area51novel Chapter 178 The Competition Begins
Chapter 178 The Competition Begins
In fact, Longyou's description of Xingluo City as having increased foot traffic is not very accurate; Xingluo City should be described as being overcrowded.
Star Luo City, with a permanent population of eight million and a maximum population of twenty million, has become crowded due to the upcoming Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Battle Tournament.
In response to the sudden surge in visitors, the Xingluo City authorities requisitioned residential houses and opened official residences as accommodation points for tourists, while also urgently conscripting a large number of soldiers to enter the city to maintain order.
Approximately 30,000 soldiers were transferred to Xingluo City for this competition. Of these 30,000 soldiers, a full 10,000 were used to maintain order and stability at Xingluo Square, the venue for the competition.
Xingluo Plaza is the largest comprehensive plaza in Xingluo City, located in front of the Xingluo Imperial City. The entire plaza, including a seven-story hotel not far to the east, is owned by the Xingluo royal family.
This time, Star Luo Square served as the venue for the competition, and the grand hotel named Star Emperor was the accommodation for the participating academies. As the defending champions and the number one academy on the continent, Shrek Academy was personally guided to a luxurious suite on the top floor of the hotel after entering the city.
In this suite, each member of the Shrek Academy team not only has a private bedroom, but there is also a dedicated meeting room available outside the bedroom.
Since it was already quite late when they arrived, neither Fan Yu nor Zhang Lexuan called a meeting after they checked into the suite. Instead, they all told everyone to go and rest.
Earlier today, Qian Duoduo made a special trip from the academy to catch up with the participating team and return the temporarily requisitioned Big White.
It is clear that although the academy can no longer send qualified reinforcements, it is still trying its best to help the participating teams that have suddenly encountered major changes.
Emerald Swan's formidable reputation in the healing world has led everyone to hope that Da Bai's presence will help Dai Yueheng and the others recover from their injuries more quickly. Even if Dai Yueheng and his two companions don't need to play in the earlier matches, their mere presence will undoubtedly give the academy's participating teams a significant boost in confidence.
After a night's rest, Zhang Lexuan convened a meeting of all the participating students in the conference room at dawn the next day.
Although Fan Yu currently holds the position of vice dean, his focus on researching soul tools means he is clearly inferior to Zhang Lexuan in matters related to the competition, such as tactical planning. Therefore, Zhang Lexuan became the convener of this pre-competition meeting.
"Dai Yueheng, Ling Luochen, and Gongyang Mo, how are you three feeling physically? How much longer will it take before you can play?"
"Our injuries weren't particularly serious to begin with. With Big White around, we should be able to start treatment in three days at most. In another five to seven days, we should be fully recovered."
Of the three injured people in the inner courtyard, Dai Yueheng's injuries were actually the most severe, and the recovery time he mentioned now is obviously the latest possible recovery time.
"That's not bad. The competition starts tomorrow, so you'll only miss three rounds. I believe the reserve team's strength is sufficient to handle the first three rounds."
Now I will introduce the competition rules for this event:
The All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Battle Tournament is the ultimate battle to test the strength of academies from all countries. Adhering to the principles of fairness and impartiality, it is a contest of the comprehensive strength of each academy.
If you want to compete on overall strength, the competition format can't be a single model. I looked into the various competition formats for this tournament yesterday, and they are quite diverse and flexible.
Since the registration period has ended, the number of participating academies has been determined: a total of 133 academies, including Soul Master academies and Soul Instructor academies.
There were quite a few participants, so the first round of the preliminary rounds was an elimination tournament, a seven-on-seven team elimination tournament. From what I've observed, this is already the most rigid competition format. The first round of the competition will probably last for three days.
After the first round of competition, the organizing committee will group the remaining participating colleges. This will be the round-robin tournament, and according to the organizing committee's plan, each round-robin group will have approximately nine teams.
The competition at this stage will be conducted in a randomized format, which will test overall strength. Before each match begins, a draw will be held to determine the specific format.
There are three types of randomized format for the entire round-robin tournament: single-elimination, three-on-three-on-two cooperative battle, and seven-on-seven team battle.
As for the specifics of these three competition formats, I will explain them in detail after we pass the preliminary round.
Oh, by the way, I know you're all quite confident after Long You's introduction, so I want to give you a heads-up. As the defending champions, the academy will definitely be playing on the first day of the knockout stage, and that first match is especially important. Don't let the academy be eliminated in the first round.
Because Long You had explained the overall strength of the participating academies to Bei Bei and the others in advance, their morale was not greatly affected, unlike the frustration and anxiety in the original work. This time, although the reserve team knew in advance that the academy was unlikely to send reinforcements, their morale was not greatly affected.
Because of this seemingly relaxed state, Zhang Lexuan gave the reserve team a heads-up, reminding everyone to be cautious.
As for the effect of this reminder, Long You could only say it was quite good. The reserve team members, who were originally focused on the Shrek Inspector mission, immediately became tense.
Whether we win or lose the finals is not important now, but Shrek Academy being eliminated in the first round is absolutely unacceptable.
However, even when things get tense, you still have to do what you're supposed to do. You don't even know who your opponent is, so there's no point in discussing tactics.
While Shrek Academy was holding its meeting, many other academies were also having meetings at the Star Emperor Hotel. Among them was the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy, which, like Shrek Academy, resided on the top floor of the Star Emperor Hotel and had previously been the runner-up in the competition.
Inside the conference room of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy, an elderly man with a straight nose, square mouth, a face like a red date, and broad shoulders sat on the left side of the head seat. He was clearly the leader of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy team this time.
