This is all because the sage didn't expect Soverick to be so impressive. Salvos was to be the undisputed leader. But Soverick has risen to the task. It is unfortunate that there can not be two tigers on one mountain. The divine crown that the first sage sought to use to strengthen one battle sage monkey will cause conflict between Salvos and Soverick.
The third problem is the progress that Soverick is making in breaking into the core. It is ahead of time, far ahead of time. The sage expected something like this to happen. He didn't foresee the situation exactly but he knew that it could happen. He expected that something will happen to help Soverick and expedite his gaining access to the core. He is the child of the plane after all.
There's more to being the child of the plane than gaining access to infinite energy. Very few know what else it entails since it is a rarity to encounter. The best person to know what it fully means to be a child of the plane is him the first sage himself since he was also the first child of the Virut plane.
The first sage knows it means to be connected to the fate of the plane in more than energy. The plane will protect him and help him. Two of such help are scrambling the scrying on the child of the plane and the other is supplementary luck.
Soverick won't suddenly become lucky but certain events will take place that will assist him whenever he is doing something that will help the plane. He may not know it himself but the hands of fate do.
An example is having a person that is daring and can project their consciousness out of their body, appear in the same arena as Soverick. This person is perfect to be used as a tool to break the defense of the arena core. And they came.to Soverick themselves to volunteer for the job. One thing or another, would have happened to help Soverick in getting into the core because he is the child of the plane. It is good in a way and also a problem in another way.
It is good in that Soverick will gain knowledge before the fourth challenge. Knowledge is power after all. This will help Soverick in the fourth challenge. The problem is that he won't be able to control Soverick anymore. After all, the knowledge within the core is the only thing that Soverick cares about. The first sage will have to find another bait or reward to encourage Soverick.
'It was not enough after all. I expected it and I have done all I can do. I just hope that all of this is worth it.' The sage sighed and said to himself.
He had to find a way to motivate Soverick without telling him of the real purpose of the challenge. That is one of the clauses the two administrators must adhere to in this competition. They can't tell anyone about the true nature of the competition and its stakes. The competitors must think it is a simple affair. It will prevent them from being of one mind working together.
It was the serpentine world god that made that rule. Vipers don't have problems of division and it wouldn't matter if they do. Their paragons are all that they need. Battle sage monkeys on the other hand have issues with cooperation. They always compete amongst themselves and won't cooperate until they are forced to. That means they will be divided throughout the competition and might eliminate each other.
The first sage would have loved to make acquiring the information in the core easy but he needed something to motivate Soverick and it also couldn't be easy so that the paragons of the Vipers won't be able to do it too. The cores in the arenas of battle sage monkeys are the same as in the arenas of the Vipers. The difficulty had to be set just right so that it is possible to be broken into but it has to be that only Soverick would be able to do it. The first sage did all of this so that his side could win.
Both administrators want to win. To make things fair, the conditions of the two sides are kept the same. That means the Vipers went through everything the battle sage monkeys went through. Unfortunately for the battle sage monkeys, that didn't mean they have the same chances as the Vipers. It is not a matter of skill. The battle sage monkeys have one child of the plane while the Vipers might as well have 9.
Almost nothing can breach that gap. The first sage tried his best with what he has but everything will come crumbling down if Soverick kills Salvos and then refuses to win the competition once he has gotten his knowledge from the core. The first sage would have lost both his first and second choice without recourse to fall back on. As has been stated before, the first sage placed all his eggs in one basket. It is the recipe for disaster.
The Clash between Salvos and Soverick is inevitable. Salvos is not Salvini. Salvini won't fight a losing battle. She won't even start it at all if she knows she will lose. Salvos can't see the future but he will still fight even if he did. He is one of those stubborn people that will face all opposition. He is like Ghaster except Salvos has always won every fight.
There's no way someone that has only tasted defeat once in his lifetime will back down from competing for the divine crown. Fortunately, the sage has planned for everything. It is just that it might not work. That's why the sage is wary. If it doesn't work, then the battle sage monkeys will surely lose the fourth challenge and he too will lose the bet and what he aims to achieve by winning the bet.