121 Audition Process

"My lord, does this place meet with your approval?" Inside the cavernous room, Ilson bowed to Joss, mimicking the awkward, fumbling posture of an aristocratic butler he had picked up somewhere along the way.

"Hm, not bad." Joss scanned the room, nodding in affirmation.

For Sakaar, this was a rather decent place to reside. Although the planet was vast and sparsely populated, there were no real estate speculators here. The cost of purchasing this property had been nothing more than a few food supplies and standard weapons drawn from the system.

After all, except for those who had fled here due to crimes on other planets or those unable to leave for various reasons, most people were merely transients visiting the Grandmaster’s gladiator arena. Long-term residency was rare, so the concept of housing prices was essentially nonexistent.

To put it bluntly, if the price had been too high, Joss would have simply taken his people to an open patch of land and built a house himself. The Grandmaster wouldn't care about such trivialities, and the local thugs and hoodlums posed no threat to him. He truly was free to do as he pleased.

"Very well. Now, go and get me everything on this list. You can keep the extra money for yourself."

As he spoke, Joss tossed a bag of Sakaarian currency to Ilson. He had acquired the coins by trading away a few weapons when he bought the house. In a low-consumption world like Sakaar, this amount of money would be enough to last a person for decades.

"Yes, yes, my lord! Right away!" Upon receiving a fortune he had never dreamed of in his life, Ilson’s eyes widened, and he sprinted out the door in a flash.

Joss had no fear that he would run off. If Ilson had any sense at all, he would realize that staying by Joss’s side offered a life hundreds of times better than his former existence, all without the need to risk his neck every single day.

Of course, another reason to ensure his return was the "Three-Corpse Brain-Eating Pill" Joss had forcibly fed him earlier.

After explaining the effects of the pill—specifically the outcome of having one’s brain filled with insects upon death—Ilson’s loyalty had spiked significantly. Though it was actually just a piece of chocolate malt candy, Joss believed it was more than sufficient as a deterrent.

With the promise of a life of luxury and prestige on one hand, and a horrific death by a thousand insects on the other, this "carrot and stick" approach was effective in every corner of the multiverse.

The items Ilson needed to procure were standard furniture and the majority of props required for idol activities. As for costumes and the like, those would have to be considered later, as the core components of the idol project weren't even finalized yet.

Idols!

"The candidates will have to be recruited locally on Sakaar, but I can't afford to waste too much time on this..." Joss tapped his fingers against the tabletop, a thought forming. "Hmm... I suppose an open audition is the way to go."

Open auditions and scouting the streets personally each had their own merits. The former required a massive investment of funds, and picking out one or two gems from a crowd was an exhausting labor. The latter, while avoiding that problem, was incredibly time-consuming, and success was largely a matter of luck.

Considering that Joss was not short on funds and his "Chaos Body" could withstand even the attacks of Lilith, he had the stamina to spare. He chose the more cost-effective method.

With a plan in mind, Joss didn't waste any time. While waiting for Ilson to return, he pulled paper and pen from the system space and began to draft a detailed audition proposal.

To keep a long story short, as a novice planner, Joss spent an entire day drawing on ideas from the idol shows he had watched in the past. By the time Ilson returned with all the supplies, he had finally designed a seemingly viable plan.

"Done. This is the method for the First Martial Arts... no, the Sakaar Legend Idol auditions." Joss nodded with satisfaction as he looked at the text on the paper.

Since Sakaar lacked traditional song-and-dance entertainment, Joss didn't expect to find candidates already skilled in performing. After some deliberation, he shifted his perspective: the first round of auditions would be one-on-one combat.

Well, surely an idol in this day and age wouldn't be worth much if she couldn't take on ten people at once, right? Right? Absolutely.

Though it sounded bizarre, it fit the atmosphere of Sakaar perfectly. Regardless of whether they were idols or not, a delicate girl with no strength would be in grave danger in a lawless place like this. Joss wanted to build an idol group, but this was merely a step toward his ultimate plan—not a burden of people he needed to protect.

Moreover, if they had sufficient combat prowess, it proved they had excellent control over their bodies, which would make dance training and coordination much easier than with ordinary candidates.

Of course, before the first round of combat, there would be a more fundamental screening: appearance and physique. Those who failed these requirements wouldn't even be eligible for the combat phase. After all, without this filter, who knew what kind of monstrosities he would end up with?

What’s that? You want to talk about gender and race? As long as they’re cute, does that really matter? Would anyone stop loving an elf archer just because she isn't human?

Ahem, it seems something strange slipped into the thought process. But let’s ignore that.

With the first step of the audition set, the next task was promotion.

After a moment of reflection, Joss turned to Ilson, who was sitting in the corner in a daze. "Ilson, go and bring your underlings here..."

"M-my lord?! Bring them here? Why? Those guys... they don't have any talent for singing or dancing!" Ilson jumped up like a startled rabbit, hurriedly protesting.

It was hard to tell if his protest was motivated by a desire to keep his brothers from Joss’s clutches or simply to prevent them from sharing his wealth and new lodging.

"They don't need to do that. If bringing them is too much trouble, you can find some of your acquaintances in the city to handle this. In any case, I want you to make sure as many people as possible know about this within three days."

As he spoke, Joss handed a sheet of paper covered in writing to Ilson. But after reading just a few lines, the man's eyes widened as if they were about to pop out of their sockets!