Matthew Atkinson & Natalie Russell
Oxford, United Kingdom
Matthew's team was going to consist of 10 people in total on the third layer. This meant that, apart from Natalie and Matthew, eight vacancies needed to be filled.
The remaining eight vacancies were divided equally between classes A and B.
The students from the two classes actually fought over those eight spots.
Literally, they started fighting as soon as they received the news.
That was not an exaggeration at all.
Because everyone believed that in the third layer of the Supernatural Realm, following Natalie Russell would guarantee an easy victory.
And the result of this easy victory would be over 300 attribute points.
Who could possibly resist this?
For freshmen, 300 attribute points could significantly boost their strength.
At that time, they would be able to deal with the fourth layer of the supernatural realm more easily.
And this meant they would earn more attribute points in the fourth layer. And that would lead to better performance in subsequent layers...
And that was precisely what it meant to lay a solid foundation.
That was why everyone was arguing about it.
Even Class C wanted to join in the fun when they heard the news.
Later, Professor Grant and Professor Holland had no choice but to hold a competition within their classes. The winning team would get a spot on Natalie and Matthew's team.
The Class B competition winners were a pair of boys and a pair of girls.
The winning team in Class A, not surprisingly, was Filip Walker, Denis Read, and their two teammates.
After the last official class distribution, Class A was full of stronger students, including the most outstanding. With their abilities and talents, students like Filip Walker and Denis Read could barely be ranked in the top ten.
Their victory was entirely due to the solid foundation they laid in the first two layers of the supernatural realm.
The first time, their result was graded as an A, and they ranked very high.
The second time, they were also graded A.
That was how the Supernatural Realm worked.
The better the foundation you lay at the beginning, the stronger you will become, and the easier it will be to adventure in the Supernatural Realm later on.
This eventually would create a cycle.
...
Speaking of which, there were far more than just the freshmen from the three classes of the University of Oxford who wanted to become Natalie's teammates in the third layer of the supernatural realm.
Even the universities outside their city have set their sights on Natalie.
Many principals of supernatural universities wanted to send one or two students to join Natalie's team.
The worst was the University of Cambridge.
To get their students onto Natalie's team, they even had the Ministry of Education officials act as middlemen.
The vice-principal of the University of Oxford was utterly overwhelmed and immediately reported the news to the principal.
That "phoenix" principal was supporting the Front Lines at the time. Upon hearing the news, he called the Ministry of Education, gave the officials there a good scolding, and only then did the matter calm down.
A top-tier expert was indeed terrifying.
Anyway, the team had finally been decided, but this was the first time ten of them had gathered like this.
It was just past nine in the morning.
As agreed, Matthew arrived at the lounge and saw that Natalie and the others had already arrived.
"Is Mr. Atkinson here? Please have a seat." Filip Walker said.
This guy's arrogant attitude at first and obsequious at second was really a bit unsettling.
Matthew thought that Natalie's two consecutive SSS-grade mission ratings completely extinguished this guy's competitive spirit.
Plus, Filip needed Natalie's help this time, which was why he was so polite.
However, Matthew still preferred his arrogant behavior to his flattery.
"Mr. Atkinson, sit here. I've saved a seat for you."
The seat Filip Walker was pointing at was right next to Natalie.
Of course, the reason he was so polite to Matthew was actually because of Natalie.
After Matthew sat down, Filip Walker said, "The professors asked us to gather here in advance so that we could get to know each other. So, everyone, please introduce yourselves! It would be best if you could also talk about your talents and abilities."
"Of course, Mr. Atkinson and Miss Russell need no introduction. You are celebrities in the university, and everyone knows you."
After a pause, Filip Walker continued, "I'll go first. My name is Filip Walker. My ability is a werewolf bloodline. After transforming into a werewolf, my strength, speed, and defense, as well as my self-healing ability, increase."
"However, this transformation state is very taxing, and I can't maintain it for long."
After Filip Walker finished speaking, he sat down.
Denis Read, who was next to him, stood up on his own.
"Hello everyone, my name is Denis Read. My ability is the mutant 'Colossus' gene, which allows me to transform my body into metal. After transforming, my defense will greatly enhance, and I can also increase my strength to some extent, but my speed will be reduced."
