19: Chapter 19 City-level Selection Registration

In the fourth week after the Awakening, registration for the city-level selection competition began.

Awakened from all high schools across the city's three districts and six counties could participate.

There was only one registration requirement—be eighteen years old and have Awakened in the current year.

No distinction by talent grade, Divine Kingdom attribute, or school ranking.

This was the first true public competition in an Awakened person's life.

The registration point for Nanjiang No. 7 High School was set up in the large conference room on the first floor of the teaching building.

When Shen Ye arrived, there were already over a dozen people lined up at the door.

Not all Awakened would register—most students with F-grade and E-grade talents had already given up on the college entrance exam and were processing their graduation assignment paperwork.

Those in line were all D-grade or above, harborng the idea of giving it a shot.

Liu Yang was also in the queue.

He had a D-grade Hill attribute, a Toughness talent, and an overall D-grade evaluation.

Following a normal path, a D-grade could at most get into a city-level vocational college and find a job in resource collection or logistics support in the city after graduation.

But Liu Yang said he didn't want to accept his fate.

“What if?”

He said,

“What if I pull off an upset in the City-level Competition and catch the eye of some university's admissions officer?”

Shen Ye did not try to dissuade him.

Everyone had their own 'what if'.

Liu Yang's 'what if' was an upset; his 'what if' was breaking into the national top fifty.

In essence, there was no difference.

The queue moved forward.

Shen Ye saw the people in front filling out information on the registration form—name, school, Awakening grade, Divine Kingdom attribute, and talent.

Every item had to be filled out truthfully and cross-verified with the records from the Awakening test's stone stele.

No one could fake it.

When it was Shen Ye's turn, the person in charge of registration was Teacher Zhao from the school's Academic Affairs Office.

She took Shen Ye's registration form, verified his Awakening record, and stamped the 'Overall Evaluation' column.

Then she looked up and gave Shen Ye an extra glance.

“You are our school's only S-grade this year.”

Shen Ye nodded.

Teacher Zhao handed him a copy of the registration form and put the original into a file bag.

“Good luck. It's been many years since Nanjiang No. 7 High School produced a city-level top ten.”

Shen Ye took the copy.

City-level top ten was just the starting line.

His goal was the provincial top ten and the national top fifty.

But he didn't say it.

The day after registration ended, the city media arrived.

It wasn't the big provincial media, but the local Nanjiang Awakening Daily and the City Education Channel.

Reporters set up filming equipment in the Nanjiang No. 7 High School conference room, with the school emblem and a projected caption reading 'Nanjiang No. 7 High School S-grade Awakened' as the background.

Shen Ye was called to the conference room by Principal Zhou, sat in front of the camera, and answered the reporters' questions.

“Student Shen Ye, as the only S-grade Awakened from Nanjiang No. 7 High School this year, what are your expectations for the upcoming city-level selection competition?”

“I'll do my best to play every match well.”

“Your Divine Kingdom attribute is Land of Cultivation, and your talent is S-grade Double Time.”

“Many experts evaluate you as the dark horse of this City-level Competition. What do you think?”

“Dark horse is what others say. I just focus on fighting.”

Among the seeded players of the City-level Competition, Lu Chuan from City No. 1 High School is also an S-grade, with the Iron-Blooded Battlefield Divine Kingdom attribute.

“Are you looking forward to facing him?”

“When we meet, I will naturally fight.”

The reporter asked a few more questions, and Shen Ye answered them one by one.

He didn't say a single extra word and didn't set any flags.

After the interview, as the reporter was packing up the equipment, they whispered to the cameraman: “This S-grade really doesn't talk much.”

The cameraman replied: “Those who talk less are usually better at fighting than those who talk a lot.”

The next day, the report came out.

On the front page of the Nanjiang Awakening Daily, the headline was: 'Nanjiang No. 7 High School S-grade Dark Horse Debuts: Taciturn and Steady, City-level Competition Worth the Wait'.

Accompanying it was a photo of Shen Ye sitting in front of the camera, his expression calm, his eyes not looking at the lens.

Instead, they were slightly tilted toward the bottom right—that was his habitual movement when his consciousness sank into his Divine Kingdom.

The report summarized Shen Ye's public information: eighteen years old, senior at Nanjiang No. 7 High School, Awakened Land of Cultivation, one thousand max-value followers, one hundred square kilometers max-value area, S-grade talent Double Time.

The fourth S-grade in the sixty-year history of Nanjiang No. 7 High School.

Then came the expert commentary—the vice president of the City Awakened Association said:

“Land of Cultivation is a top-tier attribute, and Double Time is a growth-type talent; this player's ceiling is very high.”

