The preliminaries of the Magic Martial Arts Competition had a distinctive feature. To prevent participants from being eliminated by encountering a super-strong opponent right away, the competition used a point system.

A participant only needed to accumulate more than ten points to advance to the next round, the top 100 competition.

This meant that even if a participant was defeated in a match, they wouldn't be eliminated.

Defeating an opponent earned three points, while a draw within the set time earned one point. The losing side received no points. Therefore, to enter the top 100 competition, a participant had to fight and defeat three opponents and draw with a fourth. The top 100 competition would be a ring match, presented in front of the people of the capital of Camalon. Every participant was desperately trying to make it into this round...

In the preliminaries for the top 100 competition, lower-ranked participants were especially popular.

Particularly participants like Rody and Kris, who were one-star magic apprentices, were considered treasures. In everyone's eyes, they were just there to give away points, and nobody would want to miss out on earning a valuable three points from them.

"Come on, sit down and rest for a while; you've worked hard in the preliminaries." As soon as a few guys saw Rody and Kris come in and realized they were one-star magic apprentices, they were almost overjoyed. They brought chairs, took their lists for signatures, and arranged the order of the matches. Naturally, they put their own names on the battle roster against the two.

"You're being too outrageous!" The beautiful female magician was furious, trying to stop this shameful act.

"Thank you all, you're really kind..." Kris, however, was grateful for their attentiveness.

"Please be merciful," Rody said as he entered the selection area, bowing slightly to his opponent, a giant man who resembled a minotaur. The giant man buzzed, "Don't worry, I'll definitely be merciful. There's a whole bunch of people waiting to fight you! When I push you, remember to fall out of bounds and protect yourself. Oh, and my friend brought some soft cloth tents, which might cushion your fall."

Everyone was in high spirits, shaking hands again and again, delighted to have found two one-star magic apprentices as opponents.

No one bothered to watch the matches, as they were certain of their victory.

"Raisenet, it's your turn," Rody called out in the arena. A tall swordsman raised his hand joyfully, saying, "It's my turn already? Coming, coming!"

"Akaralafabini, it's your turn..." Rody called again, and a thin rogue ran over amid the cheers of the crowd.

"Sergey, it's your turn!" Rody was calling people so quickly that before anyone had a chance to take a sip of water, he had already finished four matches. Everyone cheered, hoping that Rody and Kris would stay and fight against a dozen or so people. After everyone had earned their ten points, they planned to let Rody and Kris draw ten matches so they could also advance to the top 100 competition.

"Is it my turn?" Kris stood in the arena, clapping his hands and smiling, "Let's see who my opponent is. The first one is Zeqiong Huanaidu, may I ask who that is?"

"It's me!" The fat man who had moved the chair for Kris laughed heartily, "Ha, I'm so lucky. But shouldn't I have fought Rody first? Where did he go? Oh, he's tired and needs to rest, right? Fine, he should rest. I'll fight him after he's had a break! Don't worry, I'll use the lightest force to push you off the stage, I promise you won't get hurt!"

"Thank you so much!" Kris beamed with gratitude.

"Thankfully these guys want to score points and didn’t hit too hard," the beautiful female magician said, rushing in with healing potions. Seeing Rody leisurely drinking water, she was relieved and asked, "Rody, are you alright?"

"I’m fine," Rody nodded, then asked, "I want to place a bet, bet some small money, where can I do that?"

"That’s not a good idea!" The female magician cautioned, "If others find out, they might suspect something. Generally, participants can't bet on their own loss; it could be considered cheating."

"I want to bet on Kris, is that not allowed either? Too bad!" Rody, realizing it wasn’t feasible, decided to put his money-making dreams aside for the top 100 competition.

"Boom..."

A loud bang came from above, shaking the entire floor as if something had slammed hard against the wall.

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This noise startled everyone.

"Hey, Zeqiong Huanaidu, what are you trying to do? That's too harsh! What if you injure someone?" Someone stood up and angrily scolded the fat man for possibly injuring Kris, shouting, "We haven't even started the match, why are you going crazy? If you have that much energy, why don’t you go find your lustful fatty to vent on? If you kill someone in the selection area, you’ll at least end up in jail for ten days to half a month. Don’t expect us to chip in for compensation, burial, and injury fees, you fool..."

"I'm fine, next is Anzuxi, who is Anzuxi?" Kris waved to everyone, indicating he was unharmed.

"Ah, it's me!" A heavy swordsman heard this, immediately put down his greatsword, and approached with a bit of confusion, asking, "Where's Zeqiong Huanaidu? I mean, that fat guy, where did he go?"

"He was too excited and ran off there," Kris pointed to the opposite broken wall, "It seems he even knocked down a wall."

"That fool lost five matches in a row and panicked. No wonder he was so excited!" The heavy swordsman understood very well. He thought he would be just as thrilled if he could earn six points from Rody and Kris, two one-star magic apprentices, because that would be incredibly lucky.

"Boom!"

Another loud noise, the ground shaking, and plaster from the ceiling falling.

Just as everyone had sat down, the explosion scared them into jumping up again.

"What's going on? Anzuxi, have you gone mad too? Don't tell us you've caught mad cow disease!" The crowd rebuked the heavy swordsman.

"I don't know. He seemed to have gone crazy with joy. He didn't break the wall, but he smashed the door of the instructor's rest room." Before Kris could call the next participant, a muscular man with a broadsword ran out, beaming, "Is it my turn? Don't worry, I absolutely won't use my broadsword. See, I'm putting it down now! Don't be scared, I won't scare you, and I won't go crazy like them, just a gentle push of my hand..."

"Something doesn't seem quite right," the female magician felt something was off but couldn't pinpoint what it was.

