Chapter 9: Chapter 9

As the sun rose and the moon set, Anzelona welcomed yet another new day.

At Dreamscape Academy in Anzelona, Liushu, half-asleep, made his way into the classroom.

"Good morning, everyone. How many of you came to class this time?"

Liushu looked around at the number of people in the room.

There were about fifteen students present, just enough to fill half the class.

Mo Ying and Shuang Yun had arrived, but Xiya was missing.

Xiya was probably in another class. After all, Xiya was considered a student of the Magic Department, whereas Liushu knew nothing about magic.

"Teacher, you're ten minutes late,"

Luo Ji raised her hand and said.

"There are only fifty minutes in a class period, and you've already wasted one-fifth of it."

"No helping it, my alarm didn't go off last night. I still don't get how these phones work,"

"Besides, you little rascals only come to my classes to pass the time. It's not exactly a secret to anyone here."

The students burst into laughter.

"What class is today... Ah, yes, I have an announcement to make."

Liushu put down the book in his hand.

"You're about to graduate from first year and transfer to another campus. I'm sure most of you already know that we hold three Ladder Tournaments every year, and the next one is coming up soon. This one is especially important—and if you don't perform well, you may be held back a year."

Liushu picked up a digital pen and started writing on the board.

"You've already been through two Ladder Tournaments, but even so, I have to go over the rules again, as per protocol. Mainly, I just want to kill a bit more time."

"The Ladder Tournament is divided into two types: individual matches and mixed matches."

"As the name suggests, in the individual match, students from the same department face each other one-on-one—Martial Department against Martial Department, Magic Department against Magic Department, Support Department against Support Department."

"How do the students from the Medical Department compete?"

Luo Ji raised her hand again.

"How should I know—I have no idea,"

"And stop interrupting me."

He continued writing with the digital pen.

"Everyone has to participate in the individual tournament. If you have a special reason and can't join, you'll be given a score of zero, and you'll be assigned to the Class-E next year."

"Although Dreamscape Academy doesn't discriminate against lower-level students, you should really think twice."

"As for numbers: about five hundred from the Martial Department, maybe seven hundred from the Magic Department, a bit more, but I don't know about the others."

"The individual tournament takes ten days, since this campus only has ten training arenas. With so many students, it'll be a drawn-out process. You just need to know what day your match is—go up when it's your turn, and wait for your next match. The rest of the time, think of it as a holiday. Yes, if it's not your match day, you're basically off."

"Performance matters more than your final standing. Even if you don't rank high, if you perform well enough to please the teachers, you'll still get great Ladder Points. If you're instantly defeated... well, too bad."

"Once the individual tournament ends, there's the mixed match—at least two, at most five per team."

"You can invite friends from any department, for example, two Martial Department students, one Magic Department, one Support, and one Medical. That lineup is allowed."

"I still remember last year when Mo Ying and Xiya swept the whole grade,"

"I was ranked number one in the year!"

Mo Ying declared proudly.

"All right, all right, my dear number one, can you sit down?" said Liushu.

Mo Ying sat down slowly.

"Scoring in the mixed tournament is also divided into performance and ranking."

"Yes, that means even if you don't contribute much but have strong teammates and ride their coattails to a high rank, you'll still get a good score."

"Because so many students get eliminated in the mixed matches, those rounds should finish in about five days. The entire Ladder Tournament will take twenty days."

"For the tournament, you must wear the base armor issued by the school: the Prism. The Prism was invented by those machines from Tianke—a bit like the shield devices used in regular training, but with higher defense capabilities."

"It's basically something that creates a shield around your body. Every time you're hit, your shield value drops. Once it reaches zero, you lose."

"There's something very important—I'll repeat it again: it's absolutely forbidden to attack when your opponent's shield value is zero. You all understand that, right?"

"Because then you'd be directly attacking a person—someone could even get killed."

"I'm talking about you, Mo Ying."

Liushu named her directly.

