Chapter 1076: Attitude of the Mighty
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The same went for Dina. He could feel the calm in Wang Zheng, something that only the strong were capable of. Besides, he did feel a strange sense of kinship with Wang Zheng. Such a situation was rare. Among humans, they only felt it with Aslan’s Princess Aina. Of course, Her Highness had felt the radiance from the temple and therefore was different.
The Atlanteans’ proactive greeting had given much pressure to the teams, muttering among themselves. They felt like Saruman Snake had emerged from some fissure in the rock. They had not reached where they were in the span of a day.
At least Team Leader Wang Zheng was like that.
How the rest of the team was, Wang Zheng was disinclined to say. There were too many factors at play. If it were single challenge, at this level, there was not much that could stop him in this hall.
This was not arrogance, but confidence accumulated through numerous battles. If he had no confidence after surviving so many close shaves with death, then he was indeed not worthy of mention.
The reason why Earth, and even the Solar System, was unable to keep up with the pace of the great stellar universe was because a moderate path was not suited to the wild and frenzied pace.
Closely following, Aslan’s leader, Lin Feng, brought the Sword Shield Rose Rider battle team in. This captain was composed. He did not much heed those around him. Given his age and maturity, he could not be like a child. SIG’s level was considered low to him. He did not even feel like showing off.
Seeing the Saruman Snake battle team seated smack in the center, he did not comment, but sat down on one side.
Those who had expected the Sword Shield Rose battle team to start something were disappointed.
“Damn, I thought Aslan would make them give up those seats.”
“You daft? This is Aslan’s home ground. They’re above such a dishonorable thing, it’s too shallow.”
“This is so boring. I miss that year’s IG when things were heated.”
“It was all spoiled kids then. It would be silly to quarrel now.”
Many of the major teams continued to stream in. Each strong team’s entrance would be greeted by turned heads and stares, as though it was an introduction before the main competition.
When the first row was filled, the venue inexplicably quietened. The awesome aura that the 10 seeded teams emanated was filled with a spiritual confidence. These 10 teams evidently needed to prove they were the best through battle, but had no need to prove they were in the top 10.
Arbiter’s Soulless battle team leader, Aragorn, appeared unremarkable, with no special features. The entire Zero Degrees battle team was bland and boring. Even at such a relaxed situation, they all looked cut from the same cloth.
The Child of Light battle team indeed “gleamed”. They were sparkling too much. The Mayans’ recent international performance was commendable.
The Zero Degrees battle team from Hail Cloud Alliance. Ai Zhengyang’s countenance did have some resemblance to Ai Xiaolu, but these similar-looking cousins’ relationship was not that close.
The Darkness Empire’s Dark Knight battle team looked mature. They were slightly older in years. Leader González had begun to build a name for himself in the military world. It looked like the Darkness Empire had ambitions as well.
Here, you could see how foundationally solid the teams were. Those like the Darkness Empire, Versailles Empire, Lya Sphinx had teams with older members. Everyone knew that before the age of 30, the older the stronger. They were headed for the peak, and were not on the decline.
But the strongest countries rarely wasted their energy worrying about these competitions, which again demonstrated their foundation.
On a closer look, Saruman Snake’s average age was the lowest out of the top 10.
Because they had no overage or close-to-overage members. All four Elite Academy X teams were the same, at about 20 years old, give or take one or two years. Everything else aside, Elite Academy X was ahead of other schools in this regard.
It could be a point of discussion before the competition. On the battlefield, strength spoke loudest; otherwise, one would just be a braggart.
When all the members were present, Si Jiali walked up. As the student council chairperson of Aslan’s Royal College, she was also the one who would receive all the attention. One has to know that the student council chairperson would without exception become a bridge in Aslan, although she might not seem so now.
“Greetings, everyone. I am Si Jiali, and I welcome all you military school elites from all over the universe to this iteration of SIG, organized by Aslan. Actually, I’ve been observing all of you sneakily from the start. There are a lot of hunks. Clearly, you could earn a living with your faces alone, but you decided to conquer the world instead,” Si Jiali said. Immediately, there was laughter. The razor-sharp atmosphere in the room softened in a flash.
In such a gathering of might, the atmosphere was extremely stiff. But it did not have to be this way, since the competition had not even started yet.
Of course, Si Jiali also knew that this was not her stage, and she did not prolong the issue. “And now please welcome General Akerlof from the Milky Way Alliance Command Division to introduce the competition proceedings in detail.”
Lieutenant General Akerlof walked to the middle of the podium and surveyed them. The general’s expression was more solemn, and he had no intention of engaging in banter. “The preliminaries will be divided into five groups and carried out simultaneously. The groupings and matchups will be sent out to your Skylinks. Each group will have two seeded teams. The preliminaries are in an elimination format. The loser will be directly eliminated. Each of your teams carry with you the hopes of your country and school. I hope that everyone can do their best and have no regrets.”
Lieutenant General Akerlof said no more. The entire process had been brief, with no mention of what was to come. It meant that if you could not pass the preliminaries, you could arrange passage back. The first phase was a filter, and very important to each team and individual.
What remained was for Si Jiali to introduce the competition period. The Royal College’s reception for them, as well as the way to use the public facilities. Of course, a copy would be disseminated through the Skylink, but as the host, the Royal College would still give their best.
But a majority of the members were ignoring all this, because everyone was caught up with the groupings. Of course, the important thing was their first opponent.
Because there were many teams in the preliminaries, a simulated environment was used. Another reason was that the ability gap might be too fearsome in the preliminary stages, and unnecessary deaths could be avoided.
In the past, another reason SIG had no real value was because ability did not develop uniformly. This period was when one’s ability underwent changes.
Although the 10 seeded teams were strong, none of the top 50 teams were no easy meat. Although the Asura battle team was not in the top 10, there were two Earth-rank warriors there – who would dare to call them weak?
And Arbiter, Manalasuo, and other teams from superpower countries. Matching against them would be one’s luck.
It also depended on each team’s state of mind. Those with a good attitude treated it as a learning experience. Facing against strong teams was not a bad experience, and to be able to stand on the same stage as them was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Those with a sour attitudes went without saying. Before too long, everyone’s Skylinks were going off. The groupings were secondary. The key was the first match up, which was important to every team.
After it was over, some were celebrating, while others were commiserating.
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