"The number one academy on the entire continent, and the defending champion of the last Soul Duel Tournament—the Shrek Academy team!"
Wang Nan stepped onto the arena amidst the cheers of the crowd. The moment his dark green figure appeared, the cheers grew even louder, and even the arena beneath his feet seemed to tremble slightly.
Wang Nan surprisingly felt a different kind of emotion in his heart.
In his previous life, when he saw contestants stepping onto the competition venue on TV, did they feel the same way?
"Their opponents are the Tianling team from the Douling Empire!"
Amidst such a powerful roar of support, the faces of the Tianling Academy Disciples looked somewhat grim.
As the fourteen students from both sides gathered in the center of the arena, the referee repeated the competition rules.
"During the competition, both sides can use most spirit tools, but high-lethality equipment like fixed-load spirit tools cannot be used for combat. When one side concedes, the other side must stop attacking. Understood?"
"Understood."
"Good, both sides retreat to the sides of the arena. Prepare. The competition—begins!"
Wang Nan's side had not arranged any tactics. In fact, from the moment the draw results came out, no tactics were needed.
Among the seven members of Tianling Academy, the highest cultivation was only a Four-Ring Spirit Ancestor, and two others were only at the Three-Ring level. On Shrek's side, even the two reserve players who participated had four spirit rings.
No tactics were necessary. Wang Nan and Dai Yueheng, both Spirit Emperors, took the lead, with Xi Xi and Beibei by their side. Under Gongyang Mo's enhancement, they charged into the enemy formation.
The seven opponents immediately saw the golden spirit ring on Wang Nan's body and were still wondering. In the next moment, a dark blue ice ring appeared around Ling Luochen and floated into the air. The seven members of Tianling Academy only felt their feet sink, and then ice-blue prisms appeared around them, trapping their bodies.
And then… there was no "then."
The battle ended within half a minute, with more than ten seconds spent on travel. The two teams barely had any resistance before being driven off the arena, one by one.
The surrounding spectators felt as if a match had finished in the blink of an eye. Many in the back rows hadn't even clearly seen what spirit or Spirit Ability the contestants released before it was over.
To the west of the competition arena was a pre-built lounge area, specifically for contestants who had passed the first round of elimination. When Wang Nan and the others walked off the arena, Wang Yan had already brought the remaining Disciples to sit there.
Walking off the arena amidst thunderous cheers, even the usually calm Beibei felt a sense of unreality. Xu Sanshi had already begun to show off to the few alternate players who hadn't played.
However, the main team members, who had participated in the previous Soul Duel Tournament, were somewhat prepared for such a situation. Wang Nan sat in the first row next to Wang Yan. Many people in the audience looked his way, but Wang Nan merely waved to his parents and didn't pay too much attention to the other gazes.
The matches of the other academies took much longer than Wang Nan's. The fastest match also took more than ten minutes, and many students were injured during the battles, which could even be described as "tragic."
By noon, both the contestants and the surrounding spectators needed a break, and Wang Nan and his team finally returned to the hotel.
"Excuse me, madam, the Star Emperor Hotel does not accommodate anyone other than contestants during the Soul Duel Tournament."
At the entrance of the Star Emperor Hotel, a waiter stopped a short young girl.
"I'm not staying here; I'm looking for someone."
"May I ask which guest you are looking for? If convenient, could you provide some identification?"
"The person I'm looking for is from Shrek Academy. Just go in and tell them."
"I apologize." The hotel waiter shook his head. "Without identification, we cannot simply let people in to disturb guests."
The little girl stood on her tiptoes and looked into the hotel twice, unwilling to give up, but she didn't see the person she was looking for. Seeing that several security personnel had already noticed her, she reluctantly turned and left.
Wang Nan, on the top floor of the hotel, naturally didn't know what was happening downstairs. He was discussing the morning's matches with Wang Yan.
"Of the teams that passed the elimination round this morning, besides the Sun Moon Empire's Royal Soul Master Academy, the other academies don't seem to be as strong as us." Although he said this, Wang Yan didn't feel entirely relaxed.
"Did you notice that other Spirit Master academies, like us, have also started to try Fusion development between Spirit Masters and Soul Masters? Look at their battles; even the Tianling Academy, which you defeated at the very beginning, actually had defensive spirit tools."
"Although you easily defeated them, this was due to the vast difference in your spirit power. If you encounter stronger opponents, it might not be so easy."
Wang Nan nodded. For most Spirit Master academies, to achieve better results, they only needed to train their Spirit Masters and then purchase spirit tools, teaching them how to use them to greatly improve their strength.
If it weren't for a fortunate opportunity, the Soul Guidance System would not have been proposed, and Mu En would not have pushed for the development of spirit tools against all opposition. Shrek Academy might not have realized the importance of spirit tools until now. Their profound cultivation, ironically, had limited their vision, making them inferior to some obscure, ordinary academies.
"During this time, I've looked at the records of previous Soul Duel Tournaments. In fact, there were already signs of this back then. More and more academies using spirit tools achieved better results. I just didn't expect so many to appear in this one."
Wang Yan sighed, "After this Soul Duel Tournament, I imagine other academies will see that we are also using spirit tools. At that point, I expect there will no longer be any purely Spirit Master academies."
While discussing spirit tools with Wang Yan, Wang Nan suddenly remembered something. Some details from his memories of his previous life had gradually blurred with the passage of time, but once related content was brought up, it would reappear in Wang Nan's mind.
"Second Uncle, are we still going to watch the afternoon matches?"
"I need to go and observe the performance of the other academies. The more we can learn about their demonstrated abilities from the matches, the greater our chances of winning when we face them," Wang Yan said, glancing at Wang Nan. "If you don't want to go, you don't have to. I can go alone."
Wang Nan thought for a moment, then shook his head. "It's fine, I'll go too."
Wang Nan didn't doubt Wang Yan's ability, but Wang Yan was limited by his cultivation and experience. Wang Nan not only had memories from his previous life but had also learned a lot of previously unknown knowledge from Mu En. He could see more things than Wang Yan.