NOVEL NEXT Chapter 193 - Rankings
The Starlight Squad ranked third in the group training competition. Their score was ten points lower than the Sunlight Squad’s, which was quite a large gap.
However, if there hadn’t been a beast tide near the finish line, the Starlight Squad would have certainly been the second team to reach the end, and their score would definitely not have been lower than that of the Phantom Squad.
It’s worth noting that the Starlight Squad lasted only ten minutes less than the Sunlight Squad during the beast tide, and the number of beasts they killed was similar to that of the Phantom Squad.
The reason the Starlight Squad’s score was so much lower than the other two squads was because they couldn’t retrieve the two members who went missing in the quicksand area. Those two members also couldn’t escape from the Oasis people on their own.
In the end, the two members were rescued by the instructors from the Oasis people after the beast tide broke out, and as a result, they were judged to have been eliminated because they got stuck in the quicksand.
Ability Team 1 could be said to be both unlucky and lucky. They were unlucky to be ambushed by bandits, and six of their members were eliminated.
But after that, the remaining two members were fortunate enough to latch onto a stronger team, gaining a lot of points. In the end, they ranked 12th and avoided elimination.
Although Ability Team 2’s overall combat strength was not as strong as Team 1’s, their luck was much better. Although two of their members were eliminated, their score securely placed them in 4th place.
Fifth place went to Mechanical Team 1. This team only had five level-five cultivators, but they had two gold-type ability users. Coupled with their expertise in mechanical manufacturing, their team had a significant advantage during the training.
Mechanical Team 2 ranked sixth. This team only had three level-five cultivators, but they had one gold-type ability user, which gave them an edge.
Thunderlight Squad’s luck was neutral. Four of their members were eliminated, but they killed a considerable number of beasts. Their position was also close to the finish line when the beast tide erupted, so they earned a lot of points and ranked seventh.
After the group training competition points were released, the combined points from the group matches and the group training competition were also announced.
In the team competition points rankings, the Sunlight Squad took first place, while the Phantom Squad dropped to second.
The Phantom Squad entered the group training competition as second place from the group stage, earning five points.
The team that finished first in the group stage received ten points, and the Sunlight Squad entered as the top team, so they earned ten points.
The Starlight Squad maintained their third-place ranking. They entered the group training competition as second place from the group stage.
The fourth and fifth places remained unchanged.
However, this result wasn’t very favorable for Ability Team 2 because, based on the points ranking, they would face Ability Team 1.
Mechanical Team 2 and Thunderlight Squad swapped places. Thunderlight Squad ranked sixth, while Mechanical Team 2 ranked seventh.
The Phantom Squad, now in second place, wasn’t at all discouraged by the result. When they exited the group stage, their goal was simply to make it into the top sixteen, and they were already satisfied with that.
At that time, their team had only the captain as the main combat power, with the others being level-four cultivators.
But before the group training competition, Zhuang Huaiya had advanced to level five, and they had two more level-five cultivators as substitutes, significantly boosting the Phantom Squad’s overall combat power.
Now, their team was ranked second, having made it into the top sixteen. Moreover, in the round of 16, they would likely face the team ranked 15th based on the points ranking.
They were definitely going to make it to the top eight!
How could they not be happy and excited about that?
Although their advancement to the top eight was absolutely due to the captain’s personal ability and the Phantom Squad’s overall strength wasn’t that strong, they didn’t care about such things as pride. As long as they could win, they were happy.
When Mai Dongzi and her team returned to the Imperial Capital University, the other students who had been training on Imperial Capital Star returned a day earlier.
These students had been training in the Qiming Grand Canyon on Imperial Capital Star, a place notorious for its dangers. Although it wasn’t as harsh and perilous as the desert planet, the overall strength of the students remaining on Imperial Capital Star was far weaker than that of Mai Dongzi and her team. Therefore, the students who trained there had endured quite a lot of hardship.
While they hadn’t been as badly sunburned as Mai Dongzi’s group, their bodies had visibly slimmed down.
However, when Mai Dongzi and her group returned to school, everyone was full of energy and looking vibrant. In contrast, the students who had arrived earlier had rested for a full day and night, but most of them still looked somewhat sluggish.
As soon as Mai Dongzi and her group arrived back, the school edited and posted the training videos from both groups on the campus network.
After watching the videos of their peers’ experiences on Liva Star, the students of Imperial Capital University who felt they had been through tough times instantly perked up.
It wasn’t that they were gloating, but rather, seeing how much tougher the other students had it and how they were still in good spirits made them feel embarrassed for appearing so worn out.
As students, there was no room for laziness. After resting for a day, Mai Dongzi and her team resumed the third phase of the inter-school team competition.
In the round of 16, the Phantom Team’s opponents only had two level-5 cultivators, so there was no need for the Moonlight System or Durant, the two substitutes, to step in. Tony won the crucial match, and they smoothly advanced to the top eight.
However, in the quarterfinals, they weren’t as fortunate. The school committee issued new competition rules that significantly restricted experts like Mai Dongzi, with a greater emphasis on the overall strength of the team.
Moreover, their opponents were no longer decided by points, but by a lottery.
The Phantom Team’s luck was always either really good or really bad, and they drew the first ability team as their opponents.
Although the first ability team had a rough time in the team training competition, it was because they were unlucky and encountered a robbery by bandits armed with firearms.
The Phantom Team’s strength was still inferior to the second ability team, and the second ability team’s luck had already run out on Liva Star. In the round of 16, the two ability teams inevitably met, and it turned into an internal struggle.
In the end, the first ability team won, and the second ability team was eliminated, failing to reach the top eight.
Although the first ability team didn’t have a level-6 cultivator, Wang Zhilan’s strength could be considered the best below level-6. Adding to that, she was a powerful gold-elemental ability user, making it uncertain whether even Ren Guang could defeat her.
Li Nanxi was also not easy to deal with, and neither was Wei Bangdi. These three, aside from Mai Dongzi, were unbeatable even by the Moonlight System.
Thus, the Phantom Team was logically eliminated in the quarterfinals.
The final results were as expected: the Sunlight Team successfully defended their championship, the Starlight Team took second place, the first ability team claimed third, and the Thunderlight Team finished fourth.