Chapter 90 (1/2)
Chapter 90
Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament
Part 1 (TL by Organicity)
“The qualifying phase of the tournament has a different format from the promotional phase. The combat format of the qualifying phase is what you are all most familiar with: seven member team battles. It is a round robin competition where the five teams with the most victories will proceed to the promotional phase. The format of the promotional phase of the tournament is special. The competing teams are still limited to seven members but the battles are now one-on-one singles with the victorious team member staying on the field to face successive members of the opposing team, until the students on one side have all lost.”
“As a result, the qualifying phase can be said to demonstrate the combat prowess of the team as a whole while the promotional phase is used as a stage to demonstrate each member’s individual prowess. As to the reason for having a promotional phase; it’s for the two empires and the Spirit Hall to more easily recognize spectacular talents within the competing teams.”
“The finals phase has thirty three teams competing, and the format is random draw bracket single-round elimination.”
“Grandmaster, please wait a moment”
Oscar interrupted, as he asked with some confusion,
“Grandmaster, did you not just say that the two empires both have one seeded team and fifteen normal teams that advances through the qualifying and promotional phases? If so, that adds up to thirty two teams competing in the finals, where does the 33rd comes from?”
Grandmaster smiled slightly, “I had forgotten to mention it; the finals doesn’t have two seeded teams but three. The third seed comes from the Spirit Hall’s own personal team, and this team can be said to have the highest potential for victory. Although the Spirit Hall isn’t an advanced Spirit Master academy, it most definitely has its own organization that trains their younger spirit masters. In the previous three advanced spirit master championships, other than Star Luo Empire winning once, the other two victories were all taken by the Spirit Hall teams. They will also be your most powerful competitors in this tournament. From my experiences, the team Spirit Hall is sending out this time will definitely be stronger than the Emperor Team you met before.”
The Shrek Seven Devils looked at each other, but what they saw in each other’s eyes was not worry but burning curiosity and excitement.
After experiencing so much combat in the Spirit Area and even becoming a never-before-seen rank thirty gold spirit fighting team, what they wanted most now was exactly a powerful opponent. Without a powerful opponent, how else would they be able to better hone their abilities?
“The Promotional Phase will decide the ranking of each empire’s teams separately, from rank one to fifteen. The benefits of this ranking will become apparent in the finals phase. The finals phase’s format is single-round elimination. Each round, there will be a few teams that draw empty brackets. The first round, the teams with empty brackets will be the three seeds; the other thirty teams will face off against one another with the fifteen winning teams attending the next round of battles. In the second round, including the three seed teams, there will be eighteen teams left. This time, from the remaining teams, the two teams that ranked first in the promotional phase will face an empty bracket. The other sixteen teams will face off with the eight winning ones progressing to the third round. The third round will have ten teams in total with again, the two highest ranking ones drawing blank brackets. Those that have already drawn blank brackets will not get another chance. After the third round, the remaining teams should be the six strongest teams of the championship. This time, there will be no empty brackets. The fourth round will still rely on blind ballot to decide the opposing teams with the winning ones being the final three teams. In order to ensure fairness in the placement of the last three teams, the teams must undergo both group and individual elimination battles.”
“First of all is the individual elimination contest, similar to the format of the promotional phase. The three teams will proceed in alternating order. Each team will send out one member, the first two will face off against each other with the winner facing the member from the third team, until the two of the teams run out of members. The team of the winner will direct head to the finals. The two losing team will then face off in group combat to compete for the chance at the finals. The last two teams at the finals will then compete for the champion title in the final fight of the championship.”
After listening to Grandmaster’s long explanation, Ma Hongjun was unable to hold back,
“Grandmaster, why is this competition so complicated? Just listening is making me dizzy.”
Dai Mubai snapped,
“What’s there to be confused about? It doesn’t matter what kind of rules there are, as long as we win every single battle, at the end won’t we be the champions?”
