Chapter 71: Welcome to the Freshmen Showcase Tournament!

"Can you help me wash the vegetables?"

The next second, a bright smile appeared on Jiang Zihan’s face when he quickly brought the vegetables over to the sink and began washing them.

Mo Shiyan stared at his back for a while before finally turning his attention back to the ingredients in front of him.

The atmosphere was warm and peaceful, but both of them knew that in the next day, there would be a tough battle waiting for them. Tomorrow would be the Freshmen Showcase Tournament that they had prepared for a very long time already.

That would be the start of their new journey.

The next day—

"Welcome, everyone, to the Interstellar Ice Hunter Academy’s Freshmen Showcase Tournament!"

The host’s voice echoed through the training field, and cheers immediately sounded from the crowd. The stands surrounding the field were totally filled with audience, from both the school and outside school. This competition would be broadcast live throughout the whole process, so every single participant tried to give it their all in order to provide the best performance for the audience. This could give them a chance to catch the attention of different Hunter Organizations and earn a chance at recruitment.

"There’s a lot of freshmen this year," one of the audience said.

His companion who sat beside him nodded his head as he replied, "I remember that last year’s competition was pretty interesting, and there were a few students who performed very well. Not sure what there is this year..."

The chatter continued throughout the stand. At the entrance of the arena, Jiang Zihan took a deep breath, his hands trembling a little. Then he turned around and looked at every one of his teammates and asked with a serious voice. "Guys, are you ready?"

Chen Tianyu walked up and rested his hand across his shoulders. With a bright smile on his face, he replied, "What are you even thinking? Of course we’re ready. You can always trust my ability, as there’s nothing in this world that I, Chen Tianyu, cannot handle—"

Before he could even finish his sentence, Lu Xingyue smacked him on the back of his head before she looked at Jiang Zihan. "Don’t listen to his nonsense. But there’s one thing that he’s correct about. We would definitely win, so there’s nothing you need to worry about."

Shen Qingci gently nodded his head in agreement before he lay back down on the wall.

Seeing her brother’s expression, Shen Qingyi couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh before gently encouraging them. "As long as all of us are together, everything can be overcome."

Su Li played with a blade in her hand, staring at her reflection on the surface of the blade. "There’s nothing in this world that could stop me from reaching the pinnacle of power," she said indifferently.

Mo Shiyan walked forward and ruffled Jiang Zihan’s hair before he calmly said, "It’s time to go."

"Captain~ Is that all you’re gonna say? Can’t you also say something more encouraging?" Chen Tianyu complained before following behind him.

Not long after, their team name was called. The group straightened their clothes before walking toward the arena.

"Next, let us welcome another team—the "Moon of the Nine Heavens" team!" the host announced as he raised his microphone. "Let us look forward to their performance today!"

The audience clapped loudly as the sound rose throughout the field. After the host finished introducing all the freshmen teams, he invited each team captain onto the stage to draw lots and determine the order in which they would compete.

Mo Shiyan gave his team members a glance before he walked toward the front of the arena. There was a wooden box that was being placed on a table, and after examining the box for a moment, he reached into the box and pulled out a small ball marked with a number. He showed the number to the teacher standing beside the box before walking back to his team.

"How is it? Which number did you get? Are we the first one competing?" Chen Tianyu quickly asked.

Everyone else stared at Mo Shiyan with hope, as none of them wanted to be the first team competing on stage. Under everyone’s sight, Mo Shiyan purposely let out a sigh, making everyone’s heart skip a beat.

"Don’t tell me that I was right... We’re actually the first team to start the competition...?" Chen Tianyu asked in a low voice, his expression slowly becoming pale.

Just at that time, Mo Shiyan showed them the number marked on the small ball.

Chen Tianyu quickly extended his neck to see the number more clearly. Then he immediately let out a sigh of relief when he saw the number. "We’re the sixth one. Oh my... Captain, you scared me to death!"

Everyone else also let out a long breath.

"The sixth team on stage is actually pretty nice, since our pressure wouldn’t be that high," Shen Qingci commented.

"But if we are able to finish it earlier, then there would be more time for us to adjust our tactics and prepare for our next battle," Su Li added.

"Now that everyone has drawn their numbers, let us go over the rules of the competition!" the host yelled out.

At the same time, all of the lights in the arena had suddenly dimmed. That had somehow terrified the audience a little, which their attention was quickly attracted by the host’s words again.

"This year, we’ll be holding the Freshmen Showcase Tournament in a completely different way. We could also call it—the Freshmen Hunting Competition!"

"We will be sending the teams that drew the same number into a dungeon together. Their goal would be to eliminate the monsters in the dungeon, and the higher the monster ranks, the more points they’ll earn."

"An F-Rank is worth 1 point, a D-Rank is worth 5 points, a C-Rank is worth 20 points, and a B-Rank is worth 80 points. As a bonus, if the team is able to defeat an A-Rank monster, they would be able to earn a total of three hundred points!" the host continued in a loud voice.