After a brief silence, the dignified-looking old man spoke up: "According to our observation, Shrek Academy, which just checked into the hotel yesterday afternoon, only sent a team of ten people to participate in the competition."
Of these ten people, only three appear to be close to twenty years old, significantly older than the others. According to information from our sources within the Star Luo Empire, these three are 19 years old, while the remaining seven members of the Shrek Academy team are all under 15.
In other words, Shrek Academy only sent three regular members this time; the rest were all reserve members. Do you know what that means?
Faced with the old man's serious and deep question, all fourteen students from the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy sitting on either side of the conference table looked puzzled.
"This is contempt!" Perhaps not expecting the students to respond, an elderly man with short white hair and a thick beard, sitting on the right side of the head seat, slammed his fist on the table and roared.
"This is a blatant contempt for our Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy. Shrek Academy thinks it can defeat our Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy with just a reserve team!"
Shrek! They must pay the price for their pride! Ma Rulong!
"To!"
Facing the white-haired, bearded old man who looked furious, a male student sitting at the head of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy's regular team suddenly stood up.
Speaking of Ma Rulong, who was mentioned, he does look quite similar to the white-haired, bearded old man. He has bright eyes, but he lacks the big beard.
"This competition is the best opportunity for our Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy to achieve the number one position on the continent. If you can't lead the team to victory against a lineup like Shrek Academy, then you, Ma Rulong, should get out of Mingde Hall."
Did you understand?
"Yes!"
As the captain of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy, Ma Rulong couldn't possibly have another way of answering at this moment.
The meeting of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy was not over, and some minor incidents occurred during the subsequent meetings. However, there is no need to list the remaining matters; it is sufficient to understand that the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy will remain the biggest obstacle on Shrek Academy's path to dominance.
As dawn broke, the first rays of sunlight pierced through Xingluo City, awakening this ancient and magnificent city.
The bustling sounds signify that the city has awakened from its slumber, and the even more lively sounds than usual foreshadow exciting events to come.
Soldiers in gleaming armor and neat ranks arrived on the streets early. All the streets around Xingluo Square had been cordoned off by these ramrod-straight-legged soldiers, and only the participating teams that came out of the Xinghuang Hotel were allowed to pass freely.
A competition platform for the competition had already been set up in Xingluo Square. This platform was not located in the center of Xingluo Square, but was built directly in front of the main gate of Xingluo Imperial City.
This indicates the importance that the Star Luo Empire's royal family attaches to this competition, and also shows that members of the Star Luo royal family, the emperor himself, and important officials from all sides of the Star Luo Empire may appear on the city walls to watch the battle at any time.
The arena is 100 meters wide and 100 long, and 5 meters high, surrounded by 108 metal pillars. These 108 metal pillars are actually a combined defensive soul tool, which will be operated by 108 soul masters when the competition begins.
The defensive shield generated by this soul tool can block the spillover of all soul skills, making it an important barrier to ensure the safety of spectators.
There are still no people living in Xingluo Square, but you can see that a large number of iron fences have been set up on the entire square.
These iron fences divide the entire plaza into sections, and from an aerial view, it becomes clear that each section has its own entrance and exit. These spaces, separated by the iron fences, are obviously the spectator viewing areas for this competition.
The iron fence, only 1.5 meters high, won't obstruct the view for most people. The absence of seating actually allows more spectators to enter the limited space.
As the sun rose high in the sky, all preparations for the competition were completed, and the audience began to enter the venue in an orderly manner. The participating colleges also completed their early entry at this time.
In the waiting area for contestants, the students of Shrek Academy, dressed in their traditional dark green school uniforms, stood proudly at the forefront of all the academies. This was the glory that Shrek Academy had accumulated through its strength over ten thousand years.
The other academies behind Shrek Academy didn't have much objection to the position Shrek Academy was standing in, but they couldn't help but be surprised by the Shrek Academy participants.
The difference in appearance between people under fifteen and those under twenty is very noticeable. If someone approaching twenty can be called a youth, then a fifteen-year-old can only be called a child.
Shrek Academy has a reserve team, which is acceptable to all academies, but Shrek Academy's current situation clearly indicates that it intends to use reserve team members as the main force in the competition.
After observing this, many other academies, like the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy, began to have some unrealistic ideas.
Of course, no matter how many schools had extra ideas, there were still many more schools praying in their hearts that they would not encounter Shrek Academy in the first round of the draw.
These academies were well aware of their own strength; even against Shrek Academy's reserve team, their chances of winning were extremely slim.
As the sun rose high in the sky, a deafening "Silence!" echoed throughout Xingluo Square. The guards, already standing very upright, straightened up even more at that moment.
As shouts of "His Majesty the Emperor has arrived" rang out, a large number of spectators in the entire Xingluo Square knelt down.
The soldiers responsible for maintaining order also knelt on one knee at this moment. As for all the participating academy students present, they bowed ninety degrees as a sign of respect, as instructed beforehand.
Amidst the command "Rise, my lords," Long You straightened his back and carefully observed His Majesty the Emperor of the Star Luo Empire, who was also the current head of the Star Crown Xu family.
His Majesty the Emperor's gaze was gentle yet dignified; he seemed like a very reliable person.
Without any unnecessary words, after a simple welcome and encouragement, His Majesty the Emperor of the Star Luo Empire directly announced the opening of this year's Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Battle Tournament.
After His Majesty the Emperor and all the important officials in the imperial city were seated, the shouts of "Silence!" rang out again.
This time, the voice announced the rules for the first round of elimination matches and also revealed that Shrek Academy's opponent in the opening match would be the Tianling Advanced Soul Master Academy team from the Douling Empire.