Chapter 176: The Round of Creation
As the announcer declared the beginning of the Round of Creation, every participant saw the same thing appear before them.
A translucent floating clock.
01:59:59
The timer ticked down.
01:59:58
The competition had officially begun.
Almost every participant immediately reached out and touched the Imagination Marble floating before them.
The moment their fingertips made contact.
The marble dissolved into countless streams of silver light, surrounding its owner like a living mist.
Then, reality itself began responding to imagination.
Across the stadium, spectators watched hundreds of creations take shape simultaneously.
Most participants followed a similar approach.
They first imagined the vehicle's outer frame.
Once the shell existed, they gradually filled in the finer details.
Some created car like structure.
Others imagined motorcycles unlike anything found in nature.
Many favored humanoid mechs equipped with enormous legs capable of traversing difficult terrain.
One participant envisioned a metallic wolf.
Another imagined a giant mechanical spider.
Someone even began constructing what looked suspiciously like a walking castle.
Every cube displayed a completely different vision.
The audience enthusiastically watched the creativity unfold.
Yet, not everyone followed conventional thinking.
Voomie stared blankly at her Imagination Marble.
"Woof."
Instead of imagining a massive mech or an armored vehicle.
A thick cylindrical container materialized around her.
It resembled a giant capsule.
The spectators blinked.
"Is that a barrel?"
"No."
"It looks more like a hamster wheel."
"I think it's some kind of rolling pod."
Inside, Voomie happily wagged her tail.
She had no intention of walking.
If rolling worked before, rolling would work again.
Not far away, the crimson Fire Dragon Egg remained exactly where it had spawned.
The silver light surrounding it twisted strangely.
Unlike everyone else, it wasn't imagining a vehicle.
It was imagining a body.
Tiny skeletal structures with muscles, bones, scales, claws and even miniature wings.
The unborn dragon was trying to create the body, even though it had yet to hatch.
Several spectators stared in utter confusion.
"Can it even do that?"
This was aura farming.
***
Loreal closed her eyes.
Unlike most participants, she barely hesitated.
Silver light rapidly gathered before her.
Piece after piece assembled into a streamlined aircraft unlike anything seen in the Zenith Empire.
Its elegant wings curved like those of a bird, while countless magical runes spread across its sleek metallic frame.
It looked less like a racing machine, and more like a fighter capable of dominating the skies.
Meanwhile, Paul was still thinking.
"Hmm..."
He rubbed his chin while staring at the floating marble.
Nearly five full minutes passed.
Several spectators laughed.
"Has he forgotten the timer exists?"
Just then, Paul snapped his fingers.
"I've got it!"
His eyes lit up with absolute confidence.
Silver light erupted from the marble as his creation finally began taking shape.
Whatever he had imagined, he clearly believed it was genius.
Elsewhere, a black cat quietly sat before its marble.
Unlike the cheerful or flashy creations around it.
Everything forming before the feline radiated an ominous aura.
And the vehicle she designed looked less like something meant for racing and more like an instrument of destruction.
"I will kill that dog!"
***
Not every contestant was even mobile to begin with.
A towering lemon tree swayed gently despite the absence of wind.
Its branches glowed with strange green light.
Instead of constructing wheels or legs.
The tree imagined countless intertwining roots.
The roots braided together beneath it, slowly forming an enormous walking platform capable of carrying the tree wherever it wished to go.
***
Big Ice crossed his massive arms.
Then slowly closed his eyes.
In his memories, he recalled the legendary Yeti that Bonjour had once described.
A colossal guardian.
An unstoppable giant.
Silver light exploded outward.
An equally gigantic mechanical frame began emerging.
Broad shoulders.
Massive fists.
Towering legs capable of crushing mountains beneath their feet.
Big Ice wasn't building a racing vehicle.
He was recreating the image of the mightiest Yeti he could imagine.
Far away, The Fire Dragon Egg noticed an unknown threat.
The egg trembled.
A faint crimson aura leaked from its shell.
***
The truly unusual participants, however, drew just as much attention.
One sentient cloud leisurely shaped itself into an airship that drifted without propellers.
Someone formed a colony of glowing mushrooms worked together, each fungus forming a different component until an entire walking machine grew from the ground like a living organism.
A fairy no larger than a hand created an enormous suit of armor hundreds of times her own size before climbing inside it.
A tortoise simply imagined a mountain, then added wheels beneath it.
No one was quite sure whether it qualified as a vehicle.
The Imagination Marble did not care about engineering.
It did not care whether something should logically work.
If the creator could imagine it, the marble could manifest it.
Here, imagination alone decided reality.
And with nearly hundred unique imaginations at work.
The first round had already become a spectacle worthy of the Grand Epix.
And compared to the countless flashy creations on display.
A small number of participants chose a completely different approach.
The moment the competition began, they imagined enormous curtains, domes, or cocoons that completely concealed their work from the outside world.
The audience groaned in disappointment.
"Aww!"
"I wanted to see!"
"Come on, that's cheating!"
Of course, it wasn't actually against the rules.
Keeping one's design hidden was a perfectly valid strategy.
Rather than entertaining the audience with spectacular construction, they chose secrecy over applause.
And among those hidden competitors, was Caelum.
The moment he touched the Imagination Marble, shimmering silver curtains unfolded around his workspace, forming a seamless spherical barrier that concealed every movement within.
Not even the magical broadcast crystals could peer inside.
Whatever he was building, would remain a mystery until the race began.
Inside the barrier, Caelum smiled faintly.
Unlike many participants, he wasn't aiming to build the biggest machine.
Nor the fastest-looking one.
He wanted something deceptively ordinary.
Something that appeared harmless at first glance.
Yet possessed enough tricks and firepower to thoroughly overwhelm anyone foolish enough to underestimate it.
He carefully assembled them one after another, refining his creation with meticulous attention.
If anyone could have looked beyond the silver curtain.
They would have been left speechless.
Suspended silently in the center of the room.
A smooth metallic disc was gradually taking shape.
Its polished surface reflected the silver light of the Imagination Marble, while its seamless circular body lacked visible wheels, wings, or even an obvious cockpit.
A classic flying saucer.
Or rather, a UFO.