

Killing was not.

More importantly, defeating another team awarded little by itself.

The beacon mattered.

Reaching the endpoint mattered.

Preserving team members mattered.

Using the Interweaver intelligently mattered.

Someone could defeat five opponents and still lose because another team simply carried its beacon past them while they were busy celebrating.

Veterans understood immediately.

Several younger competitors needed to experience it personally.

•••

The rankings followed the same philosophy as the individual competition.

Teams were separated into appropriate competition classifications according to their combined strength, Laws, and other relevant factors.

An Eternal-level squad was not competing for placement against four young Transcendents.

Their battlefields were far more demanding.

Within each classification, the primary rankings measured objective completion.

Then came time, surviving members, reserve efficiency, successful Law transitions, recharge management, control under suppression, unnecessary engagements, and several other performance factors.

Separate achievement boards crossed classifications where comparison remained meaningful.

Best Emergency Interweaving.

Highest Reservoir Efficiency.

Best Relay Management.

Exceptional Law Adaptation.

Best Team Recovery.

Several people immediately began imagining themselves on those boards.

Lucien was more interested in the data behind them.

Every activation would tell Lootwell something.

Which Laws ordinary people could transition into quickly.

Which combinations looked compatible in theory but became awkward in real combat.

Which races struggled with certain authority structures.

How long people could operate under suppression before their control deteriorated.

How efficiently reservoirs could be refilled during pressure.

How people behaved when one slot became unavailable.

Controlled testing could never have produced this much information.

The world had volunteered to perform the largest Law Interweaver field test imaginable.

They were even excited about it.

Lucien appreciated efficient solutions.