Chapter 82: Before the Match

Beside Melissa, General William also furrowed his brows with equal intensity. Like Melissa, General William had not expected to see the son of Clark Shinra at this match, which Governor Karajan had repeatedly invited him to attend. Moreover, that kid named Zack was still as weak as the last time they met—his strength did not even surpass that of a fully grown monkey.

Due to the Royal Guard Legion and the Shinra Legion being collectively known as the Empire’s two aces, these two invincible imperial forces had always been in direct competition. No matter how remarkable the achievements of either legion, people would inevitably compare them to each other. The people of the Empire had always found this amusing.

Given such a history, the relationship between high-ranking officers of the Royal Guard and the Shinra Legion was easy to imagine. In fact, General William, known for his ruthlessness and love for war, had always looked down on Clark Shinra, who was famous for being a pretty boy. Likewise, Clark Shinra had never been fond of General William, whom he considered a muscle-bound brute with little brains.

Frankly speaking, General William would have been quite happy to see Clark Shinra’s son get beaten up. In a more private setting, he might even have clapped for whoever had dealt the beating. Unfortunately, this match was happening in public, so General William couldn’t afford to show too much expression.

Because no matter how poor the relationship was between General William and Clark Shinra, both were representatives of the Imperial military in the public eye. No matter how much he secretly enjoyed seeing Clark Shinra’s useless son get beaten, he couldn’t show any sign of schadenfreude.

However, such hypocrisy was exactly what a hardened soldier like General William despised the most. It further diminished his interest in this boring match to an all-time low.

“Hmph!” General William sneered, curling his lips in disdain, not even bothering to watch Zack and the others warming up.

Besides General William and Melissa, the other spectators present were still quite interested in Zhang Wen and his martial arts division. The bold claims Zhang Wen had made a few days ago, along with his recent reclusive behavior, had already spread throughout the entire Thymis Academy.

Now, almost every student and teacher at Thymis Academy was watching with an amused mindset, eagerly anticipating the moment when Zhang Wen and the Almace martial arts division would embarrass themselves.

Although the martial arts division of Almace Academy had always been like a bunch of clowns, such amusing plots were naturally always a source of entertainment for the audience at Thymis Academy.

As Zhang Wen and his group entered the training hall, many spectators couldn’t help but burst into loud laughter. They had already noticed that among the three students following Zhang Wen, the strongest ones—Zack and Cloud—were no more than sixth-stage practitioners.

With three sixth-stage students challenging Link, a ninth-stage practitioner from Thymis Academy, the audience felt that even thinking about it with their toes would lead to an inevitable outcome.

Although many of the spectators seated in the stands had heard, to some extent, about Zhang Wen and his team’s impressive performance at the residence of Termis on the planet Casares—how he had once enabled a female student at the fourth stage to defeat a sixth-stage Thymis student—the difference between defeating a sixth-stage opponent at the fourth stage and challenging a ninth-stage opponent at the sixth stage was entirely different concepts!

It’s like how many people, after training, might be able to calculate faster using an abacus than someone using a computer. However, no matter how talented someone is, or how much training they undergo, they could never solve complex mathematical functions faster than a supercomputer. That’s the difference in levels.

Of course, not every spectator in the arena was watching Zhang Wen and his martial arts students with a laughing attitude. The Thymis students themselves did not relax or show any sign of ease just because the three students behind Zhang Wen were weak.

Under the strict supervision of Instructor Gelt, the Thymis students all wore serious expressions, warming up with the utmost concentration. However, their attention was not focused on the three students warming up alongside Zhang Wen on the field. This was evident from the frequent glances they cast toward the entrance of the training hall.

However, the Thymis students’ overly serious attitude puzzled many spectators who didn’t understand the situation. For example, Ted, a senior reporter sitting in the west stand, was one of them.

Ted worked at a newspaper called the *Planet Daily* and served as the editor for the martial arts competition section. Whether it was the name of the newspaper or the title of his position, Ted’s job sounded quite impressive. Unfortunately, only the name sounded incredibly cool.

In reality, the *Planet Daily* was a third-rate newspaper so small it couldn’t get any smaller. Including the owner and the chief editor, the total number of employees at the *Planet Daily* didn’t even reach five, and its circulation was extremely low—only three thousand copies.

