High-Level Martial Era

Virtual Network.

The Rookie Contest of ten schools was held on the Starry Skies Fighting Network, and after entering the second round, a special combat space was opened up, allowing spectators from all schools to enter and watch.

Eight o'clock in the morning.

Li Yuan entered the Starry Skies Fighting Network, and since his identity had already been registered, he could directly enter the 'Rookie Contest Space of Ten Schools'.

Whoosh!

With a flash of light, Li Yuan found himself in an extraordinarily large arena space.

In the very center was a circular melee stage with a diameter of over 200 meters.

Surrounding it were densely packed spectators that formed a sea of people. At a glance, there were probably more than a hundred thousand.

Li Yuan was sitting in the spectator area very close to the stage.

"Brother Yuan, you've finally arrived," Gu Qianghan, who was sitting in front, said excitedly with a smile, "The matches are about to start, and you, a seeded contestant, are not arriving earlier."

"Big Senior Brother!"

"Big Senior Brother." All around, sitting densely packed, were juniors from the Sixth Institute.

Further away? With a glance, Li Yuan recognized many familiar figures, students from other academies in their first year.

There were a lot of people.

"Li Yuan, good luck," a shout suddenly came from behind him.

Li Yuan turned his head and couldn't help but show a hint of a smile—it was Senior Sister Qiu Jing who was cheering for him.

She was gathering with many second-year students.

"Why are there so many people?" Li Yuan turned back and sat down, unable to help but ask.

"Big Senior Brother, didn't you come to watch the contest yesterday?" An Nong said with a smile next to him.

Li Yuan shook his head.

With Dantai Feng, a top-notch expert, participating, it was incredibly difficult to secure the first place; he dared not relax.

Yesterday, he was fully devoted to practicing.

"The contestants are only students from our ten schools, plus a few wildcard students," Gu Qianghan explained, "But as for the spectators, in addition to students from our ten schools, students from the three top-tier martial schools also have permission to watch."

Li Yuan understood in an instant.

No wonder, the night before last, Lin Lanyue had said, once he made it to the finals, she would come to watch.

"Moreover, the participating countries, like Xia Country, Sakura Country, ASEAN, Tianzhu Country... will also allow students from their own ordinary martial arts universities to watch and learn," An Nong said with a chuckle, "Like our country's twenty-nine ordinary martial arts universities, their students can come to watch."

"Only first-year students are combating, but students from the second to fifth year can still watch."

"So,"

"theoretically, the number of spectators could certainly exceed three million," An Nong exclaimed with emotion, "Of course, that's just theoretical. Students above the third year basically do not pay attention to this event."

"The main audience consists of first-years along with a few second-years."

"But just yesterday, the peak number of spectators exceeded two hundred thousand."

"Today is the Cage Melee, which is even more exciting; according to past years' data, surpassing five hundred thousand spectators should not be difficult," An Nong said with a smile.

Li Yuan nodded slightly, his gaze sweeping over the Spectator Platform in the distance, where even more 'spectator seats' seemed to be appearing.

Five hundred thousand spectators? That's terrifying!

One must know, this virtual spectating isn't like watching on a screen, but rather a true simulation of 'arena spectating'; with every additional person, an extra spectator seat is created.

Fortunately, this is the virtual network, where constructing a virtual fighting platform is quite easy.

In reality, it would be impossible to find a competition venue that could accommodate a million spectators.

"The Cage Melee has ten rounds in the morning and ten in the afternoon," Gu Qianghan couldn't help but say, "Brother Yuan, which round are you in?"

"3 and 17," Li Yuan said with a smile.

After yesterday's first round ended, all the students who had advanced to the second round had received their battle order.

"I'm in the 6th and 12th matches," An Nong said helplessly.

"Making it to the second round is pretty good," Li Yuan smiled. "You're better than Gu Qianghàn."

"Damn it, Brother Yuan, don't be like that. I was only a little short of making it to the second round, with a ranking of over three thousand in the first round," Gu Qianghàn couldn't help but say.

People around them all laughed.

