Chapter 49: Chess Opponent
Since he promised little fatty and He Qingqing he would watch them compete, then Su Hao wouldn’t break the promise.
The next morning, Su Hao arrived at the training field.
Currently, the training field was full of people, and it was bustling like never before.
There were currently about 1200 people in the academy. The school competition was not divided by grades, so everyone was shuffled and competed against each other.
The school competition took two days of time. The first day was the preliminary round. The 1200 were divided into 12 groups. The male students were in 9 groups and the female students were in 3 groups. Each group had 100 people. Then each group of 100 would have 7 people selected to enter the finals on the second day. Each group would have two class teachers as referees and also as safety officers.
This time’s school competition not only tested the student strength but also tested the students’ endurance. Warning to compete for first place meant that, aside from byes, you needed to compete ten times from start to finish.
This wasn’t something ordinary people could do.
But this had nothing to do with Su Hao. To him, the school competition was just a step above a children’s game.
Once little fatty and He Qingqing’s competition was over, he would go back to his dorm and continue to study blood energy.
Through the radar, he quickly found little fatty and He Qingqing in the crowd. It wasn’t currently their turn yet, so Su Hao first went to greet them and then wandered around the venue.
While walking around, he recorded blood qi information, entering it into the “Radar” database.
He first prioritized the teachers whose blood qis were like the sun.
“The teachers blood qi is so strong! Class four’s Teacher Mo! Record it real fast, blood qi nature, soft. Mo Fenghua, high-level master warrior, yellow font. Tsk tsk tsk. This blood qi quantity is almost as much as mine…”
Thinking of this, Su Hao was taken aback.
He suddenly discovered something didn’t seem to add up. He frowned and analyzed to himself: “Teacher Mo Fenghua, as the teacher of class four, must have the strength of a high-level master warrior without a doubt. But why do I perceive his blood qi intensity to not be as strong as mine?”
Su Hao first suspected there was something wrong with his perception. Perhaps with his current strength, he couldn’t accurately perceive a high-level master warrior’s blood qi? Or maybe high-level master warriors had an ability to block perception?
Su Hao first went to find the other teachers and used “Radar” to carefully perceive. He discovered the teachers’ blood qi intensities were very different and the fluctuations were obvious. They didn’t seem to be blocked off.
“There’s no problem with my perception. My blood qi intensity indeed is much higher than that of the class teachers! That is to say, based on blood qi intensity, I can already be considered a high-level master warrior rather than an entry-level master warrior.”
Su Hao roughly understood the distinctions in this world between entry-level, mid-level, high-level was not too obvious. As long as the degree of strength reached it, then it was there. The real divisions were between ordinary and elite, elite and master.
Unable to completely figure it out, Su Hao simply stopped thinking about it and focused on recording everyone’s information in the “Radar” database.
……
Soon it was little fatty’s turn to compete. Su Hao came to the sidelines to watch.
Little fatty was obviously very nervous. He held a training blade and a small round shield, his whole body tense. After walking onto the field, he took deep breaths to adjust his state.
Little fatty’s opponent was a long, curly-haired man a bit shorter than little fatty, also holding the same training blade and small round shield.
Little fatty’s 1.7 meter height gave his opponent some invisible pressure. Evidently he was more nervous than little fatty.
It was the first time competing for both of them. Neither wanted to be disqualified after their first round. As they got onto the stage, little fatty’s complexion improved. He tightly stared at his opponent, his entirety was devoted to the competition.
“Dong!”
A gong sounded and the fight began.
Little fatty and curly hair moved at the same time. One fiercely slashed, the other raised the shield to block, deflecting the blade and waited for an opportunity to counter.
It was back and forth for twenty rounds, with neither being able to do anything to the other.
It was like meeting an evenly matched opponent in chess.
But after a while, the two were out of breath from exhaustion.
Since they couldn’t physically overcome, they had to use their smarts. The two of them began to use tricks, using dirty moves.