And then the next ones were other teammates of Filip Walker.
"Hello, everyone, I am Charles Francis. My ability is the Paramecia-type Devil Fruit, the Bomb-Bomb Fruit. I can turn my body parts into explosives to attack enemies. Currently, my attributes are not high. The maximum destructive power of the explosives I create is roughly equivalent to a hand grenade."
"Hi, everyone, I'm Bobby Burns. My ability is Paramecia-type Dice-Dice Fruit, which allows me to turn any part of my body into blades and harden my skin, increasing my attack power and defense. My strength is currently relatively low. I can only turn my arms into blades."
All three of Filip Walker's teammates have finished introducing themselves.
And next, it was the four students from Class B's turn.
The first one to speak was a woman.
"Hello everyone, I am Emma Jackson. My ability is the Paramecia-type Flower-Flower Fruit, which allows me to bloom and grow hands on any tangible object within my field of vision, including my enemies! However, my strength is still weak. I can only cause minor trouble for my enemies."
"Hi, everyone, my name is Andrew Hill. My ability is the mutant Ghost gene, which gives me the ability to teleport. I can teleport people, but I can't pass through walls, and each teleportation cannot exceed ten meters. Also, each teleportation makes me feel extremely nauseous, so I need to catch my breath."
"Hello everyone, I am Anastasia Bradley. My ability is the Zoan-type Snake-Snake Fruit Model: Python. After I transform, my strength will greatly increase. Once I entangle someone, they won't be able to escape unless they have at least 300 points of strength."
"Hello everyone, my name is Sam Harris. My talent is Paramecia-type Rubber-Rubber Fruit, which allows me to transform any part of my body, including my internal organs, skin, and teeth, into rubber. I can make them stretch and tighten at will. By the way, Professor Holland said that my fruit ability is a scarce one and might be hiding some great potential. There were only three recorded cases so far, and I am the fourth. In terms of rarity, my fruit ability is comparable to Mr. Atkinson's Kryptonian Bloodline, having been seen only once more than in the Kryptonian Bloodline so far."
After hearing Sam Harris's words, almost everyone just smiled.
The idea that something big was hidden was only good for fooling people.
Only Matthew glanced at Sam Harris with surprise.
Professor Holland was right. The Rubber-Rubber Fruit did indeed hold great potential.
If this kid could train until he awakened the power of the Rubber-Rubber Fruit and transformed it into the Mythical Zoan-type Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika, then he would be someone amazing.
However, Matthew was merely surprised.
Because his Kryptonian Bloodline was even more amazing than that.
Moreover, how difficult was it to awaken a Devil Fruit? Especially when it comes to a special kind of Devil Fruit, like Rubber-Rubber Fruit.
In the One Piece universe, Luffy had to overcome many obstacles and come face-to-face with death numerous times before his Devil Fruit awakened.
That was why it was still uncertain whether this kid named Sam Harris could achieve that.
...
After everyone finished their introductions, Filip Walker took out some booklets and distributed them.
As he distributed the information, he said, "This is information about the strongest freshmen from supernatural universities around the world that the university has collected for us. Take a look and try to memorize them, because we are very likely to encounter these strong individuals in the upcoming layer of the Supernatural Realm."
Upon hearing this, everyone solemnly accepted the booklet and immediately began to read it.
Out of curiosity, Matthew also flipped through it.
Then, he actually saw quite a few exceptional ability users.
For example, at Cambridge University, there was a Logia-type Magma-Magma Fruit user who received A-grade and S-grade excellent mission evaluations in the first two levels of the Supernatural Realm.
In Russia, a freshman had the Logia-type Rumble-Rumble Fruit ability. This guy was even more outstanding, having achieved an S-rank mission rating in the first two layers of the Supernatural Realm!
In Indian, a powerful mutant gene user had emerged, whose ability is Storm's weather control. She could already create powerful hurricanes and fly a certain distance.
In the USA, a promising talent had also emerged. This freshman's ability was a green ring.
This year's freshmen were truly full of hidden talents.
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.83: Provocation
Ch.84: SCP Elimination Train