27: Chapter 27 First Battle

The schedule for the City-level Competition was packed tight.

Ten groups, thirty people per group; a single round-robin meant everyone had to play twenty-nine matches.

The association compressed the schedule into two weeks, with each contestant playing at least two matches a day—one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

It was a tremendous test of the Awakened's divine sense and the endurance of their familiars.

Shen Ye's first match was scheduled for the morning of the day after the opening.

His opponent was named Wang Lei, from City No. 6 High School, Class B, with a Stone Forest attribute Kingdom.

In Su Wanqing's file on Wang Lei, there were only a few sparse lines—Awakened for just over a year, Kingdom area of about two hundred square kilometers, and a number of familiars approaching one thousand.

Primary combat familiars: Stone Demon, earth-element elemental creatures, decent defense, average attack, slow speed.

Combat style: Frontal positional warfare, suppressing with numbers.

Weakness: The Stone Demon's core is in its head; shattering the core causes loss of combat capability; slow movement speed, countered by high-speed units; insufficient resistance to Metal-element Sword Cultivator armor-piercing attacks.

At the end of the file, Su Wanqing added a note: "This person's fighting style is very standard."

Not flashy, doesn't make mistakes, but also not brilliant.

"You can win if you play steadily."

After reading the note, Shen Ye put down the data pad.

What Su Wanqing meant by "play steadily" was for him to use the most conventional Five Elements array, without needing to reveal any hidden trump cards, and without letting Jin Lin, Mu Sheng, or Elder Quan—the three familiars who had Awakened "self"—appear too early.

Wang Lei's level was not worth revealing his trump cards.

On the day of the match, Shen Ye arrived at the contestant preparation area ahead of time.

The Group 7 match was arranged on the third combat platform on the flank of the City Gymnasium; the arena was a bit smaller than the central main stage, but the law reinforcements and buffer patterns were just as numerous.

There were quite a few spectators in the stands—the Group 7 matches were starting simultaneously, and the friends and family of other contestants, students from various schools watching the matches, and media cameramen filled the side stands to the brim.

Shen Ye scanned the spectator stands.

Many people from Nanjiang No. 7 High School had come; Liu Yang was sitting in the front row, next to Teacher Zheng and several subject teachers from the school.

Principal Zhou Wenyin didn't come—she only appeared for the finals and critical matches.

On the side of City No. 1 High School, Su Wanqing was sitting in the corner of the stands, holding a data pad, her gaze scanning back and forth between the field and the stands.

The dark red school uniforms of City No. 3 High School were gathered on the other side of the stands. Zheng Chuan sat in the middle of the crowd, arms crossed over his chest, a mocking smile on his lips.

His gaze met Shen Ye's for a brief moment, then shifted away.

Fang Yan sat next to Zheng Chuan, silently watching the combat platform, like a real piece of granite.

The referee called Shen Ye's name.

Shen Ye stood up from the preparation area and walked onto the combat platform.

The off-white law stone slabs glowed faintly beneath his feet, and the buffer patterns, sensing the imminent battle, began to activate automatically.

Opposite him, Wang Lei was already standing in the preparation position.

Wang Lei was half a head shorter than Shen Ye, with a sturdy build, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.

His expression was very serious, lips tightly pressed, and there were fine beads of sweat on his forehead.

It wasn't heat; it was nervousness.

Shen Ye had seen this kind of nervousness—Zhao Duo had the same expression before going on stage during the school assessment.

It wasn't fear of the opponent, but fear of the "S-rank" label.

Wang Lei was Class B, belonging to the middle tier in the City-level Competition. Drawing the only S-rank from Nanjiang No. 7 High School in his first match meant his luck was terrible.

But he didn't forfeit, didn't slack off; instead, he clenched his fists and stood on the combat platform.

For this, Shen Ye respected him.

The referee raised a hand.

Both sides deployed their Kingdom Projections.

Wang Lei's Stone Forest spread out on the other side of the combat platform.

A gray-white rocky wasteland, with stone pillars of varying heights rising from the ground, like a petrified forest.

Stone Demons walked out from between the stone pillars—over a dozen of them, each as tall as an adult's chest, with thick arms hanging to the ground, their heads being a rough spherical rock, and two dim points of light slowly lighting up in the eye sockets.