However, in the Empire, where entertainment resources were extremely scarce, commentary on martial arts competitions was the most beloved form of entertainment for the general populace. Naturally, the annual academy battle between Almace Academy and Thymis Academy was the most eye-catching event for the citizens of Fira. Therefore, even a small newspaper like the *Planet Daily*, which was practically unknown, had gone to great lengths to obtain a ticket, giving Ted the opportunity to blend in with numerous big-name reporters from major newspapers and witness the match live.

This was Ted’s first time doing on-site reporting since he started his job, and as he entered the training hall, he was pleasantly surprised to run into his old classmate from his academy days—Riank, who was now sitting right next to him.

Unlike Ted, Riank worked for a newspaper called the *Babylon Sports News*, a well-known major publication in Babylon City and even across the entire Fira planet. The *Babylon Sports News* had an average circulation of 1,376,000 copies last year—*Planet Daily* hadn’t even reached a fraction of that.

From the moment Zhang Wen and his group entered the arena, Ted noticed that Riank, just like the Thymis students below, had shown little expression on his face. Although this was Ted’s first time watching a live match between Almace Academy and Thymis Academy, he had read about it enough to know how useless Almace Academy’s martial arts division was and how much it was looked down upon.

If the Thymis students were all serious, one could say it was a case of “strategically underestimating the opponent while tactically taking them seriously.” But for Riank to also wear such a poker face, Ted found it quite abnormal.

Earlier during their conversation, Ted had noticed that Riank mentioned having some connections with several instructors from Thymis Academy’s martial arts division. Seeing Riank’s current expression, Ted naturally realized that he must have received some inside information.

“Hey! Riank, what’s going on with Enklay and the others? It’s just Almace Academy’s martial arts division. Why are they all so serious?” After holding back for a while, Ted finally couldn’t help but tap Riank on the shoulder and ask curiously in a low voice.

Although Riank’s *Babylon Sports News* was in a completely different league compared to Ted’s *Planet Daily*, working for such a big newspaper meant fierce competition and a situation where young reporters struggled to stand out.

At Riank’s age, his status at the *Babylon Sports News* was naturally not as high as he had boasted to Ted during their chat. In the newsroom, Riank, who lacked seniority, was often the target of jokes and teasing. Now that he had finally encountered an old friend who looked up to him with respect and admiration, Riank naturally didn’t mind leaking a bit of his “inside information” to Ted in exchange for more admiration.

“Ted, you mustn’t underestimate Almace Academy’s strength,” Riank said mysteriously, patting Ted on the shoulder. “This year’s Almace Academy is not as insignificant as in previous years. There’s a ninth-stage genius student in their team.”

“What? Ninth-stage?” Ted’s surprised expression greatly satisfied Riank. “You mean one of the three students following him is hiding their strength?” After carefully examining the three Almace students warming up on the field, Ted lowered his voice again and asked Riank.

“Not exactly. I heard their ninth-stage genius is a red-haired girl, and she should not have appeared yet. Almace Academy has produced a ninth-stage student. Naturally, they will treat her like a secret weapon, just like we do with Selene. They won’t reveal the secret weapon until the final moment. As for the ones they’ve put forward now, they’re just some insignificant supporting roles.”

“Oh! So that’s how it is!” Ted suddenly understood.

“Hehe!” Seeing Ted’s expressive reaction, Riank’s vanity was greatly satisfied. He lowered his head and whispered mysteriously, “Also, I heard that Almace Academy has made a bold claim this year—to defeat our Thymis Academy. Moreover, during warm-up training, the instructor leading Almace Academy’s team even had a match with Instructor Enklay, and Enklay apparently lost…”

“Ah! Ah!” Ted nodded continuously, listening with increasing humility to the inside information Riank was revealing.

And conversations like the one between Ted and Riank continued to take place in various corners of the stands before the match officially began.

When the students from both academies finished warming up and began their final preparations for the match, almost all the spectators had learned, to some extent, about the recent conflicts between the two academies. This greatly increased the audience’s interest.

