The gazes of the other twelve settled on Xiao Lin at that moment. Some of them opened their mouths, seemingly wanting to promote themselves, but ended up obediently shutting their mouths. No matter if they agreed or accepted it, the final name list fell into Xiao Lin’s hands.
Everyone there hoped to be able to participate. Compared to potentially losing ten years of their lifespan in the tournament, the rewards they could obtain were much more attractive.
Before they came, the president had told them about the rewards. Other than the Eternal Fruit that the champion could gain, in order to encourage the students, Dawn Academy had arranged lucrative rewards for them during the group stages. During the group stages, every match that they won would see three thousand New Dollars awarded to the participants.
Those were New Dollars, a widely recognized currency in the New World. It was completely different from rewards that could only be used in the academy. Now, the monitors all knew how much New Dollars meant, so when they heard of the reward, all of their eyes widened. It was probably only Xiao Lin and Gu Xiaoyue who did not care about the reward.
However, the rewards were only limited to the participants, and those who were not in the name list could only watch on in envy. At that moment, all of them could not help but get nervous. Even Han Manman, who was usually rude to Xiao Lin, became a bit less irritable in recent days, almost definitely setting her ambitious sights on the New Dollars.
Xiao Lin tapped his fingers on the table, glancing at each one of them. After thinking for a long time, he looked back to the form in front of him. Yu Mei had nonchalantly given him the right to choose, and it felt a little bit like she was avoiding the responsibility. At a certain degree, Xiao Lin felt like the woman was just throwing him a thankless job.
Xiao Lin remembered that, before he left, he had asked for Yu Mei and the president’s opinions. Both of them told him that, if it was truly a contest of skill, Dawn Academy could never beat Judge Academy.
Truly, even with Xiao Lin’s exceptional capabilities, Yu Mei and the president did not think they could win. The president was even more straightforward. Even if Xiao Lin used his Myth ability, their chances of winning would only be at sixty per cent, but Xiao Lin would have to bear an even bigger risk for it. Dawn Academy could not afford to lose Xiao Lin. All of them were clear on that point.
After looking at the recordings of the past years, Xiao Lin could not deny how strong Judge Academy was, but he would never willingly admit defeat. After thinking for almost half an hour, Xiao Lin finally slowly filled up the form.
The form was passed around to everyone at the table, and each of them had a strange expression on their faces after looking at it. All of them seemed to reveal the same thought: ‘You’ve got to be insane!’
“This is the final decision, so there won’t be any changes. Dismissed! I’ll hand in the form later.” Xiao Lin did not give anyone any chances to cast any doubts or argue. He made his decision on the spot.
…
After ten minutes, in Judge Academy’s office, a thirty-year-old man, Judge Academy’s president, had a head full of faint blue hair, and he looked very educated and well-mannered. Standing next to him was the one in charge of the tournament. Based on regulations, the tournament committee would send someone to invigilate each match.
“Has Dawn Academy decided on their name list?” The others knew why Xiao Lin was there.
Xiao Lin nodded as he took out the filled up form, but he was not in a hurry to pass it over. Instead, he looked at Judge Academy’s president. Based on the rules, they needed to exchange the form at the same time, and there were no changes allowed after the forms were submitted.
“This is our name list.” The president’s voice sounded very sweet, and he generously handed over his list of names. That generosity also showed how absolutely confident their opponents were. The calm yet proud expression seemed to be telling Xiao Lin, ‘We don’t need to do any tricks with the name lists. No matter who the opponent is, we will still win.’
The person from the tournament committee was a skinny old man who had a thick pair of glasses on. He did not seem very strong, and was probably an administrative person. After accepting the forms from both sides, he checked it before clearing his throat and speaking.
“The American Judge Academy’s name list; individual participants are Smith and Thomas, secondary profession participants are White and Martin, and the team participants are Lopez, Clark, Walker, Allen and Raymond.”
“The Chinese Dawn Academy’s name list; individual participants are Cheng Ming and Chen Dao, secondary profession participants are Gu Xiaoyue and Xiao Lin, and the team participants are Sun Xiao, An Luo, Li Jiayi, Sheng Guo and Chen Fangming.”
“Those are the participants from both sides. Are there any issues?”
“OK!”
“There are no issues!”
Xiao Lin and the president shook hands, and the tournament name list was decided, so there was no way to change it, even if there were any changes of thoughts.
“You actually didn’t need to waste so much effort. No matter what happens, there’s no way you can win. You will only lose the points that you should have earned. I’m a little disappointed at the list,” the president shook his head and said.
“It seems like you’ve investigated us,” Xiao Lin said.
“Did you not do so as well?”
“Then we’ll meet at the match,” Xiao Lin shrugged and said.
“I wish you good luck.”
“Ha, if we have good luck, then it would be to your detriment.”
The name list was fixed, which relieved Xiao Lin of some stress. What followed would be how they executed. He planned on resting early after the tiring journey, but he still had to explain the list to a lot of people.
The doubt casted by those like Han Manman could be ignored, but Cheng Ming and Chen Dao, even Gu Xiaoyue’s suspicions, needed to be patiently abated.
“I know what you’re thinking. You all feel like the chances of winning with this list is very low, especially with regards to the team portion, right? Fine, let me tell you clearly that I don’t plan on beating Judge Academy during the team match at all. You’ve all already seen Judge Academy’s teamwork skills. To be frank, with our current formation, the chances of winning are astronomically low, so we might as well just give it up.
“It’s a seven-point match, and we just need to take down the first four points and we can win. In terms of individual skill, I’m very confident in the two of you. As for the secondary professions, Gu Xiaoyue is the most hardworking out of all of us. I don’t think she’ll have an issue here… Fine, to be honest, I’m not absolutely confident with this arrangement, but I still think it’s our best chance of winning.”
