“A scramble?”

“That's right.”

The blue-robed mage was Loren, an Average from the Blue Tower. He walked ahead of them as he explained the new rules. He was thorough in his explanation, belying the suspicious impression he had first given off.

“The participants would receive an application form and a token. Your name was Theodore, right? You should’ve received something from the receptionist too.”

“Ah...!”

Theo examined the gold token that the receptionist had given him. It was about the size of a coin and was engraved with his registration number, 132. A string was also threaded through it so that it could be hung around his neck.

Loren nodded. “The participants battle to break their opponent’s crystals. The loser forfeits all their tokens to their opponent, and is ranked according to how many tokens they had possessed before their loss.”

Vince interrupted, “This wasn’t how it used to be.”

Loren sympathized, “Well, there were several things that...