“Who gave you this competition ID? I don’t remember a participant like you.”
“Master Barlow, I don’t quite understand what you’re saying.
The competition is organized by the official Lan Yin Academy, not your family, and certainly not you personally.
It’s just being held in Fran City, so who participates has nothing to do with you directly or indirectly.”
“You…” Out of noble upbringing, Barlow didn’t lose his temper.
Otherwise, with both new and old grudges, he would have wanted to tear off Mo Li’s smirking face right then.
“I’ll find out what’s going on with your competition ID.” Barlow said coldly.
“This is a fair and open competition, and I don’t want to see anyone overstepping the sacred rules of the competition.”
“Is that what Master Barlow thinks? That’s good.
I hope Master Barlow supervises himself before supervising others.”
“Heh.” Barlow snorted.
Within the academy, he couldn’t deal with Mo Li conveniently.
Getting angry over a commoner didn’t suit his noble status, especially during this critical period.
Any bloody incident during the competition would undoubtedly tarnish the Minster family’s reputation.
“It’s not time to deal with you yet, just wait.” He threw a harsh remark as he passed by Mo Li with his lackeys.
Clearly, in his eyes, Mo Li wasn’t someone who could hinder his championship.
Just an annoying little mosquito, hard to deal with but not impossible, just not worth the effort right now.
Mo Li was used to noble threats and didn’t take it to heart.
After all, he had over three years of history being chased, deceived, and tricked by nobles, and had developed an immunity to their threats.
If the schedule wasn’t wrong, he had a match this afternoon.
He had already taken leave from his mentor, and to avoid any mishaps due to ignorance of the rules, he came early to observe the competition.
This was his first time entering the noble district.
Not to mention the level of luxury in the decor, the atmosphere was incomparable to the dull and rigid ordinary district.
The noble children spoke eloquently, appearing very friendly with each other, yet their actual relationships seemed somewhat subtle.
This was probably what nobles referred to as the gentleman’s friendship being as light as water.
Each one appeared very friendly and polite, with an air of being well-read and graceful, yet there was a slight sense of distance between them.
Though it lacked some liveliness, it exuded an air of high society, a level that the commoner district couldn’t match.
As for the construction, there’s no need to say much.
Ninety percent of Fran Academy’s budget was spent on the noble district, providing these young masters and misses with the best academy life.
Another half percent was used for publicity, and the remaining half percent was for the commoner district.
Clearly, the commoner district wasn’t even treated like a stepchild.
The selection competition of Lan Yin Academy was undoubtedly a major event.
Fran Academy was decorated as if it were New Year’s, with colorful ribbons plastered everywhere as if they were free, and various decorative items for welcoming guests were flamboyant.
It was truly a case of being tough on commoner students and submissive to outsiders.
The competition was held in the central square of the noble district.
This flower garden, with butterflies occasionally flying over the flowers and grass, was specifically for noble children to stroll in their leisure time.
It even had a koi pond with fish feed prepared on the side.
Nobles, after all, had some refined interests, like coming over to feed the fish when they had nothing else to do.
Glancing at it, hmm, it was still high-grade fish feed.
It must have cost a lot of money to purchase these, right? Watching the koi happily wagging their tails in the water, Mo Li sighed.
In the same world, some people’s meals weren’t even as good as a fish’s.
Fran Academy’s administration would rather spend money on feeding koi for the noble young masters to watch and satisfy their feeding desires than use it to buy new books for poor students.
Even in such an atmosphere, Mo Li seemed very out of place, naturally attracting a lot of attention.
But Mo Li didn’t care much.
He was here just to observe the competition and familiarize himself with the rules.
Walking onto the large square, the tall marble sculpture standing in the center came into view.
It depicted a woman, an absolutely beautiful woman, holding a cross in a praying posture, with a waterfall of long hair cascading down.
Six sword-wielding knights stood in six positions around the woman, forming a hexagram.
That was the goddess Sera, the only true god of the human race, the common faith of all humans.
Except for the Kingdom of Norda in the southern continent, followers of the goddess Sera were spread across the entire Tain continent, and even among other races, there were a few who were followers of Sera.
Sculptures of gods were quite common in the academy, as faith was closely related to human life.
Building a sculpture of the goddess was equivalent to declaring one’s piety and could also curry favor with the pope.
Under the blazing sun, the audience seats in the large square were almost full.
Even those without the qualification to participate in the Lan Yin Academy selection competition wanted to join in the fun and watch the gods fight.
Watching the drama was humanity’s favorite pastime, bar none.
Fortunately, only nobles could enter the noble district, greatly limiting the number of spectators.
Otherwise, the square would have been overcrowded.
Generally, upon seeing a previously unseen sculpture of Sera, one should kneel and salute, or at least bow.
This was the church’s rule.
However, Mo Li wasn’t a devout believer.
He had no interest in the doctrine or the goddess, and he entered the venue without even glancing at the sculpture.
Finding a random seat, he arrived just in time, having missed the nauseatingly cliché opening speech by the host and the outsourced referee from Lan Yin Academy, and went straight to the part he was most interested in—the competition.
“Lan Yin Academy’s opening match, contestant number 03, Edward, versus contestant number 17, Kaleid.
Now, I’ll announce the competition rules.
First, friendship first, competition second.
Second…” As the old man in the center loudly announced a long list of seemingly grand but practically useless competition rules, Mo Li was observing him.
Was this the referee outsourced from Lan Yin Academy? The old man wore a white and deep yellow suit, with a hooked nose and narrow face that gave an impression of cunning and deceit.
“I’ve heard a lot about you.
You must be Edward from class five.”
“Likewise, I’ve long heard of senior Kaleid from class three.
Meeting you today, you truly are a model for us!” The commercial flattery made Mo Li’s scalp tingle.
Just as he was getting impatient, the two nobles finally revealed their weapons.
Both had rapiers.
Goodness, were they going to fence?
“Hoo-ha!”
“Hey-ya!”
As soon as the match started, the two were at each other’s throats, with fierce attacks, yet… they never got close to each other, as if they were fighting the air or awkwardly dancing with each other.
Mo Li, watching from the stage, was dumbfounded.
What the heck? Hey, are these two sure they’re fighting and not ballroom dancing?
