Death... and me

Clanda gritted his teeth and continued to analyze the formation he was working on. However, just like Rean, he was having more and more difficulty deactivating them. Besides, he was afraid of damaging the formation due to the same issue.

Rean, on the other hand, didn't care too much about it. He only had a minute to work on that formation ahead, so he didn't think he could work it out in time to start with. 'I wonder what happens if two participants end with the same score.'

Nevertheless, Rean didn't simply give up. He kept analyzing the formation, hoping that he might see the flaws fast enough. 'Is there even a flaw in this thing? Well, it should be. The previous ones were also there. It's just that they were very well hidden.'

Rean didn't have much hope of doing that on time, but he didn't know how much pressure he was putting on Clanda. 'He's truly analyzing it. Could it be that he has found the flaw already? No, that can't be. I've been here for five minutes already, and I can't see shit!' In any case, he was nervous.

Suddenly, Vintan's voice echoed in the Formation Master competition, telling everyone, "In case two Formation Masters achieve the same score, the one to have reached that score first will be the victor."

Clanda's eyes lit up after hearing that. 'Doesn't that mean as long as we stay like this, the victory is mine?'

Rean, on the other hand, couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Hahaha! So that's how it is, huh?"

Clanda and the other Formation Masters close to Rean didn't understand why Rean was laughing. He had the same score as Clanda, but he reached that after him. Can't he see that he'll lose?

"Well then! Since I'll lose regardless, I might as well go blind and try to deactivate it without knowing its traits," Rean said with a smile.

Sure enough, everyone had to admit Rean was right. There was less than a minute, and he won't win without risking it all. If he damaged the formation, he would simply lose three points. In that regard, he would lose nonetheless. But if he luckily succeeded...

Rean's Circuitry Runes and Divine Energy Runes began to fly all around in the formation. At the same time, Rean spread his Divine Sense, trying to keep track of each and every rune. That was obviously extremely hard. After all, there were way too many runes inside formations of this level.

Nevertheless, Rean didn't care.

'The tracking runes are suffering resistance, retreat!'

50 seconds...

'The sub-line runes are rejecting this arrangement of Circuitry Runes, retreat!'

40 seconds...

'Here's the core! Now, where are the stabilization runes...'

30 seconds...

'No, it won't work. There isn't enough time to cut the supply without damaging the core.'

20 seconds...

'Right! I just need to change the flow to the core itself. The only problem is that it might explode due to overcharge. Fuck it! If it resists the over Divine Energy, it won't get damaged. If it doesn't, then the entire formation will blow up.'

10 seconds...

Rean's Circuitry and Divine Energy Runes recreated the flow, redirecting it back to the formation's core. 'Well, I would lose anyway, so who cares if it explodes.'

In the last second, Rean entered the formation to test it. This one was a retraining type formation. If it was still working, then it would try to hold Rean down straight away.

Vintan, as the one responsible for this test, had all his attention on Rean and Clanda. It was obvious that Clanda didn't want to risk it, so it all depended on Rean. Still, Vintan wouldn't give anyone even an extra second. The moment the time reached eight hours, Vintan's voice echoed out in the entire field. "The test is over!"

Everyone then looked at Rean, or, to be more precise, the formation under his feet. They were all waiting to see if it would activate or not. However, a few seconds passed after the announcement of the end of the test, and nothing happened.

Seeing that, Rean couldn't help but shout, "Great! It didn't explo-"

*Boom!*

Suddenly, a certain white-haired young man was seen flying into the distance. It's just that he wasn't flying on his own accord.

*Bang!*

He hit the ground like a meteor, creating quite some debris in the process. Naturally, that white-haired young man was Rean, who fucked up his last formation deactivation.

"This..."

Be it the elders or the candidates, everyone looked at that with their eyes wide open.

"Is he still alive?"

*Cough, cough, cough...*

Suddenly, coughing sounds were heard as a shadow appeared from within the dust, walking out of it. "Fuck! Cough, cough...just how much Divine Energy did that have to create an explosion of this magnitude?! Cough, cough..."

Rean's clothes were all torn apart, and there were bloodstains everywhere. It's just that Rean himself didn't seem to be injured at all.

'Life Style, Second Form, Instant Recovery!'

Obviously, Rean used his healing skill as soon as he hit the ground. After all...it hurt like hell!

Eventually, Rean was able to see past the dust and check the scoreboard in the distance.

1st: Clanda, Rumira Merchant Organization - 419 Points

2nd: Rean, Lukimira Sect - 416 Points

3rd...

Rean couldn't help but sigh as he muttered, "In the end, it didn't work..."

Back in the elders' room, Miame finally came back to herself as she exclaimed with glee, "Ha-Hahaha! You see?! Who needs to pay for victory? Our Merchant Organization won the Formation Master competition nonetheless!"

Although she said that, everyone around there could obviously see the drops of sweat on her face. For a moment there, she truly thought Rean had won the competition. In fact, everyone thought the same since the formation took a moment to explode.

Kayla also recovered from that final moment, saying, "In the end, it was just a dream." She knew it was extremely hard to get a Divine Vein, even with the twins working for her sect. It's just that Rean got so close that she really thought that she had won it.