75 Chapter 75: Favoritism (1/2)
As the student with the best overall performance (this did not take into account combat ranking, sadly, but also included academic performance, leadership skills and society activities), Alicia had been chosen to be the captain for this year's team. Consequently, she now possessed the authority to recommend one person to the list.
But right now she was using this very precious opportunity to recommend me, of all people.
Naturally, everyone was surprised.
”Are you serious?” Lin Zhan Long asked, his jaw dropping. ”You're recommending Richard Huang of all people? Why?”
”Why not?” Alicia shrugged. ”You've all seen what he can do. Fluke or not, he did defeat all of Crowley's Grand Arcane Academy's representatives by himself. If we can build upon his potential, there's no telling what he can achieve. Furthermore, this year's tournament has a big team-based component, so don't you think it'll be more advantageous to add a summoner?”
Summoners were usually highly sought after in team-based events, such as missions. It was just that the academy focused too much on combat rankings, so summoners had become an unpopular role. It wasn't that people looked down on summoners, but they were just disadvantaged when it came to ranking matches.
But for team-based events such as team matches or missions, summoners were more highly sought after. Unfortunately, very few students participated on missions because of the risk involved. Normally I wouldn't, but I only went for them because Ultimate Outcast Society needed the prestige points. For societies such as Holy Saints and the bigger ones, they would eschew missions and focus on improving their strength for ranking matches.
It was a pretty stupid system, if you ask me. I mean, we were graduating from high school to attend combat magic universities, and would eventually join military or mercenary organizations that mostly dealt with monsters and Emergence events. So to be honest, team-based skills and teamwork should be more practical. Unfortunately, the higher-ups focused more on individual rankings and results than team-based experience.
I guess every era had its stupid things. During my time it was academic results, where people only cared about your examination results and theoretical knowledge instead of actual technical skills and practical application. Even engineering courses or science majors had to take theoretical exams and pass them instead of practical skills. This wasn't to say theory was important – of course you need a good theoretical foundation or there would be nothing for you to apply. Even then, there was criticism back then about rote learning and overemphasis on paper results, which ignored the fact all the students were all good at different things. Some specialized in sports, some in doing things with their hands, and some at reading. Yet only those who could study benefited from the rigid system.
Similarly, the same thing was happening right now. Of course, it would be important for someone to possess individual fighting skills as a solid foundation for team combat, but in the end different mages specialized in different kinds of magic. The system only allowed for one type of magic to benefit, which was why summoning ended up neglected. Even so, those who had participated in missions could attest to how powerful summoners were in team combat.
Evidently, Lin Zhan Long had never participated in a mission, or at least one with a summoner.
”Impossible,” he sneered, glaring at me hatefully. ”It would be a waste to give one of the positions to trash like him.”
”Vice-president Lin Zhan Long, this is not for you to decide,” Alicia said calmly before Troy or my fellow Ultimate Outcast members could jump in. Even Elliot, Nicholas, Jin Hao, Aoi and the Black Roses who assisted me during our previous mission were approaching, their gazes striking a stunned Lin Zhan Long.
”I'm all for it,” Troy declared.
”Me too,” Elliot added.
”I can vouch for him,” Nicholas agreed.
”Thank you.” Alicia smiled at her fellow Black Roses for support. Harvey and the other juniors were staring at me, dumbstruck, and wondering since when I built such a rapport with the Black Roses. I mentally braced myself for a bunch of questions later.
”President Alicia, I don't care if you're the daughter of the academy director, but you have no right to do whatever you want!” Lin Zhan Long growled.
”Lin Zhan Long, how dare you. Apologize to Alicia immediately.”
A stern but gentle voice floated over the grand hall. Lin Zhan Long jolted upright, and even though he grimaced reluctantly, he bowed his head.
”Sorry,” he told Alicia through gritted teeth.
”I'm sorry about that, Alicia.” Harrison Reed also lowered his head. ”Lin Zhan Long has always been rude and stubborn, but he really has the best intentions. He's probably thinking about the interschool tournament. If we don't get a good rank this year, we're in trouble.”
”That's right!” Lin Zhan Long nodded fervently.
