CHAPTER 27

Ben tried to take a deep breath to calm his nerves, but his heart kept thumping in his chest, and his hand holding the yo-yo trembled uncontrollably.

In the square, hundreds of contestants, just like him, were waiting. Their ages, races, and backgrounds varied, but they all waited anxiously for the judges.

When he first signed up, he thought it would just be a fun competition. After all, a yo-yo is just a toy—how much fuss could it make?

However, when he arrived on-site, he realized that there were thousands of contestants in the preliminary rounds, with people coming from other regions to participate. Major newspapers from the city were also present, covering the event in full.

It was said that the main competition would be held at the Twin Cities Arena, which could accommodate up to 50,000 spectators!

For this event, Zuo Ge Toy Store released a special edition commemorative yo-yo. The proceeds from this yo-yo would be shared equally among all the contestants who made it to the main competition.

If they placed in the rankings, they could receive rewards based on their position, such as co-branded accessories, exclusive illusions, or co-branded yo-yos. The first-place winner could even secure a long-term contract with Zuo Ge Toy Store.

In other words, playing with toys could become a job, and an even lucrative one at that.

The audience wasn’t just watching the competition—there were also raffles during each contestant’s performance. They could vote on their favorite performance using magical devices at their seats, and the votes would count towards the final score, making up 10% of the total points.

How did the owner of Zuo Ge Toy Store come up with these quirky ideas?

No one had ever thought of running a competition like this before!

"Let’s begin."

A judge holding a scorecard walked up to him.

Ben recognized him—he was a somewhat famous yo-yo player from the Riverside District, who had been invited to participate in the main competition and also serve as a judge for the preliminaries.

The rules of the preliminaries were simple: one minute to perform any trick of choice, scored by the judges. Anyone who scored above 80 would advance to the main competition, those below 60 would be eliminated, and those in between would have to wait for the rankings to decide their fate.

In case of a tie, the tiebreaker would involve comparing the small points, including difficulty, success rate, variety, originality, movement range, and even fluency and choreography. The details were far more meticulous than one would expect.

Each performance was also filmed to allow for re-evaluation in case of disputes.

The rules were stricter than those of many long-standing competitions.

However, the cameraman was a bit intimidating—skinny and tall, dressed in leather from head to toe, leaving only his head visible, which turned out to be a camera!

Ben patted his face to focus.

Since the yo-yo was confiscated, he had been practicing in secret, trying not to neglect his studies, always finding ways to squeeze in some practice time.

In truth, he wasn’t expecting to place high—he had seen the advanced players, and he knew he wasn’t anywhere near their level.

He was competing in the single-handed line tricks, the most common category, though there was also the two-handed spinning style.

In the comics, a new style without using the string on the hand had emerged, called the "off-string" style, but very few people could do it, so there wasn't enough for a competition category yet.

The single-handed line trick had more participants, and the competition was fierce.

As long as he could make it to the main competition, that was enough.

He wanted to prove to his father that he wasn’t wasting time on toys and that his studies wouldn’t be affected—he could even make money from playing yo-yo.

He launched the yo-yo, set the string, and executed move after move. As his focus fully shifted, his nervousness faded.

The yo-yo and string felt like extensions of his fingers, and his movements grew smoother. He didn’t attempt anything too difficult, so his focus was on making sure he succeeded.

"4, 3, 2, 1, time’s up," the judge called, stopping the timer.

Ben quickly reeled in the yo-yo, as smooth as drawing a blade back into its sheath. The timing was perfect.

The judge wrote something on the scorecard.

The sound of paper rubbing against pen made Ben nervous again, and he swallowed nervously, unsure of what the result would be.

"80.2 points. Congratulations, you’ve advanced!"

"Haha!" Ben jumped three feet into the air, running towards the stands. "Uncle, I did it! I made it to the main competition!"

"I knew you could do it. You’re so smart," Kalaman cheered with his nephew.

Of course, Ben hadn’t come here alone. Even in the most developed cities on the continent, the safety couldn’t be fully trusted.

