Chapter 178: Despised
Translator: Double_L Editor: Hitesh_
Capth was founded by General Li Feng hundreds of years ago. After going through countless of ups and downs across centuries, Capth was able to develop into a well-known S-Ranked academy. It was indeed a splendid academy that had gone through tons of hards.h.i.+ps.
Throughout generations, students of Capth had been contributing a lot to the development of human communities.
Although the front gate of Capth looked normal, it was indeed filled with pride. Especially the unique statue on its gate, it was the sculpture of young General Li Feng gazing across the universe. For centuries, no one had ever surpa.s.sed the achievements of this legendary figure. But as time went by, the legendary hero ended up being nothing more than a stone-cold statue, and younger generations only saw him as an unreachable existence. They were not as pa.s.sionate as the older generations anymore!
This was the first time w.a.n.g Tong and the rest of the team stepped foot into Capth. They had never dreamt about walking on the campus of this academy, yet Samantha had provided them a chance to prove themselves in the upcoming tournament.
No one had ever imagined that a bunch of n.o.bodies from Ayrlarng would be able to stand right next to the elites of Capth.
Everyone was agitated as they looked at the statue. This was indeed a historical moment to be remembered, and they were definitely filled with excitement for being able to visit the best academy throughout Earth Confederation.
The academy itself was filled with the latest and best hardware and facilities. After all, Capth was crowned as the society leader amongst S-Ranked academies. They were the ultimate existence in every aspect.
Originally, both Samantha and Martyrus were supposed to lead the team. But in the end, Martyrus decided to stay and wait for news in his own academy. Somehow, he knew that this stage didn’t belong to him. In fact, it belonged to Samantha as well as the fellow students.
Nevertheless, Samantha felt strange on returning to the academy she graduated from.
They weren’t treated as special guests. Apparently, there were also four other academies joining this tournament. These four academies only had one thing in mind, which was to crush and defeat Capth at all cost!
"Haha, this year’s Bernabeu was hilarious!"
"I can’t believe they’re teaming up with Ayrlarng, pfft!"
The team was soon joined by a group of students wearing olive green uniforms. They all had an L-shaped badge above their academy’s emblem.
Those students were from the Academy of Crusx, an A-Ranked academy equally matched with Bernabeu. Obviously, rivalry amongst A-Ranked academies was normal, as they were all fighting to become S-Ranked academies. As a matter of fact, all of the five academies invited to Capth were almost the same in terms of strength, and each team was very proud and happy to be here.
Nevertheless, some liked to prove their strength and bravery by taking on stronger opponents, while some others preferred bullying the weaker ones to show off their dominance.
In the eyes of other academies, Bernabeu had definitely become weaker this time. Either Apache and Best had become worse, or the rest of the teammates were a bunch of fools, or else, they could’ve never been defeated by Ayrlarng.
However, Ayrlarng had Ma Xiaoru this time, and people couldn’t help but wonder why a brilliant girl like her would choose to go to Ayrlarng. In fact, they were quite upset about the waste of her talent. Clearly, she was one of the aces in the team, but still, the girl alone was not enough to shape the final outcome. After all, Bernabeu’s candidates were too weak this time.
"Did any of you hear dogs barking just now?" Carl asked aloud all of a sudden. Everyone could hear his loud voice clearly.
Immediately, the eyes of the students of Cruxs turned red; it became an awkward situation at the reception counter.
"You guys want a piece of me, huh?" Apache taunted coldly. He was not afraid to take on anyone that was trying to mess with him. After all, he had been hanging around in the Anti-smuggle Special Unit for a year.
"Calm down, you folks." The teacher of Capth interrupted immediately. It would definitely escalate into a fight if the teacher didn’t stop them quickly, and Capth’s reputation would be affected if things like that happened on their campus.
Both parties glared at each other, and the other students didn’t make a move since he recognized Apache and was well aware of his capabilities. In the end, everyone backed down.
Somehow, w.a.n.g Tong looked a bit disappointed. He was actually hoping for a "warm-up" brawl.
Everyone completed their registration under the awkward atmosphere and left the counter.
Meanwhile, all of the princ.i.p.als were having a brief meeting about the upcoming schedules in the meeting room.
Since the other A-Ranked academies were here to challenge Capth, they would need to draw lots in order to decide the order of fighting. Obviously, the later would be the better, as there would be enough time to observe the strength of Capth’s candidates.
In the end, Ayrlarng picked the best order and its candidates would be the last to challenge Capth. Somehow the other princ.i.p.als were not happy about it, as they couldn’t believe that the weakest team was given the best opportunity. Fate was clearly not on their sides.
On the other hand, Halmond seemed to be worried instead of being relieved, because that meant it would be a bit more challenging for his students. But he was okay with it, because youngsters needed challenges in order to improve. Nonetheless, what mattered the most was victory.
