Vol 4 Chapter 2 (1/2)

Arena, Ruling Saint, Rift

“Students, the Spirit Summoning Ceremony successfully concluded five days ago.  Over these five days, if you wish to know if you have managed to build a strong bond with your spirits, it will be dependent on the result of today’s battle.  The compet.i.tion today will take place in four separate areas, the first area is for first year students, the second area is for second year students, the third is for third year students, and the fourth area is for battles with no grade restrictions.  The top ten rankers from each of the the first three areas will have the chance to partic.i.p.ate in the fourth area.  Now, I want to remind all of you first year students here, do not ever think that you cannot get the upper hand against your seniors.  Even if your ranks may be lower than theirs, with good rapport with your spirits and the right conditions, you definitely have a chance to win against them, so…”

On the platform of the a.s.sembly area, a.s.sistant Yonechi was still giving her speech.  At this very moment, the a.s.sembly area was packed with the students of Pillar Nofu Academy; furthermore, seats all around were also being occupied by big-shots…  The scene was very spectacular.

The style of this compet.i.tion is a single elimination battle, compet.i.tors will be eliminated as soon as they lose once.  Although it is unfair to some, it can’t be helped – after all, the number of students was just too large.  Each grade has twelve cla.s.ses and each cla.s.s has an average of sixty students, then the whole school housed an estimated total of two thousand one hundred and sixty students.

If someone happens to be eliminated due to a mistake, they need not brood over it.  Even though the compet.i.tion affects the rankings among the students, so long as a student can join a team of his or her own choosing, then the ranking of the individual student holds little importance; what matters most is the ranking of the team.

A good team can help a student win status within the school.  Those teams in the top rankings will have the chance to take up missions.  These missions include driving off demons, hunting, or killing them, etc.  Rewards will be given for successfully completing missions and the amount of reward varies depending on the mission’s difficulty level.

“…With that said, students, now is the time to bring out your best, to face what’s to come in today’s compet.i.tion!”

“YEAH!!!”  The whole school responded with a unified roar, the roar echoed in the big a.s.sembly area, adding even more vigor, so much so that even students such as myself who are not competing could also feel their blood boiling.

———————— Arena

The school has more than ten arenas that are split for team battles and single battles.  The arena stage for singles battles is about 200 square meters.  The place is equipped with simulation technology or something similar, I can’t really remember.  In short, it is just an empty flat area normally, but when there’s a compet.i.tion, the simulation technology or whatever will be activated and the arena will turn into snow field, volcanic crater, forest, swamp and many other settings of nature.  As for the settings for a match, it can be decided upon by both parties of the match.  However, so as not to let the opponent have the upper hand, most compet.i.tors choose to randomize it and let fate decides.

I sat at the first area that had hardly any spectators, near the arena for the first year students, yawning from boredom…  Because I did not partic.i.p.ate in the compet.i.tion, I naturally didn’t go for the preliminary battle which was held at the mock battle room…  You can only partic.i.p.ate in the actual battle in front of all the students if you win in the preliminaries.  The number of students who can be eligible for it is around a hundred or so.

“Yawnnn~~”  I let out another yawn, then I laid down on the spectator bench comfortably and closed my eyes.

When it’s Kitas.h.i.+ma’s turn in the compet.i.tion, I have to closely observe his every movement and find out his battle style.  Only when I know my enemy and myself do I have an increased chance of beating him.

…

“What are you doing here?”  An elderly voice, that was still full of vigor and spirit, rang out next to me.

I opened my eyes and vaguely saw a white-haired old man.  I scratched my head groggily and sat up, “It’s as you see, I was sleeping, yawn~”  I covered my mouth as I yawned.

“The preliminary is done?”

“I did not partic.i.p.ate.”

“Why not?”

“I do not have a spirit.”  Who is this old man?  Hmm?  Judging from the spiritual aura from his body…he’s a Ruling Saint!?  Isn’t that like half a step from achieving the highest rank of magician – Ruling G.o.d?  He is not some simple old man.

After the old man heard my response, he started to size me up intently, from head to toe, and toe to head, then he suddenly spoke, “No spirit?  En… indeed, your spiritual aura is weak…  Hmm?  …it’s weird…  This feeling… it feels like… like a dragon?”

Dragon??  When I heard what the old man said, my head immediately cleared up, my heart felt like something was gripping it.  This old man…  He saw through me?

“What are you saying, old man…  I don’t seem to understand.”  I tried my best to maintain a goofy smile and an expression of cluelessness.

“Strange… it’s really dragon energy… young man… could it be you…”  The old man expression became more and more imposing.  Has he really seen through me?  That doesn’t sound good…

I picked myself up, bowed in his direction, “I cannot comprehend anything you are saying, ah, I have to go back to my cla.s.sroom, goodbye, old man.”  As I said this, I started running towards the arena exit.