The dozen or so Stone Demons lined up in two horizontal rows in front of Wang Lei, blocking the narrow front of the Stone Forest terrain completely.

A standard positional warfare opening.

Shen Ye deployed his Land of Cultivation.

No sky-filling sword energy, no Five Elements grand array.

He only summoned two familiars.

A Metal-element Sword Cultivator.

Not Jin Lin, but a young sword cultivator whose face still carried the blurriness of birth, at the late stage of Qi Refining.

The flying sword was a standard longsword from the sword stele stone slot, the blade dark gold, without dragon patterns.

He stood to Shen Ye's right, hand on the hilt, his aura steady.

A Water Spirit Root Mage.

Not Elder Quan, but a young female cultivator with delicate features, also at the late stage of Qi Refining.

She held her hands in her sleeves, her body wreathed in extremely faint water mist.

Two familiars.

Late stage of Qi Refining.

Against over a dozen Class B Stone Demons.

A low murmur of discussion arose from the stands.

"Two?"

"Fighting over a dozen Stone Demons?"

"Isn't that too arrogant?"

Wang Lei was also stunned for a moment, but quickly composed his expression and raised his right hand.

The referee's hand fell.

"Begin."

Wang Lei did not hesitate.

The dozen or so Stone Demons moved simultaneously.

They weren't charging; they were advancing.

The two horizontal rows maintained a neat interval, every step landing on the same rhythm, their gray-white rocky bodies casting neat shadows on the law stone slabs.

The speed wasn't fast, but the pressure was intense.

Like a moving stone wall.

Standard positional advancement tactic—not pursuing speed, but density.

The dozen Stone Demons squeezed into the narrow Stone Forest passage, the space between them just enough to swing their arms without colliding, blocking the frontal defense line without any gaps.

Wang Lei knew his Stone Demons' speed was on the slower side; if they charged, they would be kited, so he simply didn't charge, pressing forward step by step in the clumsiest yet steadiest way.

Shen Ye did not retreat.

He let the Water Spirit Root Mage make the first move.

The female cultivator pulled her hands from her sleeves, her ten fingers tracing through the air, and water mist condensed into dozens of slender streams of water, extending from her fingertips.

The water streams weren't attacks; they were crowd control.

They spread rapidly along the law stone slabs, laying a thin film of water on the inevitable path of the Stone Demons' advance.

The Stone Demons stepped into the water film, their speed not significantly decreasing—the Stone Demons' weight was too great, and the water film too thin to have a slowing effect.

Wang Lei's lips twitched, but he didn't smile.

The water film rapidly cooled beneath the Stone Demons' feet, freezing into ice.

Not freezing the whole area, but localized freezing.

The female cultivator's water streams condensed individually beneath each Stone Demon's feet, the ice layer precisely adhering between the Stone Demon's soles and the law stone slabs.

When the Stone Demon lifted its foot, the ice layer shattered, but the shattered ice embedded itself into the rock crevices of the Stone Demon's soles, freezing again.

After a few breaths, the soles of all the Stone Demons were wrapped in a thick layer of ice.

The ice shell itself couldn't cause any damage to the Stone Demons, but it changed the shape of their soles.

The originally rough rock soles that could firmly grip the ground turned into smooth, frictionless ice blocks.

The Stone Demons' pace began to falter.

When the first Stone Demon lifted its foot, the ice shell slipped on the law stone slab; its body swayed, bumping into its companion next to it.

The companion was bumped, taking a crooked step, its own ice-covered sole also slipping, bumping into another.

The originally neat advancement rhythm of the two horizontal rows was completely disrupted by that thin layer of ice on their soles.

The Stone Demons were like a group of clumsy beasts stepping onto ice for the first time, bumping into each other, slipping, struggling to maintain balance.

The formation was broken.

The Metal-element Sword Cultivator made his move.

He didn't rush into the group of Stone Demons but stood at the edge of the water film, his flying sword unsheathed.

The standard longsword turned into a streak of dark golden light, piercing into the left eye socket of the foremost Stone Demon struggling to maintain balance, penetrating the head core, and shooting out from the back of the head.

The dim light in the Stone Demon's eye socket extinguished instantly, its huge body swayed, lunged forward, smashed onto the law stone slab, and shattered into a pile of ordinary rocks.

