Pearl Academy vs. Imperial Capital

"Don't get too excited — you're not on the roster for this round." Zhao Manyan patted Mo Fan on the shoulder.

"Why not?" Mo Fan was annoyed.

"Are you kidding? The lineup for the first round was already locked in before you even showed up!"

"Oh, right. I got lost."

As it happened, both sides had already agreed to a friendly two-round match.

For the first round, Pearl Academy's representatives were Shen Mingxiao, Luo Song, Peng Liang, and Zhao Manyan.

Shen Mingxiao and Luo Song were the most eager to prove themselves. With so many teachers and students from rival schools in attendance — plus no shortage of attractive women — taking down the Imperial Capital Magic Academy would make them the center of attention in an instant.

Shen Mingxiao, long celebrated as Pearl Academy's resident heartthrob, was hardly about to pass up an opportunity like this. Luo Song's feud with Xu Dalong gave him the perfect stage to show what he could do.

Luo Song, for his part, carried a bone-deep grudge against Xu Dalong. The moment those two locked eyes, pleasantries escalated directly to trading insults about each other's families. Naturally, Luo Song had been the first to volunteer — he was going to beat Xu Dalong until the man had nothing left to say.

Peng Liang and Zhao Manyan had both been personally selected by Teacher Gu Han. Neither one dared refuse.

"Xu Dalong, Liao Mingxuan, Jingjing, Zhao Mingyue — you four will open the match. Don't disappoint us." Lu Yiming promptly called out four of his heavy hitters.

"Yes, Teacher!"

The four Imperial Capital Magic Academy students stepped forward. Xu Dalong was your classic muscle-bound specimen — he looked less like a Mage and more like a personal trainer who made his living charming impressionable girls.

Liao Mingxuan carried himself with polished elegance. In Mo Fan's eyes, he was cut from the exact same cloth as that two-faced heartthrob Shen Mingxiao — both of them convinced that because a handful of girls had voluntarily written them love letters and swooned over them, they were somehow born royalty.

Jingjing and Zhao Mingyue were two female Mages. Earlier, while Mo Fan and Zhao Manyan were standing together, they had already given the two women a thorough once-over and assigned them the informal designations "Lady A" and "Lady B."

Lady A was Lady A, and Lady B was Lady B — but in all fairness, both female Mages were quite attractive, the kind of girls you'd take a liking to at first glance.

"I'll bet a pack of spicy strips that your side loses," Mo Fan told Zhao Manyan.

"Oh? You can already read their cultivation levels from here?" Zhao Manyan raised an eyebrow.

Others might not realize it, but Zhao Manyan knew perfectly well — in terms of cultivation, Mo Fan was likely the strongest among them. Someone at that level could detect an opponent's power through the faintest fluctuations in elemental energy. If Mo Fan was this brazenly predicting their loss, he must have already picked up on something.

Mo Fan just smiled mysteriously and said nothing.

*Cultivation levels? Please. He hadn't sensed a thing. He was just wishing them the worst.*

*Because if they actually won, how was he supposed to ride in during the second round and turn the tide like some legendary hero?*

Seated off to the sides were spectators who appeared to be from Xiamen Academy and East China Academy, every one of them watching the proceedings with barely concealed schadenfreude.

Mo Fan swept his Mental Intent across the gathered students and found that regardless of which academy they were from — and regardless of rankings — all the exchange students present were at the Intermediate-Level Mage tier, and most had been at that level for a considerable stretch already.

*Made sense, really.* School rankings were school rankings, but whoever each academy sent to represent them in a setting like this would naturally be the elite of their elite. With talent spread across every region, there were bound to be plenty of other prodigies just as young and capable as himself. He'd missed the morning session and had no way to gauge their actual abilities — but at least the girls were all easy on the eyes.

Across the arena, the showdown between Pearl Academy and the Imperial Capital Magic Academy was about to begin.

"In the interest of fairness, all Enchanted Gear and Magic Weapons are strictly prohibited in this team match. This is a friendly exchange of skill — hold back, and stop when a point is made!"

The rule was welcome news for everyone. Noble Clan scions from the Imperial Capital were a dime a dozen, and every last one of them would be carrying quality Enchanted Gear. Strip away the gear, and they'd be fighting purely on raw ability.

Both sides signaled their readiness. The referee called the start, and the match was underway.

The difference in coordination was apparent from the very first second. Pearl Academy's formation was ragged — it was impossible to tell who was supposed to lead the charge and who was meant to hang back. The Imperial Capital's four, by contrast, had clearly been drilling together for far longer than a day or two. Their formation snapped into place instantly: a clean, precise cross stance.

The gap in discipline was plain to see. Fortunately, Pearl Academy's four were nobody's pushover. The moment they recognized their opponents had come prepared, they quickly sorted themselves into formation as well.

Zhao Manyan took up position at the rear. As a Light Element Mage, his role was primarily to shield his teammates.

The opposing team cast with remarkable speed. Jingjing in particular had already condensed a deep-green Star Chart beneath her feet, and the long, winding Star Trails within it were transforming into coils of vine that crept slowly up her slender legs.

Magic wrapping around her body like that, those vines could only mean one thing: an intermediate Plant Element spell. Mu Nujiao, who shared the same element, would have recognized it immediately.

"That's an intermediate spell — interrupt her, now!" Shen Mingxiao snapped into the role of commander and shouted at Luo Song.

A cunning grin spread across Luo Song's face. Rather than spend the effort tracing out the elaborate Star Chart of an intermediate spell, he simply fired off a basic-tier Earth Element technique on the spot.

"Let's see you finish casting when you can't even stay on your feet!" Luo Song slammed his pudgy palms flat against the ground.

The once-smooth floor buckled. Ripples rolled across its surface in erratic waves, stretching and contracting in sequence, and the ground beneath the Imperial Capital's four began to lurch and shudder. All four visibly lost their footing.

"Think you're the only one with Earth Element?" Xu Dalong looked as though he'd anticipated exactly this. Just as the Earth Wave's ripples were building toward full force, he reared back and drove one heavy boot into the ground.

A ring of brown ripples exploded outward from where he stood.

Positioned at the center of the formation, his counter-shockwave rolled outward and smoothed the groaning, convulsing ground flat around him. Whatever had been stirring underground thought better of it and went quiet.

As for Jingjing, still in the process of completing her intermediate spell — her fundamentals were rock solid. She had nearly pitched over entirely, yet somehow her Star Trails and Star Chart hadn't broken by so much as a thread.

By the time the green vines had climbed to her chest, the intermediate Plant Element spell — Kun Grove — was complete.

"Kun Grove — Prison!"

Jingjing's entire bearing shifted in an instant. Her gaze swept over Pearl Academy's four with cold, imperious calm.

"Enjoy the sensation of being swallowed by vines, brambles, twisted branches, and thorns," she said.