Grandmaster slighted nodded,
“Mubai’s right. You should become familiar with the different phases of the championship, but in the face of absolute strength, it’s not the most important. During the tournament, I will remind you of the specific rules and help you analyze your opponents. Now everyone stand up. For these last couple of days, what you need to do is to practise mock combat. Oh, right. There’s something I must remind you, for the Heaven Dou division qualifying phase, you seven little monster can only have three people participating in battles at any one time. Furthermore, Rongrong will absolutely never appear during the qualifying phase. I will have a special training regimen for her during this time.”
“Ah? Only three?”
Even Tang San couldn’t help but be shocked.
Grandmaster replied with a stern look,
“What? You have something to complain about? During the qualifying phase, the team will consist of Tai Long, Huang Yuan[1], Jing Ling[2] and Jiang Zhu[3] four people. The remaining three will be for you to decide amongst yourselves with Rongrong being the exception.”
Tang San probed:
“Teacher, is this to hide our power? But, what if we lose?”
Grandmaster calmly said:
“What? Do you not even have this much confidence? Your true opponents are in the promotional and Finals phases, the qualifying phase will definitely not pose any problem. If you were to expose the entirety of your strengths now for everyone to see, then won’t it be much harder for you to achieve victory later?”
Tang San thought deeply about Grandmaster’s words and only after exchanging a glance with Dai Mubai, nodded his head,
“Teacher, I understand.”
Grandmaster clapped the shoulder of disciple he was proud of and said,
“I knew you would understand. The actual combat tactics on the field will be for you to decide. The team members that will participate is also up to you. All I can advise you is that, during the qualifying phase, the less you Shrek Seven Devils show yourselves, the better. In the finals phase, the opponents you will face will be even stronger than what you can imagine. You have only one goal. For this goal, give it your all.”
In the following few days, the Shrek Academy’s team members participating in this championship underwent combat training under the directions of Grandmaster. Especially for the four new additions, each day was passed under Grandmaster’s millstone.
Trying to create a coherent team of Spirit Masters was not an easy goal to reach, but if in this team, there was an exceptional control system spirit master, then everything would become much simpler. Tang San doubtlessly could take on such a role, and under his deployment and leadership, the four new members slowly became familiar with the Shrek Seven Devils’ fighting methods. At the same time, Tang San also confirmed the members that will participate in the qualifying phase. The main force would consist of four of the Shrek Seven Monsters.
Although the qualifying phase was not very important, they still needed to guarantee a spot for advancement. Therefore Tang San decided that the roster would be, including himself who had to appear, Evil Eye White Tiger Dai Mubai, who possessed the strongest spirit power, food system Spirit Master Big Sausage Uncle Oscar, as well as close quarters power attack system Spirit Master Xiao Wu. Fatty, Zhu Zhuqing and Ning Rongrong would stay hidden. All preparation had been finished.
Three days later, Heaven Dou Empire capital, Heaven Dou City.
Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament, Heaven Dou division opening commemoration was being hosted by Heaven Dou City in a magnificent ceremony.
Being the largest spirit master competition within the spirit master world, this championship did not only attract the attention of Spirit Masters. From the imperial families, nobilities to the commoners, every single citizen in Heaven Dou City saw this competition as their biggest festival. The opening ceremony would be held in the Heaven Dou Grand Spirit Arena. As early as a month ago, the tickets to the ceremony had already been completely sold out. The price for these tickets was the same as the ones to enter the central arena ring of the Spirit Arena.
As the main competition arena of the Heaven Dou Division, the Heaven Dou Grand Spirit Arena had already stopped all arena battles a month beforehand to undergo interior remodelling. All sub arenas within the Spirit Arena had been merged with the central arena ring to form a massive stadium for the competition.
Excluding the VIP section which remained in the entire north side of the area, the remodelled Spirit Area could now hold eighty thousand spectators at the same time. The revenue from the ticket sales was large, but so was the amount the Spirit Arena had spent.
For the next period of time, all matches of the qualifying phase in the Heaven Dou Division would take place here.
