Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“If it’s about that, then there’s no need for you to worry at all.”
Mr. Dirk shook his head with a laugh and went on. “The exchange competition’s prizes are much more attractive than what you can imagine, and they will attract hordes of experts.
“Because of this, apart from current students, there are actually a larger number of contestants that aren’t from the academies. They join the academies in name just to obtain competition eligibility.
“Additionally, there are many seniors that should have graduated simply refuse to do so, and they stay in the academy to pursue their studies for several years, all for the sake of obtaining competition eligibility, too.”
“You can actually do that?” Meng Lei was a little startled at what he heard. “In that case, aren’t current students like us at a huge disadvantage?”
“Yes, but there’s nothing to be done about that. The prizes are simply too attractive.” Mr. Dirk shook his head and added, “Frankly speaking, if it wasn’t because my age doesn’t fulfill the requirements, even I would want to register for and join the exchange competition. How unfair. This is simply too unfair!”
Meng Lei was rendered completely speechless. Was this really an inter-academy exchange competition? Even the experts in the community were rushing all the way here to join the competition.
“It can’t be helped. The current students tend to be very young, and it is common for most of them to be comparatively weaker. This leads to a severe lack in showmanship quality to the exchange competition, and the level of competitiveness in the competition also becomes very low as a result.”
Mr. Dirk explained with a smile, “Therefore, they can only relax the competition requirements and allow more experts to participate.
“However, there’s ultimately still a 30-year-old age limit. Otherwise, it’s possible that even some of the shameless old antiques would show up. The competition won’t be able to go on anymore that way.”
“Alright, I see.”
Meng Lei shook his head and then asked, “When does the exchange competition start, Mr. Dirk? Where is it held, and what do I need to do?”
“The competition officially starts half a month later, and it’s held at the Imperial City. However, before you go to the Imperial City, we, the Fire Dragon Kingdom, will first conduct a preliminary round of filtering—in other words, the qualifying round.”
Mr. Dirk explained, “The exchange competition stipulates that each kingdom holds only 50 competition spots, and the contestants for these 50 spots will be selected via the qualifying round.”
“Only 50 spots per kingdom?”
This dumbfounded Meng Lei.
There were over 70 academies in Fire Dragon Kingdom’s capital city alone. After adding up all the academies in the whole kingdom, the number of current students far exceeded 100,000, not to mention that there would even be experts from the community.
Yet there were only a total of 50 spots despite there being so many contestants?
The competition sure was tough.
“In that case, I’ll have to join the qualifying round first?” asked Meng Lei as he raised his eyebrows.
“Yes, that’s right.”
Mr. Dirk replied with a light nod, “The one-week qualifying round will start in two days. After that, the selected winners will head to the Imperial Capital on the tenth day to represent the Fire Dragon Kingdom in the exchange competition.”
“Alright, I got it!” Meng Lei nodded slightly.
“Meng Lei, Douglas Magic Academy is in charge of hosting the qualifying round this year. Don’t forget to attend it two days later.”
“Got it, Mr. Dirk.”
After hanging up, Meng Lei continued his study of wood-elemental Dragon-Language Magic, striving to master it and get it down within two days.
…
Early in the morning, two days later, Meng Lei woke up and left his condominium after he was done packing his things.
He had only just walked out of the condominium when he bumped into Fatty Hart and Daniel right away. The two of them were in high spirits and all pumped up.
Fatty Hart chuckled and said, “Old bro, you’ll be the champion of the qualifying round for sure. We offer you our congratulations in advance!”
“Here’s hoping things will go like what you’ve said,” Meng Lei replied with a smile.
Then, with a wave of his arm, he let out the magic carpet and said with a smile, “Let’s head there together.”
“Seriously, old bro, riding an old and tattered flying carpet when you’re already a billionaire? Aren’t you concerned that it’ll cramp your style?” Fatty Hart remarked as he looked at the magic carpet in disdain.
Then, with a grand wave of his arm, he let out a shiny golden magic flying carriage. It bore a striking resemblance to a magnificent falcon, except with a dragon head and was covered all over in golden dragon scales.
There were only four words to describe it—crazy cool, mighty, and domineering!
Fatty Hart tossed his long hair and said awfully coyly, “Let’s go. We can take my vehicle instead!”
“What the heck? Isn’t this the latest version of the collector’s edition of Dragon-Falcon magic carriages? One costs over five million gold coins, you know! Where did you get that from, Fatty?”
Stunned by the golden vehicle’s sudden appearance, Daniel couldn’t stop gasping in shock.
“Haha! I had a small windfall recently thanks to old bro!” Fatty Hart looked awfully smug. “Hehe, you know what I mean.”
“You’ve used up all of the red packets I gave you to buy the carriage,” Meng Lei exclaimed as he looked at Fatty Hart.
He had given Fatty Hart a few red packets, and they had added up to two to three million gold coins.
He had already spent them all!?
“Haha, I, Fatty, have no worries about food or clothing, but what I do lack is a high-end vehicle that matches my status. Frankly speaking, I’ve been eying my old man’s carriage for a very long time now.”
A snickering Fatty Hart went on. “I’ve wanted to steal it and bring it out all this time. Alas, my old man keeps too tight of a watch over it, so I didn’t have a chance at all. Therefore, I secretly swore to myself that I must buy a vehicle that’s even cooler than his for sure someday. And now, my wish has finally come true. I’m so happy!”
“You wastrel!”
A corner of Meng Lei’s lips spasmed in response.
“Haha, let’s go!”
Fatty Hart pulled open the carriage door and said, “Today is the day that old bro’s gonna go on a rampage. You have to ride a presentable vehicle for sure! Only then will it match up to old bro’s status!
“Hop on, old bro!”
“…”
The five-million-gold-coin magic carriage was naturally incredibly flashy. They had only just risen into the air when it attracted several astonished, envious gazes.
Yet Fatty Hart the dummy, still chose to show off on purpose, insisting on circling leisurely around the campus. He even moved at an awfully slow pace, attracting countless envious and jealous exclamations.
Fatty Hart’s vanity was greatly satisfied upon hearing all the screams and exclamations. Only then did he leave the academy, fully content with his achievements.
And then… He started to show off again.
He drove slowly in crowded places and moved quickly in sparsely-populated areas.
That smug look of his gave Meng Lei a serious itch to beat someone up. “Fatty, at the speed you’re driving at, we won’t be able to reach Douglas Magic Academy even by next year!”
“Hehe!” Fatty Hart gave him an embarrassed smile and immediately pulled the control lever. The magic carriage instantly sped up, turning into a stream of light that flew outward. In less than ten minutes, they arrived at Douglas Magic Academy.
“You’ve actually somehow dragged on a few minutes’ journey into an hour…” Meng Lei griped after casting a glance at his pocket watch. “Seriously, Fatty!”
Douglas Magic Academy was already packed with a sea of people by now. Several long queues snaked in front of the academy entrance, causing Meng Lei to be rather troubled. “With that many people here, when are we going to have to queue till?”
However, Fatty Hart replied, “Old bro, look at the banner above. There’s an exclusive passageway for contestants like you guys.”
Meng Lei hurriedly looked over. True enough, he noticed a few banners hanging at the academy entrance, among which, one featured a few large, gold-gilded words—”Contestants, please enter via the exclusive passageway at the side door!”
The rest of the banner displayed other information, such as the number of gold coins external parties needed to pay in order to enter the academy to watch the battles, directions after entering the academy, the seating layout, and so on.
“What the heck? The fee to watch the matches actually goes as high as 2,000 gold coins!?”
