Under the command of the faculty member holding the loudspeaker, the waiting students began entering in an orderly manner.
All the students present had already gone through two rounds of Deathmatch Duels, no longer as rowdy as in the first two rounds.
The Multi-purpose Venue wasn’t excessively quiet, but it was close.
At most, one could hear some subdued discussion.
Amid the discussion, a commotion came from the entrance.
A team wearing Zu Dian uniforms walked in.
Each had a nameplate on their chest, with varied expressions, but none showed cowardice.
“It’s 05A.”
“Du Jingxian, Wu Yunqiu… and the Yang sisters, our class has quite a few impressive ones this year.”
A boy walked into the venue like a crane among chickens; his looks were merely handsome, but his demeanor was confident and composed, a presence that seemed to infect those around him.
“Yue Jun!”
“Yue Jun from Class 05A.”
“I heard he got third place in the last round too; even at other campuses, he’d absolutely be a prominent figure, right?”
“Wait, aren’t you forgetting someone else?”
“You mean?”
“That one from Class 05B.”
“Has he come? Where is he?”
Lu Bai dragged over a small stool and sat in the corner, propping his cheek with one hand, chuckling as he listened to these people praising him.
“Lu Bai, student, over here.”
Not far away, a girl with a hot figure suddenly waved at Lu Bai.
Lu Bai politely returned her a smile, without getting up.
He didn’t know this girl’s name, just had some impression that she was a classmate.
Anyway, their acquaintance was only that much; he was too lazy to deepen the communication.
Hiss…
A sound of gasping rose nearby.
This is that Lu Bai?
The people gathered around unconsciously dispersed.
Indeed, Zu Dian Campus’s overall results this year were very poor.
But even in the worst school, there are top students; even in the best school, there are poor performers.
Zu Dian Campus definitely wasn’t all wastes like Fan Ding; there were elites who had entered the Top Ten in Deathmatch Duels, and quite a few.
But among these elites, the most eye-catching one had to be Lu Bai.
The students present all intentionally or unintentionally glanced toward the corner, wanting to see exactly where his strength lay.
Getting first place once could be chalked up to good luck, but two consecutive rounds of first—that was no longer just luck.
No one would be jealous; facing such a premium potential stock, it was too late to hug his thigh.
The faculty member saw Lu Bai sitting in the corner, hesitated for a moment, but didn’t forcibly order him to the designated position.
Geniuses naturally had some privileges.
This faculty member quickly convinced himself, finished counting the numbers, and quickly left the venue.
Bang~
“Ahem, please relax and stay calm…”
Acting Director Liang Fuzhong sat on the rostrum, speaking official pleasantries in a proper manner.
Without keeping everyone waiting too long, as the second hand reached zero,
The third round of Deathmatch Duel arrived as scheduled.
A mechanized prompt sound rang in everyone’s minds.
[Ding!]
[Third round Deathmatch Duel opened.]
[Teleportation beginning!]
……
[Deathmatch Arena Number: 87****4328]
[Username: Rename 26LB (temporarily cannot modify)]
[Main Title: Pure Smile (Two Stars)]
[Secondary Title: Frenzied Slaughter (Four Stars), Ultimate Murderer (Four Stars)]
[Talent: 38.4]
[Current Points: 0]
[Current Rank: 500/500]
[Ability: Flash Time, Ink Black]
[Note! First round Ability Pool opened, selection available]
Lu Bai didn’t have time to observe the surroundings first and hid his two secondary titles, immediately retracting the thick murderous aura emanating from his body.
It wasn’t that he thought three titles were too flashy; he simply didn’t want to scare others.
Experience from the second round told him that displaying all three titles would easily lead to him not encountering a Death Fighter for a long time.
He opened the first round Ability Pool selection.
Three semi-transparent data panels immediately appeared in front of his retinas.
[Late-stage Expert (Gold): When third round ability selection arrives, directly obtain three abilities from the Ability Pool.]
[Titan’s Resolve (Gold): In battle, gain a 4% damage bonus layer per attack received, up to twenty-five layers; layers reset after leaving combat.]
[Wine Kill (Gold): Drinking alcohol boosts the damage of the next attack; boost depends on the amount drunk.]
Gold level, huh?
After all, possessing [Flash Time] and [Ink Black], his need for the Ability Pool wasn’t high; even if he got three trash abilities by bad luck, he could accept it.
Of course, something that added flowers to brocade would be better.
That said, the three abilities provided by this round’s Ability Pool weren’t bad nor particularly good; mediocre was a fitting description.
[Titan’s Resolve] required taking hits to boost attack, and at most doubled damage.
Lu Bai didn’t like torturing himself and first gave up on this choice.
As for [Wine Kill], honestly, how much could a normal person drink even chugging?
His stomach wasn’t a bottomless pit, and after drinking, only one attack; hard to say how useful it was.
The last one, [Late-stage Expert], seemed promising from the description, but a little brainpower showed it wasn’t as great as imagined.
Normal selection over three rounds yields three abilities.
Choosing [Late-stage Expert] sounds like five abilities total at the end, but actually only four usable.
Moreover, third round Ability Pool level isn’t fixed; the three abilities might not all be useful.
If the third round was Color level Ability Pool, it’d definitely be a huge profit.
But if Silver or even White?
Not to mention the danger of no early boost, the unstable returns alone would make normal Death Fighters abandon this choice.
So Lu Bai decisively chose [Late-stage Expert].
He wasn’t a normal Death Fighter, after all.
……
While selecting the ability, Lu Bai’s peripheral vision kept scanning the surroundings.
No neon lights, cars, or tall buildings.
Not even wooden houses or tiled roofs in sight.
In view was a deep mountain forest green to the point of black.
Sturdy, twisted old trees scattered orderly, with dense vegetation.
At the edge of rotten, fallen stumps grew a few shriveled wild mushrooms.
This wasn’t a modern background Deathmatch Arena?
Lu Bai looked up; dense branches and leaves let only a pitiful few rays of sunlight through, barely distinguishing it as probably afternoon.
He casually picked a direction, stepping through weeds as he advanced, preparing to see if he could find traces of human activity.
Not wandering long, he suddenly heard near his ear what seemed like vague, indistinct… muttering?
Couldn’t understand the content, or rather, there was no content.
But he was certain this was absolutely not mountain wind.
He immediately stopped, looking around,
He quickly found the source of the muttering.
It was a pitch-black Great Snake coiled on an old tree.
A pair of brownish-red vertical pupils stared at Lu Bai with an intensely humanized gaze…