Chapter 144: Knockout Stages Begin

In a dazzling display of light and color, fireworks burst forth into the sky during the opening ceremony. Glittering sparks vigorously danced, leaving trails of ephemeral brilliance in their wake as they watched over a vast and enormous arena.

Percussion bands played a harmonious melody that seemed to tell a marvelous tale about bravery and passion as confetti endlessly rained down from above, seemingly celebrating the upcoming glorious moments of heaven's proud sons and daughters.

Finally, the most anticipated day of the year for student adventurers began with overflowing vitality as the representatives of the 512 academies who qualified in the knockout stages entered one by one, proudly bearing the insignia of their academies in addition to the hopes and dreams of their fellow students.

Among the 512 academies that entered, the three kings, Eusford, Aslan, and Freia, garnered the most attention along with one other academy.

The other academy's representatives wore pristine white and blue uniforms as they proudly marched toward their designated spot in the middle of the arena.

Shockingly, in front of this fairly known mediocre academy's representatives were two deans, one male, and one female, symbolizing their fiery ambitions and confidence in becoming one of the 8 elite academies who will tower over the rest like kings looking down on their subjects.

Naturally, Colzen Academy's bold display of aspirations garnered so much attention that it even rivaled those given by the audience to the three kingly academies of Valenzia.

Most of it was still mockery though. However, to the Colzen representatives and companion students, this was of little concern.

They knew how strong they were this year and in a few hours or days, they would forcefully make the haters shut the hell up.

After an hour of pleasantries, encouraging words, and rule setting, four huge holographic televisions projected the different matchups on all four brackets, making the crowd go wild in anticipation.

Naturally, the top three academies were put into different brackets, as if they were kings watching over their domains.

The less fortunate academies who got matched up against the kings early had no choice but to blame their luck, especially those who had to fight them in the first round.

Unfortunately for them, due to the brackets, one of them was bound to fall early since they would have to fight each other in the third round which is a huge boon for Colzen.

Once the opening ceremony ended and the brackets were finalized, the assigned staff members led each dean, instructor, and representative to their designated academy stations.

'Tch, what a shitty academy station...' Shye clicked his tongue and frowned after seeing how shabby their academy station this year was.

When he was the substitute representative, their academy station at least had soft comfortable seats, a few magic-powered fans, two holographic televisions, a cold water dispenser, and a few snacks on a decently sized table.

This time, only the deans' seats were soft and comfortable while the seats for the instructors and representatives were nothing but wooden stools.

In addition to this, there were no magic-powered fans or anything, only a few pieces of paper fans to ward off the heat, a single holographic television of poor quality, bottles of lukewarm water on the sides, and two small wooden tables without any snacks.

Shye even started to doubt if the staff would deliver food for them at lunchtime. Maybe they would have to procure their meals.

Fortunately, everything was temporary. Once they advance to the top 32, then the quality of their academy station would improve drastically.

For now, they had no choice but to make do with what they had.

"Your Excellencies, Dean Snowcrest, Dean Privett, it's time for the first match." The staff member leaned closer to the ears of the two deans and whispered, prompting the serene looks on the faces of the two deans to change into one of ambition.

The two deans then looked and nodded at each other before Dean Privett stood up, faced the representatives, and said with a confident smile:

"Representatives, it's time for your first match. I believe there is no need for instructions as you all know each other's strengths and weaknesses better than anyone. No need to hold back, Go wild."