Chapter 0519: Celebration Dinner
In the respective towers, the students were all headed for their rooms. The hall-level competition had taken a lot out of them, pushing them to their mental and physical limits.
Li Luo returned to his room too, where he crashed hard the moment his head hit the pillow.
When he woke up again, an entire day had passed.
Outside the window, the stars twinkled quietly in the deep blue of night. Even here at the Holy Grail space, it was an entire world of its own.
A soft knock tapped at his door.
Li Luo arranged his clothing so he was proper, then opened the door to see Bai Mengmeng standing there.
She was in a simple, white shift that complemented her fair skin.
"Leader, are you well rested now?" she asked happily, face as fresh as a flower.
"Vice Principal Su Xin was very pleased with our result in the hall-level competition, so she's already awarding all the participants 30,000 school points, regardless of the final result. Everyone's super happy, and we're celebrating on the second floor. As the hero, you have to be there, you know."
"That's super generous," Li Luo said, perking up at the mention of school points. "It's quite a sum."
30,000 school points was a sizable budget for many students, and would sustain them for a long time.
"It's all thanks to Leader and Senior Jiang." Bai Mengmeng beamed admiringly at him.
Li Luo smiled back. "Well, you guys helped to secure the title for me too. It wasn't a one-man effort. Let's go, then. I'm hungry too."
The battle had taken a lot out of him, and he was still tired. Vice Principal Su Xin's feast was likely meant to help them recover spiritually and rouse them for the next round.
After all, an even harder challenge awaited them.
The two chatted casually as they walked together to the second floor.
Pushing past the curtain, they entered a large hall that was lively with student chatter.
All the students were here, gathered in their own small circles, laughing and chatting gaily.
Li Luo's arrival was well noted, and even the senior students smiled and nodded at him, raising their wine cups in a friendly gesture.
Although Li Luo's reputation had been growing rapidly before, it had been limited to the One Star Hall; the Three and Four Star Hall students were hardly impressed, even though he was strong for his level.
Previously, they were more interested in the relationship between Li Luo and Jiang Qing'e.
All of that had changed with the end of the hall-level competition.
Li Luo was now the strongest One Star Hall student in all of the East Divine Continent. That was not a title to take lightly. Even after the Holy Grail Meet ended, Li Luo's reputation would definitely continue to grow outside of the Xia Kingdom.
House Luolan's Jiang Qing'e was famous, a truly talented star. And they had been too blinded by her brilliance to see the young lord of House Luolan come into his own strength from behind her. Even though she was still the stronger of the two, no one would dare to ignore the young lord now.
His future was equally unlimited.
Li Luo nodded back amiably to all the friendly gestures sent his way.
And then he followed Bai Mengmeng over to the One Star Hall side.
"Ah, the breadwinner of our family," Lu Qing'er said mischievously.
Li Luo glanced over at her. All the girls had dressed and done their makeup today with special care, and Lu Qing'er was dressed in her finest. Her classic ice-silk gloves were, of course, present on her snowy-fair skin.
Beneath her skirt, her white, lacy socks clung tightly to her long legs.
Lu Qing'er crossed her arms, wine cup daintily pincered between two elegant fingers as she smiled at him.
She was attracting her fair share of covert glances from the guys in the room. She was a woman of quality, and captivating in her own right.
But seeing the way that she was looking at Li Luo, the other male students shook their heads and muttered to themselves. Some guys had all the luck.
This guy already had an engagement to Senior Jiang, and here he was, grazing in other, greener fields. Why didn't Senior Jiang break his leg already?
Li Luo ignored the haters, easily accepting a glass of fruit liqueur from Lu Qing'er.
"Li Luo, I hear that each school can only send two teams for the mixed-level competition. It's a pity, I don't think we will have a chance to fight anymore," Qin Zhulu groaned, slumping into the chair beside him.
"Only two squads?" Li Luo asked, surprised.
"Yeah, Vice Principal Su Xin leaked some information," Lu Qing'er confirmed.
Li Luo considered this information. Each iteration of the Holy Grail Meet saw different formats, so he could not be sure what they would face this time. But limiting each school to two squads upped the difficulty significantly.
He would definitely be with Jiang Qing'e.
Of course, given his strength, he was not considered elite compared to a Two Star Hall student, but he should be able to hold his own against most of them.
Which meant that he and Jiang Qing'e needed only one more Four Star Hall student to join them.
There weren't many choices either. They only had two.
Gong Shenjun or the First Princess.
Who should they pick?
While he was still considering this, he heard footsteps approach from behind. He peered behind him to see Gong Shenjun walking over with a cup in hand and a warm smile on his face.
"Junior Li Luo," he said warmly, "your performance in the hall-level competition was truly impressive. All of the Xia Kingdom was taken by storm."
Li Luo smiled back politely. "With Qing'e around, it hardly comes to me to win the glory."
Gong Shenjun laughed, but he did not contradict him. "Junior Li Luo," he said directly," I've come to extend an invitation. I hope that you can join my team in the mixed-level competition. I believe that together we can get the best result in the next round. What do you think of this proposal?"
Li Luo was surprised by this move.
Was Gong Shenjun here on an open recruitment drive?
In terms of power, of course he was the better choice... but was he really going to work with this guy whom he didn't fully trust?
Li Luo pursed his lips.