Chapter 287: Quotas and Competition Format
No matter what the other party intended, Xu Zhi couldn’t just stay locked in her dorm waiting for them to appear.
Normally, no one would enter her dormitory. It was already her private property. Qi Yanxin would occasionally come in to tidy up, but considering that another blood offering might mysteriously appear again, Xu Zhi specifically told her not to enter her room for the time being before leaving.
Carrying the flowerpot in her hands all the time was inconvenient.
So she bought a backpack.
There were Transcendent items similar to storage spaces—but they were far too expensive. With her current resources, she couldn’t afford such luxuries.
Students participating in the Lost Lands selection didn’t need to attend class today.
The attendance system would automatically mark them present. Instructors were informed in advance about the reason for their absence. Most upperclassmen already had a good idea who qualified. The only suspense lay in the ten special wildcard spots.
Ever since the selection date was announced, the top ten of each grade had already been finalized.
As for the remaining ten slots, the forums were in an uproar with speculation.
“The twin sisters from the Student Union should get spots, right? Even if they’re not top ten overall, this Lost Lands trip is preparation for the League. In team battles, they’re insane—basically unbeatable.”
“Hard to say. The official League roster only has seven spots. They’re strong together, but in 1v1 arena matches they’re not that impressive.”
“The League isn’t some kiddie competition. It’s a real meat grinder. If one twin dies early, that’s trouble. But if both survive and fight together? Absolutely broken.”
“Senior Mingwu from fifth year should get a slot, right?”
“Probably. The way he uses that hammer is godlike. One swing feels like it could grind my bones to powder!”
“Forging builds that don’t go mechanical but focus purely on strength and physique are terrifying. His path is too extreme, which keeps him out of top ten overall—but his raw offensive output definitely isn’t inferior.”
“What about Senior Lingyuan? She’s Heart-aligned, but her combat style is honestly terrifying. Shouldn’t we send her to scare the other academies’ students?”
“You rascal.”
“Hard to say. The Lost Lands rules change every year. We’ll have to see this year’s format. They’ll probably adjust it based on the League.”
The League format had already been announced.
The preliminary standards were loosened.
Many academies that previously couldn’t participate were now eligible—including ordinary academies from subordinate cities.
Speculation suggested that just the preliminary stage might involve over ten thousand academies.
Five hundred teams were already confirmed to advance directly into the group stage.
Who knew what kind of dark horses might rampage through the brackets?
“Doesn’t matter to us. We’re a seed team. Straight to finals. Even if there’s a dark horse, how dark can it be?”
In the real world, there were over a hundred “Main Cities.”
Each was enormous, surrounded by numerous subordinate cities.
For example, Lian City—where Xu Zhi was currently located—had over a hundred academies on just its Fifth Layer alone. Though jokingly called the “Academy District,” it didn’t mean other layers lacked academies.
And that was only Lian City.
Each Main City was separated by vast distances. Between them were clusters of subordinate cities orbiting the main hubs.
Ordinarily, subordinate-city academies rarely participated in the League.
This sudden rule change was unusual.
Still, the major Main Cities didn’t take it too seriously.
After all, truly talented students from subordinate cities were usually absorbed into Main City academies anyway.
This year: 500 academies entered the preliminaries; Lian City received 4 slots; There were 100 seed slots; Lian City received 2 seeds.
Even among all Main Cities, that was a relatively high allocation.
One seed belonged to the Light Academy. Its Lian City branch counted under Lian City’s total.
Not only Light Academy—other major factions also held seed slots. Light alone holding four seeds placed it firmly in the first tier.
The other Lian City seed went to the academy directly established by the Council and the military. Thanks to placing in the top ten in the previous League, Lian City earned that seed.
“No big deal. We’ll just study our finals opponents. Any dark horse has to fight through five stages before meeting us.”
From every angle, Lian City was first-tier.
A classic “Demon King script.”
“Better stay humble. With the expanded prelims, maybe there’s a reason. Maybe they’ve heard something—like a real dark horse might appear.”
“Whatever. Slaughter them all!”
That wasn’t a joke.
The League’s mortality rate was extremely high.
However, large-scale ritual circuits were prepared in advance. If someone died in the arena, their life force could be preserved and restored through ritual reversal.
Accidents happened occasionally.
But most of the time, even if you “died,” you could be brought back.
Transcendent competition was no child’s play.
The ritual did not reduce pain.
You still had to “die” for real.
If a team had a weak link, that person might experience death multiple times in one match.
There had even been pampered Transcendents in the past who broke mentally after being killed repeatedly in the League.
After a match, arenas were often littered with severed limbs and splattered blood.
Fortunately, the life-reversal ritual was powerful.
Otherwise, no city could withstand burning through its young geniuses like that.
“Tiyet has already gone ahead to prepare the life-reversal ritual. Celestial Heart Association is mobilizing major figures this time too. Looks like they really are going for a nationwide prelim.”
Tiyet.
Xu Zhi paused slightly when she saw that name on the forum.
A powerful Named of the Heart attribute from Lian City.
Her very name symbolized life itself—a testament to how favored she was by Heart.
Besides her, many Named individuals were mentioned—mostly Heart and Enlightenment-aligned. After all, constructing life-reversal rituals required mainly those two attributes.
Lantern and Forge were also indispensable.
A small amount of Winter was needed as well.
“Getting ahead of ourselves. They still have to pass the Lost Lands selection—and come back alive—before even thinking about the League.”
“But one thing’s certain. The official team captain will definitely be the President. Compared to last time, she’s way stronger now. We might actually fight for the championship!”
That post received nearly unanimous agreement.
The Student Union President of Light Academy.
Everyone seemed to assume she would secure a League spot.
That she would return alive from the Lost Lands.
That she would lead them to a better result than ever before.
Reading through the posts, Xu Zhi could clearly see it—
The students’ trust.
Their admiration.
Their reverence.
Almost like faith.
