As the Magic Cup's main round approached, preparations entered an intense phase.
During the last two days of March, half of the Magic Battle Arena staff had moved to the competition venue on Moonview Street, checking various equipment and installations.
Meanwhile, contestants and spectators began arriving one after another to familiarize themselves with the venue.
The entire competition venue had six floors.
The lower three floors were specially designed for the main round, each divided into ten large private rooms.
Inside, the seating resembled a miniature Grand Arena—rows of seats surrounding a central battle platform.
Andy arrived with several Gold-ranked friends and stepped into one of the rooms, looking around curiously.
They sat in the uppermost rows of the audience section, overlooking the central battle platform.
Feeling the soft cushion beneath him and leaning against the comfortable backrest, Andy scanned the room.
Each room could accommodate over a hundred spectators.
And across the first three floors, there were thirty such rooms.
"This place is way more comfortable than the arena—no need to stand anymore," one person sighed, lounging back with both arms on the armrests.
Another stood in the aisle, glancing around nervously. "Will all these seats be filled? That's a lot of people watching us… damn, I'm not used to this…"
"There were already tons of people at the arena—what's there to worry about?"
"It feels different with seats—it's more formal now. Kinda weird."
"You'd better get used to it. If you see a sea of people during the match and panic on the spot, that'll be embarrassing."
"Enough talk—let's check out the battle platform," a third suggested.
Andy got up and followed them down.
The size of the platform was similar to a table tennis court from Ron's previous world.
The battle table resembled a ping-pong table, just slightly larger.
Standing at one side, Andy examined it closely.
The layout was similar to the Silver-ranked match tables.
The table was divided into three sections.
The middle third belonged to the referee, used to judge card strength.
The two outer thirds were for the players.
A horizontal barrier stood in front of Andy, blocking the opponent's view.
This meant players could lay their cards flat on the table instead of holding them.
Andy ran his hand across the surface, then took out his metal card case and placed his Element Cards into the designated slots.
"How about we try a few matches here?" Andy suggested.
"Sure! I'll be the referee!" one volunteered immediately.
"I'll be the commentator! Haha!" Another rushed to the commentator's seat at the side.
The last one froze in place, looking at the two with grievance before reluctantly stepping onto the platform.
"Andy… go easy on me… at least let me lose with dignity."
Other visitors noticed the scene and gathered around.
Some even took seats and began cheering:
"Take Andy down! I believe in you!"
"This is your moment! Win this, and you'll be the uncrowned champion!"
…
While the Magic Cup is prepared for the main round—
In the private experimental zone of the City of Chaos, Illya was experimenting.
Two adjacent Element Isolation Chambers had been filled with Water and Earth elements.
She first entered one chamber and activated her mana, casting wood-element magic.
The Water and Earth elements resonated and gathered, forming wood-element spells under her control before dispersing.
After casting over ten fourth-tier wood spells and exhausting her mana, she exited and entered the adjacent chamber to meditate and recover.
She absorbed elements, converted them into mana, and once replenished, returned to the first chamber to cast spells again.
This cycle repeated over ten times throughout the afternoon.
Only after the meditation chamber's elements were completely depleted did she end the experiment.
Meanwhile, puppet Ron, who had been drawing designs in the lab, rushed out as soon as he heard she was done.
"How did it go?" Ron asked excitedly. "Just like I said—the total amount of elements didn't change, right?"
"…Yes."
Illya stood before the detector, staring at the data with a dazed expression.
"I knew it!" Ron's eyes lit up. "So there is a way to prove it!"
"Harper said mana just dissipates—I never bought that. Relying solely on the Elemental Plane for replenishment always felt off."
"So, based on this, after casting magic, mana really does revert into elements, right?"
Previously, Ron and Harper had debated extensively about mana and elements.
But since the magic world already had a complete theoretical framework, logical arguments alone weren't enough.
They needed experimental proof.
After much struggle, Ron had finally come up with a method.
Thankfully, the lab equipment was advanced enough to support it.
Otherwise, even with the idea, the experiment wouldn't have been possible.
But Illya still seemed stunned.
After a long pause, she finally spoke:
"Your Highness Ron…"
"Before the experiment, I set both chambers to contain 40% Water elements and 60% Earth elements."
"But now… in this chamber… the ratio of Water to Earth is… 50 to 50…"
"The data clearly shows that the total amount of elements here equals the combined total from both chambers before the experiment."
"In other words… after casting wood-element magic, part of the Earth elements… were converted into Water elements…"
"Without Element Potatoes… element conversion… actually occurred."