Gardener of Eden

Chapter 176: Chapter 176: Global Debut

The high-octane spectacle of the ranged division reached its thrilling conclusion beneath the blinding glare of the arena spotlights.

In the Mages 1v1 Finals, the young prodigy representing the British Barony delivered a masterclass in ancient etheric spellcraft. Clad in high-collared, runic-embroidered robes, the British baron executed an intricate, multi-layered spatial ritual mid-flight.

Bypassing his opponent’s defensive barrier, he summoned a dense cage of silver etheric force, binding the foreign archmage’s spell-casting rhythm before delivering a single, decisive arcane seal that blew his rival out of the ring to claim the championship.

Moments later, the Marksmanship 1v1 Finals descended into a heart-pounding duel of extreme distance and kinetic precision. The marksman from the Freedom Association demonstrated terrifying ballistic dominance.

Utilizing a high-caliber, heavy-barrel mana rifle equipped with custom kinetic accelerator arrays, the Association sharpshooter calculated a three-bounce ricochet off the reinforced adamantine containment wall, sending a hyper-velocity round through a microscopic gap in his target’s elemental shield to secure a dramatic victory.

Up in the gallery, Rowan’s optical crystal captured the final milliseconds of both championship-winning shots, sealing the high-density tactical data safely inside his spatial storage.

”Fascinating casting structure,” Rowan observed quietly, tapping the brim of his Enchanted Straw Hat. ”The British Barony’s ether magic relies on compressed mana formulas that place immense pressure on the caster’s core channels. And the Freedom Association’s marksman... the kinetic recoil from that heavy rifle shattered the small blood vessels along his right shoulder and arm.”

”Winning at the global level never comes without a price,” Jeremy agreed, watching the arena medical teams rush out to tend to the bruised, exhausted champions. ”Those mages will be nursing severe mana fever for days, and that gunner’s arm will take weeks to fully recover using standard salves.”

”Which makes uncorrupted, vitality-rich recovery resources all the more vital,” Rowan added with a calm, knowing smile.

With the martial combat and ranged divisions officially concluded, the atmosphere inside the Swiss Colosseum underwent a dramatic shift. The multi-tiered containment barriers lowered, and the shattered tiles of the firing range slowly descended into the subterranean vaults beneath the floor.

The main stadium lights dimmed into a cool, emerald hue as a serene, ancient melody hummed through the arena’s sound system.

The senior Swiss official stepped once more onto the elevated central platform, his voice echoing with profound weight across the silent stadium:

”Ladies and gentlemen, the combat demonstrations have reached their conclusion! We now open the crown jewel of the Global Awakener’s Tournament—The Herbology and Life-Cultivation Trials!”

Across the floor, massive basalt pedestals began rising from the soil, each equipped with pristine, hydro-balanced containment fields and specialized isolation arrays. The long-awaited time had finally arrived: the world’s greatest botanists and life-cultivators were about to step onto the stage, and the extinct, legendary specimen chosen by the Council of Nations was about to be revealed.

***

Stepping down the grand marble staircase leading onto the stadium floor, Rowan and Jeremy emerged beneath the vast canopy of the Swiss Colosseum. The lingering scent of ozone and scorched earth from the combat trials had been completely swept away by powerful atmospheric filtration arrays, replaced by the cool, crisp aroma of alpine soil and mountain air.

The massive arena floor had been transformed into a meticulously organized radial grid. Dozens of elevated basalt platforms rose from the ground, each containing a specialized plot of deep, dark cultivation soil enclosed within an individual glass-walled isolation field.

Advanced hydro-balanced monitoring arrays hovered silently beside each platform, glowing with real-time diagnostic runes to track soil toxicity, elemental balance, and crop vitality.

Walking down the polished central aisle, Rowan located his assigned station within the Under-21 bracket: [Rowan Vance — Sol-Aethel Empire].

A few sectors over in the Senior Division, Jeremy found his own platform labeled [Jeremy Cole — Sol-Aethel Empire].

”Looks like they didn’t skimp on the setup,” Jeremy said, placing a hand on the edge of his plot’s basalt rim and feeling the deep, ambient mana running through the soil. ”High-density spirit-earth, perfectly buffered for elemental conduction. But look at those monitoring arrays—they’re tuned to react instantly to even the slightest spike in mineral toxicity.”

