"Dean, who are our opponents today?"
Dai Mubai asked Flender. Flender looked distracted for a moment, saying
"How should I know? Is it me participating in the competition or you!"
He had spent these days finding advertisers, not just the present flower nectar shop, but he'd also discussed prices with several more, how could he have the time to pay attention to the competition. Dai Mubai was speechless a moment.
"Sir, you can't only care about money. You should still have some concern for us."
Flender smiled
"Even if I'm the dean, I still delegate the work. Don't worry, Erlong has been observing your opponents. She'll give you a detailed rundown of your opponents later. I must remind you, if you can't obtain the championship, I won't let you graduate."
As he spoke, Grandmaster and Liu Erlong came walking over together. They hadn't followed Flender's example, and both wore their own clothes. Grandmaster and Liu Erlong's expressions seemed somewhat strange, and the Shrek Academy students could read a serious mood from their faces. The students all looked at each other. They couldn't understand just what kind of opponent could make Grandmaster put on such a serious face.
To the side Liu Erlong said
"You've all heard of the Elephant Armored School. Ranked the sixth of the seven great schools. Your opponents today come from the Elephant Armored Academy run by them. The seven members on the other side are all directly related disciples of the Elephant Armored School. Three of them have reached the fortieth rank, the other four also have close to fortieth ranked strength. You might say it's the elite of the Elephant Armored School's young generation."
Elephant Armored School? Hearing these three words, the Shrek Seven Devils couldn't help having serious expressions. They were very clear on what these words represented. Just like the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School was named the most powerful support school, the Elephant Armored School had their own title: the most powerful defensive school.
The Elephant Armored School's hereditary spirit was the Diamond Mammoth, a super spirit with extremely high defense, its attributes mainly embodying strength and defense. Of equal level spirits, practically no Spirit Master could breach their defense. If it wasn't for their lack of a Title Douluo, perhaps their ranking among the seven great schools wouldn't have been merely sixth.
Despite this, the Elephant Armored School master, an eighty seventh ranked Spirit Douluo, could rely on his tyrannical defense to stiffly block the attacks of Title Douluo that weren't offensively focused. It clearly showed the power of their spirit. Hearing Liu Erlong's words, everyone sunk into contemplation including JoyBoy but for a different reason.
The moment he heard about the Elephant Armored School, he felt the same sense of danger he had felt two days ago. He immediately closed his eyes after activating five hundred times boost and tried to sense the source of the danger.
After he found the source, he opened his eyes and had a wry expression on his face because he found that the so called source of his sense of danger was his own martial spirit! He thought
"My own martial spirit ? This is ridiculous. No, wait a minute!
Does it mean that the Power Gem has gained sentience ? Is it like Grandmaster's martial spirit or is it like the Soul Gem from Marvel comics ?
This is bad! From my memories of the Marvel comics, Soul Gem was the only Infinity stone with sentience and it became a huge menace because of its insatiable hunger for souls. But, I wonder if the Power Gem even has hunger for something, since it is the source of all power/energies in existence.
Anyway I should try to communicate with it to find out what exactly is the matter. Luckily, I already decided that I won't be messing with any other important event from the novel unless its absolutely necessary to make sure that the future timeline doesn't get messed up like it happened in the DC comics 'Flashpoint Paradox', so I will have time to investigate about my martial spirit.
I should tell others that I won't be participating in today's match...huh ?"
The moment JoyBoy thought about telling others about not participating in the match, he suddenly got the similar dangerous feeling from his martial spirit. He stopped himself and tried to communicate with his martial spirit mentally
"What's the matter ?"
He waited for a moment and got no response from it, so he tried once more.
"Do you need something from me ?"
He waited for a moment and got no response from it, so he tried again.
"Do you want me to do something ?"
Once again he got no response, so he decided to ignore it for now and tell others about his decision to not participate in today's battle but the moment he tried to tell them, he again got the similar feeling from his martial spirit. This irked him, so he tried once more.
"What do you want from me ? Tell me clearly, otherwise I will ignore you."
After he waited for some time, he got a message from his martial spirit which surprised him. The message was
'I want you to fight in today's battle.'
He quickly asked
"Why do you want me to participate in today's battle ?"
In response, his martial spirit only gave him a sense of intense hunger for battle which made him feel awkward. He was a peace loving person but his martial spirit appeared to be a battle maniac ? He said
"You do realize that I can easily defeat them in a second if I want. I do not want to bully others just because you are hungry for battle. I have no enmity with them, well not yet anyway.
