Chapter 142: Opening Ceremony and Grouping Ceremony

The academy was especially lively today, with crowds moving about and excitement evident on everyone’s face. What was about to happen filled them with enthusiasm and anticipation.

When Rod and his group arrived, they immediately caught everyone’s attention. Cheers and encouragement filled the air as the competition was about to begin. As hosts, they naturally received much scrutiny.

The group quickly made their way to the dean’s office. By then, all members of the other two groups had arrived as well. The intermediate group was still led by Kiro’s team. After half a month apart, they had changed significantly—this could be seen from their spirits. It was said that Kiro had taken them outside for training instead of using the academy’s training grounds, and it seemed they had made remarkable progress. This made Rod view Kiro with even greater respect.

As for the advanced group, it was the first time Rod had met the members sent by the empire! A standard team of one mage and four warriors, each exuding a powerful aura. The team sent by the empire was indeed different—perhaps only the empire could field such a representative team.

“Well, now that everyone is here, I won’t say much more. The competition is about to start, so we must head to the training ground for the opening ceremony and grouping ceremony. Over these few days, you’ll get a chance to see what your opponents are like. Twenty days of training should have brought you significant progress. There’s no need for further words—just work hard. I believe you all understand what’s at stake!” said the three deans after gathering in the dean’s office, sighing.

Clearly, facing this prestigious competition, everyone was under great pressure. The success or failure of this mission was crucial for them.

Under the deans’ guidance, the group headed to the training ground. It was already crowded with people. Today, almost all the academy’s students put aside their usual studies and training to witness this rare spectacle. In addition to the academy’s students, there were also students from various schools across the continent, as well as high-ranking officials and members of different organizations. The training ground was truly dazzling with its array of talents.

In the rest rooms nearby, Rod observed the teams from various countries ready to compete. Looking at these teams he had met before and thinking of them as future opponents on the battlefield, he felt deeply emotional.

Suddenly, a cold gaze caught everyone’s attention—it came from the students of the Wind God Academy, representing the Austrian Empire. This was the second time these representatives had met so far. Each member’s icy expression and cold stare created an uncomfortable atmosphere, while the faint aura of fierce killing intent and combat readiness made it impossible to take them lightly. Such a powerful presence could only be achieved through brutal training.

After giving those opponents a careful look, Rod took a deep breath, realizing that the main enemies in this competition would be these few people from their side. Only these guys from the Austrian Empire’s team posed the greatest threat to his own team.

Once all teams were gathered, they checked the time outside—it was almost noon. As the opening ceremony was about to begin, everyone lined up and headed outside.

Amidst loud applause and cheers, led by the dean, the representatives of the Holy Light Academy, as the hosts, entered the training ground first. As the home team, they received the warmest cheers and applause. Following them were the other teams, whose cheers, naturally, paled in comparison.

Next came the so-called opening ceremony, with speeches from various leaders. After a lot of nonsense, things finally got down to business with the grouping ceremony. There were five teams at each level participating in this competition, competing in direct elimination rounds. In the first round, one team would be exempt, while the rest would be divided into two groups to fight against each other. The two winning teams from each group would advance to the next round. In that round, one of the two teams would be chosen to be exempt again, waiting to face the winner of the previous round’s match in the final to determine the champion. Thus, the grouping stage carried significant importance, as it involved many factors. This format of competition was imperfect and even highly unpredictable, so everyone paid close attention to the grouping process.

After the grouping, the results were fairly satisfactory. In the first match of the first level, the Wind God Academy team from the Austrian Empire coincidentally ended up in the exempt group, while the Holy Light Academy team faced the Clear Stream Academy team from the Etaman Empire. As for the representatives from the Mage Association and the Warrior Guild’s Divine Valor Academy, they clashed with those from the Church’s Light Academy—true enemies meeting again!

In the intermediate-level competitions, the Holy Light Academy team faced off against the Light Academy team, while the Wind God Academy team from the Ost Empire competed against the Clear Stream Academy team from Etaman. The Mage Association’s Divine Might Academy team and the Warrior Union’s team were exempt from competition. In the advanced-level competitions, the Holy Light Academy team was exempt, the Wind God Academy team from the Ost Empire was grouped with the Light Academy team, and the Clear Stream Academy team was grouped with the Divine Might Academy team. The grouping was fairly balanced, without any particularly lucky arrangements. Next, a high-ranking representative from the host nation, the Lance Empire, gave a speech, mainly discussing the competition rules and offering words of encouragement. The speech lasted almost until afternoon, nearly making Rod fall asleep while listening. Amidst applause, the opening ceremony finally came to an end after a long wait, and it was time to get down to business—the first matches of each level were about to begin. The various teams returned to their rest rooms to prepare for the competitions. Although the exempt teams and those competing in the second match had nothing to do today, they chose to stay and observe their potential opponents. For the first match, both teams from the Holy Light Academy were about to compete. The junior-level match would take place in Arena No. 1. After everything was prepared and the appropriate combat teams were selected based on recent information, Rod led the participants onto the arena. In the tense atmosphere, the first match against the opposing academy teams was about to begin.