”However…” Harrison stopped and smiled at me. ”I approve of your decision. I think Richard will be able to contribute greatly in the team component.”
Lin Zhan Long paled and shut up.
”I've seen his matches…I can't say I'm impressed with his individual matches, and there are certainly a lot more students who are better than him in that aspect. However, as you said, there is a team-based component this year.” Harrison glanced at Elliot and the others, recognition flashing in his eyes. ”I've seen the mission reports where he's involved, and his performance against monsters is where I am truly impressed.” He smiled at the Black Roses. ”You guys were pretty lucky that he was around to help.”
”Richard definitely saved us,” Elliot agreed.
”That last mission too.” Jin Hao was nodding. ”If we can delay the enemy long enough for him to summon his soul beasts, then it'll be our victory.”
”Of course…” Harrison nodded, but he then frowned thoughtfully. ”…if the enemy allows you to.”
”What do you mean?” Nicholas asked, noticing the change in tone. Harrison spread both his hands.
”Well, think about it. Including a summoner in the team…wouldn't it make our strategy too obvious? Our opponents would be sure to find a counter to it. The moment they come up with a way to deny Richard his summoning, and take him out…wouldn't it be to the team's disadvantage? He would become…forgive me, dead weight.”
Everyone fell silent, unable to refute his logic. Certainly, Harrison had an excellent point. The strategy definitely would become too obvious and any competent opponent would certainly take me out at any cost before I can bring in my big guns.
Wow, what a formidable guy. I wasn't sure if I was being paranoid, but he essentially got everyone on his side by initially agreeing with Alicia to show that he wasn't petty or narrow-minded, and then subtly tore apart her decision by pointing out a major flaw in a polite manner that left no room for resentment or complaint. He was pretty mature and reasonable and even I couldn't find any way to refute him.
However…
”…isn't that the same for anyone?” Harvey asked, his brow furrowed into a frown. Everyone turned to stare at him, and he shrugged. ”I mean, no matter who's in the team, you'll have an ace. And the opponent will come up with counterstrategies against the ace. Actually, before the match they would do a lot of research on every representative and come up with counters against them. So it's not as if Vice-President Richard is the only one with that problem.”
”There's a huge difference between building your team around one person, and building a team around five flexible, competent members,” Harrison replied patiently.
”But why build the team around Vice-President Richard? You can still have five flexible and competent members – it's not as if the vice-president can't fend for himself. His magic recently has been pretty flexible – have you seen the stuff he summoned?”
As expected of my number one fan. Harvey knew more about me than I did about myself. I felt a little embarrassed.
”He's right,” Elliot spoke up. ”The previous mission was one thing, but the one before that, he basically single-handedly saved us from a pack of Lycanthropes with minimal support.”
”Richard also figured out how to summon weapons to buy himself time, so even if we don't build a strategy around protecting him so that he can summon his big guys, he'll still be fine on his own.” Nicholas nodded in agreement.
”That's right…I would argue that Richard is the most flexible mage out of all of us.” Jin Hao also added his input.
”I personally witnessed his summoning magic during a mission, I can vouch for him.”
Alicia refused to back down. Harrison continued to smile, and he conceded with a nod, but I sensed that he wasn't going to let the argument end there.
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Before he could open his mouth for another rebuttal, however, loud laughter cut him off.
”Ha ha ha ha! I've forgotten how it is like to be so young and hot-blooded!”
A familiar figure was descending the stairs, one of his hands raised in a friendly wave. Alicia blanched when she saw him.
”Brother Hai!”
All the girls were immediately swooning and gazing at Feng Hai when he appeared. Unlike the last time I saw him, Feng Hai was dressed in a white suit with a purple shirt this time, a golden tie that had been loosened around his collar. Just like how all the guys were enamored with the goddess Alicia earlier when she showed up, all the girls were falling for Feng Hai's gruff appearance. Even though he graduated long ago, he was still only a few years older than us. Less than ten years, if I wasn't mistaken. Still young enough to be the object of desire for so many girls.
I noticed that Alicia was also gazing at him, somewhat infatuated. She shook her head and snapped out of it, though.
”You're late!”