The princ.i.p.als chatted for a while and dismissed. Martyrus used to be the one who did the talking since he was familiar with the other princ.i.p.als, but the situation got a little bit awkward this time due to the presence of young Samantha. Apparently, the older princ.i.p.als were not very fond of someone who became princ.i.p.al using the help of family connections. Not everyone was as big-hearted as Martyrus.
In the eyes of those older princ.i.p.als, Samantha was more of a threat than Capth. More or less, their unpleasant feeling was created by jealousy.
"Ah, Princ.i.p.al Samantha, welcome home." Halmond smiled kindly.
"Samantha will do, Mr. Halmond. Thank you for your kindness. Hopefully, my students and I would be able to learn from all of you this time." Samantha replied respectfully. Back in the days when she partic.i.p.ated in tournaments, Mr. Halmond was the teacher who led their team. Everything just felt like yesterday, yet they were now meeting each other in different roles.
"Haha, a ragged colt may make a good horse after all, which is why I’m not letting my guard down and have gathered a team of elites." Halmond laughed. It seemed interesting for being able to compete against his own student.
Being the vice princ.i.p.al of an S-Ranked academy, Halmond seemed wiser and more big-hearted than the others.
"Please be gentle with us, Sir. There’s no need to go all out." Samantha chuckled.
"Haha, I can’t believe you’re trying to bewitch me with the psychology stuff I taught you back then. Don’t forget that I’m the mentor of your Ph.D. To be honest, I’ve prepared this team of elites because of you, most of it because you’re one of my favorite students, and I know you quite well. You wouldn’t go this far if you were not at least fifty percent confident in your team."
"Sir, this time, it’s only forty percent, but I still want to try my luck." Samantha knew that she couldn’t fool Halmond. Not only was he an excellent teacher, but he was also an expert in psychology.
"Very well, I shall see you in the arena then!"
"Please treat us with care, Sir."
Halmond nodded. As he was leaving, he turned around and said, "Oh by the way, I heard you’ve recruited an amazing freshman. I’ll be expecting his performance then."
Samantha was startled, and replied with a smile. Clearly, the battle had already begun, and Mr. Halmond would not be making any careless mistakes this time. Her little trick of surprising Capth had failed in the end, and they had no other options but to fight them face to face!
However, Samantha was uncertain if her team was up for the challenges ahead after going through all of the special training. Of course, she was here for the final victory, but even if she lost, she still needed to build up their confidence and let everyone know that Capth was not as intimidating and unreachable as it looked like. She had to implant this mindset in her team and have them spread the idea to the rest of the students once they returned to Ayrlarng.
Ayrlarng’s odds of winning were almost nil since Halmond was already prepared. Yet, it would mean exactly the same if everyone was able to build up their confidence. Hopefully, they wouldn’t suffer great humiliation. However, Samantha had w.a.n.g Tong in her team, so it should be fine.
As Samantha thought about w.a.n.g Tong, her heart skipped a beat, yet she immediately gathered herself and calmed down. Right now, she had to stay focus and maintain her mentality. Aside from it being a compet.i.tion between students, this tournament was also the compet.i.tion between princ.i.p.als, and she had to make sure that she was not despised!
She immediately regained her confidence as she reminded herself that her success was built on her own, without mastering any utilization of Soul Energy. If she had succeeded her Mind Opening Operation, she would become an even more frightening existence.
Even though she didn’t possess any Soul Energy and talents, she was blessed with other capabilities. Because she was unable to utilize GN Force, she was able to concentrate herself in other fields and build up her own achievements.
Although Capth being challenged by five other A-Ranked academies was not as hyped as the collision between S-Ranked academies, it was still a huge event, and people were excited about it.
Students of Capth loved tournaments like this because it was able to boost their confidence. In recent years, A-Ranked academies had improved a lot, and were even able to cause them a few troubles. Yet, the students of Capth were okay with a few b.u.mps. In fact, they loved seeing how students of A-Ranked academies "panted" in between matches.
Nevertheless, the elite candidates from A-ranked academies would also be selected as elite students if they were to enroll in Capth; after all, their standards were almost the same.
The Academy of Cruxs was the first in the order. The decent academy would be facing off Capth in the arena. Students were able to watch the live telecast of all matches for free; as for watching it live in the arena, students would have to get tickets from their teachers as early as possible due to the huge number of spectators.
The matches were in fact battles between aces. High standard matches like these were definitely the perfect entertainment and learning materials for all.
Teams of the other partic.i.p.ating academies were also welcomed to watch in the arena. The candidates of all other four academies had already sat down in the arena before the match began.
Cao Yi had even prepared his laptop, as making notes and records was one of his hobbies and specialties. Although they had already obtained enough data, he wanted to make comparisons between the available data and their live performances. Data was only for references, and one would have to see it live in order to believe it. He wanted to a.n.a.lyze the capabilities of Capth on his own. Since Ayrlarng-Bernabeu Alliance was the last to fight Capth, there was definitely enough time for a little more preparation.