I am sorry but I already have plans for the future and I do not want to change them until its absolutely necessary.
Besides, I have already decided that I won't participate in today's match and instead will participate in the next match, so you will get your so called battle to satiate your hunger."
After he said that, he decided to ignore his martial spirit for now and told Tang San and others about his decision to not participate in the battle against the Elephant Armored School in order to let the others participate and polish their combat abilities.
The four substitute students were surprised by his decision and thought that he was just scared but the Shrek Seven Devils and the teachers believed him since they had an idea about just how strong he really was, especially Tang San and Grandmaster. Then Grandmaster said to the students
"If it was in a spacious battle, perhaps your first formation would still have a chance, the Elephant Armored School's worst area is speed, relying on movement to exhaust the enemy's spirit power is a good choice. But with the size of the competition stage, you practically won't stand a chance.
Even though the opponents don't have a Support Spirit Master, because they all have identical spirits, their overlaying might is astonishing. From a theoretical standpoint, in order to gain the final victory, I advise you to give up this match. After all, you're safe as long as you're in the top five in the qualifiers. There's nothing improper about hiding your strength in the early stage."
Flender looked at Dai Mubai and Tang San with a bitter face
"Decide on your own."
Dai Mubai and Tang San looked at each other, but neither made a sound. To the side Ma Hongjun couldn't help saying
"If we all appear on stage, what does it matter if others learn of our strength?"
Oscar said
"Of course it's no good if we let others see our strength beforehand. That way the opponents can come up with tactics against us. Perhaps these qualifiers don't matter, but don't forget that we'll face even more powerful opponents in the promotion competition and the finals. Losing the element of surprise would be disadvantageous to us."
Dai Mubai asked Tang San
"Little San, what do you think? You're the soul of the team, the main director. It's your decision."
Faint radiance flashed through Tang San's eyes, tightly clenching both fists
"Fight."
Even though his reply was just one simple word, this word simultaneously roused the spirits of all the Shrek Academy people, an intense fighting spirit pervaded the air around Tang San. JoyBoy felt that the sense of hunger for battle coming from his martial spirit increased tremendously. He felt that his martial spirit wanted him to fight and defeat the entire world single handedly.
"Solo the entire world, eh ?"
When he thought about fighting and defeating the entire world, two characters especially came to his mind from the many characters he knew about from his knowledge of Anime, Novels and comics, Superboy Prime and Uchiha Madara. He again focused on Tang San.
Tang San's gaze turned to Grandmaster who was watching him intently
"Teacher, I understand the three options you raised. But I think there's still a way to compromise. We admittedly want to obtain the final victory in the competition, but at the same time we also want to practice our live combat capability and adaptability.
If we shrink back when faced with a powerful opponent, there would be a large influence on morale. Therefore, I think it would be better to take a middle route. Adjusting the members going up, without exposing our entire hidden strength, but also bringing enough strength to defeat the opponents."
Grandmaster always emphasized tempering Tang San's ability to direct, and nodded to this, saying
"Tell me, what do you propose?"
Tang San lowered his voice
"I'm thinking like this. Two of us Shrek Seven Devils appeared in the last fight, this fight we adjust it once. Zhuqing replaces Tai Long, Oscar replaces Jiang Zhu and Xiao Wu replaces brother JoyBoy. If five of us seven can't defeat the opponents, how can we take the final championship?"
Hearing Tang San speak, Grandmaster revealed a smile
"Pretty good, very focused. It seems you've already planned in advance."
Tang San's brows wrinkled slightly
"Can't say that, anything can happen in the match. But I believe this is the best way to fight, it'll give us a chance at victory without exposing our full strength."
To the side Tai Long Couldn't keep from saying
"Young master San, why not let me fight? Aren't the opponents all defense and strength type Spirit Masters? With me there, at least I could block them head on. There's no question about my ability to take a beating."
Grandmaster smiled
"The reason he lets Zhuqing take your place is because he's not planning to fight head on."
How would Dai Mubai want to avoid battle? His evil eyes shone
"Little San, you arrange it."
Tang San nodded, gathering the fighters around him. In a low voice, he began to explain the tactics he had in mind. JoyBoy, Grandmaster, Liu Erlong and Flender listened quietly on the side, without adding further opinions. They all understood that only relying on their own strength and wisdom to temper themselves in battle, was the best method for these little monsters to grow in strength.