But the City-level Competition tests immediate combat power; he has only been Awakened for a month, so his Divine Kingdom's development time is limited.

“How far he can go depends on his performance on the spot.”

The last paragraph of the report mentioned Lu Chuan.

City No. 1 High School S-grade, Iron-Blooded Battlefield, Awakened last year, having developed for a full year.

His Divine Kingdom area was nearly four hundred square kilometers, his followers exceeded five thousand, and his main combat followers, the Undead, had won seven consecutive victories in the city-level simulated matches.

Experts considered Lu Chuan the number one seed of this City-level Competition.

Shen Ye put down the newspaper.

Lu Chuan.

Iron-Blooded Battlefield.

Undead.

He had fought Undead Wraith-type Void Race variants in Qin Shu's projection training—they weren't real Void Race, but undead-type enemies simulated by the technology Divine Kingdom based on military data.

Those things would reassemble after being broken apart, their cores hidden deep within the undead swarm, making them extremely difficult to capture with Divine Sense locking.

Lu Chuan's Iron-Blooded Battlefield likely had a similar mechanism.

He sent a message to Qin Shu:

“Among the City-level Competition opponents, there's an Iron-Blooded Battlefield S-grade, Undead Wraith-type.”

“Is there a similar configuration in the projection training?”

Qin Shu quickly replied:

Yes.

Starting tomorrow, undead-type variants will be added to your Void Race configuration.

“Fight them for three days first to figure them out before we switch.”

Shen Ye put away his communicator.

There were still two weeks until the start of the city-level selection competition.

Two weeks—fourteen days in the outside world, twenty-eight years in the Divine Kingdom.

Jin Lin's Deflection Sword had been practiced under the sword stele for countless days and nights. That golden dragon pattern brought out from the ore had changed from a blurry outline into a clearly discernible young dragon, producing a low sword hum as it moved across his shoulders.

Mu Sheng's Differentiation Vine Net had increased from fourteen vines to twenty-one.

An enemy-trapping net with seven nodes and five intersection angles.

A Luo Tian Net woven from fourteen vines.

A single-vine long-range Sniper Vine.

A control system with three layers—close, medium, and long range—had been formed.

Elder Quan's Spiral Spirit Spring technique had been deduced to the seventh version.

There was no longer just one miniature spirit spring in his palm.

Instead, there were three in parallel, and the three spiral water currents could each unfold independently.

They could also converge in mid-air to form a composite water curtain made of three overlapping spirals.

In the Land of Gods and Demons, the number of Angels and Succubi had exceeded ten thousand.

When Chen's six wings fully unfurled, the Holy Light could project a golden band of light across dozens of kilometers in the sky.

Ye's Abyss Domain had expanded from the dark purple light circle beneath her feet to a circular area with a radius of hundreds of meters, where the abyss patterns flowed like living things.

The Twilight Spirit Springs had increased from three to five, with twilight light bands interweaving into a net above the Land of Gods and Demons.

The fifty stone slots of the sword stele were filled with longswords flowing with twilight patterns. Holders of Holy Light Swords and Abyss Swords practiced against each other in front of the stele, and the twilight sword light bursting from the clashing blades could now last for a full breath instead of just a brief flicker.

Shen Ye opened his eyes.

Outside the window was the playground of Nanjiang No. 7 High School, where students for the morning run were lining up.

The radio was playing the commands for the Awakened gymnastics. Liu Yang was still snoring in the upper bunk.

He folded the newspaper and placed it by his bedside.

Two weeks until the city-level selection competition.

Two weeks until he would stand before everyone for the first time and show them how far the only S-grade from Nanjiang No. 7 High School could go.

He got up, dressed, and pushed the door open to leave.

Qin Shu was waiting for him at the Third Training Ground.

The projection device had already started. Within the light screen was a grey wasteland, and at the end of the wasteland, the dark red light of Undead Wraith-type Void Race variants loomed in the mist.

Shen Ye stepped into the light screen.

The projections of Jin Lin, Mu Sheng, and Elder Quan condensed in front of him. The projections of Chen and Ye appeared in the Simulated Rift at the same time for the first time—Qin Shu had expanded his projection permissions from the Land of Cultivation to all follower data of both Divine Kingdoms.

Of course, Qin Shu only thought that was part of the 'hidden inheritance' of the Land of Cultivation.

Jin Lin rested his hand on his sword.

Mu Sheng let his vines hang down.

Elder Quan tucked his hands into his sleeves.

Chen unfurled her six wings.

Ye opened her Abyss Pupils.

The battle began.