"Here," Kalaman took out two red items wrapped in sugar coating, "These are new snacks I found at a street stall, something like candied strawberries."

"Thanks, Uncle." Ben took the candied strawberries, since his mom usually didn’t allow him to eat sweets.

He took a light bite, the sugar shell cracked with a caramelized fragrance, not bitter at all, and the juice from the strawberry flowed out—sweet and refreshing.

"So where are we going for lunch, Uncle?"

There was no reply.

"Kalaman Uncle?" Ben noticed his uncle was staring intently in one direction, not sure what he was looking for.

Suddenly, he handed the candied strawberry to Ben. "This one’s for you too."

"Too much candy will give you cavities."

"You go ahead to that restaurant and wait for me. I’ve reserved a table. I have something urgent to attend to."

With that, he grabbed his small bag and ran off.

Kalaman didn’t just come to the yo-yo competition to accompany his nephew; he also had an important task—to meet Aisha.

He had tried to find her at Zuo Ge Toy Store multiple times, but she was always absent. So he had to come to the competition to wait since she was a judge in the main competition.

After waiting for a while, he finally spotted her.

"Miss Stone, Miss Stone!" Kalaman shouted.

Aisha turned in the direction of the voice and saw a man running toward her with a small bag.

The orc beside her immediately drew his battle axe.

"It’s fine. I know him," Aisha quickly stopped the orc. She recognized him as the younger brother from the Aklight family. Business rivalry shouldn’t result in someone getting chopped with an axe.

"Miss Stone," Kalaman said as he arrived, panting heavily, "I have a toy design, and I’d like to collaborate with Zuo Ge Toy Store."

"Oh?"

A few minutes later, Aisha led Kalaman into a private room, where Zuo Ge was happily nibbling on a candied strawberry.

"Let’s hear about your toy design."

Kalaman pulled out a top from his bag. "This is a top I designed, inspired by the yo-yo. When it spins, it creates illusions."

He placed the top on the ground, flicked it with a whip, and as it spun, an illusion of a head owl bear appeared.

"As the top slows down, the illusion changes. I designed several shapes for the tops to make their collisions more intense, so it can be used in top battles…"

Kalaman rambled on about his idea.

"So what do you need?" Aisha asked.

"I want to collaborate with Zuo Ge Toy Store. Aklight Toy Store can’t mass-produce this top."

"Oh? Did your brother agree to collaborate with us?"

"No, but this is my design. I’ve loved toys all my life, and I want more people to enjoy it. Who makes it doesn’t matter."

Kalaman’s expression was sincere.

Every industry had people with pure passion, but often, because of that passion, they got hurt.

"Well then, let’s talk details. Have you considered the risks of using a whip? It’s not very suitable for children."

"Have you thought about creating a special launcher at the top using a gear mechanism, so the top releases when the gear spins?"

"What if the tops don’t collide? Maybe a special arena, like a concave bowl, so they’re forced to converge at the center?"

"Have you considered making the top modular? Allowing players to assemble different layers to create their own preferred shapes for collisions?"

...

Aisha listed out many suggestions from Zuo Ge.

Kalaman was sweating heavily, and weakly asked, "Is this type of top already designed?"

"No, no, no. You’re the designer of this top, Kalaman Aklight, no doubt about it. I’m just offering suggestions as a sign of my sincerity. Let’s work together, and it’ll be a great partnership."

As Kalaman left the private room, he felt lightheaded.

"You already designed this, didn’t you?" Aisha asked Zuo Ge.

"Doesn’t matter. Cultural prosperity is not a victory for one person or one dragon. Besides, if we collaborate, there’s profit for both of us, right?"

Zuo Ge replied, feeling that more talents needed to emerge.

If he made every toy himself, not only would it be a hassle, but writing ten-plus chapters each time would be too much work.

"Look," he said, gazing at the arena, "The trailer’s about to start. How does it feel to create an entirely new form of art yourself?"