Observing all the new things that were happening in the empire, Vijay was left absolutely thrilled and ecstatic. Although by allowing civilian companies to purchase the technology of the Pragathi engine, he increased the risk of technology leakage, the result he got was extremely outstanding. Even if the Europeans are inspired by the Pragathi engines and make breakthroughs in their larger engines, he is no longer worried. The public of the Bharatiya Empire unleashed their abilities in innovation and development to the fullest, and it would take a long, long time for the Europeans to catch up.

Vijay was mulling through the paperwork when Ganesh came and informed him that the managers of the sports leagues he had invited were here.

"Bring them in," he motioned as he got lost in the paperwork.

Soon, five well-dressed men carefully came into the office as if they were stepping on eggshells, moving one foot at a time, trying their best to make as little noise as possible.

Harbhajan Singh and others wanted to greet the emperor, but since he looked to be busy, they simply stood waiting for him to complete his work.

Vijay finally saw the five people he had asked to come. Without a word, he motioned them to sit down with his hands as he continued to read the documents.

Apart from the sound of the pendulum clock and the ambient sound of the wind chime, there was no other sound in the office. There was absolute tranquillity. Ten minutes later, Vijay finally put a cap on the pen and looked at the managers of various sports leagues in the empire.

"I called you all for one simple reason, and that is to reorganise the sports leagues." He did not mince words and came straight to the point. "The Olympics are coming up, and all the participating countries are implementing several policies to bring out the best players and athletes to showcase them on a global stage, and...we have to do something similar."

The managers looked at each other, and their heartbeats began to rise. Could this be the opportunity for the league to rise to the international level? The thought filled their hearts, and some of their faces became red. "Please suggest what to do, Your Majesty," Bhargav Shetty, the director of the Pro Rugby League, added.

Vijay leaned back as he crossed his arms and relaxed in the chair. "I noticed that the tournament system, the way it currently is, is extremely limiting."

"The current system, where each state can have a maximum of three teams that move up through the tier rankings, has worked well so far. However, due to geographic restrictions, it fails to allow proper talent exchange between regions."

"Teams in tier 4 are rarely eliminated, and new teams from outside the four-tier system almost never make it in. The same goes for the third, second, and first tiers; they tend to remain unchanged, holding on to the status quo. This has caused stagnation in the games." "Which...has to change."

As he emphasised the last few words, Vijay could swear that he saw a few souls leaving their bodies, but he did not try to comfort them or calm them down. He had been in his position long enough to understand what to do. In fact, he already knew something like this would happen when the sports leagues were set up. He knew stagnation would occur in the future, with people settling in the status quo without competing against each other. But despite knowing the reason why he still built the structure like he did, it was because there was no foundation for sports leagues in the empire to begin with.

For league games to be successful, they should have popularity and a foundation, both of which were not present when the leagues were set up. The games were newly introduced into the empire, and no one had ever played a league game before. What he brought forward was the first of its kind.

So, with the way of limiting only a certain number of teams to a state and then raising the ranking representing the state, it allowed for the initial talent pool to fill up the tournaments, and it worked wonderfully.

Almost two decades after the tournaments began, they had generated billions of varaha in revenue and created a rich, diverse sporting culture across the empire. Every community had its own favorite sport, and all five major sports in the empire were thriving in their own ways.

Now that the foundation was firmly in place, and with the Olympics just around the corner, Vijay felt it was time to correct his past mistakes.

"We will follow your orders, Your Majesty. Please guide us and explain what we have to do," said Harbhajan Singh, the first to recover.

A faint smirk formed on Vijay's lips. He wouldn't reveal his thoughts to the managers, of course. He stepped forward, took a thick document from his drawer, and placed it on the table before them.

"I've written a detailed document on how the framework should be. You can go through it and make adjustments accordingly."

"The main goal of this reform is to increase the number of teams. Previously, Tier 1 had only ten teams, but now it will have twenty and will be renamed the Elite Championship League. Tier 2 will consist of twenty-four teams and will be called the Professional League. The top three teams from the Professional League will be promoted to the Elite Championship League, while the bottom three from the Elite Championship League will be relegated to the Professional League. This will maintain a balanced, two-way promotion and relegation system similar to the old rules."

"The same system will apply between Tier 3 and Tier 4. Tier 3, now called the Semi-Professional League, will have forty-six teams. Tier 4, called the Entry Professional League, will include one hundred teams. The difference lies in the number of promotions and relegations. In Tier 3, the top four teams will be promoted and the bottom six will be relegated. In the Entry Professional League, the top six teams will be promoted, but none will be relegated, because I have introduced a new entry system for joining the league."

"Previously, there were strict requirements just to qualify to challenge Tier 4 teams. That restriction has now been completely removed. I have created what I call the Challenger Pool, which will include 1,500 teams. These teams can enter the league system by challenging Tier 4 teams through a gladiatorial-style format."

"If a team from the Challenger Pool manages to defeat two Tier 4 teams within a span of thirty days, that team officially qualifies to enter the league system."

"Oh, right, I almost forgot, a tier 4 team cannot reject challenges from the Challenger Pool unless under certain circumstances, which I have mentioned in the document. Go through it. But even if the special circumstances are used, they are not exempt from competition rules. All of this is also mentioned in the framework; go through it."

"Ultimately, the biggest change is that now unlimited teams can try to enter the league system through the Challenger Pool, and the geographic quota has been completely removed."

Vijay thought to himself if he had missed something, and thankfully, he realised something he had forgotten. "The revenue and revenue distribution structure is also adjusted so that even the player in the Entry Professional League can easily earn 10,000 Varaha a month and support himself. Go through it and carefully implement it."

When Vijay's gaze landed on them, the managers all reacted. "We will get it done as soon as possible, Your Majesty. Please leave it to us."

"Good!"

The directors stood up, did a namaskar, took the document, and bid farewell.

---

While Vijay had just set a firm foundation for all sporting leagues in the empire to reach the heights of the Premier League, or football leagues in general, where even a local football player in a small league could make a living, unlike the Indian Premier League in his past life where only the top athletes earned well and the rest barely made anything, Agni decided to begin his own sporting journey.

A month or two ago, Agni didn't know the exact date, but he was approached by his cousin, a very close brother and friend, Rajendra, asking if he was interested in participating in the F1 tournament.

Agni knew what F1 was; after all, it set a precedent within the empire as the first racing event for steam-powered vehicles. Not to mention, he also knew about them since it was because of the F1 parent company that the Provisional Standards Authorisation Act was passed.

However, he did not know how Rajendra wanted him to participate in the tournament. Did he have to attend, or was he asking him to race?

When he asked him the question to clear his doubt, Rajendra actually looked at him with a bewildered expression.

"I'm of course inviting you to make a team and participate in the tournament."

"Like the Bharatiya Premier League teams?"

Rajendra thought about it and hesitantly nodded. "It's kinda like that, but some rules are different and..." He did not know how to explain anymore, so he lifted his hands in defeat. "Anyway, come with me, I will introduce you to Pritam Paoli. He will explain everything more clearly."

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