”That’s the point,” Rowan said softly, stepping onto his plot’s platform and adjusting the brim of his Enchanted Straw Hat. ”The Swiss Confederation designed these platforms to measure pure cultivation harmony. Harvesters who rely on harsh nutrient salts, forced growth arrays, or aggressive elemental stimulants will trigger the warnings instantly.”

A few plots away, Gabriel Bernard was already unspooling an elaborate set of gilded, runic array banners around his soil bed, smugly inspecting his family’s proprietary chemical nutrient solutions.

Further down the row, Tian Yu stood silently before his platform, carefully arranging stasis jars filled with high-altitude mountain minerals, his gaze fixed on the center stage with cold, absolute focus.

Rowan knelt down and lightly ran his fingers through the dark, cool earth of his allotted plot. Opening his refined mana perception, he felt the underlying structure of the soil. While rich in raw spirit energy, the artificial blend was subtly packed with complex mineral salts—a deliberate trap designed by the trial organizers.

Anyone attempting to force life from this soil using heavy elemental magic would inevitably cause the salts to calcify into elemental slag, suffocating the plant’s delicate root system.

Rising back to his feet, Rowan offered Jeremy a calm, confident nod across the divide. He didn’t need gilded arrays, nor did he need synthetic growth chemicals. With his domain techniques ready to channel uncorrupted life force directly into the ground, he waited patiently for the Council of Nations to reveal the extinct Silphium seed.

***

The Swiss official stepped onto the central floating podium high above the arena, illuminated by glowing crystalline spotlights. Hovering broadcast spheres swirled through the air around him, beaming high-definition feeds of the Grand Alpine Botanical Arena to millions of viewers watching live across the world.

”Distinguished guests, sovereign leaders, contestants, and citizens watching from every corner of the globe—welcome to the main event!” his voice rang out, echoing with acoustic enhancement through the stadium speakers and international broadcasts.

The crowd of thousands roared, then gradually settled into an eager, expectant hush.

”For decades, the Herbology and Life-Cultivation Trials have tested the absolute limits of human talent, botanical mastery, and soil manipulation,” the official continued, gesturing expansively across the radial grid of basalt platforms. ”Yet today, thanks to a monumental breakthrough in deep-sea mana-barrier technology, humanity has unsealed a realm previously lost to myth.”

A massive holographic projection flickered to life in the center of the Colosseum, displaying breathtaking underwater footage of towering, blue-glowing coral architecture and submerged marble domes.

”Three months ago, joint international expeditionary teams successfully breached the outer spatial ward of the lost city of Atlantis,” the official declared, sending shockwaves through the audience and contestant ranks alike. ”Deep within the royal botanical vaults of Atlantis, sealed inside ancient stasis urns, our researchers recovered a preserved cache of fossilized seeds belonging to none other than Silphium.”

Gasps erupted across the stadium floor. Down in the contestant plots, even experienced elders in the gallery leaned forward in disbelief.

Silphium—the legendary, all-healing botanical miracle of antiquity. Extinct for thousands of years, it was revered in ancient history as an unmatched panacea capable of purifying mortal blood, repairing shattered core pathways, and boosting life force.

”These seeds have spent millennia petrified in dormancy, locked behind calcified mana shells,” the official explained, his voice growing grave. ”They are fragile beyond imagination. Attempting to force them with crude growth arrays, aggressive mana injection, or synthetic mineral salts will instantly shatter their internal vitality, reducing them to inert ash.”

On his platform, Gabriel Bernard swallowed hard, subtly glancing down at the synthetic chemical nutrient bottles he had just unspooled around his plot. Nearby, Tian Yu tightened his grip on his stasis jars, his cold composure wavering slightly at the sheer delicacy of the task.

The Swiss official smiled, his voice booming over the silent arena: ”Your objective for this trial is simple, yet deemed nearly impossible by modern botanical science: awaken and germinate one fossilized Silphium seed within three hours. Prove to the world that your cultivation path possesses the pure, primordial life force required to bring an extinct legend back to life!”

Beside Rowan, Jeremy let out a low whistle, looking at his plot with a grim expression. ”Atlantis... petrified seeds... They weren’t kidding when they called this an impossible challenge.”

Adjusting the brim of his Enchanted Straw Hat, Rowan offered a quiet, knowing smile as automated distribution drones drifted toward each contestant’s platform, carrying individual stasis boxes containing the petrified relics of Atlantis.

For everyone else relying on forced arrays and aggressive mana infusions, it was indeed an impossible trap. But for Rowan, whose domain harbored the exact uncorrupted, primordial conditions the ancient seed craved, the trial was about to become the ultimate showcase.