351 Chapter 351: A brief briefing

"Are you serious?" I asked incredulously. Feng Hai nodded.

"That is correct. In light of your valiant courage and selfless sacrifices to rescue other people, even though you had no obligation to, and to recognize your heroism, we decided to make an exception for you." He glanced at the Lie Hou Academy students. "We also listened to the students from Lie Hup Academy, who managed to gather everyone and petition for you to not be eliminated from the competition."

I turned toward the Lie Huo Academy students, astonished, and bowed gratefully. I didn't think they would go that far. Still, something puzzled me.

"How did you know I would be back anyway? Most people would have assumed that I died in the Den of Dragons."

"No, we started the petition after you returned yesterday." The big guy grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head.

"Oh." That made more sense, though for them to get so many people involved and had the tournament organizers make such a big decision in such a short period of time was impressive. Acknowledging that, I bowed my head gratefully. "Thank you."

"No, not at all. We are the ones who should be thanking you. You're the one who saved our lives, after all." The skinny guy lowered his head humbly. The blond girl nodded.

"That's right! So please…take your place back with your team!"

Honestly, I was still weirded out that they decided to resort to this cliché of reinstating the main character even though he was supposed to be disqualified. You know, all because he was the protagonist. As if I was some special snowflake who deserved to be treated differently from all the other characters. It was almost as if the rules of this world were bending backward just to accommodate me at my convenience.

"All right, Richard, and the Jing Tian Academy team. Now that you've been informed, go back to the city hall and attend the briefing for the next stage of the qualifiers. The rest of you, start packing up and boarding the train. Thank you for participating, and I know you did your best. Even though you didn't qualify for the next round, your performance this year has been spectacular."

Feng Hai applauded them, inspiring them to feel proud of their efforts despite falling short. He was right. The most important thing was that everyone cooperated and worked together to survive and return safely. Those of us still alive to remain standing on the training platform, anyway. There were a few casualties, students who had perished in the Den of Dragons and succumbed to the elements or slain by monsters, but for the most part, the majority of us pulled through.

And no, there were no weird "evil" teams who tried to bully others by robbing them of their survival gear, stripping them naked, burning their supplies and clothes, raping the sole female member of their team and leaving them to die in the snow. There were no "main character's team beat up a high-ranked 'evil' bully team who underestimated them, and karma bit them in their asses when the victim teams who stalked them all this while, waiting for a chance at revenge, showed up to enact their vengeance on the defeated bullies." While I was not naïve enough to think bullies didn't exist, evil caricatures who attempted to blatantly murder other students in the wild just because they arrogantly thought they could do so without suffering the consequences was just not realistic. Nor would a character who had been established earlier in the story as a calm, intelligent and seemingly rational, charismatic leader suddenly transform into a warped evil incarnate dripping with sadism and malice. Like, he displayed absolutely no signs of sadism at all, and the author suddenly claimed the change was just him revealing his true nature, even though it looked nothing more like an excuse for the main character to beat him up and slap his face for looking down on him.

"Hello? Richard? Come back."

Harrison Reed was waving his hand in front of my face. I jolted up and then blinked, smiling sheepishly and lowering my head in apology.

"Sorry…I was drifting away."

"Don't drift off, dude!" Craig Carlson chuckled at my dazed expression. "We're only just getting started!"

"Let's go back now," Sheila Scarlet agreed. Without any reason to refuse, I nodded and followed my friends back in the direction of the city hall, dragging my luggage behind me.

Seemed like I had wasted my time packing everything last night. Whoops.

*

Later during the day, around noon, I found myself sitting with my friends inside some sort of lecture hall. There were hundreds of students gathered, whispering to each other and trying to speculate what was next.

Now that we had passed the qualifiers, the next stage naturally should be the elimination rounds. Everyone was eagerly awaiting details regarding the elimination stages, especially since that would determine our overall ranking and performance during the tournament. Those who made it to the finals or the knockout stages would obviously have a greater prestige than those who were eliminated during the qualifiers.

One of the tournament staff stood at the podium, dressed in that weird military uniform of his, which included a purple beret and…opaque glasses. How was he able to see through those opaque lenses, I had no idea, but I guess the answer lay simply in magic. But it was still a waste of mana.

"Everyone, please quieten down," the muscular military man said into the microphone. In an instant, the entire lecture hall fell silent, with every student craning their neck and enthusiastically listening to him.

He swept his stern gaze across the lecture hall, and took a deep breath.

"First of all, I would like to congratulate all of you for making it past the qualifiers. All of you, without exception, have performed splendidly. The judges and staff supervising the qualifiers are all impressed with the teamwork and tenacity you displayed in a hostile environment, and how all of you cooperated to survive in the wilderness. You should be proud of yourselves."

He then raised his hands to applaud us. The students broke into a cheer, clapping and whooping, with some girls hugging each other in delight, and guys slapping each other in the backs. Even the stiff military man at the podium cracked a small smile as he watched us celebrate.