Li Yuan laughed as well.

"Our Sixth Institute had 67 people make it into the second round, ranking second in numbers amongst the eight institutes," An Nong introduced to Li Yuan. "In the entire school, a total of 453 made it to the second round, ranking first among the ten schools."

"Hmm," Li Yuan nodded slightly.

In the global view, Kunlun Martial University is considered just below the top three premier martial arts universities.

It's in the top five.

Of course, there's quite a sizable gap between this global top five martial arts university and the top three.

Time passed.

As the time for the main competition drew nearer, the number of spectators also kept increasing. When the time reached eight-thirty, the number of spectators had already surpassed 400,000 and was steadily heading towards 500,000.

400,000 people gathered at a spectator platform? What kind of concept is that?

Heads crowded everywhere—it was a packed sea of people, and the atmosphere within the entire battle space was incredibly fervent.

Students from various universities engaged in spirited discussions.

Finally, at 8:30 AM.

Even though there are slight timezone differences across countries, since they aren't too far apart in reality, the impact isn't very large.

Whoosh!

A huge brilliance streaked across the sky hundreds of meters high, followed closely by giant light screens that materialized above the Spectator Platform, all aimed at every corner of the central ring.

These allowed any spectator, no matter where they sat around the fighting ring, to clearly see everything on the platform.

Even more, in front of each spectator, there was a 'Starry Sky Combat Screen' they could manually adjust.

Apart from watching through the combat screens, every spectator could also send 'live commentary' in real time.

"Welcome students from all the prestigious martial path academies," a deep voice erupted.

A burly man in a black robe appeared on the platform, with the character 'Martial Path' emblazoned across his chest.

His voice also spread throughout the entire battle space.

"Today marks the second round of the freshman fight for ten schools; it is the most exhilarating 'cage melee'," the burly man announced with a booming voice. "1997 elite students from the ten major universities, along with three martial arts prodigies from Starfire University, will compete for 136 elimination spots."

"The rules are as follows:"

...

"Alright, that's enough about the rules for the contenders to know," the burly host smiled. "For our audience here, you only need to know one thing."

"In the cage melee, only the victor survives!"

"This is the most brutal showdown, this is the most iron-willed trial," the burly man's voice was filled with passion. "Only the strongest can survive to the end."

"Now, I declare the second round 'cage melee' of the freshman fight for the ten schools officially underway."

Boom! Music blasted through the vast sky.

The spectator platform, now exceeding 500,000 spectators within the battle space, erupted into thunderous cheers that were deafening.

"It's quite enthusiastic," Li Yuan couldn't help but remark, experiencing such a large crowd for the first time.

"Once it's over ten thousand, it's a sea of people," Gu Qianghàn laughed. "Brother Yuan, you should know, most of these spectators are from common Martial Arts University students; they're essentially here for the excitement, and they'll be happy as long as a student from their own country wins."

Li Yuan nodded in agreement.

The spectators all have their own allegiances; they hope someone from their own school wins.

But for students from institutions like Jiangbei Martial University watching the competition? As long as a person from Xia Country wins, they'll support them.

Gradually, the shouting died down.

"First match," the burly man's voice suddenly burst forth like thunder, "Begin preparations."

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The students who had been watching on the stage had vanished in an instant, entering the 'Preparation Space'.

Of course, the disappearance of 200 students was barely noticeable on a spectator platform holding over 500,000 people.

Just 15 seconds later.

Whoosh! Two hundred armed and armored contestants reappeared on the stage, all standing at the edge of the platform, forming a massive circle.

At the same time, on the giant screen above the platform, names of 200 people appeared.

Along with the 'Total Points Ranking'.

The top 8 and top 136 were marked in special colors.

The top 8 would go directly to the fourth round.

Only the top 136 could enter the third round.

...

All contestants appeared in an instant.

Suddenly, cheers and shouts rose from the platform, from various schools, like waves.

"Yang Hong!"

"Yang Hong! Come on!" Some students from Kunlun Martial University burst out cheering.