Little fatty’s slashed down with his blade, curly hair immediately raised his shield to block. Who would have thought that little fatty’s blade was a fake out and the real attack was from the feet below.
“Leg Break!”
Curly hair was startled and reflexively tossed the shield and used his hands to block.
But this was still little fatty’s fakeout. Seeing that curly hair dropped the shield and was wide open, little fatty seized the opportunity and pushed forward with his round shield and fiercely impacted against curly hair.
Victory and defeat were decided.
Su Hao immediately shouted from the side: “Little fatty! Well done!”
Everyone turned to look, and when they saw Su Hao, they were uniformly frightened and their bottoms puckered up: It was Irritable Flying Man Wu Xiangwu.
The people closest to Su Hao immediately moved away three meters, emptying a large space.
“I’ll go watch on Qingqing’s side. Keep up the good work.” Su Hao didn’t pay attention to the surrounding people. He left after he finished speaking.
Because of Su Hao’s appearance, everyone looked at little fatty differently. They had to consider if they met this tall fat kid, if they should just forfeit. Even if they won the competition, if they were targeted by Irritable Flying Man, then they would have really lost.
Su Hao arrived at the eleventh group’s field. After watching a while, it was He Qingqing’s turn.
The girls’ battles were visually more pleasing. They similarly had the training blades and small round shields. He Qingqing gave off a tiger-like impression, full of heroic spirit.
He Qingqing and her opponent fought for four rounds when suddenly He Qingqing stabbed forward, the blade slipped through the gap between the opponent’s round shield and blade. With a flip of the hand, the opponent’s blade was sent to the ground. The opponent panicked, received a kick, and was knocked over, giving Qingqing the victory.
Having learned from the experience with little fatty, Su Hao didn’t shout out loud, instead running over to He Qingqing and waving.
The moment He Qingqing saw Su Hao, the serious face broke into a smile.
On the second round, little fatty was leg-hooked by his opponent and fell and was swept away.
As for He Qingqing, she won three rounds. On the fourth round, she faced a third grade student, and adding the exhaustion, was defeated in two swipes of the blade.
Thus, Su Hao’s task of watching the battles came to an end.
The three found a spot with cool shade to sit and rest.
Su Hao first praised the two of them. He told little fatty he was very witty and defeated his opponent with wiles, indeed he was smart. He praised He Qingqing for making it past three obstacles like an unstoppable force. It was a pity she faced a third grade student, otherwise she would definitely have advanced to tomorrow’s finals.
The two’s senses of defeat were immediately washed away and soon they regained their spirits.
Little fatty said: “Xiangwu, next up is the two month vacation. I’m going back to Cha Mountain Outpost to train with my dad. What are you planning?”
Xiangwu said: “I plan on first buying a few things for my father, go back for a trip, then return to the academy!”
(TLN: Huh. This might be the first time author has him as Xiangwu saying something instead of Su Hao)
Little fatty was taken aback: “I heard that during these two months, all the teachers will be on vacation too. There will be very few teachers left. What are you going to do here?”
Su Hao said: “It’s perfect that it’s quiet. I can train by myself.”
He Qingqing chimed in: “I also want to train with my dad in Cha Mountain Outpost. Xiangwu, you should go back to Cha Mountain Outpost and do the same and someone will help you train.”
“I want to stay in the town and read in the library.” Su Hao shook his head. It would be hard for them to believe that he had already far surpassed his father and it would be difficult to continue to improve by training with people of their level.
And if he stayed in Lingyun Town and looked through the town’s library, perhaps he could gain something.
He was currently very interested in runes. He wanted to collect more “beast veins” and through comparative research, he wanted to know why these runes could produce such magical effects and if there was the possibility to expand upon them.
But from what Old Liu said, the cheapest price on the market for a beast vein was at least twenty gold yuan.
He lacked money. Right now, he only had two gold yuan, not even a fraction of a beast vein. So he needed to first think of a way to make money and his chances of that were better in town.
TLN: Happy New Year’s Eve! As I mentioned before, this might very well be it for me. Just one last chapter to go.