Preliminary Round 5

Belle is about to awaken!

Linyin's figure instantly flashed in front of Belle, with the infinite true energy condensed in her palm, ready to be released.

She knew too well the dangers of first awakening Chi, and was prepared to withstand the brunt of the energy along with her.

However, the expected energy storm did not arrive.

The shadow of the Dark Night Orchid gracefully unfolded behind Belle, each petal swirling with mysterious golden lines. The energy points that should have been surging now mellowed into the orchid, like rivers returning to the sea.

"So beautiful..." Crystal admired the magnificent scene before her.

"Do you know you're beautiful now? You're the one who's been lazy in practicing recently." Yuzhu pinched Shuijing's face.

"We don't have the boss's talent, and we don't have Belle's original secret manual. Can we really master it?" Crystal frowned. "It's better to spend more time on my little gadgets."

Belle's world was silent and she could not hear any sound from the outside world.

A warm current surged throughout his body, golden light burst out from his eyes, and the world became extremely clear at this moment.

Landing gently on the ground, Belle saw Linyin's relieved expression and suddenly realized that the deliberate alienation these days was actually for her awakening.

My chest felt so tight, with feelings of emotion and shame fighting each other.

It turns out that she has always kept in mind what they agreed upon...

But this was too embarrassing—everyone watched her act like a child and yet couldn't remind her.

Fortunately... the result was good.

Belle suddenly rushed over and bumped into Linyin's arms while she was slightly stunned.

"I'm sorry," she buried her face in Linyin's shoulder, "but could you please not do this again next time?"

Linyin stumbled a few steps after being bumped by her before she regained her balance. She reached out and rubbed the furry head on her shoulder like she would a kitten.

"Can."

…………………………

Area B Observation Hall

This is a medium-sized conference hall of about 100 square meters. The clarity of the holographic projection in the center is not as good as that in the martial arts arena, but fortunately it is more private.

Some teams considered themselves strong and were unwilling to show up in the east stands, so the players simply made an appointment to watch the game together and exchange some of the information they observed, so as to learn from each other.

Unfortunately, "sharing what we have" may just be a beautiful fantasy...

"Let's discuss, which schools should we focus on today?"

The captain of Lighthouse Academy spoke very maturely and took the remote control of the holographic projection in his hand from the beginning.

"The results are relatively clear now. Let's look at the top five at the moment."

Daoming Si Lian sat in the last row, his black hair cascading over his shoulders, his pale complexion appearing almost translucent under the soft lighting of the viewing hall. He narrowed his eyes slightly, tapping the armrests of his chair with his fingers. The sound was quiet, but it inexplicably silenced everyone.

With the Daomingsi Martial Arts Hall now fully operational, the Daomingsi family's influence has long since changed. No one would be foolish enough to ignore his words at this time.

"Top five? Not enough." Surya rubbed the red spot between his eyebrows impatiently. He looked very arrogant. "At least we have to look at the top ten."

"The Flag Master is right! We must investigate more of them and try to see through their...er, their cards!"

The supporting cast of Garuda Academy immediately appeared online, but unfortunately their cultural level was disappointing.

"Why?" Transy pulled his lake blue curly hair, opened his round eyes wide, and pretended to listen attentively.

The captain of the lighthouse had no idea what to do with this idiot in his team. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and grabbed Trancy's collar. "Keep your voice down. Come here, I'll tell you."

With limited time and energy, they generally only observe the academies that pose a threat to them during the competition.

After excluding the eight small colleges that are generally recognized as not being in the top twelve, the remaining positions are the non-eight small colleges that they need to pay special attention to.

To be on the safe side, it is usually necessary to observe a few more schools to prevent upsets.

Among the eight primary schools, there are three that are recognized as useless schools.

The third waste is Cappadocia, whose mythical beasts have very simple abilities and whose people are too simple, and they are always at the bottom of the top twelve.

The second wasteland is Kunlun. As everyone knows, martial arts have declined, but their students are forced to learn a kind of martial arts called Sanqing Jue. No one has learned anything great, and the side effect is that there is no coordination between students and fantasy beasts, and they make a fool of themselves every year.

As for the number one loser… Thorn Flower Academy bore the brunt of the blame. There was nothing much to say. Their fighting and mythical beast abilities were both quite poor. If they hadn't secured a spot, they wouldn't even have made it to the top 32.

"This year's Frostwhisper and Sunflame aren't considered strong teams anymore." Daomingsi Lian, after hearing Captain Lighthouse's brief explanation, joined the conversation. "They rely on mythical beasts of ice and fire, and the landscapes that gave birth to these two mythical beasts are disappearing."

"To put it simply, except for all of you present here, I don't think anyone else from the Eight Elementary School will be able to be seen in the next class." Surya lowered his head and fiddled with his golden-red nails for a while, then moved his hand away with some disgust.

"I can't see it, I can't see it." The third member of the supporting group is a team member's fantasy parrot.

"We can't see him anyway, or is he planning to repeat the year before participating in the competition?" A student from Lighthouse Academy muttered in a low voice, dissatisfied with Garuda Academy's arrogant attitude.

"Keep your voice down. Everyone in this academy is a bit of a jerk with bad tempers. Don't cause trouble for the academy."