“Please be quiet everyone! The exchange match between Almace Academy’s delegation and our academy is about to begin.” Soon enough, a Thymis Academy teacher stood up and, following tradition, quieted the audience while beginning to introduce the upcoming match.

Since the format of the inter-academy exchange matches between Almace Academy and Thymis Academy was always decided by the visiting side, the competition format wasn’t always the same every year. Even the order of appearance for the martial arts and psychokinetic divisions wasn’t fixed.

This year, Almace Academy’s psychokinetic division was the first to take the stage.

In previous visits by Almace Academy to Thymis, Almace Academy had always sent their martial arts division first. After all, most people preferred to lose first and win later rather than win first and lose later.

But this year was different. In Kaelena’s view, the martial arts division led by Zhang Wen was already hopeless. To fulfill the Governor Termis’s wish for revenge, everything depended on the performance of their psychokinetic division. However, what troubled Kaelena the most was that facing Thymis Academy, which had a genius like Selene, the psychokinetic division didn’t have a guaranteed victory this year.

Under such circumstances, if the martial arts division’s match was still held first, once they suffered a crushing defeat, the pressure might cause the psychokinetic division to perform poorly—a possibility that Kaelena found intolerable.

Therefore, before the match, Kaelena insisted on changing the order so that the psychokinetic division would go first. In her thinking, since Almace Academy’s martial arts division was already widely known for its weakness, as long as the psychokinetic division achieved a decisive victory right away, no matter how the martial arts division performed afterward, it could still be considered a win for Almace Academy.

In this way, Almace Academy would achieve victory, Governor Termis would complete his revenge, and Thymis Academy would have the face-saving advantage of losing first and winning later—everyone would be happy. As for what would happen to Zhang Wen and his martial arts division, that was not within Kaelena’s considerations.

After much deliberation, Kaelena ultimately chose the most commonly used five-rounds-three-wins elimination format. After all, Almace Academy’s martial arts division was still outstanding within the Southlands. Compared to Thymis Academy, except for Selene, the other students in Thymis’s psychokinetic division were still a tier below Almace Academy’s.

Therefore, Kaelena’s ideal plan was to achieve at least a 4-1 victory in the upcoming match. Of course, if Selene performed poorly in the match and allowed Almace Academy to achieve a perfect 5-0 victory, that would be even better!

“…Alright! Now let’s welcome the first two contestants to the stage.” Soon enough, the Thymis instructor serving as the host finished explaining the necessary information to the audience and introduced the first two contestants with an enthusiastic tone.

As usual, Almace Academy still arranged their lineup from strongest to weakest. The first to appear was their top martial arts ace, Luther, who had reached the eighth stage.

After half a month of recovery, Luther’s body had healed. However, from his unusually solemn expression as he stepped onto the stage, one could tell that Luther had not yet shaken off the shadow of Selene’s terrifying attack from last time.

However, Luther, who had already mentally prepared himself to face Selene again, was surprised when he saw the opponent sent by Thymis Academy.

In what should have been the first round of the battle for supremacy, Thymis Academy had not sent out their ace, Selene!

“Next, let’s welcome Thymis Academy’s representative, Joe Anderson!” With a passionate shout from the Thymis instructor, a psychokinetic student with a relaxed expression quickly stepped forward from Thymis Academy’s camp.

“Joe Anderson? Who is this guy?” Seeing the unfamiliar face on the field, the martial arts instructors from Almace Academy immediately stirred slightly. With Selene’s precedent in mind, no one dared to assume that Thymis Academy didn’t have another terrifying powerhouse.

“What’s the panic about? That guy isn’t anything special!” Kaelena shot a dissatisfied glance at the whispering instructors, and with a sharp shout, she silenced them all.

Psychokinetic matches were not so much direct confrontations between students as they were contests using various psychokinetic machines as mediums.

For example, when Thymis Academy visited Casares last year, Almace Academy had used psychokinetic racing cars as the decisive tool.

Of course, unlike the psychokinetic cars used by civilians in the city of Casares, the psychokinetic racing cars used in the academy matches were not pre-filled with psychic energy. In other words, the contestants had to use their own psychic energy to power the cars.

