Chapter 126: Gravitational Space, Free-For-All Arena Battle
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The quadrennial inter-academy exchange competition was a large event that shook the entire Dragon God Empire. Innumerable academies, geniuses, and experts took part in it, while innumerable nobles, vendors, and commoners were attracted to it.
The amount of attention it received far exceeded that of the World Cup on Earth. One could tell a thing or two about this from just the qualifying round today.
The place was swamped with a sea of people, the spectacle magnificent and unprecedented. Even a spectator fee as high as 2,000 gold coins couldn’t stop the passionate crowd.
“2,000 gold coins per person! Aren’t they going to earn quite a few hundred million after a day’s work?”
Meng Lei shook his head repeatedly. He had only managed to earn a few billion gold coins after fighting so desperately, yet Douglas Magic Academy had it so easy, earning a few hundred million gold coins just by doing nothing?
“Comparing myself to others only creates unwanted frustrations, indeed.”
Then, after bidding farewell to Fatty Hart and Daniel, Meng Lei headed toward the passageway exclusive to the contestants’ use.
Compared to the massive horde of spectators, there were a much smaller number of contestants. Meng Lei entered the Douglas Magic Academy and arrived at the registration area.
There were a fair number of contestants waiting in line to register for the competition, but a large majority of them were big, burly, and muscular Warriors.
In comparison, there were much fewer Magicians. They didn’t make up even 10% of the Warriors’ numbers—no, not even 5%.
“Hello. Please present your magic badge.”
“Here you go.” Meng Lei passed his magic badge to them.
The student in charge of registration received the badge from him, placed it on a magic device similar to a ”card reader”, and swiped the badge lightly on it. A couple of beeps later, Meng Lei’s identity data was displayed.
A magic badge was similar to the student ID and citizen ID on Earth, and contained within was all of the badge owner’s identity data, such as their name, age, academy...
“Meng Lei, 16 years old, Fire... Eh? You’re Meng Lei!?”
The student in charge of registration let out an exclamation and stared at Meng Lei in pleasant surprise. Those white-hot, blazing eyes of his were as though he had just seen his idol, and his excitement and fervency were visibly obvious.
His exclamation was rather loud, causing all the contestants waiting in line for registration to look over, and their eyes fell on Meng Lei as one.
“Do you know me?” Meng Lei was a little taken aback.
“I do, I do!” The student nodded incessantly; his speech already somewhat incoherent. “Who doesn’t know of Meng Lei in this whole capital city? You’re the youngest Ninth-Grade Great Magician ever in Fire Dragon Kingdom’s history, and you’re also the hero that drove back the ant tide! How can I possibly not know of you?”
“Alright, the news does spread pretty fast,” Meng Lei replied with a smile.
“So that’s Meng Lei? He’s so young!”
“I didn’t expect even Meng Lei to be here. I hope I don’t run into him during the qualifying round. Otherwise, I’ll be out of luck!”
“Who’s Meng Lei? Is he very impressive?”
“What the heck! You don’t even know who Meng Lei is...”
The contestants waiting for registration started to whisper among themselves as they gesticulated at him.
Meng Lei was undoubtedly the person basking in the biggest limelight in the capital city during this recent time. He had become a Ninth-Grade Great Magician before 16 years of age and had even driven back the ant tide all by himself. Just how astonishingly talented was he?
Because of this, he had also become known as the youngest Ninth-Grade Great Magician with the fastest cultivation speed and shortest cultivation period ever in Fire Dragon Kingdom’s history.
How high of a glory was it to own three different records?
For a moment there, all the contestants looked at Meng Lei with very complex emotions in their eyes. Some had grave expressions on their faces, some scoffed contemptuously, some were filled with envy, and some brimmed with the will to fight...
Meng Lei! He would be a tough enemy for sure!
Meng Lei was surprisingly calm and collected despite being stared at by so many people, however. Had it been back when he had first arrived in Heaven’s Vault Continent, he might have felt uncomfortable, perhaps even restless and uneasy, but now... It was no different from a breeze caressing his face, and he was unfazed!
“The registration is complete, Meng Lei!”
“Thanks!”
Meng Lei then left the registration area. He followed the signs and landmarks the whole way and came to the front of a tall, straight, and grand palace.
The palace had two entrances, one on the left and one on the right.
In the middle stood a signboard that read, “Warriors are to enter by the left entrance while Magicians are to enter by the right entrance. Herein lies the first round of elimination where basic battle capabilities will be evaluated.
“Only experts that are Seventh-Grade and above are allowed to pass. Those below Seventh-Grade... Proceed with caution! Otherwise, your lives may be in jeopardy!”
“Seventh-Grade? Your lives may be in jeopardy?”
Meng Lei raised his eyebrow, a little surprised.
Although the Seventh-Grade level didn’t seem that powerful, it was already no longer a level that current students could attain. Just this round alone would eliminate almost all of the current students... With the exception of geniuses like him, of course.
“Seventh-Grade at the minimum!”
Several contestants had rather awkward looks on their faces. Right at that moment, someone suddenly charged out of the left entrance.
It was as though the person had been thrown out. He fell onto his bottom on the floor, his chest heaving up and down intensely as he panted heavily and gulped for air.
Perspiration drenched his whole body, and he couldn’t look any more pathetic.
“What’s going on?”
“He couldn’t pass?”
