247: Chapter 247 The Freshman Tournament Begins, the Power of the Giant Beasts!

On the other side.

On the academy's official website, there was currently a live stream room.

From the live stream, one could see real-time footage of that barren planet; in the top right corner, the ranking and status of every participant were even visible.

For now, the rankings were still arranged according to the initial student IDs of all Formal Students.

Li Fan and Peng Song, however, were ranked last and second to last.

As for the audience in the live stream...

There were Sparring Partners, Senior Students, and many academy mentors and higher-ups.

As a once-a-year New Student Competition...

The entire academy paid great attention to such an event.

For the Sparring Partners, they could witness a fierce struggle between dragons and tigers—a visual feast—which was quite a gain for them.

For Senior Students, they could use it to pass some weary time, observe the situation of their juniors, and stimulate their own motivation.

And for the mentors and academy higher-ups, it naturally served the purpose of screening seedlings and teaching students in accordance with their aptitude.

In the live stream...

Looking at the full view of this barren planet...

Many Senior Students at this moment also expressed the same sentiments as the New Students.

"This beast tide scale... isn't it a bit too exaggerated?"

"From afar, it looks like some Zerg nest. This batch of junior brothers and sisters must be dazed by now, right?"

"Is this the venue for the New Student Competition? Are you kidding me? Can anyone survive going up there?"

"It is indeed a bit ridiculous, but with such high difficulty, it should be quite exciting!"

Looking at the Sparring Partners again...

Their focus, aside from the terrifying beast tide, was surprisingly placed on Li Fan and Peng Song.

Many veteran Sparring Partners were currently speaking out in mockery, saying that Li Fan and Peng Song were overestimating themselves and seeking their own deaths, as if the two had committed some capital offense.

The other new Sparring Partners were slightly better, and a few even looked forward to whether the two could provide a stunning performance.

Of course, this part was a tiny minority, such as the few who, like Li Fan and Peng Song, also came from the Tianlan Star Domain.

Deep within the academy...

In the public leisure area for the academy's higher-ups.

"A survival competition? Who designed the format for this year's New Student Competition? They're quite imaginative!"

"More than just imaginative, it's absolutely creative! In the past, the main highlights were basically in the latter half. Now that it's changed to this mode, it will be very interesting from start to finish. I suggest we continue to adopt this mode for the next session!"

"It's indeed possible. The previous competition format was far too dull. This current mode not only increases the interest for us spectators but also serves to test the New Students' own abilities, strategy, overall perspective, teamwork, and various other aspects."

...

Compared to the shock of the younger generation...

The higher-ups were very satisfied with this situation.

Soon, the conversation of the higher-ups gathered here shifted to another topic.

"Alright, stop discussing the format. Let's place our bets. Who do you bet will be the first in this New Student Competition?"

"Old Mo is right. How can we watch the competition without some stakes? I bet that one from the Jiang Family can take first place!"

"Hahaha, then I'll bet on Duan Xuan from the Sword Abyss Sea!"

"Everyone's choosing the big favorites, right? Then I'll bet on someone different. I bet on that sword cultivator Sparring Partner, Peng Song!"

"Then I'll choose the other Sparring Partner, Li Fan."

"No, Old Fang, Old Chu, you two are betting on two Sparring Partners to win? Do you really think they are Huo Feng?"

"I'll also bet on that Li Fan! Just based on Senior Liusha's high regard for him, I feel he has the look of a champion!"

"I feel he'll at most just barely make it into the top ten. Compared to that group with Jiang Yunxu and Duan Xuan, he's still too far behind. I'm still betting on Jiang Yunxu!"

...

Indeed.

In the eyes of the academy's higher-ups...

This New Student Competition was actually no different from watching a performance like a freshman gala; they were all watching it as entertainment.

And their deeper form of entertainment was guessing who would be the number one New Student.

They played this way almost every year.

...

Turning our attention back to the scene of the New Student Competition.

As the spaceship slowly approached the planet...

The mentors responsible for hosting this New Student Competition had already gathered all the participants on the central deck of the spaceship.

"In ten minutes, the spaceship will reach the planet's outer orbit."

"At that time, you can choose to take a small aircraft to find a landing spot yourselves, or you can use the spaceship's formation to be randomly teleported next to a random shelter on the planet."

"Finally, a reminder: those of you who choose the aircraft must not launch attacks at each other before reaching the planet. Violators will be directly eliminated!"

...

The mentors were currently giving their final instructions.

Listening to the mentors' instructions...

The New Students on the deck were already very excited, eager to set off toward that planet.

Unknowingly...

Ten minutes passed quietly.

As the mentors announced the official start of the New Student Competition...

Every team began to head toward the planet.

Basically, over ninety-nine percent of the people chose to drive the aircraft themselves.

Only a few, like the extremely confident Jiang Yunxu, chose the random teleportation formation.

It had to be said...

Those who chose random teleportation had undeniable courage, but the risk was simply too great!

They said they would be teleported near a shelter...

But if one were teleported into the middle of a beast tide near a shelter, it would be tragic.

One might be eliminated as soon as they were teleported over.

If there were really any advantage to speak of...

It was that they could reach the planet a step faster than those who chose the aircraft, barely counting as gaining a bit of a head start.

As for Li Fan and the others...

Li Fan and his group also chose to go by small aircraft.

Soon...

As everyone set off one after another...

Above the sky of this barren planet, waves of visitors from beyond the heavens arrived.

The already violent giant beasts noticed this situation and became even more frenzied.

Looking at these terrifying Starry Sky Giant Beasts from a close distance while sitting in the aircraft...

All the New Students felt their scalps go numb.

This terrifying sense of oppression and visual impact was dozens of times stronger than when they were in space!

Even Li Fan was shocked by this scene.

At a glance, it was an ocean formed by Starry Sky Giant Beasts, with no end in sight!

Immediately after, Li Fan began to sense the strength of these Starry Sky Giant Beasts.

Roughly speaking, most of the auras were around the third or fourth stage of the Star Shattering Rank.

However, because the numbers were so vast, under the impact, their power would likely approach the fifth stage of Star Shattering!

Besides that, one could faintly see some beast tide ranks at the sixth or even seventh stage of Star Shattering.

For most of the other participating New Students, this was clearly almost impossible to resist.

Even for Li Fan, it would be very strenuous.

But strenuous as it might be...

At least for now, the situation of the giant beasts in his field of vision would not pose too much of a threat to him.

And for him, this was clearly a good thing!!