In this way, students with stronger psychic energy could drive faster, while those with better control over psychic energy could maneuver more flexibly during turns. Naturally, the student who reached the finish line in the shortest time would be the most comprehensive psychokinetic practitioner.

This year, as the host, Thymis Academy decided what kind of competition tool to use.

Because Zhang Wen had been accompanying Zack and the others in closed-door training for the past few days, he missed all the psychokinetic warm-up matches. Thus, it wasn’t until the official start of the match that he saw the competition tool Thymis Academy had brought out.

However, upon seeing it, the competition tool brought out by Thymis Academy made Zhang Wen involuntarily “tremble with awe.”

“M-Mechs?!” Looking at the giant humanoid machines revealed by the referee after removing the cloth cover, Zhang Wen couldn’t help but gape in shock.

As Zhang Wen was still astonished by Thymis Academy’s amazing “creativity,” the obscure Thymis student had already arrived beside Luther. After exchanging nods of courtesy, both climbed into their respective machines.

Soon, two enormous steel machines over ten meters tall stood up with a grating noise.

“Wow!” As the two terrifying machines began to operate, the audience in the training hall couldn’t help but let out a series of gasps. Even many martial arts specialists in the audience, upon seeing the intimidating movements of the machines, gradually had their expressions darken.

Although for most people, martial arts and psychokinetics were two non-conflicting forces that could be practiced together, for those who had reached the pinnacle in either discipline, competition between these two forces was unavoidable.

However, since the psychic energy generated by psychokinetic practice lacked offensive capability, while the combat energy obtained through martial arts was unstable, psychokinetic practitioners gradually leaned toward civilian applications, while martial artists leaned toward military use, allowing both sides to coexist.

Yet, seeing such a powerful steel machine as the one before them, it was easy for anyone to associate it with the word “powerful.” Without a martial artist of tenth-stage expert level or above, one would be as helpless as an ant in front of these two giant steel fortresses.

Even in the Empire, where martial arts were popular, how many martial artists could reach the tenth-stage expert level? One in a thousand?

If psychokinetic practitioners could easily operate such powerful machines, then what value would all those martial artists who had worked so hard have?

Considering this, it’s no wonder that the martial artists in the training hall turned pale in the face of these two titanic machines. Almost the moment the machines started up, the hall was filled with a chorus of surprised and anxious whispers.

However, amidst the martial artists’ panic, General William showed disdain, a faint mocking smile curling his lips.

“General William, what are you smiling at?” Countess Melissa asked with interest, observing General William’s expression.

“Nothing. I just didn’t expect that these flashy gadgets Thymis Academy brought out could actually scare so many people.” General William openly showed his contempt.

“Hehe! General William, aren’t you at least a little afraid of those big machines? Of course, in front of a mighty warrior like you, they must be nothing.”

“Melissa, you can’t possibly be frightened by them too,” General William shook his head with a smile at the countess. “Do you think our Imperial soldiers are fools? If such useful weapons existed, would we ignore them and let a mere academy from the Southlands take the lead? We’ve already conducted hundreds of experiments on such psychic-powered war machines. The final conclusion is that these things are only good for scaring people—they have no practical value at all.”

“Oh? Why is that?” Countess Melissa continued to ask with an enchanting smile.

As a high-ranking officer, General William naturally could tell that there was an element of intelligence-gathering in Countess Melissa’s question. However, the Empire’s relationship with the Alliance was currently in a honeymoon period, so General William didn’t mind revealing a little bit of irrelevant information. This was one of the secrets to maintaining a good relationship between the Empire and the Alliance.

“It’s simple. Moving such a massive machine requires an enormous amount of psychic energy. Even if the machine itself is pre-charged beforehand, maneuvering such a colossal machine with flexibility would require at least a ninth-stage psychokinetic practitioner. Do you understand now? Setting aside the pitifully small number of ninth-stage psychokinetic practitioners, if someone truly reached the ninth stage of psychokinesis, why would they even need to control such a clumsy machine? On the battlefield, the role of an elite psychokinetic practitioner would be far more significant than this cumbersome contraption!”

“Oh, I see.” Countess Melissa sat back down satisfied. At that moment, the first confrontation between Almace Academy and Thymis Academy officially began.