The contestants speculated as they stared at him. A muscular man holding a giant axe even stepped forward and asked in concern, “Old bro, what happened to you? Why are you in such a state?”
The man let out a wry laugh, and then he said with lingering fear, “A gravitational space! It’s a gravitational space inside! Those that aren’t strong enough do proceed with caution!”
“A gravitational space?”
Everyone’s countenances changed a little.
“After I entered, the deeper I went, the stronger the gravitational pull became. By the time I was halfway through, my whole body felt oddly and incredibly heavy. Even my bones were close to breaking from the force. Left with no other choice, I could only retreat back out here!”
“Is it that scary?!”
The muscular man with the giant axe asked, “Old bro, how strong are you?”
“High-level Sixth-Grade!”
“A high-level Sixth-Grader could only reach the halfway mark?”
Upon hearing what he said, the contestants started to get cold feet. The man had only managed to reach the halfway mark, and many of them weren’t that much stronger than him...
“A gravitational space...”
Meng Lei suddenly realized something, and he remarked, “So this round really is evaluating one’s basic battle capabilities.”
What was a Warrior’s basic foundation? Their physical body constitution, of course!
By using gravitational pull as a means of evaluation, the ones with a strong body would pass while the ones with a weak body would be eliminated.
This was an evaluation that tested one’s absolute strength. There was no way to muddle through it at all.
I’ve never experienced a gravitational space before, though!
Meng Lei’s eyes swiveled around, and he entered the entrance on the left.
“Uh...”
“Isn’t he a Magician? Why did he go through the Warriors’ entrance?”
Meng Lei’s choice filled the contestants, who constantly had their eyes on him, with utter confusion. Why was a Magician like him going through the Warriors’ entrance instead of the Magicians’? What the heck was he trying to do?!
The so-called gravitational space looked like an enclosed corridor, yet also like a tunnel. Gravitational magic circles were engraved on the floor, walls, and ceiling, and they constantly exerted a gravitational pull.
Meng Lei sensed his body becoming heavy and weighted down after he entered the place, as if invisible shackles had been placed on him—it was the gravitational pull!
A gravitational pull that reached every nook and cranny!
However, this bit of gravitational pull was nothing to Meng Lei, of course. He sauntered about leisurely as if he was taking a stroll and advanced forward.
Then, completely unaffected, he walked out of the gravitational space in one go and passed the so-called elimination round.
Right after that, he arrived at an arena-like area. In front of him was a fighting ring several meters above the ground, and around it were rows and rows of spectators.
This scene looked awfully familiar to the eye—this was exactly what it looked like back when he had been participating in the Flame Arena battles!
“Why am I all the way here at an arena?”
Meng Lei was rather bewildered.
The audience in the benches weren’t, however. They looked at Meng Lei at once, their eyes twinkling with excitement and anticipation.
“The 100th one is here!”
“Haha! The 100th one is here!”
“We’ve finally reached 100 people now. Hurry and start the competition!”
“What’s going on?” Meng Lei found himself rather baffled. “What do they mean by the 100th one?”
“That contestant over there!”
Just as Meng Lei was in total confusion, a staff member ran over quickly and said, “Sir, you’re the 100th contestant to pass the elimination round. Please, go up the fighting ring immediately and get ready for the arena battle that’ll be starting right away...”
It was only when he heard the staff member’s explanation that Meng Lei finally understood what was going on.
What came after the elimination round was the arena battle. However, the arena battle wasn’t a one-on-one showdown but a 100-man free-for-all arena battle!
It was an intense free-for-all close-quarters battle with 100 contestants in a group and would go on until only ten people remained in the arena.
These ten people would then enter the next round.
Meng Lei was unfortunately the 100th person to pass the elimination round. Therefore, he needed to take part in the free-for-all battle right away without being given even a bit of time to rest.
“A free-for-all arena battle? Who came up with the goddamn idea?”
Meng Lei was rendered rather speechless, though he went up the battle arena nonetheless. Meng Lei sensed the other 99 contestants’ hostile gazes in an instant.
A 100-man free-for-all that would leave behind only ten people in the end. Everyone was an enemy!
“Dear guests and audience! Good morning, everyone! Welcome to the qualifying round of this year’s inter-academy exchange competition! I am your host for today, Jim!”
A middle-aged Dragon Person dressed in a magic robe went up the arena and began a short and concise but passionate and fervent pre-competition speech.
He then went on to explain the free-for-all’s rules—though there weren’t actually any, despite calling it so. There was only one key point—”Do everything you can to stay in the arena!”
Be it being a coward and staying low-profile or crushing others in a dominating show of power, as long as they could stay in the arena, then victory would be theirs!
A competition mechanism like this was evidently unfair, especially toward contestants that were the last to pass the basic evaluation like Meng Lei.
Additionally, it was full of loopholes. Things like acquaintances grouping together, weaker contestants teaming up, experts being ganged up upon, and so on... Various situations like these could happen, and it highly likely would lead to a situation where the ones remaining on the arena in the end wouldn’t necessarily be the strongest.
There was nothing to be done about this, however—these were the rules.
In this clearly-hierarchic society that revered the strong, the concept of fairness had never once existed.
“I hereby declare that the first arena battle of the qualifying round officially starts now!”
Boom!
The moment the host finished speaking, the entire venue instantly quietened, and innumerable pairs of eyes flicked toward the arena.
The arena that had originally been quiet... erupted into a mad frenzy!
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