Chapter 136: The New Student Competition (1/2)

By the time Lu Yin arrived, several people had already arrived.

“Brother Lu,” Coco shouted excitedly. She was clearly happy to see Lu Yin again.

Lu Yin tousled her hair affectionately. “You must’ve improved a lot since the last time I saw you—you’re already a Melder! Do you want to spar with me?”

Coco stuck her tongue out before playfully replying, “Of course I don’t want to fight with you. Everyone’s heard about how you defeated the students from the various academies. You’re famous now.”

“Really?” Lu Yin blinked, slightly astonished. He hadn’t paid much attention to what other people thought of him since he already knew his reputation wasn’t good. To him, there was no reason to put himself in a bad mood.

Meanwhile, Zora was spinning her silver needles between her fingers nearby. Just the sight of the massive needles scared Lu Yin, and he suddenly remembered Coco’s innate gift. Could this be a specialty of Windrift Hall’s?

On the other side, Meng Yue stood to the side, all by himself. He had also become a Melder, and his palm now carried with it a yellow hue. It seemed that his strength had risen considerably. When Meng Yue noticed Lu Yin’s gaze, his provokingly clenched his fists.

A bit further away, Xia Luo was casually sitting beside the Trialmaster, as if the two of them were old friends.

Darkvoid sat alone in a corner, and his dark hair that seemed to absorb nearly all the light that ventured near it caught Lu Yin’s attention. Darkvoid was the most mysterious person amongst all the students, and he definitely had a powerful innate gift.

At that moment, Schutz exited the teleportation stone area as the Trialmaster announced, “Schutz: fifty two defeats and two hundred and thirty seven victories.”

Lu Yin was shocked. Schutz’s win rate had almost reached 80%. Not bad. Schutz’s win rate was comparable to Michelle’s from a month ago.

Meanwhile, Schutz’s eyes gleamed when he noticed Lu Yin, and he nodded to Lu Yin once before walking to the side, standing by himself. They were both from the Great Yu Empire, but they weren’t very familiar with each other. Lu Yin originally thought that Schutz would be discouraged after seeing the strength of the Innerverse powerhouses, but that didn’t seem to be the case, leaving Lu Yin surprised.

Coco leaned in towards Lu Yin and whispered, “That guy is completely crazy. He comes here every day to battle. Even the Trialmaster said that he is better suited to train through battles.”

Lu Yin nodded in understanding.

A while later, Silver appeared with a beaming smile and a foxy expression. Coco instinctively took a few steps back when she saw Silver—this guy frightened her. Lu Yin, on the other hand, acknowledged Silver with a simple nod.

Silver smiled. “Congratulations! You’ve become very famous recently.”

Silver added, “Not necessarily. You can probably attract the attention of certain people if you become famous enough.”

Lu Yin narrowed his eyes. Certain people? What people? The Neohuman Alliance? He couldn’t figure out Silver’s identity, but he was clearly related to the Neohuman Alliance even though he was clearly not a zombie. All Lu Yin was sure of was that he was a mysterious person. Also, Xia Luo seemed to completely despise Silver for some reason.

When Hui Daynight arrived, he glared at Lu Yin coldly before walking to his own corner.

Zhao Yilong soon appeared alongside the flash of a sword. He made a point to glare at Lu Yin before also quietly moving to the side to wait.

Lu Yin had a feeling that he might have become too famous, which was not a good thing as everyone seemed to treat him as a rival.

Everyone who had arrived at Astral-10 as a Sentinel had become a Melder, greatly increasing their strength. Lu Yin was very interested in seeing just how much they had improved.

Moments later, Michelle walked out of the teleportation device before taking a position near the rest of the students. She looked at Lu Yin with an expression as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she remained silent.

When Lu Yin saw Michelle, he suddenly remembered that he had seen her when the Sandmaster had taken him along to experience Extreme Flash. Michelle must have seen his silhouette at that time.

Big Pao and Little Pao also showed up, with the same cheerful mood as always day. “Who’s still missing?” Big Pao asked.

Lu Yin replied, “Lulu.”

Big Pao looked at his gadget before saying, “No matter. We’ll wait.”

In the other academies, every New Student Competition would have a large audience watching, and there was no way that the event would be delayed for any latecomers. However, since they were all in Astral-10, things were a bit more casual.

Lulu finally appeared an hour later, and her entire forehead was covered in sweat as she panted heavily.

Now that everyone was present, Big Pao led them to a grassy area quite far away from the teleportation stone. He smiled before saying, “Alright, now that everyone’s here, I hereby announce that the New Student Competition has officially started! Come on up. Everyone has to draw lots; number one will battle with number two, number three with number four, and so on and so forth. Those who win will continue to fight until the strongest student is determined.”

“Not only does the New Student Competition determine the rankings of the new students, but it is also a chance for you to show off your abilities to the mentors. If you are lucky enough, you might even catch a mentor’s interest and become their student. So, I suggest that you all take this very seriously. If you are chosen by a mentor, it can change your destiny!” Little Pao declared temptingly.

Everyone grew excited; even the weakest mentor in Astral-10 was a Hunter. Being personally guided by a Hunter powerhouse would definitely vastly improve their strength, which was precisely why all of these students had joined Astral-10 in the first place. With this incentive in place, they would all definitely give their all in this competition.

Lu Yin drew the number nine. He looked around, and his gaze settled onto Zora, who was holding the number ten; she would be his opponent. She saw the number nine in Lu Yin’s hands at the same time, and her face immediately sank.

She was an elite from Windrift Hall, had connections to the outside world, and was clearly familiar with Lu Yin’s reputation. This was why her expression had turned downcast. Lu Yin had even defeated the number two on the Blaze Realm Rankings. He was clearly a genius who could be considered powerful even among the other academies, not to mention Astral-10. This was going to be a difficult battle.

“Senior, is there only one chance in the competition? Are you eliminated once you lose?” Silver asked smilingly.

Little Pao answered, “Of course not. Those who are defeated will have one chance to challenge the winners.”