Lucien did not forget about the rewards.
If anything, he considered them one of the more important parts of the competition.
The training grounds would prepare people for authority suppression, battlefield pressure, mental interference, and situations where their strongest abilities could suddenly become unreliable.
But the competition would accomplish something else as well.
It would show Lootwell who was capable.
Not merely who possessed the highest Realm or the most destructive Law.
Lucien wanted to see the people who adapted quickly, protected others, made good decisions under pressure, understood unfamiliar Laws, and continued functioning when everything familiar was taken away from them.
Those people would be valuable in the future.
And if Lucien already knew who they were, there was no reason to let them die early from something he could have prevented.
The rewards therefore could not be an afterthought.
He intended to make them worth winning.
•••