"I didn't know! I thought she had plenty of shield left, who knew I shattered it in one blow?"

Mo Ying said, aggrieved.

"Your opponent was so nervous when facing you, she didn't defend, so your attack broke through way too much shield value—and the excess overflowed, causing two fractures on her body."

"Of course, it's not entirely your fault. This kind of thing happens from time to time, and it's normal. It was also the other student's mistake for not defending."

"Side note: the Prism comes from the southern city of Tianke, invented by those people. When it comes to technology, the Tianke race is way ahead—they've brought tech to a terrifying level."

"You're using the most basic Prisms now, but in second year, you'll upgrade to more advanced ones—not just technology, but something called a Singularity."

"Singularities are abnormal technology. For example, people who use tech to rebuild their bodies are using Singularities."

"This pen in my hand is just regular technology, and your phones too."

Liushu clicked the button on his digital pen, and everything he had written disappeared instantly.

It wiped everything clean.

"But a Singularity is different—it defies the laws of physics. It could even let a normal kitten fly."

"And if used on people, it could let you master magic that's otherwise impossible for you."

"For example, luo Ji uses water magic, and a bit of wind magic, right? A Singularity could let her access other types, like light magic, earth magic, and so on—though you'd need some body modification."

"Some say if you have a powerful enough Singularity, even if your body is totally destroyed, as long as your brain survives, you could be resurrected." Official source ıs NoveIꜰire.net

"Of course, it would cost a fortune to make yourself a whole new body... um, I'm not sure exactly how much. I haven't tried it."

"And I don't know if it's really possible. Like I said, I haven't tried it."

"Technology and Singularities are completely different. Singularities are the extremity of abnormal tech."

"Now, this year's Ladder Tournament is special because it's your promotion year, so there will be some changes."

"This time, the tournament will be held on the plains outside the city, and many observers will attend—students and teachers from other schools, your parents, maybe even the Empress. Well, it's only a possibility."

'Wow!'—when the students heard that Her Majesty might actually come to watch them compete, their fighting spirit soared even higher.

"High spirits are good, but now you need to train harder. Don't embarrass yourselves in front of your parents and Her Majesty."

"The Ladder Tournament will begin in two weeks. After this week, only one week will remain. All classes in the final week will be replaced with training, so if you haven't found a team for the mixed match, hurry up. If you want to defeat Mo Ying in the individual tournament, you'd better work for it."

"Once your team is set, remember to submit your members and team name through the identification system. Next week, we'll use a lottery draw for mock training matches."

"I've talked so much, and class still isn't over?"

Liushu checked his phone—five minutes left.

"There are five more minutes. You can space out or discuss training for next week. I'm going to take a nap."

Liushu put down the chalk and found a chair, lying down on the spot.

But the students were long used to this.

"I know about the Ladder Tournament, but what's a mock training match?"

Shuang Yun asked Mo Ying beside her.

"Mock matches just mean matches—a chance for students to perform better, both individual and mixed. Like when you and I fought last time, that was a training match,"

Mo Ying explained simply.

"There's nothing special about mock matches—win or lose, there's no reward or punishment—it's pure training."

"Students can organize their own matches privately. Some accept personal matches as dares, and the loser promises to do something for the winner. That sort of thing is common, but there's no real weight to it—even if you lose, you're not actually obligated to go through with it. It's just a verbal agreement."

"The Academy allows tense rivalry between students, but not extreme animosity—especially not hate. If someone keeps attacking after shattering an opponent's Prism during a mock match, as Liushu said, it will cause genuine harm, and the consequences will be severe," said Mo Ying.

"All right, only a minute left. Looks like I've coasted through another class—everyone can leave after a minute. I'm going to the cafeteria early, bye-bye."

Even before the bell rang, Liushu was already out the classroom door.

That's just like him.

PS: The Prism is a type of armor made from a material called Suti. It generates a defensive shield around the wearer to resist attacks.

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