"No," Rody shook his head, "Everything is normal."

Indeed, the muscular man learned from the previous lesson and didn’t cause a loud disturbance. He quietly completed his match. Kris then called the next participant, an ugly man with a certain resemblance to a gorilla, with very thick arms and a body like a wall.

He too completed the match smoothly, without causing any disturbance.

Kris leisurely came down from the stage, holding a list in his hand and happily tucking it into his chest.

"Let's go," Rody stood up and left with him.

"Wait, we haven't finished our matches yet!" The crowd hurriedly followed to stop Rody and Kris from leaving. Why were they leaving? Were they upset about losing repeatedly? If that was the case, it was negotiable. Everyone could take turns drawing matches with them. Normally, no one would feel safe letting others dictate the outcome of matches, especially during draws, as there was a high risk of being sneak-attacked and knocked off the selection platform. But with them being one-star magic apprentices, everyone felt completely at ease...

"We'll talk about it later! We're tired today," Rody expressed his fatigue, unable to continue the matches.

"Remember to come early tomorrow! Whatever conditions you have, just say them, like going to the tavern for drinks and girls... cough, we didn't mean that. Actually, having Miss Olygaran accompany you should be enough." With no other choice, especially with the female magician glaring angrily, ready to blast a few fireballs as a reminder (since she was one of the organizers of the event), everyone reluctantly let Rody and Kris leave. They quietly reminded them to come early the next day and planned to bring them the finest magic art albums as gifts.

This magic art album, of course, was of the kind that only men could appreciate.

Before Rody and Kris could say anything, Miss Olygaran, the beautiful female magician, was already angrily pulling them away.

Clearly, she knew about these kinds of magic art albums. Maybe she had confiscated such collections from students, or perhaps she had heard about them. In any case, seeing everyone sneakily talking about magic art albums and then suddenly becoming furious, she was afraid these rascals would corrupt the two handsome men who looked as divine as gods.

"Don't listen to them. Those guys are just old slickers who can't graduate from the academy, just loafers waiting to die," the female magician said with a slight blush on her face. "Those magic art albums are nothing to see, only low-level magicians draw such things! They are of low taste, not worth our noble magicians' attention. We should do something more meaningful. Are you hungry? I'll treat you to a delicious lunch... I know a place that makes great steaks and desserts!"

"Thank you, we are a bit tired and would like to go back to rest!" Kris yawned.

"You don't need to be discouraged. Competing with those brutes in terms of strength is unwise. We should think of other methods," Miss Olygaran comforted gently. "Kris, you and Rody don't need to feel honored only by winning in the Magic Martial Arts Competition. Noble magicians can do many things that those brute swordsmen would respect. Don't worry, I will help you!"

"Let's go have steak then!" Rody's suggestion surprised Kris.

"Really?" Miss Olygaran joyfully said, "Rody, that's a great suggestion. Let's go, Kris, what are we waiting for?"

"Hey, you're not falling for this lovesick fool, are you?" Kris leaned in and whispered.

"I just want to go to her magic research lab to see her magic notes!" Rody grabbed Kris's shoulder and grinned, "As my assistant, you should know what to do. Seduce her! Get her head over heels for you. I can tell she's kind of interested!"

"You jerk, you never have a good idea!" Kris was so angry he wanted to hit him. He broke free from Rody's arm, but when the female magician looked over curiously, Kris immediately flashed a bright smile, his lips red and teeth white, his bright eyes shining like stars. His radiant smile was like a beam of sunlight breaking through dark clouds, dazzling the female magician. Kris winked at her and asked in a melodious voice like a stream over stones, "I love 'Flying Dream Boat' made with elf honey. What about you, Miss Olygaran?"

"I like it too, it's my favorite!" Miss Olygaran, the beautiful female magician, immediately decided to make this dessert her lifelong favorite.

Inside the selection match room, the instructor called for a dozen slaves, who gradually carried out the injured participants.

Everyone gathered around, clicking their tongues in amazement.

"These guys were beaten so badly, they're completely disfigured. I bet even their mothers wouldn't recognize them!" someone laughed heartily, making such a remark.

"It's a waste of money even to heal them!" another person laughed.

"Did some super-strong competitor come by? Why are so many people down all of a sudden?" Finally, someone felt something was amiss.

"Are these your companions?" the chief instructor sneered, "You should feel lucky. If you had been on the stage earlier, then you would be the ones unrecognizably unconscious on the stretchers!"

"Instructor, we don’t quite understand what you mean!" Everyone was still confused.

"This is Zeqiong Huanaidu, the fat one among you. Although his face is ruined, you should recognize his pig-like body! This is Anzuxi. I can’t recognize him very well either, but it should be him, or else this pile of mess is him. They all look the same anyway. As for this one behind, his face is not injured, just twisted in pain. He is Akaralafabini! Why is his face twisted? Ah, his 'eggs' are smashed! Sergey is the same, and so is Raisenet and the others. They all got their 'eggs' smashed! Poor things, they encountered a master at smashing 'eggs'!"

"Instructor, we still don't quite understand. Do you mean they were beaten like this by those two one-star newbie magic apprentices just now?" someone asked, scratching his head in confusion.

"It seems you are still not awake... If not them, then who?" As soon as the chief instructor said this, everyone felt like they had been struck by lightning.

"Yikes..." Everyone gasped in shock, unconsciously touching their own lower parts, almost thinking their 'eggs' were smashed too. It was only after realizing they were intact that they knew they were sweating profusely.

"Oh my God, I'm going to faint!" someone was so scared that they fell to the ground.

"If this is a dream, please wake up now! I'm so scared!" another person was on the verge of crying.