"Damn, this place is large…" Zephyr huffed after walking for more than three hours towards the large oasis in the west.

He hadn't seen a single soul throughout the first two hours of his trek. Not even one champion…

It wasn't until just the last thirty minutes or so that he spotted a dot-like figure on the horizon — another contestant like him.

Since then, he had begun to spot people more frequently as they converged towards the same spot.

And the more of them he spotted, the more he became puzzled.

None of them were fully human… None of them were fully elves… fully demons, fully dragonkin… orcs… titans…

They all had features that pointed towards one of the six races of the supreme universe Zephyr was from, but they still had animal features that showed they weren't fully of those races.

And that wasn't the only issue. Aegis had found it even weirder than Zephyr had. Stating that it was very unusual for a whole universe to follow the same evolutionary paths towards the same end — One of the superior races.

It didn't matter which part of the universe they seemed to have come from, or what base animal features they seemed to have, all the contestants had something pointing to a superior race… without fail.

Stag-antlered elves, rabbit-like elves, humanoid plant-like elves…

He had seen three variations of elves within the past few minutes alone. And the same was for the other races too…

It made him look like the weird one.

So far, he had also been spotted by a few of them, and the double takes and scrutinizing stares he'd received had been a bit uncomfortable.

For him, who was planning to be as low-key as possible, his natural appearance was going to make things difficult.

But the saving grace was that the contestants around didn't make any contact. They all kept to themselves as they headed to the oasis.

And when they all finally reached — immediately the oasis entered into their view… they all felt a difference.

The air around the oasis was thick with mana and origin. Rejuvenating their exhausted bodies, urging them to move forward faster.

Zephyr watched the champions basically sprint towards the large, green patch of land that stood out like a sore thumb in the gold colored expanse.

Seeing it up close on the ground now, the oasis was actually really large. Like a city that could hold at least 500,000 people at a time.

He knew the two oases in the north were even larger, and most people would head there. So for the meantime, this western oasis shouldn't have any issue like overpopulation. And fights over water and food resources shouldn't occur… unless there were crazies here.

Zephyr sighed, hoping there really weren't before pushing on towards the oasis in the distance.

By the time he got to the oasis proper, he wasn't even really tired any longer. The density of origin and mana in the air here was insane.

Zephyr had never entered any of those 'Conflux points' that was said to be used to create Oracles back on Komi's world, but from the descriptions, he was sure it was something like this…

Champions were seated around different large pools of water, crosslegged, or in whatever position suited them, contemplating on progression blocks that had plagued them for months and years.

Even Zephyr felt like this environment was the best for designing in his mana core space. The strain on his mind would be reduced with the extra clarity provided.

Zephyr paused, imagining what it would be like if he could have this state of clarity, and still also design on his undefined, undeveloped mana node… The benefits would be insane. That was the best case possible for designing that was possible to him at the moment.

But as he thought of it again, he was pained.

His mana node was solidifying right now. He didn't know how long it would take, but he could feel it solidifying — not directly though… just more like the feeling of something actualizing into being… a general sense of something becoming corporeal in his mana core, was slipping away slowly.

Zephyr could take his chances here and just find somewhere serene and secluded to delve into his mana core space, but he didn't.

What would happen when the twelve hours were over? They had already spent nearly four hours of the time already. So he decided to just find somewhere to replenish his strength and rest.

He schooled his expression, not giving anything away as he walked through the oasis filled with Champions on all side — wary champions, all very quiet and keeping to themselves, not willing to talk much… mostly.

There were champions who naturally had really good social skills, and being that there wasn't any language barrier, as provided by the Voice of The World, those people had already put their skills to good use and formed groups of their own, huddled together around prime locations that provided them with water, shade and fruit from trees, and a good position to observe newcomers very clearly.

Zephyr was one of these newcomers, and in his case, all the formed groups were staring at him from their different locations immediately he entered the oasis.

He was totally different from all the rest, so it wasn't surprising.

But he didn't like it.

He didn't want to be memorable here at the start at all.

But now he could already be easily described by everyone who had seen him.

He kept walking, ignoring the stares, until he found a quiet patch near one of the lesser pools. There weren't as many people there, so he settled down just ike them.

Most of them were cross-legged, some with their eyes closed, and others with them open. His arrival made them all look at him as he sat. But they turned their gazes away naturally, seemingly not interested.

But Zephyr could still sense their wariness. They were still at alert.

In fact, nobody here was fully in contemplation. Their muscles were still primed for action just in case anything happened. Everyone was wary of everyone else.

Zephyr rested his elbows on his knees, acting as if he was relaxed, while his eyes quietly scanned everyone.

The first person that drew his attention was one of the people who had stared at him very openly when he entered. A tall demon-variant.

For a demon, he outwardly didn't look much like one. Instead of the obsidian black skin of the demons, his was a pure leathery white, with green, purple and blue veins crisscrossing like roots underneath.

It looked weird, but also intriguing in some way.

He was good-looking, with two white horns protruding out of his forehead and curling upwards. Everything added up to make him someone that drew people's attention.

And after drawing their attention, he seemed to be able to keep them engaged.

A very social person.

Zephyr had already seen him mingling with different groups, talking lightly, laughing at the right moments, making even the more closed-off champions respond to him.

His group had grown by more than seven people within the last few minutes Zephyr had been watching alone.

But that wasn't really what concerned him.

Right now, the guy was still looking in his direction. Not openly hostile. Just watching him calmly and scrutinizing like he had when Zephyr had entered the oasis.

Zephyr met his gaze this time, blankly staring back without any fluctuations in his expression, causing the guy to smile where he sat, amused.

Eventually Zephyr looked away as naturally as he could. The guy unnerved him. And he wasn't about to give someone like that anything to work with. So instead of wasting his time in a staring contest, and potentially giving away something, he turned his gaze to the other Champions.

Not far from the largest pool in the oasis, a titan sat with his arms resting on his knees. A single large, black horn protruded from his forehead like a rhinoceros, with thick hair covering his body like a large brown cloak.

Zephyr wondered how the guy was going to fare in this hot environment with such a build. He was in the worst place for someone with such dense natural fur.

The titan guy didn't really seem to be uncomfortable though. Or if he did, he knew how to hide it well.

He was the largest person here by far. Even in his sitting position, he was already around eight feet tall. So one could only wonder how tall he'd be when he stood at full length.

Along with that white demon guy, he was also another person Zephyr needed to pay attention to.

He added the guy to his list and turned to profile more champions.

Across from him, there were elves — at least, close to elves. One had antlers growing straight out from her head, another had bark-like veins running along her arms, and the last had droopy dog ears that twitched at every sound.

They were all females, and had very likely formed into a group because of their similarities.

They sat quietly without making any movements, and without any other thing of note.

Zephyr filed them away. They didn't strike him as 'very dangerous', but he wasn't about to be lax and disregard them entirely. So he added them to the 'need more information' list as he profiled.

Zephyr continued that way, observing and recording, profiling, analyzing everyone within his surroundings for any one of note.

Everything was quiet.

There was still a silent tension around the pools, but everyone was still, and even the groups were discussing quietly among themselves.

Until a fierce-looking woman stood up abruptly, startling everyone into attention.

She growled a few words under her breath, staring at the person sitting opposite her with a grin on his face, and charged directly at him.