"The finals, huh, does Tilan have any thoughts?"
Before going on stage, Efnie handed Tilan a piece of nutrient supplement candy that was soft and frosted with sugar, sweet and slightly sticky to the teeth.
The product of the well-known giant enterprise 'Lagertis Candy House', the T4 grade orange-candy, was quite expensive, but its effect was excellent. Some high-rank transcendents would always keep some candy chocolate on them to replenish their nutrients and magic power at any time.
"Thoughts...?" Tilan sat beside Efnie, slightly tilting her head and closing her eyes to think.
"It seems like I don't have much to think about, just a bland feeling." She chewed on the candy in her mouth, savoring the slightly sour and sweet honey, then the somewhat cool magic power flowed, refreshing her spirit.
High-rank candy was no different from military supplies, convenient for storage and quick to replenish energy and magic power. As a matter of fact, 'Lagertis Candy House' indeed supplied the military's logistics as well, serving as a supplier to many official institutions of the federation.
Although there were one or two competitors worth noting in the finals, it was nowhere near nerve-wracking compared to the winter festival competition six months ago against Sevia La. Now, the opponents seemed to be like playing house.
It was only after going to other star domains and interacting with many peers that Tilan slowly realized something—that the education level in the Four-leaf Crystal Star Domain seemed not to be low, but quite high. The excellent students from 'Swarm's Reign Academy', where she used to think there were no experts, could also compete for the championship in the winter festival competition when taken to other star domains.
It was somewhat puzzling to say since it stood to reason that the more developed the economy, the better the students' performance should be, given the greater inclination of resources.
About this, she had asked the teacher leading the team in the past two days.
"Has Tilan realized this?" After listening, the teacher smiled.
"Even though our Edith Academy has repeatedly fallen short in conflicts with Saint Ingo Academy, we have never given up or felt inadequate. Do you know why that is?"
"Because our academy's teachers and students, after interacting outside the Star Domain, would discover that many star domains' top academies are far from being as good as ours, and our confidence slowly returned."
"Let's put it this way, the Four-leaf Crystal Star Domain is quite unique. Although the economy is not performing well now, the foundation is by no means bad."
"During the internal war, to quickly replenish the massive personnel losses, high school academies received significant subsidies and improvements. As the main battlecruiser manufacturing Star Domain, Four-leaf Crystal attracted a large number of official and military technical personnel. Personnel from industry and military conglomerates congregated, and their children also needed education. At that time, those in the Four-leaf Crystal Star Domain could be said to be the federation's top and most excellent technical personnel and transcendents. Accordingly, the level of education was raised repeatedly."
"Even after the war, as these military industries were split up, and a large number of production lines were relocated, the educational infrastructure had been established. Despite some decline, it is still much higher than other star domains, probably only less than the Central Star Domain and some extremely developed star domains."
After understanding this, Tilan came to realize why most of the competitors she faced in this competition fell short compared to those in the winter festival competition. Furthermore, among her 8 fellow competitors, 2 made it to the final eight.
Seeing that it was almost time to go on stage, Tilan stood up from the rest area and first went to the medical room on the side, checking on Wei Ke, who was lying in bed.
"How's the recovery?" Wei Ke had already finished treatment but was still somewhat weak, having used too much magic power in a recent battle and then being wounded by Li Qingfei, resulting in a lot of blood loss.
"The recovery's going well, I should be close to normal by tomorrow." Wei Ke touched the bandage on her arm and felt it for herself.
"Here, have one." Tilan put the last piece of orange-candy into Wei Ke's mouth, then patted her head to comfort her a few words before waving goodbye and leaving.
Watching the black-haired girl close the door and go out, Wei Ke savored the sweetness on her tongue and then heard the broadcast announce.
"The finals begin, Dantalion versus Li Qingfei!"
Has it started? She pressed the touch button on the hospital bed, and then the wall opposite her projected the scene from the dueling arena.
Under a vast expanse of pitch-black starry sky, two girls walked out from the corridor, stood facing each other, and once the referee finished announcing, they both leapt down, each landing on the giant clock's hour hand and minute hand.
The two pointers slowly rotated, and the two standing on them moved accordingly.
With her green hairband and dress fluttering, Li Qingfei held a sword in one hand, slowly placing it horizontally in front of her, her fingertips lightly tracing the bright and clear sword edge, spreading a cold and slightly chilling aura.
"Clear Spring Rain - The Beginning of Spring Paulownia Flowers."
Li Qingfei pushed off, vanishing from her spot, leaving only the faint white paulownia flowers falling. And almost in the blink of an eye, Li Qingfei's green longsword and figure flashed past Tilan's side, the limpid cold light of the sword edge cutting through part of Tilan's sleeve, revealing the girl's fair arm.
Having dodged that nearly inconceivable sword strike, Tilan turned around, her sword light slashing out, three Purple Lightning Blades chopping at Li Qingfei. Although Li Qingfei also used secret techniques paired with sword edge blocks, the remaining Purple Lightning still caused her body to go numb.
Luckily, in that brief pause, Tilan did not launch an attack; otherwise, the sharp sword light would have certainly injured Li Qingfei.