"Then let's look at the Ten Schools," Daoming Si Lian decided. "Although I personally think that Thorn Flower and Cappadocia are more valuable to observe this year than these other teams."

"I understand you mentioning Cappadocia. Their captain, Leiqin, has awakened his armored weapon... but what about the Thorn Flower?" The Lighthouse Academy captain looked puzzled. Did he hear correctly? The Thorn Flower? The shame of the Eight Little Ones who always gave up and surrendered—the Thorn Flower?

"Among the contestants from Thorn Flower this year, there should be a girl who doesn't have a mythical beast, right?" Daoming Si Lian missed the opening ceremony, but he accompanied Belle to watch Rin Yin's competition, and he was sure that Rin Yin could participate.

Judging from the strength she showed in the school trials, she could at least tie with Surya.

"Not only that, two girls don't have any mythical beasts."

The captain of the lighthouse pulled up the list of participants. "This one who doesn't have a registered mythical beast is called... Rinne."

"What's so interesting about this useless academy that can't even equip a complete set of mythical beasts? Daomingsi Lian, don't make me despise your taste." Surya rolled his eyes.

Hearing Rin's name, Daomingsi Lian smiled without saying anything. He had done his best by reminding them so far. If they still underestimated the enemy, they could only wish for the best.

"What's the other one without a mythical beast?" He was more curious about this. It was impossible for two monsters like Linyin to appear at once.

"Strange, it seems that the list has registered fantasy beasts..." The captain of the lighthouse looked at the list for a long time, causing Transy to lean over.

"Leannabelle Lan."

When he read out the name, Daoming Si Lian was stunned.

"Mythical beast, Dark Night Orchid. It's definitely her," Transy said proudly. "Captain, I know this. It's not that she doesn't have any mythical beasts, but the Dark Night Orchid has a special nature. She won't release it unless she's in combat."

"Belle is participating in the competition?" Daoming Si Lian was slightly surprised. The Lan family never wanted to expose the Dark Night Orchid, let alone in a competition hosted by the Fantasy Beast Hall.

"Hey, Belle," the crowd cheered. Rumor had it that Daoming Si Lian had the last laugh in the Lan family's battle for a son-in-law. "Got it. We'll give Sister-in-law a break then."

"Didn't you get the news that your sister-in-law is participating in the competition?" Some busybodies took advantage of the chaos to tease.

"Yeah, when I saw their name tags before, I thought they had the same name. I didn't expect it to be the Lan family."

"No, I don't understand. Daoming Si Lian isn't asking us to give his future wife a break, is he? Otherwise, why bring this up? I've never heard of Dark Night Orchid. The other one without a mythical beast is the captain. Forgive my ignorance, but what's the strength of this team?"

There was constant whispering in the lighthouse team, and Transy spread his hands to Daomingsi Lian, indicating that he couldn't do anything about it.

Letting go? Daoming Si Lian chuckled secretly. The Lan family hadn't appeared in the world for so long that most of the Fantasy Beast Warriors had already forgotten the fear of being dominated by the Dark Night Orchid.

He recalled the time he secretly saw a young girl practicing sword in the Lan family garden. The shadows of the roots of the dark night orchid were wrapped around her ankles, and the shadows of flowers in the sky bloomed and withered with the sword's momentum.

His face felt a little hot and he gripped the armrest of the seat tightly.

At this moment, the holographic projection in the center of the conference hall switched to the current scoreboard. Among the top five, Black Marsh College was prominently listed.

"This Black Swamp Academy is really strong. They were ranked 8th just two days ago, but now they've jumped to 4th."

During the conversation, the scoreboard flickered violently, and the nameplate of Zhen's Academy, which was originally ranked third, shattered and disappeared from the list.

Black Swamp Academy's points have moved up one place.

"What happened? Why did the nameplate break?"

"There won't be any casualties..." Someone made a bad guess.

"Even if the number of people is reduced, the points are still there. Unless..."

Unless all members lose the ability to participate in the subsequent competition and withdraw from the ladder competition.

"Cut their footage!"

The holographic projection instantly transformed into a hunting image of Black Marsh, and the orange-red flames engulfed the entire forest, burning the players from other academies who did not have time to evacuate.

"Burning students from other colleges on fire! ...The referees didn't even call that a violation?"

"It's not in the rules that we can't attack each other."

Yes, in the early stages of the competition, contestants generally didn't attack each other. This was because they realized that only by hunting phantom beasts at optimal efficiency could they maximize their points. Attacking opponents not only didn't add points, wasted time, and could potentially lead to elimination. Therefore, everyone usually tacitly divided the hunting areas and didn't interfere with each other.

"They are so efficient with fire that they don't mind wasting a little time."

"Besides, they have already wiped out all the mythical beasts in their territory. It's impossible for them not to attack outside."

"But this is too dangerous... What if someone gets killed? Even if it's just an online virtual match, such a fatal injury would have an impact on people's mental state. Can't the rules of the competition be adjusted temporarily?"

No one answered the question and the fire continued to spread.

The firelight danced in Alena's pupils, much like the grand sacrificial bonfires lit in their tribe.

The corners of her mouth slowly stretched into an almost animalistic smile.

"Burn...burn this world, along with those high-ranking rule makers, to ashes!"