Chapter 300: The First Match (Third update, for 'Pingpingbipi')

"First Grade, Li Zhangsheng, Zhao Shuyi, Zhang Yi! Second Grade, Chen Zhangzhi..."

Upon hearing his own name, Li Zhangsheng did not feel particularly surprised.

As for those students who did not see their names, they all revealed expressions of frustration, with Xu Xiangzhi being the most prominent; he had always considered himself the third person in the first grade after Li Zhangsheng and Zhao Shuyi, so who would have thought he would fail to be selected.

However, Xu Xiangzhi knew his grandfather's temper well and dared not complain to him, so he could only stay to the side, feeling depressed and sulking.

According to the rules of previous Exchange Tournaments, each grade only has three spots for participants, totaling 12 people, and they compete in pairs within the same grade until one side is completely defeated!

The original intention of holding the Academy Exchange Tournament is, naturally, to verify overall strength.

Although individual combat power is important, before reaching a certain level, the overall strength is even more important; otherwise, if your teammates are all "pig teammates," it would be too terrible—at the very least, the current Li Zhangsheng cannot carry them.

Li Zhangsheng is quite familiar with Yingluo Academy because the Space Ring he obtained in the Green Wild Forest came from an Instructor of Yingluo Academy.

In last year's Exchange Tournament, Yingluo Academy did not perform very brilliantly, belonging to the bottom of the top eight, and there was a certain gap between them and Yuanling Academy.

However, that is the history of last year; whether the overall strength of Yingluo Academy has improved this year remains to be seen through competition.

This is also the main reason why Vice Principal Xu sent out the strongest lineup.

Vice Principal Xu began to instruct solemnly: "Before going on stage, you had best review the information on your opponents!"

"Yes!" Li Zhangsheng and the others responded, took out a thick stack of documents, and entered "cramming" mode.

Unlike Yuanling Academy, there are no Fourth-Rank students in Yingluo Academy; furthermore, there are no Third-Rank students among the first-grade students of Yingluo Academy, which are also two advantages for Yuanling Academy.

Li Zhangsheng sat on a chair, mainly looking at the information of the ten representative first-grade students of Yingluo Academy; which three first-grade students Yingluo Academy will send remains to be seen once they go on stage.

This information was collected by Yuanling Academy through various channels, including the opponents' ranks, Demon Pets, styles, etc., giving them a chance to understand them in advance.

Soon, Li Zhangsheng was initially familiar with the opponent's information, and seeing that there was still some free time, he took the opportunity to look at the representative students of the second grade of Yingluo Academy.

According to the competition rules, if they defeat the first-string first-grade students of Yingluo Academy, they will automatically gain the right to challenge the opponent's higher-grade first-string students.

Before going on stage, Vice Principal Xu said softly: "Everyone, do not have too much pressure; as long as you perform at your usual level, I believe the final winner will surely be us!"

Under the encouragement of Vice Principal Xu, some students who were participating in the Exchange Tournament for the first time relaxed slightly, but looking at their expressions, they still seemed a bit nervous.

This is also an unavoidable matter!

As for Li Zhangsheng, he could not feel nervous at all; he remained as carefree and calm as ever, even faintly excited—commonly known as a "big-match player."

Looking at their appearance, Vice Principal Xu was still a bit uneasy. As a seed Academy, Yuanling Academy directly advanced to the Exchange Tournament; this is an advantage, but it also has disadvantages. For the students of Yuanling Academy, their actual combat experience is not as good as their opponents, and this is even more true for the first-grade students.

On the other side, the team leader of Yingluo Academy was also boosting morale.

"The opponent is the bottom of the Four Great Academies. Although their strength is very strong, this does not mean we have no hope of winning! I hope everyone will guard against arrogance and rashness, bring out your own advantages, and alright, it is our turn to go on stage!"

At this time, the first-string students of the two Academies began to go on stage.

Whoosh whoosh~ Boo boo~

When they went on stage, they were greeted by the cheers and boos of the audience. This fanatical atmosphere made some of the first-string students of Yuanling Academy even more nervous.

Under the arrangement of the referees, both sides divided into camps by grade and gradually went on stage to compete.

Li Zhangsheng, Zhao Shuyi, and Zhang Yi stood together. Because they were in the first grade, they would go on stage in the first round. After they decided the winner, it would be the turn of the second-grade students, and so on!

Both sides arranged their first opponents by number; for example, Li Zhangsheng was number one, so his opponent was naturally number one from Yingluo Academy.

Soon, Li Zhangsheng arrived at a platform three or four meters high, where he would command his Demon Pet to fight.

His opponent was a delicate-looking female. Li Zhangsheng had read some of her information; she was named Lin Xue and was a Second-Rank Beast Master.

Yingluo Academy is a typical women's academy, only recruiting women, which is also the biggest feature of this academy.

Women can also hold up half the sky—this is the school-running tenet of Yingluo Academy, and one wonders what its first Principal actually experienced.

Lin Xue looked at Li Zhangsheng solemnly. She knew very well that Li Zhangsheng was a Third-rank Royal Beast Master. Even if she appeared very confident, she did not think she could defeat an opponent of a higher rank.

Therefore, her main goal was to weaken Li Zhangsheng's strength as much as possible so that her teammates could defeat Li Zhangsheng.

At this time, the referee's voice sounded: "There are a total of six types of fields. Both sides can eliminate one, and then one of the remaining four fields will be randomly selected. Please choose!"

At this time, an image appeared on the Obsidian Screen not far away, showing six fields of different forms.

"Eliminate the Water Field!"

"Eliminate the Fire Field!"

The two spoke one after another, eliminating the fields least favorable to their performance.

As soon as their voices fell, the Water Field and Fire Field on the Obsidian Screen disappeared, and then a light ring was seen spinning rapidly over the remaining Rock Field, Grass Field, Sun-Drenching Field, and Ice Field.

The light ring became slower and slower, finally stopping on the Grass Field.

Undoubtedly, this is the field most suitable for the performance of the vast majority of Demon Pets.

While Li Zhangsheng's side was selecting the field, on the other two fields not far away, Zhao Shuyi, Zhang Yi, and their opponents had also completed the selection of the field.

"Both sides are limited to three Demon Pets. There is no time limit for the match. It will be conducted in a singles mode until all of either side's Demon Pets lose their combat ability. Do you both understand?"

After the field was selected, the referee announced the rules as a matter of routine. Even in an exceptionally noisy environment, his voice could still be easily distinguished because the referee himself was a Fifth-tier Beastmaster!

The referees for the Exchange Tournament are composed of the leading Instructors from each Academy, but they also have some restrictions: they cannot organize matches for the same group as their own Academy.

In addition, if a contestant's Life-Bound Demon Pet encounters a life-threatening crisis, they must intervene; otherwise, it is a dereliction of duty.

As for the contestants' blood-bound Demon Pets, they are not within their jurisdiction.

"Very well, I now announce the start of the match!"

After both sides indicated they understood, the referee finally announced the start of the match.

The next moment, Li Zhangsheng and Lin Xue simultaneously summoned their first Demon Pet.

After a burst of dazzling light, two Demon Pets of different forms appeared on the Grass Field.

Old rules: Three, Pig, Proof!

(End of this chapter)