One sword strike.

The flying sword didn't pause; after shooting out from the back of the first Stone Demon's head, it drew a very short arc in the air and pierced into the second Stone Demon's eye socket.

The second one.

The third.

The fourth.

The flying sword's trajectory was as precise as if measured with a ruler, every strike piercing from the eye socket, penetrating the core, and coming out from the back of the head.

The Stone Demon's head core was their only weakness, but their thick arms naturally protected their faces when swinging, making it difficult to precisely hit the eye socket during normal combat.

But at this moment, these Stone Demons were overwhelmed—the ice shell under their feet made it difficult for them to even stand steadily; their arms were flailing in the air trying to grab something to maintain balance, their faces completely exposed.

The Metal-element Sword Cultivator's flying sword was like a golden thread, stringing the eye sockets of the dozen Stone Demons one by one.

Wang Lei's complexion changed.

He tried to make the Stone Demons give up advancing and crouch down to stabilize their center of gravity, but instructions took time to transmit.

It took at least several breaths for the clumsy bodies of the Stone Demons to complete an action after receiving the instruction.

And in those few breaths, the Metal-element Sword Cultivator's flying sword had already pierced through several more cores.

The last Stone Demon finally crouched down, hands supporting the ground, giving up all attacking intent, burying its head deep into the crook of its arms.

The flying sword hovered above its head, the tip resting on its thick forearm, not piercing down.

The rock thickness of the forearm wasn't something the flying sword could easily penetrate; forcing an armor break would consume sword intent.

The Metal-element Sword Cultivator sheathed his sword, turned, and walked back to Shen Ye's side.

The Water Spirit Root Mage retracted the water streams simultaneously.

The ice shells under the Stone Demons' feet lost their spiritual power support and rapidly melted into ordinary water, seeping into the gaps of the law stone slabs.

The last Stone Demon crouched on the ground, maintaining the posture of holding its head, like a clumsy statue.

The stands were silent for a moment.

The referee raised a hand.

"Winner, Shen Ye."

The time taken was very short.

From the Water Spirit Root Mage spreading the water film to the Metal-element Sword Cultivator sheathing his sword, the whole process was smooth and fluid.

The murmur of discussion in the stands surged up like a late tide.

"Two familiars, fighting over a dozen Stone Demons, total suppression."

"That Water-element Mage's ice crowd control was too precise; the timing of the freezing under the Stone Demons' feet is something ordinary familiars couldn't achieve."

"The Metal-element Sword Cultivator's eye socket assassination, every sword pierced in from an angle, with an error of no more than a finger's width."

How long had they practiced such precision?

Shen Ye retracted his two familiars, nodded to Wang Lei, and turned to walk off the combat platform.

Wang Lei stood on the other side of the combat platform, his expression somewhat dazed.

He had prepared for his first match for a long time, prepared a dense advancement formation for over a dozen Stone Demons, and prepared a defensive plan to deal with an S-rank familiar's strong attack.

But Shen Ye didn't attack strongly at all.

He used two familiars, one to spread the water film and condense the ice shell, the other to pick off cores with a flying sword.

It wasn't power suppression; it was tactical execution precise to every sword strike.

Wang Lei put away his Kingdom Projection and bowed slightly to Shen Ye's back.

Losing to such an opponent, it wasn't a grievance.

When Shen Ye walked off the combat platform, his gaze swept across the stands.

Zheng Chuan's arms were crossed over his chest, the mocking arc of his lips was gone, replaced by a certain serious expression.

Fang Yan remained silent, but for the first time, his gaze was firmly locked on Shen Ye, like rock identifying the hardness of another rock.

Su Wanqing was quickly recording something on her data pad, her expression calm, but there was a very slight arc at the corner of her lips.

In the last row of the stands, several people in casual clothes were talking in low voices.

Their casual clothes had no school badges, but small metal badges were pinned to their collars—the admission officer badges of the four top universities.

Shen Ye had seen these badges from Qin Shu.

The gold one was Shenyu University, the silver-white one was Cangqiong University, the deep blue one was Wanxiang University, and the dark green one was Eternal University.

Today, the ones who came were deep blue and dark green.

