At this moment, as he looked at the Sixth-Rank Soul Engineer on the stage...
Liu Yuan guessed his identity almost instantly.
In the original work, he was the captain of the Sun Moon Royal Team, Ma Rulong.
After all, in his memory, during this period, Ma Rulong was the only student in the entire Sun Moon Royal Academy who had reached the level of a Sixth-Rank Soul Engineer.
Liu Yuan quickly recalled all the information about Ma Rulong in his mind.
Ma Rulong's Spirit was mediocre, and his spirit power Rank wasn't top-tier among his peers, but his talent and focus on spirit tools were enough to put him at the pinnacle of the academy.
Liu Yuan remembered that in the original work, Ma Rulong once had a great battle with Ma Xiaotao of the Shrek Team.
Although in terms of raw strength, Ma Rulong was still inferior to Ma Xiaotao.
In the original work, he was the only one in the entire Sun Moon Team who could actually trade blows with Ma Xiaotao.
Therefore, for Liu Yuan, he was actually a perfect reference point for strength.
Thinking of this, the way Liu Yuan looked at Ma Rulong on the stage gained a hint of scrutiny.
On the stage, the battle had already entered its white-hot stage.
Ma Rulong's opponent was an Assault System Spirit Emperor with spirit power over Rank 60, whose strength was also not to be underestimated.
However, under Ma Rulong's storm-like artillery coverage, he appeared incredibly frustrated.
The light of his sturdy Sixth Soul Skill defensive barrier was dimming at a speed visible to the naked eye under the continuous bombardment of the soul tool cannons, covered in cracks and on the verge of collapsing.
"It's over."
Three cold words escaped Ma Rulong's mouth.
The light of his fifth spirit ring flared intensely as a massive amount of spirit power surged frantically into his soul tool cannon!
Six cannon barrels lit up simultaneously with blinding light, finally converging into a thick beam of destructive light that made one's heart skip a beat, before firing violently!
"Boom—!"
The Spirit Emperor's defensive barrier shattered upon impact.
The destructive energy aftershock sent him flying off the stage, where he crashed heavily onto the ground, instantly losing his ability to fight.
The entire venue erupted in a mountain-shaking roar of cheers!
"Ma Rulong! Ma Rulong!"
The three of them, including Liu Yuan, continued to stand in the audience.
During this time, Xiao Hongchen began to fulfill his duty as a 'guide,' constantly introducing the situation on the field to Liu Yuan.
"See that, Brother Liu Yuan! That guy is the sixth-year head student, Ma Rulong!"
There was a hint of solemnity in Xiao Hongchen's tone, but more than that, there was an unconcealed Battle Intent.
"He is the recognized strongest in our academy, nicknamed the 'Mobile Fortress'!"
"This guy is a battle maniac. Except for eating and sleeping, he spends all his time in the lab and the training grounds. He's a real ruthless character."
Meng Hongchen also added coldly from the side:
"His defensive capabilities are also very strong."
"He's wearing a full set of fifth-Rank linked defensive spirit tools, enough to withstand a full-strength strike from a Six-Ring Soul Emperor."
"Breaking his defense is very difficult."
Liu Yuan listened quietly, matching and supplementing this information with the intel in his memory.
After watching Ma Rulong's match, they didn't leave immediately.
Xiao Hongchen pointed excitedly toward several other stages.
"Look over there, the one on stage three is Mi Jia, a fifth-year, Fifth-rank Soul Engineer. He's extremely fast and specializes in hit-and-run tactics and assassination. He's very troublesome."
"And that big guy on stage seven is Xiao Xia, also a sixth-year. He's a Defense System Spirit Master, but also a fifth-Rank spirit tool engineer. He's best at setting up various trigger-based spirit tool traps. If you're not careful when fighting him, you'll fall into a trap."
The siblings, Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen, took turns introducing those students who were famous in the higher years and worthy of special attention to Liu Yuan.
Liu Yuan listened intently, firmly memorizing every name and every ability.
These were all potential opponents on his road to the championship.
In this way, they waited until all the matches for the higher years were finished and the final list of qualifiers was decided before the three of them left the venue, still wanting more.
On the way back, Xiao Hongchen was still discussing excitedly.
Meng Hongchen fell into deep thought, seemingly devising strategies to deal with those powerful enemies.
Meanwhile, Liu Yuan remained calm throughout.
For him, the biggest gain today was confirming the strength levels of these future opponents.
The conclusion was:
Very strong.
But, not as strong as him.
...
The next day.
When the first ray of morning sunlight spilled into the dormitory through the window.
The bell for the new round of competition rang throughout the Sun Moon Royal Academy.
After yesterday's brutal internal selections within classes and grades, the number of students able to continue standing here had greatly decreased.
But every person remaining was, without exception, an elite and a standout from their respective grades and classes!
On the academy's central plaza, all the qualified students had gathered.
A Chief Referee responsible for presiding over the tournament stood on the high platform, his voice clearly reaching every corner of the plaza through an amplification spirit tool.
"First of all, congratulations to all of you for standing out from the intense qualifiers."
"Starting today, we will officially enter the academy-wide knockout stage!"
"For absolute fairness, and to test your comprehensive adaptability against any opponent, the upcoming matches will use a completely random drawing method to determine your opponents!"
"Now, please look at the big screen!"
As his words fell, the giant spirit tool screen in the center of the plaza lit up instantly.
Countless names of the qualifying students began to scroll rapidly across the screen!
Everyone held their breath at this moment.
Everyone's eyes were fixed intently on that screen.
The atmosphere was tense to the extreme!
A few seconds later, the scrolling came to a sudden halt.
The list for the first set of duels was clearly presented before everyone.
[Liu Yuan] VS [Lin Xi]
When they saw these two names, a moment of silence fell over the plaza.
Immediately following that was a wave of uncontrollable discussions filled with sympathy.
Ju Zi and Ke Ke were also somewhat worried: "Can that guy Liu Yuan win?"
Amidst the crowd's discussions, the referee on the high platform announced loudly:
"First match: Second-year student Liu Yuan versus third-year student Lin Xi!"
"Will both students please go to Stage One immediately to prepare!"
Hearing this, Liu Yuan walked out from the crowd with a calm expression.
However, when he heard the name 'Lin Xi,' his steps faltered slightly, almost imperceptibly.
This name...
He had an impression of it.
Lin Xi.
In the original work, he was one of the official members eventually selected for the Sun Moon Team!
Although the reason Liu Yuan remembered him clearly was because, in the original work, Lin Xi was killed on the spot by Ma Xiaotao during the Soul Master Tournament...
But to be fair, the fact that he could become an official member meant he at least had some skill.
Therefore, having him as an opponent shouldn't be too boring.
-------------------------
If you enjoy this story, you can read 40+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
Webnovel will keep getting 1 new chapter every day but Patreon readers can stay far ahead.
Maybe it's not a big deal now… maybe it will be later.
[email protected]/DaoistRoeoNQ
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"