Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Translated by XephiZ
Edited by Aelryinth
The Nomination Preliminaries!
Pearl Institute had ten nominations in total. Those who were nominated still needed to go through another two rounds of competition before deciding the candidates.
The rules of the Nomination Preliminaries were fairly simple: it would simply gather those in the top twenty in every Element School to duel with one another.
Most interestingly, the duel was not only one versus one, but four versus four, with randomly assigned teams.
Each student who was participating in the Nomination Preliminaries would team up with three other participants temporarily and fight against three other teams.
Although the outcome of the battle would affect their chance of being selected, losing the battle did not mean all hope was lost.
The overall rankings inside the Institute was not decided through battles between the different Elements, since one Element would be more effective against some Elements, and ineffective or neutral against the others. Everyone in the Institute was an Intermediate Magician, so they would only have two Elements at most. Those with only defensive or healing Elements would never be able to climb the rankings, yet those Magicians were always the most important persons in a team…
As a result, the Institute had made the Nomination Preliminaries a team battle instead. Every duel would have three referees, and each of them had eight points to spare. Regardless of the outcome of the battle, those who performed better would be given more points.
The participants with the highest points would be nominated, and the higher-ups would decide the final ten nominations.
Nominations simply meant the candidate had earned a vote.
Only those with four votes were able to represent the country in the World College Tournament. As for the source of the other three votes, it was a lot more complicated. They could come through the support from renowned families, Magic Associations, or the military …it basically depended on the student’s capability and reputation!
Mo Fan already had three votes, yet those were more like tokens of appreciation, and he was quite lucky to get them, too…
Therefore, it was important for him to earn the nomination, too!
He was extremely excited when he learned about the structure of the tournament. A one-on-one battle was fun, but it basically came down to who had the higher cultivation and equipment most of the time.
A group battle was more reliant on the skills of the participants, how to utilize their Magic perfectly, which could even grant them a chance to turn the tables!
Just like how he had worked together with Zhang Xiaohou and Zhao Manyan at the Drifting Sand River, this felt extremely good!
The World College Tournament was obviously based on teamwork, too, hence the preliminaries would also be testing the participants’ abilities when working in a team.
——
Ai Tutu had become Mo Fan’s little tail. The girl was a fun seeker, and assumed that she would always find something interesting when following Mo Fan around, hence she energetically signed up for the Nomination Preliminaries on Mo Fan’s behalf and helped him take the draw, too…
Mo Fan spent most of his time cultivating. His ears were shut off from matters outside of the window, yet he would still hear about all sorts of nonsense from Ai Tutu’s mouth that never stopped talking, including how the granddaughter of the school’s guard had fallen in love with some renowned family’s Young Master…
Ai Tutu was dying from boredom, so she was fairly passionate about signing Mo Fan up for the Nomination Preliminaries.
After finishing the draw, she quickly visited the Institute’s forum.
Once the draw was done, most participants would reveal their numbers on the forum, and would organize a meet-up fairly quickly just to learn what Elements each teammate had and practice together if needed.
Ai Tutu had made herself Mo Fan’s secretary. When she saw someone assembling those with the same number, she quickly put on some makeup and went to meet the rest of the team.
Mo Fan’s teammates had gathered at the field. When Ai Tutu arrived in her slightly exposed outfit, the other three had long been waiting for her.
“Is your team number eleven?” said a male student among the three.
“Ah, I know you, you’re the handsome leader of the Lightning School, Gu Jian!” Ai Tutu’s eyes flickered when she took a closer look at the student.
The guy called Gu Jian wore a stiff expression as he glanced at Ai Tutu.
Beautiful women, busty women, Gu Jian had seen lots of them. He had no interest in women for the time being…oh, it’s only because his mind was occupied with thoughts of securing the nomination. Even when a woman was lying naked in his bed, he had promised himself that he would focus on cultivating instead!
Gu Jian did not have a good first impression of Ai Tutu, as he was worried that she was a vase. It was not ideal to lose their first duel. Even though the outcome did not matter, only by winning would he be able to showcase his exceptionalness!
{TL Note: A vase here means someone who’s completely useless, and can only be used as decoration}
“Since everyone’s here, let’s first talk about the Elements we have,” said Gu Jian to the others like a captain.
“Err…” Ai Tutu was only here on behalf of Mo Fan, who had gone to the Three Step Tower to cultivate. She definitely needed to explain that to the team.
Gu Jian immediately frowned and said, “Are you actually one of team eleven? Don’t waste our time here, we still need to practice.”
“…err…yeah, yeah I am,” said Ai Tutu in a panic.
Ai Tutu had long heard Gu Jian’s famous name. The reason was that her aunt had asked her to meet the son from Gu Family during the Lunar New Year…
The meeting was basically a blind date.
It was very common between renowned families, since Ai Tutu was already at an age suitable for marriage. She was not passionate with her cultivation, and was merely wasting her time fooling around. Her family had decided to let her marry someone instead, so she could have a change of heart.
Unfortunately, this Gu Jian was the one that her family was fond of. Ai Tutu had never thought Mo Fan would be grouped with the man who might be her fiancée in the near future.
The man was extremely handsome and talented, one of the top students in the Lightning School. He did meet most of Ai Tutu’s requirements. On second thought, Ai Tutu decided not to tell them she was only here on behalf of someone yet. She wanted to observe Gu Jian more with the opportunity given to her.
“So what Elements do you have?” asked Gu Jian.
“My primary Element is Plant, and my secondary Element is Light,” answered Ai Tutu.
“Oh, not bad, since our team doesn’t need more offensive Magic,” Gu Jian’s expression improved slightly.
“Alright, let’s start the training, it’s better to be prepared.”
“Good, let’s work together as a team!” Ai Tutu said with a blossoming smile.
——
Mo Fan who was currently cultivating in the Three Step Tower never thought Ai Tutu would go so far…
Even after Mo Fan left the Three Step Tower, Ai Tutu still did not tell Mo Fan about the tournament. Little did he know, Ai Tutu had already impersonated him just so she could spend some time with the man she was interested in!
Or more precisely, Mo Fan should have expected things to go wrong when he asked Ai Tutu, whose brain was full of papaya, to help him…
Not only was Ai Tutu’s brain inversely proportional to the size of her breast, there was nothing she would not do…
——
“Swift Star Wolf, why are you running away, where’s your savagery as a wolf?”
“Awoooo~!” Swift Star Wolf ran to the corner of the training ground, fighting a strong urge to burst into tears. It was the only place not covered in flames!
The entire place was set aflame. A little girl with an appearance like a porcelain doll floated above the fierce flames, her petite figure totally made of fire. She was laughing pleasantly, yet the sound of it was like a signal of destruction for the Swift Star Wolf!
“Swift Star Wolf, fight like a man, go… ah, ah, little Flame Belle, go burn your Uncle Wolf, why are you burning your father instead!…”
“Stop, stop, little Flame Belle, it’s your fight, not mine, stop possessing my body. Holy shit, Swift Star Wolf, come back here, I’m not going to fight you when she possesses me, why are you running… Dimensional Summoning, humph, where do you think you’re running to!?…”