In the early twilight before the sun had yet to rise from the east, the newly remodelled Heaven Dou Spirit Arena had already attracted an enormous crowd of spectators. Having arrived so early, these audience members would obviously not be given early access to the arena, because each ticket had its own designated seating. What these people were here for on the first day of the opening ceremony, was to have a closer look at the young spirit masters attending this competition.
Among the crowd, there were numerous young maidens with hopeful gazes. It was just as Grandmaster had said before, the number of Spirit Masters on the entire continent added together was less than six figures. The students that could represent their advanced academies and attend this important competition were even more the cream of the crop. Furthermore, with the age restriction of twenty five, they were without a doubt the best targets for these girls with romance in their hearts. If they were able to marry a powerful spirit master, fame and fortune would doubtlessly follow.
Even some of nobles who had bought tickets for the VIP area were also gathered outside. For the nobility, scouting spirit masters was always exciting, never boring.
The Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament was by its nature a cradle for talented people. Let alone those that achieved favourable results in this competition, even the students that were just participating would become objects of desire for nobles and powerful clans.
Part 2 (TL by Bagelson)
Right now, with Heaven Dou Great Arena as its heart, practically a third of Heaven Dou City was a scene of an unbroken sea of people. Starting from several days ago, every level inn in Heaven Dou City was filled. The population of the city had gone up by practically fifty percent. This showed the attraction the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament had on people.
For the sake of this tournament, Heaven Dou City had been transferred a whole five thousand city guardsmen to keep order, to as far as possible prevent disturbances.
“Wah, so much people!”
Ning Rongrong couldn’t keep from crying out in surprise. Looking east or looking west, this was the first time she had seen such an amount of people.
Oscar served as flower guarding emissary, guarding at Ning Rongrong’s side, as far as possible keeping his head down, not letting other people see his appearance.
It wasn’t just Oscar, besides a few dazzled girls, whether it was the Shrek Seven Devils or the several substitutes, right now they all kept their heads down. Because, the clothing they wore really made them blush from shame.
The official Shrek Academy uniform wasn’t any common green, but rather a color somewhere between yellow and green. Using Dai Mubai’s words to describe it: snot green.
For the sake of this Academy tournament, dean Flender had these uniforms specially made according to his strange sense of aesthetics. The fabric was actually pretty good, and it was also comfortable. But besides the snot green, each person’s chest was also practically covered by a large Shrek monster design, and the color of this design was a bright emerald green.
This still wasn’t much; most out of the ordinary was on each person’s back, several big words embroidered in red silk: Looking for advertisers.
Below these big words was still a row of smaller ones: For advertising fees please call on Shrek Academy’s dean, mister Flender, for a personal meeting.
Because of this competition uniform, the Shrek Seven Devils had once resisted violently, but in the end they were still suppressed by Flender’s abuse of authority. In front of everyone’s supreme efforts, Flender just expressed reluctance. If they truly had sponsors, then out of the whole advertisement income they could take out one third to pay for their competing team members, and the rest set apart for the Academy’s construction funds.
To Dai Mubai, Zhu Zhuqing and Tang San, this sum of money might not be anything. But to the others, money was still very important. Even more, Tang San and the others had all seen the original circumstances of the Shrek Academy. Having now with great difficulty found the chance to earn money, they still couldn’t too easily contradict Flender. Even though this dean was a bit treacherous and sly, it really hadn’t been easy for him to support the Academy for all these years.
Of course, the Shrek Seven Devils also once asked Grandmaster for help, but his reply was also extremely out of the ordinary. Grandmaster told them that even though this uniform was a bit unsightly, it was also a kind of practice for their inner qualities. If they could keep from changing under everyone’s jeers and laughter, then their psychological qualities would also have reached a certain degree.
The Shrek Seven Devils secretly whispered that this was clearly to toughen the thickness of their face.
Grandmaster used his position as Academy representative to along with Flender refuse to wear such a uniform, and they only had a small and very inconspicuous Shrek design on their left lapels.
It was precisely because of this unusual attire that just as Tang San and the others were about to enter the crowd, they immediately attracted special attention.
