Chapter 97: The Battle Begins
Chapter 97: The Battle Begins
Translator: Double_L Editor: Tehrn
It was a rare opportunity for them to have a conversation since the candidate list was just confirmed recently, some even only get to meet each other for the first time before taking off. The tournament was a bit hasty indeed, originally the main purpose of this tournament was to assess the skills and qualities of the fellow freshmen; however, principals of both academies were eager to compete against each other; hence the tournament itself somehow got distorted and became very competitive. Anyhow, Samantha already made up her mind for the participation arrangements.
The ten youngsters got familiar with each other as soon as they took off, filling the plane with talks and laughter. Meanwhile, Samantha was chilling in her seat as she sipped and enjoyed her Edinburgh Goutte de Sang, twenty years vintage, only the redness of this vintage could calm and relax her body and soul.
She observed her ten candidates through her wine glass. They were the hope of Ayrlarng’s future; then she noticed that somehow Wang Tong wasn’t affected by the pressure of the upcoming tournament, as the team’s secret weapon, his performances would be crucial for their victory, yet the boy wasn’t nervous about it at all.
Even Ma Xiaoru, Wang Ben, and Hu Yangxuan were passionate and attended to the upcoming tournament, but the trio wasn’t relaxed at all. Yet Samantha realized that Wang Tong looked like he wasn’t bothered at all like he didn’t know this was going to be a life and death tournament. Either he was born to be a heartless animal, or he was a shrewd and deep subtle person.
Nevertheless, sixteen years old was too young to possess such shrewdness.
The representatives of Ayrlarng reached Bernabeu in no time as they chatted merrily with each other. The new Camroo Passenger Aircraft was designed to take off and land without using runways, so they were able to land on the plaza of Bernabeu.
They were welcomed by Martyrus and a few teachers together with their own candidates. Bernabeu already knew that this was an important tournament, and somehow the meaningless matches became more interesting with Wang Ben, Ma Xiaoru, and Hu Yangxuan’s participation.
Both principals smiled “sincerely” toward each other as they met. “You are much more beautiful in person, Principal Samantha. If I were tens of years younger, I’d definitely ask you for a date!” the cunning old fox Martyrus said as he laughed. Even the teachers and students of Bernabeu didn’t expect Ayrlarng’s principal to be this gorgeous. Samantha’s whole body was filled with gushes of beauty and vitality, for some reason, the word “principal” looked old on her.
“You’re making fun of me again, Principal Martyrus. Moreover, ‘if’ is the biggest original sin of mankind,” Samantha smiled charmingly as she said in a delightful manner.
Obviously, both principals had begun their rivalry as soon as they met each other.
“Fellow elites of Ayrlarng, on behalf of the Academy of Bernabeu, please accept my humble welcome. I hope that everyone will be able to enjoy your stay here and have a wonderful weekend. Once the tournament is over, everyone will have a chance to witness and enjoy the magnificent view of the Aegean Sea and also our zeal of friendliness!”
Martyrus was indeed a charming old man, even though they were “enemies”, everyone felt warm and great after hearing his speech.
Wang Tong saw “Skyscraper” amongst the welcoming students, he was surprised to see that Bernabeu didn’t create a fuss for having such an amazing character and began to understand the meaning behind Bernabeu’s invitation. Anyhow, Wang Tong would do whatever it took to win for the sake of his agreement with Samantha!
Samantha had a weird sensation as she felt the fiery stare behind her back. She was surprised by Wang Tong’s bravery on the day before for proposing such agreement; nevertheless, she accepted the deal, and apparently, she wasn’t afraid of anything at all.
Upon noticing Wang Tong, Cao Yi smiled back in a humble manner. He liked to learn from different elites and aces. In fact, he had vowed to do his best as he saw Ayrlarng’s list of strong candidates.
Wang Tong and the rest were arranged to stay in luxurious suites, all of them were honored to be treated with five-star privileges, and they had to admit, Bernabeu had changed ever since their status upgraded.
If Samantha couldn’t bring in the enormous funding into Ayrlarng, they would still remain behind even though they were located in Shangjing, the vibrant cosmopolitan.
Everyone was given a room, and tonight they shall rest in order to ensure their best performances for tomorrow. As for their mood on the remaining days, it would all depend on the outcome of this tournament. None of them would have the mood to enjoy the beautiful Aegean Sea if they lost, Samantha might even ask them to swim back to Shangjing if Ayrlarng was defeated.
Wang Tong wasn’t excited at all and went to sleep immediately, he knew he had to maintain a good body condition for the matches. He was blessed with the ability to sleep in any environment, all he had to do was to lie down and close his eyes; however, tonight might be full of toss and turns for most of them.
The weather was nice in Bernabeu, it was a beautiful night…
Wang Tong woke up at the usual time the next day, his biological clock was right on time. After brushing his teeth, Wang Tong decided to do some warm-up exercises around the campus in order to activate his body cells. As soon as he arrived at the field of Bernabeu, he was greeted by a familiar “buddy”.
“Good day, Wang Tong.” Cao Yi smiled instantly.
“I’m sorry, do you know me?” Wang Tong was startled, immediately, he wondered if Cao Yi had found out that he was Einherjar Wannabe; however, it seemed impossible because he didn’t use his real identity in TPA.
“Of course I know you, you’re the secret weapon of Ayrlarng. I’m looking forward to have a match with you,” Cao Yi replied seriously.
Wang Tong couldn’t believe he was called the “secret weapon”.
“Haha, you’re too kind, please have mercy on me later.”
“Same goes to you, my friend. By the way, my name is Cao Yi. Nice to meet you.”
Both of them parted ways after having a short conversation. It was indeed a quiet and peaceful weekend morning in Bernabeu, yet the campus would be bustling with noise later when the tournament will begin.
Candidates of both parties were asked to gather at the arena hall after having breakfast, Martyrus and Samantha too made an early arrival at the venue, neither of them would hold back against each other today.
“Principal Samantha, let’s waste no time and begin round one, shall we?” Martyrus said.
“Please, anytime will do since you’re the host here. Thank you for having us, I’m sure I’ll be able to learn a lot from you today.”
“Very well, as usual, the first round will be Survival Assessment, and all of them will be participating in this. The survival simulation will be set to level-A difficulty, and the scenario will be generated randomly.”
“Okay!”
The giant monitor in the arena began to flash, there were more than tens of thousands of simulation scenarios in the Confederation archive; to most of the freshmen, the level-A difficulty wasn’t only hard, but it was a nightmare. All of Ayrlarng’s candidates were freshmen, Bernabeu’s team, however, consisted of students from different grades; nevertheless, half of the team were also freshmen. Apparently, Bernabeu too was thinking of training their new blood.
Unfortunately for Ayrlarng, there wasn’t anyone unique amongst older students; hence they had no choice but to gather a team of newbies.
The scenario generator stopped and selected mission A-3568. In this mission, candidates were required to make it through a Zerg’s territory and race toward the designated goal, and the team with the most successes would win the round. If the number of successful candidates happened to be a tie, the result would be decided by their time of arrival.
Martyrus then smiled and asked, “Principal Samantha, would you prefer the team mode or the individual mode for this round?” Apparently, there were multiple choices of modes in Survival Assessments.
“Let’s go with the individual mode, I suggest that we keep the fun of the battle to the very end,” Samantha replied. Team mode actually meant players of both sides were allowed to attack each other, while individual mode was all about racing toward the goal and making it through the Zergs’ territory.