Well, the majority of us, anyway. I was too caught up in my own world to be happy. I merely watched the surroundings quietly.

"Why so glum, Richie?" Dong Fang Yue Chu seized me by the neck and patted my back with a laugh. "We made it this far!"

"…yeah. We did."

I wasn't sure what else to say. The tournament was only just beginning. The hardest part was yet to come.

"Don't be so pessimistic," Theodore told me. "Whatever happens, will happen. No use worrying about it."

"Yeah." I nodded. Theodore Hammond had a point. Even if I pondered and contemplated on whatever possible scenarios the future might bring, I couldn't change it. I might as well relax and face each difficulty head-on when they came, not tense myself up worrying for something that might or might not happen.

"But now the hard part begins!"

The military man waited for everyone to quieten down before he announced the same sentence that had been plaguing my thoughts this entire time. I sighed. I knew it.

"You will have plenty of opportunities to earn more points for your team," the tournament staff continued. "Especially in the second round of the qualifiers. The top ten teams will receive an extra ten points, specifically."

"…huh?"

Everyone stared at the guy, bewildered. One of the students from the other schools raised a hand and the tournament staff nodded at him.

"What is it, Private?"

"I'm not a private…I'm not a soldier. Anyway, what's the point of giving the top ten teams ten extra points? I mean…if they are the top ten teams, they are already ranked as the top ten. What's the point of giving them more points?"

"I was about to explain that." the military man paused for a moment, and then waved his hand. Behind him, a holographic screen flickered to life. "The second round of qualifiers will be divided into five segments."

"Second round of qualifiers?" Ding Ke Po stroked his chin in an attempt to look smart, but only succeeded in making him appear foolish. "Extra points? Am I hearing this correctly? So is the second round a continuation of the first? Does that mean we'll be thrown back into Aurora Forest and the Den of Dragons again?"

"Of course not," one of his teammates snapped and smacked him across the head. "Why would they throw us back into the forest again? They might as well keep us out there instead of having us return to the city hall."

"The next stage will be held in Aurora City," the military man continued, ignoring the murmurs and speculation that was rife among the students. "The second round of qualifiers will be different from the first round. While the first round was designed around teamwork, tactics and survival, the second round will be a bit more individual-based. In the second round, each team must select a specific member to represent them in each segment of the competition."

"What are these segments that the TO is talking about?" Pearl Pang wondered out loud. Harrison shrugged.

"Who knows? Let's listen for now. He's going to tell us."

"Each team will have to compete in a total of five different segments."

I suddenly had déjà vu. This guy can't be serious. Weren't we going to be in copyright infringement of Battle Frenzy if the story proceeded down this route?

"Let me guess," I grumbled. "The scouting stage, the ranged stage, the tank stage, the fighter stage and the final stage will be between captains."

Everyone stared at me, and I suddenly felt super-uncomfortable and awkward. Me and my big mouth. I was only stating the truth, but even so, it still hurt to be stared at in such an intense and skeptical manner.

"Ahem."

The tournament staff cleared his throat to redirect our attention back to him. He gave me an apologetic look.

"No, that's incorrect. I have no idea what this ranged stage or tank stage is supposed to be. You are not allowed to bring tanks or any other vehicles into the tournament. And what is this ranged stage supposed to be? Do you think we are supposed to bring you all to a range and test your aiming skills by having you shoot at a target?"

"No, I just thought it was ranged fighters versus ranged fighters, and tanks versus tanks…"

"Like I said, you are not allowed to bring tanks or any other vehicles into the tournament. Anyone caught doing so will be disqualified."

"What if we summon them using magic?"

"Don't be daft. I know how summoning magic works, and it only allows you to summon living things, Soul Beasts and spirits. Not inorganic vehicles."

…well, I mean, my other self in some other story literally summoned a Titan (even though he's supposed to be an undead necromancer…sorry, I have no idea what that story was trying to do). So the sky was the limit, or so they say. That said, there were hard limits on this story and I couldn't summon anything I wanted just because some other character in another story did it. There were rules that I had to follow while being in this story. Too bad. I had no choice but to suck it up.

"Rather than stages dividing into mages of specific specializations fighting each other, it's just five free for all matches happening in five different maps around Aurora City. We will announce the maps one by one, and the team will choose a member to represent them in that map. As stated earlier, the format is free for all – meaning, that you're supposed to fight each other. The last 10 remaining in each group will gain their teams 10 points. This will be repeated another four times until all five maps are done."

"That sounds simple enough," Cody murmured with a nod.

"The only limitations is that you can't choose your captain for the first four rounds. The captain must participate in the final map. That's about it."

The military man nodded in satisfaction and took a step back, casting his stern gaze upon all of us.

"Good luck, and happy hunting everyone! We'll release the specific details to you shortly, but the first match…will be tomorrow!"