“What academy is that? Heavens, did they just crawl out from a latrine?”
“I’m dying from laughing, that green monster design on their chests is really too adorable. Why do the ears look like trumpets.”
“Look, look, on their backs they’re still recruiting some advertising? Is an advanced Spirit Master academy like this real? Can they still participate in the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament? It’s too funny. The really are all kinds of birds in the woods.”
Be quiet, they’re still Spirit Masters. Only, I expect they’re only going through the motions, look at that fatty, it’s like he’s growing into a ball.”
If there was a crack in the ground right now, then the eleven Shrek Academy students would perhaps be pushing each other aside to be first to squeeze into it. Even if they had a measure of mental preparation, they still hadn’t expected there would be so many people outside the Great Spirit Arena. It was like they were on display. Moreover it was the model of negative attention.
Unable to change their appearance, Tang San was the first to pull out the Shrek mask they originally brought when participating at the Spirit Arena tournament, and the Shrek Seven Devils hastily copied him one by one. The pitiful late members with Tai Long didn’t have such equipment, and could only cover their faces with their hands, like that getting more and more embarrassed.
Flender walked forward with an ‘I don’t know these people behind me’ appearance, and bore into the crowd with big steps, the speed of Grandmaster and Liu Erlong following behind him not a bit slower.
Tang San finally understood what was meant by ‘wanting to cry but lacking tears’. Right now, if he could choose to instead confront a fiftieth ranked Spirit Master team, he still wouldn’t choose to be put on display here.
Fortunately there were very many teams that came to participate in the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament, representing close to thirty academies, and the majority of the crowd’s interest was still attracted by those groups, allowing the Shrek party to squeeze into the Heaven Dou Great Spirit Arena after their hardships.
All the teams that came to participate were for the most part dressed bright and neat. Even though they were all dressed in their academy uniforms, none were as out of the ordinary as the Shrek Academy. Dressed up in those beautiful golden, silver, red, white, with all sorts of decorations, designs and academy insignia uniforms, each and every one of the young Spirit Masters stepped forward to enter the Great Spirit Arena like heroes with their heads held high. With imposing appearance and displaying bravery, abundantly looking disdainfully at the world.
Having broken into the Heaven Dou Great Spirit Arena, the Shrek Academy party all loosed a breath. Tang San and Dai Mubai looked face to face, their eyes full of helplessness.
“When leaving the tournament, no matter what you say I won’t wear this. Too damaging to my heroic image.”
Ma Hongjun took off the mask from his face and complained. This tournament didn’t permit covering their faces, and right now everyone had the urge to immediately leave this place because of their clothes. Participating when attired like this was really too embarrassing.
Fortunately, today was the opening ceremony, and the first day of the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament. Apart from the opening ceremony there would only be one match. The Heaven Dou Imperial Academy secondary team would conduct the first match of the round robin tournament against the first opponent they drew. It could also be considered to be a spirit fight with something of a show nature. Otherwise, with only the opening ceremonies it clearly couldn’t attract the interest of the audience.
This Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament had a cash prize, and moreover unusually direct. Each preselection match victory would award five hundred gold spirit coins, and entering the promotion competition would reward an additional three thousand gold spirit coins. If they could enter the finals, Heaven Dou Empire would not only award the title of baron, but would also reward each member of the team one thousand gold spirit coins, regardless of whether they were regular or reserve members. As for the bonus of the last finals, it would be even higher.
For the sake of the advertisements on the back of the Shrek Seven Devils, Flender had already renounced this income. In other words, any reward would be returned to the team members.
Tang San comforting said:
“Anyway, the odds of us appearing on stage today is low. After returning we’ll talk it over with dean Flender again, and no matter what is said we won’t wear these clothes tomorrow. WE have to at least drop the letters on the back.”
Right now, the Shrek Academy party stood in a specially arranged rest area for competing academies within the main arena. They weren’t the first to enter, but also weren’t the last here. Within the expansive rest area were more than a thousand seats, split into sections, to be used for the Spirit Master academies to rest and wait.