I ran and I ran and then a loud “Thump!”, all of a sudden, I felt like I b.u.mped into something and fell onto the floor…

“Ouch~  It hurts.”  I ma.s.saged my nose.

What the h.e.l.l was that?  I was this close to getting a broken nose.  I stood up, and reached out my hand in front of me… and indeed, there was am invisible barrier…  Is it the isolation barrier?  No, the isolation barrier has a distinct color and it isn’t invisible…  This must be the work of that geezer.

I turned around, with a look of helplessness, I asked, “May I ask what your intention is?  I only wish to go back to my cla.s.sroom.”

With his hands behind his back, the old man walked towards me while he smiled at me, “Young man, don’t be so tense… I won’t hurt you…  I only want to know where your dragon energy came from.  Could it be that you are a dragon descendant?”

“Dragon descendant?  I don’t know.  I don’t understand what you are trying to say.”  Dragon descendant?  Isn’t that a dragon slayer?  This old man actually knows about it?

“Hahaha, young man, stop lying to me.  Others may not notice, but I have some friends who are descendants of the dragons, so it is nothing unusual for me to be able to tell that you have dragon energy within your body.  I just want to enquire who your father is, and get acquainted, he may even be my old friend.”

This old man… actually acquainted himself with dragon descendants?  Judging by his spiritual energy, his status must be very high, so with him actually knowing some unusual people may not be all that that surprising.  In that case, so long as I don’t expose Freed and Yalide, it should be fine with me just responding to him casually.

“Eh…  Actually, I am not sure either.  As you can see, my spiritual aura is so weak, I am just your regular failure, how can I have the dragon energy that you mentioned?”

“Still not in the mood to talk about it?  Relax, I will not go back on my words, I definitely won’t hurt you.”

“I really don’t know.”  I gave him the look of complete cluelessness.

“You really don’t know?”  The old man was still suspicious.

“Really.”  I nodded with certainty.

“Hm… is that so… looks like it is a spiritual mutation… then never mind, come, sit down, let me tell you about the story concerning dragon descendants.”  As the old man spoke, he sat down on the spectator seats.

“I… am fine… my mother told me not to talk to strangers…”

“Hahaha~”  The old man laughed loudly, “Your mother said not to talk to strangers?  How old are you already?  Just come.  Sit down, take it as helping an old geezer pa.s.s his time, what do you think?”

“Ugh…okay.”  Since I can’t escape… might as well just listen to what he has to say.

So, I sat in a seat that was two seats away from him.

“What are you doing sitting so far away?  I am not a demon, I won’t eat you.  Besides, I am an old man already, I can’t speak that loudly when I talk.  Come, sit closer.”  The old man tapped on the seat next to him.

Sigh~  I quietly sighed to myself, looks like I get myself involved with a weird old man…

…

“Can I ask, what’s your father name?”

“Lin Fan.”

“Lin Fan… is that right?”  The old man’s eyes lit up with a streak of golden light, it looked like he did know my father.

“The son of Lin Fan… definitely has a chance to have a spiritual mutation…”  The old man nodded to himself, I was totally unable to understand what he was trying to bring across.

“You know my father?”  Although I already knew they were acquainted, I figured that it wouldn’t hurt to ask about it… maybe I could get a better understanding of my father.

“Yes, your father was a genius among geniuses!  At only 35 years old, he had already reached the rank of Battle Ancestor.  Do you know?  A normal battle technician can’t even reach that rank before 50, 60 years old… your father’s death… what a pity…”

“…”  So my father was actually an awesome person?  Then my uncle should be comparable to him.  Otherwise, he wouldn’t be so busy that he could hardly come home.

“When I first heard that Lin Fan’s son had very low spiritual power, I immediately thought that was impossible…”

So sorry, bookworm ‘Lin Xiang’ spiritual power was indeed low…

“…  After all, your father was such an awesome person, no matter what, the son he nurtured couldn’t be that bad…  This… you definitely have a spiritual mutation, what ought to be your spiritual energy has transformed into dragon energy…”

Actually… that is because Freed and Yalide are inside my body.

“…  Dragon descendants, simply put, are just people who can generate dragon energy; in their bodies, they possess something called dragon power.”  The old man beamed as he explained this to me, hoping that it would pique my interest… but sorry, I already knew all about this.

“Eh?  Weird, you don’t think this is amazing?”  He probably noticed my disinterest, the old man’s face showed suspicion.

“Ugh…  Wah!  So incredible.”

“What is the meaning of that?  Never mind, you are Lin Fan’s son, naturally, you wouldn’t be surprised by such a small matter.  Next, what I am going to say will definitely amaze you…”

He is not thinking of telling me about Dragon Roar, is he??

“…  Dragon descendants can release their body’s dragon energy explosively through their shout, and inflict damage on their enemy…”

Fine, it’s really about Dragon Roar… I will just act amazed: “What!? That powerful?”

Sigh… it’s such a pain to act amazed.