In the first match, Kunlun Martial had several dozen students participating, but the strongest among them was Yang Hong.

However, there was no separate introduction for the contestants.

So, no single student's cries stood out specially, as countless voices echoed over the spectator platform, rather noisy.

"Garava." Li Yuan glanced over and spotted the unassuming figure.

Dark skin, over 1.7 meters tall, with ordinary features, very inconspicuous.

Wielding a long spear.

"Trouble for Yang Hong."

"Not good." It wasn't just Li Yuan who spotted Garava, many elite students from Kunlun Martial University recognized him too.

Yang Hong himself noticed as well.

...

The countdown of ten seconds on the stage quickly concluded.

"Begin." The burly man roared and then flew high into the sky, not to interfere with the contestants' battles.

At the same time, the 200 contestants felt the restraints on them lifted.

"Boom!" The melee in the cage erupted in an instant.

As if by an unspoken agreement, whoosh, whoosh, the more than ten contestants around Garava dashed away like shadows, heading further into the distance.

Like a tiger entering a pack of wolves, no one dared to engage Garava first.

Any student who made it to the second round was no fool.

Most people knew who the top few experts were.

Boom!

The dark-skinned youth seemed to have anticipated this, his figure flashing like lightning, and he rushed towards the area with the most people.

"Pff!" "Pff!" The spear shadow shifted, and instantly, one powerful opponent after another fell.

"Avoiding battle?"

"My goal is to take the first place in points for the second round," Garava thought thoroughly, his gaze calm, "The powerful fighters from Xia Country aren't here, no one will be my match."

"Wipe them out!"

A group attack? Over a hundred people working together might actually get swept away by him alone.

The intense melee ensued.

And Garava's points quickly soared, shooting straight to 'first place in total points,' and far surpassing the second place.

"Garava!"

"Garava!" This scene made the over hundred thousand students from Tianzhu Country on the spectator platform completely erupt with unprecedented cheers, instantly drowning out all other voices on the platform.

Garava's performance was too dominant.

At the same time, his acts were also being spammed by countless Tianzhu students on the spectator screen.

"The strongest in Tianzhu!"

"Garava is the strongest!"

"We Tianzhu are the true number one! Beat the people of Xia Country! Take first!"

"Garava!" Countless comments rolled on, obviously, the Tianzhu students were extremely excited at this moment.

...

In the first match, Garava undoubtedly survived till the end.

The fiercest battle took place between him and Yang Hong.

But the so-called fiercest battle ended in less than ten moves, and Yang Hong was killed.

In the end, Garava 52 points! Temporarily ranked first in total points!

Yang Hong 14 points, temporarily ranked second in total points.

The majority of the contestants scored zero.

...

In the second match, there was no exceptionally powerful contestant who could completely dominate; the most dazzling was Kimura Tatsuo from Sakura Country, who also wielded a long spear.

He ended up with 31 points, temporarily second in total points.

The spectator platform holding tens of thousands of people instantly erupted with cheers from the tens of thousands of students from Sakura Country.

"Kimura-kun!"

"Kimura is amazing, I think he is not weaker than Garava in the first match, he might be the strongest."

"The strongest Kimura."

"Kimura-kun will surely take the final first place." A large number of comments scrolled on the spectator screen.

...

In the third match, as the burly man host announced 'begin.'

Two hundred contestants had already appeared on the platform from the preparation space.

Instantly, the hundreds of thousands of spectators all looked over.

"Big Brother."

"Where is Li Yuan?"

"Hm? Why can't I see Big Brother!" Thousands of students from Kunlun Martial University searched for Li Yuan's figure.

But they couldn't spot him instantly.

"Damn! Big Brother is wearing a mask, trying to hide from others? Big Brother is so cunning."

"Not just Li Yuan, others from the school have worn them too."

"This seems to be An Nong's idea just now, who urgently contacted other institutes' participants for the third match."

"Without any name reminders and with dozens of people wearing masks, students from other schools won't recognize Big Brother in a short time."

"An Nong 666!"

"The battle has begun."