Chapter 77 Tournament Preparation
The school days from then onwards were a series of hellish training.
Timetables were changed, instead of theory classes, more training schedules were added. Not only that, the training begins at 6:00 am and is kept till midnight.
The students were given extra attention by the academy and every day an instructor came and taught us.
"You need to rapidly deploy your skill as required. One second faster can lead to a difference between life and death."
The Professor was currently teaching us how to decrease our attacking time. Her name is Nannie. She is said to be among the fastest professors to deploy spells.
She didn't really teach our class but now the school wants us to broaden our horizons and have different professors teach different concepts to us.
Each professor had their specialties like Nannie being in speed activation. Some professors taught us extreme training methods to increase strength, while others shared their experiences and how to deal with certain situations. They all taught us different concepts.
It was beneficial as some concepts worked better with certain people while it was not much effective for others.
For example, the lecture that is being delivered by Professor Nannie. Her concept of speed casting is good to know for a mage like me.
But it is not beneficial to Archer and those who rely on a charge attack. Rather than speed, they need to have ample time to deploy their skill, so the thing about speed activation is not really useful to them.
Similarly, the professors not only taught us their knowledge of combat but also their beliefs.
Like Professor Mia believes in hard work more than anything. She would also give us valuable lessons for fighting and all that stuff but she would also tell the students to never give up and work hard.
And there were also professors like William who would only come here to waste our time. He will be preaching on how those with a profound background are always greater than those with low background.
"Don't let filthy commoners overtake the elite like us. Our blood is noble and we should strive to be a greater noble. Talent is only granted to people with noble blood."
Professor William will speak some incomprehensible nonsense to us. It seems that he would only come here to speak on the greatness of being from a great background.
Professor Wiliam had also given me quite a few glares that I could not count. While mentioning commoner or filthy he would always look at me.
Like he was suggesting I am that. I don't give a damn to such a loser. Not being able to see beyond his ego is what makes him really narrow-minded.
Trying to chase after Mia with that kind of attitude was like going to catch fish with a piece of paper. And Professor Mia was not any fish, she was a shark. There is no way he could succeed.
But I do pity this poor guy. Being made into a small-time villain, just so that MC could shine in the future.
Professor Willian, in the novel, could not tolerate Hiro after he had won the Tournament of Academies and was given the opportunity to take any treasure from the treasurer.
He challenges Hiro in front of everyone. Due to his connection, even though he was a professor and Hiro a student, he would get approval from the Ace Academy.
But he ends up getting thrashed by Hiro Ernest and gets expelled from school. The role of him as mini-boss ends there.
But whatever happens to Professor William, I do think he deserves it. Not only would he discriminate against students but also violate rules and no one can truly do anything to him due to his dad.
The only ones who really listen to Professor William's speech are those with the same mentality as him. The one born with a silver spoon and knows only to brag about their bloodline.
No power to back up their words but always thinking that they are superior. Flash was one of those stupid students though he was talented compared to other idiots.
The intensive training was also for senior students and every day you could see the tired face of students.
"Training till 12: 00 am and training again at 6:00 am, I don't think I can survive to see the next day."
"I have been swinging my sword 10,000 times now. I don't think I can last any longer doing that boring stuff."
"Today, I don't think I can do it. I am going to skip it guys."...
The majority of students could not handle the new regime. They were training twice hard and twice the duration which made some students feel unbearable.
However, MC and his friends didn't show much change in their faces. They as main characters are not only talented but also very hardworking.
The training that we are currently going through might just be an everyday occurrence to Hiro, Zion, Lisa, and Sylvia.
I, too, didn't feel like it was anything difficult. Rather it seemed a little less tiresome than my usual training.
The academy provided ample rest time while I would train and train until I felt exhausted. And to make someone like me exhausted is not easy, taking four to five hours of extra intensive training or 7-to 8 hours of intensive training.
I will then rest a bit and continue to do it again. Compared to that, the training at the academy will allow resting now and then. The training was nothing difficult.
The training was harsh to students who just relied on their talent and connection to enter this academy.
They have never experienced that kind of hardship and felt that the academy was tormenting them.
They went as far as to complain and have their parents call the Academy administration.
The parents would then call and complain to the school administration. They would ask the academy how they could treat their child like that. They would also threaten to use their connection to cut resources to Ace Academy.
They were indeed influential but Ace Academy was not a school that they could interfere with.
The academy only told them to tell their kids to leave the training session if they are not able to handle it. They didn't care whether those students would participate or not in the training.
They have dealt with many similar students like them in the past and they know that these students would amount to nothing when they grow up.
Talent might have been enough to get enrolled in the Ace Academy but to get far in life, hard work is what the students needed. And the school administrative team was also very much aware of that fact.
The rich kids might be able to ascend to higher rank using potions and mana herbs but when it comes to fighting on the battlefield, they would be the first to get killed.
It just means Rank and strong Artifacts are not all that matter when it comes to strength. There is a vast difference between people who are constantly risking their lives and those who are not.
The rank might be the same but when a fight occurs between the two, those without the experience in life and death situations will be the first to die.
Those guys had nothing but wealth to show off.
They were just riding on the coat of their parents. They would not be able to get far in life and the school administration had no reason to force them.
After getting those students out, the training became more intense. Like professors were trying to prove that they didn't care whether students drops or not.
To them, the training itself was like a selection. Only those who could endure those training sessions were qualified to represent the Ace Academy.
I was able to handle those training without much trouble. With selection coming up, I was also entirely focused on training.
I left my company to Elisa and Aiden. Even without me, the company is rapidly growing. Unless for a new project, my decision was not needed in other situations.
Training my Cryomancy Art, I was able to mold the ice into various shapes using any skill. Previously, only by using Ice embodiment and increasing my control over Ice energy did I manage to make any shape I want with Ice.
But now I could do it even without using Ice Embodiment albeit only of small size. To make something like an Ice stair and an Ice Slide, was currently impossible.
I could also see that the MC and others were growing rapidly. Hiro was able to consolidate his new strength of Rank-D during summer vacation and now he was able to show his real strength as a Rank-D -.
Zion is also becoming fierce with his strength. His attacks were more deadly and precise than before. He also seems too focused on training.
Lisa and Sylvia are also doing great. They had also reached Rank-E+ peak judging from their mana aura. Not that they were intentionally releasing them but with the sense of Rank-D -, it is easier for higher ranked people to determine the rank of lower-ranked people.
The Selection was right around the corner and today, Professor Mia was going to announce the type of competition to determine who will participate in the Tournament.
" Good Afternoon Everyone, As you know that we have a selection coming up. The professors have decided that this year we are going to have a knock-out tournament to decide the participants."
Professor Mia announced.
"Since the number of participants is very large, we will first have another contest. First, will be the Mass brawl where you all will randomly spawn in the dungeon. The first one hundred students to eliminate three students will be qualified for selection."
Since the student participating for selection has crossed 1000 students, they would first try to minimize the number of students.
"After the first contest will be the knockout tournament where we will determine the top-20 students who will go to Helix Stadium to represent our Academy."
( Top-20? )
It might have been near impossible for me before but not anymore. Top-20 while being first-year is not easy, not especially when you are competing with students who have cultivated 2 years earlier than you.
"I would like to wish you all the best and I hope that the students that would be selected as participants will be from this class."
Getting Top-20 was hard but not impossible. However, Top-20 was not even my goal.
"I will become the Number One in the whole tournament!"