The admission officers from Wanxiang University and Eternal University.

They looked up at the same time as Shen Ye walked off the combat platform, their gazes lingering on him for a moment, then they lowered their heads to record on their respective data pads.

Shen Ye withdrew his gaze and walked towards the preparation area.

Liu Yang rushed down from the stands and slapped him on the back.

"Two!"

Two familiars!

Fighting over a dozen!

"How did you do it?"

Shen Ye thought for a moment and said, "The Stone Demons' feet slipped."

Liu Yang was stunned.

"Just that?"

"Just that."

Shen Ye sat down and took a sip of water.

The coolness of the water slid all the way from his throat to his chest.

He didn't tell the truth.

The truth was, the Water Spirit Root Mage's ice control precision was polished through countless failures in Qin Shu's projection training.

The truth was, the Metal-element Sword Cultivator's flying sword core-picking was a compulsory course Jin Lin taught every Gold Spirit Root Sword Cultivator before the sword stele.

The truth was, he chose to use only two familiars instead of directly crushing them, not because he was arrogant, but because the admission officers were in the stands.

In the first round of the City-level Competition, all admission officers were observing the performance of every S-rank.

Lu Chuan used the Undead Sea to crush a Class B in the first group, without revealing any tactical details the whole time.

That was Lu Chuan's style—absolute power, leaving no flaws.

Shen Ye chose another way.

He used the minimum amount of power to demonstrate the most precise control.

It wasn't showing "I can crush you," it was showing "I can dismantle your defense line precisely to every sword strike within the minimum range allowed by the rules."

Two styles, the same goal.

To make the admission officers remember him.

Shen Ye put down the water cup.

In the Kingdom, Jin Lin stopped practicing sword in front of the sword stele and turned to look at the Gold Spirit Root Sword Cultivators lined up behind him.

In that battle just now, the angle, timing, and force of every sword strike by that young sword cultivator were taught by Jin Lin hand-in-hand.

Mu Sheng stood by the spiritual field, the tips of his vines gently tapping the ground.

The Water Spirit Root female cultivator's ice crowd control—the thickness of the water film, the timing of freezing, the shape of the ice shell—were the results of countless repeated deductions by Elder Quan by the spiritual spring.

Elder Quan sat cross-legged by the spiritual spring, hands in his sleeves, a very faint smile on his lips.

Shen Ye closed his eyes.

There was one day left until the next match.

One day in the outside world, two years in the Kingdom.

Two years later, Fang Yan's Granite Fortress would know what "counter" meant in front of Elder Quan's Spiral Water Curtain and Mu Sheng's infiltrating root system.

At this moment, Fang Yan was sitting in the stands, silently watching the combat platform.

His first match was in the afternoon, against a Class C, a guaranteed win.

His duel with Shen Ye was scheduled for the middle of the group stage.

There were still a few days left.

Shen Ye opened his eyes, picked up the data pad, and flipped to Fang Yan's file.

Granite Fortress, about three hundred Rock Giants, one mutant.

Defense rating A, attack method physical crushing.

Weakness: The internal structure is dense and lacks toughness; after water-element infiltration, freezing can crack the rock body; wood-element root system infiltration can dismantle it from the inside.

He read these few lines repeatedly many times, then closed the data pad.

Liu Yang was chattering away next to him, analyzing other people's matches in the afternoon. Shen Ye listened, nodding occasionally.

In the corridor outside the preparation area, the footsteps of the contestants for the next match could be heard.

Outside the window, the dome of the City Gymnasium shimmered with a grayish-white light under the sunlight.

In the last row of the stands, the admission officer from Wanxiang University wrote a line on Shen Ye's file: "Tactical execution is extremely strong, familiar foundation is exceptionally solid."

Suggest continuous observation.

The admission officer from Eternal University wrote: "Resource utilization efficiency is extremely high, minimum input for maximum result."

Combat style is highly compatible with Eternal University's logistics system.

Two lines of text, two kinds of evaluations.

Shen Ye didn't know yet.

He only knew that he had won the first match.

Won cleanly, won in a way that made the arc of Zheng Chuan's lips disappear, won in a way that made Fang Yan look at him properly for the first time, won in a way that made the admission officers write his name on their data pads.

That was enough.